February 7, 2025

This Week's Recap:

• Global Play and World Read Aloud Day was on Wednesday! Students engaged in play from board games to outdoor play and read stories aloud with buddy partners all throughout the day. The smiles were contagious as students practices their social and emotional skills in turn-taking, collaboration, and communication. As play-researcher has said, "Play is the primary way children were designed to learn".
• More Golden Bobcat Buck Earners! We have 4 more bobcats who demonstrated PAWSitive behavior and were caught doing the right thing!

Looking Ahead:

• Next week is Kindness Week! We will have a week filled with spirit that's connected to finding meaningful ways to spread kindness in our community. Below are two ways your family can spread kindness to our community. Thanks for considering one, or both!
• Say Yay to Pajama Day on Tuesday, February 11 -- This is a school-wide way we'll be spreading kindness this week to help children with medical needs -- Click to make a donation now! Every dollar donated supports children in need of medical treatment and their families.
• Families can donate online, or students can bring a few dollars into school and we will make one online school donation with any cash/coins collected.
• Puppy Love! To Love a Canine Donation Drive February 10-21 - Our Student Council is facilitating a school-wide donation drive to support the rescue pups with To Love a Canine (TLC). TLC is a local dog rescue organization who brings puppies to Fern Hill to support our PBIS rewards.
• There will be donation bins throughout the halls to add your family's donation.

There's more snow in the forecast which means we could see a Flexible Instruction Day in our near future.

• Be sure to get caught up to speed on the schedule for a FID below. A FID will include some live learning sessions with your child's teacher and some asynchronous learning activities found on Seesaw and Schoology.

WCASD has one more snow day to use before we consider implementing a "Flexible Instruction Day" which would have students learn from home virtually to make the day "count" without needing to extend the school year in June.

We are prepared in the event of needing to use a FID, and your learner has completed a test-run with their class to learn how to access Microsoft Teams and other resources with independence.

The FID plan is similar to previous years in that students will have a schedule for the day which includes two live instructional meetings with their class and some assigned work. In grades 3-5, students will also have a live session with their special areas teacher.

Here are the Parent Resources to support your learner at home on a FID day:

• K-2 Family Resources

• 3-5 Family Resources

We want to remind families of the district policy for smart watches and personal devices to ensure that students are able to attend to learning without distractions from wearable technology. Students who wear a smart watch to school will be reminded by their teacher to remove it, turn it off, and place it in their backpack. The same is true for those with cell phones. Thank you for your support in keeping personal and/or wearable technology at home or turned off and kept in a child's backpack.

School Board Policy 237 describes personal technology devices as:

1. Cellular telephones and smartphones.
   
2. Handheld, tablet, and laptop computers.
   
3. Digital music players, including without limitation iPods and MP3 players.
   
4. Still and video cameras.
   
5. Wearable technologies including without limitation smart watches, smart glasses, or earbuds.

The Board prohibits use of personal technology by students during the school day in district buildings; on district property; on district buses and vehicles, and during the time students are under the supervision of the district (collectively "on-campus").

We're excited to invite women from various professions to join us for our Women's History Month event at Fern Hill on Tuesday, March 18th!

We are looking for inspiring women to share their career journeys and experiences with our students. This is a wonderful opportunity to empower the next generation and help our students see the wide range of possibilities open to them. Whether you're in science, art, business, or any other field, your story can make a lasting impact.

If you're interested in contributing to this special celebration of women's achievements, we'd love to have you present - click here to sign up!

All students will receive a 5th grade shirt and a Fugett PE shirt. Please complete this form by Thursday, February 13 and let us know your child's size for both shirts. One shirt is for a class picture and one for PE at Fugett next year. Fugett students are required to wear this specific shirt for PE class. Students will receive the 5th grade class shirt in late February and the PE shirt at the 5th grade promotion ceremony in June.

5th Grade Valentine’s Social: Attention 5th grade families! The annual Valentine’s Social is Friday, February 14 from 10:15AM until 11:45AM. To make this event run smoothly and be a fun as possible for the kids, we need your help! Click here to view ways to help and sign up to support the event.

Check one thing off your end of school-year to-do list and purchase your 2024-2025 Fern Hill yearbook now. It’s never too early, but soon it may be too late! Click HERE to order. If your student/family would like to purchase a yearbook and are experiencing financial difficulties please reach out to Lisa Baker, Home and School Visitor at lbaker@wcasd.net.

We love having our families volunteer throughout the building. In order to volunteer, adults are required to have their clearances on file with us. Clearances can take 4-6 weeks to acquire, so please be sure to get the process started if you're looking to volunteer this Fall.

If you are planning a family trip, please complete the Trip Approval Form to notify the Main Office and gain approval for your trip. The Vacation Request Form will also always be available on our Fern Hill Website under the "For Parents" section.

Jennifer Southmayd

Principal

Email: jsouthmayd@wcasd.net
Website: https://www.wcasd.net/fhe
Location: 915 Lincoln Avenue, West Chester, PA, USA
Phone: 484 266 1600
Twitter: @FernHillES