Sterling Jaguar Journal

Sterling families,

We have loved our time with your children these first several school months of the year. They have worked hard alongside our committed staff to sharpen their skills. As we prepare for Winter Break, we ask that you keep these things in mind as ways to offer your children practice opportunities at home:

• Read every day for 30 minutes. We want our students to hear others reading to them, especially if they're younger, and practice reading text at their level. They can also listen to reading on their device using the apps in LCPS Go.

• Participate in the Winter Break Reading Raffle. (This came home on pink paper or will come home tomorrow.)
• Practice math digital content daily such as Dreambox or Reflex.
• Make recipes together. This gives students opportunities to follow directions and have exposure to measurements and fractions.
• Write letters to family or friends you may not get to see over Winter Break.
• Name letters and words found on street signs and buildings as you drive.

The important thing is to keep practicing. There are so many more ways other than what is listed here. Spend time talking, cuddling, and connecting.

Our last day of school is Wednesday, December 20. Students first day home is Thursday, December 21, and they will return Tuesday, January 2, 2024. The front office will be open on Thursday, December 21, only. Our superintendent has kindly given administrators and 11- and 12-month staff off for the holidays otherwise, but we will read and respond to all messages upon our return. Have a wonderful winter break!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Short

At home, you can start preparing for your child's return to school after winter break now. As long as your child is healthy, please encourage showing up to class when school is in session upon our return January 2, 2024. Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as to connect to their peers and teachers.

We thank:

● Our students and their families who do their best to show up daily even when it isn’t easy.

● Our teachers who go above and beyond to make school a welcoming and safe place for all students to learn.

● Our many, many healers and helpers - the support staff and community volunteers who provide the extra hands and attention our children need.

We appreciate each one of you. May these days off be restful and healing.

● If your family or your child needs support, please reach out to our main office at 571-434-4580 for help. You can also reach Mrs. Short on Class Dojo or via email at jennifer.meresshort@lcps.org.

● We look forward to seeing you again when school resumes on January 2, 2024.

Our fourth and fifth grader's Healthy Plate Club in partnership with INOVA is complete! Recently, the students:

• Learned that fiber helps our bodies digest food and keeps us full.
• Practiced reading nutrition labels to identify the amount of fiber, sodium, and added sugar in packaged snacks.
• Learned they should look for packaged snacks with less than 200mg of sodium per serving.

The class competed in a snack label scavenger hunt, finding all the right information then answering questions. Congrats to our winners, Olivia, Daniella, and Isabella!

We made cauliflower nuggets, and the students tried cauliflower three different ways: raw, seasoned with olive oil and Italian breadcrumbs, and baked with the seasoned breadcrumbs. Eight of 10 students gave cauliflower nuggets a thumbs up!

December has really flown by! Kindergarten has been learning about types of lines and rainbow order. After practicing with modeling clay and on paper, they drew five different types of lines and painted in the spaces using colors in their rainbow order. They are doing a great job taking care of Mr. Brush while painting! Fifth grade has started working on their drawings for the yearbook cover contest. Once the designs are completed, we hold a vote to determine the top five designs. First place will go on the front cover and the second through fifth place designs are shrunk to fit on the back cover. Stay posted for an announcement of our winner in late January!

-Mrs. Ajima

Even though it's a short month, we are keeping busy in the library. Second, fourth, and fifth graders have been completing Digital Citizenship lessons, learning how to be safe and aware users of technology. In second grade, this meant discussing when to take breaks from our screens. We practiced with some fun winter centers! Kindergarten practiced retelling a story using the ozobots. First grade kicked off a new unit on nonfiction, and third grade is exploring stories from around the world to go along with their Ancient Civilizations unit in Social Studies. Check out the pictures of our learning this month!

-Mrs. Burel

-Mrs. Jeffries

The music room has been very busy these past few weeks! Our third-grade musicians put on a wonderful performance of The Grumps of Ring-a-Ding Town for our school, families, friends and LCPS Superintendent, Dr. Aaron Spence. Fifth grade has been playing holiday music on their recorders! All of our students have been singing, dancing and playing instruments to celebrate many of the Winter Holidays.

-Mrs. Scarboro

-Ms. Walsh

This month has been filled with exercising the body and brain. First, we started learning about the skeletal system and the importance of our bones. Next, was the manipulative skill of rolling, which led up to our bowling unit (lots of strikes)! Of course, we had to throw in some pictures of our favorite Thanksgiving game called 'Stuff the Turkey.' Some amazing things happening in the gym!

- Mr. Horvath

- Mr. Hosti

Did you know that five traits of creativity are curiosity, imagination, persistence, flexibility and openness? December has been a month full of using our creativity skills in SEARCH! Kindergarten and first grade had to imagine how they could manipulate a single line (pipe cleaner) and turn it into something else. They also had to think of a house that is a home for something else in a new and different way - for example, “A dog is a house for a flea,” or “A shoe is a house for my foot.” Second graders enjoyed looking at the shape of numbers and thinking about how that number can be a shape of an object in real life - for example, the number “8” could be a snowman or a pair of eyeballs. Third grade has enjoyed working with our guest teacher, Mrs. Rodeffer, on various talent development lessons where creativity was a theme as well. It’s been awesome to see what interesting ideas they came up with.

-Mrs. Daniel

It has been a wonderful to see so many families attend our monthly family coffees in the first half of the school year. We invite you to join us on Friday, January 26, at 8 a.m. for coffee and snacks as we kick off 2024. We will send out more information regarding the topic for our family coffee after the New Year. If you have an idea for a topic you would like to have more information on, please feel free to contact me, christina.redlin@lcps.org . We hope you can attend for connection with other families, staff, and resources!

The Park View Athletic Department would like to thank all of the families who have filled out the form below and shared your son's/daughter's information regarding their interest in sports as we continue to help our younger athletes develop by giving families information on local opportunities. We are currently working with different organizations to make sure all students get as many positive and fun opportunities as possible. If you have not already done so, please fill out the link below. We are excited to work with all of our future Patriots!! Please fill out this form if interested -FILL OUT FORM . They will send you information about the sports you selected. We want to help our cluster students and families get more involved!!

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) performs regular inspections of school buildings and facilities in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). As required by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the EPA, this notification is to inform you that asbestos-containing material (ACM) is present and managed in several locations in Sterling Elementary School.

Prior to the 1980s, asbestos was used extensively in many building materials because of its insulating, sound-absorbing, and fire-retarding capabilities. While virtually any building constructed in the United States from the 1940s to the late 1970s contains some asbestos, intact and undisturbed asbestos-containing materials generally do not pose a health risk. It is important to note that when managing or mitigating ACM, schools are held to a higher standard for management than residences or privately owned buildings.

In our school, known areas of ACM are inspected semi-annually by licensed LCPS personnel and every three years by licensed third-party inspectors to ensure that the material does not pose an exposure hazard for building occupants. Any materials found to be in unacceptable condition or impacted by planned building work are removed by licensed professionals. Records of all inspections, response actions, and sampling data are compiled in the school’s Asbestos Management Plan document. This document also indicates the locations where asbestos-containing materials may be present.

In 2022-2023, the following inspections and response actions were performed:

● February 2023 Periodic Visual Surveillance, All Known ACM

● August 2023 Periodic Visual Surveillance, All Known ACM

Members of the community can review a copy of any school or facility’s Asbestos Management Plan, which is kept in the school or facility’s administrative office. In addition, copies of all Management Plans are maintained in the Loudoun County Public Schools Facilities Services Environmental Division offices, located at 741 Miller Drive, Leesburg, Virginia. For all inquiries regarding the asbestos management plan and asbestos-related issues in our facilities, please contact the LCPS-designated asbestos program manager, Cristina Windover, at Cristina.Windover@LCPS.org or 571-420-0513.

It is LCPS’ intention to comply with all federal and state regulations regarding asbestos and to take whatever steps necessary to ensure students and employees have a healthy and safe environment in which to learn and work.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Email: jennifer.meresshort@lcps.org
Website: https://www.lcps.org/sterlinges
Location: 200 West Church Road, Sterling, VA, USA
Phone: 571-434-4580
Twitter: @SterlingElem