Centre Ridge Principal's Blog

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The weeks following Spring Break have been filled with so many new and exciting things at Centre Ridge.  The students and teachers have been working hard and staying focused on preparing for their grade level assessments.   Our kindergarten, first and second grade students are currently working on the Developmental Reading Assessment while our students in grades 3-6 are completing their SOL assessments.     I am proud of our students and teachers, and we look forward to see the results of their efforts throughout the school year.

We had another successful McDonald Nights and were able to raise over $1000 for the school.  Thank you to all of the families who came by for a special treat from the Centreville McDonald’s.  McDonald’s is our business partner and has been so supportive of the school throughout the school year, particularly with our Positive Behavior Intervention Support program.  Thank you!

On Friday, May 13 the annual Centre Ridge vs. Bull Run basketball game was held at Centreville HS.  The team consisted of sixth grade students, as well as faculty members.  Our students showed good sportsmanship throughout the game and represented the school very well.  It was a tough game but a fun evening for families.    

On Sunday, May 15 the Girls on the Run group completed a 5K race at George Mason University.  Although the morning started out cloudy with a light drizzle, the clouds parted and the sun started shining just in time for the race to begin.  Thank you to our coaches for working with the girls and for Mr. Martinez for coming out to cheer them on.  The girls who participated in the program were able to set goals for themselves and achieve those goals through hard work and practice.  We are so proud of all of the girls!

If you have not seen the playground lately, please take advantage of the beautiful spring weather and come by to see the trees and plants that have been planted.  There is still a temporary fence around the plants to allow the plants  to become established, but it will be exciting to watch the trees mature and grow to give us shade on the playground and improve the aesthetic appearance of the playground area.  On top of those reasons, the arborist came and explained how the work that was done helped to prevent erosion and protected our drinking water.  Every class was able to meet with him and to understand how planting trees helps our environment.

I am looking forward to all of the end-of-the-year culminating events.  It has been a year of many new transitions but also a lot of progress towards our common goal of having all students reach their full academic potential.  We continue to be proud of our school and community.  Together we can make a difference for our kids.

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On April 13^th, our sixth grade students and teachers went over to Liberty Middle School for a tour of the school and their first orientation.   The students learned new things about Liberty MS and many of their questions about being in middle school were answered.  The students did a wonderful job representing Centre Ridge, and they came back to elementary school with a clear idea of what middle school will be like next year. 

On April 14^th, the staff at Centre Ridge hosted a breakfast to celebrate our wonderful volunteers.  During this school year, volunteers have logged hundreds of hours working at our school.  We literally could not do the wonderful work that happens for children at Centre Ridge without our many volunteers.  Thank you!

Mrs. Suitte and I had our first Principal’s Coffee in the library on April 14^th.  There were a number of families who came to learn more about what is going on at Centre Ridge.  For any families who were not able to attend during the day, I will soon post a narrated version of the PowerPoint.  This was an opportunity for the administration to get feedback from the community and to generate new ideas of things that we might be able to do at Centre Ridge in the future.  One topic for our next Principal’s Coffee, on May 19 at 9 am, is to talk about collaborative team meetings and the role of the resource teachers at Centre Ridge. 

We also had our final Family Literacy Night of the school year.  These evenings have been a huge success and have averaged 100 people.  A special thank you to our Literacy Team, Kristi Vaughn and Debbie Little, and our Instructional Coach, Gail Ritchie, for organizing these events.  On Friday, our fourth graders celebrated Biography Day and came to school dressed as the person they read about in their biography.  In the afternoon, we had a small parade so that the fourth graders were able to show the other students their hard work and costumes. 

If any of you had the opportunity to come by school during the last two weeks, you might have noticed the large trucks and huge piles of dirt on the back playground.  The county began a huge project to address the erosion issues and improve the aesthetic appearance of the playground.  The hill behind the playground was regraded and nearly 20 trees were planted.  The butterfly garden was also prepared, and now we just have to wait for the seeds to grow!  The entire area was then reseeded with grass seed.  Next week, weather permitting; one of the arborists is going to come to school to meet with students to talk about the project, specifically the native Virginia trees that were chosen and to talk about how the children can help care for the plants.  One first grade students said to me, “It looks like the school is getting a make-over!”  We have been working collaboratively with Fairfax County Public Schools to continue to improve the appearance of the school by painting specific areas inside the building, building new partitions in the group bathrooms, adding a new roof over the kindergarten wing, laying new tile floors in three of the kindergarten classrooms and replacing the decking and outer wall of the trailer have occurred to date.  There are still some more projects in the cue to help ensure that the school grounds are in the best possible condition for all of our students and staff members.  Please talk to your student about little things that they can do to help the school look its best, such as picking up trash outside the school.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their time over Spring Break and that the students come back refreshed and ready to finish the school year in a positive manner.

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This past week was filled with wonderful events that brought families together at Centre Ridge around learning and healthy life choices.  Last Thursday, we ‘covered all our bases’ and ‘hit a home run’ with our Family Math Night.  There were approximately 350 people who came to school to enjoy pizza and a night filled with math games.  The teachers prepared games at each grade level that reinforced skills such as number sense.  The theme for the evening was Score a Homerun in Math.  I told many kids that any Yankee fans would receive an automatic detention from me, given that I am a Red Sox fan.  Please reassure them that I love all of our students, even the ones who are Yankee fans! 

On a chilly Sunday morning, our Young Men in Motion group met at 7:10a.m. at Centre Ridge in preparation for the Strides For Success 5K race.  All of the students who raced on Sunday completed the race.  A special thank you to Mr. Smalley and Mr. Martinez for coaching the boys and to Mr. Hong for being a buddy runner.  Also, thank you to Mrs. Rose, Ms. Phalon, Mrs. Hartigan and Ms. Flanagan for coming out to cheer our boys on.  Their support and encouragement made the difference as the boys finished the race.  My favorite part of the event was when the last Centre Ridge student approached the finish line.  A group of our boys from the sideline joined this student to encourage him to finish.  I was proud of the empathy and sense of team that these boys displayed. 

This week we have our final Family Literacy Night on Wednesday, April 13.  We also have major work being done on the playground this week.  A crew from Fairfax County Public Schools will be out to regrade the hill behind the play structure, plant trees and create a mulched area on the hill.  They will be planting trees that are native to Virginia and will make the playground safer and more aesthetically pleasing.  The thing that I am most excited about is the fact that they are also going to plant a meadow area on top of the hill that is designed to attract butterflies.  The specific plants will be labeled so make sure that you and your children come by and talk to your child about ways that we can take care of our school, our community and the environment.   

Finally, on Thursday, we have a volunteer breakfast at 8a.m. and a PTA-sponsored Principal’s Coffee.   Please come by and meet Mrs. Suitte and me and hear about the many good things happening at Centre Ridge.

This is the first edition of my new blog to tell about the many exciting things happening at Centre Ridge ES.  It is hard to believe that the third quarter has ended, the fourth quarter is already upon us and Spring Break is around the corner.  The start of the spring school season brings on a renewed freshness for everyone.  This is an exciting time for our school community.  Many opportunities are still available for our students to work hard and finish out the year accomplishing their goals. I wish to extend my best wishes to our students, parents, and staff as they move forward toward completing an outstanding year.

This week, the teachers were busy preparing materials and planning for the upcoming 4th quarter.  This month is poetry month, and we will have guest poetry readers on the morning news.   I will be one of the readers this week and will read poem entitled, “I Love Homework.”  Ask your students what they thought about the poem! 

We also have our Family Math Night on Thursday, April 7.  We have pizza at 6:30 and then fun-filled math activities and games at 7.  The teachers and staff have worked hard to make this event special for students of all ages.  Our theme for the evening is Score a Home Run with Math.   Planning this evening has brought out the most ardent of Yankee, Red Sox and Nationals fans at Centre Ridge.  Come and see your teachers all decked out for a home run! 

Finally, good luck to the members of our Young Men in Motion team and to their coaches, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Smalley.  This group of 18 5th and 6th grade boys have been training for the Stride for Success 5K at Fairfax Corner on Sunday, April 10 at 8:30.  The boys have worked very hard to prepare for the race and will do great.  We are very proud of them. 

Parents and family members, please continue to stay in touch with our school on a regular basis. Continue to contact teachers and stay actively involved with our PTA.  This is our school. This is our community. Although the year will end before we know it, let’s continue to make a difference every day in the lives of our children! 

Sincerely,

Margo Dias-Pareja