A Message from Mr. Morris
Tragedy in Pakistan
To our Pakistani students, families and colleagues that have been impacted by the horrific flooding occurring in your country, please accept our deepest sympathies. We are heartbroken by the loss in Pakistan.
From NPR: One-third of Pakistan is inundated, as floods sweep through the country this summer. The catastrophic floods, resulting from monsoon rains that began in June, are unprecedented in scale and scope. So far, they have affected some 33 million people — about 14% of Pakistan's population — causing death, damage, displacement and loss whose effects will be felt for months and years to come.
We are here for you and want Stratford Landing to be a place where you can share your feelings and know that you are valued and supported and cared for. How can we help?
The First Nine Days of School
We’ve had a joyful nine days of teaching and learning at Stratford Landing. Teachers are using morning meetings to establish community and build relationships. We are focusing on school wide expectations and procedures. Teachers are interactive modeling for students how to make safe, kind choices during recess, lunch and other times in the school day. Teachers are using reinforcing, reminding and redirecting language with students to proactively support student needs and behaviors. Our teachers are being firm, but fair.
For the first six weeks of school, our students wear nametags to ensure any adult that interacts with them can address them by their name. When we address students by their name, we build rapport and trust and treat all students with dignity. We observed teachers affirming students these past two weeks. In one instance, a teacher was letting students say their name first, then repeating the name and asking the student if they got it right.
“No, that’s not right,” one student said, “you pronounce it this way.”
“Thank you. I won’t get it wrong again,” the teacher said back.
The student smiled and nodded.
This week, the SLES administrators met with each grade level, K-6, together to talk about the FCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R). We spent time with students as they articulated the differences between a right and responsibility. We reinforced with students that they have the right to attend school and feel safe and affirmed and that they belong. We want students to be their authentic selves. We helped students understand it is their responsibility to keep SLES a safe, inclusive space. One fourth-grade student shared out during our discussion that, “Belonging means that people know who you are.” Students identified a trusted adult that they can speak to in the building if they feel like they need help. We helped our students understand the why behind some rules and expectations we have in FCPS and at SLES. We encourage families to explore the FCPS SR&R together as a family and set your students up for success each school day. How will they exemplify our Dolphin Decree? How will they be kind, try their best, stay safe and show CARES (Cooperation, Assertion, Respect, Empathy and Self-Control)? How will they make a classmate feel special and valued? How can they make someone’s day?
We have also started our beginning of the year assessments including I-Ready. Beginning of the year student data will help teachers inform their instruction and meet our students exactly where they are. Our teams have been highly collaborative when discussing routines, procedures, assessments, and instruction. Since August 15, our grade level teams have met together at least five times (in some cases teams of teachers have met together more frequently) with support from our Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART), Instructional Coach, Literacy Specialist, Instructional Technology Coach, Administrators, and other relevant professionals in the building. As a community of professionals, we value collaboration so we can be the best we can be for each student.
Weekly newsletter communication from classroom teachers begins after Thursday, Sept 1. These weekly updates are your best access to your student’s classroom. Be on the lookout for this weekly communication as well as a positive phone call home from your student’s teacher.
Last week we hosted a successful Back to School Night and Community Resource Fair. This was our first in-person Back to School Night since August 2019! Our community resources and vendors were thankful for the opportunity to connect with our families. Families provided positive feedback regarding the information that was shared by teachers and the resources that were offered to families. Our families enjoyed connecting with our specialist teachers as well. Our PTA had an opportunity to establish new relationships with families. The sign-up sheets looked pretty full!
We are a go for September at Stratford Landing. If you have questions about the school day, check our website first. Review communication from your student’s teacher. If you notice something is missing from our website, let us know and we can add/update content as needed. If you still have questions, you can contact a teacher directly by phone or email. You may also call our school front office, as well as reach out to Stratford Landing administration. No issue is too small or unimportant to share with us. SLES is responsive and we want our families to feel supported and that they have appropriate information and resources to support teaching and learning at SLES.
Until next time,
Kevin Morris, Principal
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Important Stratford Landing Website Updates
Learn more about Stratford Landing’s Attendance Policy and Reporting Student Absences
Learn how to volunteer at Stratford Landing
Learn more about getting to and from school
Learn more about Stratford Landing’s academic programs and curriculum
Learn more about our policies and procedures at Stratford Landing
Change in school transportation from
Don’t miss News You Choose from Stratford Landing
Labor Day Holiday: FCPS Closed Friday and Monday
Friday, Sept, 2, and Monday, Sept. 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. See the complete 2022-23 school year calendar.
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Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow!
The beginning of the school year is the best time to develop strong attendance habits! Students who attend school regularly are more likely to perform well in reading and math, develop strong social and emotional skills, and graduate from high school on time. Help prepare your child for future success. Visit FCPS’ Attendance web page for tips and strategies.
My School Bucks and Student Breakfast/Lunch PINs
We encourage families to monitor your student’s My School Bucks account.
If you notice unusual charges, please reach out to Mr. Jerry Reynolds, our Cafeteria Manager. We have had some incidents of additional charges occurring on student accounts. Talk to your student and get a sense of how money is being spent during breakfast and lunch and reach out to the school if we can support.
ParentVUE and Student Rights & Responsibilities
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:
 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 September 30, 2022.
Please contact us if you are having difficulty accessing the booklet.
STEAM Education at Stratford Landing
We are shifting away from a “specials” style instructional delivery of STEAM at Stratford Landing. We no longer have a STEAM teacher that students see outside of their regular classroom. STEAM Education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. These approaches are easily integrated into classrooms, and many of our teachers have been doing these kinds of inquiries in their classrooms for several years. We focus on Portrait of a Graduate at SLES, which includes promoting global, critical and creative thinkers, a hallmark of STEAM Education. Our Stratford Landing Mission Statement encompasses elements of STEAM Education. Project Based Learning (PBLs) that teachers already do in their classrooms connect to inquiry and critical thinking and elements of engineering and design.
Last spring Stratford Landing was awarded an AFCEA grant to support STEAM Education at Stratford Landing. We will be using these grant funds to support STEAM Education in our classrooms this school year.
Our Instructional Coach, our Instructional Technology Coach, and our Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART) can support our teams of teachers this year as we identify instructional opportunities, especially in science, to use a STEAM Education approach. We predict this kind of integration will impact student engagement during science positively.
2022-2023 School T-Shirt Student Design Contest and School Year Themes
We’d like to start a new tradition at Stratford Landing … “This Year’s Shirt.”
As a school, we’ll decide on a theme and focus for our school year. This year’s theme and focus has already been decided. “Stratford Landing! I Belong Here.” In June ‘23 we’ll vote on the theme and focus for next school year. Students can submit theme ideas and focuses for next year in Spring ‘23. In addition to deciding our theme and focus together as a school, we will also create a shirt each year that will be the same for all students and SLES staff. Students will submit designs for the shirt and we’ll vote for the winning design as a school and print it on this year’s shirt.
This year’s shirt should include the theme, “Stratford Landing! I Belong Here.” We’ll have some spirit days and ask for students and staff to wear this year’s shirt. On one of those days we can take a schoolwide photo with everyone wearing this year’s shirt. The photo of the whole school together will be in the field taken from the roof (we got pretty good at those shots during the pandemic!)
We’re hopeful this new tradition will bring joy to our community and begin a fun way of documenting each school year uniquely. We want to continue to elevate our students’ voices and creativity and involve them in decision-making for our school. We predict students will enjoy having a chance to create and decide schoolwide themes and focuses for our school.
Be on the look out for updates on how students can submit designs for this year’s shirt.
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Parent Information Line Available in 8 Languages
Parents who speak Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, or Vietnamese can call a telephone information line for general information about FCPS and to receive support if they are having difficulty communicating with their children's schools due to a language barrier.
Superintendent Community Conversations
Please save the date for a very special event! Dr. Michelle Reid, FCPS superintendent, will host a Community Conversation at West Potomac High School on Thursday, October 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m. This event will be a unique opportunity to help Dr. Reid get to know our school community and learn more about her vision for our district.
Language interpretation will be provided, as available, as well as child care and light refreshments. Please register to attend.
If you would like to attend on a different date/location, click here to see the list of dates and locations.
Safety Drills During the School Year
Keeping students and staff safe is a priority for all of us. Each school has an emergency preparedness plan to respond to incidents such as fires and tornadoes. Schools are required by state law to practice emergency drills, including lockdown drills, each year. Schools are required to notify parents and guardians at least 24 hours before a school conducts a lockdown drill. However, schools are not required to give the specific date and time of the drill in advance. The first lockdown drill of the school year must take place within the first 20 days of school. Preschool and kindergarten students are exempt from practicing the first lockdown drill. Your child may come home and talk about their experience during the drill. We encourage you to talk with your child about the importance of being prepared for emergencies. Here are some helpful tips for families to use to support their students before and after school lockdown drills. Working together, we create a safe, secure environment for students to learn and grow in our schools.
Gun Safety and Safe Gun Storage
Providing students and staff with a safe educational environment remains our top priority. Sadly, gun violence continues to impact schools and communities across our nation.
As you may be aware, lessons on gun safety are already built into our curriculum; however, it is critical that all parents and guardians talk to their children about the importance of gun safety and safe gun storage in your homes, and any homes that your children may visit.
Our website has resources for parents about gun safety as well as detailed information about FCPS safety and security practices in our buildings.
Family Liaison News & Updates
Hello SLES Families! As your family liaison, my goal is to keep you informed about the valuable resources, events, and family engagement opportunities available through SLES, FCPS, and the community. My office hours are Monday - Friday from 9:30 am - 1:30 pm, and I can be reached at ahoward@fcps.edu or 703-619-3690. Please visit the SLES Family Liaison homepage for additional information and resources.
Here are some of the latest resources, news, and events I’d like to share with you:
Family Needs Assessment: We Need Your Input!
The Wellness Team at Stratford Landing Elementary aims to support the students and their families throughout the school year. We are seeking parent/guardian input to help us identify, understand, and support specific family needs. Our goal is to use the information to encourage family engagement and connect families with the appropriate school and community resources. As parents/guardians, your involvement and input are vital to the school improvement process. Please complete this form at your earliest opportunity. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration!
SLES Family Resource Center
Our Family Resource Center is in need of the following donations:
- backpacks
- paper towels
- body soap
- shampoo/conditioner
- tide pods
- gently used children's books and or educational games
Please place items in the red bins outside of the front office. Thank you!
Military Welcome Coffee Meetup
Date: Wednesday, September 14 | 9:15 - 10:30 am
Location: Stratford Landing ES
Please come to our first Military Welcome Coffee, where we will meet just outside the front doors of SLES at 9:15 am. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided as we welcome new and returning families and discuss upcoming events, including Veterans Day. We hope to see you there!
“I Can’t Focus!” a Free Webinar on ADHD
Join the Parent Resource Center for a webinar on how to help children with ADHD learn skills and strategies to help them succeed at math and writing on September 8 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and September 9 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Visit the PRC website for more information on new resources, free consultations, a free lending library, and an archive of previous workshops.
Hidden in Plain Sight (HIPS) Program
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 6 | 6:30 - 8:45 pm
Location: Hybla Community Center (7950 Audubon Ave, Alexandria)
The Hidden in Plain Sight (HIPS) program is an IN-PERSON interactive program for adults (parents and guardians only) to be educated about the signs of risky behavior in teens and young adults. It touches on drug and alcohol use, vaping, mental health and behavioral concerns, risky sexual behaviors, trending "challenges" and more. Click here to register
Lee Mount Vernon Sports Club (LMVSC)
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Mark Your Calendar!
August 22 - September 9: Teacher Positive Phone Calls Home
September 1: Weekly Classroom Newsletter Communication Begins (from the classroom teacher)
September 2 - September 5: Holiday (Labor Day Break)
September 14 (9:15 - 10:30 am): Military Welcome Coffee Meetup
September 26: Student Holiday (Rosh Hashanah)
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Quick Links
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