Vol. 6 No. 4

1. 21100 Evergreen Mills Road Leesburg, Virginia 20175 571.252.2910 hronicle Home of the Salamanders THE Vol. 6 No. 4 December 2012 Upcoming Events Principal’s Corner Dear Parents and Students, It has been an incredible month at Sycolin Creek! Without a doubt, the highlight of November was all of the wonderful American Education Week activities! More than 600 visitors participated in the week’s events including enjoying lunch with our students. I would like to thank each of our dedicated volunteers who helped to greet our guests and serve lunch throughout the week. It turned out to be a very busy and exciting week that the students will remember fondly! Another highlight of the month was the annual Veterans Day Assembly. With the help of our music teachers, Mrs. Cassada and Mrs. Hoffmaster, all of our students learned songs to honor our Veterans. More than 34 Veterans were represented whose service to our country spanned from World War II to the present. Children, grandchildren, and other members of the student body worked diligently to prepare a slide show and poem presentation to honor their relatives and all of our service men and women. If you have not had the opportunity to join our PTA, which works tirelessly to provide many activities for our students throughout the year, we would love to have you as a member. Please see your child’s teacher for more information on joining the PTA. Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season. Sincerely, Derek Racino December 2012 1 – Holiday Shoppe at 5 Below, 10am-2pm 4 – Parent Portal Info. Night; K-2, 6:15 pm 4 – PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m. 4 – Kirby Day 6 – Yearbook Candid's & Clubs 6 – CiCi’s Spirit Night, 4-8pm 12 – Interims Sent Home 13 – Fall Chorus Performance, 6:30 pm 14 – 4th/5th Grade Geo. Bee, 10:00 am 21 – Winter/Holiday Sing Along, 8:45 a.m. 21 – Winter Parties, 1:30pm 24 – Winter Break Begins Jan. 2 – Classes Resume See On-Line Calendar for Additional Activity Dates and Times If due to a disability, you need assistance to enable you to participate meaningfully in any activity at Sycolin Creek Elementary, please contact the school office at 571-252-2910, at least five working days prior to the event.

2. Library News Thanks so much to everyone who supported our Fall Book Fair. We were able to purchase many new library books which will certainly enrich our students learning! A special thanks goes to the wonderful volunteers who helped with our fair: Maria Soto Nicole Green Pieta West Kristin Bernaola Mary-Kathryn Haddad Claudia Flores Vasilia Ravaris Melissa Kurowski Kinde Brinton Liz Messner Kathleen Newbold Melissa Allard Pamela Rivera Jennifer Ashford Our second book fair will be February 4th - 7th Sports Shorts!! P.E. Highlights MSAAC Committee Information MSAAC, The Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee, works in partnership with Loudoun County Public Schools staff, parents, and community to further academic, social, and cultural development of every student and to ensure that the needs of all minority students are met. The group meets at the LCPS Admin building on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. All meetings are open to the public. The upcoming agenda and the minutes of previous meetings are posted on the school system website at www.lcps.org under the “School Board” button, and “Committees” selection option. No meeting in December. Congratulations P.E. Star Students for the month of November: 5th Grade – Jason Albert & Sydney Hipps 4th Grade – Tanner Karol & Zara Ashford 3rd Grade – Bennett Vaughan & Grace Resimont 2nd Grade – Wesley Celentano & Haley McCloskey 1st Grade – Benjamin Schassler & Emma Rosher The Star Salamander Classes for the month of November are Mrs. Becker’s 3rd grade and Ms. Thomas’ 5th grade. THE READING NOOK Winter Reading Tips from the Reading Teachers There are many ways to encourage your child to read over the winter break. Here are a few ideas to get you started: • Have a Winter/Holiday reading night where family members read aloud their favorite seasonal book. • When visiting family over the holidays have your child read to a relative. • Take time out from the busy season to plan a relaxing visit to the library to pick out new books. • If you’re taking a long car trip, you can play word games, or you can create your own story with each person adding to the story as you go along. • Remember that not all reading occurs between the pages of a book. Reading practice can occur when reading the restaurant menu, game instructions on the new video game they received, reading the recipes to an adult when doing holiday baking, etc. • i-Pad apps- Here are a couple of apps that can help with reading comprehension: o Aesop’s Quest o MiniMod Reading for Details o Professor Garfield Fact or Opinion Winter Holiday Our Winter Holiday will begin on Monday, December 24th. School will reopen on January 2nd.

3. Music News November was an exciting month in the Music Room! We started off with Veterans Day. The students did a great job singing in the Veterans Day program. I was very proud of their effort, especially the Sycolin Creek Singers. We then worked on songs about Thanksgiving and the upper grades focused on the Major Scale, while second grade played singing games. In December, second grade will be focusing on the music and story of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and third graders are working on 16th note rhythms and playing the Orff instruments. The Sycolin Creek Singers are getting ready for their first concert on December 13th. All students will be experiencing the music of Tchaikovsky and preparing for the Holiday Sing-a-long on Friday, December 21st. Also in December, fourth and fifth grade will be preparing for recorder by reviewing the treble clef pitches. Fifth graders will be using their recorders in music classes starting in December. Speaking of recorders, soon parents of fourth and fifth graders will receive an order form about purchasing a recorder. Playing the recorder is a very important part of the elementary music curriculum, as many of you know. Through playing the recorder, students will be reading rhythms and pitches, coordinating their hands and eyes along with their breath. This is a great way to prepare them for the middle school music program, playing other instruments – and it’s fun! Students in fifth grade will begin using their recorders in December. Students in fourth grade will begin recorder later in January. Our Rock Star Music Classes for November are: 1st Grade – Ms. Gore; 2nd Grade -Mrs. Brosan; 3rd Grade – Mrs. Bullion; 4th Grade – Mrs. Bowman; and 5th Grade – Ms. Thomas Congratulations to these classes for showing Rock Star behavior in the month of November! Art Stars for November The Art Stars of the Month for November were: Ms. Gore's 1st Grade Mrs. Ganey's 2nd Grade Mrs. Dunlap's 3rd Grade Mrs. Koehler's 4th Grade Ms. Kenny's 5th Grade Congratulations on all your hard work and good behavior in Art. Keep it up! Guidance Star Students The following students were chosen as the November guidance stars: Kindergarten:  Jane Walker, Nolan Hipsley, Amrianna Gallo First Grade:  Alexia Glancey, Chase Kibble, Arshia Nalla, Kale Haaland, Oakley Messina Second Grade:  Ava Sheridan, Skyler Ford, Brennan O'Donnell, William Pasternak, Saiuri Parimi Third Grade:  Troy Giordano, Maya Shah, Morgan Kitchen, Adrianna Zarou, Hemal Makani Fourth Grade:  Ben Kitchen, Christian Giannos, Audrey Spendlove, Madison Bush, Hale Anderson Fifth Grade:  Brian Hays, Sophia Macchiarolo, Lily Adam, Ameer Ahmed Parent Resources On the Sycolin Creek website is a tab labeled “Resources.” Under this tab you will find many helpful items to assist your child in the learning process. One of these, “BrainPop” is available to students at home. The username is lcpse and the password is elem. There is also a link to Standards of Learning Resources for students in grades 3-5. Lastly, information about the Parent Resource Center is available if you would like to access assistance or attend workshops held by the resource center. Of course, the staff at SCES is ready and willing to address any of your needs. If at any time you would like to locate additional resources for your child at home, please feel free to contact us.