Mr. Sloop's Comet Connection

Hello, Comet families!

We have wrapped up Milestones testing and our Comets have done an incredible job of "showing what they know" these past two weeks. I am incredibly proud of how hard our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have worked to prepare for these assessments and how they have acted with respect, responsibility, and integrity throughout testing. I am also very proud of the way our K-2 Comets have rolled with the changes to the schedule and have excelled at demonstrating the "Comet Way".

As you know, we wrapped up our Kids Heart Challenge back in early April and we wanted to share that we DID end up exceeding our $23,000 goal!! Thank you to all of our families and extended Comet families for contributing to this huge success!

We have many volunteers helping with Field Day this year, whether running a station or helping homeroom classes make it through all of the events. Thank you to all of our parents who are volunteering to help make this an incredibly fun, safe, well-managed event for all the Comets!! As has been the case in the past, since Field Day is an altered schedule, we will not be able to host lunch visitors on those days (May 11 and 12), so please make note of that.

Each year, we ask for volunteers to serve on our Local School Council (LSC) for the upcoming school year. Next year, we have at least one parent spot to fill on our LSC and, as we do each year, we are reaching out to our community to see who would be willing to serve. If you are interested, please indicate your interest here by Friday, May 12. Thank you for considering serving on our LSC!!

Here are more important topics covered in today's newsletter:

• Silver City Presents the Comet Trail Tales...A Reading Adventure
  
• New Local School Council Members Needed for 2023-24
  
• From the Cafe -- Remember...No More Charging for Student Meals
  
• SCES Fundraiser at Texas Roadhouse in Gainesville
  
• Field Day Information!
• North United Events
  
• The Source of North Forsyth High School
  
• Celebrating a Birthday?
  
• Upcoming Dates to Know
• Want to be a 2022-23 Business Partner?
• Community Events

We are Stronger Together!

Mr. Sloop, Ms. Lamb, and Ms. McCannon

We would like to share our new Comet Trail Tales...a book walk along our Galactic Trail that was made possible with funding from the Forsyth County Education Foundation and our Silver City PTA. This is a project that was led by our very own Science Pathway teacher, Ms. Stacey Couch, and took many months to complete. What makes this project super special is that OUR COMET STUDENTS installed these amazing posts along our nature trail themselves. Each post displays pages from a book, allowing students to get outside, take a hike and read! The book can be changed throughout the year, which means there will always be a new reading adventure along the Comet Trail Tales.

We are looking to fill a couple of spots on our Local School Council (LSC) for the 2023-24 school year. If you are interested, please fill out this interest form by Friday, May 12.

Local School Councils (LSCs) are advisory bodies made up of parents, teachers, and community members that provide recommendations to the school principal and Forsyth County Board of Education. Councils meet at least four times a year.

Please check account balances for your child's lunch account to make sure there are sufficient funds needed for meals for the remainder of this school year. As of last week, students were no longer able to "go negative" in their lunch account for the remainder of the year. If there are not sufficient funds on a lunch account, we will only be able to offer a courtesy meal (like cereal for breakfast or a cheese sandwich for lunch).

To ensure your child can continue to enjoy school meals or to clear your student’s account of any negative balances, please send a payment (cash or check) to the school cafeteria, or visit www.MyPaymentsPlus.com, to make a payment online. Remember to note your child’s Student ID on your check or to include it with cash in an envelope. We also accept Free and Reduced Applications each school day.

Options for end-of-year account balances: Money on customer accounts will automatically carry forward to the assigned school for the new academic year.

Please join us on Tuesday, May 9 at Texas Roadhouse in Gainesville to support our inclusive playground. You can drop in anytime between 5-8 pm. 10% of the sales will be donated to help support our inclusive playground that we have been raising money for the past two years. Please show the scanner on the flyer to your server, so we can receive the credit.

We cannot wait to see everyone there! Thank you so much for your support!

Field Days are this week! We are looking forward to lots of fun and games this Thursday and Friday! Thank you to all our parents who have signed up to help at a station or are volunteering to help with classrooms! Due to safety considerations, we cannot allow walk-up spectators for Field Day. We also will not have lunch visitors on these days due to the hectic nature of these days and students not eating in the cafeteria. Thank you for understanding!

If you have any questions about Field Day activities, please reach out to your child's homeroom teacher or email Coach Garner.

Family Connect Nights

Thanks to everyone who has been participating in our Family Connect Nights this year! We hope your families are able to intentionally get together on these evenings (free of homework and studying for tests) and CONNECT. Remember that we offer a raffle prize for families who participate and share how they spent their evening together. Register HERE and your family could win a prize basket, gift card, etc., funded by our great partners at United Way. Our final Family Connect Night of the year is this Wednesday, May 10!

In order to support families in our community, North Forsyth High School has created The Source to provide snacks and supplies for high school students that may need them, as well as weekly meal items for families in our area.

If you are a family or know a family in our community that could benefit from this endeavor, please save this link (https://tinyurl.com/TheSourceOrder) or visit the NFHS website. Any family can order simple meal items and/or toiletries once per week and all items are free.

If you have any questions or would like to support this service, please contact Amy Dykes at

adykes@forsyth.k12.ga.us.

Birthday Ice Cream - This is an easy, convenient way to treat your child and their whole class for ice cream on their birthday. We invite parents to purchase class ice cream packs from the cafeteria for $1.25 per student (up to a maximum of $25 to cover the entire class). Simply send in a check or cash to the cafeteria or add funds to your child's lunch account through MyPaymentsPlus and we will take care of the rest! Email Lisa Gunter, our cafeteria manager, if you have any questions.

For class ice cream packs, please make sure you send in your order at least 2 weeks prior to the day you want the ice cream delivered so we can make sure we have enough in inventory.

• Wednesday, May 10 - North United Family Connect Night
  

• Thursday, May 11 - Grades 3-5 Field Day

• Friday, May 12 - Grades K-2 Field Day and 5th Grade Field Trip to ATL

• Tuesday, May 23 - 5th Grade Honors Night (Doors Open at 5pm, Students Arrive by 5:30pm, Ceremony Starts at 6:00pm) at Browns Bridge Church

• Wednesday, May 24 - 5th Grade and HS Senior Walk (2:20pm)

• Thursday, May 25 - Last Day of School and Early Release Day (dismiss at 12:30pm)

As you and your company are thinking about end-of-year charitable donations, please consider supporting Silver City Elementary with your end-of-year gift. As a public school system operating in the state of Georgia, all donations to our school are tax deductible.

Your tax deductible gifts can be used to:

• cover negative school lunch balances for students,
• sponsor our monthly Shining Star breakfasts,
• contribute towards our Inclusive Playground Fund,
• host staff luncheons and incentives,
• put new books in our media center and book vending machine, or
• a plethora of other ideas.

We would like to thank our current 2022-23 Partners in Education for their incredible support. We hope you let them know how grateful you are that they support the work we do at Silver City!

General Partnership - $100

Blue Partnership - $250

• H2WHOA Pressure Washing
• Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial

• 706 Wrestling

Silver Partnership - $500

Platinum Partnership - $1,000

• The DOJO - North Forsyth/Dawson
• Mar-Jac Poultry
• Concept Painting

Diamond Partnership - $5,000

• The Chantal and Tommy Bagwell Foundation Fund
• Mingledorff's

Extended Partnership - $10,000

• AtlantaState.com

Thank you ALL for your continued support!

Please see our flyer and information below and contact Mr. Sloop or Ms. Walraven if you or your company is interested in becoming a 2022-23 Partner in Education!