Principal.Message.8.23.2020

PRINCIPAL DAUGHERTY

Dear Beech Tree Families,

This past week, our staff kicked off the 2020-2021 school year with a celebration. We had come together the previous week for the start of intensive professional development to support virtual instruction. During our “Kick Off,” our staff came together as teams, as we focused on equity, joy and our #BeechTreeFamily. I hope to provide more moments like this to our staff as they continue to do the unprecedented work of translating the powerful work of in-person instruction into an elementary on-line learning environment.

On Thursday, our PTA hosted a #BeechTreeFamily Meeting via Zoom. So many of you joined us! Thank you so much for coming together for questions and answers, and thank you even more for your continued trust and support! This work is indescribably complicated and your commitment to us strengthens our commitment to you every day. Thank you so very much for your partnership.

This week brought a few additional complications as our itinerant staff reported back to work across multiple schools. In order to provide them the instructional time and space to teach students in all their schools, we may need to make some changes to our specials assignments. We plan to keep the same time slots shared last week, however, we may need to change which grade levels attend specials during each of those time slots. We will work on this during the week ahead and provide you with the updated schedule by next Sunday.

As I shared before, FCPS bell schedules for virtual learning will more closely resemble the start and end times our schools were using in 2019-20 before the school closure. Beech Tree’s Pre-COVID Schedule was 9:15am – 4:00pm.

This is our Beech Tree Schedule for Virtual Learning, which will begin on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020:

 

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday (LSC)

8:30-9:15

Teacher Tech Office Hours

Family Tech Office Hours

Teacher Tech Office Hours

Family Tech Off Hours

9:15-9:45

Morning Mtg (SEL)

Morning Mtg (SEL)

Morning Mtg (SEL)

Morning Mtg (SEL)

10:00-10:30

Specials

ELD/SPED/AAP (for those not in specials)

10:45-11:45

K-2 Language Arts/ 3-5 Math

K-2 Language Arts/ 3-5 Math

K-2 Language Arts/ 3-5 Math

K-2 Language Arts/ 3-5 Math

12:00-12:30

Sc/SS

Sc/SS

Sc/SS

Sc/SS

12:30-1:15

LUNCH

LUNCH

LUNCH

LUNCH

1:15-1:45

Specials

ELD/SPED/AAP (for those not in specials)

2:00-3:00

K-2 Math/3-5 Language Arts

K-2 Math/3-5 Language Arts

K-2 Math/3-5 Language Arts

K-2 Math/3-5 Language Arts

3:15-3:45

Specials

ELD/SPED/AAP (for those not in specials)

3:45-4:15

*IEPs/504s 3:15-4:15

*IEPs/504s 3:15-4:15

*IEPs/504s 3:15-4:15

*IEPs/504s 3:15-4:15

*Mondays, we will provide a variety of small group intervention and enrichment blocks during the first half of the day. Opportunities open to all students will be shared, soon. Intervention, advanced academics, special education services and English Language Development (ELD) services will be by invitation. Mike Meyer, our School-Based Technology Specialist, will also hold Family Tech Office Hours on Monday mornings. “Family Tech Office Hours” will be a block of time Mr. Meyer will be available to support families with any technology issues. His email will be shared each week in the reminders section below: mkmeyer@fcps.edu.

We have distributed laptops to 1st through 5th grade during the past week. If you were not able to pick up your child’s laptop last week, please come to our make-up day on Tuesday, August 25th between 9:30am and Noon, at Door #1. Preschool and Kindergarten laptop distribution will be on Thursday, August 27th from 9:30am to Noon and between 1:30pm and 4pm. To make things easier for our youngest students, on the 27th, you will drive up to Door #1 and we will come out to you, ask for your child’s name and grade and bring the laptop out to your car. Again, the dates and times for this week’s laptop distribution will be as follows:

  • Tuesday, August 25th: 9:30-Noon, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th (5th should MUST return last year’s laptop if they want a new laptop)

 

  • Thursday, August 27th: 9:30-Noon & 1:30-4:00pm (Preschool & Kindergarten)

 

If you are still need assistance with internet access, please complete this form to be loaned a MiFi devices from Fairfax County Public Schools:

https://forms.gle/CiEvUmnQqPGUczmo9

Additional events we have scheduled are:

  • Monday, August 31st: 6:30pm, Technology Town Hall
  • Wednesday, September 2nd: 9:30am to 11am, Virtual Open House
  • Thursday, September 24th: 6:30pm, Virtual Back To School Night

*Links will be shared closer to the date of each event

During our Virtual Open House, you will be able to visit two different grade levels. At 9:30am you may join one of your children’s grade levels and at 10:15am, you may join another child’s grade level. For those who have a larger family, like the one I was raised in, please schedule a virtual parent conference with those teachers.

Teachers were given their class lists Thursday evening. I will be sending out your child’s class assignment privately, through eNotify. I hope to have them each entered into eNotify and sent out to you by Monday evening. Teachers will also be reaching out to you to introduce themselves and welcome your child to the 2020-2021 school year this week.

Please remember to check to reminders section at the end of my Principal Messages for contact information and links you may find helpful. One of the links that will take you directly to our school website’s distance learning resources is: https://beechtreees.fcps.edu/resources/parent-student-distance-learning-resources. Additionally, you will find helpful video tutorials here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSz76NCRDYQHSc6ySaw5Nq-We-fzPsQ_i.

As always, I thank you for your trust. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Stay safe,

 Karim Daugherty

Principal

Beech Tree ES

703-531-2600

 https://twitter.com/BeechTreeElem

https://beechtreees.fcps.edu/

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell


REMINDERS:

Beech Tree Office Contacts

Spanish Speaking Parent Liaison: Stella O’Brien at msobrien@fcps.edu

School-Based Technology Specialist (logging on/using programs): Mike Meyer at mkmeyer@fcps.edu

Technology Specialist (laptop issues): Tom Kindregan at tpkindregan@fcps.edu

Registrar: Susan Do at sndo@fcps.edu

Attendance Secretary: Sheila Hudson at skhudson@fcps.edu

Principal’s Secretary: Esther Baca at ebaca@fcps.edu

Assistant Principal: Maureen Lopez at mmlopez@fcps.edu

Advanced Academics Resource Teacher: Patty Settel at pasettel@fcps.edu

 

Bilingual Community Liaisons

Bilingual community liaisons support student registrars by providing families with information about school and community services offered in Fairfax County. Community liaisons also help parents fill out forms and complete applications:

  • English and Korean: 703‐204‐4317
  • English and Spanish: 703‐204‐4316
  • English, Arabic, and French: 703‐204‐4315

 

Beech Tree Digital Resources

Parent Resources for Distance Learning: https://beechtreees.fcps.edu/resources/parent-student-distance-learning-resources

Video Tutorials for Distance Learning: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSz76NCRDYQHSc6ySaw5Nq-We-fzPsQ_i

 

Grab & Go Food

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) will continue to provide “Grab-and-Go” meals during the upcoming school year. Our goal is to provide every student in FCPS daily access to a healthy breakfast and lunch during this pandemic:https://www.fcps.edu/news/coronavirus-update-food-resources

 

Internet Access

If you still need internet access and would like to borrow a MiFi device from Fairfax County Public Schools, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/CiEvUmnQqPGUczmo9 

 

Registration!”

Please let neighbors know that they may register their child by contacting Mrs. Susan Do, Beech Tree Registrar, at sndo@fcps.edu to make arrangements for specific enrollment information. 

 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates:

Please continue to check updates through our Fairfax County Public School website.  We hope that you and your family are staying safe, happy and healthy during these ever changing times. 

To find the last updates from Fairfax county please go to https://www.fcps.edu/news/coronavirus-update

You can also find updates from The Center of Disease Control and Prevention at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/index.html