We are Better Together!
Dear Island Creek Community,
In recognition of Earth Day, our school Beautification Day will be held this Saturday from 9-11. Thank you to the Girl Scout troops for organizing and we invite all to attend!
Our highly anticipated, This is Us Multicultural Night and Spirit Day is next Friday, April 28! We encourage students and staff to participate in Spirit Day by wearing heritage clothing/shirts representing a country of your choice. Additionally, we invite all families to prepare an activity or simply attend the event, and to please register online.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to welcoming our Island Creek Crocs back to school on Monday!
Your Proud Principal,
Jen Fallert
 Eid Mubarak to those in our Muslim community celebrating! Eid al-Fitr begins at sunset April 20 and marks the end of Ramadan. It is a time of receptions and visits, when friends greet one another, presents are given, new clothes are worn, and the graves of relatives are visited. Read more at Britannica.com.
There will be no school tomorrow, Friday, April 21.
Please read monthly updates from our Specialists where they share about the learning taking place during Specials as well as some great photos! You may access the Specialists Corner on our school website using this link.
   
For April, teachers and students will focus on the character trait Honesty. Honesty is the deepest of all character traits as trust can be lost with one dishonest act or lie. Once trust is broken it can take a long time to earn it back. We struggle with honesty every day; all of us are caught in the middle of having to choose between right and wrong, good and bad. Talk with your student(s) about honesty and the positive consequences of being honest: character and reputation, mental and physical health, relationship benefits, etc. We look forward to recognizing our Honest Croc Stars at the end of April.
Our staff will be starting to create tentative class groupings this spring, with classroom assignments finalized in mid-August. As we make these placements, we consider many factors including individual student information, teacher input, and social relationships. Every class will have a blend of children with diverse needs, personalities, and learning interests. Due to the many factors we must consider in creating classroom placements, including the staffing of our teachers, requests for a specific teacher cannot be honored.
If you have information that you believe is pertinent to your child’s placement for next year, please complete this form by Friday, May 12. There is no need to complete the form if you do not have any information you would like us to consider.
We hope everyone received our communication with information regarding our inaugural This is Us Multicultural Night to be held on Friday, April 28 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This event will be a celebration where our students and families can come together to learn about the variety of cultures, countries, and traditions represented at Island Creek. We encourage families to contribute something from your country of heritage or from a country you know well. We have numerous activities planned to include musical performances by our students. If you wish to prepare an activity or simply attend the event, please register online by Friday, April 21. We hope all our families are able to attend! Please email Jane Horowitz with questions
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We are celebrating and encouraging students to include a safe route to school as part of a healthy and active lifestyle. Students who ride their bike can park their bikes during the school day in the gym. Please bring your bike to the back of the school and into the gym, at Entrance #6. Students who are in SACC, childcare or not within walking distance are welcome to participate with parent approval and supervision.
If you ride your bike to school:
- All students must wear a helmet. Fairfax County law requires any-one under 15 to wear a helmet.
- Check their equipment: Air, Brakes and Chain
- Obey all traffic laws, a bicycle is a vehicle
- See and be seen
- Go with the flow of traffic, ride on the right.
- Be predictable, stay alert
- If riding on a sidewalk, yield to pedestrians and walk your bike if the sidewalk is crowded with walkers
- Beware of cars coming out of driveways if you ride on the sidewalk
- Students crossing in crosswalks should dismount and walk their bike across the street.
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Please mark your calendar for Grades 3-6 Standards of Learning (SOL) Testing. It is important that your child arrives to school on time on SOL test dates, get a good night's sleep the night before, and eats a healthy breakfast. All SOL Testing will take place in the morning.
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Screening for school-based AAP services (Levels II & III) is done schoolwide in the spring to determine services for the next school year. Parents or guardians may initiate the screening for school-based (level II and III) services by submitting the AAP School-Based Services (Level II-III) Referral Form to the Advanced Academics Resource Teacher (AART) at Island Creek ES prior to spring screening, no later than Friday, April 28, 2023. Please see the AAP Spring Newsletter and the AAP website for more information about AAP Programs and levels of service. Multiple criteria are used to screen students for all levels of AAP services. Parents or guardians who submit a referral will be notified by Island Creek of their student’s eligibility status by Friday, June 2, 2023. If you have any questions or to submit the referral form, please contact the AART, Amy Ivey, at amivey@fcps.edu.
This has been an exciting year for the Island Creek PTA! We wanted to take a moment to summarize all that we’ve accomplished this year.
We kicked off the year with the Croc Rock-N-Run on September 30, 2022, where all students and staff received a free spirit wear shirt, and we raised over $32,000 to support Island Creek Elementary!
We are so excited to share how our Croc Rock-N-Run Fundraiser has impacted Island Creek Elementary School!
The graphic here shows all the ways funds have been used, including creating a Teacher Grant Program. The photos show activities and supplies that were purchased through this program.
 If you or your business want to donate to the grant program to help cover the additional current requests or future requests, you can do so here: https://tinyurl.com/PTAGrantDonation
We had a Treat or Toss event on October 21, 2022. Thank you to the 350+ family members that attended our event, the 17+ families who were trunk hosts, and the families that donated candy! We also collected clothing for a donation to a local school.
We held our first-ever STEAM Night on November 18, 2022. This was a sold-out event! We had over 250+ people, with 15 stations, from 10 different vendors and countless activities completed!
After winter break, we held the ever-popular Family Bingo on February 24, 2023. This was a sold-out event! We had over 310+ people playing bingo, 74 pizzas eaten, 10 celebrity callers, 10 Bingo Game winners, and countless consolation prize winners!
We’ll end the year with our This is Us Multicultural Night which will be held from 6 - 8 p.m. on Friday, April 28, 2023. This event will be a celebration where our students and families can come together to learn about the variety of cultures, countries, and traditions represented at Island Creek. We encourage families to contribute something from your country of heritage or from a country you know well. We have numerous activities planned to include bite-sized food samples representing 12 countries, 18 countries represented during the event, and musical performances by our students. Performances at the event include:
- Piano performance (student)
- Mongolian bowl balancing dance
- Uyghur folk dance
- Chinese fan dance
- Performances from the Hayfield Secondary’s Ethiopian and Eritrean club
The Island Creek PTA will also have a silent auction at the event. Items available to bid on include Principal for Day, Front Office Helper, Washington Nationals Tickets, and more.
If you wish to prepare an activity or attend the event, please register online (https://tinyurl.com/PTAThisIsUs) by Friday, April 21. We hope all our families can attend! Please email Jane Horowitz with questions.
We also put together faculty and staff appreciation events at the end of each quarter. Our next and final event is May 8 - 12. We'll offer opportunities to volunteer, and the signup form will be available the week of April 24. This year we will be rolling out the red carpet for our faculty and staff with the theme “Lights… Camera… Appreciation!!!”
Save the Date: May 9: PTA Board and Committee Elections
Please visit our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/islandcreekpta) for a list of open positions and candidates over the next few weeks. If you want to volunteer for one of these roles, please contact islandcreekptapresident@gmail.com.
Lastly, we offered two sessions of after-school programs; Fall and Spring.
Thanks,
PTA Board
 Click to view the 2022-2023 FCPS School Calendar
Friday, April 21 (No School) - Eid al Fitr, Student Holiday
Friday, April 28- Spirit Day: This is Us Multicultural Spirit Day: Wear heritage clothing/shirt representing a country of your choice; This is Us Multicultural Night (6:00-8:00
Wednesday, May 3: Bike and Roll to School Day
Thursday, May 4: SOL Reading Test (Grades 3-6)
May 8-12: Staff Appreciation Week
Wednesday, May 10: SOL Math Test (Grades 3-6)
Friday, May 12: SOL Science Test (Grade 5)
Friday, May 29 (No School): Memorial Day, Student and Staff Holiday
Friday, June 16: 2-Hour Early Release (Dismissal at 1:20 pm) - Last Day of School
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