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October 15, 2024 | Back to School Issue 10
Important Upcoming Dates
October 21: Three - Hour Early Release Monday
October 21 - 25: Spirit Week
October 24 - 31: Mantua Book Fair
October 25: Run for Rocky
October 31: End of First Quarter, Two - Hour Early Release
Be sure to bookmark the FCPS School Calendar to keep track of school holidays, breaks, and observances.
Join the PTA!
Help support our students and teachers!
We are excited to announce that we will be raffling off a $60 Amazon gift card to families who sign up before October 15th at midnight.
Thank you to the 242 families who have already joined. You are automatically in the raffle!!
YEARLY DUES are only $20 per family.
https://mantuapta.memberhub.com/store
Your membership dues are very important. Your ongoing support has funded and sponsored projects throughout Mantua. Some of these include:
Weekly Alert News
After School Enrichment
Basketball League
Kids Care Club
Library Resources
PTA Online Student Directory
New Computers and Programs
Teacher Education
Parent Education Seminars
Drama Club
Wish Fund
Chat and Chew Book Club
Field Trips
Spring Dance
Join us for the PTA Meeting!
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Date: October 17, 2024
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Time: 5:30 PM
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Location: Mantua Library
For those unable to attend in person, the PTA meeting will be live-streamed.
Parent Information Night: Following the PTA meeting, we will host an Instructional Information Night to provide essential updates on:
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Literacy Basal Curriculum (Benchmark): Learn about the new curriculum and its implementation in your child's classroom.
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Math Standards and Instructional Shifts: Understand the changes in math instruction and how they will benefit your child's learning.
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Progress Reports and Assessing Student Progress: Gain insights into how your child's progress is evaluated, marks are determined, and how you can stay informed.
Mantua PTA Basketball Registration has closed.
Any children that registered after the deadline will be placed on a waitlist. We will consider moving children from the waitlist to team rosters based on league roster needs.
Key Upcoming Dates:
- Coaching Assignments will be announced on October 16th.
- League Commissioners will be sending a note to all Coaches/Assistants with pairing assignments.
- We are still in need of Coaches for the 3/4 Boys and Girls Divisions.
Player evaluations will occur on October 21st, October 22nd, and October 23rd.
October 21st - 5:30 - 8:30PM
- Boys & Girls - 3/4 Divisions
- Boys evaluations will occur from 5:30 - 7:30 PM (Please arrive at 5:15PM for check-in).
- Last Names - A-M arrive at 5:30
- Last Names - N-Z arrive at 6:30
- Girls evaluations will occur from 6:30 - 8:30 PM (Please arrive at 6:15PM for check-in).
- Last Names - A-M arrive at 6:30
- Last Names - N-Z arrive at 7:30
- We are requesting that *ALL* coaches within all Divisions attend to support player evaluations.
- Coaches within 5/6 Divisions will be asked to support player assessments for 3/4 Divisions.
October 22nd - 5:30 - 9:00PM
- Boys & Girls - 5/6 Divisions
- Girls evaluations will occur from 5:30 - 7:30 PM (Please arrive at 5:15PM for check-in).
- Last Names - A-M arrive at 5:30
- Last Names - N-Z arrive at 6:30
- Boys evaluations will occur from 6:30 - 9PM (Please arrive at 6:30 PM for check-in).
- Last Names - A-M arrive at 6:30
- Last Names - N-Z arrive at 7:30
- We are requesting that *ALL* coaches within all Divisions attend to support player evaluations.
- Coaches within 3/4 Divisions will be asked to support player assessments for 5/6 Divisions.
October 23rd - 5:30 - 9:00PM
This will serve as a makeup session for any children that are unable to attend on Monday or Tuesday night (Please arrive at 5:15PM for check-in). Schedule to be announced.
Player assessments will be opportunities for children to demonstrate their current ability to dribble, shoot, and play in small groups. We will make every attempt to keep the assessments fun.
How Teams are Being Built this Year:
We will be using a Draft process this year to provide coaches with the opportunity to build teams through first hand observations & player assessment evaluations. The League Commissioners will be sharing additional details on the upcoming Draft dates & process that will be followed.
We are taking this step in our efforts to bring more equitability to teams. In addition, we will be reminding all Children, Coaches, and Parents…this is a Developmental league. Our primary focus is to provide opportunities for all children to learn and develop their basketball skill sets, the values of team work and sportsmanship.
Request for Volunteers:
We are still looking for individuals to serve as Referees and Coaches for the 3/4 Girls & Boys Divisions.
Questions
If you have any questions related to player assessments, please reach out to the appropriate League Commissioner:
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The Run for Rocky fundraiser is underway now through Friday, November 1.
The Run will take place on Friday, October 25. We are in need of volunteers on the day of the run to ensure its success. Please sign up here to help.
Running times are:
- Grades 1 & 2: 9:45 -10:30 AM
- Grade 3: 10:45 - 11:30 AM
- Grade 5: 12:35 – 1:20 PM
- Grade 4: 1:40 – 2:25 PM
- Grades PreK, K, & 6: 2:55 – 3:40 PM
The rain date is Monday, October 28.
Donations: We will be collecting donations through the Member Planet website (link for sharing: https://mp.gg/lwr7tofo). You can also find a link to the donation page at www.mantuapta.org under Fundraising. The current list of raffle prizes is listed online.
Incentives & Prizes: For every $50 in donations, the student’s name goes in the Large Prize raffle one time for a chance to win one of our great prizes. We are also giving all students a chance to win one prize, regardless of how much money they raise. Every student, teacher and staff member will receive a Run for Rocky T-shirt. Other amazing incentives and prizes include:
- Daily Top Class awards from Monday, October 21 – Friday, October 25. Each day the class that has raised the most money will get a prize chosen by the teacher!
- Fun Raffle Prizes supported by local sponsors. These will be raffled off after the fundraising period ends on November 1. These include:
- Nintendo Switch – sponsored by Sarah Harrington, Long and Foster Realtors
- Chromebook – sponsored Brooks Hunt, CMG Home Loans
- Harry Potter Hogwarts Great Hall LEGO Set – Elite M.A. Center – Fairfax
- LEGO City Lunar Research Base Outer Space Toy Set – Elite M.A. Center – Fairfax
- $150 gift card to Muse Paintbar – sponsored by Merrifield Orthodontics
- Kindle Paperwhite – sponsored by Travis Pugh, Realtor, Samson Properties
- Kids Drone – sponsored by Karin Hudson with Stoneleigh Home & Gardens
- Echo Dot for Kids – sponsored by Ryan Doan, Quest Remodeling
- vHydro Flask Water Bottle – sponsored by Ryan Doan, Quest Remodeling
Raffle prize for entire school raffle: $50 Mantua merchandise gift certificate - sponsored by Mantua PTA
- A special Teachers-Only Raffle. For every $200 that a classroom raises, the classroom teacher will get his/her name in the teacher raffle for one of two $150 gift cards from Amazon, to be used for classroom materials. THANK YOU to Fairfax Dental Group and Peg Leg Gutters for being the generous sponsors of these two important raffle items.
- School-Wide Surprises! School administration will hold a school-wide surprise if the school raises 50% of the $35,000 goal by October 21st. If the school raises 100% by November 1, they will have another surprise for the students!
Huge thank you to our Run for Rocky T-shirt sponsors: Jennifer Mack Properties; Nick Sposa, Kingsview Partners; and Viking Capital. Their support helps us provide fun t-shirts to all students, teachers, and staff at Mantua.
Corporate Matching
Did you know many companies offer a matching gift program to encourage philanthropy among their employees? You can DOUBLE your impact from your donation with corporate matching. Please check to see if your employer offers corporate matching here!
Spirit Days: During the days leading up to Run for Rocky, we’re going to encourage students to participate in Spirit Week!
· Monday, October 21 – School Spirit Day (wear Mantua gear or red)
· Tuesday, October 22 – Team Day (wear your favorite team shirt or jersey – any team counts!)
· Wednesday, October 23 – Wacky Wednesday (crazy hat/hair/clothes day)
· Thursday, October 24 – Pajama Day
· Friday, October 25 – Run for Rocky
Stay tuned for updates on how each individual class is doing and thank you for your support of the Mantua PTA!
Join us at the Mantua Fall Book Fair!
Preview days on 10/23-10/24
10/25-10/31 Open 9:00am-4:00pm
Open Saturday 10/26 10:00am-2:00pm
Char’d Burger and Captain Cookie food trucks will be there with food available for purchase
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National Geography Bee Club Now Meeting!
Calling all students who love studying maps, traveling, or memorizing capital cities and flags! Our club is studying geography to prepare for the National Geography Bee.
We meet on Tuesdays after school in room 254, beginning October 1st. The club is open to all students grades 1-6, and each session includes quiz time, topic and country-specific study, and assigned research to prepare for the next meeting.
The Geography Bee is run by International Academic Competitions and has both individual and team competitions (to learn more about these, see the IAC website at https://www.iacompetitions.com/). We're mainly preparing for the individual competition, but we work as a team to learn from everyone's unique knowledge and improve our performance together.
Please contact Dan Rothfarb (rothfarb@gmail.com) if interested.
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Volunteers Needed for the Art Department
The Art Department is ready for volunteers! We always have something to prepare, sort, frame, hang, etc. No experience necessary! See time slots by going to the link below. When you arrive, check in at the front office and join us in the Art Room work room where we'll set you up to help out. No amount of time is too short, we appreciate all your support! Looking forward to a fun and exciting year in ART! ~Mrs. Shirley & Mr. Lorenzi
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Classroom Volunteers Needed!
We are looking for classroom volunteers! (Room parents, Tuesday folder helpers, and party coordinators.) These are great opportunities to get to know your teacher better and to spend time in your kiddo’s classroom!
A brief description of the current volunteer opportunities is included below.
Can’t commit to one of these jobs? More opportunities will be posted throughout the year for various events and programs!
Please reach out to volunteering@mantuapta.org if you have any questions.
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Room Parent - Send email reminders to class families about PTA events and fundraisers, communicate with parents to coordinate teacher gifts, help party coordinators plan seasonal class parties, this job can be done remotely.
Tuesday Folder Helper - Comes to the classroom on a weekly basis at a time coordinated with the teacher to stuff Tuesday folders that will go home with each student. Since this requires someone to come weekly, this position can be split between two parents who alternate weeks.
Party Coordinators - Coordinators get a set date and time from the teacher and coordinate games, crafts, snacks, etc. for the class, often soliciting the other class parents for supply donations and extra volunteer help.
Note: the sign up link says kindergarten volunteers, but there is a tab at the top for each grade for the 2024-2025 school year.
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