Blue Jay Weekly Game Plan

Blue Jay families,

As we head into Week 6, we have a lot to celebrate! This past week was a wonderful reminder that when school and home work together, our Blue Jays win. 💙

Our first Bases Loaded Family Learning Night was a home run! We loved seeing families moving around the bases, visiting classrooms, learning about grade-level expectations, exploring our One School, One Book initiative, and learning more about why attendance and instructional time matter.

We also celebrated our first Surprise Attendance Day! Students who were at school Friday had no idea a special treat was waiting for them. Thanks to our amazing PTA, every student present enjoyed a freeze pop as we celebrated completing our first full month of school! 🎉

And that brings us to an important Week 6 reminder: We can only teach them when they are here. They can only benefit from great instruction when they are in the classroom. And growth happens one day—and one instructional minute—at a time.

Our challenge to families this week is simple: Keep showing up. Get them here. Get them here on time. Keep them here for the full day whenever possible. Then ask them what they learned when they get home.

Quick Reminders:

Thank you to everyone who is following out AM Traffic Pattern.

• Please continue to turn RIGHT ONLY when exiting campus back onto the main road. This will ensure we do not create a traffic jam for families coming into campus. We understand this may be inconvenient, but when it comes to the safety of our students, staff, and families, there is nothing too inconvenient to ensure everyone is safe.
• We are down to two bus drivers, driving three routes. I understand this is frustrating and inconvenient, but we are doing the best we can to get students to school safely. If you know of anyone interested in driving a bus, please let us know.

Thank you for continuing to partner with us. Six weeks into the season, every day still matters, every minute still counts, and every Blue Jay has the potential to grow!

💙 One Team. One Goal. Step Up to the Plate! ⚾

With Blue Jay Pride,
Mrs. Hamilton
Principal
Sylvan Elementary School 💙
Building Greatness in Every Student. Every Day.

💙We are doing a great job having our Blue Jays ready to exit the vehicle.

💙All students have the opportunity to go to breakfast. At 7:40 students are sent to class with their breakfast and allowed to eat until the transition from Morning Meeting is over by 8:15am at the latest.

💙Students that arrive late until 9:00 am are offered breakfast and 15 minutes to eat in the classroom.

💙If a student arrives after breakfast has stopped and is still hungry, we work with the cafeteria to ensure there a nutritious snacks on hand that we can give to a student to hold them until lunch.

💙Blue Jays are not knowingly sent to class hungry. That is not optimal for teaching and learning!

• 4th Grade Field Trip

• Teacher Workday, NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

• PTA Meeting 5:30pm in the Media Center
• Don't forget to buy your raffle tickets for the "First in Line" spot for afternoon dismissal for the 2nd nine weeks!

• Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser for PTA. Enjoy a delicious family meal while giving back to Sylvan!

• 10/15- 1st Grade Field Trip
• 10/16- PTA Trunk or Treat 5:00-7:00pm (Candy donations are needed. If every Blue Jay can donate one back of candy that would be great!)
• 10/20- 4th/5th Grade Trip to the NC Symphony
• 10/22- Fall Picture Day
• 10/23- End of Quarter 1, Kindergarten Field Trip
• 10/26- Teacher Workday, NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Families, please use the linked form OR scan the QR code to indicate the preferred name for your student. For instance, if your student is named Daniel and you prefer for them to be called Danny, indicate that on the linked form. This is in accordance with North Carolina State Law (S.L. 2023-106; Senate Bill 49) Section 115C-76.45.(5). If you completed this last year, you do not need to do it again.

If you need to submit a note or doctor's note for your student's absence, please use the form linked here. Please note, per board policy, notes must be submitted within 2 school days of the absences. Sylvan will not accept notes after 7 days (1 week).

Click the attachment below to access the 26-27 Sylvan Student-Parent Handbook

Please know that we take every incident reported seriously and we investigate to the fullest extent possible. Sylvan does not tolerate inappropriate behaviors of any kind. We are also including the link to the District’s Code of Conduct here. While each of you are familiar with our school handbooks, we wanted to make sure you had access to the District’s Code of Conduct that guides our decisions with consequences. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our administrative team.

All students will receive FREE breakfast and lunch at Sylvan Elementary. The menus can be found here.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our first PTA Meeting of the 26-27 school year! We had a wonderful turn out.

• Linked here are the minutes for the first meeting.
• Our next meeting will be 10/8 at 5:30pm
• We are collecting candy donations for our Trunk or Treat on 10/16. We would love if every Blue Jay could bring one bag of candy! Please drop all donations in the front office!

At Sylvan, Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH) is how we intentionally build strong, positive relationships and create classrooms where every student feels safe, connected, valued, and ready to learn. Through daily practices such as welcoming students, sharing “Good Things,” creating classroom Social Contracts, giving affirmations, and teaching students how to communicate and problem-solve respectfully, we build a culture of both connection and accountability. Simply put, CKH helps us reach students’ hearts so we can better reach their minds. 💙

Each month focuses on a different character trait. This month's character trait is EMPATHY!

What is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to be aware of, understand, and be sensitive to another person’s feelings. Instead of focusing on how these feelings impact ourselves, empathy motivates us to focus on others and respond with care and compassion.

Why Focus on Empathy?

• Empathy builds a positive classroom culture. Empathy empowers students to learn to understand each other to build trust and safety in the classroom.
• Empathy strengthens community. Empathy helps students strengthen their relationships with classmates, other students and adults at school, and at home.
• Empathy prepares your students to be leaders in their community. The best leaders understand the people they lead and are able to show they care

Empathy in Action:.

• Take a different perspective. When you take a different perspective, you put aside your own feelings and reactions to see the situation through another’s eyes.
• Put aside judgment. Take a pause, and rather than express conclusions about a situation based on what you see, step back and consider other things you may still need to know or understand.
• Communicate that you understand. Instead of giving advice, respond with reflective phrases like, “It sounds like you...” or “I hear that you...” to express that you understand and care.

The Capturing Kids’ Hearts Social Contract is a set of agreements created with students, not just for students, that describes how everyone wants to be treated in the classroom. Students and teachers work together to identify behaviors such as respect, kindness, responsibility, honesty, and teamwork that will help create a safe and positive learning environment. Throughout the year, the Social Contract becomes a shared guide for celebrating positive choices, solving problems, and holding one another accountable—helping students understand that everyone plays a role in creating a classroom where we can learn, grow, and succeed together.

The Capturing Kids’ Hearts hand signals give students and staff simple, respectful ways to communicate and hold one another accountable while protecting relationships. At Sylvan, we use Check as a friendly reminder to follow our Social Contract, Time Out when the teacher needs the class to pause and give attention, and Foul when someone’s words or actions have hurt another person’s heart. When a student is receives a foul, they have to give two "put-ups" to the person their fouled to repair the relationship. These signals help students learn to communicate concerns appropriately, accept redirection, repair relationships, and take responsibility for how their choices affect others—all while keeping our classrooms positive, respectful, and ready for learning. 💙

Enrollment is open for our 26-27 Afterschool Program. Please click the link below to register!

ENROLLMENT FORM