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The Principal's Desk!
Greetings Families,
This past Tuesday our FCPS School Board supported the Return to School updated plan. I shared a video yesterday with detailed information about how the plan will be implemented at Daniels Run. Please join us for our monthly PTA meeting Tuesday (2/9) at 7:00pm and we will have a question/answer session.
This month we celebrate the many achievements and contributions made by Black and African Americans. Please click here for a list of events offered by The National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Please contact me directly at cmsmith@fcps.edu or call the main office (703-279-8400) if there is anything our school team can do to support your student and family.
Thanks for your support,
Chris Smith
Daniels Run ES Principal
Celebrate a DRES Staff Member - FCPS Cares.
Daniels Run is a Meal Kit Site Starting
February 3rd!
Starting this week, many of the FCPS Grab and Go food distribution sites are switching from daily food pickup to weekly Fairfax Meal Kit distribution. Fairfax Meal Kits contain seven days of breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and supper (at certain sites) items packed in bulk. The meal kits will be available for pick up every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or until supplies are exhausted. Bus route pickups remain unchanged.
Go to the Food Distribution website to see if your meal site is changing.
During January and February, these sites will also be distributing fresh, local fruits and vegetables. Families that pick up no-cost meals will also be provided a fresh fruit or vegetable sourced from a local farm for each child, along with an activity sheet and recipe for that item. The item will vary each week, and will be available on the following dates:
February 3, 10, 17
As a reminder, it is important to follow social distancing guidelines. Be sure to stand a minimum of 6 feet apart from others and practice regular hand washing, including prior to leaving a residence to pick-up meals, upon returning home, and before consuming food. Please wear a mask when picking up the meal kits.
Calendar Reminder: Schools and Offices Closed on February 15 for Presidents Day Holiday
As a reminder, all schools and offices will be closed on Monday, February 15, for the Presidents Day holiday. Students are not expected to complete asynchronous assignments that day. Classes will resume on Tuesday, February 16. See the complete 2020-21 school year calendar.
Updated Progress Report Parent Information
This year’s virtual start to the school year has created some modifications to the way your child’s teacher marks the Qtr. 1 and Qrt. 2 Elementary Progress Report. The information below serves as guidance for understanding the marks and any modifications that have been made due to our current environment.
Stop the Spread: Protect Yourself and Slow the Spread of COVID-19
Your actions keep all of us healthy, and we need to keep it up and continue working together to help slow the spread of COVID-19. There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. Testing, contact tracing, and staying home and away from others when sick or after contact with someone who is sick, are also critical to help “box in” COVID-19 and prevent it from spreading further in our community.
Let's Meet Our Staff!
Diana Barton
Hello DRES Community! I’m so happy to be working with six grade this year as a special education teacher. Even though I have that title, I love working with ALL students. This is my fourteenth year as a teacher and in FCPS. I was an elementary ESOL teacher for eight years before changing to special education. I live in Fairfax with my two sons, who are in fourth and sixth grade. We spend our time cooking, playing mahjong, growing vegetables, and tending to our honeybees. Unlike my sons, I was born on Long Island in New York. I grew up sailing and I miss going to the beach every day.
This year has been quite the adventure. Thank you for your wonderful children and all you do!
Kid's Heart Challenge
Hey Daniels Run Families,
Did you know, February is healthy heart month? During the month of February, Mrs. Forbes and Ms. Piller, in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA), will be leading Daniels Run in the Kids Heart Challenge. The Kids Heart Challenge encourages students to do 1 of 3 actions each and every day; Move more, drink more water, and display acts of kindness. These actions align with the Health & PE curriculum and with aspects of the Positivity Project here at DRES! In addition, we have an opportunity to raise money for the AHA (which is optional) and the PE program at DRES. If interested in fundraising, students will have the opportunity to win individual prizes and schoolwide rewards. Students will learn more during PE the week of 1/25-1/29. For more information and to sign up, click the link here (Kids Heart Challenge Info)!”
Yearbook Cover Contest!
We are looking for our wonderful artists to help make our yearbook the best ever. Please consider submitting an entry. If you have any questions or to submit an entry, please email Mr. Parker: mrparker@fcps.edu
Positivity Project
Love means you value close relationships with others and being close to people. Love represents the way we think, feel, and behave towards the people with whom we have close relationships. When one person loves another person, that person: comforts and makes the other feel safe; sacrifices on the other’s behalf; supports the other during struggles; and places the other’s needs ahead of their own. If you love a person, that person makes you feel safe and secure. You can be yourself with that person.
Music News!
MOVIE MUSIC KARAOKE: February 18
If you want to sing, enter the lottery by clicking here. The lottery closes at 4pm, February 8. 20 student's names will be randomly chosen and everyone will be emailed on February 9 to announce who was selected. If you just want to watch, just come to the Karaoke Google Classroom on Thursday, February 18 to hear your classmates sing! Click here to join the Karaoke Google Classroom. Contact Miss McCarten with any questions.
Attendance Matters!
- This is the time of year when winter weather and children’s illnesses can take a toll on school attendance. But it’s important to get your children to school every day possible.
- If you are unsure whether to send your children to school, consult your doctor or this website for guidance: https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/policies-regulations-and-notices/attendance-policies/attendance-when-should-i-send-my. Our school nurse is also a terrific resource for chronic health conditions.
- Do what you can to keep your children healthy. Dress them warmly for the cold weather and make sure they’ve got hats and gloves. Encourage them to wash their hands regularly, and send them to school with a bottle of hand sanitizer.
- Help your child learn to persevere. Today, he learns to overcome a snowdrift. In the future, he will have the grit to triumph over even greater obstacles to his dreams.
FCPS Cares!
FCPS CARES is an opportunity for staff, parents, students, and community members to recognize FCPS employees for going above and beyond to help others. Every month, a nominated employee from each region and Central Offices will be recognized as an FCPS CARES of the Month recipient. We’ll share their names in Employee News, and they will also have access to a new FCPS CARES banner for their profile photo in Outlook. Watch this video to learn more about FCPS CARES. We also encourage you to acknowledge a staff member who has gone above and beyond
FCPS Announces Open Enrollment for Dual Language Immersion Programs
Fairfax County Public Schools’ online registration for the county-wide lottery for Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs will open on Monday, January 25. Current prekindergarten students may apply for the kindergarten immersion program and current kindergarten students may apply for the first grade immersion programs for the 2021-22 school year.
The kindergarten DLI programs are available in Korean and Spanish. Korean is available at Powell and Spanish is available at Bailey’s Elementary, Fort Hunt, Lake Anne, Laurel Ridge, London Towne, and Rose Hill Elementary Schools. First grade DLI programs are available at 12 elementary schools and are offered in French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
Information Meetings Ongoing
Parents who are interested in the DLI programs in FCPS are encouraged to attend an informational meeting. All meetings are held virtually. Information regarding virtual meeting access will be made available on the Dual Language Immersion registration site by the day of the meeting.
Get more information on Dual Language Immersion programs.
Elementary Magnet Schools Information Nights to Be Held February 16, 17, 18; Applications Accepted March 2 - April 6
Fairfax County Public Schools will be accepting applications for its elementary magnet school programs beginning Tuesday, March 2. Bailey’s Primary School for the Arts and Sciences will accept lottery applications for students who will be in grades K-2 during the 2020-21 school year; Bailey’s Upper School for the Arts and Sciences will accept applications for students in grades 3 and 4. Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences will accept lottery applications for students who will enter grades K-6 during the 2019-20 school year.
Selection for available magnet school spaces is based on a lottery. Registration for the elementary magnet school lottery closes on Tuesday, April 6, at 4 p.m.
Parents are strongly encouraged to attend virtual school-based information nights on Tuesday, February 16, for Bailey’s Elementary; Wednesday, February 17, for Bailey’s Upper; and Thursday, February 18, for Hunters Woods. These information nights will provide the opportunity to learn about individual school programs, student eligibility, the lottery process, and available transportation.
Get more information about parent information nights and the magnet school lottery.
Is Your FCPS Laptop Running Slow or Having Connectivity Issues?
- It is important to RESTART your FCPS laptop daily. If possible, go to an FCPS site once each week or every other week, log in and restart your laptop twice. Doing this at an FCPS location on the FCPS network allows your computer to get valuable and necessary updates.
- More help for troubleshooting other issues you may experience can be found on FCPS’s website: Tech Support for Families. It may behoove students to bookmark this site, as it will help solve most common problems. Obviously we want our students to have the best experience possible in this virtual environment!
Parent/Student Tech Support Portal
To support families who are working with their children during distance learning, Fairfax County Public Schools is launching a new 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.
Parents or guardians who need help in a language other than English should let help desk staff know, and a 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.
Register for Upcoming Free Webinars from the FCPS Parent Resource Center
The FCPS Parent Resource Center (PRC) is offering four free parent webinars in February. They are:
- Teen Depression: A Webinar for Families, on Friday, February 5, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
- From Chaos to Calm: Strategies for Families to Create Calm and Confidence in the Midst of Chaos and Uncertainty - A Webinar for Families, on Friday, February 12, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
- Strategies to Support Social Emotional Learning at Home: A Webinar for Families, on Wednesday, February 17, 6:30 to 8 p.m., or Friday, February 19, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
- Is it Over Yet? How to Help your Child Cope with the Pandemic and the Eventual Return to Normalcy: A Webinar for Families, on Friday, February 26, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
More information on each session and how to register is available online.
Note: Previous webinars have been recorded and can be viewed on the PRC YouTube channel.
PTA NEWS!
We LOVE our Dragons
Pick up your valentine from the PTA on picture day. Not coming to picture day? Email drepresident@gmail.com to get a valentine or...there will be a plastic box outside the main doors of DRES. Come by and grab one anytime.
Share the Love
We know that showing love and gratitude can greatly increase personal happiness and contentment. We want to use those great Positivity Project character strengths to help spread that joy. Please help us show our love for Daniels Run. Decorate a heart any way you choose (we will be passing out some supplies at picture day) and share with us! Send a picture via email to dresecretary@gmail.com to be part of a school collage. Then, if you can, take your heart to Daniels Run and tape it to the front doors between February 11th-14th.
Dine out at Papa Johns and help the PTA
Use Promo code DRES4010 any Thursday to save 40% off your order and donate 10% back to the PTA.
PTA Meeting - February 9th at 7 pm
Please join us for our February PTA meeting on February 9th at 7 via Google Meet - meet.google.com/cdi-ufjb-tss.The meeting will feature the 1st grade team, Q&A with Mr. Smith and PTA updates.
Important Dates
February 9-PTA Meeting
February 15-President's Day-No School
February 16-Bell Schedule Change
Updated Return to School Timeline
Below is the return to school timeline.
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Preschool/PAC /Enhanced Autism students
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February 16
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Kindergarten
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February 23
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Grades 1 & 2
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March 9
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Grades 3-6
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March 16
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Daniels Run revised bell schedule will be from 9:00am to 3:30pm and will start on February 16th.
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