We are excited to announce our newest dolphin, Ellis Walyn has arrived! Congratulations to Principal Richards and Family!

We are entering an important part of the school year—end-of-year testing season! This is a time when our students have the opportunity to show what they’ve learned and celebrate their academic progress. We want to work together as a school community to ensure every child feels confident, supported, and ready to shine.

Our testing window started today with SCREADY Writing. We are so happy to share that we had 100% attendance in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Thank you so much for making sure your students were here today!! Please mark your calendar for the remaining testing days! Let's have 100% every day!! One family in each homeroom in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades who has perfect attendance every day will be entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card!

Mark your calendar for the following SCREADY testing days for students in grades 3-5:

• Tuesday, May 6th - SCREADY ELA Day 1
• Wednesday, May 7th - SCREADY ELA Day 2
• Tuesday, May 13th - SCREADY Math
• Thursday, May 15th - SCREADY Science (4th grade ONLY)
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How You Can Help at Home

Your support makes a big difference in how prepared and comfortable students feel. Here are a few simple ways you can help:

• Establish Routines: Ensure your child gets a full night of sleep and is on time for school to start each day with a healthy breakfast. Consistent routines help reduce stress.

• Stay Positive: Encourage your child to do their best but remind them that these tests are just one way we measure learning.

• Keep Calm: Avoid scheduling appointments during testing days when possible, and help your child arrive at school on time. Testing will begin promptly each day.

• Talk It Out: Ask your child how they’re feeling about testing. Listen, encourage, and remind them that effort is what matters most.

Teachers are continuing to review skills, provide practice opportunities, and support students with strategies for reading comprehension, math problem-solving, and test-taking techniques. We’re also focused on keeping learning joyful and meaningful.

Wellness Matters

We know that testing can bring stress, so we’re taking care of students’ emotional well-being, too. Our teachers are incorporating brain breaks, mindfulness, and movement to keep spirits high and minds sharp.

We’re In This Together

Please reach out to your child’s teacher or our school guidance counselor if you have any questions or concerns about testing. We’re here to support every student and family.

Let’s finish this school year strong—together!

5/1- SC Ready Writing

5/2- Clean City Clara visits CD

5/2- 5th Grade Field Trip to Biz Town

5/5-5/8- Teacher Appreciation Week

5/6- SC Ready ELA

5/7- SC Ready ELA

5/8- CD Field Trip to Children Museum

5/8- 2nd Grade Field trip to Aquarium

5/12- Kindergarten Field Trip to the Library

5/13- SC Ready Math

5/15- SC Ready Science (4th Grade only)

5/20- 5th Grade Field Trip

5/21- Schoolwide PBIS Celebration- Ice Cream Social

5/22- CD Field Trip to the Waterpark

5/23- Kindergarten & 5th Grade Bridging Ceremony

5/26- Memorial Day- No School

5/28- Early Release- Dismissal at 1:30pm

5/29- Last Day of School- Half Day- Dismissal at 11:30am

If you know anyone interested in touring Stono Park- please share this information!

Literacy Tips for Reading with your Children

ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Ever fall into a pattern of asking yes/no questions or those with one-word answers, such as “What color is the boy’s shirt?” when reading with your little one? To encourage your child to use more language, open-ended questions work best. Instead of asking a question that has a one-word response, try one of these instead:

Before Reading:
*Based on the cover, what do you think this book will be about?

During the Book:
*What do you think will happen next?

After Reading:
*If you could change the ending of the story, what would it be?

Asking questions such as these will help your child develop skills in the areas of critical thinking, comprehension, and memory.

MAKE CONNECTIONS

It’s important to help your child make connections when you are reading together. This not only helps improve how well your little one comprehends the story, it can also deepen their vocabulary knowledge.

Connections to Self:

These are the connections made between your child and his/her personal experiences. For example, before reading Only the Stars by Dee Boyd, discuss the time you laid out on the grass to watch the stars or the pair of star-shaped sunglasses you found at Target.

Connections to Previously Read Stories:

These are the connections made between the book currently being read and one previously read. Sticking with our stars theme, you could say, “Remember when we read the book called Only the Stars? Do you remember anything about Tia? Now we’re going to read Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed. What do you think the girls had in common in both stories?”

Connections to the World:

These are the connections made between your child and the world. An example of this would be to go on a mini field trip to a museum that has an exhibit on astronomy after reading both books on stars.

PROVIDE WAIT TIME

Raise your hand if you often provide your child with the correct answers to questions before they actually have enough time to think about what was said. ? It happens to the best of us.

Wait time is the amount of time you give your child to respond after asking a question. While it may be challenging, providing your child with ample wait time allows their little brains to process the question being asked. Waiting just three seconds before reframing the question or providing the answer gives your child a chance to think and possibly formulate a longer response. Give it a try the next time you’re reading a book together or engaging in a shared play activity.

PRINT AWARENESS

Have you ever wondered how your toddler can understand that a red bull’s-eye means you’ve arrived at target or that the golden arches represent McDonald’s? Maya has never been to McDonald’s but knows the sign as soon as she sees it.

We can thank print awareness skills for these things. Print awareness is the ability to understand that the lines on a page and symbols in the environment (e.g., signs, restaurant logos) carry meaning.

Print awareness is an important precursor to emergent literacy skills. It allows your little one to understand the use and function of print during reading and writing. You may not realize it, but you’re teaching print awareness skills every time you read with your child in the following ways:

• Demonstrate how a book should be held (get silly and hold it upside down for laughs)
• Read from left to right and top to bottom.
• Front-to-back directionality when turning pages.
• Words are made of letters and spaces are in between words.
• Punctuation marks have meaning.

READ, THEN READ IT AGAIN

Not again!? Are you tired of your little one requesting the same book over and over again? You’ve probably got the words memorized at this point. Here’s the thing – it’s actually great to read and re-read the same books to your child. Reading the same book multiple times helps in the following areas:

• Print Awareness
• Increased Vocabulary
• Word Recognition

So when your child asks for the same book for the fifth night in a row, take a deep breath and get to reading. You are helping to build a strong language foundation!

PREDICTABLE BOOKS

Are you tired of reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Don’t hide it at the back of the bookshelf just yet. Books such as Brown Bear are considered predictable texts. These types of books contain repeated lines, phrases, and rhyming words to help readers know what’s to come on the next pages.

Predictable books allow even the youngest children to feel as if they are “reading” the story. These texts allow you to have a shared reading experience where both you and your little one are actively involved. Experiences such as these help your child develop confidence and to feel as if they are a skilled reader. Positive interactions with books at a young age impact how they interact with books in the future.

Benefits also include developing print awareness and the use of inflection and intonation when reading. With the support of predictable text and complementary pictures, your little one will take the lead on reading Brown Bear in no time!

Check out more great ways to promote language and literacy skills through diverse children's literature at Maya's Book Nook- https://mayasbooknook.com/

Math may look different from when you were in school, but we are here to help! The Bridges Family Support Page is a helpful tool to find out not only what your student is learning in math but can help you assist your scholar with their math homework. You can also ask your student's teacher what unit they are currently working on, and the Family Bridges Resource Page explains how to support your student at home.

Always feel free to reach out for fun math games you could do at home to help strength your scholars math skills!

Stono Park Elementary School Day- 8:30am - 3:30pm

Students can enter the building starting at 8:05am but are considered tardy after 8:30am. If your student has more than 5 unexcused tardies a conference is held to problem solve getting to school on time. (If bus is tardy then the tardy is excused)

We begin dismissal at 3:25pm. If your student is a car rider please ensure that you are in our car rider line by 3:40pm.

We also offer Kaleidoscope After School Program for our Stono Park Scholars from 3:30pm-6pm daily. Kaleidoscope is open on teacher work days, early release days and 1/2 days of school. You also have the option to register your child for Kaleidoscope and not use them every day if you don't need the service but would still be available to your student on days you might need a late pick up or on those early release/teacher work days!

If your child is absent, please make sure an excuse is sent in within 3 days of the student returning back to school. A student is considered Truant if they have missed 3 consecutive days of school without a doctor's excuse or 5 unexcused absences total. Once a student has 3 unexcused absences then a Truancy Warning Letter is sent home. Once a student has 5 unexcused absences a Truancy Conference has to occur with the caregiver.

You can always fill out our google form for a parent note as well. https://forms.gle/RVBRyULyitaczNHC6

A student is chronically absent if he or she misses only two days of school per month (18 days per year). Even one year of chronic absence can cause a child to fall behind academically and decrease a child’s chances of graduating from high school, which can have long-term consequences on their financial independence, physical well-being and mental health.

As we near the end of the school year, please be reminded to pick up any medicine that your child has had in the clinic. The last date for pick up is May 29th. If you know that you will be here next year and want to leave your inhaler, epi pen or seizure emergency medicine, you may do that. We do require a NEW DOCTOR ORDER each school year and the form that you need to take to your doctor will be sent home. Bring the new order and medicine to school in August to be signed in. If your medicine will be expiring, we will let you know the expiration date, as you may want to pick it up and use what is left before it expires. If you are going to middle school, you will be receiving a letter from the new nurse and an order form for your doctor. You will deliver the order and medicine to her.

Please make sure that you have completed shot records for next year. The sooner you make an appointment, the easier it will be. Summer, especially August. is very busy in the doctors' offices. Go ahead and have your child seen for their well child check up and get any orders and prescription medicines ready for the next school year. Ask about medicines to keep at home for stomach aches, fever, headache, cough and allergies.

Warm weather means that we need protection from insect bites and sunburn. Wear light colored clothing to stay cool and lace up shoes for safety.

Have a wonderful summer.

Wendy Nichols, RN

School Nurse

The Charleston County Public Library also has Free Virtual Tutoring with student's library Card. Visit Tutor.com Student Center | Charleston County Public Library (ccpl.org) to take advantage of this free resource.

Email: Traci_Alter@charleston.k12.sc.us
Website: https://www.ccsdschools.com/stonopark
Location: Stono Park Elementary School, Huntley Drive, Charleston, SC, USA
Phone: 843-763-1507