Sugar Creek Family Newsletter
October Monthly Newsletter
One special privilege of being a 5th grader is getting to help with our morning annoucements! Our first round of helpers just wrapped up. We'll rotate through all the volunteers til everyone gets a chance to help for a week!
Last spring families were sent a survey about what they were looking for in a new principal. The themes that arose from that survey were families emphasizing the importance of a principal who is highly visible, relational, and student-centered; who communicates clearly and frequently; who supports and advocates for staff; who upholds consistent behavioral expectations; and who understands the complexities of special education, bilingual programming, and early childhood development. There is also an expressed expectation that the next principal be capable of leading a large, diverse school community with both warmth and operational strength.
I have taken these all to heart in my first 6 weeks with students, being present at drop off and pick up, in the cafeteria, and in classrooms. You can see some of the work that relates to supporting and advocating for staff as well as students in the sections below. I work closely with Ms. Yates our Associate Principal on special education staffing and programming as well as our TWI teachers to consistently prioritize TWI in scheduling. I look forward to continuing to lead with love and joy and continue encouraging our students that everyday is a great opportunity to learn something new.
Staff Listening Sessions
One thing that we feel very strongly about is checking in with our teachers on a regular basis to celebrate the things going well and problem solving around anything that might be tricky. I met with teachers this summer to check in about their hopes for the school year. The big themes that came out of that were that our staff love working here, and were excited to have kids back in the building. Staff expressed an appreciation for supportive administrators and were excited to get to know our new Associate Principal. We did some problem solving around schedules and our case managers and general education teachers had a chance to collaborate before the school year started on student needs, room set up, and general team dynamics! We love our SC Staff!
Staff Advisory Groups
Another part of my Principal Entry plan was to work with Student Services to have regular student advisory groups. We have a plan for the first quarter on how to hear from different groups of students in a regular way!
- September-New Students had a chance to enjoy a lunch bunch with a student service team member to meet one another, our staff, and connect with classmates!
- October-Student Council members were chosen! Congrats to the following students who will be our 26/27 Student Council members:
- Kroenke: Griffin S and Brynlee P
- Middleton: Rowan B and Sadie O
- Rippl: Sadie S and Lucy B
- Westberg: Reagan B and Dawson S
- TWI Group A: Gael M and Maren C
- TWI Group B: Madeline K and Claire B
- November-Affinity Groups will meet with Student Service Members to discuss ways we can make sure that Sugar Creek is a place where all students belong.
Occasionally Ms. Yates and Ms. Houghan have to be out of the building for trainings or professional learning. On those occasions we have three excellent principal designees who step in to support our teachers. This year, those teachers are Mr. Beirowski, Ms. Zapata, and Ms. Lenzlinger.
Wow! We had an amazing 12th Annual Fun Run last weekend. Thanks so much to everyone who came and supported our school and attended the amazing race. Many many thanks to our PTO and planning committee (Courtney Meyer, Diana Bhatoya, John & Alissa Dyreby, Kate Beirowski, Molly O’Brien, Morgan Burch, Madeline Prange, Rachel Schlindewein, Kevin Scully, Teresa Hoffman, and Sam Kraemer) who made the event possible and all of you who donated to help raise funds for our school. The fundraiser is still open and we work hard to make this our big and only ask for donations for the school year. If you or a family member still wants to donate, they can do so here. These funds are used to make programs like our Imagination Fair, Teacher Grants, Open House & Book Fair Books for Kids Happen:
We have been busy celebrating Latinx Heritage Month in many ways!
- Students have been learning about influential Latinx leaders through a morning Bingo game on the annoucements
- Teachers have been reading aloud stories from this read-aloud list
- Many families attended the Hispanic Heritage Month event at the high school this weekend including Ms. Rivera and her loteria card activity!
Due to all the beautiful weather we've been having we were able to have an October picnic where students enjoy their lunch out front with their classmates!
Ms. Kyle caught some friends in the hallway on hat day during our Homecoming Spirit Week with their hats!
Warm Winters Drive (English)
Warm Winters Drive (Español)
Food Program (English)
