This Week at Frost - May 28, 2021

This Week in Review

Greetings Frost MS Families,

Change is in the air! This week we witnessed the first vestiges of the renovation as the Frost MS lecture hall has been demolished! Look at the progress in the photo below!

Lecture Hall

 

In addition, we received our new signage for the Falcon Scrape! A huge shoutout goes to Ms. Morgan for the beautiful design and to one of our students for the proper name for a falcon’s nest, a scrape!! Take a look!

Falcon Scrape

 

So, as you can tell, there is a lot of activity happening at Frost Middle School! Next week there’s going to be a lot of activity next door as Woodson is hosting three graduations! Please read below in the “In Other News” section for more information.

As you may know, historically we would have an 8th grade celebration and awards ceremony. This year because of time constraints and logistics we will have celebration activities like the end of last school year with a couple of extra items. Please review the activities we have in place to recognize our graduating 8th grade students and our 7th grade students!

June 9th- Team Activities During Falcon Focus

  • 8th Grade Students (Virtual and In-Person Students)
    • Watch the 8th Grade EOY Awards Presentation- The awards presentation video will also be shared with families as well.
    • Team activities coordinated by Falcon Focus Teacher
  • 7th Grade Students (Virtual and In-Person Students)
    • Watch 7th Grade Video Presentation
    • Team activities coordinated by Falcon Focus Teacher

June 10th-   Student Gift!!!

  • Free Ice Cream Provided by Frost MS! All in-person students (Both 7th and 8th grade students) will receive free ice cream during lunch!

June 11th-   Student Gifts and End of Year Hang Out!!!

  • Free Ice Cream Provided by Frost MS! All virtual students, as well as Tuesday/Wednesday in-person students, will receive free ice cream during the hours of 1pm- 6pm after school. Students can pick up their ice cream when they drop off their school issued laptop or supplies on June 11th.
  • All 8th Grade Students will receive a graduation gift of a Frost Middle School Yard Sign Courtesy of the Frost MS PTA. Students can pick up their yard sign when they drop off their school issued laptop or supplies on June 11th. All remaining signs will be in the main office for a period of time for parent pick up.
  • There will also be a food truck or trucks on the premises that day for staff, students, and families to order food from on your own! The grounds will be open to the community to just come and hang out so students can say goodbye to friends and staff before heading off for the summer! There will be music, food, and fun. Today marks the first day of relaxed restrictions. No masks or social distancing needed on June 11th!!

 

Finally, I hope we all have an opportunity to remember, reflect and show appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice made by our men and women in the armed forces. Happy Memorial Day Frost Middle School!

 

All the best, 

Anthony

#ONEFrost

Upcoming Dates - Mark Your Calendars

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May 31                    Memorial Day Holiday- No School or Check- in for students

June 2                     Woodson HS Graduation 9:00am   Potential Traffic Issues; Please be advised

June 4                     South Lakes HS Graduation 9:00am @ Woodson HS   Potential Traffic Issues; Please be advised

June 8                     Virtual Synchronous Learning for All Students- Election Day

June 11                   Last Day of School- 2 Hour Early Release

June 11                   End of Year- Laptop Drop Off and EOY Hangout

UPCOMING SCHOOL YEAR- MARK YOUR CALENDARS

August 18                    8th Grade Students- Self Guided Tours

August 23                    First Day of School SY 21-22

  • The calendar will be updated with additional dates for parent/community events as they become available.

In Other News....

 

Frost MS End of Year Laptop and Resource Collection Plan

Please visit our website for detailed information. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Laura Reed at lareed@fcps.edu   Students Leaving Frost before the end of the school year? These items can be returned at any time by appointment.  To schedule an appointment for technology drop off contact John Greenwood (jcgreenwood1@fcps.edu) and Teri Canody (tkcanody@fcps.edu). EOY Collection Landing Page -https://frostms.fcps.edu/announcements/frost-laptop-other-resource-collection

 

Potential Traffic Issues – June 2nd and June 4th

Please be advised that on June 2nd and 4th there will be graduations happening on the Woodson HS campus. On both days, families will begin to arrive to the Frost-Woodson complex to begin parking to get prepared for graduation activities. Families will be parking at the church, along Pickett Rd, and on Woodson HS property. There will be City of Fairfax Police at the Main Street intersection and Fairfax County Police along Pickett Rd to support us with anticipated traffic concerns. If you have a student that is assigned a bus, you may consider having them ride the bus on those days. Otherwise, please plan accordingly for increased traffic.

 

Tuesday, June 8th is Democratic Primary Election Day- All Students to be Virtual

Tuesday, June 8th, is the Democratic Primary Election. The Fairfax County Electoral Board and the City of Fairfax Electoral Board will be using 165 school facilities as polling locations, therefore all students will have a virtual synchronous learning day (no in-person classes) for students.

ALL students will login to classes and learn from home on this day - in-person students will NOT report to school.

 

Summer Math, Science and Writing Enrichment

Looking for additional math, science, robotics, and/or writing enrichment? The TJ Diversity Committee concluded its STEM Provider Conference this past weekend, and they had over 200 registrants for this event! The event provided the opportunity to learn of the free and reduced STEM enrichment programs offered by several businesses in the community and volunteer organizations.  Attached is their information. 

 

INSERT FLYER

 

Summer Resources

Our Fairfax County Public Libraries offers a summer reading program. Parents are encouraged to review book selections with the student in order to help them make appropriate choices. Students may select books from this list, or they may read a comparable book that is approved by their parents. In addition, there are plenty of resources for our students to access this summer for literacy and numeracy.

 

For those families who are interested in requesting textbooks to prepare for next year, please note we don’t distribute textbooks for students to work ahead over the summer. The links found at this location on our website will provide you with plenty: https://frostms.fcps.edu/academics/summer-reading-and-learning

 

  

A Reminder to Families – Please Review the Health Commitment Form

Please do not send your student to school if they are not feeling well.  As students returned to in-person instruction, families signed the Health Screening Commitment Form, agreeing “not send my child to school when he/she is sick or feeling unwell.”  If a student comes to school and reports that they are feeling unwell with a COVID-like symptom, that student must return home and either stay home for 10 days, receive an alternate diagnosis from a healthcare provider, or receive a negative result on a COVID test.  

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/HealthScreeningCommitment.pdf

 

The COVID-19 Vaccine is Now Approved for Children 12 – 15

The FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for the 12 -15 age group. This means that just about every middle and high school student in FCPS may now be vaccinated. 

FCPS is encouraging student vaccinations because that is one more way to ensure the safest school environment for everyone and for students to avoid quarantine if they are exposed to someone with COVID-19.

The fact sheet, below, has important information about the Pfizer vaccine, which is the only vaccine currently available to children as young as 12 years.

https://www.fda.gov/media/144414/download

COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available. Many pediatricians and family doctors’ offices have vaccine, and you may choose to take your child to their regular medical home for the vaccine.  In addition, there are many opportunities to get COVID-19 vaccine in Fairfax, including other private health care providers, Urgent Care facilities, pharmacies, Inova, and FCHD. Many locations offer same-day appointments, and some even have walk in availability. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or another adult at all community vaccination sites.

  • To learn how to get a vaccine at a Health Department clinic site, including the Fairfax County Government Center, George Mason University, and the Tysons Community Vaccination Center, go to www.fairfaxcounty.gov/health/novel-coronavirus/vaccine  or call the Fairfax County Health Department vaccine call center at 703-324-7404. You can schedule directly, and you don’t need to pre-register.
  • Walk-in appointments are also being offered at the Tysons Community Vaccination Center Monday – Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. This center is in the former Lord & Taylor site at Tysons Center at 7950 Tysons Corner Center in McLean.
  • To schedule an appointment at Inova’s Stonebridge site at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, go to www.inova.org/COVID19/vaccine-scheduling.
  • Locations for other vaccine providers in the community, including local pharmacies, can be found at www.vaccines.gov. Be sure to search for Pfizer vaccine which is the only vaccine currently for use on children 12 – 17 years.  You can also text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) for information in English or VACUNA (822862) for information in Spanish.

NOTE: The COVID-19 vaccination is NOT required by schools for the 2021-22 school year but some others are.                     

Seventh grade students cannot begin school in August without documentation of the Tdap and Meningococcal vaccines.

Seventh-grade students need:

  • One dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis) given at age 7 or older.                                  
  • One dose of Meningococcal Vaccine (MenACWY, Menactra, or Menveo) given at age 10 or older.                                                                                                             

Get more information on new immunization requirements

 

Student Course Requests for the 21-22 school year

This year, students entered classes directly into SIS.  Please have them log into SIS StudentVue or you may use your SIS ParentVue account to review the courses listed.  Once in SIS, click the Course Request tab.  There are two sections, Selected Course Requests and Alternate Elective Requests.

Selected Course Requests- All students should have English 8, Civics 8, Invest Matter/Ener (Science), Math, and two Health & PE 8 (one for each semester) listed.  In addition, he or she will have between 2-4 elective classes (2 yearlong, 1 yearlong and 2 semester, or 4 semester classes).  This is a class list.  This does not indicate his or her schedule for the fall.  Official class schedules will not be available until the week of August 16th.

  • Music classes (Band, Orchestra, and Chorus) will be updated in June after Frost teachers are able to complete auditions. All students are currently in a general, single code until then.  These changes are expected in early June.
  • Elective classes are subject to change if your child receives special education services with required hours, your child’s ESL level changes based on WIDA scores, and/or data indicated a need for an enrichment course (Action Literacy, Literacy, Algebra Readiness).

Alternate Elective Requests – Students were asked to enter all elective choices they would prefer in the order of their preference in this area.  You will notice that those that fit into the class schedule will appear above in Selection Course Requests.  The others listed there will be used only if one of those selected does not fit into his or her schedule.

Change Requests – If you would like to request any changes to your student’s classes, please email Ms. Hornbecker at dshornbecker@fcps.edu.  We will try our best to honor requests, but some electives may be closed based on full enrollment.  Please note:  All change requests must be made prior to June 12th.

 

Save the Date!

This summer, rising 8th grade students will be able to come in on Wednesday, August 18th to pick up a paper copy of his or her schedule and do a self-guided tour of the building prior to the first day of school.  Lockers will not be assigned at the start of the school year due to the building renovation, but students will be able to carry back packs with necessary materials. More information will be shared in the upcoming weeks.

 

High School Course-Summer Opportunities and Transcript Updates

Credit Recovery Summer Program – Algebra 1

  • Only students currently enrolled in Algebra 1 are eligible to take the course this summer.
  • Students who are expunging the final Algebra grade (removing it from the student’s transcript) may want to consider this option.
  • Rising 9th grade students - Students who take this course in the summer will not have an option to remove it from the student’s transcript as the student is considered a high school student after June 11th.
  • Information about the program (dates, session information, transportation and lunch) and registration can be found here.

 

For Students enrolled in high school classes (World Language, Algebra, Geometry or Algebra 2)

An additional option is available for high school credit bearing classes taken in middle school.  High school credit-bearing courses will be reflected on the middle and high school transcripts. In  accordance with Virginia state regulations, FCPS Regulation 2408 permits parents of students  who take a high school credit-bearing course in middle school to request that the grade be  omitted from the student's high school transcript and the student not earn high school credit for  the course. Parents must make this request no later than the end of the first nine weeks of the school year following completion of the course. The request to expunge as well as guidelines and  the procedures for expunging grades for high school courses taken in middle school can be found  at the following link: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/is104.pdf

You can reach out to your child’s counselor if you have additional questions

 

2020-21 End of Year Grading Flexibility for Middle School Students 

During the current 2020-21 school year, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has  adopted a grading policy change to provide flexibility for students in middle school to  designate their current school year courses as “Pass” or “No Mark” status instead of a  letter grade for their final mark.  

As you review your middle school student’s third quarter report card, please consider the flexibility that will be applied to final marks: 

  • Students receiving a final mark of “D” or “D+” in any course will be automatically assigned a mark of “P” (pass) as the final mark at the end of the school year.
  •  Students receiving a final mark of “F” in any course will be automatically assigned a mark of “NM” (no mark) as the final mark at the end of the school year. 
  • Students may select a mark of “P” (pass) for any courses for which a passing grade is earned for the final mark. ○ Action Needed: Should you wish to designate one or more courses as Pass status for anticipated grades of “A” through “C-”, the Pass-No Mark Status Form linked here: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/se358.pdf must be submitted to your school counselor/Student Services by June 4, 2021.  
  • Students and families are encouraged to carefully consider the option to request a Pass instead of a passing letter grade or final mark. Additional information including considerations and frequently asked questions are available at the following link: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-and-reporting/secondary

An additional option is available for high school credit bearing classes taken in middle school.  High school credit-bearing courses will be reflected on the middle and high school transcripts. In  accordance with Virginia state regulations, FCPS Regulation 2408 permits parents of students  who take a high school credit-bearing course in middle school to request that the grade be  omitted from the student's high school transcript and the student not earn high school credit for  the course. Parents must make this request no later than the end of the first nine weeks of the school year following completion of the course. The request to expunge as well as guidelines and  the procedures for expunging grades for high school courses taken in middle school can be found  at the following link: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/is104.pdf

You can reach out to your child’s counselor if you have additional questions.

 


Student Intention Form

For students who will NOT be attending Frost, Woodson, or a boundary FCPS high school next year, please complete the Student Intention for the Next School Year form, https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/it110.pdf,  and return it to Emily Cheng in the Frost Student Services office, or via email ECheng@fcps.edu.

This includes students who are transferring to:

  • Another FCPS school other than Frost or Woodson or boundary HS
  • A private school in Virginia or out of Virginia
  • Another Virginia public school division outside FCPS
  • Another state public school outside of Virginia

A school outside of the United States