Sycolin Creek Chronicle

Dear Parents and Students,

On behalf of the faculty and staff at Sycolin Creek, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warmest wishes for a very happy and healthy holiday season. I trust that you will be able to enjoy some time to rest and relax with friends and family.

It’s hard to believe that when school resumes on January 6th we will be a few short weeks away from the mid-point of the school year! The new year is likely to bring us wintry weather conditions, which might result in school closings and/or delays. Please refer to the school closing and early dismissal information that was sent home earlier in the school year, which includes ensuring that your child’s teacher has your most recent and accurate emergency dismissal information. As always, the most up-to-date information about the impact of inclement weather conditions on the school schedule can be accessed on the Loudoun County Public School website—www.lcps.org.

Our wonderfully supportive PTA is also deserving of a special Thank You for sponsoring the cookie exchange for our school staff members! There are a lot of amazing bakers at Sycolin Creek and we will certainly enjoy these holiday treats!

As always, I encourage you to please continue to refer to the county website, our school website, https://www.lcps.org/sycolincreek, and our Twitter page for additional information. For your convenience, helpful links and resources are posted on these pages.

In closing, I want to reiterate our gratitude for your continued support and wish you and your family good health and good spirits throughout the holiday season. I feel confident that when we all return together, it will be with a continued sense of belonging, as I believe that our community truly helps make Sycolin Creek Elementary School such a special place.

Sincerely,

Derek Racino, Principal

In December, fifth graders worked on recorder songs, while third and fourth grade focused on syncopated rhythms and singing. First and second graders also worked on rhythms and singing. All students experienced the music of Peter Tchaikovsky and Duke Ellington and participated in the Holiday Sing-a-long. We also had a special treat when the high school and middle school choirs came and performed for the school. The Sycolin Creek Singers and Sycolin’s Got Beat! gave several wonderful performances that they have been working on! Way to go!

In January, all students will begin by singing a school-wide song focusing on a variety of musical objectives by grade-level. Fourth grade will be preparing to play their recorders and fifth grade will be playing recorder. At the beginning of January, auditions for the fifth grade All-County Chorus will take place shortly after our return. Look for that paperwork the first week after break.

Our Rock Star Music Classes for December are:

Kindergarten – Ms. Hutchings; 1st Grade – Mrs. Stallings; 2nd Grade – Mrs. Brosan; 3rd Grade – Mrs. Anderson; 4th Grade – Mrs. Forrester; 5th Grade – Ms. Bowman

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

I hope everyone is looking forward to a great break. We are going to dive back into making some three dimensional art starting in January. Any donations of paper tubes, yarn, buttons, beads, and misc. fabric and sewing scraps are welcome.

Art Stars for the December are:

Kindergarten - Ms. Hutchings' class

1st Grade - Mrs. Stallings' class

2nd Grade - Mrs. Reynolds' class

3rd Grade - Mrs. Henretty’s class

4th Grade - Mrs. Forrester’s class

5th Grade - Mrs. Comins' class

Stay Art Smart!
Dr. Bennett

Congratulations to the PE Star Salamanders for the month of December 2024

5th grade - Kiera Hartle & Sukhtaaj Kang

4th grade - Charvitha Nutalapati & Liam Craig

3rd grade - Eman Islam & Remy Gray

2nd grade - Briar Greenberg & Vihaan Kundeti

1st grade - Kennedy Elliott & Greyson Sovey

Kindergarten - Emmy Tramm & Jack Graham

PE Star Classes for the month of December are Mrs. Forrester's 4th grade class and Mrs. Diehl's 1st grade class.

Congratulations to the following students for an impressive performance on the WordMasters' Test!

Third Grade

1st Place Levi Janumala

2nd Place Jane Keigher

3rd Place (Tie) Benjamin Becker, Reyan Raj, Isha Sarvani Bollapalli, Reyansh Mittal

Fourth Grade

1st Place Gus Maslowski

2nd Place Brooklynn Chettiar

3rd Place (Tie) Aidan Pradhan, Olive Okpych

Fifth Grade

1st Place ChaitraTiparthy

2nd Place (Tie) Aadya Aimreddy, Ethan Janumala, Noah Hanley

3rd Place (Tie) Madeline Thoma, Ishitha Velicheti, Aanvi Aimreddy

It is almost 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 will open 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.

LCPS has published their Employee Recognition Awards and parents/guardians can nominate. One of the simplest recognitions is new this year and is the SHINE Award. There is a simple nomination form you can fill out here: https://www.lcps.org/o/hr/page/shine-nomination-form. I encourage all of our parents to take a few minutes to recognize our amazing staff - anyone who has gone above and beyond in a situation, anyone who is helping or positively influencing your child, someone doing something creative or unique in our school, etc. One SHINE submission each month will be selected for a $500 prize too!

• Students who have fevers should be kept at home until free of fever without the use of fever reducing medication for 24 hours. Students who do not feel well should stay home. When students come to school ill, they not only struggle to fully participate in class, but they may also infect other students with their illness. Please help us by keeping your student home so that we can all stay safe and healthy.
• A parent or guardian must deliver any medication (prescription or non-prescription) to the school office or clinic. Students may not transport any medication to or from school.
• Any prescription medication must have an order signed by a physician. Any over the counter medications can be filled out by a parent/guardian. All prescription medications must be in the original package with RX label.
• The Authorization for Medication Administration form, Allergy action plan, Seizure action plan, and Asthma action plan should be used for physician’s orders. Copies of this form as well as other medical forms are available in the school office or at the LCPS website under Student Health Services.

SCES families,

We are incredibly grateful for our amazing SCES community coming together for those less fortunate during the holiday season. Your generosity warms our hearts and reminds us how fulfilling the season of giving can be.

Thank you to everyone that contributed to our Lend-a-Hand Team efforts within the school and to others within the community that helped support families in our zone. Our Angel Giving Tree and the Food Recovery program both continue to be very successful. We have the best families in the area!

Please email Kristen.Armitage@lcps.org if you are not already part of the Lend-a-Hand Team and would like to be a part of this group that provides support throughout the year to those in need within our school, and I'll add you to the list.

Happy Holidays!

Kristen Armitage

SCES Family Liaison

Gifted Evaluation Updates

Families of 4th and 5th grade students interested in referring their child to be evaluated for gifted services may submit a "Permission to Evaluate" form between January 6, 2025 - February 3, 2025. The form will be available on the LCPS Gifted Web site https://www.lcps.org/o/dtl/page/gifted-and-talented-education on January 6th. All 3rd grade students will participate in the gifted education evaluation process (no referral form is needed). Third grade students will continue Talent Development and portfolio lessons during SEARCH classes. These Talent Development lessons provide students with exposure to the types of tasks that are included in gifted portfolio lessons. The portfolio lessons will be used as part of the evaluation process. For more information or questions about the gifted evaluation process, contact Brenna Becker at Brenna.Becker@lcps.org.

Email: derek.racino@lcps.org
Website: lcps.org/sycolincreek
Location: 21100 Evergreen Mills Road, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: (571)252-2910
Twitter: @Sycolin_Creek