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 January 8, 2026
From the Principal’s Pen
Dear Laurel Hill Families,
Welcome back, and Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful and joyful winter break and were able to spend meaningful time with family and friends.
As we begin the new calendar year, we are excited to welcome our students back and look forward to a fresh start filled with learning, growth, and new opportunities. Thank you for your continued partnership and support—it plays an important role in our students’ success.
In case you missed it, we are excited to share that Laurel Hill has been recognized as On Track under Virginia’s new School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF). This rating, based on data from last school year, shows that our school is meeting or exceeding expectations set by the state around student performance. To learn more about this status, see the official letter here.
Please review the Save the Date section below to prepare for what's ahead for this month and next (February).
We wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and successful year ahead.
Sincerely,
Janice Dalton, Principal
Addison Smith, Assistant Principal
Thmeaka Traylor, Assistant Principal
 Save the Date
Jan 13 PTA Meeting (Virtual Zoom link here, Meeting ID: 857 4060 4172)
Jan 19 Martin Luther King, Jr Day, No School
Jan 28 Quarter Ends/2-hour Early Release
Jan 29 Staff Development Day (No School for Students)
Jan 30 Teacher Work Day (No School for Students)
Feb 16 Presidents Day-No School
Feb 17 Teacher Workday (No School for Students)
Feb 25 3-hour Early Release Wednesday- School ends 1:05pm
2025-26 school year calendar
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Join Us for FCPS Math Week!
January 12-16
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Come together as a community for students in K-6 for 5 nights the week of January 12, 2026, with delightful math games and stories - all on your own time and from the comfort of your own home. All content will be available for free directly to all families in English and Spanish.
Through rich story-based mathematics experiences, math week offers families an opportunity to experience math, literacy, history, and geography in a positive way. The games and stories feature several countries including Lesotho, Madagascar, Ghana, and China.
All content will be available completely free on the website starting January 12, 2026. To access the games, families will be able to simply click on the day of the week and find their child's grade and language.
Families can play for as little as 15 minutes or replay over and over lasting more than an hour on any given night. Use the games and stories on our website or dust off your favorite math game and play it as a family.
Any and ALL math experiences outside of a normal week count! Our goal is for FCPS to experience 3,000,000 minutes of math outside of the school day. Join us!
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 ❄️ Prepare for Winter Weather
Winter weather will be here before you know it! Watch this video to see how weather closing decisions are made at FCPS.
FCPS’ website is generally the first place to find out about emergency weather closings. Other communication channels will be used as quickly as possible, including email, text, social media, the new FCPS mobile app, and news stations. Learn more about how schedule changes are communicated.
Be sure to plan for the winter season. Update your contact information in SIS ParentVUE, bookmark the FCPS website, and arrange emergency child care if needed.
⛄ Keep Your Child Warm During Outdoor Activities
We will monitor the weather for low temperatures, wind chill advisories and warnings, and weather advisories that may prevent children from being outside. Make sure your child is dressed appropriately with a warm coat and other cold-weather clothing, so they can comfortably enjoy their time outdoors. View the National Weather Service’s tips on staying safe during cold weather.
If you need assistance getting cold-weather clothing for your family, please call Fairfax County Coordinated Services Planning (CSP) at 703-222-0880. Their multilingual staff can assist with any challenges you are facing, including food, shelter, employment, financial assistance, and health.
Health Highlights
As we approach flu season, to keep your family safe, the Health Department recommends the following:
- Monitor your child and keep them home if sick. Watch for signs of illness in your child. If your child has a fever or severe cough, keep them home. They should stay home, except for medical visits, until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication, feel better overall, and are able to participate in school activities. After they return to school, parents may choose to have them wear a mask at school and during other indoor activities for 5 days after symptoms improve. This will further reduce the chance that they may spread illness to someone else.
- Get your child tested. Consider getting your child tested for respiratory illness if they are sick. You can get COVID-19 tests to use at home, and testing for flu can be done by your healthcare provider.
- Teach your child to wash their hands for 20 seconds with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Be sure to set a good example by doing this yourself. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer.
- Cover coughs and sneezes. Have your child use a tissue to cover their mouth and nose when they cough and sneeze. Throw tissues in the trash after use. If they do not have a tissue, they should cover coughs and sneezes with their upper sleeve.
- Remind your child to avoid touching their face, like eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
- Try to avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Improve your air quality at home. If it’s not too cold, open doors and windows or move activities outside to get fresh air.
- Get vaccinated. Vaccines are highly recommended to protect your child from COVID-19 and the flu. Updated vaccines available each fall are needed for the best protection to prevent serious illness.
- Talk to a healthcare provider about treatment. Talk to your child’s healthcare provider if you have questions or concerns, especially if they have a chronic illness or take long-term medications.
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.
📚 Seeing Different Perspectives in Language Arts 📚
Benchmark Unit 4 in Language Arts is about points of view. Students in K-5 will be learning about why and how people create stories, and how to understand different perspectives. Grade six students will learn how a person’s life shapes their point of view.
Connect with your child’s learning at school with these fun questions and hands-on activities at home:
- Question: Have you ever disagreed with a friend? How did you see things differently?
- Activity: Make up a silly scenario with your child, like a dinosaur walking down the street or an ice cream thunderstorm. Put on a short play where you and your child each play the role of each other. How does your child think you would react to the silly scenario and why? How would you react if you were your child?
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.
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