Keene Mill News & Notes

Mark Your Calendar

October 23 - Virtual PTA Costume Bingo, 6:30 PM

October 27- Ledo Pizza PTA Spirit Night 5:00 PM-9:00 PM

October 30-End of First Quarter/School Dismisses 2-Hours Early

October 30-Show your Character Car Parade, 2:15 p.m.

November 2-3 - Student Holidays

November 5 -Military Family Night, 7:00 PM

November 11 - Veteran's Day

November 17- Panera PTA Spirit Night 4:00 PM-8:00 PM

November 25-27 - Thanksgiving Holiday

December 9- Chipotle PTA Spirit Night 5:00 PM-9:00 PM

 


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KMES Named 2020 Virginia Purple Star School!

We are excited to announce that Keene Mill ES has been recognized with the 2020 Virginia Purple Star Designation, which is awarded to military-friendly schools that have demonstrated a major commitment to students and families connected to our nation’s military. KMES will receive a special Purple Star recognition to display onsite. Many thanks to our counselor, Melanie Lessard, for leading our Purple-Hearted Kangas in this effort. Congratulations to the entire KMES community on this well-deserved recognition. 


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KMES Pumpkin Patch

KMES will be hosting a pumpkin patch for our families this year. If you would like to participate, please decorate your pumpkin based on one of your family's favorite books! Place your pumpkin in the wooded area across from the front of the school building on Monday, October 26th. The pumpkins will be on display in front of the school that week, and you can drive or walk by on Bardu Ave. to see all the pumpkins in our pumpkin patch. Come pick up your family’s pumpkin by Monday, November 2nd.


Show Your Character Car Parade

On Friday, October 30th, at 2:15 pm KMES families will have the option to decorate their cars and/or dress up as characters from a favorite book! Please make sure you bring the book with you so people can see who you are dressed up to be. Then come to school and drive through the Kiss and Ride line to wave to fellow students and teachers from your car. (No walking, please!) We hope to see you there! 


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Positivity Project

This year, Keene Mill will continue implementing the Positivity Project (P2). P2 is dedicated to empowering America’s youth to build strong relationships and to understand, appreciate, and exemplify the character strengths in us all.

Next week students will be learning about Forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the ability to move past being injured and to allow yourself to reconcile with the person who hurt you. Forgiveness can often be seen as a selfless act, but it also carries many benefits for those who practice it. Those who demonstrate forgiveness have the ability to move forward after someone has hurt them. Forgiveness is often rooted in the idea that all people are valuable and worthy of a second chance. 


Required Forms to Complete Now

Health Information

Emergency Care Form

Digital Resource Permission

Identification of Military Connected Students

Students Rights and Responsibility (SR&R) 


Is Your Child's Teacher Doing an Amazing Job?

The FCPS Cares Program is an opportunity for parents, staff, and community members to recognize FCPS employees for going above and beyond to help others and show they care. We invite you to submit your story so we can acknowledge our Keene Mill teachers and staff members. 


KMES Library Curbside Pick-Up

We are excited to share that the Keene Mill library is now open for returns and curbside pickup of books for 5th and 6th grade students every Monday from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Students will need to log in to the library catalog to put books on hold (click HERE for directions). When the books are ready, students and their parents/guardians will receive a notification via e-mail, and they will sign up for a pickup time through Sign Up Genius.  

Please see this FAQ PAGE for more information or contact Mrs. Cleveland at amcleveland@fcps.edu


Elementary Progress Reports - Go Paperless

The “Go Paperless” option is now available to all elementary school parents to allow parents to only receive online progress reports starting the first quarter of School Year 2020-21. Choosing this option will not impact any mailings from FCPS other than the progress reports for elementary school students and report cards for secondary students.

To take advantage of the paperless options, parents and/or guardians must log into ParentVUE, then go to “My Account” and select "Go Paperless".  All parents and/or guardians who live with the student and share the same address must have a SIS ParentVUE account and must select the paperless option to prevent mailing of the printed progress reports.

The “Go Paperless” option will apply to all associated students, no matter what school level. If the associated parent and/or guardian has already selected “Go Paperless” for their secondary student, the option will now apply to any elementary school siblings as well.

If you do not have a ParentVue Account, please contact our registrar, Chris Franco, at CJFranco@fcps.edu


VKRP Information for Kindergarten Parents

The Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP) provides actionable information that will assist teachers, leaders, and parents/guardians in supporting student success in school and to better understand school readiness skills across the state of Virginia. This fall your student will participate in the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) component of the Virginia Kindergarten readiness program. The CBRS rating scale is used for both self-regulation and social skills and is completed after 3-4 weeks of observation. More information about the assessment can be found on the FCPS Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program Parent Notification webpage. For questions, please contact your child’s teacher.


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Ledo Pizza PTA Spirit Night

Please come support KMES PTA at Ledo Pizza on Tuesday, October 27, from 5:00 PM-9:00 PM.  The address is 8324 Old Keene Mill Rd West Springfield, VA 22152.  Please bring the attached flyer for dine-in.  Mention “Keene Mill Spirit Night” for take-out orders.  We will receive 20% of all orders!


PTA Virtual Costume Bingo on October 23!

Dress up as your favorite character and join us for our annual PTA Costume Bingo at 6:30 p.m.  This year is will be virtual, and it will be free to participate and to earn prizes! Information about how to participate will be shared via eNotify.


Join the KMES PTA! 

The PTA’s mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.  

To become a PTA member, visit the KMES PTA Membership page at Keenemillpta.ptboard.com. The cost of membership is $15.76 for a family and $10.61 for an individual (includes online processing fee).