Sycolin Creek Chronicle

Dear Parents and Students,

As we continue in the third quarter of our school year, the students at Sycolin Creek will be engaging in various learning activities. As they are completing projects and assignments, and studying for upcoming assessments, we appreciate your support in helping them to remain focused on these very important educational tasks. By reviewing each school day’s events and speaking with your child about school-related assignments, you will ensure that these activities are placed in the proper perspective of importance in their lives. Further, the creation and maintenance of a consistent work routine allows for the development of productive study skills. Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions about assignments.

Lastly, as the winter continues and we are faced with the possibility of school closings, delays, and early dismissals, please be sure that your child is aware of where he or she should go after school. If the plan shared with the classroom teacher has changed, please complete a new “Emergency Early Dismissal ” entry in ParentVUE. If you have any questions/concerns, feel free to reach out to our front office staff for assistance.

Sincerely,

Derek Racino

Principal

If there will be a change in your child's dismissal, please contact the school office by either calling 571-252-2910 or submitting the change online by 1:00 p.m. You can also visit our Sycolin Creek website at https://www.lcps.org/sycolincreek to complete the Change in Daily Dismissal Form

for same-day changes. Thank you for your cooperation.

It is time to register your new LCPS student for the 2025/26 school year! The online pre-registration portal for kindergartners and students new to LCPS opened on Monday, Jan. 6. Current LCPS students do not need to complete this process. The LCPS student registration process involves two steps: online pre-registration and in-person registration appointments. The online pre-registration process includes determining your student’s home school, gathering the documents required for registration and uploading them to the pre-registration portal. Once pre-registration is complete, your student’s school will contact you to schedule a registration appointment to be held after Feb. 3, 2025. Paper registration forms are also available at your student’s home school, or you may download them from the LCPS website. If you have questions, please contact your student’s home school or LCPS Student Registration at RegistrationServices@lcps.org. See more information about Student Registration on the LCPS website.

In January, all students engaged in learning the song "One Bottle of Pop" and explored music related to Martin Luther King Jr. Kindergarten and First Grade students concentrated on distinguishing high and low pitches, while Second Grade students advanced their skills by reading and composing melodies that incorporated the pitches Sol, Mi, and La. Third Graders focused on ostinato patterns and solfa dojo techniques. Fourth Grade students reviewed treble clef pitches and participated in a traditional American folk dance, while Fifth Grade students progressed in playing the recorder. Auditions for the Fifth Grade All-County Elementary Chorus were conducted, and we appreciate all Fifth Grade students who participated. Congratulations to the following students who will represent Sycolin Creek in May: Chloe Cox, Bria Davidson, and Mikaela Gonzalez-Cadiz. Additional members joining the Sycolin Creek All County Team include Alice Campbell, Katerina Fox, Aadya Aimreddy, Aanvi Aimreddy, Madelyn Dasch, and Riley Bergevin. They will commence rehearsals in February. The Sycolin Creek Singers and Sycolin’s Got Beat! will begin practices in the first week of February.

In February, all students will have the opportunity to learn about the instruments of the orchestra, thanks to the support of the Music and Arts Music Store and the music teachers at Simpson and Brambleton Middle Schools. Kindergarten will focus on rhythm, while First Grade will read So Mi patterns. Second Grade will continue their exploration of the percussion family and will read melodies featuring Do and Re. Third Grade will concentrate on rhythm and treble clef pitch reading, while Fourth Graders will begin playing their recorders. Fifth Graders will participate in stations designed to enhance their recorder skills. We are pleased to welcome Ms. Emma Shockey from Shenandoah University as our student teacher, who will be with us for approximately seven weeks.

Our Rock Star Music Classes for January are:

Kindergarten – Mrs. Winn; 1st Grade – Mrs. Deihl; 2nd Grade – Mrs. Reynolds; 3rd Grade – Mrs. Henretty; 4th Grade – Mrs. Jacques; 5th Grade – Mrs. Trainor/Mrs. Cox

Congratulations to these classes for showing Rock Star behavior in the month of January!

Congratulations to the PE Star Salamanders for the month of January 2025

5th grade -Joey Theruviparampil & Sarah Villatoro

4th grade - Ben Dehler & Danika Angumanikandan

3rd grade - Jackson West -& Taylor Comeau

2nd grade - Aayam Kafle & Emilia Younes

1st grade - Drew Sullivan & Maggie Fulton

Kindergarten - Christian Good & Rosie Statzer

Congratulations to the PE Star Classes for the month of January 2025. They are: Ms. Hutchings' Kindergarten Class and Mrs. Snead's Third Grade Class.

Attention fifth grade students: The Yearbook Cover Contest is approaching. Detailed information will be provided during class, and the deadline for submissions is February 14. Please remember to order a yearbook to view the winning artwork and relive the wonderful memories from this year at Sycolin Creek Elementary.

Art Stars for January

Kindergarten - Ms. Hutchings’ class

First grade - Mrs. Diehl’s class

Second grade - Ms. Kulak’s class

Third grade - Mrs. Snead’s class

Fourth grade - Mrs. Hermens’ class

Fifth grade - Ms. Bowman's class

Sincerely,

Dr. Bennett

During the month of February, Kindergarten students will listen to the story "10 Black Dots" and then be challenged to use their creativity to make a picture using ten black dots. First grade students will learn the rules of Sudoku and complete several winter themed puzzles. Second grade students will continue learning about the types of relationships in verbal analogies. Students will also use their visual-spatial reasoning using tangrams to solve puzzles. Third grade students will continue with portfolio lessons as part of the gifted evaluation process.

Congratulations to all of the 5th grade students who participated in the Spelling Bee:

• Aadya Aimreddy
• Olive Carscadden
• Bria Davidson
• Aaradhya Ghole
• Noah Hanley
• Leone Heironimus
• Ethan Janumala
• Raya Kewan
• Ayra Khan
• Joel Mullasserril
• Charlie Newton-Roberts
• Maddie Retzlaff
• Arth Shome
• Chaitra Tiparthy
• Emma Turner
• Ishitha Velicheti

Congratulations to Aaradhya Ghole in Ms. Bowman's class for winning the 2024-2025 Sycolin Creek Elementary School Spelling Bee. Aaradhya out-spelled 15 other contestants to win the opportunity to represent Sycolin Creek at the LCPS Regional Run Off Competition on Wednesday, February 26th. In order to win the competition, Aaradhya had to correctly spell two words consecutively. His winning word was “miscreant”. Ishitha Velicheti was the runner-up and Chaitra Tiparthy earned third place. Congratulations to Aaradhya, Ishitha, Chaitra and all of the students who won the right to compete in the Sycolin Creek Elementary Spelling Bee.

Thank you to all of the students who participated in our Winter Reading Challenge. Thank you also to the families who encouraged students to read over the break. We were thrilled to see so many students complete every activity on their BINGO card. Way to go readers!

Kindergarten:

Harrison K

Logan W

Azlan K

Evelyn J

June H

Ashkon K

Virginia S

Beau D

Lia C

Declan M

Emma P

1st:

Emily F

Mihira A

Samaira K

Maggie F

Maddox P

Emily S

Aanya N

Mark C

Amelia K

Greyson S

2nd:

James H

Adriana B

Aadhya M

Alaia P

Kayleigh B

Sawyer D

Avery S

Gwendolyn S

Briar G

Ryan W

Nyra N

Claire H

Emilia Y

Reagan S

3rd:

Teddy S

Faye K

Jane K

Madison H

Reyan R

Aarush M

Kathryn N

Zoe E

Luke H

Annabel T

Skyler P

Olivia H

Olivia M

Sophie R

4th:

Ellie F

5th:

Parker G

Maddie T

Juliet T

Natalie T

If your child will be absent/tardy due to illness/appointment or other circumstances, please call our absentee call in line at 571-252-2911 or visit our Sycolin Creek website at https://www.lcps.org/sycolincreek and complete the online absence form. Families are now able to submit absences via ParentVUE. Should you need to speak to someone in the school office, please call 571-252-2910.

Email: derek.racino@lcps.org
Website: lcps.org/sycolincreek
Location: 21101 Evergreen Mills Road, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: (571) 252-2910
Twitter: @Sycolin_Creek