Timberwolf Times -June 12, 2023

Welcome Back to School - 2022-2023

"It's A Great Day to be a Timberwolf"

Dear Timberwolf Families,

Friday, June 9 - will now be a Day 5!

Monday, June 12 - Field Day will be Day 0.

Field Daywas postponed until Monday, June 12, 2023 -- Please send your child to school with a water bottle, sunscreen, and a towel. There is one misting water station so students may get a little wet. If you have any questions, please follow up with Mr. White - at WHITECS@PWCS.EDU

We have had to cancel our read out picnic but we will still offer hotdogs for all students and staff for Monday, June 12, 2023.

Can you believe it is our last week of school!! It has been an amazing year so far!! .

Dismissal on Last Day - T. Clay Wood will dismiss students at 12:20 pm on Thursday, June 15, 2023 - the last day of school. Lunch will still be served. However, students will not be able to have visitors join them for lunch that day since they will be eating in the classroom. Please make sure you have made arrangements for your student to arrive home at 12:20pm. Sacc will still be open until 6:30pm.

Dr. Andrew Buchheit, Principal

Attendance Email: cwes-timberwolf-attendance@pwcs.edu Phone:– 703.594.3992

All Visitors and volunteers will be asked to provide a valid government issued photo identification. There are no exceptions. Every visitor to our school must bring with them a photo id. Visitors will then be issued a temporary identification badge. We will not permit any visitor or volunteer into the building without this identification. Our main goal is to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff at school.

2022-2023 – Back to school information: https://www.pwcs.edu/parents/backtoschool

2022-2023 – Calendar link: https://www.pwcs.edu/cms/one.aspx?pageId=654031

Code of Behavior link: https://www.pwcs.edu/cms/One.aspx?portalId=340225&pageId=767701

Link to Family Life Education objectives and Opt out - https://www.pwcs.edu/academics___programs/science___family_life_education/family_life_education

Masks will continue to be optional if students would prefer to wear them

.

We truly do Everything Better Together as a Community of Leaders and Learners Achieving Excellence.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Dr. Andrew Buchheit

Principal

#TimberwolvesROCK

“Like the Sun, I am here to Shine”

END OF YEAR MEDICATION PICK UP

Dear Parent/Guardian,

All medications must be picked up from the school clinic by 12:00 pm on June 15. Medications not picked up will be discarded. No medications are held in the school clinics over the summer. New Medication Administration Forms and/or Health Treatment Plans are required each school year. Forms may be obtained from your school or https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/student_services/student_health/index

Please contact Ms. Ousley with any questions.

Yearbooks will be passed out to students who purchased them on Monday, June 12 and/or Tuesday, June 13.

Please remind students to write their name on the inside of the Yearbook so they know which Yearbook belongs to them.

Please remind all students to treat their classmates' yearbooks with respect. No one should damage or deface any of the yearbooks.

Students should not write inappropriate comments about anyone in an yearbook.

Students should not cross out pictures or write so big to take up an entire page.

As a reminder, at school we do not talk about dating anyone so students should not add this in their yearbooks while they are still at school and passing the books around.

Please help remind all our students, even those who did not purchase a yearbook, to treat all yearbooks with respect.

If you haven't ordered a yearbook, late yearbook sales are now available online. Any late orders will ship directly to you about 4 weeks after the school receives their bulk order. The school is expected to receive their order on 6/12 so the estimated ship date for late orders would be approximately 7/12. In addition, a shipping charge has been added to the cost of each book. The cost of late yearbook orders is $32.75 / book. To order, please see the link below...

https://link.entourageyearbooks.com/my/TCWES2023

We will begin collecting devices, chargers, and cases from students very soon. Your child’s classroom teacher can let you know the specific date when your child’s materials will be collected. Each child was given a laptop, charger (for home use), and a carrying case. All 3 of these items must be returned in working condition in order to avoid any potential

charges for lost or damaged items.

If you are unsure where certain items are located, please take time to locate them and also reach out to your child’s teacher or our Technology Coach, Mr. Taylor (taylorbi@pwcs.edu).

To prepare laptops for return, please use a screen wipe to wipe the device down. An air cannister can also be used to remove any dust or particles from the keyboard. The earlier you return these materials the class, the sooner their classroom teacher can account for them.

If any materials are lost or damaged and you have not purchased insurance, you will be charged for the replacement. Costs are below:

Laptops: $485-$495 (depending on the specific model)

Chargers: $63*

Carrying Case: $20**

*$63 is the cost if we must replace the charger, per PWCS

policy. You may replace the charger on your own with an equivalent product from

Amazon, which is less expensive.

**$20 is the cost if we must replace the carrying case. You

may replace the case on your own with a similar case from Amazon. To be

considered a “similar” case it should be for a 13-inch device and have a

carrying handle.

Laptops may incur repair fees.

• If any keys on the

keyboard are not working, there is a $141 cost to replace the keyboard.

• Water damage to the

device could result in a full replacement fee ($485-$495).

• Signs of food stuck in

the keyboard may result in a $141 fee to replace the keyboard. Students

are not permitted to have food while using the device.

• Cracked screens can

sometimes be repaired for $85, but occasionally the entire device must be

replaced depending on the severity.

• Broken pieces of the

casing, or peeled off rubber seals could potentially result in charges for

repair as well.

Those who have purchased insurance do not have any replacement or repair costs for any items, whether lost, damaged, or stolen.

If your child is registered for summer school, we will run updates on their device to make sure it is ready for the summer, but then they may bring it home and keep it there on the day their class has device collection.

They will also keep the case and charger for the summer. The device, charger,

and case will be due back to T. Clay Wood ES by 4:00pm on the last day

of summer school (regardless of which summer school you attend, you must return

the device to T. Clay Wood). Charges for lost/damaged summer school devices

will be assessed after that date.

If you have questions about potential lost, damaged, or missing items, or about any potential charges, please reach out to our Technology Coach, Mr. Taylor (taylorbi@pwcs.edu).

Broderick Taylor

Instructional Technology Coach

T. Clay Wood Elementary School

703-594-3990

June 12- Field Day - (New Date)

June 12 - Read out Picnic - Canceled due to Field Day.

June 12 and 13 - 4th and 5th grade FLE (Growing up lessons) - please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions.

June 13 - Hooray for Kg - 9:45 am

June 14, 5th grade Promotion Ceremony at 6:00pm

June 15 - Last Day of School - Dismissal 12:20pm

School Wide Focus: Habit 6 - Synergy

Monday, June 12, 2023 -Day 0

Field Day- bring a hat, towel, sunblock, and water bottle.

FLE lessons in 4th and 5th

Tuesday, June 13, 2023- Day 6

Kg - Hooray for K - 9:45 am (Doors open at 9:30 am)

4th and 5th FLE lessons

5th grade Promotion Practice

Wednesday, June 14, 2023 - Day 1

6:00 - (Doors open at 5:30 pm) - 5th grade Promotion - Patriot HS

Thursday, June 15, 2023 - Day 0

Last Day of School - dismissal 12:20 pm

Friday, June 16, 2023 -Day -

Start of Summer Vacation. What are you reading?

2022-2023 Calendar - As a reminder, due to current supply chain issues with paper, the Communications Department will not be printing the 2022-23 School Guide and Calendar at this time. A printable PDF version of this year's School Calendar and Reference Guide, as well as a printable PDF Month-at-a-Glance Calendar, are available on the PWCS Calendar webpage.

Next year, PWCS will be updating bell times for all elementary level school. Our bell times will increase 5 minutes. Our new times for next year will be 9:20 am (Doors opening at 9:10 am). Dismissal will be at 4pm. Here is a link to see all the changes - https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/transportation/bell_schedule_2023-24

PWCS has listed a number of benefits for this change:

• Makes transportation to and from school more consistent and reliable
• Increases number of buses for schools and drivers available for substitute runs – 35 additional buses are for middle school regular routes
• Decreases route times and length of time waiting at bus stops
• Eliminates scheduled double and triple runs
• Improves student attendance
• Reduces the chance of lost instructional time
• Decreases the need for staff to stay after school dismissal for supervision
• Reduces the number of students on each bus, resulting in fewer management challenges for drivers
• Improves accuracy of the Here Comes the Bus app

Kindergarten registration is open. SPACE is still available at T. Clay Wood for your Rising Kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year.

We need your help! Please pass the word to your neighbors who have rising Kindergarteners for the 23-24 school year. It is important for planning and staffing purposes to get all our rising Kindergarten Timberwolves registered as soon as possible.

Registration for PWCS is now available online. KG families will start the process online by going to this site:

https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/student_services/registration__new_students_and_transfers_/kindergarten_registration/index

Padres/tutores: ¿Tienen un estudiante de kindergarten que necesitan inscribir? Se requiere la inscripción de todos los nuevos estudiantes. Comiencen la inscripción en línea ahora. Por favor visite: https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/student_services/registration__new_students_and_transfers_/kindergarten_registration/index

Interested in Volunteering at T. Clay Wood? You can first check with your student's teacher. Then you can also look into these areas:

1. Welcome Table:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FAFAD28A4F5C52-welcome

2. Library Volunteers -

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4AA4AF2AA5F94-library

Cell Phones and Watches with text/calling capabilities

We have seen an increase in students using watches to text during the instructional school day. In order to preserve instructional time, students are not permitted to text, on a phone or watch, during the school day.

If you need to relay a message to your child during the school day, please call the front office.

Please refer to the Parent Handbook regarding the use of Cell Phones (which includes calling and texting on watches). It states, "If cell phones are brought to school, they should be turned off and kept in book bags during the school day."

Students may continue to wear the smart watches but calling should be turned off. Our Elementary school students should NOT be receiving messages (or calls) during the school day. If students misuse the watch by sending or receiving calls and/or messages, taking pictures or videos, or making recordings, playing on games or searching the internet, etc.; the teacher will need to have the student put the watch in their backpack similar to a cell phone or another device.

We thank you for your support in ensuring our students are focused on the learning process while at school. We want to be sure watches, phones, other devices are not used to distract from the learning environment or used in a way that is not appropriate for school. I appreciate all our parents and guardians taking the time to have these conversations with their children prior to allowing their students to come to school with a cell phone, smart watch, or other device.

Phones and watches can be removed if students are using them in ways that are distracting or not appropriate to their learning or the learning and safety of other students.

Dear Parents,

T. Clay Wood ES and Prince William County Schools has purchased an incredible reading program for your student for this school year. It is entirely free for your student to use this year. We are encouraging all students to use the program each day.

Lexia is a program to help your student with reading. We are encouraging all students to use Lexia for 10-20 minutes per day. (at least 40-60 minutes a week). Lexia is engaging and works at your students personalized reading level.

All students have been shown how to access Lexia. Please help your student remember to log on to Lexia and work on Lexia each day.

Below are the 3 step directions to access Lexia:

1. Go to https://clever.com/in/pwcs

Log in - Clever

https://clever.com/trust/privacy/policy. https://clever.com/about/terms

clever.com

2. Log in with Office365

3. In Clever, scroll down until your see the blue globe for Lexia Core 5- Click on the Lexia

DIRECTIONS FOR ACCESSING LEXIA:

-Login to your child’s Office 365 account

-Click on the 9 dots (also called the “waffle”) on the top left-hand side of the screen

-Click on “Clever”

-Scroll down to “Apps purchased by schools”

-Click on “Lexia Core5”(The app with the world)

OR

-Login to Canvas

-Click on account

-Click on “Clever”on the right-hand side

-Scroll down to “LexiaCore 5” under “PWCS Resources”

-Click on “Lexia Core5” (The app with the world)

Our Prince William County School Transportation Department continues to update and implement some tools to help us all when it comes to buses. I have included some helpful links below that are now on their PWCS Transportation Webpage. I believe these will help families throughout the school year. Please take a moment to check these out.

1. The main Transportation Website - most of the below links can be accessed from this site: PWCS Transportation

2. Delayed Bus Page will inform you of any buses that are expected to arrive at least 15 minutes late. Delays will be removed after 12pm for morning runs and after 5:30 pm for afternoon runs. Bus Delay Site

3. Here Comes the Bus APP - See real-time map location for students' buses and get push notifications when the bus gets close by - Info on Here Comes The Bus App

4. Looking for your student's bus schedule? Remember it is located in the Hub which you can access in your ParentVUE account -

5. Transportation Contact for T. Clay Wood (PWCS Western Area Transportation): trns-westernbusroutes@pwcs.edu or 571-374-6593

Early Dismissal

We encourage all families to avoid, when possible, taking students out early from school. Instruction and learning continues until the end of the day. If you need to pick up your child for an appointment, please notify your teacher and school office at cwes-timberwolf-attendance@pwcs.edu and plan to arrive before 3:15pm.

Please park and report to the office. Please do not leave your car unattended in the pickup line. All parties picking up a student from the office must show a photo id.

Please do not make changes to your child’s dismissal time after 3pm. Anyone other than parent/guardian must have prior written approval to pick up a student even if listed on the emergency card.

Dress Code Reminders

All students are expected to dress appropriately and maintain a reasonable appearance. The Prince William County Schools’ Code of Behavior has addressed several areas that are considered improper dress in any Prince William County school. Please refer to the Parent Handbook in the Timberwolf Folder and the School Division’s Code of Behavior.

Cafeteria

PLEASE NOTE - if Packers/Lunch Bringers would like to purchase school milk, the cost this year is $1.00. If a student who has purchased lunch, would like a 2nd lunch, the cost this year for the 2nd lunch is $4.00

Volunteering

Please feel free to coordinate times to volunteer in the classroom with your child's teacher. Teachers and students appreciate our volunteers. Thank you again for everything you are doing to help us build our Positive School Community. I want to formally invite all parents to become involved in your child’s education at T. Clay Wood Elementary School. It has been shown that strong parental involvement and interest in education is a crucial factor in student success. There are many ways to volunteer at T. Clay Wood Elementary School as well. Joining the PTO or Advisory Council, helping out in your child’s classroom, volunteering in the library, working at our Welcome Table Counter and chaperoning field trips are just a few of the many, many ways you can become a part of our Community of Leaders and Learners. Please review the regulation on volunteering: Regulation 511-10

Classroom Interruptions

In order to limit interruption to the teaching and learning environment and protect instructional time, if you drop off forgotten lunches, homework or materials, we will ask you to leave these in the front office. We will inform the teacher who will pick it up at a more convenient time. We want to thank you in advance for your understanding of this procedure and hope you know that our only intent is to maximize your children's instructional time.

Change in Transportation Home

If a situation occurs which makes it necessary for your child’s transportation home to change, please send in a note with your child in the morning giving clear directions as to how your child should go home at the end of the day. Only a parent/guardian can change their child’s transportation plan for any given day. A note from the parent must be received by the office AND the teacher before noon that day indicating the change. This is for the safety of the children and will alleviate any confusion at the end of the day.

Bus Passes

If it is necessary for a student to ride a bus home other than the one he/she is normally assigned, a bus pass is required and must be approved by the office. A note must be sent to school indicating the bus number that the child should ride and a phone number to verify the information. Thank you for helping us ensure the safety of all our students.

Drop Off and Pick Up

Drop off and Pick Up - When dropping your students off in the morning, please drive all the way around to the front of the drop off area in front of our school. Please do not allow students to exit your vehicles until staff members are outside. If you will be picking your students up frequently, please come into our office to sign up for a car pick up tag. You can get a tag on August 19, 2022 during the Open House Meet and Greet and Orientation times. If you choose to park in the parking lot, you will need to park your car and walk your student to the cross walk.

Drive Carefully

Drive Carefully - Drive carefully and obey the posted speed limits around our parking lot and the neighboring streets. Please pay close attention to posted speed limits and reduced speed limits during the start and ending of our school day and Patriot High School’s day. There are many students and families driving in our two parking lots and around these neighborhoods. Please be extra careful and follow all signs and cones and directions. Please do not enter the parking lot through the exit lane. Car drop offs and pick up should enter through the T. Clay Wood Entrance and not through Patriot HS.

Student Inclement Weather and Emergency Dismissal Plan

In the event of inclement weather, power failure or any situation in which we are faced with an early closing of our school; we will activate our Automated Auto Dialer Calling system to inform our parents of the early closing. We will send out both a phone message and email message with the early closing information. Please make sure your phone number and contact information is updated. We will also place this information on our school website, Facebook and Twitter sites.

I encourage you to sign up for PWCS Weather alerts from PWC Schools. You can access this link from the PWC website or by this link:

https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/communications/p_w_c_s_weather_alerts_subscription

Kindergarten teachers will contact their students’ parents to confirm dismissal.

If schools close early, the SACC program will not open. Parents of students who attend SACC will be contacted by our SACC staff. Parent of SACC students should have an Emergency Back-up Plan.

When school does close early, we will send your children home via their regular dismissal method for that day, unless we hear differently from you.

Please contact the school office immediately in case of a change to their dismissal procedures

All Students in Prince William County Schools will be issued a school laptop or similar device. Students and their families are responsible for the safe and appropriate usage of the devices.

Families can opt to purchase low cost insurance to protect the device in case of accidentally damage. Here is the link for information on the optional digital device insurance. https://securranty.com/pwcs If purchased, the insurance covers unlimited repairs or replacements for everything from broken screens, lost chargers, and accidental damage, with a zero deductible for one year on a school-issued HP device. The insurance cost is $32.95, which may be significantly less than repair or replacement costs without insurance.

I do encourage all families to consider the optional low-cost insurance. After last year, I observed it was very beneficial for families to purchase the insurance PWCS was offering for the devices.

As we get ready to start using the devices again, please look for emails from Mr. Taylor about how to reset passwords, etc.

Also this is a good time to remind all families to always know what your students are doing when they are on the internet, using devices to complete their school work, using social media, texting with friends, or playing online games. We continually are reminding our students about appropriate and acceptable use of technology. I encourage all parents and guardians to regularly check what their students are doing on the internet and while using technology -(school devices, gaming systems, home devices, phones, etc). Just as you monitor where your children go in person, I encourage you to monitor where they go on the internet.

I would also encourage all families to consider adding parental controls on their personal devices that students use. If you have any questions about student devices, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Taylor, our Instructional Technologist at TaylorBi@pwcs.edu. Thank you.

Phones - Reminder: If students bring in phones to school they must remain in their backpack and turned off. Please let all your family members know not to call your elementary school student during the day. If you need to change dismissal, please let our front office know by calling 703.594.3990.

Also I recommend that all parents and guardians turn off the Air Drop feature on their Iphones. I have heard of students at secondary schools air dropping inappropriate photos into all phones that can receive airdrop and then other students accepting those photos. You can turn this off on your students' device.

PWCS is now a fully one-to-one School Division; laptops are provided by PWCS for every student and all instructional staff. As such, the use of personal devices by students and staff for any instructional or official PWCS business is strongly discouraged. The PWCS technology support will not support issues with Personal Technology Devices.

A Prince William County School of Excellence

“A Community of Leaders and Learners Achieving Excellence”

10600 Kettle Run Road; Nokesville, VA 20181

Andrew Buchheit, Principal - buchhear@pwcs.edu

Melissa Yuditsky, Assistant Principal yuditsml@pwcs..edu

“A Community of Leaders and Learners Achieving Excellence”

School hours: 9:15 am – 3:55 pm

(Office hours: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

SCHOOL SCHEDULE

Doors Open: 9:05 a.m.

Students tardy after: 9:15 a.m.

Dismissal: 3:55 p.m.

School Phone Number: 703.594.3990

School Fax Number: 703.594.2653

Attendance Email: cwes-timberwolf-attendance@pwcs.edu

Attendance Phone Line:– 703.594.3992

Motto: “I seek to make a POSITIVE DIFFERENCE AT SCHOOL”

Website: http://tclaywoodes.schools.pwcs.edu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TClayWoodES

Twitter @TClayWoodElem

Instagram: tclaywoodelementary

Email: buchhear@pwcs.edu
Website: http://tclaywoodes.pwcs.schoolfusion.us/
Location: 10600 Kettle Run Road, Nokesville, VA, USA
Phone: 703.594.3990
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TClayWoodES
Twitter: @TClayWooElem