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May 6 Family Newsletter

Dear Families, 

Upcoming Dates  

Friday, May 15th - Parent Input for Class Placement Deadline

Wednesday, May 20th - 3-hour Early Dismissal

                               - Kindergarten Orientation @ 2:45 pm

Monday, May 25th - Memorial Day Holiday

Tuesday, May 26th - Teacher Workday

Wednesday, May 27th - Eid al-Adha Holiday 

Friday, May 29th - SCA Spirit Day - Wear UMES Colors

                             - UMES v. CES Staff Volleyball Game @ CVHS

Thursday, June 4th & Friday, June 5th - Field Days

See the complete school year calendar

Run Club 

Congratulations to all students and staff who participated in last weekends Healthy Strides 5k at Burke Lake. Thank you to Mrs. Rucker, Mrs. Saa and Ms. Belford for coaching our runner. 

SEPTA Awards Congratulations 

Congratulations to Jenny Murray, Manda Tirado, Corinne Merkle, Laura O’Dero, Anne Hollis, Stephanie Tinker, Chris Waters and Eric Moore for being nominated for a SEPTA (Special Education Parent Teacher Association) award. Each were nominated and attended SEPTAs awards ceremony. Congratulations to Anne Hollis for winning outstanding Co-Curricular Teacher Award. 

NVSWCD Conservation Poster Contest

Calling all student artists! Especially you, UMES third graders!  From the department that put on your soil assembly earlier this year, here is an art contest for you to enter! The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District is seeking students to design posters for the 2026 Youth Poster Contest. The theme for this year is ‘Soil. Where It All Begins.” This contest is open to all K-12 students in Fairfax County, and scouts are eligible to earn the VASWCD Poster Contest Patch. Students may enter hand-drawn, digital, braille, and additional assistance categories. Entries are due June 30, 2026. Learn more about the poster contest categories and guidelines and download your entry form here.

Chorus Concert 

Congratulations to all of our 5th and 6th graders for their chorus performance last week. 

Career Day 

Union Mill is excited to host our annual Career Day on Tuesday, June 9^th ! We would love to invite you to share your career with our students. If you have not joined us before, it involves a short presentation (with or without technology!) and answering A LOT of questions!  We hope you’ll join us. Please fill out this Google Form to share your interest. If you have any questions please reach out to our counselors, Wendy Kourajian and Jenna Schmidt. Start times for each grade level are listed below:

1^st: 2:45 pm

2^nd: 9:15 am

3^rd: 9:50 am

4^th: 2:10 pm

5^th/6^th: 12:30 pm

Thank you so much for your support!

Calling All Pizza Lovers …and Box Collectors!

We are gearing up for an epic Field Day, and we need your help to make one of our games a success! We are looking for donations of 100 new, unused pizza boxes.

Wait—why pizza boxes? While we’d love to say it’s for a giant lunch, these are actually for a fun field day game! To keep things clean and sturdy, we need boxes that have never seen a slice of pepperoni.

The Specs:

• Condition: Must be brand new and unused (no grease, please!).
• Size: Standard Large (14" or 16") is preferred, but we’ll take any consistent size.
• Quantity: We need 100 total. Every little bit helps!

How to Donate:

If you own a local pizza shop, know someone who does, or just want to pick up a stack from a restaurant supply store, please drop them off at the Front Office (attention: Physical Education Department) by May 28. Feel free to reach out to Manda Tirado if you have questions or have the connection: mktirado@fcps.edu

Fairfax County Public Library Student Art Contest

Students across Fairfax County are invited to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month by participating in our art contest! We invite youth to draw inspiration from their families or their communities to portray the colorful, diverse county we share. Students will choose one of the following prompts for their art: 

• This is my family’s journey.  
• My cultural treasure box.  
• Home means...  
• Many cultures, one community.  

Artwork is accepted in any format but needs to be scanned or photographed and submitted via our online form. One submission per student. No AI art will be considered. Three winners will be selected per category: kindergarten-2nd grade, 3rd-6th grade and 7th-12th grade. Winners will receive a prize and have their art displayed in an exhibit. 

To participate, you must be 5-18 and live or study in Fairfax County. All art should be submitted via our online form, which will be open from May 15 - June 15, 2026. Winners will be announced June 27, 2026 and winning artwork will be displayed in an exhibit.

https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/kids/wherewebelong?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

 MSupport Your Children During Important Spring Assessments 

Students will be participating in spring assessments based on their grade level and courses. This includes summative assessments like Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, which measure what a student knows, and progress assessments like Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests, which measure where they are in their learning. 

FCPS encourages all families to support their students in taking these tests. Virginia requires schools to test at least 95% of students on SOLs, so when families choose not to participate in testing, it can impact a school’s accreditation, accountability ratings, and ability to measure student progress accurately.

Parents and caregivers can help their children perform their best on these tests by reminding them to get a good night’s sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and the cell phone policy still applies during testing season. 

It is important that students attend school on scheduled testing dates. If you are aware of a conflict that may cause your student to miss a test, please notify your student’s school as soon as possible. 

Students in grades 3-6 will participate in SOL testing on the following dates:

3rd Grade: May 12th - Math 

4th Grade: May 12th - Math

5th Grade: May 13th - Math; May19th - Science 

6th Grade: May 13th - Math

Learn more about how to support your child and why test participation matters. 

Parent Input for Class Placements 2026-2027

As we plan for the 2026-2027 school year, we are inviting your input. Creating class assignments require careful consideration and the involvement of many perspectives. We know a good teacher-student match and a productive mix of children are ingredients for success. Should you have additional information about your specific child that school staff may not know, particularly regarding learning style and classroom environment; you have the option to complete the following form no later than Friday, May 15th.

Kindergarten Registration

Online Registration is now open for the 2026-27 school year!

Kindergarten helps children learn and practice the social, emotional, problem-solving, and self-regulation skills they will use throughout their lives.

New-to-FCPS families create a ParentVUE account for online access. Details are available here:  Welcome to Fairfax County Public Schools' (FCPS) Online Registration | Fairfax County Public Schools

Current families can register their new student through their existing ParentVUE account.  (No need to register students returning to UMES.)

Our Registrar, Catherine Dubas, is happy to process registrations directly, as well.  Please contact her at cmdubas@fcps.edu and be ready to provide your family’s address and rising kindergartener’s date of birth.  Catherine will respond with registration details and documents necessary to start the process.

Spring registration puts you on the list for school communications, so don’t wait!

Kindergarten Orientation