|
In this issue
A note from the current Messenger Editor: I am re-committing myself to sending one Messenger a week, with very infrequent "alerts". Please keep in mind that all entries are due by Thursday at noon. So, if you have an entry that is time-sensitive, please send your information at least one week PRIOR to the event. I acknowledge that last-minute requests will still occur, but please think about the community at large: Is this an emergency for the general group? Could I have sent this earlier? By when do I need to submit my entry to honor the good of the entire group? Detailed submission policy is available on the PTSA website.
Upcoming Events
Friday, November 6
NO SCHOOL--Garden hours available on Friday, November 6th from 9-12. See the sign up board in the front hall for details.
Monday, November 9 at 9 :00am
Theatre Meeting (for anyone who has input about the goals of theatre education at SES)
Monday, November 9 at 7:00pm at Franklin High
What is Going On in Your Teenager's Mind? (see calendar for more information)
Tuesday, November 10 at 6:00 pm
Wednesday, November 11
NO SCHOOL-Veterans' Day
Saturday, December 5th
|
(please thank Britt when you see her)!
I wanted to send a special thank you to the people who made this year’s Harvest Faire a big success!
First, thanks to my dad for sending an extraordinary fall day. And to my sisters who let me boss them around for once!
To the SES community for coming and supporting the event!
To Mike Clark for planning, purchasing and cooking the delicious pasta dinner. He makes cooking 75 pounds of pasta seem so easy! And to Mike, Jeff Ramsey and Annette and Josh Palmer who helped prepare the food on Friday evening. No more waiting for water to boil until next year!
To SES parent Tom Webb for another fabulous poster!
To Cindi Carrell and Ericka Grogan for all you do and do and do. Ericka, I think the map was a hit! Thanks for creating it.
To Principal Sarah and Ivan for the welcoming fire.
To SES parent Jill Mason, of Starflower, for the welcoming pumpkin full of flowers and the bouquets on the dining tables.
To the 1st and 2nd grade teachers who hosted their Farmer’s Markets. The kids loved to run the show!
To Beth Azar and the Room Parents for helping coordinate volunteers.
To the Middle School students for a GREAT carnival. The best year ever! And to coordinators Vice Principal Amy, Hilary Nally and volunteers who helped put it all together.
To coordinator Jeff Ramsey and volunteers who sold tickets and helped with dinner.
Dan, you are the Dish Man!!
To coordinators Amanda and Bill Welch and volunteers for baking and creating a truly Magical Cookie Palace.
To coordinator Marie Schumacher, Jeff Ramsey, Robert Miller, and volunteers who ran the cider press. Free cider! Yum!
To coordinator Kristina Holmes and volunteers who set-up and ran the hay bale jump. It was a big hit!
To Monica and the 5th graders and a lovely array of pumpkins. Thank you Jim for growing and delivering these treats.
To coordinator Mario Galindo and volunteers for cleaning up the mess.
To SES parent and photographer Jan Sonnenmair, who did some creative trading with Farmer Don Brown for a giant pumpkin.
To Matt Karlsen and Jennifer O’Connor for another Cake Walk. Words escape me for the enthusiasm that you put into this event!
To Chris and Caitlin from the Campfire group who put together a fun Craft Room!
To our new librarian Kathryn, and to Zoe Pederson, Gagandeep Singh and our Americor volunteer Katie, for hosting a tea in the library.
To our entertainers Caroline Oakley and the Old Time Highway. The weather beckoned people out of doors, but you kept the auditorium hopping!
To the pocket lady, Judy Pearson.
To Neeley and Doug and Tom and Kristin and Courtney for those delicious grilled sausages!
To Keith, the custodian, for working over time.
To Mona, our school cook, for sharing the school kitchen.
And lastly to those businesses who helped sponsor our event including: Grand Central Baking, Zupan's Market, Portland Nursery, Sheridan Fruit Company, Fred Meyer, Tazo Tea, Sunshine Dairy, and Laurelhurst Market.
From the Cake Walk Coordinators:
Thanks to everyone who brought beautiful cakes, tortes, brownies, crumbles, pies, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, etc. for the cake walk. Nothing quite matches the face of the person who finds out they get to walk over to the table and pick from all those beauties: Without your efforts, it's just a dance. Thank you!
Thanks also to Veloce Bicycles, Clever Cycles, and Nutcase Helmets - all of which donated prizes awarded in the pumpkin raffle. These businesses support our school; please consider supporting them (or just dropping by to thank them.)
From a very considerate SES parent:
"To the Cake Walk baker of the wonderful chocolate cake/torte with chocolate frosting and chocolate ganache dollops . It was perfect and delicious in every way, and just the right amount of sweetness! So grateful to my daughter's friend-Lillie, for her willingness to split it with our family, when she had a family of 5 to bring it home to.
Yummy yum yum!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS to Linus Clark! He won the pumpkin contest by guessing the exact weight of the giant pumpkin at 189 pounds.
|
|
|
SUNNYSIDE ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL RAISES FUNDS WITH PRE-PAID SHOPPING
CARDS!
We've had a great start to the year with strong sales of our PRE-PAID
SHOPPING CARDS, formerly known as SCRIP. In our first five weeks we've sold about $16,500 in cards making a profit for our school of over $650. Those are funds that directly benefit our students, and
aren't costing parents any extra money. People are simply getting in
the habit of buying their groceries and other regular purchases by using pre-paid shopping cards.
To thank our regular card buyers and to encourage new families to join this easy SES fundraiser, we are running a promotion during the month of November. Each time you buy PRE-PAID SHOPPING CARDS during the
month of November, you can enter your name in a drawing for a $20 card to Fred Meyer (or another $20 of your choice). The drawing will be held on November 18th, so we can hand out the gift card in time for you to use it for a special Thanksgiving treat.
Remember, PRE-PAID SHOPPING CARDS don't cost you any extra money, unlike other SES fundraisers. You are simply buying PRE-PAID SHOPPING CARDS for stores you would shop in anyway, such as New Seasons, Fred Meyer and Safeway. For every $100 card you buy, Sunnyside
Environmental School gets $4 (or every $20 card you buy, or $50 card, etc). Some cards give us an even larger percentage. PRE-PAID SHOPPING CARDS are sold at school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. You must bring a check (go put one in your wallet right now)
or cash.
Middle School Families can target the proceeds from their purchases to the Marine Biology Fund, which lowers the cost of spring trips for all
families. Just tell your scrip seller that you want your money to go to the Marine Biology Fund. So far, Middle School families have made
up only about 1/3 of the scrip purchases, earning the Marine Biology
Fund about $225. C'mon, we can do better than that!
Any questions? Stop by the table and ask, or send an email to SESscrip@yahoo.com
Anna Goldrich
anna.goldrich@gmail.com
Community Offerings/Requests:
Our Brain and Theirs--A Parenting Class with Kathy KJ: Begins
Wednesday November 18 for 4 sessions ($20), Room 215. Find out how
understanding the brain--yours and your child's--can help you to
promote mindfulness, attentiveness and emotional intelligence. Please
email, kkellerj@pps.k12.or.us, or call, 971-219-6886 to let Kathy know
that you will be attending.
Wanted: 8th grade boy basketball players
for Portland Parks & Recreation basketball league. See: Ian
Johnston, call Tom Spain at 503-772-1752 or e-mail Tom at
tom66172@gmail.com
For EMS alumni:
This note came to us from Noah Cardamon's mom..."I made a Blog for my
Son Noah, who was killed in 2005. There are photos, drawings and
writings he did that may be of interest to some of his friends or
teachers. This was before the school moved, and was called the
Environmental Middle School back then."
http://noahcardamon.blogspot.com
Carpool needed: My
6th grade daughter and I live at NE 35th and Hancock and I am trying to
find carpooling options for her to get to Sunnyside in the morning and
return in the afternoon. I am willing to consider a multitude of
options! Basically, I'm desperate! Call me (503) 867-4356, my name is
Danielle
djfriedenberg@yahoo.com
Thanks for making International Walk and Bike to School Day such a success last month.
We had really high participation schoolwide, and especially in the 4th,
7th and 8th grades. Fortunately, even though International Walk and
Bike to School Day is over, we still have prizes and opportunities to
participate in Walk and Bike activities the first Wednesday of each
month for the rest of the school year. Come on over to the Walk and
Bike table Wednesday, November 4th. See ya there!
Eve
OPPORTUNITY TO ROOST FOR THE DAY:
A steady stream of new middle school students have been jumping into
The Roost as a place to chill after school, get homework done, and
bring creative energy to special art, electronics and service
projects. There are no more open house days now that the Camp Fire
staff is supervising full time after school every day 3:15 - 6pm. The
simplest and easiest way for a student to experience The Roost is to
"Roost for the Day" before registering for the program on an ongoing
basis by filling out the attached Camp Fire Supervision paperwork.
This paperwork must be given to Camp Fire staff at or before a first
day visit. If you have elementary students at SES but your middle
schooler is elsewhere or your student has friends to keep in touch with
from other schools, the Roost is open to students from other middle
schools (there are currently students at The Roost from Hosford,
DaVinci and Laurelhurst). Sponsorships are available for families in
need of assistance with member fees which are $45 per month for each
registered day of the week. All registrations are handled by the
Sunnyside Swap Shop Co-op. More program information at
www.sunnysideswapshop.org or by contacting Karen Hery at (503) 407-2667
sunnysideswapshop@gmail.com
DO JUMP
winter term registrations start, Monday, Nov. 2 at 10am for kid's and
adult circus arts classes at the Echo Theater off Hawthorne and the gym
space at Sunnyside Methodist Church building across the street from
SES. Winter break morning camps the week of Christmas and the week of
New Years for kids 5+ are $155 a week. Regular winter term classes are
January 11th - March 20th. Baby circus classes going on now are open
to limited drop-in participants. Classes are on Wednesday mornings at
Sunnyside Church Oct. 28 - Dec. 9: 9:45-10:30, ages 12-24mo. &
10:35-11:20, ages 2-3yrs. Anyone interested in dropping-in to a class,
call DoJump at 503-231-1232 by 5pm the day before. More class info at
www.dojump.org. |
|
|
|
|
|
| No School on Friday 11/6 and Wednesday 11/11
|
|
A Note From Principal Sarah
Good afternoon,
This new and ever evolving flu has caused a great sense of fear and worry both at school and in the wider community.
Like all things, we have an opportunity to use this to educate ourselves and each other and to learn valuable lessons about health and taking care of ourselves.
Bacteria and viruses are a part of our world. They are for better and worst an essential part of our biological world. We can not exist without them. We can not and would not want them to all go away. They are everywhere and are on everything.
It is our work to live with them by building our own immune systems and preventing the spread of them when they cause harm.
You do this through the basics:
- Adequate sleep and rest
- Fresh air
- Healthy food/greatly reduce sugar
- Time to relax and let stress slip away
- Good hygiene-washing hands and covering your mouth
You can help the school by doing the following:
- Building your own families' immune system
- Teaching your kids good health habits
- Keeping your child home if they have a fever, cough or runny nose until robost health is restored
- Not sharing a self diagnosis with others ( it only causes fear ) If
you or your child are diagnosed by a doctor with the swine flu, please
let the office know. It has a wide variety of symptoms and is
difficult to sort out form colds and other flu symptoms common to
winter in Portland.
All the teachers will give your homework for an extended time at home so please ask.
Try to find the gift in a week of recovery and immunity building; sleeping in, lots of reading, soup making, warm tea and movies together. It is a time to talk more and slow down. So, when the symptoms of colds begin to appear, listen to your body and rest. Change plans and directions and move into a slower pace and let your children recover and gain strength.If your child is exposed to things and builds immunity they can become stronger but this is done through rest and slow recovery.
There are many medicines to bring down fevers and stop pain. However you and your child are still contageous and should not be at school. We have parents and children at our school with long term compromised immune systems. They should rest assured that no one would come to school or send a child with a known illness.
I know that parents work and staying home is hard but the whole school community is counting on each person to do their part in building a school wide atmosphere of good health habits.
I will try to host some forums on building immunity for parents in the near future. Building immunity is not the same as eliminating symptoms or killing the virus. All three approaches are useful and should be understood.
Hope this helps,
Sarah
A Welcome: Alder Manning and Michelle (of Jean's Farm) will be our new school gardeners. Alder will work with K-5 students and Michelle will work with middle school.
Angela is working with students in her new Elementary SPED classroom, across from Mia's room.
Tuesday, November 10th
6:00 PM
Dinner and child care provided
RSVP to the office
Telling the Sunnyside Story in Pictures
Photographers and graphic design experts are invited for dinner and an
evening to share photos and art that we can incorporate into the
curriculum framework. We are asking people to bring 20 of their best
SES related photos or scanned kids art work to share. ( I need help
getting art work scanned )
Topics include - outdoor learning, cooking, parents, service, community events, gardening, classroom learning, music, etc
How can we bring the work of the staff, parents and students to life
with art and photographs? How can we tell this story to preserve it
for our own and others children? How can we use visual images to
explain the importance of play and the outdoors in the cognitive and
social development of children.
Please come if you have any interest. Grandparents and family friends, alumni, students are all invited.
A story on why this is important:
Last night I met with a group of north Portland parents. A parent
shared that last year in her child;s third grade he watched 65 movies.
She was told that this was okay because that had good test scores.
Many of us believe that those 65 to 100 hours could have been used for
outdoor play, art and service and that all children need these things.
If you believe this, please join me in bringing our framework to life
with art and photographs.
I am also interested in putting together a book of Harvest writing, photos based on fall learning if anyone wants to help me.
Middle schoolers can volunteer for this event as babysitters or participants and of course share their own photos.
Sarah
From Vice Principal Amy:
TAG:Parents: this is a friendly reminder that teachers need(ed) your TAG referral forms last week if you are interested in TAG testing for your student during the 2009-10 school year. If you missed this deadline and are still interested, you can pick up a form in the office and turn it into your child's teacher no later than Monday, November 2. Unfortunately, we won't be able to accept nomination forms after this date. Please contact Amy if you have further questions.
Dogs in school grounds: Please make sure that all dogs are leashed at all times on school grounds--this includes the park. If you leash and tie up your dog during drop off or pick up, please make sure to do so away from congested areas, doorways and sitting areas. Particularly, if you tie up your dog on the Salmon St. side of the building, please avoid the bike racks, the cobb bench, and the area near the front door. We prefer that you leash your pet closer to 35th, near the flagpole and away from foot traffic. Thank you.
|
Dear SES Families,
Many of you may have already heard that the PTSA is not hosting the annual auction this school year. This was a difficult decision for us to make, as the auction generates a large portion of our fundraising goal each year. Not only is it an important event for SES fiscally, it is also a special time for the adults in our community to socialize and honor one another.
Why did we choose to not host the auction this year?
We feel strongly that an auction is not in the best interest of the school this year nor is it reflective of our community’s needs. Many of our families and local businesses are feeling the financial crunch. The auction is an expensive event to host. It takes a lot of money to put-on and we are unsure of how successful the event would be this year. It seemed like a weighty risk to spend a lot of money on the auction if we were not confident it would be a successful fundraising event. The auction depends on the donations of goods and services from many of our local businesses. Many of these businesses are struggling to keep their doors open and are not in a position to support our efforts.
At the end of the last school year the PTSA hosted The Run For SES. This event required very little upfront money to host and generated a large portion of our fundraising last year. This event inspired us to think even more creatively and responsibly about how we are going to raise money this year.
What fundraising events are we hosting in lieu of the auction?
The school is already buzzing about one of the new events we are hosting this year, The SES Read-a-thon. Students and families are already feeling excitement over this event. What better way to raise money for the school than to do it by encouraging reading? Watch for information in the coming weeks, this event will begin on February 15th, 2010.
One of the beloved traditions of the auction are the Party Boards. We would like to continue this piece of the auction by doing a silent auction of The Party Boards at the beginning of December. The Party Boards will be available for viewing in the main hallway at SES. This will be an ideal opportunity to give participation in a Party Board as a holiday gift. It is also likely that we will have a silent auction (in the hall and online) with weekend getaways offered by our community. More on that in the Spring…
On April 24, 2010 the PTSA will be hosting an Earth Day celebration. This will be the time for adults in our community to socialize and honor one another; details of this event are soon to come.
We are grateful of the community’s continuous support of our fundraising goals and look forward to this exciting school year. There are tremendous opportunities for engagement and growth built into this new plan. Please join us in the planning and implementation of these events!
Sincerely,
Your PTSA
|
School and PTSA News and Information
8th Grade Trip to Catalina (originally posted on 10/28/09): Catalina deposit was due last Friday, Oct. 30th. $200 for each student ($100 for students on free/reduced lunch) to Kristy in the office, please.
Do you want to have your name placed in the chaperone lottery? We have 10 to 12 slots for adults (waiting to hear from the camp regarding the specific number). Currently, we have 13 adults who have expressed interest in chaperoning. If you have informed us that you would like to attend the Catalina trip, please email Tara at kentuckyblu@hotmail.com by this Friday. We will then have a lottery for the allotted spaces next week. Remember, each chaperone must pay for his or her trip.
(Adults who have responded regarding wanting to chaperone this trip: Tracey Brown, Inga Weiss, Eugene Bingham, Beverly Wong, Teresa Johnston, Craig Smith, Pam Crow, Michael Dorr, Carrie Floyd, Fran Slefer, Laura Barstow, Ryan Kelley, Ivan French)
LIBRARY UPDATE: The inventory is done!! Not only did we discover that we have over 16,000 books, but we are now ready to have students check them out. Starting next week we'll have some class visits (Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders will be coming in), and 3rd, 4th, 5th on alternating weeks. Middle school students may visit the library during their lunch, and Kathryn is sharing a "library tip of the week" with them at the Wednesday morning meetings (this week they learned about the many facets of Google). Please come and visit!!
LOOKING FOR VENDORS FOR THE 3rd ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR AT SUNNYSIDE!! (see attached application): The Holiday Bazaar will be on December 5, 2009 from 11-4 p.m. in the school gym. If you would like to be a vendor, please fill out an application and return it to Marisela (info is provided in the application). All items should be handmade by the students, parents or teachers. All vendors are assigned a 5 x 7 space in the gym.
If you have any questions about selling your crafts at the Bazaar, you can e-mail Marisela @ alijahone2000@hotmail.com
Inquiry for 3rd-5th Grades Pie Night: We have a pie night scheduled on the school calendar for November 20th. I am willing and excited to lead the organizing (I love pie!), and I would love to hear from other interested folks and/or know how much interest is out there. This will not be a fundraising event and will most likely not include cooking with the students during the day. Maybe it will be more of a demonstration event and an opportunity to eat pie and spend time together? Please contact me at neeley@dnld.net if you are interested.
|
From our Americorps Volunteer:
Hygiene Kit Donations Needed!
The Hunger and Homeless Service Learning Group will be putting together hygiene kits to donate to Sunnyside Church the day before Thanksgiving. We will be taking donations of toilettrie items over the next month in order to prepare the hygiene kits. Suggested items are:
--toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, disposable razors, shaving cream, shampoo, deodorant, feminine products, comb/brush, hand sanitizer, etc...
Unopened products are preferred. We are also in need of large plastic baggies that will be used to package the hygiene kits.
A donation box will be in the hallway at SES from 11/2 through 11/25.The hygiene kit creation will coincide with our weekly sandwich making for Sunnyside Church, and we would love to have extra volunteers that day to help.
Thank you all for your help! Please contact me with any questions.
Katie Spear
Americorps Volunteer
Hunger & Homeless Service Learning
email kspear@pdx.edu
|
|
|