The Little Judges' Docket

This week is Kindness Week! We will have dress up days to help encourage our students to be kind to each other and themselves.

Monday - Team Kindness: Wear school colors (white and burgundy)

Tuesday - Powered by Kindness: Wear your favorite kindness or superhero t-shirt

Wednesday - Brighten up Someone's Day: Wear neon or bright colors

Thursday - Work out Problems with Kindness: Wear sweatpants or workout clothes

Our Sweetheart's Dance is this Thursday from 5:30 - 7:00pm. Come join us for dancing, games, and fun! Families should attend together so that all children have an adult present.

We are excited that this is Black History Month. We will be discussing the accomplishments, achievements, and innovations of African Americans. We will also have our annual African American Read In with students on February 12th.

Tutoring will start for the spring February 24th. It will be Tuesdays and Thursdays until 4pm. Each two days of tutoring that occur will equal 1 day of made up time for attendance.

Starting next week, we will kick off our annual school fundraiser, the Kids Heart Challenge, sponsored by the American Heart Association. The event will run from February 9, 2026 through March 9, 2026.

Students can SIGN UP TODAY by downloading the AHA Schools App or visiting heart.org/schools.

This year, students will complete Finn’s Mission and make it their mission to help create a lifesaving community! Participants will learn Hands-Only CPR with help from NFL players, how to recognize the warning signs of a stroke, and much more.

Students can also help kids with special hearts by collecting donations. Along the way, they will learn how to keep their heart, body, and brain healthy, while helping children with special hearts live longer, healthier lives.

The Kids Heart Challenge is a fun and meaningful way to teach lifelong habits of health, kindness, and helping others.

Our Commitment: Our campus is a safe haven dedicated to learning and student well-being. To ensure this remains a protected space, we do not permit outside organizations to access students unless they are authorized health and safety officials acting within their legal jurisdiction. Our priority is to ensure every child feels secure and supported from the moment they arrive until they return home.

Please have your student to school as close to 7:30am as possible so they have time to put their belongings away and eat breakfast since we have announcements at 7:45am and instruction begins at 7:50am. If you are a car rider, the parking lot will be blocked off at 7:45am so if you are later than that you will need to walk your child into the office to sign them in. We will have safety drills (fire drills and lockdown drills) per Virginia state code during the first month of school and sporadically throughout the year. We will make sure to let you know in the newsletter the weeks they will be happening.

Thank you as always for your support for our school. We need to work together as a community to make our students successful because we are creating Local leaders today - Global leaders tomorrow!

Lisa Pluska, Ed.D.

Principal, Virginia Avenue Charlotte DeHart Elementary School

540-665-6330

We are showing such great growth in our students for reading this year! The extra 10 minutes before instruction is also helping. We are working on stamina (reading longer passages and staying engaged), fluency (reading like you speak, comfortably), and comprehension (making sure students understand what they have read). Please make time to read with your students at home. Set aside time for them to read uninterrupted and then ask them questions about what they reading. This will just continue to help our students grow!

If you are not receiving report cards, please contact the office to make sure we have your correct email address. This is the time of year that we are really pushing to get more kids on grade level and to get them reading regularly. We are excited to say that our students are gaining ground academically.

Reading is so important for students to be successful in life. The statistics show that if a child is not reading on grade level by 3rd grade, they really struggle to keep up with their peers and they struggle to graduate on time. We are focusing on every student being on grade level by the end of the year. If you see that your child is struggling with reading, reach out to the teacher or our Reading Specialist, Robin Packard. She can give you tips on working with students at home. The best thing you can do is read with your child every day. It can be in any language and with lots of pictures. Just let your child see that reading is fun and important to you as well!

We are currently at 11.2% of our students are considered chronically absent. Any absence counts toward chronic absenteeism whether it is excused or unexcused. Our goal is only 8% or less will be chronically absent which means they miss 10% or more of the school year. If a child misses more than 17 days they are chronically absent. It's so important to come to school every day that you can. Studies show that if students start out with strong attendance in school, it stays with them and they continue to attend school. In order to be on grade level, students have to be here to get the instruction.

Thank you for continuing to ensure your student is at school. It truly takes us all working together to make sure our students are successful. Just a reminder as to how important it is to be in school every day. If your child is sick, of course we understand. Please make sure to talk to your students about the importance of hand washing. We always tend to have sicknesses when everyone comes back.

At VACDES, we want every student to feel safe and ready to learn. Lately, we’ve noticed that we need a little extra practice with physical contact and disruptions in the classroom.

To support our students, we are launching a celebration plan to recognize those who follow our core rules! You can help us by reminding your student that being a great classmate means:

• Safety first: Hands and feet to ourselves.

• Kindness always: Using helpful words.

• Responsibility: Staying in our areas and following directions right away.

Thank you for being our partners in creating a school environment that students truly love to be in!

Every day on the announcements we will be talking about the three school wide rules -

1. Keep hands and feet to self and use kind words;
2. Stay in your assigned area; and
3. Follow directions quickly and quietly.

If you are interested in volunteering, please see below! Make sure you let the office staff or your child's teacher know before filling out the application so we can make sure you are on the volunteer list.

February 9 - 13 - Kindness Week

• Monday - wear school colors
• Tuesday - wear your favorite kindness or superhero t-shirt
• Wednesday - wear neon or bright colors
• Thursday - wear sweatpants or workout clothes

February 12 - African American Read In

February 12 - Annual Sweetheart's Dance 5:30 - 7pm

February 13 - No school for students

February 16 - No school for students

February 19 - Glow Party - Literacy Night at DMIS 5:30 - 7pm

February 24 - Tutoring begins

• Here is the link for the Student/Parent Handbook .
• If there needs to be a change in transportation, please call the office (not the teacher) at 540-665-6330 before 1pm to let us know. Car riders must come to the back of the school by Pleasant Valley, walkers to the bus loop doors, and bus riders will be let off the bus on Van Fossen Street and coming in the front door and on the bus in the afternoon on the Van Fossen St side. Staff will be there to help guide and get your child into the school safely.
• If you arrive after 7:50 A.M., you must accompany your child to the office to sign your child in.