ATES Updates 10/01/2021

Upcoming Dates:

10/01     Parent Coffee (2PM-3PM, Parent Center)
                Topic: Advanced Academics Program-Continuum of Services
10/06     Interims go home
10/11     Teacher Workday/ Student Holiday               
10/15     Parent Coffee (2PM-3PM, Parent Center)
                 Topic: Title 1 Overview Presentation
10/18     Family Food Market (4:00pm - 5:00pm, Parking Lot)
11/1&2  Parent Teacher Conferences - No school


October's Family Food Market

ATES is partnering again with the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) to offer these monthly distributions of nutritious groceries to members of the ATES community, free of charge for the school year 2021-2022.

When: October 18th at 4:00 PM-5:00PM

Where: Family Markets will be held outside in the front parking area with drive-up encouraged and walk-ups available.

What: The CAFB will be providing pre-packed boxes/bags of dry goods and produce. One box of each per household, please.

Help us keep Family Markets safe! Please note that masks are required for market participation, and we ask all participants to maintain social distancing by keeping 6 feet or further away from others.

Action required: Please complete Octobr's survey provided in the link below prior to your visit to the school for the food distribution as this is a monthly requirement by CAFB.

https://forms.gle/Q7bpc6pnyfi35Vy99


Dear ATES Families,

As the number of cases increase around the county, we want to share some additional information about the COVID processes in place. Thank you for your help in keeping all our students and staff safe at school.

Daily Health Screen Questionnaire

Keep your child home from school with any symptoms that are COVID-like.

The most important way you can help as a parent is to keep your child(ren) home if they present with any illness or symptoms that are associated with COVID. 

Parents, caregivers, or guardians are strongly encouraged to monitor their children for symptoms of infectious illness every day through a home-based symptom screening, and students who are sick should not come to school. Please consider the questions in the Health Screening Questionnaire each morning before sending your child to school. If you answer “YES” to any of the questions, please keep your child home. 

Keep your child home if you suspect your child may have come in contact with someone who has COVID.

If you keep your child home, and they are feeling better the next day, then they do not need documentation from a medical provider to return.

If your child comes to school and presents with COVID-like symptoms, they will be placed in the Care Room and will be sent home. Your child must then be seen by a medical provider in order to return to school. 

Please be overly cautious and keep your child home if you are waiting for COVID test results. 

 

Communicate Quickly with the School

As soon as you have information that your child has COVID or likely has it, please let us know. The sooner we have information, the sooner we can alert the health department to begin the contact tracing.

 

Ensure Your Children Come with an Appropriate Mask 

Aligned with guidance provided by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has established procedures for the use of face coverings/masks (cloth or disposable) for students, staff, and visitors designed to mitigate the spread of COVID. This document highlights the types of masks that are appropriate for students to wear to school. Mask types are also listed below.

mask 01mask02mask03mask04

What will happen if there is a student who tests positive for COVID in my child’s class?

If a student tests positive and was at school during the infectious period (within 48 hours of onset of symptoms), we will alert the entire school community. The school reviews seating assignments throughout the school day and identifies potential close contacts to the student who has tested positive for Covid-19.

If your child is considered a potential close contact, we will notify you immediately. If your child is currently at school, we will ask you to come pick your child up from school.  

 

What happens if my child is determined to be a potential close contact by FCPS staff?

Out of an abundance of caution, any student who is identified as a potential close contact by FCPS staff will have to stay home from school until the Health Department completes its contact tracing and closes the investigation. We have been told that this could be up to 72 hours. While your child is at home, your child’s teachers will provide assignments for them to access. If your child does not have their computer at home, we will work with you to pick it up at school.

Please note that FCPS staff can only identify potential close contacts; we are not identifying students who have to quarantine. Only the Health Department can determine if your child needs to quarantine through their contact tracing investigation. 

 

Case Information

We cannot disclose details of the positive case to include the child's name, grade, class or any additional information, or the staff member's name or assignment. The health department will contact you directly and will direct the appropriate students to quarantine. The school will notify the entire community when the contact tracing is complete. Once the Health Department has completed their investigation, we will also invite any student who was staying home per FCPS staff direction and who has not been required to quarantine per the Health Department to return to school.  


Families, We Need Your Consent for Select Digital Resources

At Annandale Terrace Elementary School, our teachers will use a variety of digital resources to support student learning and promote communication and collaboration with students and families. Some of the digital resources your child may use this year will require your consent before they can be used. You can find our school’s list of the resources that require parental consent here: https://annandaleterracees.fcps.edu/student-links

Additionally, you can find more information about approved digital resources in FCPS here: https://www.fcps.edu/resources/technology/digital-resources 

Included on this page is also a link to a form where the enrolling parent or guardian will need to indicate whether or not their student is allowed to use the list of digital resources this year. This page also provides more information about how FCPS carefully reviews digital resources for approval and why we must request your consent before using certain tools. We encourage you to complete the parental consent for digital resources form as soon as possible, as your child will not be able to use the digital resources until we have received your permission. Please reach out to Carlie Taylor (ctaylor@fcps.edu ) if you have questions or concerns about the digital resources we’ve chosen to use this year.


Eco-Schools USA YouTube Channel

Anntoinette McEntyre is the ATES Get2Green Coordinator. She is in search of some staff members, students and community members that would like to support this school effort.  Currently ATES is a registered Eco-friendly school. Check out the information below to learn more about this unique opportunity:

ECO

WATCH NOW:  

·  Build a Schoolyard Habitat | Be a Monarch Hero

·  Teacher and Antarctic researcher, Sarah Slack: "The Most Dangerous Glacier on Earth"

·  Learn about Biodiversity with National Wildlife Federation at Home!

·  Explore the playlist from EcoCareers 2021

 

Please email Almcentyre@fcps.edu if you are interested in this great opportunity for ATES.


Power Pack Program

In partnership with Food For Others we are happy to continually offer this program to our families this year. Please fill out the form if you wish to participate.


Schoology - How Do I Login

FCPS is beginning using Schoology as an online platform for many student assignments.  It has many similar features to Google Classroom, and students should be able to navigate it easily to find and submit assignments after their teachers show them how to use it in school. 

We anticipate continuing to use FCPS laptops in school for many assignments, especially in the upper grades.  However, being back to in-person school allows for hands on and paper/pencil activities that support learning.

FCPS is no longer using BBCU and will instead use Zoom as a virtual meeting tool, when necessary.

Please click the link below to access the Schoology log-in instruction.

ISD-Schoology-HowDoILogin-Families-English.pdf


COVID Dashboard

All FCPS COVID-19 cases are reported via a dashboard posted to the FCPS website and updated daily. While this does not outline the number of students quarantining, it does allow families to understand changes in the situation at their school.

FCPS Covid-19 Dashboard


SR&R Family Signature Reminder

We are extremely happy to have your child in our school with us this year!

FCPS’ updated Student Rights & Responsibility booklet is now available online and in the ParentVue section of the Student Information System (SIS). The SR&R booklet explains expectations for student behavior, and adult responses to enhance school safety and to create a fair, equitable, and supportive school environment. 

Each year, we ask parents to review, sign, and return the SR&R to their child’s school. In ParentVue, you may now download and digitally sign the SR&R. Every parent/guardian with a ParentVUE account will see the SR&R upon login to ParentVUE until the SR&R acknowledgement has been completed.

Once you log on, you will see the following message:

SR&R

Your name in the digital signature box must match the parent/guardian’s first and last name in SIS exactly before the signature will be accepted.

Please take a moment to log into ParentVue in your child’s SIS account to access the SR&R. Signatures are due by October 29, 2021.

Please contact us if you are having difficulty accessing the booklet. 


Family Life Education Instructional Program Information

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) provides a comprehensive, sequential Family Life Education (FLE) program for students in grades kindergarten through grade twelve. Instruction is seen as a partnership among parents and guardians, the school, and the community in supporting the learning essential to the development of strong families, positive relationships, and a healthy community.

 

Parents/guardians may choose to opt their child out of all or part of the Family Life Education program. Students who are opted out are provided with age-appropriate, nonpunitive alternative health instruction, and every effort is made to foster respect for family choices. If you wish to opt your child out of all or part of FLE for this school year, opt out forms will be included in your child’s back-to-school/orientation packets and are available online for Elementary (K-6) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-family-life-education , Middle School (7-8) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/middle-school-academics-7-8/family-life-education-fle, and High School (9-12) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/high-school-academics-9-12/family-life-education-fle. Please fill in the opt-out form and return it to your child’s school prior to Family Life Education instruction.

 

Detailed grade-level program descriptions are available online at Elementary (K-6) , Middle School (7-8) , and High School (9-12). FLE grade level-specific lessons and media that FCPS has streaming rights for are available for parents online in Schoology. Parents/guardians login to Schoology using the same username and password as their Student Information System (SIS) Parent account. Grade level-specific lessons are also available at the City of Fairfax Regional Library (this location does not have media). Grade level-specific lessons and media that is not streamed online are available for review at your child’s school library. Due to copyright permissions, we are unable to stream all media online.

 

Program questions may be addressed at your child’s school or by contacting Instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by contacting Carrie Reynolds, Health and Physical Education Coordinator at cfreynolds@fcps.edu.


School Meals- MySchoolBucks Encouraged for All

Every student is eligible for one no-cost breakfast and one no-cost lunch each school day. However, if your student would like to purchase additional meals or a la carte items, they will need to pay. The best way to purchase items this year is to use MySchoolBucks. Set up your student’s MySchoolBucks account and help them memorize their pin. If you have questions about MySchoolBucks, ATES front office staff can help.

Setting up a MySchoolBucks account for your student is especially helpful during the current nationwide coin shortage. FCPS cash registers will have limited coins available at the start of the school year to provide change for cash purchases. Purchases made with MySchoolBucks also keeps lines moving quickly.

Your child may choose to bring their meals and snacks to school this year. ATES encourages this practice for students who have specific dietary requirements or are particularly picky. Bringing food from home ensures your child will have the meals and snacks they enjoy to fuel their day of learning.

Be ready on day one by setting up your child’s MySchoolBucks account and looking over the menus


ADVANCED ACADEMIC PROGRAMS (AAP) ELEMENTARY CONTINUUM OF SERVICES

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is committed to challenging all students through talent development and differentiated instruction to meet the needs of advanced learners. 

 

FCPS offers a continuum of advanced academic services for all students in Grades K-12. The continuum of services approach allows for a focus on matching services rather than labeling students. Students have:

  • Multiple entry points for deeper learning opportunities in specific areas of need as they develop.
  • A cluster group of students with similar academic needs to continue growing in their learning.

Teachers, administrators, and Advanced Academic Resource Teachers (AARTs) work together to provide the following levels of service at the elementary level: 

Tier 1 Access to AAP Curriculum and Strategies, Grades K-6 (Level I) 

All students have opportunities to think critically, reason, and problem-solve. 

  • All teachers use critical and creative thinking strategies in their lessons
  • Classroom teachers provide opportunities using materials from the AAP Curriculum Framework a minimum of once per quarter.

Because Level I services are for all FCPS students, there is not a screening process.

 

Differentiated Lessons in Areas of Academic Strength, Grades K-6 (Level II) 

Some students are strong in one or more subject areas. Classroom teachers may adjust instruction for students in these areas by:

  • Providing different assignments and resources in those subjects
  • Grouping students by their strengths, interests, and readiness
  • Classroom teachers provide additional challenges using materials from the AAP Curriculum Framework.

Level II Services are re-evaluated each year.

 

Part-Time Advanced Academic Programs, Grades 3-6 (Level III) 

Some students have advanced academic abilities in multiple subject areas. They need part-time AAP services. 

  • Students work with students that have similar academic needs through weekly pull-out classes or weekly co-taught lessons with the AART and classroom teacher.
  • Teachers provide frequent opportunities to use materials from the AAP Curriculum Framework in Language Arts, science, social studies, and/or mathematics.

Level III services continue through Grade 6. Students do not need to be evaluated each year.

 

Full-Time Advanced Academic Programs, Grades 3-8 (Level IV) 

Some advanced learners need a full-time advanced academic program with differentiated instruction in all four core content areas (Language Arts, mathematics, social studies, and science). 

Students eligible for full-time AAP services are cluster grouped on a full-time basis and receive:

  • Full-time use of materials from the AAP Curriculum Framework in Language Arts, science, and social studies curriculum, and
  • Mathematics curriculum with depth and complexity that is at least one year above grade level.

Level IV services continue through Grade 8. Students do not need to be evaluated each year.

 

Screening for Levels II-IV

Multiple criteria are reviewed holistically to determine eligibility for all FCPS advanced academic services. Committees consider student work from opportunities with AAP lessons, examples of student reasoning or gifted behaviors from class discussions and activities, progress reports, achievement and ability scores, and parent input. Committees consider whether students have access to a group of students with similar academic needs to support academic conversations and growth in the classroom.

 

Eligibility decisions for Level II and Level III services are made by a committee at the local school

Screening for Level II and Level III services is ongoing throughout the school year. To refer for Level II or III services, submit the AAP School-Based Referral Form to the AART and the local school.

 

Eligibility decisions for full-time Level IV services are made by the countywide central selection committee.

 

Screening for Level IV services occurs during specific screening cycles:  

  • Fall screening is available for students who are new to FCPS since January.
    • Fall referrals are due before October 7th
  • Spring screening is available for any Grade 2-7 FCPS-enrolled student 
    • The referral window is from the first day of school - December 15.

 

Referral forms for Levels II-IV are found at https://www.fcps.edu/node/38893

 

For more information, please visit the AAP website at: https://www.fcps.edu/registration/advanced-academics-identification-and-placement/current-fcps-students.  

 

Ability Testing

FCPS uses ability testing as one part of the holistic screening process for Levels II-IV services. Test scores are not weighted or prioritized in the holistic screening process.  

  • All students in Grade 1 take the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT).
  • All students in Grade 2 take the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). 
  • NNAT and/or CogAT may be administered to students in Grades 3-6 who do not have an ability test score during the regularly scheduled testing windows.  

 

Parents or guardians may request a one-time retest in grades 3-6 during the fall testing windows. Please contact the school testing coordinator Ingrid Badia, ICBadia@fcps.edu and Latriece Pettie,ljpettie@fcps.edu no later than September 30 to request the CogAT or October 15 for the NNAT.

 

Please do not wait for test scores before submitting a referral for your student in Grades 2-7 as there will be no referrals for Level IV screening accepted past the deadline.

 

Elementary Parent Information Meeting

A parent information meeting will be held at ATES on October 1, 2021 at 2:00. The AART will provide information about levels of service and examples at ATES, explain the screening processes, and answer questions about part-time school-based and full-time Level IV services.

 

Young Scholars

FCPS developed the Young Scholars Model to help identify students from historically underrepresented populations for AAP services. The model provides additional opportunity to nurture talent and build confidence so that students can meet their potential. 

 

Twice-Exceptional (2e)

Some gifted students also have learning disabilities. These twice-exceptional, or “2e” students need strengths-based instruction. Their learning challenges also must be supported. FCPS has created a 2e handbook to help schools and families understand how to identify and serve 2e students. You can find these resources by going to www.fcps.edu and searching “2e.”

 

Middle and High School AAP

Additional information about middle and high school services may be found on the Advanced Academic Programs web page. https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/advanced-academic-programs


Grace M