Haycock Cougar Coffee Talk

Yesterday, November 11, our Haycock second graders put on a fabulous assembly in honor of Veteran’s Day. 

The classes explained the significance and historical perspective of various wars, spoke about ways that students could honor and thank those who serve our country, and sang songs that supported the significance of the day.

We were extra honored to have the United States Army Quintet join us for the event.  Mrs. Lessard’s husband plays the euphonium in that group.

I know those who attended were overwhelmed with the performances of the students.  We appreciate all the hard work that went into making it such a special day of remembrance.

On November 17th you definitely want to be at Haycock at 7pm to hear about this year’s Affinities Project.

Since Haycock teachers lost the grant that funded work on the project the past 3 years, our wonderful PTA has assumed responsiblity under the leadership of Pamela Huffman.  She says the following about Affinities, “The thing that drew me to the Affinities Festival is that it unifies the school body. The other thing I love is that it’s not a competition. It’s nothing like a science fair because it’s not graded. And it’s not assigned. I love that it’s love of learning for the love of learning. It’s a homegrown product of our amazing teaching staff. And, I am very heartened that so many parents came forward last year to offer to help out with it.”

We hope to see you on November 17th at 7pm in the cafeteria to hear more about this exciting opportunity.

On Thursday and Friday last week our 5th graders ventured to Camp Highroad in Middleburg, Virginia, for our first, we hope annual, camping trip.

While there, the 5th graders took part in curriculum based activities, in addition to leadership and team buidling activities.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from the students, teachers, and the many parent volunteers who accompanied the group on the trip.

The teachers are currently reflecting on the trip and making plans for next year, so if you have a 4th grader in your family, stay tuned and get excited!

On the afternoon of Monday, October 26^th, Haycock and Churchill Road teachers got together to look more closely at service learning and to begin to formulate plans for incorporating outdoor learning into their service learning objectives.

Working collaboratively in the Churchill Road cafeteria, teachers first made connections with their own meanings of service learning, then looked more closely at what definition has been adopted by Fairfax County Public Schools.  In this picture you see Haycock teacher, Meredith Reid, talking with a group of Churchill Road fourth grade teachers.

Churchill Road principal, Don Hutzel, and I also invited a representative from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to talk to the group about outdoor learning.  Cindy Duncan shared information about the professional development offered by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in addition to telling the teachers about the elements of a “meaningful watershed experience” and demonstrating the “School Yard Report Card”.

We hope that the collaboration between our two schools continues as teachers begin to implement and discuss their projects.  We plan to bring both schools together once again in the spring and also are working to plan staff development with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in the summer.

Haycock was hopping today with thoughts of trick-or-treating over the weekend.  This picture shows our kindergarten students participating in their Halloween parade.  We were so excited to have special visiting spectators.  Residents of Sunrise Assisted Living came to see our students in their costumes as they paraded through the halls of Haycock.

Students were also treated to a spooky Halloween lunch line courtesy of Jane Peel, our cafeteria manager, and crew.  It is always an annual treat to see what Jane has in store as students go to buy their lunches.

We wish a Happy Halloween to all students who partake in the holiday.  Please remember there is no school on Monday and Tuesday – the 2nd and 3rd of November.

On Friday night the ghosts and goblins, along with Hannah Montanas and superheros, were walking through the halls of Haycock.  It was our largest turn-out ever for our annual Halloween party.  This picture to the left is my daughter, Bevin, making a Halloween bookmark in one of  the craft rooms.

From 6pm-9pm, students were able to play games, make crafts, dance in the pod, see a magic show, and eat pizza in the cafeteria.  Believe it or not, we served 172 trays of pizza!

Many thanks to the numerous parents who volunteered and to Tara Richmond who headed up the efforts.  I know everyone had a GREAT time.

On Friday I visited the cafeteria where Miss Dearing’s class was sharing pieces of writing with Mr. Deixler’s class.  The picture to the left shows one of Haycock’s 5th graders reading a piece of her writing to a table of avid listeners.

Sharing writing is an important piece of the writing process at Haycock and many grade levels will plan writing celebrations throughout the year.  You can tell by the smiles on the faces of the students, what fun it is to hear the work of their peers!

There were two exciting events that happened this week that I thought were “blog-worthy”.

The first is that Haycock was recognized by FCPS as a winner of the Green Apple Wellness Award.  The picture on the left shows me, Debbie Callsen and Dorothy Krenzberger, Haycock PE teachers, along with Dr. Dale, and Kathy Smith, school board member, after we had received our award and plaque.  We are excited that the PTA theme is wellness this year because it will help us continue our mission to have Haycock students strong in mind and body.  This year, with the help of PTA initiatives, and the support of the Haycock staff, we will be aiming to achieve the “Golden Apple,” an even higher award of recognition.

This other picture to the right, shows Haycock students at the PBS “Pep Rally”.  This was a school event focused on helping students remember our school-wide expectations for behavior in the cafeteria, hallways, bathrooms, recess and assemblies. 

On Friday, Haycock students watched Haycock teachers participate in skits and games that reviewed this important information.  We also announced the winners of the PBS poster contest.  Alexander B and Jennifer Y were the winners for grades 4-6 and Miranda M was the winner in grades K-3.  Be sure to ask your student about what it means to be a Haycock STAR!

I have been reading more and more reports of H1N1 (Swine Flu) spreading throughout the country, so I thought it would be appropriate to blog about what we are doing at Haycock to keep everyone healthy. 

FCPS is in frequent communication with the Fairfax County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control to receive guidance on the situation. When they do receive new information, they pass it onto principals.

As a school, we have already put measures into place to be proactive about keeping our children happy and healthy.  Teachers are using FCPS lessons to teach and review good hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette. We also have a plan if a student does come to the school health room exhibiting flu symptoms.  If  that happens, the student is isolated until a parent can come pick him/her up from school.

The best way parents can help us is to keep sick children home.  This is VERY important.  Also, please call the school attendance line, or e-mail school attendance, to let us know if your child will be absent and what symptoms they have.  This year, our automatic attendance call out will call and e-mail you if you have not made us aware of an absence by 10:20am.

While we know that it is probably inevitable we will have cases of the flu at Haycock this year, we do have a plan in place and, with parent support, can keep our students and staff as healthy as can be.

Arrival and dismissal at Haycock are always the busiest times of the day.  This past week was no exception and the rainy weather and new  bus transportation routes made it even more trickier!

Just a couple of reminders to parents to insure that these times of day remain safe for our Haycock students. 

• Students can arrive as early as 8:50 in the morning, but not earlier.  Students arriving from 8:50-9:05 need to go to the cafeteria.  This includes children in the quads.
• Please do not use the bus loop in the morning or afternoon during arrival and dismissal.  It is off limits to cars!
• The parking lot on Haycock Rd. is for parking only, not for drop off.  Drop off only happens at the Kiss and Ride on Westmoreland (even on rainy days).  If you want to park and escort your child into the building, you can do that if you can find a parking space in the lot. You will need to tell the adult on duty at the entrance to the lot that you are planning to park.
• Maintain safe practices in the Kiss and Ride and surrounding area.  Please do not call your child over to your car in the loop, or encourage your child to run across Westmoreland to your parked car if you are not in the loop.  We see this happening often and it causes us great concern.

And finally, please be patient with other parents and kind to our Haycock staff who are monitoring safety at these locations.  We want adults modeling STAR behavior at all times, as well as our students.

We hope some of the kinks get worked out this week and our comings and goings can be operate more smoothly in the weeks to come.