Symmes Elementary School
Newsletter
April 1, 2021
Mark your Calendar
April 2- NO SCHOOL- Spring Vacation Day
April 8 - PTO General Meeting, 9:45 am
April 8 - Last day to order your yearbook!
April 9 - PTO Virtual Trivia Night, 6:30 pm
April 9 - End of PTO Flower Sale
April 14 - Symmes Ambassadors Gathering, 10:00 am
April 27 - Flower Pick up day, details coming soon
Face to Face AIR Testing
4th Grade
April 8- Language Arts, Part 2
April 13- Math, Part 1
April 15- Math, Part 2
3rd Grade
April 7- Language Arts, Part 1
April 9- Language Arts, Part 2
April 14- Math, Part 1
April 16- Math, Part 2
Virtual Classroom AIR Testing
(Additional Information will come from VLC)
4th Grade
April 6 or April 7- Language Arts, Part 1
April 8 or April 9- Language Arts, Part 2
April 14 or April 16- Math, Part 1
April 21 or April 23- Math, Part 2
3rd Grade
April 13- Language Arts, Part 1
April 15- Language Arts, Part 2
April 20- Math, Part 1
April 22- Math, Part 2
Announcements!
- Highlight and give a Shout out to a Virtual Classroom Grade Level
- Share highlights and or events for the upcoming week
- Share birthdays of face to face and virtual students
- Announce Bee Buck Winners for virtual and face to face
We hope that you can tune in each Friday!
PTO Meeting
Happy April! It has been over a month since we have gathered virtually! Grab your coffee and join us for a very special PTO meeting! Families of rising 5th graders will get to hear from Jay Meno from the Greene School promptly at 9:30 am! Following that, we will hear from the Greene PTO president Victoria Margorum! We will also be presenting our new executive PTO board for the 2021-2022 school year!
April is World Autism Awareness Month
- According to the most recent CDC data released in 2020, 1 in every 54 child has autism.
- Around 1/3rd of people with Autism are non-verbal.
- Autism affects more than 70 million people worldwide.
Our staff will be wearing our blue autism awareness shirts on Monday, April 5. We invite you to join us by wearing blue on Monday to recognize World Autism Awareness Day.
Save the Date Book Fair Announcement
Hello Symmes families,
Mark your calendars and get ready for some fun! We are hosting an online book fair!
Book Fair Dates: April 12- April 25!
I am so excited about this book fair and wanted to share some highlights with you:
• Quality books guaranteed to entice your readers! Our partner for this online book fair is Junior Library Guild. JLG is an elite book-selection service that until now has only been available to librarians. Over 40,000 new books for children and young adults are published annually and JLG only selects the top 3% for its collection. So, you KNOW these books are going to be good!
• Shop from the comfort and safety of home! With health concerns and social-distancing requirements, this online fair is the perfect way for you to build your at-home library from the safety of your home. And you can shop using any major debit or credit card – no cash needed!
• Direct-to-home delivery! Every purchase from our online book fair will be delivered straight to your door. You can also shop teacher wish lists and those books will be shipped directly to their classrooms. Easy peasy!
• Books starting at $5! Most books in our online fair will be hardcover and first edition with library-quality binding. Well below market price, books start as low as $5—and shipping is FREE for all orders over $30.
• Supports our school! Our library receives a percentage of every book fair purchase, and we can use these funds raised as JLG credit to add more quality books to our collection or receive funds in cash for other needs.
Your support is so appreciated!
Keep an eye out for more information about our online JLG@Home Book Fair. Thank you in advance for supporting Symmes and helping us put quality books in the hands of your young readers!
Take care,
Lisa Gausmann
Media Specialist
Symmes Elementary
ONE MORE WEEK FOR THE PTO SPRING FLOWER FUNDRAISER!
The PTO Spring fundraiser with Foertmeyer and Sons Greenhouse has begun and will end on April 9th, with our pick-up day on April 27th. Face to Face students have brought home a catalog in backpack mail that will contains information on how to order online and how to send the link to your child's unique store for all your family, friends, and co-workers to order. Virtual Classroom students can stop by Symmes and pick up a catalog from the blue bin outside the office door.
Everyone can participate! Face to Face and Virtual Classroom students can also participate by clicking the links below to get directions on how to order and learn more about the sale!
We are so excited to be partnering with this Ohio company and look forward to seeing many beautiful yards this spring and summer thanks to your orders, as well as be able to raise funds for our beloved school!
If you have any questions please contact Megan Haring at lennon_megan@yahoo.com or Karina Alves De Freitas at alves_karina@yahoo.com
Diverse Book Read Aloud
The Sycamore elementary administrative team is excited to share with you a collaboration on one of our favorite topics - reading! We love books and the different places they can take their readers. We also love how diverse books can help us learn more about ourselves and others, as well as the world around us. We partnered up after one of our favorite holidays - Read Across America Day on March 2 - to select and read with you some of our favorite new books brought to our Sycamore classroom libraries this past summer by the wonderful group Diverse Books for Sycamore. We hope that you enjoy hearing the books we have selected to share!
Please click HERE for our introduction video.
Please click HERE for the kindergarten book, Thank You Omu, read by Maple Dale.
Please click HERE for the first-grade book, Happy in Our Skin, read by Blue Ash.
Please click HERE for the second-grade book, We Came to America, read by the Virtual Learning Commons.
Please click HERE for the third-grade book, The Day You Begin, read by Montgomery.
Please click HERE for the fourth-grade book, We are Water Protectors, read by Symmes.
If you'd like to check out all of the readings at once, you may find them all gathered in a folder HERE.
Happy Reading!
Thanks!
Symmes Steppers is Back for the Spring with a 1,000 Mile Challenge!!
Symmes Steppers is returning this Spring and will be trying something new – a schoolwide 1,000 Mile Challenge! We are challenging all the Symmes Students, virtual & face-to-face, to Step Together Toward 1,000 Miles!
Virtual & Face-to-Face Students will take part in completing as many “laps” as they can each week. Virtual families will send their distance each week to the Symmes Steppers Coordinators while the face-to-face students will be tracked by their homeroom teacher. All miles completed by virtual & face-to-face students will be colored on a 1,000 mile Shoe Poster to be displayed at Symmes! Our goal is to fill multiple posters by the end of the school year! Updates will be shared each week via announcements and the Symmes PTO Facebook page. We will also have a fun weekly grade level competition!
Virtual Families – Please send an email to Sara & Jaime (symmessteppers@gmail.com) each week beginning March 22nd with the name of your student, grade level & total distance completed. We will track their progress and make sure their total is added to the Symmes Shoe Poster and counted toward their individual grade level’s total miles. Please be on the lookout for more information, including ideas for tracking your child’s distance, on the Symmes PTO Facebook page!
If you have any questions, please contact Sara O’Hara & Jaime Magee at symmessteppers@gmail.com
Dear Families,
Recently we shared information with you regarding an exciting grant awarded to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Sycamore Community Schools as a part of Governor Dewine’s K-12 Prevention Education Initiative. We have started the engagement process with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s Adapt for Life team, we are in need of your feedback to assist our student, staff, and family planning. Completing this anonymous 5 question survey will inform our process and assist us in developing strong programming for our future.
In April, we anticipate hosting virtual parent information sessions about the Adapt for Life program and our grant partnership. We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks and months.
Time to Order your 2020-2021 Yearbook!
Cost is $16 for a standard cover and $18.75 for a personalized cover. Enter the school code and register as a "New User" to purchase. Deadline to purchase is April 8th. Yearbooks will be delivered in May and limited copies will be available to purchase in person so order online today!
Visit: www.memorybook.com/online-pay/parent-pay/
School Code: 201541
Contact Brittany Haines at bhaines618@gmail.com with any questions.
Free Meals Extended
For all of the families that have been taking advantage of the free breakfast and lunches for ALL Sycamore schools and students this opportunity had been EXTENDED until the end of the 2020-21 school year!
All Sycamore families can enjoy free breakfast and free lunch all school year long.
Click here for more details for face to face families.
Click here for more details for virtual families.
R&J The Musical
Transition to Greene School
☆Greene Leadership Team Present at PTO Meetings-
The Greene School Leadership Team presents at the elementary PTO Meetings. We will share information regarding the transition to the Greene School. Below is the date for the visit to Symmes:
April 8 Greene Leadership Team visits Symmes PTO Meeting: 9:30 am
☆Student Information Form-
Student Information Forms will be sent to parents via email on March 22, 2021. This form enables parents to identify one preferred peer to be placed in the same homeroom class. Academic priorities such as special education and accelerated placements will take precedence when making team assignments. Parents will submit completed Student Information Forms no later than April 2, 2021 to be considered.
☆Music Selection Information-
Greene School students have an opportunity to participate in Band, Orchestra, Choir, or General Music in 5th grade. Additional information about scheduling specials will be communicated on March 25th.
Drop up/Pick up Reminders
If you drop off or pick up your student please remember the following:
- Use care when entering and exiting our driveway. Please don't block the driveway intersection at Enyart.
- Stay in your car.
- Pull your car up to the car in front of you.
- Turn off your car while you are waiting.
- At pick up, flip your car tag to the white side once all your students are in the car. This is an easy way for the adults helping to know that you are ready to go!
- At pick up, students will enter your car from the CENTER aisle and find their appropriate seat once in the car. Please DO NOT encourage your child to walk around the front (or back) of your car in order to get into your car.
Thank you!
Virtual Picnics
Here are the dates for upcoming lunches:
*Please only have your child attend their grade level meet so we can more easily manage our numbers.
This is optional for students and is an additional time for us to stay connected. Your child's teacher will share the link to your grade level meeting with you.
We know that there will be some months that we will not be able to get together, but we look forward to seeing you all as often as possible!
4/6/21
2nd Grade from 11:50 pm - 12:05 pm with Mrs. Schafer
4/8/21
Kindergarten from 12:00 pm - 12:15 pm with Mrs. Houston
4/13/21
3rd Grade from 11:50 am -12:30 pm with Mrs.O'Connor
4/20/21
4th Grade from 11:50 am -12:15 pm with Mrs. Gausmann
4/27/21
1st Grade from 11:50 am - 12:10 pm with Mrs. Lobert
Virtual Meal Pick Up Location for Symmes Families
March 10th, 2021 was the LAST day Symmes Elementary will be a pickup location for virtual curbside meal pick up. Due to construction at Symmes Elementary, all families that currently pick up their virtual meals at Symmes Elementary will need to pick them up at a different location. You will be required to fill out THIS FORM to choose where you prefer to pick up from March 24th, 2021 until the end of the school year. You only need to fill out this form once, and the location you choose will be where you pick up until the end of the school year.
Reminders will be going out weekly to families that have registered for virtual meals at Symmes during this school year.
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Click here to be connected with Symmes Ambassadors:
https://www.sycamoreschools.org/domain/909
Click here if you want to help other families: