Important Upcoming Dates
8/10 LAST DAY to Return all 5th and 6th Grade laptops
8/11 Return form below for ALL students in Grades K-3 (Laptop Needs)
8/12 Release of 2020-21 Fairfax Villa Online Instructional Schedule
(Via News you Choose Email)
8/19 Virtual Kindergarten Orientation (10:00-11:00 AM)
8/20 LAST DAY to sign up for a laptop distribution spot (Grades 4-6 only)
8/24 Grade 6 Laptop Distribution -
Use link below to sign up for your spot by 8/20
8/25 Grade 5 Laptop Distribution -
Use link below to sign up for your spot by 8/20
8/26 Grade 4 Laptop Distribution -
Use link below to sign up for your spot by 8/20
8/28 Virtual Back to School Event - more information to come
9/8 First Day of Virtual Class
10/12 School Planning Day / Student Holiday
Greetings Fairfax Villa Families! IN THIS ISSUE
- Principal Message
- Return of ALL 5th and 6th Grade Student Laptops
- 2020-2021 Bell Schedule
- Laptop Distribution News
- Virtual Student Supply KIT
- PTA News
- Woodson Pyramid Cultural Proficiency/Cultural Responsiveness Town Hall
- Student Registration (Kindergarten Registration/ 1-6 New Student Registration)
- Not Returning to Fairfax Villa Next School Year?
- Resources for Families
1. Principal Message
Fairfax Villa Families,
Recently, Dr. Brabrand proposed and the Fairfax County School Board approved a full virtual start for the beginning of the upcoming school year. In the communication Dr. Brabrand sent out to the community, he shared the following:
For distance learning, our first priority is to provide access and equity in the learning experience for each of our students. We understand that there are significant academic and social/emotional challenges to our students learning remotely. FCPS has strengthened our digital learning model so that we can provide an even more rigorous and engaging virtual learning program with greater connections for all students at all grade levels.
- Online learning provides four days (Tuesday through Friday) of live, face-to-face instruction with teachers.
- Mondays will remain a teacher planning day with intervention supports for selected students. All students are expected to be engaged in learning either via asynchronous learning or intervention sessions with teachers.
- At the elementary level, students will receive real-time, interactive instruction each day.
- The elementary day will also consist of small group instruction, intervention supports, and independent learning activities assigned to students.
- Student work will be graded and attendance is required.
At Fairfax Villa, we are committed to supporting our students and families in starting the school year successfully in an online environment. Teachers will receive additional training to meet the needs of our students and we will provide distance learning supports and guidance for our families.
As we prepare for a virtual start, we are also keeping in mind the need to be able to pivot to in-person learning when FCPS determines students can safely return back to the building.
We know this is a very challenging time and everyone is dealing with many different emotions around the start of the school year. Together we will continue to soar and create outstanding learning environments for our students even in these challenging times.
We will continue to share information and more details in the upcoming weeks. As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Our very best,
Dave Gerstner, Principal
KJ An, Assistant Principal
Barbara Schmidt, School Based Technology Specialist
2. Return of ALL 5th and 6th Grade Student Laptops
If you were not able to return last year’s 5th or 6th grader’s laptop earlier this week, please do so on Monday, August 10 from 9:00am to 11:00am.
Please follow these guidelines:
- Leave all name tags on the laptop and the bag.
- Put the power cord that came with the laptop in the zipper pocket. The barcode on it should match the barcode of the laptop.
- Put the laptop in the main part of the bag and zip it shut.
- Check to make sure that any personal items are taken out of the bag. If any are found, they cannot be returned.
- If your student has lost the laptop, please email Ms. Payne and Ms. Schmidt now at tjpayne@fcps.edu and bdschmidt@fcps.edu.
- Please drive to the front door of the school. When you exit your car, you will be shown by a staff member where to put the laptop. This will be done with safe distancing. Masks are mandatory when coming by.
Except for 5th and 6th graders, if your student has a Fairfax Villa laptop that is working, it should be kept for this coming school year.
Thank you for your cooperation as we get our technology ready for the next school year.
3. 2020-2021 Bell Schedule
The first day of school is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, 2020.
Our virtual school day for the 2020-21 school year will begin at 9:10 am and end at 4:00 pm, Tuesday - Friday.
As for our 2020-21 Fairfax Villa Online Instructional Schedule, we will be sending that to parents via our News You Choose messaging on Wednesday, August 12.
4. Laptop Distribution News
As you may have read in the recent message from Dr. Brabrand, there are changes being implemented across FCPS to improve the technology access for all of our students and to assist our families with support that they need with that technology. Below is the Fairfax Villa plan for implementing those changes.
GRADES K-3
If you have children in grades Kindergarten - 3, please fill out this form no later than 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 11 to let us know if you will or will not need a laptop from us for your child to use this year. For those families without internet access, you can also let us know if a miFi device is needed. A miFi device provides a limited but adequate amount of internet access for use with FCPS laptops only.
Link to Form: https://forms.gle/eZD9qKgb22tk3gZS9
We hope to be scheduling the distribution of the kindergarten - 3rd grade laptops for the week of August 31. We are still waiting for them to be delivered to our school.
GRADES 4-6
We will be distributing laptops to all of our 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. (6th graders will be getting brand new laptops; that is why they needed to return the ones they had.)
Due to the limitations on the number of people we can have in the building, please limit this visit to one parent and the child. You will be coming into the cafeteria and following the social distancing guidelines there. Don’t forget your masks!
Please use the links below for your child’s grade’s Sign Up Genius to reserve your spot on the following days:
Grade 6: Monday, August 24 from 8:30 - 3:00 [Click here]
Grade 5: Tuesday, August 25 from 8:30 - 3:00 [Click here]
Grade 4: Wednesday, August 26 from 8:30 - 3:00 [Click here]
5. Virtual Student Supply Kit
Fairfax Villa is working to put together a basic supply kit for each student to begin the school year. These kits will contain basic supplies needed for virtual learning including art, music, and other educational supplies. As we move forward in the school year, please be advised that teachers may request additional supplies as necessary. For the parents who pre-ordered supplies in the spring, please feel free to hold onto the supplies to be used for when the students transition back into the school building.
When the Virtual Student Supply Kits are available for pick up, we will follow up with parents.
6. PTA News (e-mail: villapta@gmail.com)
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR 2020-2021
We are thrilled to introduce your 2020-2021 PTA Board!
CO-PRESIDENTS: Jessie Crain & Simon Bowyer
CO VICE-PRESIDENTS: Prachi Lotlikar & Shilpa Prasad
Returning board members: Morgan Crump (Treasurer) & Jessica Sabatino (Secretary)
Our school is in GREAT HANDS with this group. SHOW SUPPORT BY JOINING THE PTA FOR 2020-2021 early! https://fairfaxvilla.memberhub.store/
You may email the PTA board by clicking here.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
DON’T FORGET to order from our vendor to get this great bag for your student and take the burden of finding sanitizing items off your list! They deliver directly to the school and restock mid-year! Plus the PTA gets a small donation ($1-$2) included in EACH supply set purchased. So.much.winning.
ORDER ONLINE: DEADLINE EXTENDED! https://www.campussurvivalkits.com/fairfaxvilla
7. Woodson Pyramid Cultural Proficiency/Cultural Responsiveness Town Hall
The Woodson Pyramid is comprised of Woodson High School and its feeder schools: Frost Middle School, Canterbury Woods Elementary School, Fairfax Villa Elementary School, Little Run Elementary School, Mantua Elementary School, Olde Creek Elementary School, and Wakefield Forest Elementary School.
The Woodson Pyramid principals invite our communities to come together on August 11 from 7-8 PM to engage in a shared conversation around cultural proficiency/cultural responsiveness in our pyramid. This town hall will be facilitated by our Equity Leads and administrators from each school. We will present 3-5 guiding questions to solicit feedback around experiences and practices in our school community. This discussion will allow schools to draw similarities for future work around equity and cultural proficiency/cultural responsiveness throughout our pyramid schools. Each school will hold a follow-up town hall at another time to share specific actions happening in each individual school to address cultural proficiency/cultural responsiveness. We hope you will join us to contribute to the conversation.
The link for joining this town hall will be sent to our families on Tuesday, August 11.
8. Student Registration (Kindergarten/ Grades 1-6 New Students)
Kindergarten Registration for 2020-2021
If your upcoming kindergarten student does fall in the Fairfax Villa ES boundary, please complete the form on the link below. Your form will be submitted to Jose Flores, our school registrar, who will be able to assist you with the registration process.
https://fairfaxvillaes.fcps.edu/new-student-registration-2020-21
Registration for Students in Grades 1-6 New to Fairfax Villa
If you need to register a new student in grades 1-6, please contact Jose Flores, our school registrar, at jlflores@fcps.edu. Please provide the student's first and last name, enrolling parent's first and last name, student mailing address, enrolling parent's email address, and the enrolling parent's phone number. Mr. Flores will be in contact with you via email.
9. Not Returning to Fairfax Villa Next School Year?
In planning for both staffing and materials for the coming 2020-2021 school year, it is extremely important that we have a reasonable projection on the number of students who will be returning to Fairfax Villa ES next school year.
Please complete the Student Intention form for next school year, 2020-2021 Student Intention Form if your student is transferring to:
- Another FCPS school other than Fairfax Villa ES
- A private school in Virginia or out of Virginia
- Another Virginia public school division outside FCPS
- Another state public school outside of Virginia
- Out of the United States
Only those families whose students are transferring need to return the completed form to our Registrar, Jose Flores at jlflores@fcps.edu. Please complete and email this form as soon as possible. If you are unsure what your intentions are for the next school year, please note this on the form.
Visit the FCPS general registration page.
10. Resources for Families
-
Free Virtual Summer Camps! Click on the link here to access a variety of free virtual summer camps for your children!
- Internet Access for Low Income Families in FCPS
Cox Connect2Compete supplies broadband internet access to low-income, unconnected families in Fairfax County. Households who meet income and other guidelines will be offered free Internet service through July 15, ($9.95 per month afterward), free modem rental, free installation, and a price guarantee for two years. Schools who are aware of families without internet access can share this resource with families. More information is available on the Cox website: https://www.cox.com/residential/internet/connect2compete.html To ensure all families in need have access to the Internet, FCPS MiFi delivery continues at elementary schools this week.
- Distance Learning Resource for Families
FCPS has provided a website for families to answer questions they may have about accessing and troubleshooting Distance Learning. Available in many languages, it covers topics from connecting to the internet to the use of the Student Rights and Responsibilities during Distance Learning. There are also phone numbers to call to get help in different languages.
https://www.fcps.edu/academics/distance-learning/instruction/technology-support
- Distance Learning Continues
Distance learning is continuing as teachers will provide new instructional opportunities through a variety of tools. Some resources for parents include:
- Distance Learning YouTube Channel
Math and Language Arts Distance Learning Lessons broadcast on Apple 21 can now be accessed by teachers and students on demand. To view, go to Fairfax County Public Schools Distance Learning on YouTube and subscribe. Playlists are arranged by grade level (for math) and content (for language arts).
Content can also be accessed on the FCPS Apple 21 cable television channel and is streaming at https://www.fcps.edu/news-features-and-events/cable-tv/cable-tv-guide.
|
