The "Skimmer" Scoop

October 30th

Fall Class Parties 1:00-1:45

October 30th

No Homework Day for 25K unlocked!

November 3

Election Day (No School)

November 4

Sandcastle Day

November 6

Principal Coffee Chat

November 6

PTA Outdoor Movie Night

November 11

Walk & Bike to School Day

November 11

Make Up Picture Day

November 15th

Progress Reports go out this week

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We are less than a week away from my favorite event of the year, SIES Sandcastle Day! This year, students will build castles around the theme “Every Child is a Scientist.” Each class will select a Science Crosscutting Concept to represent through its creation.

Parents and families are welcome to attend and cheer on our young scientists! Students will enter the beach area at 8:00 AM and finish building before 9:00 AM. CD and kindergarten classes may return to the building as early as 8:45 AM.

As always, an event of this size takes everyone's cooperation to ensure that it runs smoothly and safely for our students. Here is what you need to know to help make the morning a success:

• Please use Station 21 to access the beach. Even though this requires a little extra walking, it is important that teachers can easily see and supervise all of their students. When parents use the same access route, the boardwalk becomes too crowded. Thank you for understanding and helping us keep students safe!

• Plastic shovels only, please. Metal shovels and other metal tools are not permitted.

• Parents must remain along the perimeter of the building area. Last year, the viewing areas became crowded, making it difficult for students to move around, work together, and protect their castles. Officer Poole will help ensure that everyone has a good view from the perimeter.

• Please leave pets at home. No dogs are permitted at the event.

• Please save conversations with teachers for another time. We know you enjoy catching up with your children's teachers, but during Sandcastle Day, they need to focus on supervising students and guiding the building process. Thank you for giving them the space to do so!

We are looking forward to a wonderful morning of creativity, collaboration, and scientific thinking on the beach. Thank you for helping us make this special SIES tradition a safe and memorable experience for every child!

Soar on, Skimmers!

Principal Susan King

What a day on Friday! Beautiful weather, smiling faces and proud Skimmers reminded us how lucky our kids are to Learn by the Sea. Thank you for cheering them on and supporting SIES!

We’re so grateful to the more than 950 people who supported our Skimmers! Look what we’ve achieved together!

✅$25,000: School-wide NO homework night!

✅$50,000: A DJ dance party at recess last week!

✅$75,000: Mrs. King, Mrs. Cassell and Friends President Paige Hauff will become human ice cream sundaes at a school gathering!

✅$90,000: An ice cream party for ALL students!

Fundraising remains open through November 1! Share race photos or videos with your fundraising page with grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends. Have your kids visit or FaceTime loved ones to share their accomplishments and ask for support!

Every dollar helps Friends fund teachers, programs and resources beyond the district budget, including Spanish and technology instruction, academic interventionists, hands-on science, the Green Heart garden and arts enrichment.

Students can still earn Fun Run prizes through November 1!

• Grab bags at the $50, $250, $500 and $1,000 fundraising levels.

• At $1,000: A book vending machine coin and a pizza party in the library!

• A behind-the-scenes SC Aquarium field trip with Ms. Galipeau and Ms. Rice for the top 15 fundraisers*, plus five additional students selected by random drawing

Thank you for your generosity! Soar on, Skimmers!

Friends of SIES

*Some donations are anonymous, and some children’s fundraising pages are not publicly displayed. Official fundraising winners will be notified after donations close.

We are excited for our Fall Parties on Friday. To help make our classroom parties fun and smooth for everyone, please review these important reminders before party day.

• Try and Limit adults to two per student, please. We ask that families limit the number of adults attending to help keep our classrooms comfortable and safe for everyone.

• Please do not bring younger siblings. We appreciate your help keeping the parties focused on our SIES students.

• Plan ahead for parking. Parking will be limited, so please allow extra time to find a spot and arrive at school.

• Room parents may arrive at 12:30 PM to help set up and prepare for the parties.

• All other parents may arrive at 1:00 PM.

• Parties will end at 1:45 PM. Parents may sign their child out directly from the classroom following the party.

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Thank you for helping us make our fall parties a fun celebration for our students!

Due to the 13-ton weight restriction on the Ben Sawyer Bridge, all school buses have been instructed to avoid the bridge until further notice. All buses will use the IOP Connector instead.

This detour may affect school bus drop-off times. Please plan accordingly and allow for possible delays. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

We have had an uptick of items being brought in to the front office from home. Please refer to the "Items from Home" section of the handbook listed below.

We need everyone’s assistance to minimize classroom interruptions and help students become more independent. Please know that our staff is here to reassure students and help them have a successful day.

Do not bring forgotten homework, projects, snacks, or water bottles to the school. If a student forgets a lunch, you may drop it off in the office, or we will ensure he/she receives a lunch from the cafeteria. Please do not drop off lunches as a regular practice, and remember that fast food lunches are not permitted. We cannot store large items at school, such as suitcases, golf clubs, or birthday presents.

This month, we celebrated National Bullying Prevention Month! Mrs. Russell visited each classroom to discuss what bullying is, how to recognize it, and what students can do if they experience or witness bullying.

What is bullying?

Bullying is when someone keeps (not just one time) being mean over and over again to someone else on purpose. The person it’s happening to hasn't been able to make it stop. Types of bullying include verbal, physical, leaving somebody out on purpose, threatening, and cyberbullying, Bullying is unfair and one-sided.

What can students do? “Recognize, Report, Refuse!”

• Recognize: Learn to identify bullying behaviors and understand the difference between bullying, conflict, and accidental hurtful behavior.

• Report: Tell a trusted adult, such as a teacher, counselor, or parent, if bullying happens to you or someone else. The sooner you report, the better!

• Refuse: Choose kindness! Refuse to join in, laugh at, or encourage bullying. Instead, stand up for others in safe and respectful ways.

How can parents help?

Talk with your child about treating others with kindness and respect. Encourage them to speak up when something doesn't feel right and remind them that asking an adult for help is always the right thing to do.

Together, we can create a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment where every student feels valued and included! Bystander Power!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

In the month of November our School Counselor, Walker Russell, will cover the state mandated information from Erin’s Law(safe touch) and Gavin’s Law(Internet safety). This lesson is designed to provide age-appropriate education and empowerment on the crucial topics of child sexual abuse prevention and internet safety. Mrs. Russell's lessons will empower students to report uncomfortable or unsafe interactions. After this lesson, the students should know:

1a. The adults taking care of you need to know where you are and what you are doing.

1b. Be aware of your personal boundaries, how to communicate your personal

boundaries, to respect others personal boundaries, and to ask for help if you need it.

2. No one should touch you in a way that makes you feel scared, uncomfortable, or

hurt (safe touches and unsafe touches).

3. No one should ever ask you to keep secrets about an unsafe or uncomfortable

situation (safe secrets and unsafe secrets).

4. Five examples of safe adults. Always tell a safe adult if you are hurt, made to feel

uncomfortable or scared, or made to feel unsafe. Always tell unsafe secrets.

5. In any unsafe or uncomfortable situation, say no or stop, leave, and tell (tell a safe adult)

6. Rules and guidelines of internet safety:

CD/K/1st/2nd Grades:

• Let an adult help you use a device safely

• Only talk to people you know online. Tell an adult if someone you don’t know tries to connect with you or asks for personal information (full name, address, phone number, school, age)

• Balance your time online with other activities

• Be kind online

3rd-5th Grades:

• Let an adult help you use a device safely

• Never share personal information online

• Share usernames and passwords with a safe adult

• Connect with people you know on devices and online platforms

• Tell a safe adult if you feel scared or uncomfortable about something you see or experience online

• Balance your screen time with other activities you like and need to do

• Check the facts to know what information is true with a safe adult

• Use good netiquette and be kind

Please contact Walker Russell with any questions: walker_russell@charleston.k12.sc.us

Thank you!

Ms. Russel

Halloween season is filled with spooky celebrations,and lots of decorations! There are a lot of classic Halloween decorations, including ghosts, goblins, bats and even spooky snakes! Bats, snakes, and other “creatures of the night” get bad reputations for being scary and bad. However, it’s important to take a minute to decide what’s actually so scary about them! A previous kindergarten science lesson explored what about certain animals scare us. Those animals with scales, not-so-cute faces, big teeth, and creepy crawly legs usually top the list of the scariest animals. When we dove into why those parts scare us and why animals have those special features or look a certain way, we discovered that they just use their body parts to adapt and survive in their environment, not to scare us! In fact, most animals that scare us don’t want anything to do with us! They are just trying to live their lives and are pretty scared of humans,a large predator in their eye, and would only cause us harm in self defense. Next, we imagined what a world without “scary” animals might look like. Snakes have the important job of pest control; eating rats and mice and maintaining their balanced population. A world with no snakes would be overrun with rodents that have an unchecked population. Now that sounds scary!

Bats help control mosquito populations by eating these pesky insects—something we can all appreciate! They are also important pollinators, helping many plants grow and produce food. Even if bats aren’t the cutest creatures, a planet without them sounds much scarier than one with them! And those creepy-crawly insects, even cockroaches, have an important job, too. As decomposers, they recycle nutrients and return them to the ecosystem, helping keep nature in balance.

Not all animals can be lovable, cute and cuddly, and it's not always easy to love creepy animals. However, we don’t have to love them to understand the critical role they play in keeping our Earth, and ourselves, healthy! All we need to do is remember their significance when we see them in an unwelcome space, keep our distance, and let them go along their way.

Remember, even the spookiest of animals serve an important role in keeping our Earth healthy, and we can do our part to respect and protect them!

What an amazing turnout at our Fun Run! I was so proud of every student who participated and gave it their best effort. Our top runners covered an incredible 3.75 miles in just 30 minutes! That kind of determination, perseverance, and personal achievement is truly impressive. Way to go, everyone!

Leading up to the Fun Run, we discussed what happens to our bodies when we run. Students learned about how our hearts beat faster, why we become out of breath, and how we might experience a side cramp. We also talked about strategies to help us work through those uncomfortable moments and keep moving toward our goals. These are important skills that help students build body awareness, confidence, and endurance.

Now that the Fun Run is behind us, we’re lacing up for something new as we kick off our throwing unit! One of our major focuses will be stepping with opposition. This means that when throwing with your right hand, you step forward with your left foot, and when throwing with your left hand, you step forward with your right foot. This simple but important skill helps students develop proper throwing technique, coordination, and accuracy.

I’m excited to see our students continue to learn, grow, and challenge themselves in PE. Great job, everyone, and let’s keep moving!

We are back for another Fall season of IOP Rec Lacrosse. Format is 30 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes of game play!

Sign up here LINK

Coaches Luke, Jimmy and drumroll please....new Head Coach of the Wando H.S. Girls Varsity Lacrosse team...IOP Rec Lacrosse's own, Erin Smith!!!! will all be back for our greatest season yet!

Big round of applause for Erin. WOW! We are so excited for her and are truly lucky to have her on our staff!

If you are not an IOP resident and or do not have an IOP rec account set up and are running into technical issues - Please reach out to Owen Bailey at the front desk and he can help you: (843) 886-8294

Participants must provide their own equipment:

Eye protection (goggles for girls/helmets for boys), stick, gloves (for boys) and mouth guard. Cups for boys are recommended as well.

Recommended equipment can be found here:

· Lowlax (527 Wando Lane, Suite B, Mount Pleasant, SC, 29464, Phone: 843.971.1327)Starter Packs - Lowcountry Lacrosse (lowlax.com)

· DICK’S

· Play_It_Again_Sports -Second-hand equipment here in town.

· Sideline_Swap – Online Second-Hand equipment. A very good option.

· Ebay

· Amazon

We hope to see you out on the field in a couple of weeks!

Have questions about school safety or want to learn more about how SIES works every day to keep our students safe? Join Ms. King and members of our SIES Safety Team on Friday, November 6th, for a special Coffee Chat focused on all things safety! This is a great opportunity to ask questions, learn more about our safety procedures, and hear how we work together to keep our Skimmers safe and secure. 💙

Join us Friday, November 6, in the SIES backyard for an outdoor showing of Toy Story 5! Doors open at 5:45 p.m., and the movie begins at 6:30 p.m. Food trucks will be on-site, and donations will be collected in lieu of admission fees. This event is for SIES students and families only, and parents must remain with their children. Bring your own chairs and blankets for a fun family night under the stars!

At SIES our teachers and staff go ABOVE & BEYOND for students and families! We want to recognize all that they do! Please use this form to shout out an SIES Faculty or Staff member. We will share these with our staff on our daily staff newsletter!