Dear Viking Families,

What a month March has been for our school! We began the month focused on Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw and last Friday was our first newly designed Sharpen the Saw day. I hope you heard from your Viking(s) all about this fun way students not only selected the activities we offered but were able to participate in an activity of their choice. The day began with our school-wide Pep Rally held in VCMS’s gym. Being able to walk and fit our entire school in Vickery Creek Middle School gym is such a treat. Check out the video and pictures below! Being able to see our entire student body gathered in one place creates an energy that resonated throughout the day. It is seeing our mission - We are a community igniting the joy of learning and inspiring leaders - in action. 

The day ended with Spring Fest and I hope you were able to come out to watch the movie and see our Habit Garden. I’m sure you’ve spotted our Habit Garden even if you were not able to come to Spring Fest. It’s hard to miss driving by! Our Parent Lighthouse Team spearheaded this initiative and many local businesses, including 4E Tree Company, Southern Supply, and Rocky Brook Construction, all helped provide the work needed free of charge. Every student and staff member decorated a rock that they added to the corresponding habit tree. You are welcome to come up and walk through the Habit Garden and be sure to have your Viking show you their rock!

This past week we celebrated our teachers. PTO spoiled our teachers daily for Teacher Appreciation Week. Their care, planning, and genuine gratitude for our teachers and what they do each and every day made all of us extremely thankful for having the opportunity to call this place our jobs. We know how much effort went into the treats, lunches, and activities. Thank you for supporting our PTO. Thank you for supporting our school. 

This is that time of year when the weather is warming back up, Spring Break is approaching, and there is excitement in the air more often than not. We will continue to welcome parents to come eat lunch at school up until Spring Break. Once we return from Spring Break, we will no longer have lunch open to parents. It is very difficult for us to ensure a staff member is at the door to let parents/students back in once they are finished with lunch in the Butterfly Garden. There are so many end of the year activities, you will have plenty of opportunities to visit. However, until then, please know you are now welcome to purchase a school lunch in the cafeteria whenever you do come in and eat.

We recently wrapped up our Cognia Internal Review. This involved about 20 FCS educators who were invited into our school for two days to visit each classroom, interview groups of stakeholders, and look through artifacts that aligned to our national school standards. We are proud that our strongest area is the support and foundation we provide throughout our school. Our areas of growth include progress monitoring and feedback. We will use this feedback to help drive our planning for the 2026-2027 school year and our continuous improvement planning. Thank you to our staff, students, parents, LSC, PTO, and PLT for your participation and contribuiton to this process. Every time you lend your voice and perspective it makes us stronger. 

April begins our final Habit focus with Habit 8: Find Your Voice. This habit is all about sharing your genius with others. I hope you all enjoy Spring Break beginning April 6th and the next Voice will come out April 17th. Our next Leadership Notebook Night is April 15th with notebooks returning that Friday. I know how much it means to students to be able to share their accomplishments with you and show off their notebooks. 

I hope each of you have a relaxing Spring Break and find time to Sharpen Your Saw as a family! Whether you stay home and just rest or if you travel, I do hope the break helps you return ready to finish up the 25-26 school year in a way that sets your child(ren) up for success looking to 2026-2027. 

With gratitude,

Elizabeth Ihle