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Dear Sunnyside Community,

Hello all you beautiful humans! I am so excited to have students return to the building Tuesday August 27th for 1st through 6th grade, Wednesday August 28th for 1st through 8th grade, and the first full day of kindergarten is Tuesday September 3rd.

Please remember that school starts at 8:45. Please have your student to their meeting spots by 8:40. Students can come for breakfast starting at 8:30 but MUST enter at the back doors by the cafeteria and stay in the cafeteria. There is no supervision before or after school so make sure to drop off and pick up promptly.

As many of our returning families know, Sunnyside is a cell phone free campus. 5th-8th grade students are required to turn in their cell phones (or Apple watches) at the beginning of the day to their core teacher (we have lock boxes) and students can pick them up at the end of school. Do not send your student with cell phones/apple watches, or anything that can connect to the internet in grades K-4. This is non negotiable and very important for our student mental health. Please see this important article about social media and mental health for our young people (and all of us). At Sunnyside we strive to connect our students to the world around us and facilitate their relationships with each other. We will not be using Chromebooks for breaks or rewards and will instead continue our rich history in place-based education and going outside whenever possible.

At Sunnyside we have worked as a community to set expectations for how we move through this building and treat one another. For a slide link to K-5 expectations, see here. Middle school expectations are found here in our tracking sheets. Please note that we build communities in our classrooms that welcome differences, celebrate each other, and ask that everyone take part in the community. When issues arise, we use our Sunnyside Climate Handbook and the District Handbook to set consequences and next steps.

Over the past few years we have worked as a staff and Site Council to redo our Sunnyside Mission and Vision. As we sunset last year, we made a commitment to our Sunnyside Pillars that are borne out of our Mission/Vision. These pillars are: Field study, Community and Curriculum, Service Learning, and Celebration. Our professional development this year will be focused on these four pillars and how we always keep equity at the root of everything. We had a staff retreat on Friday where the founders came to speak to us about the origins of the school and to inspire us with their strength of vision and steadfastness in bringing this school to life. Big shout out to Jan and Sarah! We are ready to start with all of you.

Since I was inspired this summer on the train reading Joy Harjo, I leave you with this poem to start out the year. Welcome one and all, we are so excited to have you.

September Moon

Last night you called and told me
about the moon over San Francisco Bay.
Here in Albuquerque it is mirrored
in a cool, dark, Sandia sky.
the reflection is within all of us.
Orange, and almost the harvest
moon. Wind and the chill of the colder
months coming on. The children and I
watched it, crossed San Pedro and Central
coming up from the state fair.
Wind blowing my hair was caught
in my face. I was fearful of traffic,
trying to keep my steps and the moon was east,
ballooning out of the mountain ridge, out of smokey clouds
out of any skin that was covering her. Naked.
Such beauty.
Look.
We are alive. The woman of the moon looking
at us, and we looking at her, acknowledging
each other.

Dr. Berg

Principal, Sunnyside Environmental School

https://www.pps.net/sunnyside

She/ Hers/ They (Why?)

Look.
We are alive. The woman of the moon looking
at us, and we looking at her, acknowledging
each other.

Joy Harjo

• Tue, Aug 27: First day of school (grades 1-6)
• Wed, Aug 28: First day of school (grades 7-8)
• Aug 27-28: Teacher meet ups for new Kindergarten students
• Aug 29-30: Soft start days for Kindergarten
• Tue, Sep 3: First full day of Kindergarten

Stay tuned for all things back to school. Each grade level will receive information specific to them regarding back to school supplies and what is needed for the start of the year.

Registration for fall after school enrichment activities offered onsite at Sunnyside Environmental School will open in August. Classes will start right after school, extending after-care for enrolled students. Additional information and registration details will be updated in August on the PTSA website at https://www.sesptsa.org/after-school-activities/.

• Coming soon

• SES PTSA Back-to-School Ask

• 2024-2025 Attendance Form

• Sign up to support Christina at lunch
  

• Konstella - One stop shop for parent information (PTSA)
  

• Sunnyside School Page

• SES PTSA website | After school activities at SES

• SchoolPay | Remind

• Communicable disease protocol - AKA when should I keep my child home from school?

• MESD head lice resources and information