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 October 3, 2025
From the Principal’s Pen
Dear Laurel Hill Families,
We had wonderful weather for field day today! All students were engaged in the teamwork and comradery that accompanies this fun event. Please enjoy some pictures below and use this link to see more pictures! Staff will continue to upload to this link so please check back to see more pictures.
We also want to take a moment to acknowledge our Jewish families, staff, and neighbors who observed Yom Kippur yesterday. According to Jewish tradition, Yom Kippur is a time of reflection and renewal, when individuals seek forgiveness and set intentions for the year ahead. Together, our community continues to grow stronger, more connected, and more supportive of every student and family.
Sincerely,
Janice Dalton, Principal
Thmeaka Traylor, Assistant Principal
Addison Smith, Assistant Principal
 Save the Date
September 27-October 5-Blue Star Welcome Week
October 9- Picture Day
October 13- Indigenous Peoples Day- Student Holiday
October 15- 3 hour early release
October 17- Screen on the Green 6:00pm
October 20-Diwali- Student Holiday
2025-26 school year calendar
 Blue Star Welcome Week is designed to ease transition challenges and support military families with opportunities and events that will help them make meaningful connections in their new community.
FCPS is honored to welcome military-connected families into our community, and we thank you for your service. If you need more information or wish to connect with FCPS resources, please email militaryfamilies@fcps.edu.
New Volunteering Requirements
Volunteer FCPS ensures a safe, consistent, and welcoming environment at all of our schools. Recent updates to our volunteer process focus on one primary goal: keeping students safe. These updates — such as checks against the sex offender registry and, in some cases, criminal background checks — are safety measures that will help us maintain a secure and supportive learning environment for every student in our care.
All volunteers must be registered in Volunteer FCPS. This includes individuals who volunteer to chaperone on field trips, work at book fairs, after school activities and help out regularly in classrooms, libraries, or cafeterias. Volunteers who work unsupervised with students will also be required to undergo a background check.
ALL Field Trip chaperones are Level 3 volunteers and WILL need a Background Check and Fingerprinting. If you plan to chaperone any time this year, please start this process as soon as possible.
We encourage all our parents and community members interested in supporting our students by volunteering at school to visit Volunteer FCPS click “Learn More,” and then “Sign Up.” After you create a profile, you will view an orientation video and complete a volunteer application.
We understand these changes may seem disruptive, especially for long-time volunteers. Our intent is to ensure that our students feel safe and supported with each and every person they encounter at school.
As a reminder, all volunteers — and visitors to a school — are required to sign in by scanning their driver's license at our visitor kiosk. Visit the Volunteer FCPS Frequently Asked Questions page to learn more.
 Critical Attendance Information
Please let us know if your child will be absent or arriving to school late.
Report all absences through:
Online: Parent Vue
Email: LaurelHillElem.Attendance@fcps.edu
Call Attendance Line: 703-551-5353 (24/7 Recorded Line)
https://laurelhilles.fcps.edu/about/attendance-reporting
If we are not notified by 9:30am, it is possible that you will receive an automated attendance call from the County.
Benchmark Curriculum Updates
Learning About Life Science in Language Arts 📚
Benchmark Unit 1 in Language Arts is about life science. Students in K-5 will be learning about plants, animals, and nature. Sixth grade students will learn about the natural balance of nature.
Connect with your child’s learning at school with these fun questions and hands-on activities at home:
- Question: What are some ways we can take care of nature and living things?
- Activity: Pick an animal and act out how it moves or survives in its habitat — see if family members can guess!
At the end of the unit, your child will take their unit magazine home. The magazine includes an activity calendar with fun ways to help students build on what they’re learning at each grade level. You can also find information on how to support your child’s reading at home on the Benchmark Families website.
National Bullying Prevention Month
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. To help develop a common understanding of Bullying, below is the FCPS definition.
Bullying in Students Rights and Responsibilities is defined as: “Any aggressive and unwanted behavior that is intended to harm, intimidate, or humiliate the victim; involves a real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim; and is repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma. “Bullying” includes cyberbullying. “Bullying” does not include ordinary teasing, horseplay, argument, or peer conflict.”
For more information on how FCPS handles a bullying situation please visit the FCPS Bullying Prevention and Intervention webpage. Our goal is to ensure all students feel safe and welcome at school. If you have questions and/or concerns about something that is going on at school, please contact the front office so that they can support you and most importantly your student.
New Webinar Offerings for Parents Action Required:
Dyslexia & Reading Plans
- Supporting Your Child with Dyslexia: October 15, 10-11:30 a.m.
- Join us for an informative webinar on Dyslexia Awareness, designed for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) families. This session will provide essential information about dyslexia and the resources available within FCPS to support students with this learning difference.
- What You'll Learn:
- Understanding Dyslexia: Gain a clear understanding of what dyslexia is, its common signs, and how it can affect students' reading, writing, and spelling.
- FCPS Support Systems: Learn about the various supports and interventions FCPS provides, including evidence-based, structured literacy approaches and the role of reading specialists.
- Virginia Literacy Act: Discover how the new Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) and FCPS's Equitable Access to Literacy (EAL) Plan are changing literacy instruction to benefit all learners, especially those with dyslexia.
- Resources for Families: We'll share practical tools and strategies you can use at home to support your child's literacy development and partner effectively with their school.
- This webinar aims to empower families with knowledge and resources to help their students with dyslexia succeed.
- Register here
- Reading Plans and Your Student: October 22, 10-11:30 a.m.
- This 1.5-hour webinar is designed to help parents and caregivers understand the new reading plans in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). Parents will learn about:
- What a reading plan is: A reading plan is a support system for students who are not meeting literacy benchmarks. It outlines specific, evidence-based instruction and interventions to help them improve their reading skills.
- Who requires a reading plan: All students from kindergarten through eighth grade who are identified as needing additional support based on literacy assessments will receive a reading plan. This is part of a broader effort by FCPS to implement the Virginia Literacy Act.
- How schools will support students: The webinar will explain how FCPS is using a science-based reading approach and will discuss the role of reading specialists, the curriculum used, and the assessments to monitor student progress.
- Resources and tools for parents: Parents will leave with practical resources and tools they can use at home to support their child's literacy development. The webinar aims to empower families to be active partners in their child's reading journey.
- Register here
 
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