Sunset Park News
January 2020
Principal's Pen
Dear Trojan Family,
Monday, January 13: Wear a Winthrop University, garnet, gold, or black shirt and uniform bottoms. Coach Kelsey, head basketball coach at Winthrop, will visit our students to kick-off the new year.
Monday, January 13: School of Choice Tour @ 5:30 pm (Please share with interested family and friends.)
The January 13 SIC/PTO meeting will be postponed until February 3.
Monday, January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday (No School for students and staff)
Friday, January 24: Spring Enrichment Clusters Begin
Friday, January 31: Super Bowl Dress Down Day
I look forward to our continued partnership as we move into the third nine weeks of school! As always, thank you for your continued support of our school and students!
Children First,
Dr. Barnes
From the Front Office
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed our Holiday Break. We would like to remind you to make every effort to come to school daily and arrive on time. Just a few missed days here and there, even if they’re excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time. This is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school. Please remember to send in excuses if your child is absent. Parents may write notes for 5 absences each school year if your child did not go to the doctor. If your child went to the doctor, please send in the medical excuse. If you have questions regarding attendance, please call or email. We look forward to seeing you every school day in 2020!
~Mrs. Dieguez
Sunset Park Attendance
803-981-1263
Accelerated Studies
Gifted children tend to get bored quickly. Because they can analyze, adapt and master challenges at a quicker rate, the challenge that at one time was fun and exciting quickly can become old hat. Inspiring your gifted child with games that are challenging is a great way to keep them motivated.
Finding ways to challenge gifted children can be overwhelming. This list may help you with this task. You’ll find affiliate links to most of the games which will take you to external sites where you can purchase any game that might be a great challenge for your child.
App Games for Gifted
Love them or hate them apps are a regular part of our lives these day. Rather than turning your heart away from them, perhaps it’s time to embrace app games so your gifted kids can be challenged again and again, with little, if any, expense.
2. Hidden Object: Mystery Estate
3. Hidden Object: Mystery Guardian
5. Minecraft
6. Pegland
7. SCRATCH (online)
9. Unblock
10. X Construction
Building Games for Gifted
There’s something to be said about letting little hands explore building. It serves as a foundation for understanding engineering principles. The best teacher is experience and building games put experience right in the palms of their hands.
1. Artchitecto
2. Arx 2.o
3. Castle Blast
4. Clicko
5. Equilibrio
6. Hexacity
7. oinx
8. Staxiz
9. Suspend
10. Tumba
11. Twig
Card Games for Gifted
Card games are great for helping gifted kids develop social skills. That’s because many card games are played in groups of two or more. Anytime you can get your gifted kids involved in gaming together they’ll naturally start to talk to each other.
1. Anomia
3. Davinci’s Challenge Card Game
4. Fluxx
5. Spot It
6. Sushi Go
7. SET
8. KARMA
Logic, Strategy & Tactic Games for Gifted
Gifted kids and logic and strategy games go together like peanut butter and jelly. It just makes sense. That’s because these kids simply have great logic skills. So finding ways to challenge them means introducing strategy games on a regular basis.
1. Abalone
2. Blokus
3. Brain String
4. Chaos
5. Color Stix
6. Dizios
7. Gravity Maze
8. Iota
9. IQ Twist
10. Linja
11. Q-Bitz
12. Qwirkle
13. Qwirkle Cube
14. String Railway
15. Swish
18. Zertz
Maze Games for Gifted
What’s better than a maze?
1. AMaze
2. Labyrinth
3. Mine Shift
4. Perplexus
5. Q Ba Maze
6. Quoridor
Word Games for Gifted
Word games can be challenging. And, sometimes gifted kids find them to be super thrilling. They love the challenge of discovering obscure words
1. Dabble
2. Hit or Miss
3. Jumbalaya
4. Konexi
5. Last Letter
6. Smart Mouth
7. Word a Round
9. Yottsugo
Source: https://reneeatgreatpeace.com/100-games-for-gifted/
~Mrs. Blackwell
Guidance
Parents/ Guardians:
Your child will be participating in an abuse prevention curriculum during classroom guidance over the next 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, I am now in the early stages of planning our upcoming Career Day; May 21. For this event, 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 and/or 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. Additionally we still have a few jackets, coats, gloves and hats available for any students in need. If your child could benefit from these services, please contact me on my office phone at (803) 981- 1272 for further assistance.
Lastly, during the month of December we covered topic(s) to include: Kindness (grades K-2nd) and Team Building (grades 3-5). Please speak with your children about our guidance lessons and allow them to share with you what they’ve learned. Also, when you notice your child acting as a team player and/ or demonstrating positive, kind behaviors; please let them know that you’ve noticed these actions. Your words and attention will encourage him/her to continue these characteristics in the future.
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 Joyous January!
~Ms. Woods
Media Center
December 4th was a special day for Sunset Park students! We were honored to host two children’s authors on the very same day. Taylor Dee Spencer’s high energy presentation kept our kindergartners actively engaged with her songs, videos and dance moves. The former teacher has authored two books, Tumble Bus Time and I Won’t Be a Kid Forever; in addition to recording two cds, Move N’ Learn and Preschool Island.
Our 1st through 5th graders traveled back in time with author Dr. Annette Laing. After fifteen years of teaching as a college professor, Dr. Laing decided to pursue her passion to write children’s books. Relying on her historical research she now visits schools, libraries, and book clubs to give students and adults a glimpse into the life of a colonial kid beginning with her dress, artifacts, and her informational PowerPoint presentation. Dr. Laing is the author of The Snipesville Chronicles (Book 1 – Don’t Know Where, Don’t Know When; Book 2 – A Different Day, A Different Destiny; Book 3 – Look Ahead, Look Back, and Book 4 – One Way or Another). Our students and teachers quickly recognized the curriculum connections on the Colonies, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution.
The cold winter weather is an excellent time to curl up with a good book. Students are encouraged to continue reading 20 minutes each day. Check out the York County Library’s Totally Cool Winter Reading Challenge, December 16, 2019 – January 31, 2020. Visit the library’s website https://www.yclibrary.org/wrc and get in on the fun!
The York County Pop-up Library will return to Sunset Park on Friday, January 17, 2020. Students must bring their York County Library card to check out a book.
Happy Reading!!!
~Mrs. Gray
Art
Greetings from the Art Room.
Be sure to check out the new art exhibits coming in January. Our much beloved 2nd grade Winter Cardinal paintings will be going up in the main hall between C and E halls and the famous 5th grade Sunset Silhouettes will be displayed right outside the cafeteria. Don’t forget to check out the 4th grade Indian Blanket Landscapes on D hall.
Also, have you ever felt unsure about what to do with all those Christmas cards? You hate to just throw them away but where do you keep them? And for how long? Please think about donating them to the art room. I love to take the fronts off and let the students cut them up and use them for collage. I would love to have them and see them turned into art. Thanks you for letting me teach your children.
~Mrs.Gifford
Physical Education
What’s UP in PE!
Here’s hoping that you all had a happy and safe winter break filled with fun and joy! As we begin the New Year I am going to share a few suggestions promoting healthy behaviors for your most precious gifts, your children. With the guidance of Atrium Healthcare the Healthy Together program aims to provide information promoting healthy behaviors for all students and families. Healthy Together encourages kids and families to join the 5-2-1-0 League by implementing these four suggestions.
• 5- Eat at least five servings of fruits and veggies every day
• 2- Limit recreational screen time to fewer than two hours a day
• 1- Be physically active for at least one hour per day
• 0- Avoid sugary drinks, and instead aim for water or low-fat milk
Save These Dates:
• Fourth Grade Swimming Lessons: February 3, 4, 5, 6 (We need chaperones, especially males, who might assist us in the locker rooms. You must be volunteer approved by the Rock Hill School District. If you are able to assist us please reach out to me at sbundy@rhmail.org or to your child’s homeroom teacher. More information will be sent home with your fourth grader.
• 2020 Field Day: May 15, 2020: The date of our best day of the year is set! Please mark your calendar and plan to assist us with making your child’s day the best ever! More info to come as time draws near.
~Ms. Bundy