Dear Families,
I welcome you to a unique school year full of possibilities and extend an especially warm welcome to our new CWES families! This newsletter will provide weekly updates about our school throughout the year. This week, we subscribed 400 family email addresses to make sure you all had access to information about the beginning of our school year. You can unsubscribe or modify your subscriptions on this page of our website. If this is the first CWES newsletter you are receiving, visit this link to access former weeks' issues.
As I reminded teachers in our kickoff meeting this past Monday, school is not a place, it's a community of learners. Whatever locations from which we are collaborating with one another, we are one united school. We have a vibrant, diverse and engaged community connected by so much more than a building. I encourage you to explore the PTA's website and join the PTA to lend your ideas for how CWES can create strong relationships while beginning the year virtually.
Under the direction of FCPS, we are committed to putting equity at the center of our work this year. The Woodson Community came together this summer in a town hall to harness the power of conversations to understand and combat racism and bias in our schools. CWES is committed to continuing these conversations with you to make our school a positive and inclusive environment for every student and family. We invite you to reach out to us if you would like to support the work of our school-based Equity Team, led by Mona Mouneimne, fifth grade teacher and CWES Equity Lead.
As educators, we are eager for the rush of hope and joy that working with your children and families will bring after this uncertain and challenging summer. We are excited for the year to come, knowing that together, cWEs CAN do anything!
Our office is now open every day to serve you from 9:00-3:30, so give us a call at 703-764-5600. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
Diane Leipzig, "Dr. L"
|
The CWES website is available in over 80 languages, including the messages from News You Choose, which are immediately posted under "CWES Weekly Happenings." Go to the left corner of our website and choose your language to get started.
Need phone support? Call a parent information phone line in one of 8 languages below.
 Se Habla Espanol?
Alguien puede ayudarlo en español en la oficina de CWES durante las horas de la mañana (9-12) de lunes a jueves: 703-764-5600.
Use American Sign Language?
Marla Pollack, Lead ASL Interpreter for community members, coordinates sign language interpretation for school events and meetings.
Wednesday, August 26: New Family Orientation. 3:00-4:00 PM.
New Family Orientation Session Link
- This session provides an introduction to CWES programs, key staff members, specials and the PTA for families who are new to our school. (Session will be recorded).
Friday, August 28: Class placement information emailed to families.
Monday, August 31: Virtual Open House, 9:00-11:00 AM.
Virtual Open House Link
- Open to all families, this session provides basic information about the beginning of the school year, the PTA and accessing virtual instruction. Grade level rotations give students a chance to come together with their classes for the first time. (Introductory session will be recorded).
August 31-September 2: One-on-One Family Virtual Visits
- Sometime between August 28 and August 31, your child's teacher will reach out to schedule a brief appointment online or over the phone to meet your child and make sure your family is prepared to log in the first day of school.
Tuesday, September 8: First Day of School. Log in at 8:50.
Tuesday, September 14: First Day of Electives (Grades 4-6)
Thursday, September 24: Back to School Night, 6:30-8:00 PM
- This session will allow teachers to present an overview of the curriculum and expectations for the school year. (Link will be sent closer to the date.)
On August 14, we held a session to provide an overview of this fall's schedule to our families. Here is a link to the recording of the session. NOTE: View this email on your phone to enlarge the images below. We will post schedule information on our website as well.
 
Last week we distributed over 150 laptops, and we are poised to distribute just as many this Wednesday and Friday. If you would like to borrow a laptop this year, there are still spots available on this Sign Up Genius.
If you have an FCPS device, be sure to turn it on once a week for 30 minutes to allow it to update so it will be ready to use on September 8.
|
As a school committed to the arts (learn about our arts partnership with the Kennedy Center at our new parent orientation), CWES highly encourages all students to explore individual interests and passions that allow creative expression, encourage development of the whole child, and promote students' social and emotional well-being. We are so committed to these pursuits that we have set aside an additional 30 minutes Tuesday through Friday for students in grades 4-6 to pursue their interests.
Band & Strings thrive in the virtual environment
Students in fourth grade are invited to begin their FCPS strings experience, learning to play the violin, viola, cello or bass. Students in grades 5 and 6 are invited to continue or start strings or band instruction. Our amazing team of teachers, Ms. Mitchell for strings and Dr. Kohut for band, have been innovating.
Band and strings will be scheduled during the "Electives Block" for each grade level: 8:50-9:20 for sixth grade, 9:20-9:50 for fifth grade, and 10:30-11:00 for fourth grade. This block precedes the 30-minute specials block for these grade levels, meaning that students in grades 4-6 will also get 30-minutes of daily specials instruction for art, music, PE and STEAM/Library.
Students will receive two days of band or strings instruction a week, either during the electives blocks or on Monday mornings. The remaining days provide an opportunity in their schedule to practice their instrument, enhanced this year with an online program CWES will purchase called Smart Music, which provides individual students with feedback on their playing.
Any student who wishes to learn an instrument is encouraged to sign up to indicate their interest. The IFA (Instruments for All) program in FCPS provides qualifying families with free or low-cost access to rental instruments; we are committed as a county to providing equitable access to the arts for all students.
 Take a look at what our talented band and strings sixth grade students last spring were able to accomplish solely in the virtual environment with this rendition of the CWES School Song, "We Can." Special thanks to our lead Sign Language Interpreter, Mrs. Bach-Hansen and lead Cued Language Transliterator, Ms. Woodzell, for making it accessible for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, staff and families to enjoy.
 This strings recruitment video is designed for new strings students. This video is available with sign language interpretation and with cued speech transliteration.
 These CWES recruitment videos for grades 5 and 6 provide an overview of all the instruments available in both the band and strings programs. It features professional musicians and our band and strings teachers. Please watch this with your child and discuss the instrument options available to them. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer Chorus at this time. We await further guidance from FCPS and are hopeful we can add it to the Electives Block at a later date.
Choice Specials
If students do not elect to learn an instrument, they can elect to participate in an additional choice special once or twice a week, either by joining a synchronous (live) class, or by completing asynchronous (on demand) activities for an area of interest. The choice specials (art, music or PE) are supplemental to the graded traditional specials instruction during the specials block.
The advent of the Electives Block this year is meant to motivate our students to continue pursuing their individual extra-curricular interests supplemental to the expectations for their grade level. We will base our live and on-demand offerings on student interest expressed on the forms below.
Complete Electives Form by Sept. 2
ALL STUDENTS in grades 4-6 should complete a Google Form entry (links are below) to indicate their preference for the Electives Block. Choices include:
- Learn an instrument with live instruction twice a week.
- Participate in an additional 30-minutes of live choice specials (art, music or PE) once or twice a week.
- Participate in pre-recorded on-demand specials (art, music or PE) on their own.
FORM RESPONSES ARE DUE BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. Non-responses will be considered a request for asychronous (on-demand) electives participation, and students will not be enrolled in synchronous classes for the Electives Block.
Schedules will be created based on responses and communicated to families, families will be provided information via email about instrument rental, and Electives Instruction will begin the week of SEPTEMBER 14.
Watch the recruitment video above with your child and then fill out the form appropriate for your child's grade level (one entry per student):
FOURTH GRADE ELECTIVES FORM
FIFTH GRADE ELECTIVES FORM
SIXTH GRADE ELECTIVES FORM
|
