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Important Upcoming Dates
* See information below.
2/8: Winter Band Concert
*2/9: Frost Family Festival
2/13: 100th Day of School (Projected)
*2/15: Woodson Pyramid Drug Education Information Night For Parents
2/16: PTA Meeting
2/20: George Washington’s Birthday (Holiday For Staff and Students)
*2/24: Woodson HS International Night
2/27: 3rd Grade Family Folk Dance Night
*3/2: Read Across America Day
3/3: School Planning Day (Student Holiday)
4/3 - 4/7: Spring Break
4/17: Woodson Pyramid Spring Art Show
IN THIS ISSUE
- NEW:Farewell and Thank You!
- Upcoming Event for 6th Grade Families
- Cup of Cheer
- UPDATED: Celebrations of Lexia
- Updated POG Communication News
- Fairfax Villa/FCPS Inclement Weather Plan
- The Science of Reading
- Tutor.com Free Resources
- Score Reporting To Families
- Drug Education Information Night For Parents
- Woodson HS International Night
- Monday and Friday Fairfax Villa Clothing
- Fairfax Villa Contacts
- Be Informed; Stay Involved!
- Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow!
1.Farewell and Thank You!
From Barbara Schmidt, our School-Based Technology Specialist (SBTS) and School Testing Coordinator:
As I retire from education, FCPS, and Fairfax Villa this week, I want to thank the Villa families with whom I have had the pleasure of working with for the past 14 years! Your children have made this job such fun and I have enjoyed getting to know them and so many of our wonderful families. Working with each of you has given me great pleasure. As I leave Fairfax Villa, I know I will always have a special place in my own heart for the “Small School With a Big Heart!” I wish you all the very best.
Coming in as our next SBTS is Noor Hachwi. Although Ms. Hachwi is new to the SBTS world, she has lots of tech experience and innovative ideas. She most recently worked as a Student Programs Recruiting Coordinator for Amazon; before that, she was a Health/PE teacher at Bull Run ES and Liberty MS where she infused technology into all of her lessons and mentored other teachers on technology. With a BA in Communication from George Mason University and a M.Ed in Teacher Leadership from the American College of Education, she is excited to join the Villa staff and support your children with their technology and testing.
Having lived in this area her whole life, Ms. Hachwi attended FCPS schools and graduated from South Lakes HS. Coming from a large family of 8 children, she has 11 nieces and nephews and enjoys getting together for big family dinners on the weekends. She loves sports, games, and working out! Please join us in welcoming Ms. Hachwi to the Villa family!
2. Upcoming Event for 6th Grade Families
Frost Middle School is eager to begin the upcoming transition activities with their future Frost Falcons! Please mark your calendars for the Frost Family Festival on February 9th.
FMS will also be having the Frost Family Festival (in-person) on February 9th beginning at 5:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to get a school tour and visit elective classes to help confirm desired course selections. More information to come!
The Rising 7th Grade Orientation for current 6th grade students who will be attending Frost in the 23-24 school year took place virtually on January 26th. During this event, students and families heard from administration and school counselors who provided an overview of Frost Middle School, course selection opportunities, and the selection process. A recording of the event is on the Frost Student Services website here.
3.Cup of Cheer
Send some love and help support the 6th grade!
Purchase a Cup of Cheer and send it to anyone at the Villa (students or staff members). Each Cup of Cheer includes a heart lollipop, hot cocoa mix and your personalized message.
The cost is 3 for $10 or $4 each.
All proceeds go towards the 6th grade graduation luncheon.
Pink order forms/tags went home in last week’s Wednesday Folder. Return the personalized message tags to the office with your cash or check payment (checks made out to Fairfax Villa PTA, with 6th grade in the memo).
Cups of Cheer will be delivered the week of Valentine’s Day.
On the tags, please put the receiver’s name and teacher so that we can deliver your cheer to the correct person.
If you need more tags, please contact Julie Scoville in the office at 703/267-2800.
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4.Celebrations of Lexia!
60 = The number of Lexia Certificates given this past week!
1398= The number of Lexia Certificates given this year!
68% = The percentage of students working at or above grade level!
Parents - ask your child to show you their Lexia Superstar Certificates for the completion of each level!
Congratulations to all of our students who are working hard on their Lexia lessons and making so much progress. At the beginning of the school year, 32% of our students in grades K-6 were working on grade level material in Lexia. We now have 68% of our students working on grade level. For the other 32% of students, we are also proud of them for working toward their end of the year goal.
It is VERY important that families do NOT help students with the Lexia lessons. We need for students to do their own learning so that we get a true picture of what they have learned and what teachers need to support them with here at school. Each week, teachers get a report of the areas of growth and lessons that each student needs and, if families assist with Lexia, this will change the learning results. We need students to do the Lexia work themselves so that they will be most successful in their learning.
Look for a weekly update on our continued Lexia successes!
If your child wants to practice their reading skills with Lexia at home, they can go to https://clever.com/in/fairfax/student/portal
to log into Clever using their FCPS google accounts. They then click on the Lexia icon to get started. It is strongly recommended that our K-6 graders spend 15-30 minutes each night learning with this Lexia program. Please be aware that they will also be using this program during the school day in one of their language arts blocks.
Another way to get to Lexia is through their Schoology account. After they go to https://lms.fcps.edu/ and log into Schoology, they click on the waffle in the upper right corner, click on Clever, and then they will see their Lexia.
If your child does not have a school issued laptop to use at home, he/she may access Schoology via the FCPS website. Schoology is the first option available in the dark blue toolbar.
5.Updated Portrait Of a Graduate (POG) Communication News
Students have been working on their POG Communicator Skills in music classes over the past several weeks. In Mrs. Hood’s 6th grade classes, students were given the choice to create a soundscape to a poem or write a story based on a selected piece of music. Students used their communicator skills of using technology to find and share ideas by using WeVideo to create a video presentation of their work. They also demonstrated the skill of writing to share ideas when writing their stories and making connections to what they heard when choosing instruments to accompany the poem that they chose.
Ms. Rivera’s 3rd graders are learning about math by BEING math - can you find the point, angle, and line?
6.Fairfax Villa/FCPS Inclement Weather Plan
As you have read from the FCPS announcements, the inclement weather procedures for FCPS will remain the same as last year. The first five inclement weather days will be traditional “snow days” with no school activities. After those five days, we will have unscheduled virtual learning days, whenever possible, to maintain the continuity of learning. Virtual learning on these days will be synchronous/live instruction.
On those days, teachers will have students access a Zoom link from their class Schoology site. We will be starting the day at 10:30 and ending at 2:45 to give a “Family Recess” at the end of the day. There will also be a 45 minute lunch built in from 12:15 - 1:00. All students will have had a practice with their teachers so that all students know how to access the Zoom and what behaviors are expected as to attendance and working.
Please consider bookmarking FCPS' Weather Cancellation Procedures to stay informed in case of winter weather or other emergency situations.
7.The Science of Reading
What is the Science of Reading? Maybe you’ve heard the term or about Equitable Access to Literacy. What does this mean for your child’s instruction? These slides below from FCPS can help support your understanding about our transformation in reading and writing instruction and access to effective literacy practices that are aligned with what we now know about how the brain learns. When we know better,we do better! As always, please reach out to your child’s teacher if you have questions about this shift in our instruction.
To access the slides, please log into your parent Schoology account and look at our Fairfax Villa parent course for the Science of Reading folder. https://lms.fcps.edu/course/6049662884/materials
If you are looking for ways to support your children at home with literacy skills, the Virginia Literacy Partnership (VLP) has a variety of free resources to support families here: https://literacy.virginia.edu/resources-families
Another great family resource from the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy and the Atlanta Speech School will help develop literacy skills. This is free but does require signing up. https://www.coxcampus.org/families/
8.Tutor.com Free Resources
Fairfax Villa students continue to have unlimited access to live, 24/7, one-on-one online tutoring services through Tutor.com at no cost to families during the 2022-23 school year. 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 can access Tutor.com via a link in Schoology. Additional information about how to log in and access a tutor is provided to families via the following: Elementary - How It Works.
9.Score Reporting To Families
For the academic screenings that students complete in the fall, score report letters will be generated by FCPS, not each individual school. Most reports can be found in ParentVUE/SIS. If you do not yet have a ParentVUE/SIS account, please contact Ms. Schmidt at bdschmidt@fcps.edu.
- VRKP grades PreK-K will be sent via U.S. Mail before winter break
- iReady grades 1-3 will be sent via U.S. Mail before Thanksgiving
- iReady grades 4-6 will be posted via SIS ParentVUE before winter break
- Fall VGA scores will be mailed by FCPS to parents the week of December 5
- Fall CogAT scores were sent home in the Wednesday Folders on November 30.
- Fall SEL Screener reports are scheduled to be mailed by FCPS in early January.
- Fall NNAT3 scores were sent home in the Wednesday Folders on December 14.
- Fall and Winter VGA Scores for reading and math will be sent to parents by FCPS by the end of March.
10.Drug Education Information Night For Parents
Click Image to RSVP - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUWKpGkn_a2-_HzzpZM3nhRRqSqJ-ZHIPXTvPiqxklUu9Fzg/viewform?usp=sf_link?
11.Woodson HS International Night
Join Woodson in celebrating cultures with food, performances, and more!
February 24th, 5-9pm
Enter through Door 4
Ticket: Potluck $5 | Main Show $5
Questions? Contact: wtwfortheculture@gmail.com
Click image to expand - https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/VAEDUFCPS/2023/02/02/file_attachments/2399141/3.jpg?
12.Monday & Friday Fairfax Villa Clothing
Students and staff will be wearing the same clothing to kick off and end each week during the 2022-23 school year!
- On Mondays, we will be wearing our Positivity shirts to highlight our character strengths and virtues that we will be learning throughout the school year. The Boosterthon team distributed these green shirts during the fun run for the past 2 years. The shirts highlight our Villa dragon and Positivity logos on the front of the shirts.
- On Fridays, we will be showing off our favorite Fairfax Villa spirit wear. If your son or daughter has outgrown their Fairfax Villa spirit wear clothing, our PTA has some new ones.
13.Fairfax Villa Contacts
Fairfax Villa Main Phone Line: 703-267-2800
Fairfax Villa Attendance Phone Line: 703-267-2828
Fairfax Villa Attendance Link: https://fairfaxvillaes.fcps.edu/attendance-form
Technology Support for Families/Parent Help Desk: 1-833-921-3277
Parent Information Phone Lines/Support for parents who do not speak English as their first language: Parent Information Phone Lines
Parent and Student technology support: IT Support Portal
FCPS Transportation Phone Line:703-446-2050
Candace Davis, Transportation Supervisor, 703-446-2050, CEDavis@fcps.edu
Dave Gerstner, Principal, drgerstner@fcps.edu
Shelia Sobeski, Assistant Principal, sdsobeski@fcps.edu
Karen Wells, Administrative Assistant, kewells@fcps.edu
Julie Scoville, Office Staff, jgscoville@fcps.edu
Silvia Dossmann, Student Information Assistant, smdossmann@fcps.edu
Noor Hachwi, School Based Technology Specialist, nhachwi@fcps.edu
14.Be Informed; Stay Involved!
15.Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow!
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There’s not much we can do about the winter weather, but there are two key steps every parent can take to help avoid absences this year: Make back-up plans for bad weather and keep your children healthy.
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Absences, even if they are excused, can add up to academic trouble. This is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school.
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Children who miss too much school in kindergarten are less likely to read well by third grade. By middle school, absenteeism can predict who will graduate from high school.
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A study of weather-related absences in Massachusetts found that each missed day affected a student’s test scores and grades. This was especially true on snowy days when school stayed open but some students missed class.
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Please remember, Monday, February 20 is a school holiday. We are eager to welcome your children back in school on Tuesday, February 21.
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