 STEAM Night Success
Forestdale Families,
Oh my goodness, what an amazing night we had last night for Family STEAM Night! Despite the rain, we had hundreds of families come out (thank you!), and our students engaged in engaging and educational STEAM activities including building hovercrafts and robots, creating bubble snakes and elephant toothpaste explosions, planting seeds, creating artwork, exploring collaboration in space, and testing aerodynamic paper airplane designs, and more... so much learning, and so much fun!
Hats off to our Student Council Association (SCA) for their fun and exciting (and maybe a bit nerve-wracking for one of us) fundraiser! Thanks to all our students who bought strips of duct tape and suspended me mid-air! Boy, did they love taping me to the wall, haha! We look forward to the work our SCA continues to do for our community thanks to your donations.
Bringing families together to engage in learning and community building is a value we hold at Forestdale, and each of you make that goal happen. Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership and for upholding our commitments to "take care of ourselves, each other, and this place!"
Wishing you a beautiful weekend and looking forward to having you join us on May 13 for our Family Field Trip and on June 2 for our annual Culture Night! You all make us #ForestdaleStrong!
Fondly,
Mrs. Jenny Cunneen, Proud Principal
Dr. LaDonna Tate, Proud Assistant Principal
It's Staff Appreciation Week!
A Message from the Forestdale PTA:
To thank the them for all they do for our students each day, we invite you to participate in the national Staff Appreciation Week. Forestdale will celebrate Staff Appreciation this coming week, May 1-5. Please see below for some ideas of how you and your student(s) can honor their teachers and staff! A paper flier went home in last week's Thursday folder. Thank you, families, for supporting our staff!
 Help Needed for Staff Fiesta on May 5
Your Forestdale PTA is hosting it's last staff appreciation event of the year ... a Cinco de Mayo lunch to wrap up Staff Appreciation Week, feeding 150 people!
Sign up by May 3 using this link, then bring them to school at 8:30 a.m. on May 5. If you need to drop off items early, please contact Kelly at forestdaleelementaryPTA@gmail.com. She also can be at school early on May 5 to accept items during SACC dropoff. Thank you for your participation and support!
Seeking Gift Card Donations
We are seeking gift cards to be raffled off to the Forestdale staff throughout Staff Appreciation Week. Gift cards of any amount ($5 and up) to any vendor are welcome! Please send them in to the school office labeled to Forestdale PTA Treasurer.
Standards of Learning Tests Begin May 9
Students in grades 3-6 will take Standards of Learning (SOL) tests starting on May 9. For more information on the Standards of Learning (SOL) standardized test in reading, mathematics, and science, please visit the SOL assessments webpage.
The Virginia Board of Education allows elementary and middle school students who fail the Standards of Learning (SOL) test by a narrow margin to retake the test before the end of the school year. Retesting is available when a student fails their first attempt with a score of 375-399 (where 400 is passing).
Parent permission is required for any retests in grades 3-8. If you believe that your student would benefit from a second opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on the SOL test, please complete the Retest Permission Form sent home with your child. This form must be completed whether you would like your child to retake the test or not. A decision not to allow retesting will not impact your student’s course grade or academic record.
Information went home to all families last week. Please contact your child's teacher or Dr. LaDonna Tate, School Testing Coordinator, at lmtate@fcps.edu with any questions.
Your Input Wanted for Class Groupings
Creating class assignments for next year requires careful consideration and the involvement of many staff members. We know that a good teacher-student match and a productive mix of children are ingredients for success. Please use this form/ usa este formulario to share information about your child that the school staff should know, particularly regarding friendships or neighborhood factors, by Monday, May 15, 2023. Our teachers and staff use this information to create preliminary class groupings in the end of May.
We also ask that you do not request specific teachers. This does not take into account the many variables to be considered such as grade-level changes or reductions in staff. It is far more valuable to share particular academic or behavioral needs or concerns. Be assured that with or without a parent letter, your child’s strengths and needs are considered in this lengthy and complex process.
Thank you for sharing this important information with us so we can best meet your child's needs next year!
Forestdale Family Field Trip: Saturday, May 13
Join us for a family field trip to the Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum on May 13 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
All families are welcome to join, and Forestdale will be funding two buses to provide transportation for families; seats will be allocated based on need and on a first-come-first served basis. Families will receive confirmation if they have a spot on the bus and will receive tickets to present the day of the field trip. Per FCPS regulations, bus transportation is only available for current FCPS students and family members over the age of 18. Families are welcome to transport themselves to the museum. Please bring your own lunch or plan to purchase lunch at the museum.
Sign up using this link or by scanning the QR code in the flier below. Please note that signing up for the trip does not guarantee a seat for you on the bus. Families who are able to ride the bus will receive notification and tickets to present on the day of the field trip. All families are welcome to provide their own transportation and meet us at the museum. See more information in the flier below and on the registration link.
We look forward to spending the day together as a school family!
Forestdale Culture Night Reminder & Save the Date
Save the date! Forestdale's annual Culture Night will be held on Friday, June 2 at 6:00 p.m.
All Culture Night interest forms are due next week by Friday, May 5. If you are interested in having a table at Culture Night but don’t have the form, please fill out this Forestdale Culture Night Interest Form and send it in with your child or contact Ms. Clement at mmclement1@fcps.edu to send a paper home for your family.
We can't wait to see you on June 2 to celebrate the beautiful diversity of our Forestdale family!
 Assembly Fun
Thanks to our wonderful PTA and the funds you all raised for the Read-a-Thon, we welcomed Brian Curry and his math and science Pop Quiz show as a school-wide assembly this week. What a fun morning! Our students walked away with some math and science knowledge, and we know they had fun... you could hear the giggles and cheers all the way down the hallway! Thank you to our PTA and families for making this awesome event happen!
Community Conversation: School Safety and Security
FCPS will host a community conversation to discuss our approach to safety and security, and the work we do every day to keep our schools safe. Join us Monday, May 8, 6:30-7:30 p.m., at South Lakes High School. Registration information will be available soon..
FCPS staff and experts will review our risk assessment processes, the physical measures we already have in place to protect our students and staff, pilot programs to detect vaping, and how we communicate and collaborate with our partners when there is an incident at our schools.
 ParentVue Sign up for Parents
What is ParentVue, and How You Can Sign Up?
If you do not already have a ParentVUE SIS account, sign up now to monitor and support your child’s academic success! Through ParentVUE, you are able to monitor your student’s attendance, grades, and assignments at any time. You can also access special reports for your student like progress reports and assessments score reports.
Once you have activated a ParentVUE account for an FCPS student, you will keep the same account until the student graduates. Information about students in the same family can be accessed through the same ParentVUE account. SIS ParentVUE can be accessed using an app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android devices.
Need help creating a SIS ParentVue account? This video walks you through the steps on how to do so. You can also find out more about SIS ParentVUE on our website.
Update Contact Information in WeCare@School
Within SIS ParentVUE, Fairfax County Public Schools provides weCare@school (weCare), an emergency care information system. weCare helps manage contact and emergency medical information by allowing parents/caregivers to enter and update their children’s data online.
That contact information automatically enrolls parents/caregivers to receive critical updates from the district and their child’s school through the eNotify system. FCPS uses eNotify to communicate emergency, transportation, attendance, weather closing and delay, and essential outreach messages. Messages are sent by email, text, and occasionally by phone. Learn more about updating your emergency care information.
 Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow!
According to a recent study of elementary and middle schools, there is a 5.8% difference between April and June attendance rates. Let's work together to end the school year successfully! Visit our website for attendance resources.
Parent Resource Center Is Now the Family Resource Center
FCPS’ Parent Resource Center has changed its name to the Family Resource Center (FRC), as a way to acknowledge and support the broad diversity of families in our community. The FRC continues to offer a wide range of essential resources and education for caregivers and students including:
Families can find printable resource guides and details about the center’s free lending library on FRC’s homepage. They may also sign up to receive the FRC newsletter for updates on webinars, resources, and other information. If you have questions, please contact the FRC via email at frc@fcps.edu or call 703-204-3941.
Upcoming FRC Webinars
The FRC is hosting the following upcoming webinars. Events are virtual unless stated otherwise:
Click on the titles above for more information or to register for a webinar.
 Final Feedback Opportunity - Strategic Plan Survey
FCPS has almost completed the process of drafting a new Strategic Plan, which will guide our school division in the years ahead. Please participate in our brief survey regarding final input on the Strategic Plan’s draft goals, measures, and pillars. The goals are what we want for all students, and the measures are how we will determine our progress in reaching those goals. The pillars are the things that FCPS must do well to reach our goals. Your voice matters! Take the survey.
 Important Dates
May 1-5
Staff Appreciation Week
May 3
Last day for After School Clubs
May 4
Last day for After School Intervention
May 9-12
SOL Testing for Grades 3-6
May 13
Family Field Trip
May 15-19
Make-up SOL Testing: Grades 3-6
May 26
Field Day
June 2
Cultural Night
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