Blue Jay Weekly Game Plan

Hello, Blue Jay Families!

As we head into Week 12, we're focusing on something that makes Sylvan Elementary such a special place—TEAMWORK!

Our character trait this month is Teamwork: Working together to reach a goal. At Sylvan, we want our Blue Jays to understand that being a great teammate means more than just working with others. It means showing kindness, encouraging one another, taking responsibility, and doing your part to help everyone succeed.

Just like in baseball, every player has an important position, and every contribution matters! Whether our students are working together in the classroom, helping a friend, or making positive choices, they are learning that we accomplish more when we work together!

🎯 This Week's Family Challenge: Be a Great Teammate!

This week, encourage your Blue Jay to put teamwork into action!

⚾ LEND A HAND: Find one way to help someone at home or school without being asked.

⚾ CHEER OTHERS ON: Encourage a friend, classmate, or family member who is working toward a goal.

⚾ DO YOUR PART: Come to school on time, ready to learn, follow expectations, and give your best effort. Every teammate has a responsibility!

💬 Family Conversation Starter: "How did you help someone else succeed today, and how did someone help you?"

Families, you are some of our most valuable teammates! Your support with attendance, learning at home, and reinforcing positive choices helps us build a stronger school community.

When we work together, support one another, and stay focused on our goals, there's no limit to what our Blue Jays can accomplish!

Thank you for being part of Team Sylvan!

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

Building Greatness in Every Student. Every Day.

With Blue Jay Pride,
Mrs. Hamilton
Principal
Sylvan Elementary School 💙

Dear Families,

As we navigate cold and flu season, we want to ensure our classrooms remain safe and healthy learning environments for all students and staff.

🚫 Please Keep Your Child Home If They Show:

• A fever of 100°F or higher

• Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours

• Persistent, uncontrollable coughing

• Unexplained rashes or contagious conditions

⏰ When Can My Child Return?

Children must remain home until they have been symptom-free for a full 24 hours without needing medication (such as Tylenol, Advil, or anti-nausea medicine).

Example: If your child vomits or has a fever at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, they should stay home all day Wednesday and may return on Thursday morning if they feel well and have had no symptoms for 24 hours.

Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students and staff safe!

Hello Parents,

I want to personally thank all the families who have already participated in our SchoolStore program! We are on our way to reaching our goal, but we need everyone's help to make sure our teachers get the essential tools they need to help our students succeed.

If your family has not participated, there's still time!

This safe and easy program is 100% online so there is no face-to-face selling, collecting money, or delivering products. Your child will receive a prize just for participating, and more prizes will be awarded when goals are reached.

Please help now. It really will make a difference.

Go to https://www.schoolstore.net/sid.t?0000052211 to show our valued teachers your support.

Thanks

Sylvan Elementary School

P.S. Family participation is the key to our success, and we are counting on you!

💙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!

💙Please be in line by 2:50 pm in the afternoons.

Thank you to everyone who is following our AM/PM Traffic Patterns.

• 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.

• NC Check-Ins 3rd-5th Grade

• NC Check-Ins 3rd-5th Grade
• Village Tutoring at BEJ Elementary

• NO SCHOOL: Veterans' Day

• Harper Belles' Coffee Truck 7-9 am
• World Kindness Day

• Duty Free Lunch for Teachers: Sign up here to volunteer.

• 11/19- Fall Make-Up Pictures
• 11/23- Skate Night 6-8pm
• 11/24- Turkey Trot (details to come)
• 11/25-11/27- Thanksgiving Break: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS!
• 11/30-12/4- BOOK FAIR
• 12/4- 2nd Grade Field Trip
• 12/9- Harper Belles' Coffee Truck 7:00-9:00am
• 12/21-1/1- Winter Break

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.

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 TEAMWORK!

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  What is Teamwork?

  Teamwork is the ability to work in unity with others towards a common goal. For us to learn how to become team players, it is important that we learn to listen, encourage our peers, and allow and invite others to contribute their talents and skills.

  
  

  Why focus on Teamwork?

  • Teamwork improves communication: Teamwork helps us improve our verbal and non-verbal communication skills, conveying that we care and a relevant message.
  • Teamwork builds interpersonal awareness: Growing a great team requires us to first build strong relationships through a better understanding of ourselves and others.
  • Teamwork celebrates diversity. Teamwork thrives from diverse ideas that come from a mixture of different genders, cultures, expertise, experience, and problem-solving approaches.

  
  

  Teamwork in Action:

  • Call them a team, not a class or group. A group consists of many different people. A team, however, has a common purpose and a shared responsibility for success.
  • Require teams to set expectations for and manage their own behavior. Do not tell teams what type of behavior is expected—let them decide for themselves with a Social Contract.
  • Teach and encourage affirmations. Giving affirmations helps connect the team, builds trust, promotes engagement, and boosts a positive culture.

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