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To read this newsletter in other languages, please visit our website.
Para leer este boletín en otros idiomas, visite nuestro sitio web.
Để đọc bản tin này bằng ngôn ngữ khác, xin quý vị truy cập vào trang mạng của chúng tôi.
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A Message From Your Principals
Westlawn Families:
This week students in grades 1-6 participated in the first of two lockdown drills this school year. Designed to ensure students are prepared in case of emergency, lockdown drills give students and staff the necessary practice to keep children safe in any scenario. The children were fantastic, thank you for helping make this drill a success.
We were happy to see so many families turn out for our Advanced Academic Family Information Night last week, hosted by our Advanced Academic Lead Gretchen Maxwell. Our next AAP information event will take place on October 18 at 6:30 PM. This session will focus on Level IV services, and the process by which students are found eligible. It will be a virtual event, the link will be sent to families as we get closer to the event.
Our STEAM Clubs are set to begin in early October, information on how to register will be coming soon!
A reminder that this Monday, September 25, is a student holiday. We wish our families recognizing this holiday “g’mar chatima tovah.”
The Westlawn team is committed to providing a learning experience that nurtures your child’s natural abilities, advocates for growth and excellence, and empowers your child to reach their full potential.
Stay up-to-date with school events by accessing our Westlawn All Families Schoology Calendar. Access an overview of the entire school year, including holidays and cultural observance days, by clicking here.
And be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
At Westlawn, we soar together.
At Westlawn, we soar together.
Individually Unique … Together Extraordinary
Somos Westlawn.
Your Proud Principals,
Christoph Hill, Anaya Bryson, and Stephanie Carpenter
Important Dates:
September 25: Student Holiday (Yom Kippur)
September 27: Fall Enrichment Clubs Begin (sign-up information coming early September)
September 29: Cub Scouts Host Movie Night (PM) Spanish
October 4: Walk and Roll to School Day
October 5: Kindergarten Field Trip to Cox Farms
October 9: Fall Family Volunteer Breakfast (9AM in Westlawn Cafe)
October 9: Student Holiday (Indigenous Peoples’ Day)
October 14: STEAMOLOGY STEM FEST (1130AM - 300PM @ South County High School
October 19: 4th Grade Field Trip to Kennedy Center (900AM - 1230PM)
October 20: Marine Corps Band Assembly for 5th and 6th Graders (900AM - 1000AM)
October 27: Westlawn’s International Night (600-730PM) Spanish
October 28: Young Scholar’s Family Field Trip to Smithsonian Museum for the American Indian
November 3: End of Quarter 1
November 3: Two-Hour Early Release (students dismiss at 1:30PM)
November 6-7: Student Holidays
November 8-9: 6th Grade Field Trip to Planet Word
November 22-24: Student Holidays (Thanksgiving Break)
November 28: FLE Parent Preview Night
Schools Closed September 25 - Yom Kippur
All FCPS schools and offices will be closed on Monday, September 25, for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. See the complete school year calendar. Learn more about Yom Kippur on Brittanica.com.
Spirit Wear Shop
We are proud to offer the Westlawn Spirit Wear Shop, stocked with well-crafted options at a variety of price points. Check out our virtual store and represent Westlawn Elementary with pride! The store is open through October 15, all items ordered will be shipped within two weeks of closing date.
Family Event Night Planning Committees
Join a planning committee to help plan and facilitate one (or more) of our wonderful Westlawn Community Event Nights! Complete the quick survey below to identify the event(s) you and your family would like to support.
English
Spanish
Fall Enrichment Clubs
Clubs start this Wednesday, September 27, for those students enrolled. Clubs begin at 3:45PM, all students participating will receive a snack. Clubs end at 445 PM. Please ensure you are at Westlawn 5-10 mins before end time to expedite student pick-up.
The Drama Club, hosted by Westlawn partner Creative Cauldron, has a slightly different schedule. Families of students participating have been notified of the changes. Please call the Westlawn front office with additional questions at 703-241-5100.
 
Early Literacy Program
Hosted at Westlawn, the Early Literacy Program is a free, interactive parent and child experience. Classes are held on Wednesdays and Fridays from 930AM - 1130AM. Find the yearly schedule here. Contact Hilda Reyes, Family Liaison, with additional questions.
Picture Day
We had to reschedule our Fall Picture Day and are still working to confirm a final date. We expect to have this date set by next week, and will update calendars and alert families as soon as a day is confirmed.
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Westlawn Spirit Days
To help our kindergarteners learn colors, we will be celebrating Not-So-Secret Staff and Student Spirit Days each Wednesday. This Wednesday dress your child(ren) in green!
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Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Science Fair!
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology will be hosting their 11th annual science fair on March 16, 2024 and are inviting 5th-8th grade students from Westlawn Elementary to participate. Admission to the science fair is completely free.
Participants will complete a research project of their choice and present at the fair in-person on March 16, 2024. We help students prepare for this fair by holding multiple sessions to teach them important skills in STEM like brainstorming, collecting data, presenting, writing an experiment summary, using statistics, creating an experimental diagram, etc.
Our first interest/brainstorming session is Friday October 6th, 2023 at 6:00 pm. We will be holding this session in-person at TJHSST. During this session we will go over the goals and guidelines of this fair and introduce students to a multitude of project ideas. All interested students should sign up using the form at the link: https://forms.gle/RMfQYuvACK3YajRw8
Feel free to also check out the website at tjsciencefair.wordpress.com or email tjhsstsciencefair@gmail.com.
We All Belong at School
Each one of us is unique, and every student matters. If your student is having a difficult time attending class, please speak with a trusted adult at school. There are solutions.
Watch this video to see how everyone belongs at school. Visit our Attendance webpage for resources on attendance. Attend today, achieve tomorrow!
✔️ Caregiver Checklist: Have You Completed These Important Forms?
During the first weeks of the year, caregivers receive many forms to complete. Several of the most important ones are below:
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Digital Resources Consent: Some FCPS-approved digital resources require parent/caregiver consent before they can be used by students. Find the list of resources which require consent on the Digital Resources - Parent Consent page. This page also includes directions on how to provide permission.
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Student Rights and Responsibilities: This document explains expectations for student behavior and adult responses. Parents using SIS ParentVUE will be prompted to sign the document when they log in to that platform. A printable version of the document with a signature sheet is available on the SR&R webpage.
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Opt-Outs: The Opt-Out Booklet is online or available from your child’s school. It contains information on:
- Parents’ rights to inspect and consent or opt out before their child participates in certain surveys.
- Parents’ rights to inspect instructional materials.
- Rules regarding student records and disclosure of student information (including photo/video of students) and the right to opt out.
- Parents’ rights to opt out of the Social Emotional Learning Screener, physical exams not required by state law, career or social emotional counseling, Library Equity Access Pass Project, and/or Tutor.com.
- The process by which complaints may be filed if parents or students believe their rights have been violated.
Paper forms can be signed and returned to school.
Requesting Donated Toys for Discovery Area
We are always collecting ‘gently used’ toys for preschool and kindergarteners for donation to our Discovery Area. Please drop off any toys you’d like to donate in the front office. Once they are inspected for safety we will add them to our Discovery Area collection!
Community Conversations with Principals
Join Mr. Hill, Ms. Carpenter, and Dr. Bryson for Weekly Community Conversations this school year. Weekly sessions will be held virtually on Wednesday mornings at 11:00AM. You can access these sessions using this link.
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Do you want to celebrate a Westlawn staff member who does ordinary things in an extraordinary way, or goes beyond what is expected? If so, then click here to share with everyone. |
🙋 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. Watch this video with tips from Fairfax Pyramid principals and visit FCPS’ Attendance webpage for tips and strategies.
Portrait of a Graduate at Westlawn
Children at Westlawn engage daily in Portrait of a Graduate skills: Communication, Collaboration, Goal-Setting, Resilience, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Global Citizenship. Check out our First Friday Photos to see these skills in action!
How to Register for Pre-K or Early Head Start
Fairfax County offers pre-K for students 3-4 years old whose parents meet income requirements and Early Head Start is for infants, toddlers, and expectant mothers who meet income requirements. To register, parents or caregivers should:
- Complete the application form.
- Make a copy of the child’s birth certificate and a residency document (lease, dead, or mortgage).
If your child is selected for one of the programs, the following will need to be completed:
- A school physical.
- Dental exam.
- FCPS school registration forms.
Child Find Screenings
Child Find is the process of identifying children with potential special education needs as well as educating the community about child development and the importance of early intervention. Child Find screenings and services are provided by the FCPS Early Childhood Identification and Services program for children ages 20 months through 5 years who live in Fairfax County or Fairfax city. Learn more on the Child Find website.
FCPS Early Childhood and PreK Programs
Fairfax County Public Schools offers programs for the youngest learners:
Community liaisons are available to assist families with the registration process and answer any questions. For more information, visit the Early Childhood Registration webpage.
What Is ParentVUE and How Can You 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 Your Emergency Care Information Through weCare@school
Fairfax County Public Schools provides weCare@school (weCare), an emergency care information system, to parents/caregivers who have registered for their own parent account. weCare helps manage emergency medical information by allowing parents to enter and update their children’s medical data online at their convenience. That contact information automatically enrolls parents/caregivers to receive eNotify communications from the district and their child’s school. eNotify is the communications tool for FCPS emergency, transportation, attendance, weather closing and delay, and essential outreach messages. Messages are sent via email, text, and occasionally phone. Click to edit this placeholder text.
🔍 Lightspeed Parent Report on Child’s Device Activity
FCPS has tools to help parents know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided at no cost to families by Lightspeed, the school division’s internet content filtering service.
Parents may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. The report also offers parents the ability to sign up for free access to the Internet Use Parent Portal. Through the portal, parents may pause their child’s access to the internet on their FCPS device during non-school hours.
Learn more about Lightspeed Parent Reports.
Family Resources
FCPS’ Office of Family and School Partnerships would like to remind families of some of the many resources available to them:
- Bilingual community liaisons support student registrars by providing families with information about school and community services offered in Fairfax County. Liaisons are available to help families speaking Spanish, Korean, and Arabic. Once registered at a school, families can contact their family liaison for assistance.
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Early literacy programs are available to Fairfax County residents for parents of children up to 5 years old. These programs help prepare children for school and build confidence in parents as their child’s first teacher. They also help parents become active partners in their child’s education. Programs are available in African-Heritage, Arabic, Spanish, and Korean.
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Parent Information Phone Lines are available in eight languages for parents who speak languages other than English.
- A Multilingual Family Podcast is produced by the offices of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Family and School Partnerships, and Professional Learning and Equity. It covers important information for parents in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Korean.
- ESOL services are available in Fairfax County not only for students, but also for adults and families. Information on Spring classes will be posted in March 2023.
Visit the Family Engagement webpage for more resources.
Sub and Save the Day! Bonus Opportunities!
FCPS is always looking for kind and caring substitute teachers and substitute instructional assistants to ensure our students continue to thrive when teachers and instructional assistants need to be out of the classroom. Substitute teaching is a great opportunity for future teachers, stay-at-home parents, retirees, college students, part-time employees, and anyone who wants to make a difference.
FCPS has started offering bonuses for substitutes who are available to teach on high volume days. Additionally, substitutes who work more, will earn extra bonuses when they reach 50, 100, or 150 days worked in a school year.
Substitute Teacher and Substitute Instructional Assistant information sessions are held virtually on Wednesdays from 1 to 2 p.m. Candidates will receive an email link to the virtual information session the Monday before the session. Sign up for an information session.
Parent Advocacy Handbook
The Minority Student Achievement Oversight Committee (MSAOC) has created a Parent Advocacy Handbook to provide information and support to families as they navigate the FCPS system for their children. It is designed to be particularly useful for families who may be less familiar with such a large school division and/or with schooling in the U.S.
Contact Hilda Reyes, Westlawn Family Liaison, with additional questions.
Westlawn on Social Media
Westlawn is active on social media, we encourage families to access our Facebook and Instagram accounts for a glimpse into daily school life.
Westlawn 2023-2024 PTA Board
We are excited to announce our PTA Cabinet!
Simone Rose, President
Deirdre Ladd, Vice President
Christine Lusk and Dave Jones, Treasurers
Jordan Kislear, Secretary
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