Important Upcoming Dates
1/30 - Report Cards in ParentSIS
2/1 - Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories at 7pm
2/2 - Frost MS Rising 7th Grade Parent and Student Math Night
2/3 - Frost MS Rising 7th Grade Special Education Services Parent Information Night
2/15- Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories at 7pm
2/16 - New Bell Schedule Starts
IN THIS ISSUE
- New Bell Schedule
- NEW:Positivity Character Trait for February 1-5
- UPDATE: Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories
- NEW: February School Spirit Days
- PTA News
We had to share this adorable screenshot from one of our January virtual spirit days!
Greetings Fairfax Villa Families,
Last week Dr. Brabrand presented an updated timeline for Return to School to the School Board. The next meeting to continue this discussion will be at the February 2nd School Board Work Session. The School Board session will be available streaming on our FCPS website, or on your local cable channel 99 (Verizon channel 11).
Proposed Return to School Plan
Student Groups Student In-Person Start
Group 2 Preschool February 16
Teacher Preparation (asynchronous days): Completed
Group 3 ID Program February 16
Teacher Preparation (asynchronous days): Completed
Group 5 Kindergarten February 23
Teacher Preparation (asynchronous days): Completed
Group 6 Grades 1 & 2 March 9
Teacher Preparation (asynchronous days): March 4-5
Group 7 Grades 3 - 6 March 16
Teacher Preparation (asynchronous days): March 11-12
- This plan requires the bell schedule shift to begin on February 16, 2021. This will mean Fairfax Villa's school hours will be 9:45 am – 4:15 pm.
- It will also mean additional changes to the format of the school day. We will be increasing specials times to 45 minutes daily for K-6 and shifting the schedule due to the new school hours. We know that change is challenging, but these changes are required for a transition to in-person learning.
- In addition, we cannot continue a common schoolwide lunch block since that is not feasible once in-person. Your child’s classroom teacher will provide detailed information on the changes to the schedule next week after the School Board work session.
Once we know that the plan is approved, we will advertise question and answer sessions for families.
Thank you.
Dave Gerstner
Principal
1.New Bell Schedule
At the School Board Work session on January 21, Superintendent Brabrand presented a revised phased- plan to return all students who have selected the in-person option starting in February.
Barring any changes to the plan that may be impacted by the pandemic, the following bell schedule will be in place effective Tuesday, February 16, 2021 for both virtual and in- person instruction.
Fairfax Villa Return to School Bell Schedule
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Online/In-Person Instruction
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9:45AM-4:15PM
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AM Preschool
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9:45AM-1:00PM
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PM Preschool
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1:00PM-4:15PM
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We feel this plan is a significant improvement and less disruptive over what was presented in the original plan last summer.
The fifteen (15) minute reduction in the school day is due to the increased cleaning time required between bus runs. Additionally, as more students return to school, the number of students allowed on each bus will be reduced substantially to meet social distancing requirements. With fewer students able to ride a bus at the same time, FCPS has no choice but to adjust the times that our buses are transporting students.
We understand that changes may present a hardship to some of our families and staff. However, it is the only way that FCPS can return all our grade levels to in-person learning, while following the critical guidelines to help keep our students and staff safe. With the change in the actual time of school, there will be minor changes made to your child’s daily schedule. Those will be sent to parents as soon as possible.
Thank you for your understanding.
2.Positivity Character Trait for February 1-5:
POSITIVITY CHARACTER TRAIT OF THE WEEK (February 1- 5 ): INTEGRITY
What does INTEGRITY mean? Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody's watching. People with integrity practice what they preach and maintain a consistent pattern of behavior aligned with their values. They have the courage not to follow the crowd if it means going against their beliefs. A person who lacks integrity could be described as pretentious, hypocritical, or insincere. They are pretending to be something that they’re not or they’re saying one thing and then doing another.
WHY DOES IT MATTER? Integrity is vital to individual growth. It is correlated with a multitude of psychological well-being measures. Harmony in your feelings, thoughts, and actions makes you better able to personally grow and achieve goals. On a group level, integrity is a cornerstone of high-functioning and sustainable teams, organizations, and societies.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Whoever is careless about the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” -ALBERT EINSTEIN
3.Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories
Thank you to all those families who joined us on January 18th for our Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories.We loved hearing Ms. Rivera, Ms. O’Lare, and Ms. Case read their favorite books to us.
Our next Dragon Dream Bedtime Stories will be on Monday, February 1st at 7:00. Our readers this time will be Ms. An, Ms. Wilkins, and Ms. van Gelder-Hindman.
Please join us then using this link. The BBC link will be available beginning at 6:45 PM. Because of the large group, the audio, video, and chat are automatically turned off.
We can’t wait to see you! Put on your coziest pajamas and join us for some delightful stories.
 4.February School Spirit Days
Let's continue to show our LOVE for the Villa during the month of February with more Virtual Villa Spirit Days. Showing our school spirit helps us to feel connected to each other even when we can't be together. Get ready to show us your Villa Spirit!!!
 5.PTA News
The following message is sent on behalf of the Fairfax Villa ES School PTA. Its content reflects the PTA.
PTA Meeting Recording
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our PTA meeting this week! If you missed it, you can watch a recording here:
https://us.bbcollab.com/recording/95d35865f6214504945106833b9b04c9
Upcoming PTA Meetings
The Fairfax County Council PTA (FCCPTA) and Little Run Elementary School PTA are hosting a Woodson Pyramid PTA meeting with your elected Braddock District School Board Representative, Megan McLaughlin, on Wednesday, February 3, from 7-8 PM. Please send any questions you may have for Ms. McLaughlin to villapta@gmail.com prior to the event. Link to join the meeting:
Bio for Ms. McLaughlin: https://www.fcps.edu/school-board/megan-mclaughlin
Fairfax County Special Education PTA (SEPTA) Events
Each month, Fairfax County SEPTA hosts many events for parents of students with disabilities. You can find a full list of their one-time and ongoing/on demand events here: https://fairfaxcountysepta.org/upcoming-community-events/
Virginia PTA Citizenship Essay Contest
Virginia PTA is committed to promoting a sense of citizenship and responsibility in the lives of our children – tomorrow’s leaders. To demonstrate the value that Virginia PTA places on good citizenship, we are proud to sponsor, support, and encourage Virginia students to write an essay for the 2021 Citizenship Essay Contest. This year’s selected theme is “How can we stand together when we are so far apart?”
Application deadline: February 1, 2021
Details and online submission is OPEN HERE.
AmazonSmile
You can support the Fairfax Villa PTA, and our kids and teachers, while you shop! Visit smile.amazon.com and choose the Fairfax Villa Elementary PTA as your charity, and AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your order total to the PTA.
PTA Membership
PTA Membership is still open! Please join online at https://fairfaxvilla.memberhub.store/. Memberships are $10/person. If you would like to pay by check or need financial assistance, please contact Jessie at villapta@gmail.com.
On-Line Math Tutoring
A local Math tutoring company is offering Villa parents a special rate for anyone who wants to give their children some one-on-one math tutoring at a really reasonable rate.
https://www.learnzoe.com/
A percentage of all sales to Villa parents will go to math scholarship programs. Entering the code - ZOEFV2020 gets parents a free introductory offer!
Parents can redeem that gift code without entering credit card details at: https://www.learnzoe.com/purchase-assessment
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