February 4th, 2026

The focus for January was perserverence. Congratulations to all of the winners.

Our school will be hosting the "Sycamore Creek Olympics!" The students will compete in fun school-wide, grade-level, and classroom competitions. We will also have events at our opening and closing ceremony assemblies, in gym and technology, and even lunch, too! These competitions will reinforce the Olympic Core Values: Excellence, Friendship, Respect.

Friday, February 6th: Students are invited to wear "Olympic" themed clothes (ex: red, white, blue clothes or athletic gear).

Friday, February 20th: Students are invited to wear their grade level color (colors of the Olympic rings): Kindergarten - Black, First Grade - Yellow, Second Grade - Green, Third Grade - Blue, Fourth Grade - Red

Students can also wear any clothes that represent different countries that they might be connected to.

Date: February 12, 2026

Time: 5:00 PM

Format: Virtual - please use this link to log on to the session

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/nsr-dexn-bof

Focus: Supporting Every Learner, Supporting Every Family

This Month's Topic: Executive Functioning 101:

The Keys to Student Success Executive functions are the cognitive skills necessary for planning, focusing attention, remembering instructions, and juggling multiple tasks. This parent session provides a foundational overview of how these skills develop and why they are critical for academic and social success. Parents will leave with a clear understanding of the "CEO of the brain" and actionable tools to scaffold these skills at home.

This event is a great opportunity for families and educators to gain valuable insights and resources to support students with special needs. We look forward to seeing you there! Please remember that all past episodes are uploaded to our district website/YouTube channel.

Stay in the Game! Don't Flake Out Photo Submissions

We want to celebrate the many ways families support students in showing up, staying engaged, and staying in the game—even during the winter months!

Families are invited to submit a photo that shows how you support your student’s attendance. This could include morning routines, encouragement before school, walking to the bus stop, celebrating attendance milestones, or any moment that highlights your family’s commitment to being present every day.

How to Enter

• Submit a photo showing how your family supports regular school attendance

• Complete the form below and upload your photo

Important Dates

• Submissions will be accepted January 20- February 28th

• Deadline to Submit: February 28

• Raffle Drawing: March 2

Raffle Prize

All submitted entries will be entered into a raffle for one set (2 tickets) of Columbus Crew tickets. Winners will receive tickets to either the March 14 or May 2 game (dates subject to availability).

Share the Fun

After submitting your entry, feel free to share your photo on social media using the hashtag
#StayInTheGamePickerington or #DontFlakeOutPLSD

Need Help Uploading?

If you experience any difficulty uploading your photo, you may email your submission directly to:
Jeff_Comer@plsd.us (Please include your child’s name and school in the email.)

Thank you for partnering with us to support attendance, engagement, and success. We can’t wait to see how your family helps students Stay in the Game!

Submission Link

Did you know that yearbooks are considered a fundraiser for the school and every purchase helps give back to the school! This year we are going to do a yearbook purchase contest for the classroom with the most purchases before February 14th! If you have already purchased your yearbook, it will still count towards the overall number for the classroom! The winning class will receive a special Valentine's treat!

Click the picture for the link or here.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the building.

Sycamore Creek will be participating in the Team Tressel Fitness Challenge. This is a totally optional self paced challenge for families to participate in with a start date of February 2nd. The Team Tressel Fitness Challenge is for 3rd and 4th graders across the state.

Attached you will find a PDF of the Student Workbook that you can work through with your child if you choose. Students that turn the signed form at the end of the workbook in by May 2nd will receive a Certificate recognizing their hard work and achievement. Please reach out to Jack Haas with any

questions.

The students will continue to participate in I-Ready Diagnostic Testing this week due to our weather related school cancelations last week. The I-Ready testing window has been extended to Friday, February 6th. Please reach out to your child's teacher about any updates or changes in the testing schedule especially if you have any upcoming appointments this week (February 2nd-6th).

Mark your calendars!!! Harry Potter Dress up Day will be Friday, February 27th! Students can dress like their favorite wizard or just embrace the theme with accessories like scarves, wands, ties and spectacles! No need to go and buy anything... They can dress in colors to represent their house!

Boys Event Invites were sent out on Monday! We are so excited for this fun event and can’t wait to see all of our SCE boys there!!

Our Girls dance is coming up! Interested in volunteering? See the link below!

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/4090A49AFA62FABFD0-61875455-girls

Our Spring Flower Sale starts Thursday, February 26th. Watch for catalogs to come home in the next couple of weeks!

Ms. Rizek is continuing to go into classrooms to teach about friendship. Below is a highlight of what your child will be learning.

The Hero of the Month focus for February is "Honesty".

Dear K–4 Families,

Happy February I’m excited to share what students in grades K–4 are learning and writing about during Module 3 of Wit & Wisdom/Great Minds.

Kindergarten - America Then and Now

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts that name what is being written about and supply some information about the topic.

First Grade- Powerful Forces

Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Second Grade - Civil Rights Heroes

Write narratives to recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Third Grade - A New Home

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

1. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

2. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

3. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

4. Provide a sense of closure.

Fourth Grade- The Redcoats are Coming

Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

1. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose.

2. Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.

3. Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition).

4. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

Best,

Mrs. Horsford

K-4 Curriculum Instructional Coach

PLSD, Sycamore Creek and Violet Elementary

The Mobile Dental Unit will be at SCE on Wednesday, February 25, and Thursday, February 26.

Website for Parents to Enroll: https://www.myschooldentist.com/SCPLOH_schsrm

• PLSD 2025-2026 District Calendar - click here

• Districtwide Activities Calendar

  Upcoming events and important dates are listed in the Districtwide Google Events Calendar, which is synced with individual building, program and athletic team calendars. Once inside the district wide calendar, to display the events of a particular building, team, program or activity, you will need to check the specific corresponding color-coded box(es) from the list on the left-hand side.

  Pickerington Schools partners with the City of Pickerington and Yodel to bring you the Pickerington Community Calendar!
  

  Visit this link to view all Pickerington Schools activities included on the calendar and don’t forget to “favorite” our Pickerington Schools schedule! Once favorited, Pickerington Schools' events will be front and center on your calendar, enabling you to see what’s coming up.

Please call the Sycamore Creek Elementary Attendance line at 614-834-6201 to leave a voice-mail message to report an absence for your child. Our secretaries check messages throughout the day.

If you have a doctor's note that you need to share with the school to document an absence, please email it to:

sceattendance@plsd.us

February 2nd-6th

*National School Counseling Week

February 11th

*K-12 Evening Parent-Teacher Conferences

February 16th

*No School (President's Day)

February 17th and 18th

*No School (Professional Development Days for staff)

February 19th

*K-12 Evening Parent-Teacher Conferences

February 22nd

*School Bus Driver Appreciation Day