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Dear Families,
On behalf of our entire staff, I want to wish you and your family a safe and happy winter break. As we continue to navigate the varied challenges of COVID, we remain thankful to our fantastic school staff and supportive parent community for coming together with a focus on student learning and well-being.
As I mentioned before Thanksgiving, it is important for all of us to take time to rest, be with family and loved ones, and experience some down time. To that end, no homework will be assigned over winter break. Teachers may assign long-range assignments ahead of Friday that encourage students to practice time management skills. However, no assignments will be due immediately following the break.
We wish you a happy holiday season and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all in 2022!
Sincerely,
Sara Harper
School Office Closed
The Great Falls ES main office will be closed during winter break beginning Monday, December 20 and will reopen on Monday, January 3.
Calendar Updates
December
20-31 Winter Break (No school for students or staff)
January
3 - School resumes for students
17 - MLK Jr. Holiday (no school for students or staff)
20 - 2 hour early release @ 1:30pm
21- No school for students
24 - No school for students
See the complete 2021-22 school year calendar
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Winter Concerts are Posted!
Congratulations to our music department on hosting amazing and unconventional holiday concerts this year! We live-streamed and recorded the orchestras and recorded the chorus concert. You can view all of these performances on our website!
Lightspeed Parent Report on Child’s Device Activity
FCPS has new tools to help parents and guardians know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided by Lightspeed, our internet content filtering service, at no cost to families. You may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. If you want more detailed information, sign up for the Internet Use Parent portal and log-in anytime to see more detail about your child’s browsing and “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours. Find out more and sign up for these services on our website.
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Submission of Vaccination Status - Optional
You may wish to voluntarily share your child’s COVID-19 vaccination information with GFES. However, we do not require your child’s vaccination information and no school employee will ask for your child’s vaccination status. The only exception is student-athletes, who are required to share their vaccination status to participate in their sport or activity.
If you would like to provide us with your child’s vaccination status, please bring your child’s COVID-19 vaccination card or a photocopy of the card to our registrar, Abeer El Gharib. COVID-19 vaccination documentation contains Protected Health Information and should not be emailed.
As always, you are welcome to contact us if you have any questions.
NEW: COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing Available for All Students
 All students now have access to COVID-19 drive-through diagnostic testing at locations across the county, including one in each of the FCPS school regions. Students who have COVID-19 symptoms or have been identified as a close contact to someone with COVID-19 are encouraged to test quickly to help reduce the spread of the virus. Testing is also a step in the return to school process following illness or exposure.
A full list of locations and schedules is available on our website.
Appointments are not required but families must register through FCPS’ secure online portal before testing.
More information about FCPS’ COVID-19 testing program, including diagnostic testing, is available online.
Meal Kit Distribution Change for Winter Break
In preparation for winter break (December 20-31) when schools are closed, the following plan is in place for the distribution of meal kits:
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Wednesday, December 8–Additional meals (eight days of breakfast and lunch, along with 14 days of afternoon snack and supper meals) will be served in one meal kit.
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Wednesday, December 15–Additional meals (two days of breakfast and lunch, along with 14 days of afternoon snack and supper meals) will be served in one meal kit.
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Wednesday, December 22–Meal kit distribution is canceled.
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Wednesday, December 29–Meal kit distribution is canceled.
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Wednesday, January 5–Regular meal kit distribution resumes.
More information on meal kit distribution is available online.
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Holiday Wishes for GFES Families
The PTA would like to extend holiday wishes & blessings to all of our wonderful GFES families! We are filled with gratitude for all of your support this year. Whether it was inundating us with donations so we could gift our teachers, staff and administrators with $35 gift cards instead of $20, volunteering to man booths at our re-imagined Fall Festival or turning out in record numbers at our Zoom PTA meetings, we are so lucky to be part of this wonderful school community.
Have a safe and happy holiday break, Roadrunners!
After School Program Updates
The PTA has once again partnered with FLEX Academies to provide after school programming for the upcoming Winter session. Just as in the Fall, we are only able to offer 3 classes due to capacity limitations and other restrictions. Registration will open THIS WEDNESDAY, December 15th at 5pm and closes January 9th at 8pm. Classes fill up quickly, so register early!
In a correction from last week’s newsletter, classes will start the week of January 17th for 8 weeks from 3:45 - 4:45 pm, with the following options:
- Tuesdays: Artistic Drawing, Grades K-6, $223
- Wednesdays: Sensational Science, Grades K-4, $223
- Thursdays: Chess Club, Grades K-6, $204
Please see the program FLYER for class descriptions and more information.
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Congratulations Reflections Contest Students!
More than 250 entries were evaluated in this year’s Fairfax County Council PTA (FCCPTA) Reflections program, an increase of almost 25% from last year.
Congratulations to 1st grader Andrew Yang who won the Award of Excellence, Primary Division in the Visual Arts for his work “Trees”!
FCCPTA awardees will have their entrees submitted to the NoVa District PTA Reflections program. Watch for those results coming late winter!
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