The Little Judges' Docket

Reminder: School is one hour late tomorrow, Monday, February 2nd. All students should be at school by 8:45am. It has been a cold and snowy/icy start to 2026. Please remember to turn in your snow day packet work that was completed last week. We will send home more days worth as needed for any virtual days. Any day missed from here on out will be a virtual day. Each day that we are considered a virtual day, students should complete one worksheet in reading and one in math and read with an adult for 15 minutes. We will count the student present for the virtual day if they return the work they did.

We are excited that this is the beginning of 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.

SAVE THE DATE: Our Annual Sweetheart's Dance will be February 12th from 5:30 - 7pm.

Tutoring will start for the spring February 24th. Your student will get an invitation based on attendance and/or academics. 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.

We also have a lot of coats in our lost and found. Please make sure you have your child look for any missing coats or feel free to drop by and we can walk you to the lost and found to check yourself.

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

WIDA Assessment & Language Services

Students receiving ESOL services will participate in the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment during the testing window of January 26–March 6, 2026. This annual assessment measures students’ progress in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English and helps inform instructional planning.

Our students have worked so hard on mid year assessments and we are excited to see how much progress they have made since the beginning of the year! We still have some testing left to do, so please make sure students are at school on time - we start instruction right at 7:50am, so getting them here by 7:45am helps tremendously.

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!

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

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

• 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.