SUNNYSIDE SCOOP OCTOBER, 2018 Principal Points October 2018 The Importance of Play Recently the StarTribune newspaper ran an article from the American Academy of Pediatrics focusing on a clinical report regarding the importance of play for children. Their study shows a healthy dose of play can enhance a child’s creativity, critical thinking, and resilience. While many of us as parents often work hard to ensure our students have the newest technology, we also need to make sure kids have time to run, play, and imagine. At Sunnyside we’ve taken a proactive approach to play. While many schools around the nation have reduced the amount of time students have for recess, we encourage teachers to have a second recess with their students. Mounds View Schools have also partnered this year with Playworks, an organization that helps improve a positive school culture through safe and healthy play at recess. Sunnyside is committed to making recess a fun and inclusive place for every students in our community to play every day. This year we have a Playworks site coordinator at our school for one week each month, leading, supporting, and training our recess team - including a lead recess “coach” - to create a safe, inclusive playground for all students. Our staff will learn the latest techniques used to positively transform our school environment from the playground to the classroom. At Sunnyside we work hard to ensure students are developing a strong social emotional background. What happens at recess matters throughout the day, and we are working hard to make sure students have the opportunity for safe and healthy play. Playworks helps reduce bullying, provide more time for classroom teaching, and increases physical activity for our students. It is our goal to make sure every student is included regardless of athletic ability, academic skills, or background.
Partnering together with you, Dr. Nathan Flansburg Principal
Important OCTOBER Dates: October 2: Picture Day October 5: Grandparent’s & Special Friends Day October 12: No School! October 1515-17: Scholastic Book Fair October 16: October Birthday Lunches with Principal October 16: Book Fiesta! Literacy Night October 1818-19: No School! October 27: Freeze Tag Game at MV High School October 31: Happy Halloween!
Scholastic Book Fair The Scholastic Book Fair will be held the week of October 15th to coincide with our Family Literacy Night. This is a great opportunity to get exciting new books for our students and raise money for our school library. If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up at: https://bit.ly/2Q3JltG. Tentative book fair hours are 9-4 Monday (10/15), 9-8 Tuesday (10/16), and 9-4 Wednesday (10/17). We will also need help setting up on Friday, 10/12 from 3-4 and packing up after school on Wednesday, 10/17. Book fair hours will depend on how many volunteers help to staff the fair, though. Thank you in advance for your support, and happy reading!
News From the Sunnyside PTA The PTA is excited to once again host Grandparents and Special Friends Day on Friday October 5th. The visitors are invited to come to Sunnyside at the following times on October 5th: 9:00 - 9:45am Grade 5 9:15 - 10:00am Grade 2 10:15 - 11:00am Grade 1 1:15 - 2:00pm Grade 3 2:15 - 3:00pm Grade 4 Volunteers are needed to make this fun event a success. If you are interested in volunteering, sign up on the Sunnyside website front page or go to https://bit.ly/2ztsGdP
Easy Ways to Support Sunnyside... Did you know? We are always collecting Box Tops and Coke Rewards at Sunnyside. For every Box Top and Coke Reward we earn cash for our school! Box Tops are found on specially marked packages and Coke Rewards are under bottle caps, inside the tear off on 12 packs and on multi-pack wraps. So keep on clipping, saving, and sending them in!! Another easy way to support our school is through the Amazonsmile program. Every time you shop on amazon, you can support Sunnyside by starting your shopping at http://smile.amazon.com. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile puchases to the Sunnyside School PTA (be sure to choose the New Brighton, MN location) whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Thank you for your support!
Sunnyside Mosaic Suns now on Display!
Thanks to a generous donation by the Sunnyside PTA, last April Sunnyside students worked with local Artist in Residence, Mica Lee Anders, to create six mosaic suns. The completed works are now hung on the wall by the gym heading toward the first and second grade classrooms. Be sure to check them out!
October Specialist Updates Science 1st grade - Students have been learning about birds- habitats, adaptations (beaks, feet, wings), defenses, and food sources. 2nd grade - Students have been exploring magnets and forces. Students used magnets, learned how magnets are used in our world, assembled and used an electro-magnet, and discussed forces. 3rd grade - Students are learning about light for our first unit and have explored light properties, reflections, eyes, prisms, and uses for lights (infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet). 4th grade - Students are exploring structures, building, and engineering. They have built and tested structures and problem-solved to improve their structures. 5th grade - Students are learning about forces, motion, and pendulums. We have experimented and learned about Newton's Laws of Motion, gravity, predictability of pendulums, and kinetic/ potential energy.
Phy Ed In Physical Education we started the year with activities that will build the foundations for other activities through out the year. These included throwing and catching games, controlling yourself and the equipment, and a discussion about good stress versus bad stress in a competition.
Art Sunnyside artists started out the school year learning about the expectations of the Art room and making a community mural. Each day, every class created one part of the mural. By the end of the first week of school we had beautiful artworks hanging all down the main hallway. We also have a student teacher to welcome to the Sunnyside Art room, Katie Cadwell, from Bethel University. Please check and see if your child is registered on Artsonia. If they are not, they've brought home a permission slip. Please contact me with any questions about Artsonia. 651-621-7676.
Technology (Grade 3) We are using Google Classroom to create different types of documents and learning about digital citizenship.
Music Elementary school students at Sunnyside will be introduced to the Indonesian Gamelan this fall as part of an artists in residency program. Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, elementary school music teachers will partner with artist in residence Joko Sutrisno to offer all students in grades three to five an opportunity to learn to play the Indonesian Gamelan, a non-western ensemble percussion instrument. To learn more about the program, watch a video at https://vimeo.com/29697889 Joko Sutrisno, the Artistic Director of Sumunar Gamelan and Dance Ensemble. http://www.sumunar.org This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Band News 5th Grade Band is up and running with our Monday morning practices for anyone who was in summer band. Our lessons have also started for every band member. We hope to get all students just beginning on instruments ready for these Monday morning practices as soon as possible! It is going to be a great group of students this year!
Orchestra News The Sunnyside Orchestra as begun their first week of rehearsals and are excited for a new musical season! If your child is interested in participating, please contact Annika Spargo as soon as possible to join the fun! Orchestra meets one day a week at Edgewood Middle School from 7:30 to 8:30am for a large group rehearsal, and then each student is assigned a small group lesson during the school day. 5th grade returning students rehearse on Tuesday mornings and 4th grade (and beginning 5th grade) students rehearse on Wednesdays. Important Sunnyside For more information, please contact Phone Numbers Annika.Spargo@moundsviewschools.org If your child will be absent from 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.
school, call the Attendance Line at 651-621-7601. Please provide a reason for the absence. If you need to contact the Main office, please call 651-621-7600.
Dear Sunnyside Community, I’m excited to share some big news. This year, we are bringing a “program of play” to our school through the Playworks TeamUp program! We are proud to partner with Playworks to make recess a fun, inclusive time for every student in our community. Playworks is the leading national nonprofit using play to transform schools. A Playworks recess creates a place for every kid on the playground to feel included, be active, and build valuable social and emotional skills. You can learn more at http://www.playworks.org. Get Excited! A Playworks site coordinator will be working with us to create a safe, inclusive, and fun recess for all students at our school. The site coordinator will spend one week out of every month at our school to train, build and sustain a high-functioning recess. Our recess team staff will work to implement these new strategies to help all students at our school experience safe and healthy play every day. Learn more at http://www.playworks.com/services/welcome/teamup Here’s some Playworks videos: Empower the Playground Team with Playworks TeamUp (overview) - https://bit.ly/2xFkhCJ Why We Play - https://bit.ly/2Dv8MmE Playworks Junior Coach program - https://bit.ly/2IgSLzm Thank you for your support. We look forward to building and sustaining a community of safe and healthy play!