SES Messenger

This week has been really different for Sunnyside with our 6th graders gone to Outdoor School. Indigo and I were lucky enough to be invited over to Namanu for a night with Carrie's group at Outdoor School and we loved walking through the woods, seeing the new cabins, having dinner, and watching campfire. It was really special seeing our students out in a new environment and they were thriving. Several of the camp counselors told me how much they appreciated Sunnyside students and how sweet they had been to get to know. Maybe next year we will get invited out to all the Outdoor Schools!

While the students were gone, our 7th and 8th graders formed into small groups and got to have a rotation of classes. They did some health, some climate justice, and even watched a movie. The highlight of my week was eating some of the delicious food that the middle schoolers made with Nathan in the community kitchen. He had a donation from New Seasons and students were cooking cinnamon apples, stir fry, and even today, peanut sauce and baked sweet potatoes. It was so yummy and inspired Nathan and I to talk about maybe a pie making class!

Our 3rd graders visited the art museum today and were so excited to tell me about it at lunch. They did express that they loved it but that it was too short! What a glowing approval of a field trip.

We are all looking forward to our 6th graders being back next week and going about business as usual. Have a lovely weekend with our perfect fall weather.

In gratitude,

Eryn

• View the full SES calendar here.

• Fri, Oct 13th - Statewide in-service day. NO SCHOOL
  

• Wed, Oct 18th, 8:45-10:00 am - SES PTSA meeting, room 102

• Fri, Oct 20th - SES Fall pie fundraiser begins

• Sat, Oct 21st - HARVEST FAIR

• Fri, Oct 27th, 6-8pm: Middle School dance

District-level data for the Successful Schools Survey is now available. The survey, which was conducted during the 2022-2023 school year, is part of the district’s initiative to use data to make informed decisions about school climate and culture.

Results for each school are available through the website of our partner, Panorama Education. Click on the “Portland Public Schools” icon to explore results.

The survey drew responses from 8,010 families, 21,130 students in grades 3-12, and 2,760 staff members. The results will be used by schools to help them understand the needs of their students and families as they develop their school improvement plans. At the district level, we will use this information to shape our strategic plan.

PPS conducts the Successful Schools Survey annually, and the 2023-2024 Successful Schools Survey will begin November 1 this year.

For more information on the Successful Schools Survey, visit the program’s webpage.

Thanks for the fabric and scissors we had fun and practiced our problem-solving skills working with fabric. See these two awesome Middle School fashion designs collaged with fabric!

Next week we are doing still life drawing, and I want to have students draw Hot Wheels vehicles. If you you any extras that you are willing to donate, that would be awesome!

Also, we did some marble painting and are in need of some more. We are taking donations of marbles to refresh our supply.

Thanks for all the support! Sending positivity,

Indigo

We hope to see you at our next PTSA meeting - October 18th at 8:45 a.m. in Room 102 or GoogleMeet: bit.ly/SESPTSA-Meeting-Link.

Bring your own mug to enjoy coffee from Oblique Coffee Roasters. We’ll hear from SES’s PAT rep Jeremy Thomas about bargaining updates, talk Harvest Fair (please volunteer), and more. Join us! If you have something you’d like to see on an upcoming Agenda, please contact us.

Did you know there are still some key PTSA positions open for the year, and we’d love to find the right person for the job! One is a super simple task that makes a good impact on our budget: Bottle Drop Coordinator. All you need to do is periodically pick up blue bags and SES tags from an Oregon Bottle Drop location, and then make sure parents know how to get the bags (from SES Office). Bonus points for tabling at our events to distribute bags and spread the word. It’s great because RECYCLING, and 100% of the funds go directly back to SES.

We also need someone to step up to help at the PPS Clothing Center for SES’s assigned days this winter: November 16 and January 11. Interested? Please contact Steph on Konstella or stephbarnhart1@gmail.com.

With gratitude,

Heather & Steph

PTSA, Co-Presidents

8th grade families, please send in baby pictures of your student by the end of October. You can email pictures to Indigo @ ccorwin@pps.net.

3 more days to collect your pledges and turn them in at school! We’re excited to report that we are ~ALMOST~ to our fundraising goal - let’s finish strong.

Please send cash or checks in a labeled envelope and/or attached to a pledge sheet by Monday, 10/9. Make sure your name is on whatever you turn in so your student can get the credit! Students may give their pledges to their teacher or the SES Office. Prize announcements will be made at school next week.

If you have any feedback about how to improve our event for future years, please fill out this quick survey.

Thanks to our prize sponsors: Straight From NY Pizza, Bullwinkles, Fat Straw, Hooplogie, Kingpins, & Clackamas Ultra Zone.

Do you have an old milk carton you are planning on throwing into the recycling? Donate them to our QSA instead! We are looking for cardboard milk cartons for some QSA craft projects. Please wash milk cartons thoroughly before donating. Any donated cartons can be dropped off in the main office for Rebecca, or just send it in with your kid and they can hand it to Rebecca directly in her office. Thank you!

Harvest Fair is Saturday, October 21 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., with 2:30 p.m. dedicated to Sensory “Soft Start.” It’s free to attend but carnival tickets to partake in all the activities can be purchased Thursday 10/19 & Friday 10/20 before and after school, and Saturday during the event.

PLEASE VOLUNTEER! MANY positions are still open, with something fun for everyone. SES PTSA requests that each family please consider working at least ONE volunteer shift. It takes a lot of elbow grease to make Harvest Fair possible.

We also still need 4th grade family lead on Hay Bales of Mystery, and a 3rd grade family lead on Pumpkin Guessing. (Easy jobs!) Anyone can work the Cider Press, Sausage Grill, Community Meal, Baked Goodies Boogie, Face Painting Booth, bring so many cookies, and more. This event only happens when all of us chip in.

Remember to keep bringing small toy donations to the office, as well! THANK YOU. Contact Steph Barnhart on Konstella or stephbarnhart1@gmail.com with questions.

VOLUNTEER and learn more about Harvest Fair.

Want to witness an evening of pure joy and frivolity? Please sign up to chaperone our first dance of the year! We need parents for set up, snack station, safety patrol, and to help us fill out a gorgeous snack table for the night with goodies! All shifts are HERE!

More on the Halloween-themed middle school dance soon!

Did you know that children breathe in twice as much air for their body weight than adults? Idling your car during school drop-off and pick-up is a toxic health hazard that harms our children. Idling also gets zero miles to the gallon.

Vehicle exhaust is the leading source of toxic air pollution in Oregon. It seems counter intuitive, but we actually pollute our own immediate air quality — inside the vehicle — when we idle. And, vehicle exhaust is associated with worsening symptoms for children with asthma.

What you can do:

• Turn the car off if idling for more than 10 seconds (except in traffic of course!). You’ll save money, the environment, and our student’s lungs.

• Idle Free Schools

• What you can do for cleaner air

Wow! Thank you SO MUCH for funding our Donor's Choose! This community is AWESOME!!

The deadline for preordering books for one of our fall author visits is approaching fast! To get Charise Mericle Harper's I Cannot Draw a Horse. order here by October 10th.

Please do not pick from the Sunnyside School gardens during the school year, as everything that is growing is part of the students' curriculum. Thank you very much!

We Can Listen Presents:

On the Road to New Conversations - Anti Racism on a Harley Davidson

Tuesday, Oct 17 - doors open at 6pm / event starts at 7pm

Our school feeds into Franklin High School and one of the many programs available to students at Franklin is the chance to write on their award-winning newspaper, the Franklin Post! The Post is a 20-page paper put out 7 times a year and is written and edited by Franklin students. If you’d be interested in subscribing, please click on the link below, which will take you to a School Pay checkout!

Subscribe HERE!

• Oregon Youth Challenge Program (OYCP) High School (NEW)
• STEM workshop at Taborspace - 3rd-5th grade girls. October 22nd. 2p-5p.

• Sign up to chaperone Middle School field study

• Apply for Free/Reduced Meals - NEW Oregon expanded income guidelines

• Sign up to support Christina at lunch

• SES current volunteer needs

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

• 2023-2024 Back to School Ask

• SES attendance form: English | Español

• Sunnyside School Page

• SES PTSA website | After school activities at SES

• SchoolPay | SchoolCafé

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

• MESD head lice resources and information