Fulton Flier
Week of December 7th
I hope that you were able to engage in some quality family time this weekend, full of laughter and smiles. We had a fun first week of our Countdown to Winter break and admin LOVED chatting over lunch with our students. We look forward to another great week!
This Tuesday, we hope you can join us for our PTA meeting. Our Bully Busters (e.g., school psychologists and school counselors), will be presenting on Supporting Your Child's Well-Being. The meeting will begin at 7:00pm and you can join by clicking on this link or copying and pasting the link into your browser:
Warmly,
Dr. Burks
In Honor of Minaal
Recently we came together as a community to grieve the loss of one of our first grade students, Minaal Ahmed. We have been working with Minaal's family to honor her in a special way.In honor of Minaal Ahmed, please consider making a donation to the John Hopkins Children's Center, which is an organization close to the Ahmed's hearts.
If you would like to consider a contribution in Minaal's memory, visit https://secure.jhu.edu/form/children and choose “Child Life” in the list of designation options. All contributions made through this site are tax deductible, as allowable by law.
To donate gifts for the children at JHCC, individuals can purchase them through http://www.myregistry.com/organization/johns-hopkins-children-s-center-baltimore-md/2602166 or purchase any of the items on the attached Wish List , and ship them to:
Brian Parkinson, Child Life Department
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
1800 Orleans Street, Suite 7217
Baltimore, MD 21287
Elementary Student Workload during Virtual Instruction
Families, particularly of primary students, have expressed concerns about the virtual elementary workload including the complexity of asynchronous lessons, the number of content areas taught, and the number of weekly asynchronous assignments. In order to support elementary students with successfully navigating during virtual instruction, the following adjustments have been made:
- Students will only have asynchronous assignments in social studies, science, or health during a given week. There will not be an overlap of instruction or assignments for these content areas.
- Health lessons will be taught for one week during the marking period and include two synchronous lessons and two asynchronous lessons instead of five asynchronous lessons as assigned in the first quarter.
- The length and complexity of social studies, science, and health asynchronous assignments have been reduced.
- Related arts asynchronous assignments have been streamlined.
Preferred Name Rollout
A new process will be enabled in January 2021 to allow students to show a preferred name in Synergy, Canvas and Google. Students can follow this process.
Go to hcpss.me
Go to Synergy
Click on “Student Info” in the lower left
Look for the “Preferred First Name” field to see what is there now.
This name will show in Canvas and Google beginning the first week of January, 2021.
If you do not want this name to show or would like something else to show, contact your administrator by December 21, 2020.
If you do want this name to show, you don’t need to do anything.
Note: The preferred name will carry over from year to year unless a change is requested. Once a requested change is made, that preferred name will remain for the student’s HCPSS career unless another change is requested through the school secretary/administrator.
For students who are transgender or gender non-binary, there is an additional procedure to mask their legal name and/or gender assigned at birth, providing additional confidentiality. If you think this may apply to your child, please reach out to Mrs. Wilson-Carr (jessica_wilson@hcpss.org) or Mrs. Beth Shields (beth_shields@hcpss.org) to discuss and let them know that you are interested in learning about the presenting name option/masking process.2020-2021 Inclement Weather Options
Virtual Instruction; Buildings Open
This option will include minor weather events that are deemed not significant enough to close the building for staff. This option allows HCPSS to make the decision and provide notification to families and staff much earlier without having to make up a day of instruction at the end of the school year.
- Instruction: Virtual for all students
- Meal Service: No morning service; Lunch Available for pickup, as scheduled
- Buildings: Open for staff
- Athletics: As scheduled
Virtual Instruction; Buildings Closed
This option will include weather events that may have closed school in years past. Similar to the Virtual Instruction; Buildings Open option, all instruction will be delivered virtually resulting in an approved academic day.
- Instruction: Virtual for all students
- Meal Service: Canceled
- Buildings: Closed
- Athletics: Canceled
No Instruction; Buildings Closed
This option mirrors a typical inclement weather day when schools and offices are closed. This decision may be implemented at times of widespread internet or power outages when virtual instruction is not feasible. These days would potentially need to be made up at the end of the school year.
- Instruction: Canceled
- Meal Service: Canceled
- Buildings: Closed
- Athletics: Canceled
Early Dismissal
This option would be implemented when an unexpected weather event occurs while students may be in school buildings (small groups, hybrid, etc.). During an early closing, instruction would end early (90-minutes or 3-hours) for all students, including those learning virtually.
- Instruction: Virtual and in-person ends early
- Meal Service: May end early
- Buildings: Closed early for all
- Athletics: Canceled
Instruction the Week of December 21
Students will have synchronous related arts as scheduled but no asynchronous related arts assignments. Likewise, synchronous social studies instruction will occur on Monday, December 21 for grades K, 2, and 4 and on Tuesday, December 22 for grades 1, 3, and 5; however, there will not be social studies asynchronous follow up lessons.
VIRTUAL STUDENT LUNCH BUNCHES WITH ADMIN!
Countdown to Winter Break & Inclusion Week!
Inclusion is being a part of what everyone else is, and being welcomed and embraced as a member who belongs. Fulton will be celebrating by having a sprit week and participating in classroom discussions and activities! Below is more information on the spirit week!
Spirit Week:
- Monday, Dec 7: Be a HERO for inclusion. Dress up as someone you look up to or a superhero you admire.
- Tuesday, Dec 8: We are UNIQUE! Dress to show what makes you unique.
- Wednesday, Dec 9: EXERCISE your right to be different! Wear athletic wear.
- Thursday, Dec 10: Let’s “LIGHT IT UP BLUE” for Autism Awareness.
- Friday, Dec 11: Unity Day! We are all INCLUDED in the FES community! Let’s wear our FES colors/spirit wear to show how we are one!
DATES TO REMEMBER
December 8th: PTA Ledo's Fundraiser 4:00pm-8:00pm; Virtual PTA Meeting 7:00pm
- December 9th: 4th Lunch Bunch w/Admin; PTA's Food Drive 4:00-6:00pm
- December 11th: 5th Lunch Bunch w/Admin
December 13th: PTA's Art Fundraiser with Mrs. Wasilewski
December 24th: Winter Break begins
Worth Repeating
CAPTURING VIRTUAL LEARNING!
FULTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Molly Caroland, Assistant Principal
Leslie Brickner, Assistant Principal
Email: tanisha_burks@hcpss.org
Website: https://fes.hcpss.org/
Location: 11600 Scaggsville Road, Fulton, MD, USA
Phone: 410-880-5957
Twitter: @hcpss_fes