Sunnyside Elementary
PTA Times
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Principal: Nancy Schlenke
PTA President: Kari Gray
PTA everychild.onevoice.®
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PTA Meeting January 25th, 2009 , 5:30pm
Come and meet other parents at the monthly PTA meeting and learn about what is going on at Sunnyside. FREE refreshments and childcare provided.
During the January business meeting the PTA Bylaw Amendments and Standing Rules will be presented to the membership for approval. Both Bylaws and Standing Rules require two-thirds (2/3rd) vote of the membership in attendance for passage.
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Winter Read-a-thon Results
Thanks students and parents for making the Read-A-Thon a success; 140 students read 50579 minutes, or 843 hours. .
Winning classrooms will receive a grade level appropriate reference book, either a dictionary, atlas, or thesaurus.
- Kindergarten- Ms. Converse’s class read 7178 minutes.
- 1st Grade - Ms. Quillin’s class read 4216 minutes.
- 2nd Grade - Ms. Bell’s class read 5294 minutes.
- 3rd Grade - Ms. Lee’s class read 5803 minutes.
- School Winners - Ms. Rensman 4th/5th Grade Class read 9494 minutes and will have a pizza party.
Individual winners received a $10 Scholastic Books gift certificate.
- Kindergarten– Gabriel Amrull from Ms. Converse’s class.
- 1st Grade – Quinn Armentrout & Olivia Chaplin from Ms. Quillin’s class.
- 2nd Grade –John Luiz Agranum from Ms. Bell’s class.
- 3rd Grade – Eve Ngyuen from Ms. Lee’s class.
School Winner –
Una Chan from Ms. Hilmoe’s class received a $25 Scholastic Books gift certificate
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“Tap the Sky” Grant Awarded to Sunnyside
Sunnyside Elementary, in conjunction with the SFUSD Department of Sustainability and Green Schoolyard Alliance, has been awarded a grant to implement a rainwater reclamation program. The addition of a rainwater cistern to the school garden will give students a more complete picture of ecology, life sciences, and sustainability concepts. Sunnyside students will use the rainwater harvesting, composting and vermiculture programs to make a self sustainable, organic school garden.
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Help Wanted! 2010 Sunnyside Events
Sunnyside needs your help. Contact Kari Gray at kehgray@yahoo.com if you can help with any of these projects or events
JANUARY 16 10:00am– Bring your chainsaws, hedge clippers, shovels, work gloves, loppers and other gardening tools. We need to remove shrubs and hedges to prepare the beds for planting. Contact Cathy Meyer at (415) 794-2203 or mulkeymeyer@ att.net if you are available
January 21st - Math and Science Night
5:00 to 7:30pmFood Sales and Donations
Drop off baked goods in the office or help sell food in the cafeteria at 5:00pm . Prepare a potluck dish for the teachers to eat before the event starts. If you would like to help your student’s classroom with their project, contact their teacher directly. Contact Katy Nelson at pkweir@comcast.net or (415) 216-8773 if you can help.
Saturday, February 6 & 20
10:00am - Amend soil, install beds, reseed grass, plant flowering shrubs and drought tolerant plants. Contact Cathy Meyer at (415) 794-2203 or mulkeymeyer@ att.net if you are available.
International Potluck Set-up and clean up
Thursday, Feb 11 5:00pm- Greet and manage volunteers, accept food donations and set up cafeteria and hallways for event. Help clear tables and get the cafeteria ready for the next school day. Contact Kari Gray at kehgray@yahoo.com to volunteer.
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SpringFest 2010 - Planning Meeting
Wednesday, February 3rd at 5:30pm
School Library
It’s time to start planning for SpringFest! SpringFest will be Saturday, May 22.Come to our first meeting to find out more about our biggest event of the year. Share your ideas about raffle prizes, carnival games, food sales, and the student art show.
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2010 Sunnyside Events - At a Glance
Math and Science Night
Thursday, January 21st 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Please join us for fun games and activities!
Parents, caregivers and students visit each classroom to do hands-on math or science projects together. Students get their Math & Science Passports “stamped” to receive a small participation prize.
Pizza and baked goods will be available for sale from 5:00pm to 6:00pm in the cafeteria for an early dinner. If you can help set up or sell pizza, meet in the cafeteria at 5:00pm . If you can donate baked goods, please leave them in the office before 5pm. Contact Katy Nelson at pkweir@comcast.net or (415) 216-8773 if you can help.
International Potluck Dinner
Thursday, February 11th 5:30 – 7:30pm
Hope to see all our Sunnyside friends for a cherished tradition, the International Potluck Dinner held in the cafeteria/auditorium. Bring a favorite potluck dish to share with your Sunnyside friends. If you can help set up, clean up or serve food, look for the sign up forms going home soon! Katy Nelson at pkweir@comcast.net or (415) 216-8773 if you can help.
In support of the Green Team and the school garden, a compost bin has been constructed. Students will compost snack scraps directly into the stage one compost box. The SF Department of Environment will deliver classroom compost boxes next week. The garden team will provide classrooms with a list of appropriate composting materials.
Worm bins have been purchased! Next week, teachers who signed up for the program will receive a worm bin complete with instructions itemizing which food scraps grow a healthy worm population. Worms grown by the students will be eventually be added to the container gardens and our 2nd and 3rd stage compost. The worm castings will be used to make compost tea.
The garden is growing! Feel free to look around the school yard and ask your student about their plants.
November Activities
• Outline the SpringFest garden fundraiser – Seeds will be sown in the classrooms in late January.
• Contact Sloat Garden Supply and other garden supply companies for seed donations.
• Review age/grade appropriate garden activities recommended by the SF Green Schoolyard Alliance.
Contact me if you are available to help. Cathy Meyer, (415) 794-2203 or mulkeymeyer@att.net.
Sheila Cahill will start a garden club after school hours. Wendy Chisholm and students in the Excel after school program already help maintain the ornamental garden and container boxes. They will work with Sheila growing, experimenting, exploring, and having fun in the garden. All students are welcome to join!
Contact Sheila Cahill at sheilacahill@gmail.com for more information.
There has been a lot of activity in the garden over the past month. Some students brought seeds and cuttings from home to plant in the containers. Others transplanted class projects and will be able to see the plants complete a life cycle for the first time.
Projects Completed in September & October
Thank you to David Bouche, Sheila Cahill, Riz Gauche, Miri Kim, Sean Lynch, Joe Meyer, and Sam Tonroy for coming on the September 25th Garden Build Day. They were able to finish the shed, amend soil in the existing containers, and build new ½ barrel containers to provide more space to accommodate the growing student population.
As this is only the second growing season for the garden, the goal for this semester is simple – to grow plants to maturity. Over the past two weeks, most of the classes have sowed seeds, transplanted flowers and root tops in their containers. Thank You to Wendy Chisholm, Karen Franklin, Julie Kessler, Katy Nelson, Dana Pluck, Julie Tonroy, and Suzanne Walsh for helping the students plant seeds!
Seeds have already germinated in Ms. Yee’s and Ms. Plack’s containers. If all goes well the students will harvest and eat their vegetables in December. The classes will also harvest seeds to be planted during the next growing season.
Fall Semester Projects
Compost Bin - The bin will be constructed during the October 24th CCG build day. Students will compost snack scraps to support the container gardens, which require more amendment than gardens grown directly in the ground. Composting will also give students a more complete picture of ecology as a whole system.
Vermiculture Bins – Worm bins are another way to expose students to the entire life cycle. Over time, the students will see the worms break down paper towels and food scraps – creating nutrient rich soil amendment. Worm offspring will be added to the garden containers and the worm castings will be used to “brew” compost tea.
Goals for 2010
- Grow plants to establish an annual SpringFest plant sale.
- Write grants to fund a part-time garden coordinator.
- Work with teachers to integrate the use of the garden as a classroom tool.
- Install drip irrigation to support the established ornamental garden surrounding the play structure.
- Experiment with plants that attract butterflies, native species, companion planting, and herbs.
The garden program welcomes any ideas you have. Some projects may take longer to implement, but like all gardens ours needs a little time and TLC to grow. Please contact Cathy Meyer at mulkeymeyer@ att.net if you would like to become more involved.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Thanks to Sunnyside students for their enthusiasm for the garden!
Thanks to Sunnyside teachers for participating in the seed-germination activities last week and for their interest in the garden. Thanks especially to Kindergarten teacher Leah Plack, a strong supporter of the garden from day 1.
Thanks to Principal Nancy Schlenke for her support of and advocacy for the garden effort.
Thanks to the Green Schoolyard Alliance of SFUSD for its support of our garden effort and donation of 3 planter beds. Thanks to San Francisco ReBuilding Together for the donation of 3 planter beds.
Thanks to Lowe’s of South San Francisco for its generous Toolbox grant to launch our garden.
Thanks to Reva Bhatia for using her grant-writing mojo in the garden effort.
Thanks to Sloat Garden Center for organic seed donations (and to Cathy Meyer for making it happen).
Thanks to Sam Tonroy for designing a planter bench that will serve Sunnyside kids for years to come.
Thanks to Kim Kreis for creating the beautiful wall poster in the school’s entryway and thanks to Greg Chisolm for hanging it so securely.
Thanks to Sanjay of Bayview Green Waste Management for donations of truckloads of warm, sweet-smelling compost/soil that filled our planter boxes (and Sam Tonroy for making it happen).
Thanks to Sam Tonroy, Joe Meyer, and Sean Lynch for building a beautiful, redwood planter-bench prototype, soon to be replicated at our next garden work day, Saturday, March 21.
Thanks to Cathy Meyer for planning, organizing, and executing the seed germination activities in the classrooms.
Thanks to folks who helped assemble the seed-germination kits during the Feb. 21st garden work day: Troy (Wes’ dad), Mike Tzortzes, PTA Prez Kari Gray and her lovely son, and Ellen Cox.
Thanks to parents who volunteered in the classrooms for the seed-germination activities: Cathy Meyer, Eric Westby, Kristie, Julie Tonroy, Kelly Kocella, Karen Franklin, Ellen Cox, Kari Gray, and Wendy Chisholm.
Thanks to teachers Leah Plack and Kit Bell for opening the school up early on Saturday mornings for perhaps overly-enthusiastic parents.
Thanks to Mr. Yee for locking up the school after the Feb. 21st work day.
Thanks to Jenny Isenberg and Amy Nelson for making a cash donation to the garden effort.
Thanks to Jenny Isenberg, Lynda (Wesley’s mom), and Karen Franklin for taking photographs to document the garden effort.
Thanks to Sunnyside PTA for its support and resources.
An enormous thanks to Cathy Meyer, who has given so much of her time, enthusiasm, and ideas to the garden effort with no indication of slowing down anytime soon!
I hope I didn’t forget anyone!
What’s coming next:
Saturday, March 21: Garden Work Day
We will need many hands to build planter benches, create planting kits for students to transplant seedlings into garden plots, do container gardening, and more. Principal Schlenke will be hosting a SFUSD information session for incoming K parents who did not get any of their lottery choices from Round 1, so please come and let Sunnyside shine! More details to come.
Week of March 23: Transplanting Seedlings into Planter Boxes
Volunteers are needed to help teachers and students transplant their seedlings into the garden plots.
Would you like to join an exciting project to create an “outdoor classroom” for our kids? (Green thumb not necessary.) The garden committee has met twice now to discuss ideas and options for creating a learning garden at Sunnyside. We are a motivated group of parents and teachers, and we invite you to join us in any or all phases of planning, constructing, and maintaining Sunnyside’s future garden.
What can you do to support the garden initiative?
1. volunteer, big or small: you can take on a key position or take on a simple task. We’ll be posting lots of tasks that can be completed easily and quickly for parents who want to help but don’t have a lot of time to invest.
2. register and attend “how to” school garden workshops October 11 at the Green Schoolyard Alliance Fall Conference: www.sfgreenschools. org.
3. make a donation to pay for a teacher to attend the conference
4. let us know if you have special skills to contribute: carpentry, horticulture, construction, grantwriting, etc.
Call or email for more information or to share your ideas. Thank you!
First, a HUGE thank you to Reva for getting our first grant proposal out to Lowe’s! Crossing fingers.
And thank you to Sam Tonroy for drafting a plan for a garden box “prototype.” We have presented it to Ms. Schlenke. She confirmed that we could use the space along the fence for the first boxes and has gotten approval from the School District for us to take out the benches.
We are aiming to have a prototype garden bed built and ready for planting by Thanksgiving. We will use the $1K PTA seed money to do this along with lots of volunteer labor! Thank you PTA! Dates to be determined but we’re thinking early November.
-Sheila