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The Feather Report

September 11, 2026

Photo of the Week

Did you know that all students at Westlawn are eligible for free breakfast? As students enter the building, they pass grab-and-go breakfast carts at each entrance. Breakfast options vary by day but include milk, juices, fresh fruit, yogurt, bagels, waffles, pancakes, and cereal.

Leadership Ledger

Westlawn Families,

It is wonderful to see our students settling into their routines and our classrooms buzzing with learning! Teachers at every grade level are diving into content, and our students are working hard each day. As we settle into the school year, please remember just how important daily attendance is. Chronic absence—missing 10% or more of the school year, or about two days each month—can have a significant impact on both student happiness and academic success. Thank you for partnering with us to make sure our students are at school, on time, and ready to learn each day!

We are also looking forward to welcoming families to Back to School Night next Thursday from 4:30–6:00 PM! Be sure to check out the Back to School Night announcement on our website for the evening’s schedule, important links, and, of course, information about the Kona Ice truck! A quick reminder that parking at Westlawn is incredibly limited, so we encourage families to walk or carpool whenever possible. We cannot wait to see everyone!

Finally, our hearts are with the entire Woodburn Elementary School community following the unexpected passing of their principal, Kanchana Iyer, last Friday. Even if you did not know Ms. Iyer personally, her work touched families across FCPS. While serving in ESOL Services, she was instrumental in shepherding the adoption of TalkingPoints, a tool that has strengthened communication and connection with families throughout our division. Those who knew Ms. Iyer knew her as a wonderful person, creative educator, and thoughtful leader. Woodburn has shared a moving tribute to her on their website, and we join our FCPS family in remembering her and extending our deepest condolences to her family, colleagues, students, and community.

As always, thank you for all you do to make Westlawn such a caring, connected, and joyful community.

In partnership,

Christoph Hill, Stephanie Carpenter, and Erin Theiss

Proud Principals

News

Welcome New Staff Members!

We have had fun introducing you to new Westlawn staff over the past few weeks. Enjoy this last set!

We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Molly to Westlawn as our new Instructional Assistant in a Preschool Autism Classroom! Ms. Molly truly feels she was born to teach, and in school, her favorite subjects were math and art. Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, she loves spending time in the mountains, watching movies like Ponyo, and enjoying the crisp fall season. When she's not in the classroom, you might find her enjoying a fresh coffee or matcha, spending time with both dogs and cats, or reading childhood classics like The Giving Tree and the Junie B. Jones series. Please join us in giving Ms. Molly a warm welcome to our school family!

We are excited to welcome Miss R. (Miss Rinderle) to Westlawn as our new Speech Language Pathologist! Joining Mrs. Larkin on the speech team, Miss R. will be on campus on Tuesdays and Fridays. Outside of school, she loves traveling, heading to the mountains, and enjoying the crisp fall season. She is an animal lover who adores both dogs and cats, and she enjoys starting her day with coffee and refueling with pasta or pizza. If given a chance to time travel, she would love to journey into the past! Please join us in giving Miss R. a warm welcome to our school community!

We are delighted to welcome Ms. Sevilla (or Ms. S), who is joining Westlawn as an Enhanced Autism Classroom (EAC) Instructional Assistant! She is most excited to get to know our school community. In school, her favorite subject was English, and her childhood favorite book is The Rainbow Fish. When she isn't at school, Ms. Sevilla loves spending time with her daughter, Isabella, enjoying the spring season, watching The Lion King, and sipping on a fresh cup of coffee. She is an animal lover who likes both dogs and cats, and her favorite elementary memory is Field Day. Please join us in giving Ms. Sevilla / Ms. S a warm welcome to Westlawn!

We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Silva (or Ms. S) back to Westlawn as our new Multiple Disabilities Teacher! Having previously served as a Special Educator and tutor at Westlawn, she is excited to return to our school community and looks forward to helping students feel successful as they learn to read. Her favorite subjects growing up were reading and science, and her favorite children's book is I Love You to the Moon and Back. Inspired by her grandmother, who was a wonderful chef, Ms. Silva loves trying great food—with Pho 75 and Lebanese Taverna being top local favorites! In her free time, you might find her enjoying a bowl of Chex Mix or dark chocolate with almonds. Please join us in giving Ms. Silva / Ms. S a warm welcome back to Westlawn!

Community Conversations Link Update

We noticed that attendance at Community Conversations over the past few weeks has been a little sparse, and we think we know why! We had experimented with sending out the link via TalkingPoints instead of email. We love TalkingPoints, but sometimes it lags a bit while sending messages out on a large scale with translations. Here is what we have done to fix it, starting on Wednesday of next week:

• Families will receive an email on Wednesday around 10:30 AM with the link to join the Zoom session.
• We will continue to send out the Zoom link via TalkingPoints, also at 10:30 AM, to all families.

We think 30 minutes will give each program enough time to share the link to all families in their preferred method for delivery. Community Conversations will still start at 11 am and still feature Mr. Hill and Ms. Dushok (and the wonderful Ms. Barbery in the interpretation room for live translation). Like always, the slides and the recordings will be posted on the Westlawn website as soon as they are available. We hope you’ll join us!

Color Days are Back

We are once again delighted to support our kindergarten team through schoolwide Color Days! Here’s how it works: we are asking all community members to wear a specific color on each Wednesday between now and Thanksgiving Break. On those days, the kindergarten teachers help students identify that color as they walk around the school building. When staff and students all wear the same color, the kindergarten students see the color exists in various shades, and it helps them build a broader definition of that color. Here are the upcoming dates:

• September 16: orange
• September 23: yellow
• September 30: green
• October 7: blue
• October 14: purple
• October 21: pink
• October 28: white
• November 4: black
• November 11: brown
• November 18: gray

Student ID Cards for Westlawn Bus Riders

We distributed student ID cards to all our students who ride the school bus or use FCPS transportation services this week. Teachers attached them to student backpacks using holders with elastic string so that students could drag them to the sensor on the bus without removing them from the ID case.

Students who have student ID cards should begin tapping as they board and exit the bus. Only students who use FCPS transportation services will be provided with a student ID card at this time.

Student ID cards are a collaboration between each school and the Office of Transportation. If your child loses their card, please call us at 703-241-5100 and we can create a replacement. If your child is having trouble boarding the bus due to a missing card, or they encounter other problems when trying to actually use the card, please contact the Office of Transportation at 703-446-2050 for the quickest service or answer to your question.

Learn more about the bus navigation and student ID cards.

Free Flu Shots

Nobody wants the flu! There are free flu shots available for FCPS students at several events throughout the county in the coming weeks. Learn more about the events and how to register students.

Reporting Discrimination or Harassment

FCPS is committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for people of all races, national origins, and ethnicities. Individuals experiencing harassment or discrimination should report the incident as soon as possible. 

Review and Sign the SR&R by September 30

The FCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R) booklet explains expectations for student behavior and adult responses to enhance school safety and to create a fair, equitable, and supportive school environment. This year’s SR&R includes new Universal Grade Matrices, which are at-a-glance charts that make it easier for families to see behavior expectations and school responses for grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12.

Families, please review the SR&R and discuss these expectations with your child. Be sure to sign the SR&R acknowledgement form by Wednesday, September 30, either by logging into SIS ParentVUE or signing and returning the Signature Sheet to your child’s school.  

Learn more by watching a short video about the SR&R (available in English and Spanish) or visiting the SR&R webpage.

FCPS News

In case you missed it in FCPS This Week, the school division shared updates on the following topics:

• Review and Sign the SR&R
• Your Child Belongs at School
• What’s for Lunch? Check the FCPS App

Read FCPS This Week to learn more about these topics. If you are not already receiving this weekly newsletter, please sign up today.

Dates and Events

September 14: Join the Scouts for a Community Cleanup in the Discovery Area from 5:00-7:30 PM! Anyone can help, whether they are a Scout or not. Volunteers should bring gardening gloves, and are also invited to bring tools such as wheel barrows, extension cords, and weed whackers. Only adults will be allowed to use power tools.

September 15: Help support the PTA by dining out at Guapo’s in Merrifield tonight from 5:00-10:00 PM! Bring the paper flyer that was sent home in Thursday folders and show it to your server. A portion of what you spent on food will help our PTA raise funds for field trips, Teacher Appreciation Week, and more! (AND you don’t have to cook, which is a win!)

September 16: Color Day: Wear Orange!

September 17: Back to School Night takes place from 4:30 - 6:00 PM, but the party doesn’t stop there! Kona Ice will be on campus until 7:00. All proceeds go toward helping the 6th graders fund activities such as the 6th grade field trip!

September 18: AVID Day: Wear college gear or college colors!

September 23: Color Day: Wear Yellow!

September 23: Learn about the AAP program at Westlawn from our Advanced Academics Resource Teacher, Mrs. Maxwell, in the Westlawn library from 5:00-6:00 PM. All families are welcome to attend.

September 24: If you are a parent of a Drama Club member, please attend the parent informational Zoom session from 4:00-4:30 PM.

To see more schoolwide and community events, remember to check out our website calendar! You can also subscribe to our calendar to make it even more convenient. Click on the little calendar icon in the top right corner of the calendar page of our website to add all current and future events to your cell phone calendar.

Engage with Westlawn

Reminder: Join the (Community) Conversation!

Each Wednesday at 11 am, join Mr. Hill and Ms. Dushok to hear the latest news from Westlawn! Community Conversations are held via Zoom and we do our best to share the 2026-2027 Community Conversation Zoom link each week before the meeting. Archives of the three most recent Community Conversations are available on our website.

Reminder: Be Prepared to Volunteer in 2026-2027!

Like last year, some volunteer roles in FCPS require background checks and fingerprinting. If you plan on regularly volunteering anywhere in FCPS, please sign up as a volunteer through the FCPS volunteer portal. The portal will require you to make an account, and then you can access the account to check the status of your background check, fingerprints, etc.

Mind Matters

AAP Talent Development

One of the two pillars of the Advanced Academic Program in FCPS is developing the academic talents of all our students. We do this by challenging them with rigorous tasks from the AAP curriculum that provide opportunities to think critically, reason, and problem solve. Additionally, all students in K-2 also have access to this by attending their CCT special with Ms. Johnson. You can try some Access to Rigor at home by using our 9 CCT strategies!

Gretchen Maxwell is Westlawn’s Advanced Academic Resource Teacher, and she is passionate about creating opportunities for each Westlawn student to soar. You can email Mrs. Maxwell or reach her via TalkingPoints.

Tech Talk

Featured Facts

This year, many of our grade levels have added a new instructional block to their schedules: Math Fluency. This dedicated time gives students daily opportunities to practice and strengthen their math fact fluency. Students’ fluency practice is based on their grade-level learning goals. For example, students in fourth through sixth grade may practice multiplication facts through the 12s. At home, they can use the free Math Mammoth online practice on any device. They may enjoy activities such as the timed multiplication challenge or the multiplication puzzle matching activity. In the classroom, students practice in ways that are both purposeful and engaging. In Ms. Armstrong’s classroom, for example, students use the timed challenge. They set the timer for two minutes, and when Ms. Armstrong says, “Go!” they work as quickly as possible while focusing on answering accurately. Their goal is to achieve an accuracy rate of 90% or higher. Students compete primarily against themselves as they work to set a new personal best. They can also earn a spot on the class leaderboard, which recognizes the top 10 students who answer the most questions correctly while meeting the accuracy goal. If two students answer the same number of questions correctly, the student with the higher accuracy rate is ranked higher. Beyond the excitement of the challenge, students are building the strong mathematical foundation they need to solve increasingly complex problems—not only in fifth grade, but throughout their continued study of mathematics.

Digital Resource Consent Update

As of this writing (the morning of September 11), we only have 7 missing consents remaining, for a completion rate of 99%! Our outstanding office staff will call the remaining 7 families. Ms. Dushok is eager to complete our consents for the year!

Unfortunately our competitors at Flint Hill Elementary School have already achieved 100% consent for the year, so our hopes to be top school are dashed, at least for now. (There is always next year!) The next closest school is the Key Center who are approximately 93% complete with their collection.

Is there a technology topic you want us to tackle in a future issue? Email your questions to Ms. Dushok (school based technology specialist) and Mr. Dinkins (technology support specialist).

Zoom into the Room

In Ms. Dinello’s second-grade classroom, excitement and growing independence go hand in hand, making every day a transformative step in her students' learning journey. This week, young mathematicians are busy learning how to collect and represent data, while in literacy, students are deepening their comprehension by exploring different perspectives and practicing text annotation. To support every learner’s unique path, Ms. Dinello collaborates closely with a dedicated team of support educators—including Ms. G, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Youssef, and Ms. J—ensuring each child receives tailored guidance.

The learning momentum continues through interactive reading routines like ECRI phonics drills and small-group instruction during the grade-level Walk to Read program. Between focused academic tasks, students recharge with energizing brain breaks, giving them the movement they need to stay ready and focused. To top off an engaging week, the class kicked off a hands-on science unit on monarch butterflies—setting the stage to watch caterpillars transform right before their eyes in the coming weeks!

Top: A student works on a word search as part of Morning Work. This word search was about Labor Day and featured Labor Day vocabulary. Middle: Students enjoy a brain break where they had to do dance moves and exercises to help their chosen Pokemon cross the finish line first. Bottom: Students practice writing “foil” in their Walk to Read group.

Connect With Westlawn

• Contact the main office: 703-241-5100
• Submit an absence: 703-241-5151 | email the absence box | using ParentVUE
• Contact Ms. Caballero (student information assistant): email Ms. Caballero | 703-241-5100 | TalkingPoints: Silvia Caballero
• Contact Ms. Reyes (family liaison): email Ms. Reyes | 703-241-5125 | TalkingPoints: Hilda Reyes
• Contact Ms. Cortez (social worker): email Ms. Cortez | 703-241-5190 | TalkingPoints: Pamela Cortez

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