THE CURRENT

Dear Parents,

Homework is an important part of school. Research says, students who spend more time on homework, achieve higher. When I observe parents bringing their child back to school to retrieve forgotten homework materials, it is refreshing to see that education is a priority. For that, you are to be commended. With that said, if you find yourself constantly coming back to school for materials that were left behind by your student, it may be time for a different plan of action.

As tough as it is, sometimes our children need to learn and deal with the natural consequences of an irresponsible action... such as forgetting their water bottle or homework. Responsibility is a life-long journey. As with anything, the more practice or experience the children have with responsibility, the better they will become. Start now, when the consequences are minimal.

With Piranha Pride,

Michael Pellegrino

How Absences Impact Your Student:

• Student absences lead to missed instructional time and it adds up (Attendance Matters Graphic).
• This missed instruction impacts student performance and can cause substantial stress for your student as they work to make up missed assignments.

How Absences Impact the School Community:

• We believe every student at Waxpool is a contributing member of our community. Your student’s presence makes a difference in their classroom(s) and the daily events of the school.
• Student attendance is an important metric used by the Virginia Department of Education for our yearly accreditation rating, specifically chronic absenteeism. A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 18 school days in a year, regardless of whether it is an excused or unexcused absence.

How We Can Partner Together with You:

• Here is where we can use your help as parents and guardians:
• Communicate your student’s excused absences via ParentVUE (Instructions).
• Proactively connect with your student’s counselor with concerns/barriers to your student’s regular attendance.
• Jessica Carper (Kindergarten, 2nd, 4th)
• Michelle Fernandez (1st, 3rd, 5th)
• Review your student’s attendance in ParentVUE and see where in this upcoming school year there could be improvement. Barring extenuating circumstances, we encourage families to monitor their student’s attendance and avoid more than three absences per quarter.
• Please avoid scheduled school days for planning trips.

What You Can Expect From Us:

• Increased communication about your student’s absences- this is for both excused and unexcused absences. This communication will come in many different forms;
• Phone calls from support staff and attendance team members.
• Mailings with updates regarding your student’s absences.
• Meetings with school staff to discuss attendance and other student needs.

Resources:

ParentVUE Link

Waxpool Website

Elementary school students are NOT permitted to use personal technology during the school day.

Safety and Security Personnel recently conducted an Undercover Security Assessment at Waxpool. The result of the USA for Waxpool was the highest grade - EXCELLENT.

EXCELLENT = Did not gain access to Waxpool and Visitor Management Protocols were followed.

We want your child to be successful in school and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, children also need skills to take on learning challenges, make good decisions, manage strong emotions, and get along with others.

Second Step Elementary is a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve children's social-emotional skills. Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help children both in and out of school. Four units will cover the following:

Growth Mindset and Goal-Setting: Children learn how to pay attention and manage distractions, develop a growth mindset, and apply goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives.

Emotion Management: Children learn how to identify and label emotions and use emotion-management strategies to calm strong feelings.

Empathy and Kindness: Children learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly, have empathy for others and take others' perspectives, and recognize kind acts and empathy as important elements of building and maintaining relationships.

Problem Solving: Children learn how to identify and state a problem, recognize if a problem is an accident, and use the STEP problem-solving process:

S: Say the problem

T: Think of solutions

E: Explore the outcomes

P: Pick a solution

Activation Key: FAM8E09AA135