SUNNYSIDE SCOOP JANUARY, 2019
Principal Points January 2019 The Power of a Read-Aloud “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” ― Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook If your children are anything like mine you have probably heard the phrase, “Read it to me again.” countless times within your household. When my girls were younger they had stories and picture books I would read to them again, and again, and again. I read the story Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans so many times I actually started to read it with my eyes closed. This didn’t last long as my daughter insisted I needed to look at the pages when I read. As my girls got older and became stronger independent readers I found myself reading to them less and less, excited to see them grow in their own reading ability. That was until two summers ago when my youngest, at the age of nine, asked me to begin reading the Harry Potter series to her aloud. I was surprised by this request. When my oldest daughter began reading the Harry Potter series, she wanted to read them alone and I had assumed, incorrectly, that my youngest would want to do likewise. Over the course of the next five months, including pretty much every extended car ride, I read the entire seven book series to not only my nine year old, but also my 13 year old too, all 3,407 pages of them! Both of them LOVED it. I had forgotten what a joy it was to read aloud to my kids, but more importantly reading aloud to them reminded me of why it’s so important that we continue to do so, even as they grow. When we read aloud to our own children, even as they grow, we model a number of very important things. The following list comes from Marie Rippel. 1. We help establish a lifetime interest in reading. 2. We extend their attention spans. 3. We aide in our children’s language development. 4. We help strengthen the power of our child’s imagination. 5. We help build our child’s comprehension. 6. We establish great bonding time with our kids. If you are not in the practice of reading aloud to your kids, I encourage you to find the time to add it to your family routines. If you aren’t sure what to read always feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher for book ideas, or reach out to our Library Media Specialist, Jenna Pomraning, who’s depth and knowledge of books is amazing! Partnering with you, Dr. Nathan Flansburg
Dates to Remember: Tuesday, January 1 NO SCHOOL! Wednesday, January 2 School Resumes Friday, January 4 Irondale Drama presentation during school day Monday, January 7 College Wear Monday Thursday, January 10 West Side Choir Festival Friday, January 11 Student Leadership Team Meeting in Library, 7:35am Monday, January 14 SLT sponsored Pennies for Patients Campaign Begins Tuesday, January 15 January Birthday Lunches with Principal Flansburg Wednesday, January 16 Quarter 2/Semester 1 ends Thursday, January 17 - Monday, January 21 NO SCHOOL! Tuesday, January 22 SLT sponsored Pennies for Patients Campaign Ends Thursday, January 24 West Side Band Festival Monday, January 28 APEX Fun Run Begins! Thursday, January 31 Communication Night, 4:00-7:30pm Grade 3 Folk Dance in Gym, 6:45-7:15pm
January Specialist Update 1st Grade: Music - Quarter Rest, Intro to Folk Dance, and Melodies containing Sol-Mi Art - Earthenware Clay Pinch Pot, Pinch Pot Drawing Phy Ed -Hockey is next Science -Space
2nd Grade: Music - Compose and Perform using quarter note, paired eighth notes, quarter rest. Art -Earthenware Clay introduction, Clay Owls Phy Ed Hockey is next Science - Science Fair information, Plants
3rd Grade: Music -Prepare for Folk Dance Night on January 31 Art - Torn Paper Self-Portraits, 3-D Earthenware Clay Fish Phy Ed -Hockey is next Science - Science Fair information, Buoyancy (clay boats) Technology - We’ll be continuing our coding unit using Chromebooks, Microbits, and Gigglebots.
4th Grade: Music - Practice reading and identifying B,A,G on the staff. Art -Value Still Life Drawing, Earthenware Clay Introduction to Face Pots Phy Ed -Hockey is next Science - Science Fair information, Space
5th Grade: Music - Students will review and practice mastering the notes of the treble clef staff. Art - Clay Names, One Point Perspective Drawing Phy Ed -Hockey is next Science - Science Fair information, Ecosystems
Science Fair - February 21 The Science Fair will be Thursday, February 21st during the school day and open for public viewing in the evening from 5-7 PM. More information can be found on Mr. Wait’s website and coming home in January with students who indicate interest in participating.
Lego League Junior This year Sunnyside had 5 teams participating in First Lego League Junior. LL Junior is a program for students in grades K through 3. Over a 10 week period, our students had to research, design, and build, a moon base for this year’s challenge called Mission Moon. Then teams shared their model and a poster describing their work at a district Exposition at Chippewa on December 8th. The teams did a great job and received the following awards: Awesome Moon Lego Rockets received the Inquiring Mind Award. This award is given to the team who always looks to find a solution and keeps morale up while creating smart solutions. The team members are Rory Clemson, Abby Sumsky, Teddy Norton, Leo Juneau, and Gloria Bondo. The team was coached by Mrs. Clemson.
Rocket Astronauts received the Gracious Professionalism Award. This award is given to the team who is thoughtful, kind, and shows respect for others. The team members are Hank O’Hara, Andy Conrad, Colin Pierce, Thor Baker, Xander Woodward, Isaac McCurdy, and Jacob McCurdy. The team was coached by Mrs. O’Hara and Mrs. Conrad. LEGO Moons received the Complexity and Decoration Award. This award is given to the team who has a beautiful model construction, with great decorative touches. Team members are Eloise O’Hara, Oliver Welsh, Gavin Pribyl, Sofia Priore, Lincoln Meyer, and Lung Ha. This team was coached by Mrs. O’Hara and Mr. Welsh.
Space Shutties received the Team Spirit Award. This award is given to the team who shows great enthusiasm, spirit and excitement all day. Team members are Abbie Johnson, Noah Johnson, Zain Nordstrom, and Cass Wilke. The team was coached by Mrs. Johnson.
The Sunnyside Moon Explorers received the Efficient Builders award. This award is given to the team who uses a creative design process by carefully using only necessary pieces to complete their model. Team members are William Bock, Racheal Ogunjinmi, Erica Banaszak, Sheldon Brown, Prachet Joshi, and Jeremy Hyan. The team was coached by Mrs. Bock. Congratulations to all 5 teams, their team members, and their coaches.
Student Accomplishments Wax Museum Sunnyside 5th graders participated in the Wax Museum on December 18th. Each student researched a historical figure who made a significant, positive contribution to society. Students wrote and memorized a speech and dressed up as their character for the museum. Everyone worked very hard on this project and it was a huge success! Great Job 5th Graders!
Used Book Sale
Lego League
The Student Leadership Team held their annual used book sale on December 18th and 19th. It was a huge success! Students from all classes were able to browse and purchase books for the very low price of 10, 25 or 50 cents. Close to 1,000 books were sold to students! It was great fun to see how excited students were to receive their new books. Happy Reading!!
Congratulations to the Galactic Builders Lego League Team who competed against 31 other teams at Chippewa Middle School on December 8th. Lego League at this level involves students in grades 4 through 8. This year’s challenge is called “Into Orbit”. The team had to design and build a robot using Lego Mindstorms. Then they had to program their robot to complete different missions. They also had to identify a physical or social problem faced by humans during long space missions. They needed to pose a solution to the problem, then share this information in a 5 to 10 minute presentation to the judges at the competition. Finally, they participated in a core values activity to demonstrate how discovery, innovation, inclusion, teamwork, and fun were intertwined in their weekly meetings. The team was judged on their robot design and program, their presentation, their core activity, and how successfully their robot completed their missions on 3 different runs. I am pleased to announce that the team will move on to sectionals to be held in St. Paul in January. Team members are Jevenson Hyan, Griffin Decoux, Rylee Jacobson, Grant Hartin, Landon Blanck, Guilia Priore, and Annika Livstrom. The team is coached by Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Decoux. Not Pictured: Landon Blanck
A Few Friendly Reminders Can I send Birthday treats? In order to help promote all students’ health, as well as providing a safe environment for our students with food sensitivities, all elementary schools have guidelines for birthday celebrations. If you wish to bring something to share with classmates for a birthday celebration, please limit it to a non-food acknowledgement. Donation examples include but are not limited to: student’s favorite book to the class collection, have a special “guest reader” read a book to the class, stickers, pencils, pens, markers, erasers, a board game to the class for indoor recess days, etc. Your child’s teacher will also help recognize your child’s special day.
Can I eat lunch with my child? You are welcome to join your child for lunch. If you are ordering a school lunch, please contact the office by the start of the school day to place your order. Otherwise, you can bring a lunch for you and/or your child. We ask that you do not share food with other children besides your own.
The 5th Grade Band is having an amazing year! It's a great group and we're making wonderful progress. Keep motivating your kids to practice their instruments and we're excited to see what this group sounds like by the end of the year! Anyone currently attending Monday practices, look for information about the West Side Band Festival at Irondale High School on Thursday, January 24th. Anyone not yet coming to those Monday practices, look for information in the near future about joining those Monday morning practices. Title One at Sunnyside Elementary School Sunnyside Elementary is a Title One School. Title One funds are used to support additional literacy needs. Sunnyside Elementary wants to ensure that all children are making growth and are meeting their academic goals. Teachers work together as a team and make decisions on how best to meet the literacy needs of each and every student. One way we help to ensure that children are making the needed growth, is by providing an additional small group in reading for those students who would benefit. In this small group, students meet with a reading intervention teacher for literacy instruction at his/her instructional reading level, in addition to meeting with their classroom teacher.