SES Messenger

With spring break right around the corner, it's hard to believe that we have almost made it through the year. As you all know, after spring break seems like a fast forward into summer. The last few months are full of action and adventure here at Sunnyside and as the weather gets nicer, we get outside more and more.

BIG SHOUT OUT to the cast and crew of Teleported: A Sunnyside Musical. What an amazing and funny group of students and I love all the call backs to Where's My Cat! I found myself laughing hysterically and also crying with pride and emotion because of how amazing our students are. Thank you to the brilliant Mo Phillips who brings these student imaginations to life and thank you to all of our parent volunteers who supported the efforts tirelessly and made this all possible. What an absolute success.

We have a few staff changes for next year to let you know about. As you also know, sometimes things change over the summer but for now we wanted to let you know a few staff moves.

Mary Lloyd will be moving from middle school to 5th grade where she will be taking over for Monica Semeria who is retiring after 20 years at Sunnyside. She was one of the founding teachers of EMS and we will hopefully be seeing her around frequently next year as a sub.

Eric Fass will be joining our support team as the instructional coach/interventionist.

Wayne Bund will take over the 1st grade slot for Eric.

We currently have one position open in middle school and one position open at 3rd grade. PPS has a process for hiring that we have to follow and announcements will come once we have followed the process.

I do not have any information about teacher leaves for next year at this time but of course, will keep you updated as the months go by.

I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break! I also hope the weather improves.

I'll send you off with a poem by Ada Limon about spring

Instructions on Not Giving Up

More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out
of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s
almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving
their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate
sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees
that really gets to me. When all the shock of white
and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave
the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath,
the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin
growing over whatever winter did to us, a return
to the strange idea of continuous living despite
the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then,
I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf
unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all.

https://poets.org/poem/instructions-not-giving

Yesterday we held our second lockdown drill of the year. Students were with their classroom teachers and were all led through the drill calmly and with sensitivity by their teachers. We never refer to any violent events during these drills and instead just have students sit quietly with their teachers and explain that we do these drills as we do all drills to keep students safe in school. For more information about PPS drills and how we handle them, please refer to https://www.pps.net/Page/195

Students may talk about the drill today at home. Please let your child's counselor know if you need any extra support. Everyone did a great job, the building was calm and we went about learning as usual as soon as possible.

Dr. Berg

• Mar 24-28 - Spring Break - NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, April 3 - End of 3rd Quarter
• Friday, April 4 - Grading Day - NO SCHOOL
• Monday, April 7 - Professional Development Day - NO SCHOOL
• Tuesday, April 8 - Early dismissal for Middle School - 3:15pm

Thanks to everyone who made this amazing, joyful, utterly magnificent production happen. Special thanks to Mo and his band. We're all still smiling.

Monica's class is looking for clean 2 or 3-liter plastic bottles (giant soda bottles) for a project. We need 20 bottles that have been rinsed out and in decent shape. Please drop off in Portable 2 or the office. Thank you!

Join us on one of our upcoming middle school field trips! Farm visits? Courthouse tour? Fort Vancouver? Japanese Gardens? Pittock Mansion and Vedanta Loop Hikes? Bull Run? Sign up here for the trip that suits your schedule! We are so grateful for the community support that makes our robust field study program possible.

We wanted to give a huge shout out to Sunnyside parents Willow and August for everything they do for our Sunnyside community. Have you noticed our new signs? All our custom screen printed shirts? Student led designs? Yes Please. You both always show up and we appreciate you so much. Thank you.

The YMCA is offering full-day care during Spring Break Care March 24 -28th! We will be offering in-service care at the following locations:

Hours: 7:30 am - 5:30 pm

• Alameda

• 2732 NE Fremont
  Portland, OR 97212

• Faubion

• 2930 NE Dekum St
  Portland, OR 97211

• Laurelhurst

• 840 NE 41
  Portland, OR 97232

• Llewellyn

• 6301 SE 14
  Portland, OR 97202

• Beverly Cleary/Fernwood

• 1915 NE 33rd Ave
  Portland, OR 97212

To sign up follow the links below:

Spring Break Registration for any questions please contact Childcare Registration at ccregistration@ymcacw.org or Stephanie Vera at svera@ymcacw.org

Thank you!

Stephanie Vera | Leader, Youth Development

svera@ymcacw.org | she/her/ella

Phone: 971.487.7718
Hablo Español

Our wonderful neighbors, McMenamins Bagdad Pub (restaurant only, not including theater), will DONATE 50% of ALL SALES TO SUNNYSIDE on Wednesday, April 22nd, 5pm-10pm! Spread the word - this is our biggest dine out fundraiser of the year! Check out the MENU! Address: 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Dine in or Take out.

Our photographer, Abby will be coming to take class photos on April 29th. Photos are $10 each. You can pre-purchase them using these links or the QR codes below.

FORMAL photo

GOOFY photo

We are still seeking project leads for the following classrooms: Logan, Heather T/Clare, Monica, Carrie, and Becca.

Leads will: Work with your classroom teacher & students to contribute a creative project or themed basket, to our Auction. Could be anything! Examples of past projects have been: wall art, fiber crafts, custom-painted rain barrel, family photography session, pottery, kid-painted chess sets. . . the sky is the limit, and it’s an awesome chance to work with your teacher and students on something creative. April 18 deadline for project completion. Contact Heather Cyrus (cyrusheather@gmail.com) to manage the project for your class.

Inspiring the next generation to save the bees - Students at Sunnyside Environmental School took action to support a bill to help save the bees. Please see the article HERE.

Spring is just around the corner, and registration for our exciting after-school enrichment programs is officially open! These fun, on-site classes will kick off in April, providing extended care for enrolled students. This spring, your child can dive into a variety of engaging activities, including Electronic Music Club, Portland Reign Basketball, Rose City Chess, Yoga Playgrounds, and more!

Don’t miss out on these amazing opportunities for your child to explore new interests, build skills, and have a blast! For full details and to register, visit www.sesptsa.org/after-school-activities.

Join us for a fun-filled, community-driving Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 26 on the SES grounds, in partnership with Making Earth Cool and BARK! Celebrate, Connect, and Act! Event highlights include mask making, face-painting, and seed collecting, games, tabling and more, plus a one-mile parade route (parade of the species, where plant & animal costumes are encouraged!) from the SES blacktop, in honor of our planet. Check out the full schedule!

BEAD DONATIONS NEEDED: We’re hosting a bracelet-making table in honor of Bob Sallinger, an important activist & community member who recently passed. To make this possible, we need BEADS—do you have any to donate? If so, please send them to Tara in Room 201 or leave them in the office with a note to give to Tara.

John has gotten a bunch of requests to be a volunteer in PE. What a wonderful community! To help John make the best use of the volunteer coming, please sign up in advance HERE.

Thanks

John

Middle School Marine Biology Week (May 12-16) will be here before you know it. If you have not yet taken action to set up your payment plans, or request Go Fund support, PLEASE take a moment to do so. It is so important for the sustainability of each trip that families proactively communicate with us about funding needs. We are still interested in more parents stepping forward with fundraising ideas. Contact Steph at sbarnhart@pps.net with questions.

• 8th Grade Catalina Contributions (SchoolPay)

• 7th Grade Naturebridge Contributions (School Pay)

• 6th Grade Newport Marine Bio Contributions (School Pay)

• Go Fund Financial Assistance Request Form

• Franklin Volleyball Camp - HERE
• Franklin Youth Volleyball - Upcoming Events - HERE
• Dance Camps at Franklin High School - HERE
• Renew DACA status with free legal help English | Español
• Link for Free COVID tests - HERE

• 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