El Noticiero

February 10-14: ❤️Kindness Week and Dress Up Days!!

• Monday- Sport Team Day
• Tuesday - Comfy Clothes Days
• Wednesday- Kind Words
• Thursday - School Spirit Day
• Friday - Red, White, and Pink

February 12: 4th and 5th Grade Yearbook Cover Submissions Due

February 14: Friendship/Kindness Celebrations

February 14: Author Visit with Andrea Cruz Floren (K-2nd Grade)

February 17-18: No Class - Winter Break

February 18: Operation Hope and Caring - Jump at Sky Zone from 10:00 AM-7:00 PM for $25 for the day!

March 14: No Class - Compensatory Day

March 19: End of Quarter 3

March 13: Community Conversations at SSE from 7:00-8:00 PM

March 24: 3rd-5th Grade Starts SD Assessments Testing

March 24-26: Book Battle Competition

March 28: Book Battle Championship (All Grade Levels)

April 18-21: No Class - Spring Break

April 24: 2nd Grade Concert at 7:00 PM in the Gymnasium

You are able to Register your new Kindergartener into the Sioux Falls School District. Early Childhood students who are moving to Kindergarten will need to complete a NEW student Online Registation.

• Existing families (with currently enrolled students in the District) - should register their NEW kindergarteners and/or other NEW students through their Parent Portal. This will save valuable time!
• New families (no other students enrolled in the District OR families that have left and are now returning) - Go to the SFSD website registration page starting February 3, 2025 to register for the 25-26 school year.

Make sure 25-26 school year is selected before starting registration.

It is recommended to not utilize a cell phone as the Online Registration is NOT mobile friendly. Please use a laptop, desktop or Chromebook. Chromebooks are available at SSE to use in the office if needed.

Dear Sonia Sotomayor Parents and Guardians-

Thank you for taking the time to attend our recent Parent-Teacher Conferences. Your involvement and support are essential to your child's success, and we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with you in their learning journey.

We value the strong partnership between home and school and are grateful for your commitment to your child's education. If you have any follow-up questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

We appreciate your support of our school Book Fair! We were able to gift each classroom teacher with many books to fill their classroom libraries thanks to your generosity! We want to give special thank you to Audra Kulm and Yaira Espinosa for heading up this successful Winter Book Fair.

Please remind your students to complete at least five lessons per week in Dreambox to ensure they will grow at least one grade level in math this year.

Thank you for being such an important part of our school community!

Proud to be your principal,

Tracy Vik

Our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) team has started a celebration where Classroom Teachers are able to nominate one student who demonstrates our 4 core values: Leader, Aware, Responsible, and Kind. We recently had morning recongition program for these students and their entire families! What we see in the classroom is a testimate to how everyone (family members, students, and staff) is part of the pack and helps instill these values in our students! We are so proud of everyone nomiated in December!

There was a Chess Tournament held at Sonia Sotomayor Elementary by the Chess4Life group. A few of our students came away with some honors! If you are interested in your student getting involved with Youth Chess Tournaments or Classes, please visit the SFSD Comm Ed website. There is another tournamet at Robert Frost on Saturday, February 15th.

We are so proud to recognize our Dr. John W. Harris Teacher of the Year Nomiations! Thank you to all our families who helped nominate 8 of our wonderful educators. We are blessed to have so many amazing and inspiring teachers.

Nicole Groen - 3rd Grade English Specific Skills | Eliana Gutiérrez - 3rd Grade | Wilfredo Petit - 4th Grade | Lorena Pinzón - Kindergarten | Erika Tarquino - 4th Grade | Yubeth Medina - 4th Grade | Adrian Ledesma - 1st Grade | Lali Triadú - 5th Grade

Click the picture to see the list of perfect attendance winners for the month of January! To earn perfect attendance, students have to be present at school for part of each day school is in session. They then earn a green ticket (worth 5 blue tickets) to use in our Tienda de Los Lobos!

❤️At Sonia Sotomayor we are celebrating Kindness Week Feb 10-14. We will be working with students to show kindness to different groups of people.

• To show kindness to our community we are collecting NEW hats + gloves/mittens in all sizes for Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. They will give them out to those in need, young and old at a family night. Have your students bring them to their classroom teachers during the week.
• To show kindness to our friends students will be writing a Kindness Card to a Spanish Student at another Elementary School in Sioux Falls.
• To show kindness to our school community a cart of treats will come around for teachers one morning.
• On Friday, February 14th - we will be celebrating the week with Friendship/Kindness Parties in the classrooms

And of course, there will be dress up days!!

❤️Dress Up Days❤️

Monday: Sport team day | Tuesday: Comfy clothes | Wednesday: Kind words

Thursday: School Spirit Day | Friday: Red, White & Pink

Lunch Menu - Free and Reduced Meal Application

My School Bucks - Daily Grade Level Lunch Schedule

Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to help during lunch! We really appreciate it. If you are unable to committ to helping every week, you are still welcome to volunteer. Please email mary.boen@k12.sd.us and andrea.fowler@k12.sd.us or call the office at 605-367-4655 in advance.

If you would like to eat lunch with your student, you can do that in the office or our vestibule. Due to number of students and the assigned seating at lunch, we are unable to have parents sit and eat with studetns in the cafeteria. You are also welcome to come and take your student out for lunch as well.

We are grateful for the Junior Achievement volunteers who have been visiting our classrooms again this school year! By combining JA programming with their own personal and professional experiences, JA volunteers teach students about careers, money management, entrepreneurship, and ethics. They help students connect what they learn in school with the skills needed for success in both their personal and professional lives.

Junior Achievement (JA) gives students hope for a brighter future. This school year, nearly 2,000 JA volunteers are committed to teaching JA programs, empowering over 56,000 South Dakota students to pursue their dreams.

Please join us in thanking the volunteers and teachers listed below for their involvement in JA during the 2024-25 school year. If you're interested in sharing your knowledge and business experience with local students, or would like to sponsor a student for $25, please contact the JA office at (605) 336-7318 or jasd@ja.org.

A reminder that paper report cards will not be sent home with students. You can view your student's grade by visiting the Parent Portal in Infinite Campus. If you have any questions about accessing the Parent Portal, please call the office at 605-367-4655.

The Sioux Falls School District offers free developmental screenings for children ages birth to age five. We assess your child's motor, language, concept, self-help, and social skills development.

During the screening, we’ll also discuss free opportunities available for your child within the District.

Call today to schedule an appointment!

📞 605-367-8488

Only water in a bottle with a lid is allowed in the classroom for students. We have seen an increased amount of other beverages including energy drinks being brought to school in the morning. Our classrooms have carpet and beverages other than water are harder to clean. Any student bringing any other beverage for use in the classroom will be asked to dispose of it when entering the building.

Please remind your students to only bring water to school for use in the classroom. Drinking water helps students perform better cognitively and physically. We do encourage water intake and the presence of water bottles in the classroom.

For more information about nutrition in our school, visit our Nutrition Services webpage.

We would like to remind families that we do not allow classroom treats for birthdays or other celebrations due to food allergies. Please consider sharing non-edible treats or participating in the Library Birthday Book program as an alternative.

We have been blessed with amazing weather to start this school year, but cold weather is here! Please check the weather and make sure your students are dressed appropriately. Kindergarten and 1st grade do have a morning recess, so please take that into consideration.

Also, please label everything including sweatshirts and individual gloves; we are already acquiring items in our lost and found and it is at capacity. Please speak with your student about our school value, Responsibility, and keeping track of their personal items. Students do have recess before lunch, so they need to know how to keep track of their warm weather gear during lunch. If your student is missing anything, please stop by and check the lost and found! Any smaller items or items of value are kept in the office and not put out with the rest of the lost clothing.

With cold and flu season kicking off, you may want to send your student with cough drops or cold medication. As a reminder, the only medication a child can have at school to self administor are cough drops if there is a Medical Self-Administration form on file. You are more than welcome to stop in during the day to administor any other cold or pain medications.

Seasonal colds, flu and other respiratory illnesses are unwelcome interruptions to our lives. Encourage your child to practice the following tips to protect their health:

• Avoid close contact with those who are sick. Don’t share food and drinks with others.

• Cover coughs and sneezes. Help keep germs from circulating- cover your nose with a tissue when sneezing and dispose of the tissues properly. When coughing, cover your mouth with your arm, not your hand.

• Wash your hands periodically with soap and water for 20 seconds. Use hand sanitizer when you’re not near a sink.

• Avoid touching your face. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose or mouth.

• Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, drink plenty of fluids, manage stress and eat nutritious foods.

• Get a flu vaccine, it’s not too late!

Just a couple of friendly reminders to keep our students and school healthy as we dive into fall:

• A student with a temperature of 100.4 or higher should stay home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of medications. This means if your child is sent home from school for a fever, they cannot come back the next day until 24 hours have passed AND they have been fever free without medications.
• Vomiting/Diarrhea: Students should be free from vomiting and diarrhea for at least 12 hours before returning to school. If they cannot practice independent hygiene, they will be sent home.
• Along with cold and flu season, it is allergy season. If your students need cough drops to soothe sore throats, please fill out the medication form allowing them to have cough drops at school. You can fill it out in the school office.

If you have any questions please reach out to Nurse Mariana 605-367-4655. Please save this flier for more information.

Email: tracy.vik@k12.sd.us
Website: https://www.sses.sf.k12.sd.us/o/ssspes
Location: Sioux Falls, SD, USA
Phone: 605-367-4655
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SFSpanishImmersion/