Timberwolf Times -Sept. 18, 2023

Welcome Back to School - 2023-2024

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

Dear Timberwolf Families,

This week is one of our favorite weeks for September. Start with Hello Week.

We are also focusing on Attendance with our Attendance Spirt Week. Attendance has become a priority focus for Virginia and many other states.

Click this link for Dr. McDade's September 8, 2023 Letter to the Community.

Click on this link to read the September 14, 2023 Scoop -

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

“At T. Clay Wood, Everyone Belongs”

In case of inclement weather when school is closed, PWCS will provide live virtual (Synchronized) instruction to all students through ZOOM. PWCS Expectation is that all students participate. Attendance will be taken. Students must keep their cameras on to be counted as present. Instruction will take place between 9am - 2pm with 1 hour for lunch and recess time.

Prior to late fall/early winter, please make sure you are able to access the internet. Any family needing assistance with home internet should contact their school during the first month of school to receive a school-issued take-home “hotspot.” If you are not able to access the internet, please reach out to Mr. Taylor at taylorbi@pwcs.edu or 703.594.3990.

PWCS has a late bus link for buses that will be late 15 minutes or more - https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/transportation/bus_delays

You can also sign up for the Here Comes the Bus App at - https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/transportation/here_comes_the_bus

For more information about buses - please the Transportation Website -

https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/transportation/index

This week we are focusing on Attendance Awareness with a fun Spirit Week:

Monday, Sept. 18 – Shades and Neon day - our future is so bright because we attend school each day and on time

Tuesday, Sept. 19 – Hat Day - Head for Success by arriving to school on time and staying for the entire day

Wednesday, Sept. 20 – Wacky Tacky Day – because Tacky is ok when you are short on time.

Thursday, Sept. 21 – Pajama Day - because sometimes you have to rush to get to school on time.

Friday, Sept. 22 - Super Hero Day and Wear a Cape Day – I am Capable of attending school each day like a Super HERO (Here Everyday Right ON time)

Did you know attendance is the number one predictor of dropout and graduation rates? That’s why this year we are increasing communication to our parents and students around the importance of attendance- a critical indicator of success. Attending school every day helps our students build a solid foundation for their future in school and in life.

We understand there are unavoidable illnesses or other times when your child should remain at home. We also know that absences add up quickly, and that “showing up” is critical to your child’s success in school and in life.

We are committed to achieving our goals and supporting our Prince William County Public School families. Our students stand to benefit the most from this!

Together, let’s create a culture of showing up. Thank you for your continued support.

It is the responsibility of parents and guardians to see that their child attends school regularly and on time every day. Research tells us that the best learning takes place during the interaction of the teacher and child during class discussions. Children who are not in school each day miss important educational opportunities and learning experiences. Simply making up the missed work does not begin to take the place of actual class attendance. Students who enter class tardy are disruptive to classroom instruction and can have a challenging time getting into the classroom routine. The same holds true for students who leave early. We urge you to schedule medical and other appointments so that they do not conflict with class time.

It is important to note that Prince William County policy states that: “students in kindergarten through grade eight, who miss ten or more days of school for the year, excused or unexcused, and who have completed little or no make-up work may be considered for retention.” In addition, we are required to notify our Attendance Officer in cases of excessive absences.

Preapproved absences, such as vacations are discouraged and are only granted in extraordinary circumstances. The principal is not allowed to approve absences for family trips unless accompanied by extraordinary circumstances. The school principal can approve no more than 5 days of these type of absences. Additional absences beyond 5 days will need approval by student services. Please send a note or letter in advance to the teacher and the principal informing the school of your plans. Teachers are not required to provide assignments in advance. We would encourage students to read, keep a written journal and practice math facts while out of school. Students can complete make up assignments when they return.

If your child is absent, please call the school Attendance Line at 703.594.3992 or email cwes-timberwolf-attendance@pwcs.edu. This is for your child’s safety. If you do not contact the school, it will be necessary for the school office to contact you. Students with excused absences are allowed two days for every day of absence to make up work. Students are responsible for making up work when they are absent. Students are marked unexcused if parents do not call the school to inform us that their child is out.

For students who have missed a number of days of school, have been tardy a number of times, or have a number of early dismissals we will be sending letters to parents informing them of the number of missed days or days tardy from school. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Only students who qualify for free and reduced meals will receive free meals. This year, students whose families qualify for reduced-price meals will also receive free meals, based on a Virginia General Assembly expansion of the program. Applications will be available in August.

Free and Reduced Price Meal Applications were mailed by the School Division to families with children registered in Prince William County Public Schools. If you did not receive an application, please contact School Food and Nutrition Services at 703.791.7314 or your school. You may also complete the application electronically. Visit the School Division Web site at https://pwcsnutrition.com/index.php?sid=0408101731444083to access the electronic application.

Following are the USDA-approved school meal prices for the 2023-24 school year:

Free and reduced breakfast and lunch are free to those who qualify for Free and Reduced

T. Clay Wood is taking part in Start with Hello Week during the week of Sept. 18-22.

Start with Hello Week was created by the nonprofit organization, Sandy Hook Promise and teaches students how to reach out and include others in order to create a culture of inclusion and connectedness. Activities focus on inclusion, friendship, empathy, and interpersonal communication skills. The three parts of Start with Hello include:

1. See Someone Alone

2. Reach Out

3. Start with Hello

This week will include fun greetings, tips on ways to make friends and include others, classroom community building, and lessons on empathy, inclusion, and being an upstander to help others. We will have a day where everyone wears nametags, and we focus on using people’s names. We are excited to start the year off with HELLO and celebrate the awesomeness each person brings to our T. Clay Wood community!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! T. Clay Wood Elementary is collecting play-doh, small toys, games, and Legos for Inova Children's Hospital. Children each receive a brand-new toy or game to play with while receiving treatment. Collection boxes will be in the front hallway from Sept. 18-29. September 29 is Go Gold Day! Wear gold or yellow in honor of all the survivors, fighters, & angels in our community! Please contact Mrs. Scarce if you have any questions.

Start with Hello Week

Attendance Awareness Spirit Week: Shades and Neon day - our future is so bright because we attend school each day and on time

Watson/Van Gelder Field Trip

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 Day 1

Attendance Awareness Spirt Day: Hat Day - Head for Success by arriving to school on time and staying for the entire day

Warren/Smith Field Trip

Chorus; 8:15 am

Wednesday, September 20, 2023- Day 2

Attendance Awareness Spirit Day: Wacky Tacky Day – because Tacky is ok when you are short on time.

Thursday, September 21, 2023 - Day 3

Attendance Awareness Spirit Day: Pajama Day - because sometimes you have to rush to get to school on time.

Friday, September 22, 2023 -Day -4

Attendance Awareness Spirit Day: Super Hero Day and Wear a Cape Day – I am Capable of attending school each day like a Super Hero!

West/Schumann Field Trip

Back to School Nights at 6pm on the following dates:

Tuesday, September 26, 2023 - 4th and 5th

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 - 3rd and 2nd (Except Mrs. Vlach's and Mrs. Strosser's class)

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - Kg and 1st and Mrs. Vlach's and Mrs. Strosser's 2nd grade class.

When you arrive, please go straight to your child's classroom.

This night is just for parents. However, both Kindergarten and Second Grade have invited students to participate in their Back to School Night.

Just a reminder – it is at 6pm for each Back to School Night – these are on the Community Calendar in outlook

Dear Military Families, I wanted to share this opportunity with you so you can share with your students. The Mason Community Arts Academy and the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University is hosting a four-week virtual series designed for military kids and teenagers where they will learn improv skills in a virtual, collaborative environment. The workshop series is FREE and open to military kids ages 9-12.

More information is available here: https://hylton.calendar.gmu.edu/improv-for-military-kids

Space Week is returning to T. Clay Wood ES! We will be celebrating as a school from October 2-6. Last year was our first year celebrating! We had theme days, a poster contest, lessons in the class, a special space lesson in drama class, and guests share their love/knowledge of space with the students! This year the goal is to GET BIGGER and EVEN BETTER! To do so, we are looking for experts in the Space Field to share their love and knowledge with the students! This big goal is to have many people share/educate students about space, professions in space, and how space research affects everyday life and our future. If you work in the industry or have a connection, please contact Mr. Dove (doveax@pwcs.edu

At T. Clay Wood Elementary School, we love to have visitors and volunteers every day. To help ensure the safety of our students, visitors to Prince William County Schools are expected to report promptly to the school’s main office when entering school buildings. 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.

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.

Changing Dismissal Routine – Parents, if you are changing your child’s dismissal, you must send an email/note to the office or notify the office by 3:30 pm. The teacher and bus driver cannot accept a change if a student just tells him or her about the change without a note. In these cases, students are sent home the original way. In addition, please try to avoid changing dismissal procedures in the middle of the day and please send all dismissal changes to our office by calling our office at 703.594.3990 or sending a note in the morning. Emails sent to the teacher in the middle of the day may be missed if there is a substitute that day or if the teacher is not able to check his or her email.

3:30 pm - If you must pick your student up early, please arrive before 3:30 pm. We will not be able to call students to the office after 3:30 pm until all car riders are picked up. Students called for dismissal after 3:30 pm will be sent to the car rider area and will be brought up after all car riders are dismissed with the supervising teachers. This way we can reduce interruptions to the classrooms, provide continual supervision for all our students and give our focus in the office to dismissing students. Parents coming in after 3:30 pm will be asked to wait in the vestibule outside of the office and once their students are brought up to come in and sign their students out.

2023-2024 – Calendar link: https://www.pwcs.edu/calendars/school_calendar/index

You can also subscribe to the PWCS Calendar. To learn how, you can go to this PWCS Site and then follow the directions - How to Subscribe to the PWCS School Calendar

Code of Behavior link: https://www.pwcs.edu/about_us/code_of_behavior/index

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

All Students in Prince William County Schools will be issued a school laptop or similar device. This year students in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade will be given iPads. Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade will have Windows Laptops (like they had last year). iPads are covered by PWCS in partnership with Apple for all damage to the device. Families are responsible for any damage to Windows Laptops, however.

Families of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders 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.

Cell Phones and Watches with text/calling capabilities

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.

Over the last couple of years, 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.

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.

Our 2023-2024 PTO BOARD

President - Kate Case

VP - Kelsey Fisher

Treasurer - Beth Feliciano-Rivera

Asst Treasurer - Cooper Waterman

Secretary - Sandra Oviedo

Director - Tabitha Rich

Teacher Director - Tiana Marshall

Next PTO Meeting, October 5,,2023 - 6:30pm.

Art ROOM

Your TCWES PTO has a lot of fun events and projects planned for the year. Come see what this year holds in store for the PTO! Email tclaywoodpto@gmail.com for more information!

PTO Membership is still open!

Membership (tclaywoodpto.com)

Our spirit wear store is open until September 8. There are lots of fun items including timberwolf socks and Crocs charms!
Spirit Store (tclaywoodpto.com)

Mark your calendars for these PTO events:

Thursday 8/31 6:30 pm - In person PTO Meeting
Wednesday 9/13 5:00-9:00 pm - Bristow Chipotle Spirit Night

Thursday 9/14 6:15 - Patriot High School Football Spirit Night

*Every Tuesday - Every Tuesday during the school year Gainesville Papa Johns will give you 40% off your order and donate 10% back to the PTO!

Please take a moment to view our 2023-2024 T. Clay Wood Continuous Improvement Plan by clicking this link: T. Clay Wood 2023-2024 Continuous Improvement Plan

We have three Academic Goals this year - Increase Reading, Math, and Science Achievement Rates for all students at T. Clay Wood to at least 85% or higher.

We also are focused at increasing student satisfaction rates to 90% or higher and increasing number of active business partnerships at T. Clay Wood.

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: 9:20 am – 4:00 pm

(Office hours: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

SCHOOL SCHEDULE

Doors Open: 9:10 a.m.

Students tardy after: 9:20 a.m.

Dismissal: 4:00 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.schools.pwcs.edu
Location: 10600 Kettle Run Road, Nokesville, VA, USA
Phone: 703.594.3990
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TClayWoodES
Twitter: @TClayWoodElem