You Otter Know!
December Newsletter
A Letter from Principal Powell
We hope you enjoyed a relaxing break with your families over Thanksgiving. Thank you for all your support as we continue to navigate this crazy in-between normal and pandemic life. It's been absolutely wonderful welcoming families back into the building for Title family nights and music performances. It was also great to see so many of you at our costume parade at the end of October. We look forward to opening our doors for more events next semester. You are a huge part of what makes Sunrise so amazing!
The month of December is always a fun one at school, but it is also full of incredible learning opportunities! I continue to be amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of our staff! Their jobs go far beyond the hours of 8-4, and you can often find them working hard into the evenings and weekends to ensure students receive a rigorous education that is tailored to their individual learning style. At the same time, I'm continuously amazed at the resiliency of our students! They have worked so hard to learn and demonstrate our RISE expectations (Respect, Integrity, Safety, and Effort). Beyond RISE, we have focused on gratefulness these past few weeks, and a general mindset of being intentional about "looking for the good" around us. I think that's an important reminder for us all right now. Things might be messy around us, but there is SO MUCH GOOD happening at Sunrise. I've never been more proud to be an Otter!
We ask that you please continue to keep ill students at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses. If you, or someone in your family is waiting on test results, please keep family members at home to prevent possible exposure. If your child is considered a close contact of an individual at school with COVID-19, you will receive email notification from me, but no quarantine will be needed as long as both individuals were wearing masks. Thank you for sending your child to school with a mask daily. If someone in your household tests positive, and your student at Sunrise has been exposed, there is a quarantine/isolation period of 20 days (10 days where the individual may still be symptomatic and contagious, and an additional 10 days where the student could develop symptoms). We know this is not ideal, but is necessary to keep our students and staff safe. Thank you for your understanding as we work through the health department on individual cases.
Thank you again for all that you do to support and encourage our Sunrise community. We couldn't do any of this without you! Please view the attached "District Newsletter Information" at the bottom of this newsletter for important information. Reach out if you have additional questions or concerns.
Let's #RISEUP together!
Jackie Powell, Principal
About Us
Office Hours: 7:45am-4:15pm
- Principal: Jackie Powell
- Assistant Principal: Mary Baumgardner
- TOSA/Admin Support: Laura Martin
- Counselor: Hailey Gloden
- Secretary: Julie Walton
- Attendance Secretary: Jenny Kofoed
- School Nurse: Stephanie Dodson
- Kitchen Manager: Mary Gonzalez
RISE UP @ Sunrise Elementary School
Sunrise Building Administration
At Sunrise, we put students first and believe in educating the whole child through the use of social emotional learning, sensory integration, outdoor education experiences, and rigorous academic instruction tailored to individual learners' needs.
Website: https://sunrise.wsd3.org/
Location: 7070 Grand Valley Drive, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone: (719)391-3415
Facebook: facebook.com/SunriseElementaryOtters
Dates You Otter Know
- 11/29-12/16- Toy Drive
- 12/10/21- Buck a Hat Day (Pay $1 to wear a hat/ Renaissance Fundraiser)
- 12/13/21- "Get into the Holiday Spirit" (Wear Red, Green, & White)
- 12/14/21- "All Aboard the Polar Express" (Wear pajamas and regular shoes)
- 12/14/21- PTO Holiday Event 4-5:30pm @ Sunrise
- 12/15/21- "Don We Now Our Plaid Apparel" (Wear Plaid/Flannel)
- 12/16/21- "Tree Topper" Dress-Up (Wear holiday hats, headbands, etc)
- 12/16/21- End of Toy Drive
- 12/17/21- "Tis the Season to Rock Ugly Sweaters" (Wear your ugliest sweater)
- 12/17/21- End of quarter 2
- 12/17/21- All School Sing-along
- 12/18/21- 1/4/22 No School- Winter Break
- 1/5/22- Students first day back, beginning of Quarter 3
In the Spirit of Giving...
Ideas for gift cards- Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Chic-Fil-A, Amazon, Target, Safeway, Walmart
Please drop any gift card donations to the front office in an envelope by Wednesday, December 15th. Feel free to email Principal Powell at powellj@wsd3.org with any questions!
Sunrise Schedule
- Breakfast/Arrival- 8:35am-8:50am
Students eating breakfast should enter through the front doors. Breakfast is served from 8:35-8:55 am. Students should eat breakfast as soon as they arrive to school in the morning.
Duty staff will begin supervision at 8:35 am. Please do not drop students off before 8:35 am.
Students are welcome to put their bookbags/lunchboxes by classroom doors and then utilize the playgrounds before school. Kindergarten-2nd graders should use the East/Primary playground. 3rd-5th graders should use the West/Intermediate playground.
All students will enter through classroom doors when the first bell rings at 8:50 am.
If your student's classroom is located in an interior room (1st grade- Myers, McGeehan; 5th grade- Olson, Clayton, Verhovec, Riffle), they will use the side blue doors to enter the building.
Please note that the bus lane is reserved for buses only from 8:30-8:50 am and 3:20-3:45 pm. Please do not park or drop students off during arrival or pick-up in the bus lane.
Utilize the Kiss-n-Go lane (the lower parking lot) to drop students off and pick students up during arrival/dismissal. This is a one-way zone. Pull all the way up as directed by duty members. Drop your student off/pick him or her up, and exit the Kiss-n-Go lane promptly. This is not a lane for parking or leaving your vehicle.
- School Begins- 8:50am
- Tardy Bell- 8:55 am
- Dismissal- 3:30 pm
- All walkers/bike riders should exit the campus at 3:30 pm to ensure student safety/accountability at dismissal.
Student Attendance
Please make sure you call in your child's absence by 9:00am for each day your student will be sick or late. The office number for attendance and other questions is 391-3415 or 391-3416. Additionally, remember your child will be considered tardy if they arrive at school after the tardy bell at 8:55 or if they leave prior to the end of the day at 3:30.
EARLY CHECKOUT....
There will no early checkouts between 3:15-3:30 pm. If at all possible, please try not to pull your child out of school early; learning occurs from 8:50-3:30. Please plan ahead for appointments, as we would like to minimize missed class time.
Breakfast and Lunch
Breakfast is served from 8:35-8:50 and will be eaten in the cafeteria. Teachers will ask students each morning if they are eating school lunch or lunch from home. Students will eat school lunch or their personal packed lunches in the cafeteria.
- Kinder Lunch: 11:15-11:30
- 1st Grade Lunch: 11:30-11:45
- 2nd Grade Lunch: 11:45-12:00
- 3rd Grade Lunch: 12:00-12:15
- 4th Grade Lunch: 12:15-12:30
- 5th Grade Lunch: 12:30-12:45
MEAL PRICES:
- For the 2021-2022 school year, breakfast and lunch will be provided to students at no cost. If you think you might be eligible for free or reduced lunches in a normal school year, we encourage you to still complete a Free/Reduced applicaiton. This information is gathered for grants and funding information also.
PBIS
- Defining, Teaching, and Supporting appropriate behavior
- At Sunrise, we utilize the RISE acronym:
- R- Respect
- I- Integrity
- S- Safety
- E- Effort
We use the following callback:
Staff: "Otters RISE..."
Students: "Up, Up, Up!"
Staff: "Otters cool..."
Students: "Down, Down, Down."
Students have opportunities to earn golden tickets and positive FYIs for displaying RISE expectations.
Social Emotional Learning
Sunrise values a whole-child approach to education. We recognize that in conjunction with academics, social emotional instruction is an integral part of meeting our students' needs. SES uses Zones of Regulation, a framework to foster self-regulation and emotional control. Zones of Regulation uses 4 Zones: Blue, Green,Yellow, and Red.
Students will receive weekly SEL lessons co-taught by our guidance counselors and classroom teachers using Zones of Regulation. Students will learn strategies to help self-regulate, methods to transition between zones, and appropriate social interactions. For more information, visit www.zonesofregulation.com
Parent Involvement
Even though we cannot allow parents volunteers into the school at this time, there are still several opportunities for parents to be involved!
Building Accountability and Advisory Committee (BAAC):
- These meetings will be quarterly along with PTO meetings, and allow family input in school systems and focus areas.
- Parents are welcome to attend all meetings or just one!
Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO):
- If interested in joining, please contact president, Kathy Thomason at (405)590-8998
- Next Meeting- Tuesday, January 11th @ 4pm in the library