 Dear Families,
I wanted to take a moment to express my deep appreciation for our school’s partnership with families and the CWES PTA.
The 2020-2021 PTA, led by President Alexa Krezel, has been incredibly supportive of CWES over the past year. Families’ donations helped us purchase the program PearDeck and provided funding for teachers to equip their virtual and now concurrent classrooms.
The PTA helps us in our quest for continuous instructional improvement. A grassroots vertical committee of teachers have been meeting this year discuss ways to strengthen the foundations of our students' literacy skills; the PTA voted to fund our purchase of books that will support the acquisition and application of phonics skills for our students.
The PTA has been a creative partner this year, finding ways to build community and uphold CWES traditions, such as with the Reflections contest (winners announced below), the upcoming Virtual Bingo Night on March 19 and the Spring Read-A-Thon, starting March 22! For updates on these and other PTA events, be sure to register on the PTA Board website at https://www.ptboard.com/nlg/register (PTA membership is encouraged but not required to receive newsletters).
At our general membership meeting March 3, the 2021-2022 Executive Board nominees were introduced. I was delighted and surprised to learn that three of these board members are married to CWES alumni, committed to sharing cougar pride with their own children! If you missed the meeting (which included school counselor Becca Wilson's presentation on supporting your children through the Return to School transition), the recording is here.
Our Canterbury Woods families have proven over and again this year that school is not a place. I am so honored to lead this special community!
Warm regards,
Diane Leipzig, Dr. L
CONGRATULATIONS CANTERBURY WOODS PTA REFLECTIONS PARTICIPANTS!
 Thank you to all of the PTA Reflections Program participants. Below are the awards students received:
Award of Merit
- Penelope Martin, Visual Arts - Primary, "A Loving Family"
Award of Excellence
- Rae Wang, Visual Arts - Primary, "Cupid's Story"
Outstanding Interpretation:
- Caris Sandrene, Visual Arts - Primary, "Dream Love"
- Kristine Le, Literature - Intermediate, "The Lion Guard Season 4"
- Kristine Le, Film Production - Intermediate, "Audio-book-The Lion Guard Season 4"
- Willa Demmon, Visual Arts - Intermediate, "Who I Am"
- Molly Corcoran, Visual Arts - Middle School, "Tree of Matter"
Congratulations to all of our artists! Those submissions receiving the Outstanding Interpretation Award moved forward to judging at the Fairfax County level. The winners of the Fairfax County Council PTAs Reflections Program can be seen on their website: Fairfax County Reflections Program. Questions? Contact Allison Hagner.
Some of you have turned your commitment to our students into a role on our staff! We are so grateful for these members of the larger CWES community for stepping up to serve our students. We are still hiring for one monitor (position description here), a dining room hostess (and with only 40 students at a time, our cafeteria is practically a peaceful oasis) and a part-time custodian! If you are drawn to serve the students and staff of CWES in this way, please reach out to Ms. Milliron with your resume at mamilliron@fcps.edu.
These new (or returning) CWES staff members will be helping to support our in-person instruction this year! Please join me in warmly welcoming these members of our community!
New Instructional Assistants
Kindergarten, Elizabeth Murphy
 Elizabeth Murphy joins the Kindergarten team as Mrs. Callahan’s new Instructional Assistant. In addition to supporting virtual instruction, Mrs. Murphy will be serving as the in-person monitor for students accessing Mrs. Callahan’s instruction from the building.
Elizabeth Murphy is happy to join the CWES family. Before becoming a stay at home mother to her three children, she was a teacher and then an assistant principal in the greater Richmond metro area. She is excited to return to education to assist Kindergarteners this year.
Fourth Grade, Karen Smith
 Karen Smith joins us to support in-person instruction for the fourth-grade team.
Karen is thrilled to be joining the CWES team as an Instructional Assistant. She is a recent graduate of George Mason University, and has a background working with children as a private music teacher and an after-school care staff member. She enjoys hiking, reading, and making music. Karen hopes to contribute to the success and well-being of the students at CWES!
We are excited to introduce you to five monitors who will support our students who are accessing virtual instruction. Monitoring groups range in size from 4 to 13. They will combine with one other in-person student group for recess and breaks, in cohorts of no larger than 20.
Maggie Sawaya, First Grade (Th/F)
 Maggie Sawaya, mom to a first grader, worked at CWES last year as an Instructional Assistant and joins the first-grade team as monitor for first graders in Mrs. Tredinnick and Mrs. Carroll’s classes.
“I am very excited to be returning to CWES supporting students as a Classroom Monitor. I worked as a 6th grade Instructional Assistant for the 2019-2020 school year both in-person and virtually. I am grateful to have been home helping my first grader with virtual school since this past September. When life returns to normal, my family and I look forward to once again traveling, and spending time with family and friends.”
Katie Friesen, Second Grade (Tu/W)
 Katie Friesen, mom to a first grader and third grader, is excited to join the second-grade team to support second graders in Mrs. Crump’s and Mrs. Stephens’s classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
“I'm a native northern Virginian, FCPS grad, and Canterbury Woods parent. My career is in web development. In my spare time I enjoy playing with my kids, getting outside, and reading.”
Michelle Choman, Second Grade (Th/F)
 Michelle Choman, retired first grade teacher, is returning to CWES on the second-grade team to serve as monitor for second graders in Mrs. Crump’s and Mrs. Stephens’s classes on Thursdays and Fridays.
“I am recently retired, having taught grades 1 and 2 during my 15 years as a Canterbury Woods teacher. Prior to teaching I was a cued language transliterator for 8 years at CWES before returning to school to earn my teaching license and master’s degree in education. Starting out as a young professional in the early 1980s, I was employed as a paralegal for 11 years working in two Washington, D.C. law firms. I live in the neighborhood with my husband Tom, also retired, as well as a mischievous orange tabby named Sunshine. Some of my retirement activities include reading, catching up on Netflix shows, making “honey do” lists for Tom and helping to plan our daughter, Sarah’s, shower and wedding. We made Canterbury Woods our neighborhood school back in 1994 when Sarah began kindergarten! Canterbury Woods has always had a special place in our hearts. I am delighted to be back at CWES, to help as a classroom monitor.”
Third Grade (Tu-F), Mary Abigail Reinhardt
 Mary Abigail Reinhardt, mom of CWES alumni, joins the third-grade team to support students Tuesday through Friday in Ms. Quadri’s, Ms. Desposito’s, Ms. Haas’s and Ms. Helmer’s classes.
“I am very excited to be joining CWES as a classroom monitor. I have truly enjoyed working with the Engagement and Intervention groups these past few weeks and seeing the smiling eyes of happy kids back at school. I am fortunate that both my children attended Canterbury Woods so I am already familiar with many of you! We are a Navy family and have moved many times, but this is our fourth school year here in Annandale. I have enjoyed being home for many years with my kids, but I am thrilled to be back to work at such a wonderful school.”
Cindy Dickerson, Fourth through Sixth Grades (Tu-F)
Cindy Dickinson, grandma to a future CWES kindergartner, is supporting the upper grades, to include students in Mr. Svercl’s, Ms. Adams’s, Ms. Mouneimne’s and Ms. Nelson’s classes, and monitored classes in sixth grade.
“I was previously a Pre-K Assistant Teacher at a Montessori School in Chantilly. I was led into that position by caring for my grandson for 4 years. He lives in the CWES neighborhood and is a future Cougar!”
Some of these wonderful team members supported the Engagement Intervention Program. We are excited for the full monitor team to begin this week as our first and second graders return to the building!
Have you been to our website recently? The recordings for our recent parent information sessions about Young Scholars and Return to School are linked from the home page for your convenience. You can also find information on registering for kindergarten, buying a yearbook, or your child’s daily schedule. Past News You Choose issues are archived there as well. And did you know that every web page can be translated into one of eight languages?
Bookmark it today: https://canterburywoodses.fcps.edu/
 The new face of Cody the Cougar smiles upon visitors to our lobby!
If your child is riding the bus to CWES, you can find your children’s transportation information in your SIS ParentVUE accounts.
The information listed will be the CWES Bus route number, times of pick up and drop off, and bus stop location. If you do not see stop information listed and require a bus, please contact our office ASAP.
If you requested that your child be added to a bus or there has been a change in the days of attendance, please allow a week for changes to be made to the bus routes.
Need help? Call our office between 8:40 am and 4:45 pm (703-764-5600) if you have questions about your child’s bus transportation.
March 8: Staff Development Day, No school for students
March 9: Grades 1-2 in-person instruction begins
March 11-12: Teacher prep days for Grades 3-6; Asynchronous learning days for 3-6
Monday, March 15: Teacher prep day for Grades 3-6; No Morning Meeting for Grades 3-6
March 15: School Picture Retake Day (First appointments welcome). Photos will be included in the yearbook. Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4aafac2fa3f8c16-cwes3
March 16: Grades 3-6 in-person instruction begins
March 19: Bingo Night
March 22: Read-a-Thon begins
March 26: Quarter 3 ends; 2-hour early release
March 29 – April 2: Spring Break
April 5: Teacher workday, No school for students
 Our new banner greets visitors to the lobby!
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