Good Evening Mayfield Intermediate School students and families!

This week, our message will focus on the importance of daily attendance for students. Did you know that if your child misses two days a month of school, they are considered chronically absent? Two days initially doesn't sound like a lot, but over the school year, that adds up to 20 days of school. Students who are chronically absent from school have a difficult time being successful when they are in school. Chronic absenteeism can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.

Here at Mayfield Intermediate School, we will begin working with the students who are at risk of being chronically absent based on the number of days missed in the 1st quarter of the school year. After the first quarter of the school year, we have 19% of our students at risk of being chronically absent for the school year if their attendance doesn't improve. If a child has missed five or more days of school, they will meet with staff members at the school and work on finding solutions to why they are missing school. We will reach out to families and offer support to help our students attend school daily.

It is vital for the success of each child in our school that they are here and ready to learn every day of the school year. We need to help our students succeed on grade-level materials before they fall too far behind because of their absences.

Always Learning,

Dr. Donald Frischkorn

Principal

#MayfieldISProud

#NoStudentLeftUnknown

#ExcellenceEveryday

We have been focusing on our students building their number sense and ability to solve multiple types of math problems. We will start including different math activities that students can practice with their families during the upcoming week. This week’s activity will focus on students looking for opportunities to add and subtract when they are in stores and restaurants in the community.

Building students reading fluency and comprehension depends a lot on how much they practice their reading at home. During the last newsletter, we shared that we are helping all our students know how to decode works and increase their ability to sound out new words. Along with that specific instruction, students can also work on how quickly (Fluency) they can read by reading for at least 20 minutes a night.

Here are 5 Tips from Scholastic on how to create more reading time at home:

1. First things first: Make sure everyone is on board! This must be a whole family event, scheduled at a time that works for everyone. (This is how habitual behaviors are best created.)

2. Tell your child that what you're doing is called the "Family 20" and will make them smarter, stronger, and more exciting people.

3. When you've agreed on a day and time that works, instruct everyone to turn off their phones and grab the reading material of their choice (be it a book, magazine, or newspaper). Then read, read, read!

4. Consider having a basket of books nearby if your readers want to switch up their selections. Add snacks!

5. After 20 minutes, quickly share what each of you have read before carrying on with your day. ("If possible, avoid setting timers, which can suggest that reading is a chore to get through," Baicker says.)

Today we hosted our second student social of the school year. Over 300 students stayed after-school today to celebrate and have a great time with their Mayfield Bobcat friends. Music, food, and games were available to all the students, and they could build positive connections with their classmates. Check out some pictures from this great event hosted by our school's Positivity club, led by Ms. Broskey.

As we shared in previous newsletters, we are fortunate to have many outstanding educators at Mayfield Intermediate School. If you know a teacher you would like to nominate for the Virginia Teacher of the Year Award; please complete the form below.

Students at Mayfield Intermediate follow the same Student Code of Conduct that ALL students in Manassas City Public Schools follow. Students and parents must read and review the Student Code of Conduct Regularly. We keep the Student Code of Conduct attached as a file at the bottom of every Mayfield Messenger that we send.

Email: DFrischkorn@mcpsva.org
Website: https://www.mcpsva.org/mayfieldis
Location: 9400 Mayfield Court, Manassas, VA, USA
Phone: 571-377-6600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mayfield-Intermediate-School-392741568260662/
Twitter: @DrFrischkorn