Principal's Weekly Message for Families
9/22/23
Good evening Forest Lakes families! This is your Principal, Holly Huey, calling with the weekly updates.
We had another great week of learning on campus! During our Start with Hello week, we focused on discussing ways to minimize social isolation, empathize with others, and create a more inclusive and connected school culture. We had some fun dress up days to go along with the theme of each day. It was a wonderful week! Check out some photos on our Forest Lakes Elementary facebook page. Make sure you check us out here regularly so you can see all the great things happening.
This week on our Facebook page, we introduced the PTO membership drive. We are looking to build up our PTO membership so we can continue to support our school programs. Classes are competing for a popsicle party and $50 in class supplies for having the most memberships. Flyers will be coming home next Tuesday with your child.
Please mark your calendars for October 26th for our annual Trunk or Treat event! We will be looking for families who want to come out and decorate their trunks to make this event a success. Start brainstorming and be on the look-out for flyers the last week of September to sign up and participate!
Our new sessions of afterschool sports begin the week of October 23rd. If you are interested in signing up, take a look at the attached flyer and head to www.thepsasports.com to sign up.
Just a reminder that Monday is a teacher planning, so there is no school for students.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Tuesday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes!
9/15/23
Good evening, Forest Lakes families! This is your Assistant Principal, Mrs. Mac, calling with your weekly update.
Congratulations to Ryan Batchuluun, Mykhailo Lisovenko, Salvador Munoz Revilla, Jack Baird, Lilliana Mcray, Bulat Miftakhov, Vincent Parkinson, Izabella Rojas, Matthieu St Pierre, and Allison Watkins who all have been selected to have their art displayed the at Pinellas Country Schools Administration Building. All families are welcome to view any of the K-12 works of art on display at the admin building on Tuesday, September 26 between 5:00 and 7:00 PM
5th grade parents – East Lake Middle School Academy of Engineering is hosting a discovery night on November 14th at 5:30 PM. All families are welcome to attend and check out their amazing program. Reservations to book a small group tour of their school open on September 27th with limited space available ELMS Discovery Night Flyer
Saturday September 23rd the Tampa Bay Rowdies are hosting a Pinellas County School’s night at Al Lang Stadium. Tickets are $18 if you would like to attend. Rowdies Flyer
The staff and students at Forest Lakes Elementary will be participating in the Start with Hello program by promoting kindness at our school and in our community throughout the week of September 18th-22nd. We are asking all of our students and faculty to participate in the fun events and dress up days of the week:
Monday- Be the Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud - Wear any color of the rainbow
Tuesday- Peace, Love and Kindness - Dress in tie dye
Wednesday - Ohana Means FAMILY and That is Us! - Wear flowers or Hawaiian/tropical clothing
Thursday - Real Heroes are Kind - Wear your favorite superhero shirt
Friday - Kindness Always Wins - Wear your favorite winning team jersey
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Monday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes.
9/8/23
Good evening Forest Lakes families! This is your Principal, Holly Huey, calling with the weekly updates.
Thank you, families for attending our Open House this week! Our teachers loved being able to share their classroom with you all and get to know our families better! I hope you feel informed about the curriculum and standards your child will learn this year.
We also held our Donuts with Grown Ups this morning and were blown away at the attendance. We hope you enjoyed a little treat with your little ones and mingling with other families. Thank you to our PTO for hosting this sweet little event!
We are wrapping up the first cycle of assessments next week. Data collected from those assessments will be shared by your child’s classroom teacher. Please note that these are progress monitoring assessments. The questions get easier or more difficult depending on how the student responds, and each student will see different questions. Although this test is taking place at the beginning of the year, it is testing students’ knowledge about the entire year’s curriculum. We know and expect that there may be low scores to start, and those scores will rise for both the mid-year and end-of-year assessments. You can find more information about the test and see sample questions at flfast.org/families. Once on the site, just select the grade band appropriate for your student(s).
The results of this first assessment will be used to help teachers understand what areas to focus on with students. Teachers will share more information about your student once all the data is available. More information about the BEST standards and the new state assessments can be found at https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/best/.
The link provided is a stakeholder survey for our Media Center. Our Media Specialist is looking for families input, please take a moment to complete the following survey.
https://forms.office.com/r/jpd19uqmEA
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Monday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes!
9/1/23
Good evening, Forest Lakes families! This is your Assistant Principal, Mrs. Mac, calling with your weekly update.
Due to school closure for Hurrican Idalia, we have rescheduled our Open House for this coming week, on Wednesday September 6th, with the same times and schedule as originally planned.
VPK – 2nd grade students' classrooms will be open from 5:15 – 6:00 and ASD and intermediate will host from 6:30 – 7:15. There will be a PTO meeting in between from 6:00 – 6:30. We hope to see you all there!
We also have extended our FAST testing to end the week of the 11th instead of the 4th. Look for updates about specific testing days from your child’s teacher in grades 3-5.
Parent lunches resumed this week and will continue on Fridays throughout the school year. To participate in parent lunches please be sure to arrive 5 minutes before your child’s scheduled lunch time and sign in at the front office. All seating for parent lunches is outdoors in our courtyard. Arriving early will ensure you can grab your child as their class walks by to the cafeteria as no parents are allowed inside. Please make sure the volume is at a respectful level as classes are in session all around campus and that your children are always seated with you. Students should not be running or playing in the courtyard.
In addition to parent lunches next week, we also have a special breakfast event - Donuts with Grown-Ups from 7:45 – 8:15 on Friday September 8. Students are encouraged to ask a special adult in their life to join them before school for donuts, juice, and coffee for the adults.
Special reminder that school is closed Monday the 4th for Labor Day.
We are so grateful that our campus was not damaged by the storm and hope you and your families were safe during this difficult week. I was so happy to see each and every one of our students that returned to school safely these past two days and our thoughts are with everyone who was impacted by the storm.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you TUESDAY for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes.
8/25/23
Good evening Forest Lakes families! This is your Principal, Holly Huey, calling with the weekly updates.
What a great week here at Forest Lakes! Students are really getting settled in and teachers are beginning their first units of curriculum. We look forward to having you join us on Wednesday, August 30th so you can gain insight into the year’s curriculum and learn more about your teacher and their classroom. Just a reminder about the times we will host this event:
Pre-K, K, 1st, 2nd will attend from 5:15 to 6:00
PTO Meeting will be held from 6:00-6:30
ASD, 3rd, 4th, 5th will attend from 6:30-7:15
Since this is a formal presentation, they will start promptly at the beginning of the time window. Please plan to be on time, so you get all the information shared. This event is intended as a parent information session. However, we want all families to attend, so children are welcome if it would hinder your attendance. Also, this is not the opportunity to have an individual conversation about your child, but you can request a conference at any time.
Our PTO meeting will be held in the cafeteria between the two sessions to allow all families to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the PTO board, find out how the PTO supports our school and students, and find out how you can be part of our programs.
If you have not liked our Facebook Forest Lakes Elementary page, please do so! We will be using this platform more this year to share information about important events on campus as well as share information about what is going on during the day on campus! This is a great tool for us to keep you informed.
An important safety reminder, students cannot be dropped off prior to 8:15 in the front of the school. The only exception is our 5th grade safety patrols who can be dropped off at the front office at 8:05 so they can be on post and ready for arrival at 8:15 am. However, siblings of patrols cannot be dropped off. There is no staff on duty to monitor students prior to 8:15, so this poses a safety concern for your children. The front loop of school is for buses and day care vans only drop off beginning at 8:15. Parents who want to drop off and not get out of the car need to do so in the car loop. It runs very quickly in the morning and is the quickest, safest way to drop off.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Monday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes!
8/18/23
Good evening, Forest Lakes families! This is your Assistant Principal, Mrs. Mac, calling with your weekly update.
As we wrap up our first full week of school, I just wanted to say an official welcome back to all our families. It has been so wonderful seeing all our students back on campus as we kicked off what is sure to be another amazing school year.
Reminder that all of our forms are online this year! Please log into focus and get these forms completed as soon as possible so that we have up-to-date information on your child.
We welcome all parents to come and attend our Open House event on Wednesday, August 30th, for a chance to see your child's classroom and hear from their teacher the specifics of their class and what to expect this year. Our VPK – 2nd grade students will head to their child’s classroom from 5:15 – 6:00 and ASD and intermediate will host from 6:30 – 7:15. There will be a PTO meeting in-between from 6:00 – 6:30. We hope to see you all there!
Our first round of FAST testing begins for VPK and Primary students on Monday with intermediate testing the following week. This Fall assessment sets a baseline for the year and is a helpful data tool for teachers.
Yesterday we had our first rainy-day dismissal. Oftentimes, severe weather dismissals are called at the last minute and yesterday is a perfect example. We had lightning in the area at 2:45 which triggered our rainy-day dismissal policy. On these days, all walkers and bike riders head to the cafeteria to be dismissed as car riders so that we can ensure all of our students are dry and safe. If your child is normally a walker and you notice rain in the area close to pick-up, you are always welcome to call the school and change your child’s dismissal to a car rider for that day, so you are prepared in either situation.
Thank you to all the families who supported Forest Lakes at Menchies spirit night last night! Our next spirit night will be at Marco’s Pizza next month.
As a reminder, Friday parents' lunches will resume after Labor Day on Friday, September 8th.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Monday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes.
8/11/23
Good evening Forest Lakes families! This is your Principal, Holly Huey, calling with the weekly updates.
Thank you for a wonderful first few days of the 2023-2024 school year! WE spent these two days reacclimating to school and learning about our campus and the schoolwide expectations of Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible! Our teachers took time to do some fun activities for students to get to know each other and set up their classroom to get ready for curriculum. Thank you, parents for supporting us as we get school back up and running. Car line is moving along pretty-well for the first week of school! Please have your car tag hanging in your front window until your child is loaded. This makes a big difference in keeping cars moving. If you need another one send a note to your teacher and we will send one home with your child.
We have tagged all students with how they dismissed each day. Please make sure you communicate any dismissal changes to the classroom teacher and if it is a last-minute change throughout the school day, please call the front office.
Our Open House will be hosted on Wednesday, August 30th. On this evening teachers will share formal presentations about their classroom procedures and grade level curriculum. This presentation is geared for parents, so children are welcome but not required to attend. We have staggered the times to accommodate our limited parking options. The breakdown is:
Pre-K, K, 1st, 2nd will attend from 5:15 to 6:00
PTO Meeting will be held from 6:00-6:30
ASD, 3rd, 4th, 5th will attend from 6:30-7:15
Since this is a formal presentation, they will start promptly at the beginning of the time window. Please plan to be on time, so you don’t miss a thing! We look forward to sharing our classrooms with you and giving you more insight into your child’s day here at Forest Lakes.
Support Forest Lakes Spirit Night this upcoming Thursday, August 17, at Menchies in Boot Ranch. Mention Forest Lakes when you order and 20% of your purchase will be donated back to Forest Lakes.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you Monday for another great week of learning at Forest Lakes!
7/31/23
Good afternoon Forest Lakes families! This is your Principal, Holly Huey, calling with some beginning of the year information. This message is a long one and includes lots of beginning of the year information!
The 2023-2024 school year is almost here, and teachers will return to campus this week. We will kick off their return by celebrating Forest Lakes successes on our end of year state assessments. This year we increased our overall percentage to a 73%, which was based on overall proficiency of students in grade 3-5 in the areas of Reading, Math, and Science (grade 5 only). This incredible feat is due to the hard work, and careful planning of Forest Lake’s faculty, as well as the partnering of our families to support their children here at Forest Lakes. Congratulations to all our amazing students and teachers!
Families, please mark your calendars for our Meet the Teacher Event scheduled on Wednesday, August 9th. Families of incoming Pre-K (including ASD), Kindergarten, and K-1st ASD students should plan to meet from 12:00-1:00pm. This orientation will include a visit with your child’s teacher in their new classroom. Following the meet and greet, KG parents only will meet with myself and our Assistant Principal for an informational session about our school. Pre-K families will be hosted in our Pre-K building where they will get to visit their classrooms and meet their new school family.
Families with 2nd-5th ASD students, along with our 1st and 2nd graders can stop by anytime between 1:15-2:15pm on Wednesday, August 9. Families with students in grades 3-5 can stop by anytime between 2:15-3:15pm. If you have children in multiple grades across the two times, we suggest coming at the end of one session and then you can head into the beginning of the next session. The grades are staggered to allow for easier parking on campus. For grades 1-5, this is an informal session where your child can locate their class, meet their teacher, and drop off supplies.
Class lists will be posted in the front of campus and lots of staff will be on hand with maps to guide you to your classroom. If you are new to FLE in grades 1-5, we are hosting brief 15-minute sessions in the cafeteria at the beginning of your time to give you an overview of our school before you head up to meet your teacher.
Attached to this message is a Back-to-School Newsletter packed with information about the beginning of the year. Take some time to read it over as it may answer many of your questions or serve as reminders as we start the new year.
The first day of school is Thursday August 10th. School gates will open at 8:15 am and the school day begins promptly at 8:45 am. Dismissal is at 2:55 pm. Parents may walk their child to class for the first day of school. Just be aware that parking is limited on campus. You may not park in any driveways or loops on this day. You MUST be in a parking space, so you do not block our car loop or bus loop. Beginning on Friday, we will receive students and additional staff will be on hand to help them get to their class.
If your students ride the bus, you may have received an email or text with route information. Postcards will also be mailed to your homes within the week. If you have any questions, contact the district transportation at 727-587-2020.
Pinellas County Schools has compiled Back-to-School forms in one convenient place- online. Use your parent ID and password to log into Focus and complete your Back-to-School Forms packet. If you do not have a username and password, you can create one directly in Focus at https://focus.pcsb.org/focus/index.php. You will be prompted to fill out the forms when you log into Focus. Forms are also available at www.pcsb.org/backtoschoolforms. Parents must be linked to their students to use the new Focus forms. A helpful TIP sheet is attached below and this document may assist you in completing these forms. If you have questions about the forms or your login information, please contact our school. If you need technical support, contact the PCS Help Desk at 727-588-6060.
Mark your calendars for our Open House night! We will host this informational session on Wednesday, August 30th. You will hear information about curriculum and the specifics of your child’s classroom. Additional details will be shared soon!
We look forward to seeing our students and families soon. Enjoy your last week of summer before we embark on another great year of learning at Forest Lakes!
Back to School FOCUS Forms Tip Sheet - English and Spanish2_Revised.pdf
