THE CURRENT

Dear Parents,

Paper copies of Report Cards will no longer be distributed. Parents can access their child's Report Cards via ParentVUE on Friday, November 8, 2024. Please call the office if assistance is needed. Before you access them, I wanted to share a letter that was written on behalf of your child(ren).

Dear Mom and Dad,

Soon I will bring home a "snapshot" of myself. This picture is a time exposure that has been developing for the past few months. Considering my many likes and dislikes, my mood changes from day to day, I think it's a pretty good likeness of me.

When you see my snapshot, remember this is a report of someone near and dear to you. So, please don't get too uptight if you see a blemish. I hope you will accept me as I am.

Please do not picture me as being better than all the other children. Remember that all children do not learn to talk or walk at the same time, nor do they learn math and reading at the same rate. I ask you not to compare me with my brother, my sister, or the kid next door. You can set realistic goals for me, but please be careful not to push me to succeed at something that is beyond my ability.

I want you to understand that my report card is a picture of my school progress. When you meet with my teacher, you will lean many things about my life at school, even somethings that might surprise you.

My teacher knows me as I am at school. You know how I am at home. The "real" me is somewhere in between. When these two pictures become blended with acceptance and understanding, I hope my "snapshot" will be a shining portrait.

Love,

Your Child

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.

"My child never wants to miss schoool. I had to force him to stay home with a fever."

- Waxpool parent

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