Chess Club to students in grades two to six interested in learning and playing chess. All levels are welcome! Beginners and advanced players! Players are grouped by ability, not age. Rules are taught to beginners and strategies to experienced players.

Chess teaches responsibility, discipline, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Chess players learn how to make the most of their opportunities and how to turn a bad situation to their advantage. They learn not to make excuses for their setbacks, and to win and lose graciously.

Membership in the club includes a weekly club meeting and the opportunity to participate in the Elementary Team League. Chess Club is offered through our partnership with the U.S. Chess Center https://chessctr.org. All instructors are nationally certified chess coaches.

The club meets on Thursdays from 4:15-5:30 p.m. starting September 19-January 30 for the fall semester. Spring Semester is February 6-May 29.

Register HERE.

Welcome to Scouting! Apply for membership or to volunteer for scouting HERE.

The club is full and closed to registrations

 The PTA is sponsoring the club led by Karen and Doug Rice, Karen is a former Kindergarten Instructional Assistant.

The Garden/Farm-to-Table Club is open for third to sixth-graders and meets on Fridays from 4-5:30 p.m. at Willow Springs, starting  September 8-October 27. Club participants will learn how to plan, plant, and harvest a garden of native flowers and vegetables. They will also help with the Farmer's Market.

PTA is sponsoring the club led by STEAM Teacher, Carley Fisher-Maltese. Her email address is @email.

Willow Springs is hosting a weekly fall farmer's market this year, it will be set up in front of the basketball blacktop from 4:00-4:30 p.m. on Fridaysstarting September 8 to October 27. Students in the Garden /Farm to Table club will run the event in conjunction with Piney Meadow Farm. The money the students raise through the produce sales will go towards the Garden Club and STEAM activities. Parents are encouraged to park in the adjacent neighborhood and walk over to pick up produce. The market is open in the spring and fall.

Welcome to Scouting! Apply for membership or to volunteer for scouting HERE.

Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can develop their leadership skills and discover their strengths. They determine their focus and rise to meet new challenges. Perhaps they want to work with an arborist or climb to the top of a tree, become the top student in their class, earn musician or athlete's badges, lace up their boots for a hike, advocate for climate justice, collect supplies for the local food bank, or make life-long best friends. Girls in each troop decide what they want to focus on during the year and how they can collaborate to accomplish their goals.

We have seven Girl Scout Troops with girls from kindergarten through sixth grade at Willow Springs. They usually meet twice a month and have activities they plan together. There are a few activities each year in which all troops participate.

• The VIP Dance is where girls bring a special adult to enjoy an evening of games and music with a DJ.
• World Thinking Day is where troops present information about countries around the world to their peers.
• Juliette Gordon Low's Birthday Party is a dress-up dance party that takes place around Halloween to celebrate the Founder of Girl Scouts/Halloween/Day of the Dead. Food and Funds are collected for food banks and charities.

Good News Club (GNC) is an exciting, fun-filled weekly club for kids in which the Bible is taught through songs, stories, and games. Boys and girls from kindergarten through sixth grade can attend, and parents are welcome to participate with their children. The club is sponsored through the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Northern Virginia. 

They will begin meeting in October 2024 through April 2025.

For more information contact the Team Leader, Eun Cho at @email or 703-474-6434.

Registration details will be posted soon.

Registration for the WSES Mathematical Olympiad Club is open. 

• Third and fourth-grade students will meet weekly after school in the cafeteria and will have over 15 opportunities to participate in various tournaments and competitions.
• There will be no club meetings for fifth and sixth graders, they will participate in various tournaments

Fees

• Only club meetings, no competition- $25 
• Club meetings with competitions-$25, plus the fee for selected competitions
• No Club meetings, only competitions-Pay for selected tournaments

Math Competitions

• MOEMS - Mathematical Olympiad for Elementary and Middle School-$25 (covers 5 contests)
• Perennial Math Competition Fall and Spring Season-$25 per season
• NOETIC Learning Math Contest, Seasons 1 and 2-$25 per season
• Math Kangaroo-$25

 Please get in touch with Nunik Nishanian at [email protected] for more information.

Currently not open for registrations.

The Willow Springs PTA is sponsoring the Mindful Math Club for current 4th graders who love challenging math, enjoy working on math puzzles, and find different solutions to given problems.

Club Activities: 

• Mathematically designed games, stories, and puzzles.
• Apply math theories to the real world.
• Apply creative solutions to challenging math problems.
• Discuss advanced concepts NOT in the current curriculum. 
• No homework!
• A maximum of 20 students are accepted.

Please contact Zenobia Geadah at [email protected] or 703-447-3713 with questions.

JOIN THE RUNFIT KIDZ TEAM! Register at www.runfitkidz.com

Grades 1-6-AFTER School-Wednesdays, 4-5:15 p.m.-September 25-November 13

• Certified Professional Coaching provided
• Instruction on running mechanics, strength training, nutrition, pacing, and goal setting
• Participants build self-esteem, confidence, and determination
• Celebration 5K: Sunday, November 17 at Fairfax Corner

2024-25 WSES Division A Science Olympiad Registration for the rising third, fourth, and fifth graders is now OPEN!

• Interest Forms were due 6/10/2024
• Parent Meeting to be scheduled
• Competitions will take place on 1/26, 11/2, 11/9 and/or 11/16/2024

Interested students and parents can now fill out a parent interest form, while more information and specific details about each of the competition events are available here. 

Willow Writers Club

Who?  Students in grades 4, 5, and 6

What?  Willow Writers is a space for students to write and share creatively outside of-school assignments with a supportive group.  It is not tied to the FCPS academic program. 

Where?  Mrs. Young’s Classroom

When?  Tuesday mornings, 8:15 – 9 am.  There will be two sessions, each capped at 30 students.  

Fall Session:  Tuesday, October 29 - Tuesday, December 10, 2024

*Week 2 will meet on Wednesday, November 6 since November 5 is a school holiday.

There will be another session in the spring.

How Much?  Willow Writers is FREE to join. 

What will students do?

Mostly, we will write! Students will write to different prompts, have the opportunity to share their writing with others, and learn how to offer and receive feedback. We'll explore different genres and styles of writing (poetry, scriptwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and more). We will focus on transporting ideas from imagination onto the page while taming your inner critic.

What will students need?

A notebook and a pen or pencil, or they can bring their own FCPS laptop (fully charged) if typing is preferred - their choice!

Please, no personal devices from home, only FCPS-issued laptops.

How do I sign up?

Registration will open on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 9 a.m. Sign up using the QR Code below OR by typing this link into your URL: https://forms.gle/kpq7i42qmQMVaHPe6

Band is a year-long graded course open to fifth and sixth graders.

Our AAA School Safety Patrol Program consists of approximately 100  fifth and sixth-grade students. The program provides opportunities for our members to be leaders and role models for their peers and younger students.

There are two categories of Patrols; Bus Patrol and School Grounds Patrol.

• Bus Patrols help load and unload students on the bus, and they are trained to help bus drivers in emergencies such as bus evacuations. They also help our kindergarten students to and from the bus in the morning and afternoon.
• Grounds Patrols help in school hallways, Kiss & Ride, and the walking path. They also help raise and lower the American and Virginia Flags and track the arrival and dismissal of buses.

Chorus is an activity open to fifth and sixth graders during the school day, it is not a graded course.

Sixth-grade students volunteer/help out in the morning by collecting and shelving library books in the library.

Strings is a year-long graded course open to fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders.

Our student ambassador program is new to Willow Springs for the 2023-24 school year. Ambassadors meet monthly to ensure new students have a warm welcome to Willow Springs! 

Students discuss student needs and share ideas with school staff about how to make Willow Springs a welcoming school.  Our ambassadors also meet with new students to show them around, answer questions, and make sure each new student knows that they belong at Willow Springs!

The Student Council Association is composed of students whose primary role is to serve and help make Willow Springs Elementary a better place for all students. The SCA builds character and develops leadership, confidence, responsibility, organization, and teamwork. All this takes is a student's time, energy, and willingness to work. SCA general meetings are held once a month during school hours. The Executive Board meetings (officers) meet about once a month during school.

There are four officer positions and one class representative from grades three to six who make up the SCA. They are tasked with identifying school spirit day activities, making posters, and reporting back to their classrooms with events planned.

• President-Sixth Grader
• Vice President-Fifth Grader
• Secretary-Sixth Grader
• Treasurer-Sixth Grader

Willow Springs News Network (WSNN) – Join our crew!

Our WSNN is a student-produced live show that airs in all classrooms Monday-Friday from 9:17-9:22 a.m. and connects our school community by sharing important news, updates, and events around our school. Led by a team of enthusiastic and dedicated student anchors in grades 2-6, the News Crew is a fun and informative way to stay current at our school. Any interested student at WSES is eligible to join our crew, new students join throughout the year! We have more than 40 active crew members in grades two to six. We typically meet during lunch, Fox Den, or recess. Please reach out to to your teacher if you are a student at WSES, and interested in joining our crew. We have behind-the-scenes and anchor positions available.

Our crew brings you the latest news and happenings each week, from upcoming events and special guests to student achievements and classroom highlights. They also feature interviews with teachers, staff, and students, giving us a glimpse into the daily life of our school community. In addition to being a great way to stay informed, the News Crew is also a fantastic learning opportunity for our student anchors. They learn valuable skills such as public speaking, teamwork, and critical thinking as they research and prepare their segments for the show.

But the WSNN is more than just a show - it's a community. Our team works together to create a positive and inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. They strive to represent our school community's diverse voices and perspectives and encourage all students to get involved and share their ideas. We are proud of our News Crew and their role in bringing our school community together. We hope you'll tune in and join us in celebrating the amazing things happening at our school!

Many people don't know what happens behind the scenes and all that is involved in producing a live production. We have 4 behind the scenes jobs and between 2-3 anchors to run the live show.  To have a more in-depth understanding of the show, check out the description of each element below. 

News Crew Jobs

Switcher- The switcher controls which camera students are seeing live in their classroom. In the news studio, we have two different cameras so we can have two different sets. The main set is for our two main anchors. We have a more relaxed talk show vibe. Our second camera is for our additional anchor. Each day of the week we have a special news segment that our additional anchor helps out with.

Slides- Our students use Canva to control our backgrounds. You'll notice in our behind-the-scenes video below, that we use green screens to be able to have whatever we want as our background. We have our "news set", followed by slides to do the pledge and a moment of silence. Then students share what's for lunch each day and then we add our additional segment's set, before we wrap out the news show. Students have fun adding to the slides and being creative. 

Audio Mixer- Our audio mixer controls which of our three microphones are on and transmitting audio to the classrooms and the crew member can also control the volume. 

Script- The news anchors who are on for the week help to prepare the script. They start from a template and then customize parts and fill in parts on their own. It is their responsibility to make sure the script is ready for the morning and the slides are ready to go as well. 

Main anchors- Our two main anchors are live for the week. They collaborate to get the script and slides ready for the whole week. 

Additional anchors- Our additional anchor will run the additional news segments.