Sycamore Canyon Parent News
May 2019
Academics and Social/Emotional Learning:
This year, our school staff has worked hard to support all of our Sycamore Canyon students. We have focused our professional growth around the practice of Accountable Talk and holding students accountable for their thinking through thoughtful reflection, writing and speaking. They collaborate daily with peers and are used to using sentence stems and frames to respond in a concise, yet thorough manner. At home, you can support this practice by holding family conversations that require deep thinking, problem solving, and respectful agreement or disagreement with the speaker.
Some family conversation stems may sound like this:
- Is there a better solution to...?
- Judge the value of...
- Can you defend your position about...?
- Do you think...is a good or bad thing?
- How would you have handled...?
- What changes to.. would you recommend?
- Do you believe...? How would you feel if...?
- What are the consequences..?
- What influence will...have on our lives?
- What are the pros and cons of...?
- What are the alternatives?
- How could you verify…
- What information would you use...
Absences Add Up
Absences add up. Young elementary school students who miss an average of just two school days per month often tend to fall behind in reading. But when students are able to read on grade level by the end of third grade, they are three to four times more likely to graduate high school and attend college, post-graduate, or professional development classes than their peers who struggle with reading.
Absences also affect the school site budget. Students who arrive at school on time, even if they leave early, are counted for state funding for that day. If you would like to learn more about our school site budget, it can be viewed within our School Plan for Student Achievement on our school website linked here.
I have attached below our attendance data as reported by the state last year. A student is labeled as "Chronically Absent" if they have missed 10% of the school year (about 18 days). We encourage all families to request an Independent Study Contract if they are aware they will be absent for 5 or more consecutive days. A complete report of on Sycamore Canyon is posted here on the California Dashboard for School Performance.
Sycamore Canyon classes are rewarded for perfect attendance with a picnic lunch with the school Principal. So far, the following classes have received this reward after 13 days of Perfect Attendance:
- Mrs. Jessica (PreK)
- Mrs. Ford (1st/2nd)
- Mrs. Swartz (1st)
- Mrs. Wilson (TK)
- Mrs. Tracy/Mrs. Rust (2nd/3rd)
- Mrs. Bartholomew (2nd)
Ask your son/daughter how close their class is to filling out their "School Matters" Poster.
Parking Lot- Be Aware
- Please be sure to follow the arrows ALL THE WAY AROUND the lot. Do not turn around and drive in the wrong lane.
- Please keep children buckled in seats until car is fully stopped.
- Never pass other drivers by crossing into the lane of opposing traffic.
- Be sure you are parking in designated parking spaces in the upper lot. Do not create new spaces, park on crosswalks, park in Handicapped parking without a pass or in 15 minute parking spaces unnecessarily.
- If waiting in the drop off/pickup lane, DRIVER MUST REMAIN IN VEHICLE. This includes preschool and YALE parents. If driver must get out to assist with child, driver must first find a parking space in lower or upper lot.
- Do not block busses.
- Be aware that there are children crossing lot at all times of day.
- The legal speed limit in a parking lot is 5 mph. SLOW DOWN. We all want to protect the safety of our students and get everyone to their destinations safely.
Avoid the "Summertime Slide" in Academics
- Keep a schedule- Within the schedule that you set up, creating 15- to 30-minute blocks of time where your child has focused learning will make a difference in the long run if done consistently! Applications like Raz-Kids are still available to your children during the summer months.
- Take educational outings- Learning doesn’t have to be restricted to the home! Take educational outings to such destinations as to your local history, science, or art museum. Learn something new and let your child explore a topic of interest. Even vacations and trips can cultivate learning; engage your child by asking him or her to research the area you will be visiting and its local history.
Read, read, read!! Cultivate a love of reading by taking regular trips to the library. Let your child choose books and get recommendations from the children’s or youth librarian. Read alongside your child and encourage a love of reading by exposing him or her to many great books. Reading a lot of books can also help your child beat the summer slide. One psychology study has shown that children who are given access to books over the summer perform 35–40% better on reading achievement tests than those without access to books.
Have fun together! Lastly, have fun together! It is summer, after all. There are all sorts of amazing benefits to playtime that your children can gain from, so be sure to let those summer days be filled with fun in the sun.
Your Amazon Shopping can Benefit Sycamore Canyon School!
Upcoming Dates
5/6-5/10 Teacher Appreciation Week
5/9 Administrative Assistant's Day
5/22 Classified Staff Appreciation
5/24 End of year iPad collection Date
5/31 School Library Closed for Year
Follow us on Social Media!
Our School Info
Email: summer.locke@santeesd.net
Website: www.santeesd.net/sc
Location: 10201 Settle Road, Santee, CA, USA
Phone: (619)956-5400
Facebook: facebook.com/syccan
Twitter: @ssdsyccan