Dear SPCAS Family!

*Congratulations to Mrs. Niemann and Mrs. Richardson's Classes for having the highest percentage of parents to complete the Blue Ribbon Award parent surveys. It's not too late to complete the survey. We have another class competition beginning today through February 3. Support your child's class and our school by completing the survey.

*Parents, all Valentine's Day party snacks will be purchased by the school. You will not need to sign up or send snacks on this day. Students may bring Valentine's Day cards. Students may dress down on February 14, no holes, rips, or tears in jeans, please.

*Our Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Award site visit is February 9 and 10. Please cheer our school on as we strive to achieve this honor.

For Our Children,

Dr. Barnes

The purpose of the School Improvement Council (SIC) is to bring together parents, educators, students and community stakeholders to collaborate on improvement opportunities within our school. We need your ideas on how the SIC can work to improve Sunset Park. No idea is too big or too small! Talk about it with your students then visit the following link to provide feedback:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HPDVH6W

The next SIC meeting will be on Tuesday, February 21st at 6pm in the school library. We hope to see you there.

~Mr. Eric Johnson, SIC Chair

We LOVE volunteers at Sunset Park and there are several opportunities to volunteer in February! Please visit the link to sign up! Remember, you must be an approved volunteer. Email ptosunsetpark@gmail.com with questions.

February Sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E044DA9A723A1F49-spcas6

~Mrs. Riley Johnson, PTO President

Sunset Park has started Enrichment Clusters and the students are so excited!

What are enrichment clusters you ask? Enrichment clusters are based on a learning theory for developing giftedness and creativity. Clusters are designed to create a time and a place within the school schedule when the application of knowledge and investigative learning strategies are the major focus of students’ work. Clusters are scheduled from 1:20-2:00 for 9 Fridays excluding holidays. Students are exploring age-appropriate games specifically chosen to increase their verbal, nonverbal and quantitative skills. Enrichment clusters involve creating a final project for an authentic audience. They will create and play their own games. These games will be showcased during our Spring Fling in April.

~Mrs. Petty

Fourth Grade Swimming:

SPCAS fourth grade students will be participate in the swimming program @the Rock Hill Aquatic Center on the following dates: February 13, 14, 15, 16. All swimming and water safety instructions will be taught by certified YMCA instructors. These lessons are free but require that your child returns a signed permission form to participate. These permission notes have been sent home and I am asking that you return them by January 26. Please note that each child will be responsible for providing her/his own swimsuit, towel, and plastic bag for wet clothes each day. Cut off pants/shorts are not allowed in the pool. Transportation will be provided by the Rock Hill School District. All students will return to school in time for lunch.

~Ms. Bundy

We are on our way to achieve the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Award for our school. It's not too late to complete the parent survey. We will have a site visit on February 9 and 10 by the assessor who will be reviewing our school in person to see the great things we have taking place. If you would like to know more about the process, please let me know or visit https://blueribbonschools.com/. We are excited to begin the process! Please cheer us on for our children!

***Please help support our school with the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Award process by completing a survey about our school. The link is here: Survey Link. You received one unique code per family to log into your survey on Wednesday, January 18 at 3:30 pm. If you need a new code, please let the front office know. It's not too late. The classes with the highest survey completion will earn special surprise. Please complete by Friday, February 3.

The month of February offers some exciting reasons to demonstrate your LOVE for READING! Consider the following celebrations:

· Black History Month. Commemorate, explore, celebrate the achievements, accomplishments, and culture of African Americans.

· World Read Aloud Day - February 1st.

· Ground Hog Day – February 2nd

· Valentine’s Day – February 14th

· Presidents Day – February 20th

The Sunset Park’s School library has many books and online resources via Destiny Online Catalog, Tumble Books, Discovery Education, SORA and the DISCUS databases to help you with your reading.

~Mrs. Gray

Your child has been participating in an abuse prevention curriculum during classroom guidance over the past few weeks. Some of the topics your child will learn about are: body boundaries, respecting themselves and others, listening to their Guiding Voice and telling a trusted adult when a situation makes them feel confused or uncomfortable. If you have any questions about the curriculum, please feel free to contact me.

Also, please note that SPCAS will be having a Career Day on Friday, April 28, 2023. We are inviting parents, community members and professionals from various fields to volunteer their time to speak with students about their career choices. If you are interested/ know someone who may be interested in participating in this event, please contact me to express your interest and learn more about our upcoming event.

Lastly, parents of student council members; you will be receiving an email from me addressing an upcoming community service event that will be on Mon, March 13. Additionally, the email will provide information about an upcoming toiletry drive that the student council will host as well.

As always, please know that I am available should you wish to speak with me regarding your child’s needs at Sunset Park. Have a Fabulous February!

~Ms. Woods

***Effective, Monday, January 23, students who arrive at school after 7:45 am will need to enter with a parent to sign in. Parents will need to park and walk their student into the front office of the school to sign in. We want to ensure the safety of our students at all times, especially in the event of an emergency drill or incident at the start of the day. Thank you for your attention to walking students into the front office if they arrive after 7:45 am.

Please assist us with the following:

-It is important for students to be on time. We want to do all we can to support your student academically, socially, emotionally and physically. Let's ensure our students are present and on time for school each day.

-Please ask questions about your student's academics. This is our number 1 job to educate your student as much as we can based on where they are.

-Please do not send soda, coffee or energy drinks to school with your children. These items will be returned home if observed at school.

-At this time, outside food items are not permitted for classes. However, if you would like to support your child's class, you may send a gift card or a monetary donation for the teacher to pick up items.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you for your continued support and for all you do for our school!