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 Chalk4Kindness
Our 8th annual Helping Games came to a close this week with Chalk4Kindness. We had an amazing program this year and are blown away by the generosity and efforts our Kanga students and their families. This year Keene Mill donated:
- 2,703 food items to ECHO
- 1,810 shoes to Soles4Souls
- $1,536.35 to the Red Cross
- 5,825 books to RIF
On top of those amazing numbers our students volunteered their time to: help around the house, walk neighbors’ dogs, shovel driveways, read to shelter pets, pick up trash along trails, and many other wonderful opportunities. Helping Games 2025 was a huge success and we couldn’t have done it without our PTA and incredible parent volunteers who helped receive, pack, and haul donations. We can’t wait for Helping Games IX in 2026!
Monday, March 10 Early Release
Our Next 3-hour Early Release is Monday, March 10 at 1:00 p.m.
We assume students who required childcare previously, will stay. We assume students who have gone home, will continue to go home.
If your needs have changed either way, please email your child's teacher and Linda Peace, principal at llpeace@fcps.edu.
KMES Fall Book Fair is Coming March 10th-14th
The annual Scholastic Book Fair will be held March 7–14 in the library. Students will preview the fair on Friday, March 7. Students will visit the fair throughout the week.
On Wednesday, March 12th, families are invited to come for FAMILY NIGHT from 5:00pm-8:00pm to browse and purchase books.
Additional information will be coming home in the coming weeks. You can also preview the fair at Keene Mill Book Fair 2025
We recommend that families create a Book Fair eWallet for their student to shop the fair. No need to worry about cash being lost or misplaced. The money is secure and rolls over year to year. Plus, you can share your eWallet link so friends and family can help your child find even more to read. Unspent funds from a past Fair? To transfer them to this Fair, log in to your Scholastic account and create a new eWallet—then your previous balance will be available to transfer as an eGift Card. Visit the Book Fair Link.
Keene Mill's Share the Fair fund helps provide books to fellow Kangas who may not be able to afford them and helps purchase books for the KMES library. SHARE THE FAIR EWALLET (The donation eWallet is registered under the name of Keene Mill's librarian Mr. Rigsby.) During the Fair, boxes are available for cash donations at the registers. At Checkout, students and parents can choose to round-up purchases as a contribution to Share the Fair.
Volunteers are needed and can sign up here: SIGN-UP GENIUS
We can’t wait to see you at the Fair!
Shane Rigsby
Librarian Keene Mill Elementary School
SEL Screener
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) believes in supporting social and emotional learning (SEL) for all students. In FCPS, students use a tool called the SEL Screener to think about their own SEL skills and experiences at school. This is done twice each school year, once in the fall and again in the spring.
Keene Mill students in grades 3-6 will be participating in the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener again, beginning the week of March 17th.
After each screening, results are available in the Documents tab of SIS ParentVUE and mailed to families without a ParentVUE account. For more information about the SEL Screener please refer to the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener webpage.
Many thanks,
Sandi Yost, Counselor and SEL Lead
2025 FCPS Family Summit
Beyond Labels: Nurturing a Culture of Belonging
FCPS is proud to host a Family Summit - Beyond Labels: Nurturing a Culture of Belonging, a free, in-person event in collaboration with internal and external community partners. This conference will feature presenters, Dr. Julie Causton and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, who are best-selling authors, speakers, and inclusion advocates. They will share practical tools and evidence-based strategies to empower and assist all families, with a special emphasis on parents of students with an Individual Education Program (IEP) and 504 Plans. Breakout sessions will cover a variety of topics to benefit all families - Assistive Technology, College & Career Readiness, Neurodiversity, English Language Development for Multilingual Learners, and the list goes on! Please consider attending, volunteering, and sharing this Summit information with your families! Childcare will be provided!
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Time: 8:30am - 3:30pm
Location: South Lakes HS, 11400 South Lakes Drive, Reston, VA 20191
Register here and share with your families!
Event Flyers: English/Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Urdu, Vietnamese
PTA News
 PTA MEETING MARCH 13 FEATURES FCPS SPEAKER ON FORMING A WELCOMING COMMUNITY
Join us for the PTA Meeting on Thursday, March 13 at 6:30pm. This is a virtual meeting (Google Meet link: meet.google.com/nwr-bfxc-nvc). We are pleased to welcome Michelle Contrell-Williams, FCPS Educational Specialist, Equity and Cultural Responsiveness. She will be discussing hate speech and being welcome to all in FCPS schools.
KMES PTA IS LOOKING FOR BOARD MEMBERS FOR 2025-26
Want to become more involved with our school? Do you have ideas for building school community?
The current Keene Mill PTA board is looking for members who are interested in joining the 2025-26 PTA board. Please reach out to president@keenemillpta.org if interested or with any questions.
We are also looking for PTA members to help with the following:
- Yearbook co-chair
- Booster co-chair
- Teacher Appreciation Week co-chair
** We are losing our current Yearbook, Booster, and Teacher Appreciation Week chairs this year as their students leave Keene Mill. Helping this year would be a great way to learn from their experience going forward!
Mark Your Calendar
Monday, March 10-Early Release Monday @ 1:00 pm
Monday, March 10-Friday, March 14-Book Fair
Wednesday, March 12-Family Night @ Book Fair, 5-8 pm
Thursday, March 13-General PTA Meeting @ 6:30 pm, virtual
Friday, March 14-Author Visit for grades K-3
Monday, March 31-No School for All, Eid al-Fitr
Tuesday, April 1-No School for Students, Teacher Workday
Tuesday, April 1-Kindergarten Orientation, 9:30 am
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