Timberwolf Times -October 2, 2023

Welcome Back to School - 2023-2024

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

Dear Timberwolf Families,

It is Space Week at T. Clay Wood this week! I have been fascinated with space exploration and everything about space since I was a child. I have been trying to bring the wonder and possibilities of space to our students for the last few years starting with the launch of the James Webb Telescope. Mr. Dove quickly joined me in this endeavor and began incorporating space related topics into his lessons and organized and planned for our first Space Week last year. It was a success and we are doing it again this week. We hope they inspire our students.

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”

I am SO EXCITED for Space Week 2023 from October 2nd-6th! We have a great week planned! Below is all the information you need leading up to the week, including spirit days, (optional) space week video or poster creation, and request for supplies for space week activities.

1. Space Week Letter: Space Week Letter 2023.pdf
2. Mr. Dove Telling about Space Week (information from letter, but on YouTube with fun music 🙂): https://youtu.be/LRNTYpPP9u4

I can't wait until Oct 2nd - 6th when we will be showing our excitement and love of space!

Monday, October 2nd: SPACE MOVIE/BOOK DAY - dress or wear clothes inspired by your favorite fiction or non-fiction space movie or book! (Please don’t wear masks, bring weapons, or fancy costumes…please wear clothes inspired by the movies.)

Tuesday, October 3rd: Workout Wear - Wear your favorite workout clothes to school! (Astronauts have to work out 2.5 hours a day while in space to keep their bones and muscles strong due to weakening in zero gravity.)

Wednesday, October 4th: Planet Day - Wear clothes/colors inspired by your favorite planet! *BONUS: Wear a planet name tag or fact on your clothes!

• Mercury – Grey
• Venus – Brown and grey
• Earth – Blue, brown, green, and white
• Mars – Red, brown, and tan
• Jupiter – Brown, orange and tan, with white cloud stripes
• Saturn – Golden, brown, and blue-grey
• Uranus – Blue-green
• Neptune – Blue

Thursday, October 5th: SPACE EXPLORATION DAY – Wear clothes with a NASA logo, spaceship, or anything related to space exploration. You could also wear clothes with the Sun, Moon, or stars. Be creative!

Friday, October 6th: I LOVE SPACE Day! - Wear your favorite clothes that show how amazing space travel, research, and exploration is! You could wear NASA shirts, space ship shirts, etc. This is your day to be creative and think “out of this world”!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Adam Dove

The Impact Aid survey will be available electronically in ParentVUE on September 30, 2023. The U.S. Department of Education provides funding to our school division based on Impact Aid survey data, which is used for general purposes benefitting all schools.

What is Impact Aid?
Impact Aid is a federal education program that reimburses school districts for lost revenue and additional costs due to the presence of nontaxable federal property (such as military installations, Indian lands, national parks, national laboratories, and Veterans Affairs hospitals) in a community.

What are the funds used for?
Impact Aid, like revenue generated by taxes, can be used for any general fund purpose, such as instructional materials, teacher salaries, transportation, technology, social-emotional supports or facilities. All decisions on how Impact Aid funds are spent are made by school district leaders and locally elected school boards. This flexibility and local control ensure funds are targeted to where the greatest needs exist.

Additionally, Impact Aid data allows us to apply for competitive funding from other sources such as Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) K12 Partnership grants to provide tailored support services to children of active-duty uniformed services personnel. These grants support specific schools in which 10% or more of the student population is military-connected according to Impact Aid data.

When is the Impact Aid Survey available?
The Impact Aid Survey will become available on September 30, 2023, in ParentVUE. Be on the lookout for additional information regarding the opening of the survey.

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

Our PTO has arranged an Author Assembly on Friday, October 20, 2023 for all students. The Author is Ada Ari. If you would like to learn more information about her - please see her website - www.ada-ari.com If you have questions about the assembly please reach out to our PTO at tclaywoodpto@gmail.com

On October 27, 2023 - we will be visiting the Patriot Marching Band in the afternoon. Permission slips will go home. If you choose to not have your student participate, please let your child's teacher know.

On November 2, Mr. Taylor and our school counselors will join me in reminding our 3rd-5th grade students about Internet Safety. We will also have an evening event as well for parents. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Taylor at taylorbi@pwcs.edu or one of our school counselors at 703.594.3990.

On November 2, 2023, DJ Wood will visit our school during lunch to play some tunes for our students in celebration of a successful completion of the 1st quarter of school. If you prefer your student to eat in the office due to volume, etch this day, please let your child's teacher know.

On November 9, we will have a school wide assembly honoring our Veterans and Active duty service members.

If you do not want your student to participate in any of these Whole School assemblies please let your child's teacher know.

SPACE WEEK - Oct 2 - Oct. 6, 2023

• Space Week - SPACE MOVIE/BOOK DAY - dress or wear clothes inspired by your favorite fiction or non-fiction space movie or book! (Please don’t wear masks, bring weapons, or fancy costumes…please wear clothes inspired by the movies.)

Tuesday, October 3, 2023 Day 4

5th grade Math VGA

• Space Week - Workout Wear - Wear your favorite workout clothes to school! (Astronauts have to work out 2.5 hours a day while in space to keep their bones and muscles strong due to weakening in zero gravity.)

Wednesday, October 4, 2023- Day 5

Kg Field Trip

• Space Week - Planet Day - Wear clothes/colors inspired by your favorite planet! *BONUS: Wear a planet name tag or fact on your clothes!
• Mercury – Grey
• Venus – Brown and grey
• Earth – Blue, brown, green, and white
• Mars – Red, brown, and tan
• Jupiter – Brown, orange and tan, with white cloud stripes
• Saturn – Golden, brown, and blue-grey
• Uranus – Blue-green
• Neptune – Blue

Thursday, October 5, 2023 - Day 6

• Space Week - SPACE EXPLORATION DAY – Wear clothes with a NASA logo, spaceship, or anything related to space exploration. You could also wear clothes with the Sun, Moon, or stars. Be creative

6:30 pm - PTO Meeting - Art Room

Friday, October 6, 2023 -Day -1

• Space Week - I LOVE SPACE Day! - Wear your favorite clothes that show how amazing space travel, research, and exploration is! You could wear NASA shirts, space ship shirts, etc. This is your day to be creative and think “out of this world”!

Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind

It is The Habit of Personal Vision

One of the best ways to incorporate Habit 2 into your life is to develop a Personal Mission Statement. It focuses on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success. It reaffirms who you are, puts your goals in focus, and moves your ideas into the real world. Your mission statement makes you the leader of your own life.

• You begin with the end in mind when you:

  • Set short term and long term goals.
  • Plan the steps you need to take to reach your goals.

  
  

  Kid Language

  Have a Plan: I plan ahead and set goals. I do things that have meaning and make a difference. I am an important part of my classroom and contribute to my school’s mission and vision. I look for ways to be a good citizen.

  Ways to practice Begin With the End in Mind:

  • Lay out your clothes for tomorrow before you go to bed.
  • Get out a pencil and a piece of paper and write down three goals you want to do. Put the paper in a safe place where you can see it.
  • We all have something we need to get better at, like doing our homework, brushing our teeth at night, or obeying our parents. Pick one thing you need to do better. Start doing it.

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)

*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!

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

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