It was amazing to join classes during the virtual Open House last Thursday! Thank you for participating and spending time with your child’s teacher. Hopefully you were able to see our staff welcome video created with love by 5^th grade teacher, Jesse Raines. If not, please take a few minutes to view it here.

Last week, we spent 3 ½ days distributing laptops, school supplies, student belongings from 2019 – 2020, and materials provided by the school to support distance learning. It was a lot of fun to see our lions and their families. Thank you Lemon Road PTA for the coffee, snacks, and lunch for the staff during laptop distribution! If you were not able to pick up your child’s pre-purchased EPI school supplies or the bag of additional supplies provided by Lemon Road, please email lemonroadoffice@fcps.edu to set up a time to stop by and pick up their supplies. If you did not order supplies, the photo to the right shows our recommended supplies to begin the year at home.

Need to return Lemon Road library books from the 2019-2020 school year?   Next week, Tuesday, Sept 8 - Friday, Sept 12, 9 a.m.- 7 p.m., bins will be located in front of the school for library book collection.  If you are unable to return books on those days, please contact Ms. Burke, goburke@fcps.edu or 703-714-6447, to make other arrangements. Thank you! 

Attendance will be taken Monday - Friday for the 2020 - 2021 school year. Please notify the Lemon Road Office and classroom teacher any time your child won’t be able to attend synchronous learning due to illness, an appointment, travel, or reason for attending asynchronously that day. Below are different ways you can notify us:

3 Ways to Notify the Office:

1. Submit an online attendance form https://lemonroades.fcps.edu/attendance-form
2. Attendance email:  LemonRoadElem.Attendance@fcps.edu
3. Attendance voicemail: 703-714-6464

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. 

The 2020 - 2021 school year will be like no other! Be a part of helping Lemon Road build community during this unprecedented time of virtual learning. Sign up to be a Room Parent!  What is a Room Parent?! A Room Parent can be any adult caregiver or family member interested in helping their child’s (or grandchild’s) classroom. We hope all classes will have two room parents that will collaborate to assist the teachers with building community and other class centered tasks and events.  This will be a fun and engaging experience! 

We will host an orientation for all room parents virtually late September.  If you are considering this or have any questions, reach out to Gurveen Hemrajani the Room Parent Coordinator, at gurveen.dua@gmail.com. Looking forward to supporting our teachers through a fantastic year!

A webpage has been published to support families with distance learning. The Tips for Online Learning Success page has suggestions for students, technology tips for families, troubleshooting guides, and links to the parent and student tech support sites. FCPS has created a new Parent Technology Help Desk.  If you need support with technology, you should reach out to the Parent Technology Help Desk. 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. FCPS also has existing parent information phone lines, available in eight different languages, that can assist with general questions about FCPS.

Below are several other links that will help to answer many of your technology-related questions:

Parent and Student IT Support Portal homepage

Self Help Hub

Password Management

To ensure that all students have success with our students this Fall, please complete this FCPS Parent Resources Digital Resources Parent Consent form.