Goooooood Morning #OneFamily!

Welcome back to another awesome week in Cougarland! Hope you had a great weekend and didn't spend it like my family....rushing! Sports are awesome for kids but they wear you out don't they :) Hope you get some rest when the kiddos come to us today :)

Here is a rundown of the latest information to keep you in the know!

• No School Thursday for ALL: No School for Rosh Hashanah. Shanah tovah to all of our Jewish #OneFamily members.

• PJs for Lily: We raised over $800 for Fairy Godmother Project in Lily's name on Friday. It is the most we have ever raised. I texted Lily's dad on Friday to let him know. He said the support means more than you have any idea. 10 years later and her name is still alive and well all through our community! Thank you greatly.

• Cougar Connections: We are coming to you Rappahannock Landing this Wednesday evening from 5:00 - 6:00 PM. We are bringing books, music, dinner, and FUN! We will be at the club house! Can't wait to just hang with you and enjoy some time in your neighborhood.

• Sportsmanship Club: See the flyer below if you are interested in an after school club for sportsmanship.

• Vision Screening for Kindergarten: We will be conducting a vision screening for all Kinders on Oct. 8th. We are just screening to see if any kiddos need glasses. We will get in touch with any parents that have a kiddo that may need to see an outside doctor for vision.
  

• Family University: We are super excited to welcome you to our 3rd Annual Family University on Friday, October 18th from 5:00 - 8:00 PM. We have changed it all up to make it awesome for families and to hopefully provide you all that you could want or need. You are not going to want to miss this night. Check out the night:

• 5:00 - 5:30 - Family Dinner (subs, pizza, and salad)
• 5:45 - Kick-Off
• 6:00 - 8:00 - Family Workshops on literacy, mathematics, behavior / discipline, enrichment, and technology safety.
• We will have family resource booths for free stuff, games, and many different family resources and professionals to help you in any way you need.
• Book Fair - The book fair will be open for business as well for the entire night.
• Please RSVP here or zap the flyer below.

• Fun Run: With the weather outlook, we are going to have to make a game time decision today with Boosterthon. They do not offer rain dates and instead move it inside to be a glow run. Unfortunately, due to the size of the gym / cafeteria, we will not be able to accommodate visitors for the run. We are hoping for a change in the weather, but it is not looking good. We will make a final call today. I am so sorry in advance if this has to happen. I will find a way to get video footage out there for you to see your kiddos run if we do move it inside.

• CYT: Check out this flyer below for CYT. Many of our kiddos are in this production! Hope you get to go see it!

• SCPS County Wide Multicultural Fair on November 16th: Families are invited to assist in hosting a table showcasing their culture and heritage. Students and families are also invited to perform dance, music, theater, and other performance art to demonstrate student talent and culture. If your family is interested in sharing music, theater, or dance from your culture, please click the link above. Please also share with me so we know to come to support you!

• Parking Issues: The commuter lot that we have used for overflow parking for 19 years (across the street from our school) has been sold. That gentleman allowed us to park there a few times last year. We rented it for open house this year. However, we are not willing to continue to pay him the amount of money he is asking us to pay. The County is trying to reach a deal with him to rent it from him for busses and for an overflow lot for us. However, that agreement has not been reached yet. Unfortunately, until that time comes, our events will be significantly disrupted. We will either have to move the events to another location or we will have to shuttle families back and forth between the VRE lot and our school in school buses. Our school has 153 spots to park in not including our bus ramp. We have 143 staff members which does not give any space for parking during the day. And if we have a major event like Trunk or Treat, we will have far more than 153 families that join us for that event. We will keep you up to date with any changes to events that this will have. As I said, the first one that we have to decide on is Trunk or Treat. We are going to most likely hold this at Stafford High School. We will reach out with that plan as soon as it is finalized with Mrs. Tryon and the SHS community. We are sorry in advance for this.

• Mark Your Calendars:

• Parent Teacher conferences will be mostly held on October 14th throughout the day. Much more information how to sign up and about this will come home soon.
• Family University: October 18th from 5:00 - 8:00. FREE DINNER and Parenting Resources!
• Trunk or Treat: October 25th from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Trick or Treating out of decorated trunks in our parking lot and a HUGE outdoor Halloween dance.

Thanks and stay dry this week!

V/r,

JR

1. Sign up at MyBooster.com today. Search for “Conway Elementary.”

2. Donate and Share. We are encouraging every family to share their donation page with 10 people.

3. Throughout the week, our class will earn fun rewards based on how much we raise on our classroom tracker. When our class earns a reward that adds some extra awesomeness to our day, I will be sure to let you know.

10/01/2024: Event Day. This is our epic celebration day - Conway Elementary Fun Run!

National Hispanic Heritage Month!

• Monday:
• 3:30 - 4:05: Karate Club (pick-up on the gym side of the building)
• Tuesday:
• Fun Run Day! Make sure to wear comfy clothes and running shoes.
• 3:30 - 5:00 PM - Girls on the Run
• Wednesday:
• 3:30 - 4:05: Karate Club
  
• Thursday:
• No School Today for Rosh Hashanah. Shanah tovah to all of our Jewish #OneFamily members.
• Friday:
• FRIYAY awards on announcements.

National Night Out - October 1

National Night Out is an annual community-building event held on the first Tuesday of October in Stafford County aimed at promoting police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Join the Stafford County community for this family fun night on Tuesday, October 1st from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Stafford Marketplace. Back this year is the Mascot Race! More than a dozen school mascots will be in attendance this year! Will Westley of North Stafford High School take home the trophy again? You'll have to be there to find out first!

High School Redistricting Community Meeting - This community will want to keep an eye on this process for HS redistricting.

Stafford Schools will host Division-Wide Redistricting Meetings to address the redistricting process due to the construction of High School 6, which will affect all high schools in the division. These meetings will allow parents, guardians, and other stakeholders to learn more about the proposed redistricting plans and to provide feedback to Planning Staff and the School Board. We encourage all families to attend these meetings to learn more and share your thoughts as we plan for the future:

• October 1, 7 PM – Stafford High School (Community Meeting #2)
• October 30, 6 PM – Mountain View High School (Community Meeting #3)
• November 12, 7PM – Bandy Administration Building (Public Hearing)

We have created a new mapping tool that allows families to input their address and overlay the different redistricting scenarios to see how their household might be impacted. Families should use the layers selection tool on the right of the map to review each scenario.

Final action on the redistricting plan will be taken by the School Board on December 10, 2024. The new high school boundaries will take effect in August 2026. Please feel free to share this information with students and families as needed, and do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

• Free or Reduced Lunch Application: If your family is in need of free or reduced prices for lunches, please visit this page for details on how to apply. Unfortunately, this is something that you have to redo every year. I believe you will have until the end of September to complete this form if they qualified last year. See more information below on the flyer.

• Simplified Attendance Reporting: In our ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency and convenience, all attendance will now be reported using ParentVUE. This centralized platform will provide parents with a user-friendly, one-stop location to submit attendance updates quickly and easily for the entire family. By consolidating this process into ParentVUE, we aim to simplify absence reporting for parents and ensure accurate attendance records for our schools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzRfZTHVro4&t=10s

• Want to know more about Conway, see the schedule for next year, or check out information about lunch? Look no further. Click HERE for those details.

Instructions from SCPS on how to use: Click HERE

Family University: Weren't able to make Family University? No worries. We have the workshops right here for you. Click on this folder to find quick videos on how to support your child's mathematics and literacy development. In addition, check out our session on internet safety. Please reach out to any of our coaches for additional help or information: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EjMz--e9wMlpgXc_8fNPpBbRDNggW_Uc

• Report card Information for Parents: Wondering about your child's progress on the last report card? Wondering what something means? Click on the link below for help with what the academic codes mean, what your kiddo learned and were assessed each quarter, and what standard based grading is: https://www.staffordschools.net/k5grading

• Reading Resources: Use this document below to find ways to support your kiddo's reading anytime of year. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m8rFwzDZdI_vTFo-8ujnzPgFwPFt10Yi7d00lQ2a8sI/edit

• Math Resources: Use this document below to help support your child's math learning anytime of year. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GsfYAmeePjmBQft77YCyXMcXO97hDlOzq9dGN85ajN0/edit?usp=sharing

• Here is some information to help keep your kiddo safe on their devices.

• https://www.commonsense.org/system/files/pdf/2020-08/grades-k-5-family-tips-media-balance-well-being-english.pdf

• https://www.commonsense.org/system/files/pdf/2020-08/grades-k-5-family-tips-media-balance-well-being-spanish.pdf

Parent Resources from Virginia Literacy Partnership (UVA)

Click here for FAQs for SCPS Nutrition.

Click here for all things related to SCPS nutrition.

Click here for the online portal to pay for lunches or to see the menu

Nominate a SCPS employee to say thanks for going above and beyond. CLICK HERE to nominate them.

• How to Translate Smore newsletters: If you would like to translate this newsletter into another language, please click on these links for directions on how to do that. Directions in English click here. Directions in Espanol click here. Directions in Pashto click here . Directions in Dari click here.

Follow JR on Youtube @ JR Raybold and on Instagram @Conway_onefamily.

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Email: rayboldws@staffordschools.net
Website: https://www.staffordschools.net/ces
Location: 105 Primmer House Road, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Phone: 5403611455
Facebook: facebook.com/Conwayelemsch
Twitter: @conwayelemsch