Sycolin Creek Chronicle
June Edition
Principal's Corner
Dear Sycolin Creek Community,
Thank you for another wonderful and productive school year. I can’t thank everyone enough for your endless hours of volunteering, chaperoning, reading, organizing, donating and doing whatever was necessary to support students—both at home and at school. Special thanks to our PTA who, as usual, went above and beyond the call of duty to provide whatever was necessary to add to our students’ already rich school experience.
That experience could not occur without the endless energy, skills and devotion of the Sycolin Creek staff. Thanks and well done to an incredible group of professionals.
A final word to the Sycolin Creek students: Thank you for all your hard work throughout the school year. I am so honored to be your principal; you make me proud to be a Salamander. You keep me laughing and I am grateful for your joy, astute insights and amazing talents. Best wishes to our graduating fifth graders, whom I will miss greatly—please come back and visit. Everyone have a safe and happy summer break.
Respectfully,
Derek Racino
Principal
Star Salamander Students for the month of May in P.E.
Congratulations to our PE Star Salamanders for the Month of May:
5th Grade - Carter Jordan & Melanie Herrera
4th Grade - Armaan Bhatia & Ashley Frese
3rd Grade - Nathan Siano & Aanvi Aimreddy
2nd Grade - Christian Shaw & Mila Cooper
1st Grade - Loic Cashman & Yardley Fay
Kindergarten - Wyatt Blinn & Sawyer Duffy
PE Star classes for the month of May are Mrs. Fuhrman's 5th Grade Class and Ms. Hutchings' Kindergarten Class.
Annual Mander Mile Results
Congratulations to our 2023 MANDER MILE top 3 Finishers! We would also like to thank all of the finalists from 4th and 5th grade!
5th Grade Boys
D.J. Hall - 6:27
Cole Edwards - 6:42
Kai Vaughan - 6:42
Jordan Pham - 6:43
5th Grade Girls
Audrey Rowan - 6:40
Quinn Fitzpatrick - 6:49
Sophie Campanella - 7:19
4th Grade Boys
Elijah Park - 6:41
Atticus Johns - 7:00
Brooks Norris - 7:16
4th Grade Girls
Ashley Frese - 7:04
Brooklyn Siller - 7:21
Lyla Dlesk - 7:41
2023 NHL Stanley Cup Field Day - Friday, June 2
Calling all Parents, Guardians, Aunts, Uncles...
We are in the Final Countdown for our 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Field Day Volunteer Registration. If you are interested in volunteering to run a field day station for part of the day, please find the information about volunteering HERE. Please also email our field day coordinator, Jen Galos at galosjen@gmail.com. Everyone who signs up will receive a station to work. We will also do our best to ensure that your child's class will come through your station. We will have pizza for lunch, and water is available all day. The morning session is from 8:00 - 10:30 a.m., and the afternoon session is from 11:00 - 1:30 p.m. We will have two hours of play per session, a check-in, as well as, time to learn about your station. K-2 students will be on one side of the school, and 3-5 students will be on the other side of the school. You will have a 15-minute break in the morning and afternoon when you can rest and check out your children playing. Thank you so much for considering spending some time at our Sycolin Creek ES Field Day.
Sincerely,
The PE Team
Art News
It’s been a great year and the kids have made some beautiful works of art. Please watch for the remaining works to be coming home soon. There are still a few classes finishing up clay, so if your child hasn’t brought theirs home, they should be soon. I will miss them over the summer but I'm already planning for the coming year.
Art Stars of the Month
Kindergarten - Mrs. Hose’s Class
First Grade - Ms. Whittaker’s Class
Second Grade - Mrs. Winn’s Class
Third Grade - Mrs. Henretty’s’ Class
Fourth Grade - Mrs. Hermens' Class
Fifth Grade - Mrs. Wong’s Class
Music News
Congratulations to the First Grade for their wonderful program! A special thank you to Dr. Bennett for her artistic contributions as the students decorated their instruments. In May, the All-County Chorus members, Emma Requidan, Sophia Requidan, Mason Retzlaff and Santana Maceo, performed along with about 180 other 5th graders at Riverside High School. They and the Sycolin Creek All County Team Avery Hall, Aria Mehta, Addison Sarhanis, and Lillian Winstead, have been practicing each week since February and were featured on the chorus concert. All Sycolin Creek Singers and Sycolin’s Got Beat! Members were invited to perform for a Frederick Keys game on May 12th. It was a beautiful evening and the students and families had a great time enjoying the game. The turnout was much higher than in past years, thanks to the support of the PTA! Thank you to everyone who participated!
Congratulations to the fifth grade students! They did a terrific job performing for their DARE compositions. Officer Kamps and the others in attendance were very impressed by their hard work and creativity.
Our Rock Star Music Classes for May are:
Kindergarten – Mrs. Palovchik; 1st Grade – All First Grade Classes!; 2nd Grade – Mrs. Brosan; 3rd Grade – Mrs. Anderson; 4th Grade – Mrs. Jacques; 5th Grade – Mrs. Wong
SEARCH Updates
Summer is a great time for students to continue using their SEARCH Thinking Keys! In addition to reading over the summer, encourage students to play strategy games and complete puzzles. The web site https://krazydad.com/ has lots of printable puzzles, including mazes, Sudoku, and more. Board games are great for logical thinking and problem-solving. Allowing students to be "bored" over the summer allows for creative play solutions. If you are traveling - or even if you are staying home, a great idea that works for kids of any age is to provide blank journals for your child to fill with their summer break impressions and memories. I hope students have a wonderful summer!
Math Challenge
Congratulations to some of our top Challengers for the month of
April and May!
5th Grade – Sean Wright, Nirva Shah & Emma Okpych
4th Grade – Emilia Boyer, David Wargo & Brooks Russell
3rd Grade – Joel Mullasserril, Arth Shome & Anthony Gwizdala
2nd Grade – Carson Westlake, Caroline Rodgers & Mason McKeon
1st Grade – Isha Sarvani Bollapalli, Annabel Tew & Loic Cashman
Kindergarten – Kayleigh Brener, Charlotte McKeon & Wren Cashman
Everyone who participated in at least 12 challenges will be recognized at the end of the year.
Thank you to all of the students that took on the Math Challenge this year! We hope you enjoyed working through the math problems, and hope you have a wonderful summer!
Summer Reading Opportunity
This summer we are encouraging all Sycolin Creek Readers to keep on reading! Keep your eye out for our summer reading bookmark to be sent home soon. We challenge our Salamander readers to complete 25 reading activities by the start of the school year. We know you can do it! All participants will receive a bookmark, and one participating student in each class will win a gift card to Sweet Frog. We can’t wait to see all the books you’ve read when we return in August! Thank you to our fabulous PTO who sponsored this challenge.
Medication
Students with medication in our clinic (pills, inhalers/spacers, epi-pens, diabetic supplies, etc.) must be picked up by parents. Parents should make an appointment with Mrs. Rebecca Bean, our Health Clinic Specialist at rebecca.bean@lcps.org or call 571-252-2910. Any medication not picked up by June 12 will be destroyed. Medications cannot be included with student classroom belongings. We are unable to make exceptions to these guidelines. If you need to designate an adult other than the parent to pick up, you MUST contact our front office and provide the person’s name and the person picking up MUST present ID.
Staff Appreciation Week
On behalf of Sycolin Creek’s staff, we are so grateful for the emails, videos, snacks, signs, and letters of appreciation that we received during the first week of May. Most of us chose this profession, not only for our pure love for children, but our desire to be around children. Your notes of encouragement and appreciation truly helped to bring joy to our staff. Thank you!
Lunch Accounts
Any money that is currently in your student’s lunch account will carry over to any LCPS building next year.
Sprouts' Ordering Information (School Supplies)
School Supply Ordering Information - The PTA has been working with Sprout School Supplies to create supply boxes for the 2023-2024 school year. The online ordering opportunity is now open and will close on July 11, 2023. To order online, please visit www.sproutsupplies.com and use code SCES002, or by clicking HERE for the detailed flyer. Of course, if you would like to shop for your own supplies, the requested materials for next year can be found HERE.
Attendance Reminders
If your child will be absent/tardy due to illness/appointment or other circumstances, please call our absentee call in line at 571-252-2911 or visit our Sycolin Creek website at https://www.lcps.org/sycolincreek and complete the online absence form. Families are able to submit absences via ParentVUE. Should you need to speak to someone in the school office, please call 571-252-2910.
Sycolin Creek Elementary School
Email: derek.racino@lcps.org
Website: lcps.org/sycolincreek
Location: 21100 Evergreen Mills Road, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: (571) 252-2910
Twitter: @Sycolin_Creek