Weekly Stony Brook Update

Dear Stony Brook Families,

I saw a lot of beautiful smiles, adorable outfits and neat hairstyles for picture day this week! I don't know about you, but I love to line up my children's school photos to see how much they have changed and grown each year. I have their school photos hanging on the bulletin board in my office, and students love to look and comment on how similar or different my children look throughout their yearly portraits. Many of our students cannot believe that I have four children. A lot of students are still at the age where they can't imagine me living outside of the school building. I do not, however, hang up my yearly school photos. It is a stark reminder of how I am getting older each year. Do not worry if your child missed their photo debut. Picture re-takes will be held on November 14th.

The weather hampered our fire drill last week, so we held our fire drill yesterday. It was amazing to see the sun! The students did a fantastic job practicing how to be safe during the drill. They exited the building quickly and quietly. As always, I reminded them that just like anything else, we have to practice safety to get good at safety. We will have another safety drill prior to the end of the month.

Thank you to all who have already donated to our annual ROAR Fest Fundraiser! I can't wait to see the donations continue to roll in. This PTO fundraiser is how we fund many fun events or items for the students. Please see more information in the PTO section of this newsletter. Our goal is to raise $11,000. As a reward for our top earners, I am excited to work with some "Principals for the Day". Other prizes are also listed below.

We have some busy days ahead of us. Please be sure to scroll and read through all of the announcements below carefully.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kelly Harper, Ed.D.

Principal

Our whole school participated ROAR Fest last Friday. Despite having to be moved indoors due to rain, we had a "ROARing" time! This day of fun was the kick off for our ROAR Fest Fundraiser. Our PTO is holding its annual fundraiser to raise funds for assemblies, fields trips, memory books, etc. Thank you for your donations!

W.I.N. (What I Need) has officially started at SB! W.I.N. is a time where students work in small groups on reading skills. Students are sorted into groups based on skill need. They might work with one of our reading specialists, intervention specialist, Title I assistants, their classroom teacher, or a different classroom teacher in their grade level. This is an important part of our daily schedule that is designed to ensure that all Stony Brook friends are receiving exactly what they need - intervention or enrichment- to become the best reader they can be. See the newsletter below from our W.I.N. teachers to learn more!

CYSD Is celebrating Homecoming next week. See the flyer below to learn about our district-wide spirit week and Homecoming parade. You can find more information here.

You are officially invited to join us in an evening designed to help you learn how you can support your child's reading skills. Click on the flyer below for more information. We hope to see you there!

Sign-ups for parent-teacher conferences is now available. Conferences will be held on October 24th & 25th. This is a time for you to meet individually with your child's teacher to learn how he/she is progressing in school. We encourage all families to sign up for a conference. Sign-ups take place in Skyward. Directions are below. If you are having trouble accessing your Skyward account, contact familyaccess@cysd.k12.pa.us .

Happy Friday SB Families!

ROAR Fest Fundraiser is PTO's only fundraiser for the year - we don't see anything, but just ask for your donations to help us fund what we do. Our goal this year is $11,000. We need to hit this goal so that we can continue to provide yearbooks, field trips, assemblies, fun events, and many other school essentials for your students this year.

We ask each family to give what they can, and to share, share, share this link with family and friends to ask them to donate as well!

https://stonybrookpto.wufoo.com/forms/zhpx0bl07ymhzn/

Attached is a flyer with more information on ROAR Fest including the cool prizes your student can win! Want to be "Principal for a Day" or get Red Robin lunch delivered to you at school? You can win this and so much more! If we hit our goal by our October 11 deadline, the whole school will get to participate in a huge glow dance party!

If you plan to volunteer for any of our PTO events, you will need to register/renew your CYSD volunteer badge: https://www.cysd.k12.pa.us/our-district/human-resources/clearances

We encourage parents and caregivers to follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stonybrookpto) as this is where you will get the most timely updates on volunteer opportunities, school events, and more.

Brittany Strine

Stony Brook PTO President

brittanystrine@aol.com

717-858-2104

Annual Notices

Breakfast/Lunch Menus

Free and Reduced Meal Program Forms

Community Flyers

Stony Brook Homepage

Parents and Families

Student Handbooks

Educational Trip Form

Volunteer Information

10/7-10/11 Homecoming Spirit Week (see above flyer)

10/8 - SB PTO Meeting 6:30PM

10/10 - CYSD Homecoming Parade at CYHS 6:15PM

10/11 - SB ROAR Fest Fundraiser Last Day

10/11 - SB Day of Play & Cardboard Challenge Presented by SB Third Graders

10/14 - No School

10/15 - Third Grade Visit to Susan Byrnes Health Center Wellness Days

10/17 - Grade Three Science Assemblies

10/17 - SB Title I Reading Night

10/24 - Early Dismissal @ 12:30PM

10/24 & 10/25 - Parent Teacher Conferences

ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

Click on the documents below for more information about Stony Brook arrival and dismissal. If you are driving your child to school, you will stay in your car during drop off. Please have your child practice unbuckling the seat belt or car seat by themselves as parents stay in the car during drop off. If your child is in the walk zone, but you plan to drive your car to the school to pick up your child, your child is now parent pick up and you should follow the parent pick up procedures.

All kindergarten students are required to have an adult pick them up at the bus stop or walk zone. Kindergarten students will not be released from the bus or at the walk zone unless an adult is present to receive them. An adult must meet all kindergarten walkers at the designated crossing guard spot.

For any changes in dismissal, be very clear with your child if they are being picked up early or if they will be parent pick-up when they normally ride the school bus. Any changes in routines or dismissal plans should be communicated to your child's teacher via note or email prior to 9:00AM. If you need to make a change during the day, please call the main office. Our teachers often do not have time to check their email during the school day. The office staff also requests that if you need to change your child's dismissal plan after school has started for the day, please call prior to 2:00PM. It is difficult for our office to communicate to your child's teacher and ensure your child knows about a change if you call after 2:00PM. The school recognizes that sometimes emergencies happen and you need to make a sudden change, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. Thank you!

ABSENCES AND ATTENDANCE IN SKYWARD

Families are encouraged to use the Skyward Family Access Center attendance function to alert the school that their child is absent. This can be done in the Skyward phone app or website. In the event a family cannot log the absence in Skyward, a doctor's note and/or phone call will be accepted as documentation of the absence. If you are unable to mark your child's attendance in Skyward, families should use the school's automated attendance line to alert the school that their child will be absent. This can be accessed 24-7 at (717)846-6789. This number is checked every morning for absences. Families should notify the school no later than 9:00AM on the day of an absence. If we do not receive a call reporting your child absent by 9:00AM, and there is no absence request in Skyward Family Access Center, an automated phone call will be generated via our phone system in order to confirm the whereabouts of your child.

Please note - families have five days by law from the date of a child's absence to report an absence to the district. This may be done in Skyward Family Access Center or by phone on the automated attendance line. Failure to do so will result in an absence being recorded as "unexcused".

All families should be aware that under Act 29, upon a student's accumulation of 6 unlawful or unexcused absences from school, the parent may be referred to Children & Youth Services. Should attendance not improve, the parent may be cited to the district magistrate and could be responsible for fines.

EDUCATIONAL TRIP FORMS

Please be sure to note the policy for educational trips. Approval forms must be obtained from the school office or online through the district website. The educational value and activities of the trip must be stated in detail to be eligible for approval. Thank you for your cooperation with this school policy. For your convenience, click here to download the educational trip form. A reminder that ALL trips MUST be submitted at least 2 WEEKS prior to the trip to be approved.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS

Get the jump on obtaining your parent volunteer approval for the 2024-2025 School Year. ALL parents planning to volunteer must re-apply prior to volunteering in our schools. Additionally, all volunteers must also meet with me during a meeting that will be advertised in the near future. Click here for our district-wide Parent Volunteer Manual that outlines how to begin the process of applying to volunteer or, if you are re-applying for another year. We are looking forward to having a record number of volunteers this year!