Dear Woodburn Families,
The best part of our week has been connecting with you and our wildcats during our laptop distribution and resource fair. Thank you for stopping by this week to pick up materials for your child. We look forward to seeing our youngest wildcats next Tuesday and Wednesday. We hope that you leave our resource fair feeling equipped for the year with essential technology, supplies, reading, writing, and math tools.
Next week we look forward to our virtual open house on Wednesday, September 2nd from 6-7 pm. Your child will receive an email in their fcpsschools.net account that will provide a link to access the open house event. These videos (ENGLISH , SPANISH) show you how to access your child's email account.
We hope you have a great weekend and look forward to connecting more next week.
Sincerely,
Katy Richman, Principal
Bridget Louder, Assistant Principal
Please help us by completing the following forms electronically. More forms can be found in the welcome back packet that is being distributed at our resource fair.
Laptop Distribution and Resource Fair Dates
If you are in grades 3-6 and still need to pick up your laptop and supplies please feel free to stop by on either date listed below. If you need to coordinate a different date for pick up please reach out to Bridget Louder at BGLouder@fcps.edu.
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September 1st
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1st Grade
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September 2nd
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Kindergarten
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Upcoming Events
September 2nd - Orientation/Open House, 6-7 pm (Virtual)
September 3rd - Wildcat Welcome, 9-9:30 am (Virtual)
September 8th - First Day of School!
September 16th - Back to School Night, 6-7 (Virtual)
 We are excited to see our wildcats next week! Here are a few things to remember when you come on your assigned day.
- Enter through our kiss-and-ride lane
- Follow the directions given by our staff
- Wear a mask, even inside of a vehicle
- Stay in your car
Students picking up a laptop will log onto their computer while in the car. Should there be any technical difficulties, we will have some parking spaces reserved for troubleshooting.
To support families who are working with their children during distance learning, Fairfax County Public Schools is launching a new Parent Technology Help Desk, effective today, Monday, August 24. The number is 1-833-921-3277 (833-921-FCPS). It will be answered by staff 7 a.m.to 11 p.m., seven days a week. If the help desk is unable to solve the issue on the phone with the parent or guardian, they will enter a ticket on the parent’s behalf and the request for help will be transferred to the appropriate FCPS team.
Parents or guardians who need help in a language other than English should let help desk staff know, and an interpreter will join them on the line. (FCPS also has existing parent information phone lines, available in eight different languages, that can assist with general questions about FCPS.)
FCPS has also set up an online portal to allow older students and parents and guardians to request technology help directly.
Get more information about the new Parent Technology Help Desk.
FCPS carefully reviews digital resources to ensure vendors accurately outline how they protect student data in accordance with federal and state law. Our school opts to use some digital resources that require your consent. These have been carefully vetted by IS and IT for instructional appropriateness, technical functionality, and student data management which is compliant with FERPA and state law. Woodburn’s Digital Resources Consent Information is now available. Please review the linked webpage and complete the Digital Consent form. If you have any additional questions about these apps, please reach out to our school SBTS, Kelley Dauberman.
We will be using TalkingPoints as an additional form of communication between teachers and families this year. TalkingPoints is an app that automatically translates messages in your home language. Your child's teacher will be reaching out soon to share ways in which you can provide consent to participate. Once you have opted in, your child’s teacher will enroll you in their class and send you a welcome message.
K-2 students picking up a laptop during the resource fair will be given information about their updated login information. If your student is not picking up an FCPS laptop and does not remember their username and/or password, please contact their classroom teacher following the resource fair.
ST Math is game-based instructional software. The goal of ST Math is to not only help students learn important math concepts by conquering tough challenges, but also gain self confidence in the process. That means it’s okay to struggle, make mistakes and get answers wrong. Your child’s teacher will assign ST Math games for asynchronous learning. The game puzzles start off simple and then get more challenging as the student progresses. When they reach a challenging problem, they may ask for your help. A video about ST Math can be found here.
You might ask questions like:
- What do you notice about the puzzle?
- What can you click?
- What question is this puzzle asking?
- What will you do now? What do you expect to see?
- What did you learn from the previous level that can help you here?
You may need to ask these questions several times to help your child think through the math in the game. Encourage your child to take risks and ask them to explain what they learn from the wrong answer. It’s also important that your student spend enough time on the program to make an impact. The suggestion is 60 minutes per week for grades K-2 and 90 minutes for grades 3 and up. This will allow students to master concepts and persevere.
We are excited to announce that the wait is finally over and P2 For Families is officially live! P2 Partner Schools told us that this resource would be a transformative way to connect P2 to students’ homes -- and we couldn’t agree more.
P2 for Families is an easy and effective way for families to discuss the importance of character strengths and positive relationships, especially during these unique times of virtual learning. It is differentiated for grades Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Each character strength follows a 1-1-3 model: 1 quote, 1 video, and 3 questions to drive conversations around character at home.
P2 for Families can be found as “drop-down” under our Resources page and as a direct link here.
Most pages are password protected and the password is: P2. *Please note that it is case sensitive and is simply a capital letter “P” and the number “2”. We hope that you enjoy this new resource!
Our specialists team has been hard at work creating welcome videos for our incoming kindergartners. These videos can be found on our Facebook page. We hope you enjoy seeing their faces!
Every year we provide information about our Title I program. This year's information can be found within the following links: English Spanish.
Next week's parent newsletter will include guidance around what instruction will look like on Mondays, from 9-12. Stay tuned!
Each week we will highlight a few members that serve on our PTA executive board!
Mary Cunningham is the PTA President for 2020-2021. She and her husband Marcus have a rising 3rd grader at Woodburn. Mary has served previously as the PTA secretary and vice president. She loves crafts, native plants, Maine, podcasts, and midcentury modern design. Her favorite childhood book is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.
Matt Levi is the PTA Vice President for 2020-2021. He and his wife Paula Katz have a rising 1st grader at Woodburn. This is his 1st year on the board and will be in charge of coordinating classroom parents. He likes video games, live poker, and reading anti-racist non-fiction. His favorite childhood book is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
Rebecca Leach is serving her second term as PTA Treasurer for this school year. She has three kids ages 10, 7, and 4 who are on pause from FCPS this year, but will be back next year in 6th grade, 3rd grade, and Kindergarten. She loves cake decorating, the ocean, and collecting shark teeth from the beach. Her favorite childhood book is The Monster at the End of this Book.
Hello fellow Woodburn parents!
I wanted to reach out to everyone to let you know about the exciting new Girl Scout Daisy Troop 55085 at Woodburn ES! The troop will be a great opportunity for Kindergarteners and 1st Graders to learn and grow in the areas of Leadership, STEM, Outdoors, Life Skills, Teamwork, and Entrepreneurship, just to name a few! I have already registered my daughter, Nina, who will be a Kindergartener this year (she’s so excited!). If you’re interested in learning more about the Girl Scout and/or have any specific questions about how to join, please find the contact info for our Senior Girl Scout Membership Specialist, Michele Randall, below. Michele has been great to work with and is a wonderful source of information for all things Girl Scout!
Michele Randall
mrandall@gscnc.org
703-372-4352
https://www.girlscouts.org/en/our-program/our-program.html
Thank you!
Kaycee Corsini
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Do you want to celebrate a Woodburn employee who does ordinary things in an extraordinary way, or goes beyond what is expected? If so, then click here to share with everyone. |
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