Message From the Principals

Dear Parents,

This week we recognize our wonderful staff during Staff Appreciation Week. Today we will be the guests of the PTA at Ozzie's Corner for a delicious luncheon. What a wonderful way to begin the week! The staff joins us in thanking our PTA for such a generous gesture. Our staff is truly an outstanding group of dedicated and talented professionals. I know you all join me in wishing them a memorable week.

Friday evening marked our Matsuri or Japanese Festival. May 5th is traditionally Boy's Day in Japan. It is now named Children's Day. We have our annual festival the Friday that is closest to this date.  If you had the good fortune to come, you know what a success it was. We were very pleased to see not only Japanese Immersion families in attendance but also many of our general education students and parents as well. Our children are very fortunate to be exposed to the many cultures that are represented in FCPS. Being a language immersion school, all Fox Mill students benefit from attending a school where the Japanese culture can be taught and celebrated. Many thanks to Mrs. Liz Pfeifle, Mrs. Chiaki Harada, and Mrs. Keiko Page and their committee for organizing the Festival.

Each year, the Fairfax County Public School system holds an event referred to as the All-County Sixth Grade Chorus. Each school is invited to send a select group of students to participate. Imagine the beautiful sound of literally hundreds of talented voices filling a large auditorium. We are very proud to share that the following students represented Fox Mill ES at this year's performance on Saturday, April 28: Alexa Fezuk, Kamila Armaza, Chloe Madgwick, Tanvi Haldankar, Maddie Young, Emma Bulger, Kurtis Grant, and Evan Zimmerman. We also want to thank Mrs. Abigail Vajda and Mrs. Erin Rosa, our music teachers, who prepared them so well.

Our band and orchestra students have also been participating in numerous performances throughout Fairfax County. The Oakton/Chantilly Area Honors Orchestra performed on March 9 and earned all Superior ratings. Congratulations to Julia Angel, Kayra Huang, Nozomi Hunter, and Rachel Taylor. At the Solo and Ensemble Festival last Friday, April 27 at Franklin Middle School, Tanvi Haldankar and Kaho Lin performed a violin duet, and Mira Cuthill performed a viola solo.  All three students earned a Superior rating. The Solo and Ensemble Festival continued on Saturday, April 28, with Dale Osbon, Sara Evans, Robbie Owens, Luke Tyler, and Jonathan Prisciandaro participating. The Area Band Concert at Carson Middle School on April 18 had several of our band students represent Fox Mill. They were Lauren Yarnall, Sara Evans, Emily Bohnet, Rachael Powell, Anna Prater, Duke Hunter, Michael Calderon, Alexa Fezuk, and Solomon Blackmon. We are very proud of all of these students who have been practicing so diligently and their instructors, Ms. Jessica Savage and Mr. Bob Isle.

If you have information about your child or about the kind of learning environment best suited for your child that you think is pertinent and that your child's current teacher may not be aware of, you may use the link that has been created on the Fox Mill Website to share this information. If you do not have access to computer, a letter is acceptable. This is not a solicitation for parent requests for teachers, and indeed a request for a specific teacher cannot be honored. Rather, this is an opportunity for a parent to share information that may not be known about their child that would impact the learning situation. I am requesting that all correspondence be sent to Ms. Sheehy no later than June 1, 2012.

Sincerely,

Pat Sheehy                                                      Brian Moose