Annandale Community Insider - February 6

Annandale Students, Parents and Community:

Over the past few weeks, I have highlighted our school-wide priority of ‘Relationships and Support.’ Specifically, how Annandale teachers continue to work through their W4 (advisory) classes to make connections and build relationships. Teachers are conducting one-on-one check-in conferences with every student to build a caring and trusting environment, cultivate positive relationships, and identify student needs. In the words of Ted Lasso, teachers are using this time to “get curious” about their students.

In addition, this year we have been more systematic in supporting students who might be struggling academically by assigning them to an Intervention PRIDE Time. Teachers use this time to implement structured lessons targeting the individual needs of these students. This week, we will begin PRIDE Time 3.0. In this round of PRIDE Time, student schedules have been adjusted to reflect their current needs. Thanks to their hard work and the work of their teachers, more than one third of students who had been identified as needing intervention have “graduated” from PRIDE Time. This round, our focus for improvement has been on providing a more structured way for students who are not receiving intervention to meet with teachers.

In addition to providing targeted support outside of the classroom, we are also focused on ensuring high quality instruction during each and every class. At the beginning of the year, we stated that if we are going to continue to improve as a school, we must leverage what we learned since March 2020, and not revert back to the ways of teaching prior to the pandemic. Our teachers have accepted this challenge and are working cooperatively and systematically to investigate ways to continue to get better.

This week, twenty-four (24) teachers had the opportunity to participate in Instructional Rounds. They had an opportunity to visit classrooms to examine what teachers and students are saying and doing, and the level of thinking that is being asked of the students. In the afternoon they came together as a group to identify trends that will shape our conversations around how we fulfill our priority of high quality instruction moving forward. In March, another group of teachers will participate in Instructional Rounds. We will share their collective learning in a future Insider.

As always, reach out with any questions and Go Atoms!

Shawn DeRose, Principal

Important Dates

February 7-11 - National School Counseling Week

February 7 - PRIDE Time 3.0 Begins

February 10 - Rising 9th Grade Open House

February 14 - Singing Valentines 

February 15 - PTSA Meeting, 7pm

February 21 - Spring Sports Begin

February 21 - Holiday (Washington’s Birthday and Presidents’ Day)

March 3 - 2 Hour Early Release

March 4 - Staff Development Day (No School for Students)

March 31 - 2 Hour Early Release; End of 3rd Quarter

April 1 - Teacher Workday (No School for Students)

April 4-8 - Spring Break

February 7 - PRIDE Time 3.0 Begins: This week, we will begin PRIDE Time 3.0. In this round of PRIDE Time, student schedules have been adjusted to reflect their current needs. Thanks to their hard work and the work of their teachers, more than one third of students who had been identified as needing intervention have “graduated” from PRIDE Time. This round our focus for improvement has been on providing a more structured way for students who are not receiving intervention to meet with teachers.

February 10 - Rising 9th Grade Open House: We are excited to announce that we have rescheduled Rising 9th Grade Open House for students and parents to February 10 at 6:00pm. The event will offer short (optional) sessions on our various Annandale programs, and teachers will be in their classrooms throughout the evening to share all about our core and elective courses for 9th Graders. The goal is for students and parents to leave this event excited about all the opportunities students have as a Annandale Atom and prepared to complete their course request form! Stay tuned for more information! If you have any questions, please contact Erik Healey.

February 14 - Singing Valentines: On Monday, February 14, the Annandale Singers will deliver “Singing Valentines” throughout the day. Students can purchase a song for another student during all lunches throughout the week, February 7-11.

Black History Month

Throughout the month of February, Annandale High School will celebrate and honor the experiences, achievements, and contributions made by African Americans and their central role in US History both inside and outside the classroom.

Our Social Studies teams are honoring Black History Month by offering students opportunities to make their own connections to curriculum content and providing resources to further their learning. Several classes are focusing on historical African leaders and innovators. Our US/Va History classes are completing and reflecting on a month-long project in which students studied the African American experience post Reconstruction, analyzing the ways in which African Americans exercised their freedom and fought against unjust policies & actions. Government students are practicing their source analysis skills by reading articles about prominent African American politicians and closely following the potential appointment of the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. World History students will be focusing their learning this month on the African resistance to colonization and the effects of colonialism in Africa today. Students in our psychology classes are learning about the many contributions made by African Americans in the field of psychology.

National School Counseling Week

This week marks National School Counseling Week! We cannot thank our counseling team enough for all of their hard work and dedication to the welfare of our students! Whether they are supporting students with academic advising, writing college recommendation letters, or conducting presentations on social-emotional health, their passion for their work is evident! Join us in celebrating our school counselors by recording a message of appreciation on Flipgrid. 

Awesome Atoms!

Congratulations and Thank You! - Coach Cindy Hook: After coaching Field Hockey for forty-three years at Annandale High School, Coach Hook has decided to step down as our coach. Cindy attended Annandale and played field hockey and softball. She also managed the basketball and gymnastics teams. After Annandale, Cindy went onto the University of Virginia where she majored in Accounting and played Field Hockey and Lacrosse. 

Cindy began her career at Annandale as a Math Aide and then taught math from 1981–2007.  She first started coaching at Annandale in 1970. Over the years, Cindy has coached Field Hockey, Indoor Track, Girls’ Soccer and Girls’ Lacrosse. Her Field Hockey teams won region titles in 1989 and 2004.  The 1986 Girls’ Soccer team won the state championship. Cindy has been a valuable member of the Annandale High School community for over fifty years. This earned her a spot in the AHS Hall of Fame in 2019.

Coach Hook embodies the Annandale Spirit and lives life on and off the field with a winning tradition in mind. She was an inspiring coach that helped her players excel on and off the field. She was known for encouraging her players to be well rounded in everything they did. In her years at Annandale she helped grow the program, allowing access to the sport for everyone in the community. Coach Hook’s passion for the game even welcomed back alumni to the coaching staff and continued to spread the Atom Spirit.

Although she is stepping down from coaching Field Hockey, Coach Hook will continue to lead the Girls’ Lacrosse program at Annandale High School this spring.

Academic Advising

Rising 10th-12th Grade Students: Counselors continue to meet individually with students through English classes to discuss course selection for the 2022-23 school year. Our Academic Advising page has the grade level information presented by counselors, videos made by teachers describing our elective and IB options, and the course selection Google forms that must be completed by students. We encourage both students and parents to visit this site and discuss course selections for next year.

Students are asked to complete the appropriate grade-level course selection Google form prior to meeting with their counselor. All course selection forms are due no later than February 25. Please reach out to your student’s counselor, or Erik Healey, Director of Student Services, if you have any questions.

Rising 9th Grade Students: The transition from middle to high school can be difficult and stressful for some students. However, Annandale High School takes tremendous pride in ensuring the transition is as smooth as possible. This Thursday, February 10 at 6:00pm we will host our Rising 9th Grade Open House. This in-person event will provide students and parents the opportunity to learn more about what high school at Annandale is all about! 

We will offer short optional sessions on our various Annandale programs throughout the evening, and teachers will be in their classrooms during the event to share all about our core and elective courses for 9th Graders. The goal is for students and parents to leave this event excited about all the opportunities you will have as an Annandale Atom.

If you have not done so already, we want to encourage students and families to access all the information needed for course selection on our Academic Advising website. This site has grade level information that will be presented by counselors, videos made by teachers describing elective and IB options, the 9th grade course catalog, and the course selection Google form that will need to be completed by each student. In addition, on the website you will find the recording from our Virtual Course Registration Night on January 18 that provides guidance for when students meet with their middle school counselor. If you have any questions, please contact Erik Healey at ejhealey@fcps.edu. 

Opportunities

Instruction 2 Industry Career Expo: The Office of Counseling and College and Career Readiness is hosting the upcoming Instruction 2 Industry Career Expo event for high school students from February 14-17. The multi-day virtual career exploration fair is for high school students to connect with industry professionals from in-demand career fields across the Northern Virginia Region. Students will review a lesson in their W4 class on February 11 about career paths and post-secondary options in conjunction with this event. Registration for the live virtual sessions is now open. You can find the schedule and registration information here.

College Help Workshops – Thursdays 3:00-4:00, Room 90: These workshops are open to Juniors and Seniors, who want information on applying to college. Students who need individual assistance with college applications can ask questions about the Common Application, Transcript Request Forms, Scholarships, SAT/ACT exam registration, or anything else related to college.

Business Writing WorkKeys Workshop: Attention Juniors! The Atoms Writing Center will be holding a workshop to help juniors prepare for the Business Writing WorkKeys Exam on February 7 after school in Room 274 and during PRIDE Time on February 11 in the Lecture Hall. There is limited space during PRIDE Time, so if you're interested, contact your English teacher or Mrs. Hanson to sign up for PRIDE Time.

AWC’s Second Quarter Newsletter: The Atoms Writing Center’s second quarter newsletter is now available to read! The AWC held 190 writing tutoring conferences this quarter. Read the newsletter to hear about how the AWC served the AHS community this quarter and what opportunities are available for students to get help with their writing. 

Heritage Night Interest Meeting: Students, are you interested in showcasing your culture to the Annandale community? Join AHS Leadership Monday, February 7 in the auditorium from 3:00-3:30 for an interest meeting about Heritage Night!

News from the Activities Office

Check out this week's Atoms Athletics and Activities newsletter. You can also check out important information from the Activities Office on the Annandale High School Athletics and Activities website or AHS Athletics Twitter page. Please email John Ellenberger if you have any questions.

This Week's Events:

Monday, February 7

AWC - Writing WorkKeys Workshop - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 274

Girls' Who Code - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 223

Heritage Night - Interest Meeting - 3:00-3:30pm - Auditorium

Key Club - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 283

Region Gymnastics Championship - 5:00pm - Fairfax

Tuesday, February 8

Boys' Basketball at Mt. Vernon - 4:30/5:45/7:30pm

Girls' Basketball vs. Mt. Vernon - 4:30/5:45/7:30pm

 - Special Olympics Basketball - Halftime of the girls' basketball game!

Wednesday, February 9

Club Picture Day - 2:30-5:30pm - Cafeteria - Link for time slots

National Honor Society - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 249

AA LEAD - 3:00 - 5:00pm - Bistro

Atoms Writing Center - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 274

Rising 9th Grade Parent Night - 6:00pm

Thursday, February 10

Region Boys' Dive Championship at Oak Marr Rec Center - 12:30pm

AVID - College Essay Workshop - 3:00-4:00pm - Room 90

Friday, February 11

AWC - Writing WorkKeys Workshop - 10:20-11:15am - Room 274

Region Wrestling Championship at Mt. Vernon - 3:30pm

Region Swim Championship at Oak Marr Rec Center - 5:30pm

Boys' Basketball at Edison - 4:30/5:45/7:30pm

Girls' Basketball vs. Edison - 4:30/5:45/7:30pm

Saturday, February 12

Region Wrestling Championship at Mt. Vernon - 10:30am

Region Swim Championship at Oak Marr Rec Center - 5:30pm

Welcome Back Fans! We are excited to welcome back our spectators and fans to all events at Annandale High School and across FCPS. Good luck to our teams that begin postseason play this weekend. In addition, you can still watch FCPS high school sporting events online. Here’s how:

1. Go to www.NFHSnetwork.com.
2. Search for (school name) and go to its page.
3. Subscribe and follow.

This service is free for the rest of this school year. You do not need to purchase anything if you are watching FCPS hosted events.

Spring Sports Begin - February 21: Below is important information about the first day of practice for spring sports. If you have any questions, please email the head coach of that sport. Students must turn in their physical form to the Activities Office and register online now!  

Monday, February 21

Boys' Lax - 8:30-10:30am - Stadium - Bill Maglisceau

Girls' Lax - 10:30-12:30pm - Stadium - Cindy Hook 

Baseball - 11:00-2:30pm - Baseball Field - Chris Bagot

Boys' Tennis - 2:00-4:00pm - Tennis Courts - Steven Zaret

Boys' Soccer - 3:30-5:00pm - Stadium - Tejas Patel

Girls' Soccer - 3:30-5:00pm - Track Field - Jake Vaughn

Softball - 4:00-6:00pm - Softball Field - Mark Crabill

Girls' Lax - 4:00-5:30pm - Ossian Park Field - Cindy Hook

Tuesday, February 22

Girls' Tennis - 3:30 - 5:00pm - Tennis Courts - Kelley Brown

Tuesday, March 1

Outdoor Track - 3:30 - 5:30pm - Track - Phil Harris

News from the PTSA

PTSA Meeting Notes: The PTSA recently hosted their January meeting. Topics discussed were the upcoming Mulch Madness Sale, the pantry, All Night Grade Party, and Teacher Appreciation Week. You can check out the meeting agenda and notes on the PTSA website.  

PTSA Membership - Join Today! On behalf of the Annandale High School Parent, Teacher, Student Association (PTSA), we hope that the 2021–2022 school year is going well. The key ingredient to our success as a school is YOU. Please dare to make a difference, be better informed and join the PTSA today by filling out the online 2021–2022 Membership Form. For more information about membership, visit our Membership page.

PTSA Food Pantry Distribution: The PTSA sponsored AHS Pantry distributes food to AHS students and families in need. Distribution will take place on the second and fourth Fridays of each month from 3:00-4:00pm in Trailer 8 at the rear of the school. The pantry distribution schedule for the school year can be found here. Click here for additional food and community services. Contact Alissa Green, School Social Worker at adgreen@fcps.edu with questions related to resources. 

You can make a donation to the Pantry here. To ease the distribution process, we always need donations of both paper grocery bags (preferably with handles) and reusable grocery bags (for families and students who walk home).  Grocery bags and food donations for the Pantry can be dropped off in the main office. Contact Norma Foti, Pantry Coordinator at pantry@annandalehsptsa.org with questions. 

PTSA Pantry Is Always Restocking and Needs Your Help! The following items are always needed to restock. Items can be dropped off in the main office. All donations to the AHS PTSA Pantry are tax deductible.