Wednesday Word
August 31st, 2022
From the Principal:
Dear Sunflower Families,
We are sailing into our 2nd week of school. Our focus is still on building relational capacity with and among our scholars, teaching and reinforcing our routines, procedures and expectations.
As an AVID elementary we have specific instructional strategies that we teach our scholars so they can be successful in school from elementary to post-secondary. Our first area of focus is Organization. All of our scholars are taught how to use a binder system we call their "organizational tool" or "OT". We keep these at school and teach our scholars how to use them in order to keep their materials organized. They have a pencil pouch with an eraser, two different colored pens and a highlighter. They have dividers for organizing their work and an agenda for short-term and long-term planning and goal setting. See the pictures below and you can also check out our school wide articulation guide one-pager that staff use to ensure consistency of this strategy across all grade levels.
Our dismissal line had been done by 4:00-4:03 for the last week and a half. Thank you to all of you for having your dismissal tags visible and working with our system. I have heard from the residents on Inverness Court and Wildflower and they have requested we not park on their streets as the parking on both sides it blocking the resident's and emergency vehicle access. I encourage you to use the car line instead of parking on the residential streets south of our school.
We are looking forward to our first mini spirit day on Friday, National College Colors Day! This follows our AVID philosophy of show students their opportunities after high school, college is one of them. Send your scholar in their favorite college our university colors and or gear.
As always it is an honor to serve as the Principal of Sunflower Elementary.
Melissa Blevins
Sunflower Food Pantry
Sunflower families are encouraged to take advantage of our Food Pantry if you are in need. Please reach out to Allene Schworm at aschworm@usd497.org to arrange a time. You can also reach out to the front office, Ms. Heatwole, or your teacher, if you would like to take advantage of this service we offer our families.
Just Food, our main source for donations, is currently struggling with supply. If any of our Sunflower families are able to donate to our pantry it would be very appreciated. We accept non perishable items any time during the hours of 7am -6pm. Please drop donations off in the blue barrel in the foyer.
Some items needed are: Canned Chicken or Tuna, peanut butter, jelly, canned soups, pastas, spaghetti sauce, canned fruit, rice, juice and cereal.
Individual serving items are also very appreciated (mac n cheese cups, oatmeal cups, etc) . Personal hygiene items are also welcomed, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, body wash, laundry detergent, deodorant, toilet paper and feminine products.
COVID 19 Guidelines
Below is the link to the most-up-to-date COVID 19 guidelines.
From Sunflower PTO:
PTO Meeting
Save the Date for the first PTO meeting of the year!
Tuesday, September 13 @ 7pm
Sunflower library and Webex
Volunteering/Committees
Interested in volunteering with the PTO? We have lots of activities and committees available! Please fill out this Google Form to let us know what you are interested in and we'll be in touch!
Parent Liaison Sign up
We still have some classes that need a Parent Liaison!
Sunflower PTO is looking for one parent per classroom to serve as parent liaisons. Parent liaisons from each grade level will work together to support classrooms, the students, and plan equitable parties and classroom celebrations. Parent liaisons will serve as the point person for teachers to organize sign-ups for classroom donations such as snacks and supplies for each classroom. They will also connect with parents at the entire grade level to collect supplies for classroom parties. The PTO VP, Colleen Bloom, will coordinate with the liaisons.
If you are interested please sign up here. This is a first come, first serve opportunity and each classroom will only have one liaison. Thanks!
Papa John's Fundraiser Night
Tuesday, September 6
Order online and enter the code SCHOOL1 at checkout and Sunflower PTO will get 20%.
Sunflower Marathon Club
The Sunflower Marathon Club Committee is starting to make plans for the 2022-2023 club year. Before we start, we are looking for adult volunteers that would like to join our Marathon Club Committee. The Marathon Club Committee determines start and stop dates, tracks runners progress, decides t-shirts and prizes for finishers, gathers and coordinates volunteers, and communicates to club members and volunteers. If you are interested in joining the Sunflower Marathon Club committee, please email: sunflowermarathonclub@gmail.com
Together We Can Learn
Check out the Together We Can Learn Statewide Conference on Saturday, September 17, 2022, at the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. The conference will be packed with great information and opportunities to network with other families. For more information visit the conference registration page here: https://2022TWCL.eventbrite.com
For more information, call (785) 233-4777 or email leia@familiestogetherinc.org.
Important Dates:
September 2- National College Colors Day
September 5- No School Labor Day
September 13- PTO Meeting @ 7:00
September 15- Hispanic Heritage Month Begins
September 26- Picture Day!