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New life continues to grow in Sylvan Park’s garden in the form of carrots, amaranth, squash, corn, beans and radishes. Check out the pictures below!

Sylvan Park’s first ever virtual field day is TOMORROW! Check out the flyer below for all the ways to participate. Post photos or videos of your student athletes in action and let the games begin!

For security purposes, we have changed the meeting ID for tonight’s meeting. To attend the meeting, please email pto.spark@gmail.com and request the meeting ID.

More details later in the week. Get ready!

How does water get to leaves at the top of trees?  Or… Suck It Up!
Introductory YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbQk8p3qgo8 (or just read this)

View all of this week’s activities and images here!

FREE AND DISCOUNTED INTERNET (HTTPS://WWW.MNPS.ORG/DIGITALTOOLS)

If you do not have internet access at home, several internet providers are offering free public wi-fi or discounted access for qualifying households.
·  Comcast Xfinity: Comcast Internet Essentials offers two months of free in-home internet to MNPS students and their families. (see attached flyer)
·  Free xfinity hotspots: Click the link to find a hotspot near you and to use select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.
·  Charter/Spectrum: free public wi-fi for 60 days and free broadband for households with students through college age who don’t already have a subscription.
·  Find Charter/Spectrum public wi-fi hotspots. To enroll in free wi-fi for 60 days, call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived. If your family receives benefits such as free and reduced lunch, you may qualify for a reduced cost account.
·  AT&T: is offering free public wi-fi for 60 days

Many parents have expressed interest in having dates for school and PTO events well in advance.We are hopeful for a full school year. See the 2020-2021 calendar here.  

Tune in May 6 to hear Principal Goetz’s state of the school update and vote on the following items: 
1) A proposed conflict of interest addition to the PTO by-laws.
2) The proposed PTO board members for 2020-21
3) Proposed gift of this year’s unused PTO funds to the school budget
4) Approval of the 2020-2021 PTO Budget (will be shared at the meeting)

Proposed PTO Board for the 2020-21 School Year
President: Ruth Butler
VP: Theresa Yarber
Ex Officio: Annette Ashley
Secretary: Casey Harvey
Treasurers: Chase Brannon & Tara McQuire
Teacher Representative (K-2): Jenna Myers
Teacher Representative (3-4): Amy Eberle
Teacher Representative (Related Arts): Lizzy Williams
Teacher Representative (EE): Lisa Gorley
Teacher Appreciation: Natalie Goldsby & Christina Coldiron
Diversity: Kathy Hamilton & Sarah Laos
Communications: Lauren St. Marie & Valerie Cordero
Fundraising: Jennifer Ervin
Volunteers: Sarah Grace & Whitney Denney
Community Relations: Tracy Eckert
Principal: Elizabeth Goetz

For those still interested in serving in a leadership role, we will have many chair positions open that do not require you to serve on the board. We welcome co-chairs. It is always fun to serve with friends! Reach out to Sarah Grace at sngrace@gmail.com if you are interested.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82544702090?pwd=TXhEOTVxeFR1SmI3UkpIT1hwZkkyQT09 Meeting ID: 825 4470 2090
Password: SPPTO

Even though the school year is ending differently than we’d imagined, we still want to try to send the fourth graders off to middle school in style. We will celebrate Fourth Grade Day on May 20th! 

Slideshow We plan to create a digital slideshow to commemorate the kids’ elementary school years.  Please submit photos of your student and their time at Sylvan Park to the class links below. We ask for no more than 5 photos per student, and we want to make sure everyone is included in the slideshow.  All photos are due by May 10th, 2020.  
Ms. Banik’s class: https://www.dropbox.com/request/odjTB7X4QczPWXfRFIJ8
Ms. Bray’s class: https://www.dropbox.com/request/gqSBWZIcbon6XsZEkhQK
Ms. Eberle’s class: https://www.dropbox.com/request/4h5IfYPgHPfq575Xg0QV

Talent show We are also going to hold a virtual talent show. Ask your student to start planning their performance now. Remind them that performances will be limited to 2 minutes and content must be school appropriate! All videos must be uploaded to flipgrid by May 13th, 2020.  You can either record it directly to Flipgrid or upload a video by clicking the green plus button. 
https://flipgrid.com/cb109e93
Use your teacher’s last name as the password/ID to get in.
 
Fourth Grade Day t-shirts We will be sending the kids off with a t-shirt marking their last year at Sylvan Park. Shirts are $8 each. Shirts will either be delivered to students or available for pickup if/when we can get into the school to retrieve our student’s belongings. Every student will get a shirt, so if you’re able to fund one for your student and a friend, please send size and payment here: paypal.me/annetteashley or Venmo: @Annette-Ashley

Graduation parade We are exploring some sort of distance graduation parade. This idea will continue to take shape as the shelter in place order evolves. But if you want to learn more or are interested in participating, please fill out this form. You can also indicate your student’s t-shirt size on the link. 

If you’re interested in helping or have any questions, please send an email to lindsayfa@gmail.com. 

The school district’s Exceptional Education department’s behavior team will host a live broadcast Friday, May 1 from 2 – 2:45. They will focus on creating structure and routines in the home environment with a brief presentation on visual supports, visual schedules, and structured work tasks. Parents will be invited to submit questions during a live Q&A session. The Accessibility and Accommodations Guide will be updated with additional parent resources each week from live broadcasts. Below is the information to participate:

Friday, May 1, 2020 at 2:00-2:45 p.m.
Esta transmisión en vivo se presentará solo en español. This live broadcast will be presented in Spanish only
Link for Friday: https://bit.ly/EE4Families5_1

New this week: Explanation on YouTube! (Be patient with the video orientation.)

This week, explore What Floats and What Doesn’t Float? (It depends on density.) Grab your science journal and get ready to have fun experimenting with water and items you have around the house!

Hello Sylvan Park Families!

As we start this sixth week of learning at home and continue to cope with the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in,  we thought it might be helpful to pass along an article about how to de-stress your kids and yourself. 

Below is a link to an article from the PBSkids for Parents site that we thought might be beneficial. We’ve included some questions you can use to have a conversation with your spouse, your family, with other Sylvan Park families (virtually of course!),  or for self-reflection.  We’d love to hear about the positive parts of this safer-at-home experience, so we have set up a Padlet for you to share your thoughts.

We would love for you to share your “positive” with our school community. Please use the link below to add a quick note about the positive you have found. 
http://bit.ly/sppaideia

Want to earn badges for all the reading you do? It’s simple! Choose a book, read at least 20 minutes a day and track your reading on Beanstack. We are excited to share the power of reading with you, your teachers, family, and friends. If you have questions, email Ms. Calverley (Laura.calverley@mnps.org). Happy reading!

Access Beanstack through your child’s Clever page OR by going to http://mnpssylvanparkes.beanstack.org/Log in with your student’s 190# and MMDD birthday and start logging minutes spent reading to earn virtual badges and help our school stack up minutes.

Parent Avery DeGiron has planted tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and beans in the garden and plans to transplant some corn plants to the school garden next week. Check out the photos she shared.