Important Upcoming Dates
9/21 Virtual Back to School Event - more information to come
9/23 Virtual PTA Meeting
10/12 School Planning Day / Student Holiday
IN THIS ISSUE
- Resolving Laptop Issues
- Laptop Requests
- Library Book Distribution
- NEW: Asynchronous Work/Specialized Instruction Time
- NEW:Send me your pics!
- Registration for Band and Strings
- Health Information and Emergency Care Forms
- Parent Approval Needed for Digital Resources
- Student Passwords
- Laptops at Home
- Student Attendance for the 2020-21 School Year
- Family Life Education Instructional Program Information
- PTA News
1. Resolving Laptop Issues
Please do not call the school to get tech issues resolved. It is important to have your request documented. Thanks for using the parent help desk and site below.
Even if your child gets a message from FCPS to change the password, please do NOT do that. Those messages have been sent to some students in error!
If you are having any problems with the laptop you were issued from Fairfax Villa, the first place to go is this parent help website. It has troubleshooting ideas for everything from finding your child’s google account to how to resolve audio/video issues.There is a helpline (833-921-3277) that you can call from 7am to 11pm 7 days a week. If you need a translator for your call, please let them know.
If none of those fix your problems, there is also a link where parents can put in a RequestIT to the FCPS Service Desk. Please do not let your students put in a RequestIT. There are also parent information phone lines in different languages. Please do not contact your child’s teacher about technology problems unless it is a classroom specific issue (i.e. Google classroom code).
2. Laptop Requests
If you have not yet requested a laptop and would still like to have one for your student, you will need to fill out the form below. As of Tuesday, the only times to pick up a laptop are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 noon. If you make a reservation on the form below, please be there or call the school to let us know.
Fill out the information in this form. On the day you choose, you may come by yourself or bring your student. You should allow about 15 minutes to follow the directions you will be given to log into the laptop and check a few items that are needed by your child. Please fill out the form at least one day before you plan to pick up the laptop so that we have time to get your child’s laptop ready. Be sure to wear a mask and bring your own pen. You will come to the school office to get your laptop.
If you have put in a RequestIT via the parent tech portal, please be patient as we are working to get those issues resolved. Do not put in a duplicate request - that will only delay our response and ability to help you.
3.Library Book Distribution
Hello, families! I am Mrs. Case and I am thrilled to be the new librarian at Fairfax Villa this year! I have been at Fairfax Villa for the last 10 years as a fifth and second grade teacher and am so excited to support your children in the library this year.
To help support students’ access to books, we are going to be holding a weekly curbside checkout event where students can pick up library books they choose. To support this process, students will need to put books on hold in the school library catalog; I will then check out those books to the student and have them ready to be picked up at our curbside events. There will be no browsing during the curbside checkout, only picking up books previously put on hold. I will show students how to put books on hold during their library lessons in the first month of school. Here is a screencast showing you how students will put books on hold.
Putting Books on Hold Screencast
To make the process run smoothly, students should put books on hold by Thursday night before the event. Students will receive an email to their FCPS Gmail accounts when their holds are ready, so students should check before the curbside event to make sure their books are available to be picked up. I appreciate your support in helping your child choose appropriate books and get into the routine of putting their choices on hold.
The first checkout event will be on September 22 and will occur every Tuesday from 12:00 – 1:00. Any time in that window, you can come by Fairfax Villa to pick up books your child has put on hold. The books will be on a table right inside the main door of the school. When you come to the school , you can walk up and just take the books labeled with your child’s name. They will already be checked out to them.
To return library books, you may come by the school between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm and put the books in the box in the blue cart inside Door #1.
Lastly, on Monday afternoons, we will be traveling to Waples Mobile Home Park office parking lot and Robinson Square community building parking lot to distribute books. This will begin on September 21st and the times are listed below:
- 1:00 Waples
- 1:30 Robinson Square
I am looking forward to working with your children this year and supporting them in having great books to read!
4. Asynchronous Work/Specialized Instruction Time
What is Asynchronous Work/Specialized Instruction time?
This block of the day will look different for each student. Some students might work on assignments in Google Classroom and others might be engaged in a website in the Clever Portal. Teachers might ask students to use the class link for small group work while others might use a different link to work on language arts and math practice with another teacher. It is important that your child check Google Mail regularly for BBCU links and/or Google Meet links and pay close attention to the classroom teacher to find out what they need to do during this part of the day. Specialized Instruction starts this Monday.
5. Send me your pics!
Over the next couple of weeks, if you have created learning activities that your children have enjoyed, please email me at drgerstner@fcps.edu with a picture and brief description so that I can share them in upcoming weekly messages.
6. Registration for Band or Strings
Would you like to be part of something “noteworthy” this year? Consider joining BAND (for 5th & 6th graders) or STRINGS (for 4th, 5th, & 6th graders)! Ms. Ammirati (band) and Ms. Reilly (strings) would be delighted to welcome you to their classes and promises there’ll be lots of awesome music-making and fun! Please take a look at the resources below to help guide your decision about joining one of the exciting programs! Online registration closes on Friday, September 18th and must be completed via the Google Form included in these links.
Questions? Please email Ms. Ammirati (cmammirati@fcps.edu) or Ms. Reilly (eareilly@fcps.edu). Thank you!
BAND: https://sites.google.com/view/fvesband
STRINGS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YHpZ_hVnYU-InR6h0QnV0692LRKMRWTr6w0JyMyza4w/edit?usp=sharing
7. Health Information and Emergency Care Forms
The Health Information Form (HIF) (SS/SE -71) and the Emergency Care Information form (SS/SE-3) provide valuable information regarding student health conditions. These forms are critical in the early identification of students who may need healthcare support in the educational environment. Along with the development of Healthcare Plans (HCP) and Action Plans, the Public Health Nurses (PHN) utilize the information contained in the HIF to develop teaching strategies for FCPS staff in order to meet the requirements of Regulation 2104 Health Services-School Health Related Needs.
As the school year begins virtually, it is important to communicate to our Fairfax Villa parents that both these forms are required for all students for SY 20-21 and are available for electronic submission by parents via their FCPS 24/7 (Blackboard) accounts within the weCare@school (weCare) module.
8. Parent Approval Needed Now For Digital Resources
All parents are required to visit this page on our Fairfax Villa website to find the information and the link to the form that all parents need to submit for approval of digital resources. The information page lists the digital tools that may be used at Fairfax Villa that require parental approval. Not all tools will be used by every student. The tools have been carefully reviewed to ensure that they align with the FCPS Learning Model and FCPS conducts the same technical evaluations for all products that use student information.
Please click here to get the link and submit your approval as soon as you can. Until you do, your child will not be able to use any of the tools that the teacher may want to use with the rest of the class. Teachers are able to see which parents have approved use of the resources.
https://fairfaxvillaes.fcps.edu/adopteddigitalresources
9. Student Passwords
Student passwords will not expire this year! Your student can continue to login to their FCPS computer, Google Apps, FCPS 24/7 Blackboard, and other FCPS applications that require their username and password.
Password Recovery: (Rising 1st-6th only) We encourage parents to setup password recovery information for their student using the FCPS Account Manager system located here https://itweb.fcps.edu/AccountManager/
10. Laptops at Home
. If you currently have an FCPS issued laptop at home, please help your school’s technology team prepare devices to receive county updates by doing the following once per week until school starts:
- Plug the laptop into an outlet.
- Turn the laptop on and let it boot up.
- Login to ensure it connects to the internet at that location.
- Launch Google Chrome and visit the FCPS website to ensure the internet is connected on the computer.
- Leave the laptop on and connected to the internet for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, the laptop may be shut down.
11. Student Attendance for the 2020-21 School Year
Attendance Form at https://fairfaxvillaes.fcps.edu/attendance-form
You may use the online form to submit your student's absence or late arrival. This information will be emailed directly to the Attendance Office. If you have any questions, please contact our attendance office at 703-267-2828. By submitting this form, you do NOT need to call the office to report the absence/late arrival NOR do you need to write an actual note. This attendance form is to be submitted by the parent/legal guardian only.
In Virginia, students enrolled in public schools are required to attend school regularly, regardless of the type of instruction offered. Our students need to be present, engaged, and supported as they return for the 2020-21 school year. Teachers will take attendance daily and ensure that all students are counted.
During our virtual opening:
- FCPS must record student attendance every school day.
- Parents should report their student’s absences to school any day students are unable to participate in learning, including on Mondays. They may report the absences by calling the school attendance line or emailing the school-designated attendance address.
- When parents do not report their students’ absences, teachers and school personnel will call to identify the student’s absence reasons.
- An eNotify (electronic) message will reach parents about the student absence.
- Parents then can reach the school and provide information about the student absences.
Common reason why students may not be able to participate in virtual learning:
- Student illnesses
- Religious holiday observances
- Temporary family hardship, such as temporary relocation
- Lack of reliable Internet connection.School personnel need to know if families are experiencing challenges in accessing online instruction, so that they can offer support and connect families to resources.
- Stay in contact with your students’ schools so that we can work together to support their learning.
12.Family Life Education Instructional Program Information (REVISED)
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) provides a comprehensive, sequential Family Life Education (FLE) program for students in grades kindergarten through grade twelve. Instruction is seen as a partnership among parents and guardians, the school, and the community in supporting the learning essential to the development of strong families, positive relationships, and a healthy community.
Parents/guardians may choose to opt their child out of all or part of the Family Life Education program. Students who are opted out are provided with age-appropriate, nonpunitive alternative health instruction, and every effort is made to foster respect for family choices. If you wish to opt your child out of all or part of FLE for this school year, opt out forms will be included in your child’s back-to-school/orientation packets and are available online for Elementary (K-6) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-family-life-education , Please fill in the opt-out form and return it to your child’s school prior to Family Life Education instruction.
Detailed grade-level program descriptions are available online at Elementary (K-6) . FLE grade level-specific lessons and media that FCPS has streaming rights for are available for parents online in FCPS 24-7 (Blackboard) Parent View https://fcps.blackboard.com/. Account information is available at your local school or online at http://www.fcps.edu/is/instructionaltechnology/247help/parents.shtml. Grade level-specific lessons are also available at the Fairfax County Regional Library in the City of Fairfax (this location does not have media). Grade level-specific lessons and media that is not streamed online are available for review at your child’s school library. Due to copyright permissions, we are unable to stream all media online.
Program questions may be addressed at your child’s school or by contacting Instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by contacting Carrie Reynolds, Health and Physical Education Coordinator at cfreynolds@fcps.edu.
13. PTA News
The following message is sent on behalf of the Fairfax Villa ES School PTA. Its content reflects the views of the PTA.
Memberships
Membership is open for the 2020-2021 school year! Please join online at https://fairfaxvilla.memberhub.store/.
PTA Meeting
Mark your calendars for the first PTA meeting of the year! We will be meeting virtually on Wednesday, September 23 at 7:00 PM. Join us by using this Blackboard link:
https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/e553065b5c314a049de3492858780664
Please contact Jessie Crain & Simon Bowyer (CO-PRESIDENTS) anytime with questions at villapta@gmail.com.
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