Weekly Words
August 26, 2022
We are Better Together!
A Message from our Administration
What an amazing first week of the 2022-2023 School Year! We are thankful to have the opportunity to work with your family this year and will work every day to ensure a safe and positive learning environment for your child.
Our staff have worked hard to prepare for a great year of learning. Everyone is already building positive relationships and routines and embracing Morning Meeting and Closing Circle. We have included some photographs from the first week of school for you to enjoy.
Please contact us when there is a question or concern. Thank you for your support and being part of our team! We are Better Together!
Your Proud Administrative Team,
Jen Fallert Karen Baxter
JRFallert@fcps.edu KPBaxter@fcps.edu
Principal Assistant Principal
Important Upcoming Dates
Friday, September 2 & Monday, September 5 - Labor Day Holiday
Thursday, September 8 & Friday, September 9 - Picture Day
Monday, September 26 - Rosh Hashanah (Student Holiday)
Friday, September 2 and Monday, September 5 are Labor Day holidays for all FCPS employees and students. We hope everyone takes the long weekend to celebrate a strong start to the school year and enjoy time with family and friends.
Buses and Delays
Please be aware that all of us are getting used to new routines at the start of the school year. Thank you for your patience as those routines are established. If a student’s bus is delayed, parents may access the Bus Delay Notification System or use the Here Comes the Bus mobile app to receive the delayed bus report. E-Notify (School Messenger) email messages will also be sent to announce significant bus delays. Contact the Area 1 Transportation Office at 703-446-2150 with questions during school hours. For any concerns after hours (after 5:30 pm), contact Safety and Security at 571-423-2000.
 Kindergarten Colors Week
Next week, August 29 - September 2, Island Creek's kindergarten students will be exploring colors. To generate school wide fun and excitement, the kindergarten team is inviting everyone to participate!
| Monday, August 29 |
Wear Red |
| Tuesday, August 30 |
Wear Orange |
| Wednesday, August 31 |
Wear Yellow |
| Thursday, September 1 |
Wear Green |
| Tuesday, September 6 |
Wear Blue |
| Wednesday, September 7 |
Wear Purple |
| Thursday, September 8 |
Wear Pink |
| Friday, September 9 |
Wear Red, White, and Blue
(Patriot Day Eve) |
Meet our Staff
Island Creek would like to welcome our new staff members and introduce them to the community through our 'about me' page.
This week we are welcoming: Jen Fallert (Principal) and Tracy Bank (Art Teacher).
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Birthday Book Donations
To commemorate your child’s special day, please consider a lasting gift to our school library: a birthday book donation! Choose a book from our birthday book wish list to donate to our school library before your child’s birthday. Ms. Keaney will process the book for library circulation and create a bookplate for the inside front cover with a message of your choice. Your student will be the first checkout for the book and your child’s teacher can share it with the class on your child’s birthday. At the end of the school year, students are excited to find out how many times their book has been taken out by other Crocs!
For birthday book donations, Ms. Keaney, our librarian, maintains a wish list of 150+ books that fit the library’s book selection criteria, including meaningful picture books, books that support our curricula, and in-demand student favorites that need additional copies such as books in the popular Dog Man series. Books on the Island Creek Library Birthday Book Wish List do not have to be purchased through Amazon. Books purchased through the Amazon wish list itself will be delivered directly to the Island Creek library. Be sure to include the full student name and teacher name on the gift receipt.
When donating a birthday book to the library, please complete this form so Ms. Keaney can create the bookplate to be placed inside the book. Please note the library cannot accept birthday book donations of used books or books that do not fit our selection criteria. Please email Ms. Keaney at mkeaney@fcps.edu if you have any questions or a suggestion of a book not on yet the list. Thank you for considering a book to add to our collection!
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SOL Test Results
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has announced 2021-22 Standards of Learning (SOL) data for school divisions that shows Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has made steady progress towards a return to pre-pandemic levels.
FCPS annual pass rates for 2022 indicate that, while the road to recovery continues, FCPS students made promising gains in reading, mathematics, and science over the course of the 2022 school year. Read more about our plans for continued improvement of the SOL pass rates.
Tutoring Services Update
FCPS students continue to have unlimited access to live, 24/7, 1-to-1, online tutoring services through Tutor.com at no cost to families during the 22-23 SY. Student participation is optional and parents/guardians can opt their student(s) out of accessing the services. Detailed information and FAQs are available on the Tutor.com Online Tutoring Services website.
Students will continue to access Tutor.com via a link in Schoology. Information about how to log in and access a tutor is provided in the following instructional videos:
South County Dance Team Clinic
South County High School is inviting Island Creek students to participate in a dance clinic on Thursday, October 13; with a chance to perform at the SCHS Football game on Friday, October 14.
Attached is a flyer and application with more information for those who are interested - submit to: Kristin McIntire at kmmcintire@fcps.edu by October 4.
 Follow ICES on Social Media
TWITTER: @islandcreekes
FACEBOOK: Island Creek Elementary School
FACEBOOK (PTA): Island Creek Elementary PTA
Ms. Fallert (twitter): @FallertJen
ICES Website: https://islandcreekes.fcps.edu/
PTA News
PTA Fall Membership Drive
The PTA is essential to Island Creek Elementary, and we're excited to kick off our fall membership drive for the 2022-2023 school year! This year's membership drive theme is "Feed the Croc." The more members we gain, the happier our Croc will be! You don't want a hangry Croc showing up at Island Creek!
Enroll your whole family today - help us meet our membership goal of 500 this year. We were already at 83 members before the first week of school ended! We are so happy to see how engaged the community is already.
We welcome grandparents, extended family, and community members! We have the option to select a family bundle; purchase the bundle that best describes your family! It only takes 5 minutes and $10 to join. Visit https://ices.memberhub.com/store to join! Enroll your whole family! If we meet these membership goals, the whole school will join in on the fun!
- 200 members: Crocs in Crazy Socks
- 300 members: School-Wide Pajama Day
- 400 members: Favorite Hat Day
- 500 Members: The Principal and Assistant Principal will wear a croc costume all day
Our membership drive will take place over two major PTA events; our Croc Rock-N-Run on Friday, September 30 (during school hours) and the PTA's “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” Trunk or Treat on Friday, October 22 (evening event).
ICES Fitness Week
Fitness Week will take place in September and will culminate with the Croc Rock-N-Run, our largest fundraiser of the year. It will be a fun week for our children to focus on fitness and to promote the fundraiser! The ICES PTA, PE department, and the ICES Administration are working closely together to handle this event from start to finish! Parents will be encouraged to come to cheer their students on. All students will receive a T-shirt and a small prize from the PTA on the day of the run. Information about the run and fundraiser will be sent over the next few weeks. Thank you to CoffeeIn, Elite M.A. Centers, Red Wagon, and Yoga6, for their support of this event.
We'll close our membership drive during the Trunk or Treat, so make sure your family has joined by the close of the event!
We’ll have one more exciting new event scheduled for this fall. On November 18, we’ll host a STEM night with activities focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Music, and Math.
Information about these events will be sent out over the coming weeks – join the PTA as soon as possible to make sure you’re on our mailing list for event updates! Our first PTA General Membership Meeting will be held on September 13, from 7-8 pm, in the school cafeteria. We hope you can join us!
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/islandcreekpta Visit our website: islandcreekpta.org
Check out our new Island Creek Spirit Wear at 30% off! Sale lasts through Sept 21 - grab your new spirit wear now! www.tinyurl.com/CrocSpiritWear
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