Wednesday Word
April 7,2021
From The Principal
It is my pleasure to introduce two new staff members to you. Christine Bessey is our new school secretary. She has a background working in elementary as an intervention teacher and she is a part-time dance instructor. She will start her position next week. Lakeisha Thomas will join Sunflower as our Health Office Attendant starting the week of April 19. She is currently working as a Certified Nursing Assistant and Certified Medication Aide at an assisted living facility. Please be prepared to show identification when picking up your children. It will take them some time to get to know everyone. Both new staff members are pictured below.
We are gearing up for state assessments in 3rd-5th grades. We start testing in the mornings so please make sure students are to school on time especially over the course of the next three weeks. If you can avoid pulling them for appointments that would be appreciated as well. We are going to rock the KAP!
April 12-16-5th Grade Science
April 19-23-3rd-5th ELA
April 26-30-3rd-5th Math
As always it is an honor to serve as the Principal of Sunflower Elementary.
Melissa Blevins
Christine Bessey
Welcome New Staff!
Lakeisha Thomas
From The Office
2021-2022 Enrollment will begin soon. Parent PowerSchool account is required.
If you do not have a Parent PowerSchool account, directions and account information were sent home today with your student. Parent PowerSchool accounts are required in order to enroll your child for the 2021-2022 school year. Enrollment for next year will begin soon.
Inclement weather day was scheduled for April 16th. Please note that SCHOOL WILL be in session on this day.
Lost and Found
We have moved the lost and found into our front entryway for easy access. Please check, or have your student check, for any items that may belong to you.
We will donate all unclaimed items on April 23rd.
From the Nurse
We are sending home a hard copy of the district Daily Covid Assessment Letter For Parents for you to keep as a reference guide (this information can also be found on our district website). If your student is ill please call the office to excuse the absence and refer to this assessment prior to sending your student back to school. If you have any questions please let me know.
Micki Thomas
School Nurse
From Mr. Gipson/ Music
Hello Sunflower Families!
I am happy to announce an exciting opportunity for our talented Sunflower students, the second ever Sunflower Virtual Talent Show! Students in grades K-5 may submit a video of themselves performing a talent to Mr. Gipson, and I will compile all accepted submissions into a video for our entire Sunflower community to enjoy. I have put together an introductory video going over ALL expectations (PLEASE view if your student would like to submit a video) for interested students. It can be found at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3x57D_A9sw
In general, here are the expectations:
Any student enrolled in K-5th grade at our school may submit a recording. Only one “solo” recording per student can be in the talent show (information on “group acts" can be found in the YouTube video. Students must be enrolled at Sunflower Elementary School.
Students practice a song, dance, skit, or other demonstration at home.
Recorded submissions MUST be school appropriate in both words and actions.
Acts are not limited to music/dance performances! Sports demonstrations, stand up comedy, science demonstrations-if you can do it, we'd love to see it!
Students then record and submit a video of their act to Mr. Gipson’s email address (pgipson@usd497.org) , or to their MUSIC SEESAW JOURNAL no later than Saturday, May 8th.
The final talent show video will likely be accessible via social media and YouTube. If your student is on the “Do Not Photograph” list maintained at Sunflower and would like to participate, please e-mail Mr. Gipson directly to discuss your situation.
Videos can be from anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. If your song is a little bit over 3 minutes, that it ok but it cannot go to 4 minutes long.
Mr. Gipson will view each of the videos. If a video isn’t performance ready, Mr. Gipson will return an email with information on how to fix and resubmit the entry. If a video performance is ready, Mr. Gipson will return an email with a quick message like “thank you for your video!”
Students get ONE chance to redo their video if it is not accepted for submission.
Once all videos have been collected and reviewed, Mr. Gipson will make a video compilation and send it out for the school to enjoy!
Kindergarten Enrollment!
Once you have completed the on-line registration, you may bring them up to the school or email the required documents listed below to nlett@usd497.org
- Certified Birth Certificate (Kindergarten students entering public school for the first time will need to provide the original certified birth certificate at Kindergarten Orientation )
- Proof of Residency (current utility bill - water/gas/or electric, current car registration, or a new lease agreement/buyers agreement)
- Current Immunizations
- Physical
Orientation will take place in person on April 21st and 28th. There will also be a virtual option on May 5th.
Follow the link below for important info and to let us know what your availability for orientation is.
Someone from the office will contact you for a confirmed time.
From Sunflower PTO
Sunflower Read-a-thon!
A great big THANK YOU to our entire Sunflower community! It has been so much fun watching our Sunflower scholars absorb themselves in books and see the reading minutes climb everyday for the past 2 weeks. We are grateful to everyone who shared our school reading journey with family, friends and neighbors, and for the financial contributions by everyone. We met and exceeded our fundraising goal! The Educational Support Fund supplies Sunflower teachers with grants to help provide technology, educational materials, equipment, and experiences related to curriculum to enhance the educational experience.
Total minutes read by Sunflower scholars:
50,128 minutes!!
Classroom winners by grade:
Kindergarten- Lilly, Cruz, Cosmo
1st Grade- Zach, Collison, Ava, Ethan
2nd Grade- Henry, Rebecca, Beau M, Mikenna
3rd Grade- Ashley, Eric, Bentlee
4th Grade- Brooklyn, Emily, Ethan, Tes
5th Grade- Savannah, Lucy, Reem
Thank you for your support!—
Sunflower Elementary PTO
Sunflower Marathon Club
We have made the tough decision to keep Marathon Club virtual for this Spring. We appreciate the few that did volunteer and will be connecting with you all as we plan for a BIG Fall 2021 Marathon Club kick-off.
What that means - it is still not too late to sign up. Kids can run/walk up to 5 miles a week so there is still plenty of time to finish this year. Any kid that finishes 26.2 miles will receive a very cool Finisher t-shirt.
Here is the form if you would like to join.
Also - please like our Facebook page (Sunflower Elementary Marathon Club)
We will also be having an end of the year IN PERSON celebration to all kids signed up for virtual club this year…details coming soon!
Thanks so much!
5th Grade Recognition
Memory Book
We still need pictures to create the 5th grade memory book. Please send a baby/toddler picture AND a current picture of your 5th grader to Kristel Lewis at ktel30@hotmail.com It is best if the pictures are more waist up but anything can work. Please label the picture with last name, first name and then either big (for current) or baby. Example: LewisKatebaby.jpg, LewisKatebig.jpg. Please submit by April 20th.
Guess who pictures are DUE April 20th.
This is for the traditional Guess who baby wall. These pictures will be put on display at the front foyer by the cafeteria. We will need again a baby picture / toddler and a current picture of your 5th grader. Our preferred photo size is 3X5 up to 8X10. Write your students name and teacher's name on the back of both pictures. The pictures are to be turned in to your students teacher. If you are long distance only you can turn them into the office.
Slideshow pictures are DUE May 4th.
We will need any pictures that you would like to share of your students’ memories at Sunflower or with any other students at other locations like birthday parties, clubs, sports. Etc. If you could send them to ang3lzkidz@gmail.com and put your student name on the subject line that would be amazing.
Please contact Ana Cedillo with any questions at truelover247@yahoo.com
The next PTO meeting is Tuesday May 4th at 7pm. If you would like to attend please send an email to sunflowerelementarypto@gmail.com for the WebEx link.
**Follow our Sunflower PTO Facebook page. We post a lot of information and events on our page.
https://www.facebook.com/Sunflower-Elementary-PTO-532741010145883/
Upcoming Events
April Calendar
- 13-Site Council at 6pm
- 16- School IS in session (Inclement weather day)
- 21-Kindergarten Orientation (in person) - Current Kindergartners WILL have school this day.
- 28-Kindergarten Orientation (in person) - Current Kindergartners WILL have school this day
May Calendar
- 4- PTO meeting at 7pm
- 5 - Kindergarten Orientation (Virtual)
- 14- Field Day
- 24-5th grade fun day
- 27- 5th grade recognition, Yearbook signing
- 27- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Sunflower Elementary
Email: melissa.blevins@usd497.org
Website: https://www.usd497.org/sunflower
Location: 2521 Inverness Drive, Lawrence, KS, USA
Phone: 785-832-5870
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunflowerElementaryLawrenceKS/?rf=143171452380768