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Student School Hours:

9:05a-3:45p

(students cannot be dropped off before 8:55a

& have to be in classrooms by 9:05a)

Office Hours:

8:00a-4:00p

Dear Families,

Hello and welcome back to Sun Path for the 2024-2025 school year! We are excited to begin this journey with you and your child.

Please mark your calendars for our Connect and Assess days on September 3rd and 4th. If you need assistance signing up, feel free to contact the office. School pictures will also be taken during these days, and teachers will be collecting information on how your child will be getting home each day.

The first day of school is September 5th.To ensure a smooth transition, we will have additional staff available to help your child find their classroom during the first couple of weeks of school. For security reasons, parents are not allowed to walk their child to their classroom. This policy helps reduce distractions for our students and promotes their independence.

To celebrate the start of the school year and the Viking season, we encourage everyone to wear their Viking gear, Saber gear (or colors), or apparel from their favorite team on Friday, September 6th!

There is lots of important information in this newsletter regarding the start of the school year. Please take some time to review it, especially the details about pick-up and drop-off for your child.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

Take Care,

Patrick Leonard

Principal

There is still time to sign up for a Connect and Assess meeting!

The scheduling site will be open until Tuesday, Sept 2nd through the following link:

https://shakopee.meettheteacher.com/

Don't miss this time to meet your teacher, discuss the upcoming school year and get your Lifetouch school portrait taken in the gym. We can't wait to see you next week 😀

This year we will be using School Store for activity and field trip donation instead of giving cash or check directly to the teacher. This will reduce the frequency of in class currency collection and make it more convenient for parents to submit payment. The store is now open so payments can be submitted anytime.

Instructions:

• Sign into parent portal

• Choose “School Store” on the left.

• The required fields to complete are:
  
• Options - grade level of the student
• Price - any amount can be entered. Families can enter what they feel comfortable donating - whether it is less , the same amount requested or more than amount requested to go towards a class "Angel fund"
• Recipient - only their child(ren) will populate on this list
• Add to cart
• Go to "My Cart" in upper right corner
• The choices are to pay by credit card or e-check on the parent portal. There is a 4% credit card fee but if parents pay via e-check, there is no fee assessed.
• Hit "Submit"
• Print receipt - if needed.
  

This Activity Donation option will be open & available in the School Store for the entire school year

September:

3 - Elementary Connect & Assess, 9:00a-7:00p

3 - Pictures with Lifetouch (Gym), 9:00a-7:00p

4 - Elementary Connect & Assess, 8:00a-4:00p

4 - Pictures with Lifetouch (Gym), 8:00a-4:00p

5 - First Day of School

6 - Wear your favorite team or Saber wear

10 - PTO Meeting 7 pm

23- Fun Run Kick off

26 - Sun Path Flu shot clinic for students & families -- 4:30-6:15pm (Maple Cluster)

27 - 2 hour early release day

30 - Homecoming/Spirit Week -- Wear your favorite color

October 2024

1 - Homecoming/Spirit Week - “Positivi-Tee” Tuesday (wear a shirt with a positive message)

1 - PTO meeting 7pm

2 - Homecoming/Spirit Week - Pajama/comfy clothes day

3 - Homecoming/Spirit Week - Hawaiian Day

4 - Homecoming/Spirit Week - Saber pride - wear black, red, and white

4 - Fun run

9 - Picture Retake Day with Lifetouch

14 - Indigenous Peoples’ Day

16 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

17 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS & STAFF

18 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS & STAFF

16-18 - YMCA school release at Red Oak

24 - PTO dinner night

Sun Path’s SABER Support program is a school-wide research-based framework for teaching and supporting positive behaviors for ALL students. It promotes positive behaviors by teaching, modeling, practicing, and acknowledging students for showing appropriate behaviors.

Our SABER Support programming includes a variety of educational activities, positive reinforcement tools, and opportunities to practice prosocial skills throughout the school day. For example, you may see your child come home or talk about “Saber Slips”, which are a positive reinforcement ticket students can receive for being Respectful, Responsible, Positive, or Safe. These tickets are used in the classroom for a variety of prizes or other reward structures, and within the grade-level to select our Saber of the Month.

Each month, students at all grade levels will also be learning more about a specific positive character trait. They will typically read a book with their class and do an activity related to this theme. Individual classrooms may also expand upon this theme on their own. All character education themes will tie back to our school wide expectations of being Respectful, Responsible, Positive, and Safe.

Our monthly themes throughout the year include:

• ‘Be a Saber’ – be respectful, responsible, positive, and safe
• Cooperation
• Gratitude & Appreciation
• Empathy
• Perseverance
• Integrity
• Acceptance & Inclusion
• Confidence
• Individuality

Finally, families are an important part of supporting our growing SABERs. We encourage families to use our SABER language (Be a SABER; Be respectful, responsible, safe, positive). This common language creates consistency and a unified support for expected student behavior. Families can review the SABER behavioral matrix in the Student Handbook.

If you have any additional questions about our SABER Support programming, you can reach out to Tammy Doyle, Dean of Students (952-496-5899, tdoyle@shakopee.k12.mn.us).

Welcome back to school!

Please be sure you have updated your contact information, so we are able to get ahold of you if your child is sick or injured.

Also, Minnesota State Law (Minnesota 121A.15) requires all students to be compliant with immunizations. Please be sure you have sent in a list of your child’s recent immunizations or have an exemption form signed and notarized. The health office staff will notify you if your child is non-compliant with immunizations.

Families and staff may order Shakopee and Sun Path apparel through Innovative Graphics.

Orders are due September 23 and will be delivered by mid-October.

See below for the link to view options and order

The Sun Path PTO is ready for another exciting year! The PTO hosts fun family events like Bingo Night and the Spring Dance, provides a birthday book and pencil for each student, purchases playground toys and classroom items, creates the yearbook, sponsors the 5th Grade Sendoff, supports and recognizes teachers and staff, and so much more.

Please join us for our first meeting of the year on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 7 pm in the cafeteria to hear about the fun things we have planned. We welcome new ideas and can only be successful with the help of our parent volunteers. Please consider joining us to learn more!

You can also reach out any time via email at sunpathpto@hotmail.com and like us on Facebook for the latest updates (Sun Path PTO).

2024-2025 PTO Leadership

President: Erin Bryan

Vice President: Christy Congdon

Secretary: Kris Kimpling

Treasurer: Katie Okoth

The Sun Path PTO will host their first meal fundraiser with Papa Murphy's in Shakopee. Dinner has been made easy on Thursday, October 10th! Order online using the code, SUPPORT, and the Sun Path PTO will receive 20% of all sales that day! (No discount coupon codes can be used on this day.) The fundraiser will run the whole day so we are not limited to a few hours in the evening! Please spread the word to your local friends and family!"

Please follow this link for information on what is happening in the Learning Commons:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zFpOZel7Xh606g9mGZ19_1ZA5pX5_MBm7b6NJ3U3LLM/edit?usp=sharing

● Busses-Busses will be on the upper level.

● Walkers for the Quail/ French Trace Area-Students who live in the Quail and

• French Trace neighborhood will leave through the upper-level doors. Only students who have an address in the Quail/French Trace area will be dismissed through the upper-level doors.

• ○ Families if you would like to meet your child(ren), Please meet them at the end of the sidewalk by the crossing guard.

● Car riders will be picked up on the lower level and will leave through the lower- level main doors.

• ○ All car riders will be picked up on the lower level.

• ○ All cars will need to get in line and wait until they are in-between the car

  riders’ signs before the students can get into their vehicle.

• ■ Families may not park and get out of their car to get their child. Parents will be asked to get in the car line.
• ○ Families will need their PINK sign posted in their windshield with their family/child(ren)s’ name. If you do not have one, you will need to walk up to the office and then, return to the car rider line to pick up your child. Please contact the office if you do not have and need a car rider sign
• ■ Students who are not picked up by 3:55 will be brought upstairs to the office.

● Soccer Field Walkers- Will leave through the lower-level doors with the car riders.

● 17th Ave Walkers- Will leave through the lower level doors by 17th Ave

● YMCA- Will go down to the cafeteria

● Other Information and Reminders.

• ○ If you are making a change to your child’s normal dismissal, please call the office before 3:00 PM

• ○ If you are picking up early, you will do this on the upper level.

  • Please park in a parking spot and come in.

  • We ask that if you are picking up early, please do so before 3:30 PM

    to avoid the buses upstairs.

  • Students are not called down from their classroom until their family

    checks in at the office.

• ○ Car riders who are not picked up by 3:55 will be brought upstairs to the

  office.

Please click the attachment below to view the traffic pattern for dismissal

Just a reminder, you DO NOT have to pay for school lunches or breakfasts for the 24-25 school year. The only thing you will have to pay extra for at the elementary school level is if your child wants an extra milk or wants a milk to go with their cold lunch they bring from home ($.55 for extra milk).

WANT TO COME FOR LUNCH WITH YOUR CHILD?!:

If you plan to come for lunch , please call the front desk by 10:00am so we can plan accordingly. You can bring in outside food or eat our school lunch. If you want to eat school lunch, please make sure you have the right amount of cash or check ($5) to give to Food Service.

If you forget to call ahead, that is OK....please still come and join your child(ren) for lunch.

Thank you!