February News
What's Happening at STE?
From the Principal's Desk
We had a fun week participating in the Great Kindness Challenge. Our school was full of notes of gratitude and compliments. Congratulations to Mileena Lonewolf who won our essay contest on Why Kindness Matters! Congratulations to Ternise Schroeder who won our Kindness Matters poster contest. And finally, a big congratulations to Norah Park, whose Yeti drawing was chosen as the winner of our Winter Wellness Yeti Ski Contest. Her yeti will be on our t-shirts and sweatshirts this year!
We are continuing with the fun as we are approaching our annual reading challenge. This year our reading challenge will look different, it is Iditarod themed and should be a fun challenge that teaches a little Alaskan culture and history as well.
In other news, many of you may have heard that I am having a baby this March! Once our little girl arrives, I will be out of the building for the rest of the school year. I have been working to create a situation where my absence can be a time of opportunity and help, rather than having our school "just get through" the time. I am thrilled to announce that we are welcoming Lucy Hope and Ben Lavalier to our community to split my position.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, Mr. Lavalier will be in our building as acting principal and teaching my classes. Ben is currently a remote teacher for Dena'ina Elementary, he has many years experience teaching kindergarten. He has also taught 5th grade and reading interventions. He is a technology wiz and has a lots of experience with the various online learning programs we use. He is excited to come and be a part of our community and we are excited to learn from him!
Mrs. Lucy Hope retired from our school district last year as the Director of Student Support Services. She spent her entire career advocating for students with special needs. She consults schools state wide on special education services and even taught special education at Sutton in the past! She will be a great asset to our team as we are always looking at different ways to best educate our students with the highest needs, while having such a small staff. She will be in our building on Wednesdays and Thursdays as acting principal and teaching my classes. She is looking forward to coming back to our small community and spending time with our students and staff!
I will be working a few hours each week from home, so please feel free to email at any time!
Gratefully,
Emily Austin Jordan, Principal
Kindergarten and First Grade Screening
Migrant Education
Does your family depend of subsistence activities? If so, your child has access to all kinds of benefits! Please see attached flyer. If you can not sign up using the link below, please see the webpage at the bottom of the flyer or contact Emily about getting signed up. This program is free and sends home lots of great school supplies!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZGKGOEsHvIczkV-f78VGxNvng6mL3LKqtV1hPG8U-R37zew/viewformReport Card to the Public
Please click the link below to see Sutton Elementary' s Report Card to the Public for the 2019-2020 school year.
https://education.alaska.gov/compass/Report/2019-2020/33/330360
Letter attached explains the significance of this report.
Sandwich Program from Palmer High
This program has been extended to Sutton Elementary students! If you would like food to go home with your kiddos each Friday, simply let me know by sending back the form attached. This is free and available to all families. The food will be delivered to school each Friday and we will put it in backpacks at the end of the day. This is a great program where kids help kids!
Welcome Iris Caldentey
Reading Challenge
Title I Meeting
Join us at Zoom.us
Meeting ID: 857 5076 2582
Passcode: 038446
This meeting will be this Friday, the 5th from 8:30-9:00 AM.
Annual Title I Yeti Ski
~We will have a bus home from this event! If your child usually stays for Winter Wellness, we will keep them unless we hear otherwise.
~We will be sending home dinner since we can not all sit down together.
~All Winter Wellness participants will receive a free t-shirt!
~Parents are encouraged to join for some winter fun!
Thursday, Mar 4, 2021, 03:45 PM
Sutton Elementary Ice Rink
Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday, February 15th, there is no school for students, it is a professional development day for teachers. For Tuesday, please fill out the attached form so teachers know the best way and time to contact you. As always, we aim to make 100 percent contact with parents so if this day does not work for you, please let us know another time to touch base.
Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021, 09:30 AM
Zoom/Phone
A Note from Ms. Fisher
Hello Sutton Families!!
February has arrived and with it comes a little more daylight!!
Our Specials Schedule will remain as follows for the rest of this quarter:
Monday: 4/5 P.E. 1:05-1:50 K/1 Library 2:00-2:45 2/3 P.E. 2:55-3:40
Tuesday: 4/5 Music 1:05-1:50 K/1 P.E. 2:00-2:45 2/3 Music 2:55-3:40
Wednesday: 4/5 P.E. 1:05-1:50 K/1 Music 2:00-2:45 2/3 P.E. 2:55-3:40
Thursday: 4/5 Music 1:05-1:50 K/1 P.E. 2:00-2:45 2/3 Music 2:55-3:40
Friday: 4/5 Library 1:05-1:50 K/1 Music 2:00-2:45 2/3 Library 2:55-3:40
In P.E., the children have enjoyed playing some fun seasonal games. We’ve spent time working on hand eye coordination through various activities. As many of you know, we have started badminton as an afterschool activity and students will be given a bit of time to explore badminton in P.E., as well. The students are excited as we have begun some parachute activities. During the month of February, we will be talking about the things we need to do to keep our hearts strong and healthy.
As I mentioned last month, our school-wide spring HEALTHY FUTURES CHALLENGE begins again in February. You children were given their PINK February Health Futures logs yesterday. Please help remind them to keep track of all the fun, active things they do each day. Don't forget that all of their afterschool activities count towards their 60 minutes a day. I’m looking forward to seeing all of our Sutton students participating in this spring challenge.
Please remind your children that they need to wear their P.E. shoes in the Gym.
In music, during the month of January, we learned about the Composer Franz Schubert and how composers wrote musical compositions for four-hands. During the month of February, we will be studying Johannes Brahms.
We have been spending a lot of time in music learning about African Drumming and its importance in African culture. During this exploration, we have been learning a variety of different drumming patterns and rhythms. We will finish this unit this month.
Thank you for encouraging your children to try their best in music and P.E.!
Once again, PLEASE help remind your children to return their library books so they can continue to find new books and authors to enjoy this quarter. We will continue learning about digital citizenship during the month of February in library class.
As always It is such a pleasure to teach your children each day! I’m excited for the learning and growing that has taken place so far this year and I’m looking forward to seeing more. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.
Ms. Fisher :)
Sutton Elementary School
Email: Emily.Austin@matsuk12.us
Website: www.matsuk12.us/ste
Location: 11672 Wright Way, Sutton-Alpine, AK, USA
Phone: 907-861-5600