Gearing up for a FABULOUS 2016-17 School Year

The sunflowers are blooming. The days are growing shorter. And the biggest tell-tale sign that summer is drawing to a close, the New York State Fair has begun! All these point to the fact that next week, your children will come bursting through our Stonehedge doors eager for a new year to begin.

Our dedicated staff and teachers are busily working to prepare the school to greet new students and welcome back returning ones.

As thoughts turn to the school year, now is a great opportunity to mention a few policies in our building.

Our District's Wellness Policy

The West Genesee Central School District recognizes children need access to nutritional foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to learn, grow, and thrive. Good health fosters school attendance and educational achievement. School district personnel, in partnership with parents, significantly influence the lifelong nutrition and physical activity habits of children. To learn more about the District's policy, please click here.

Making Snack Time a Safe and Healthy Time for Everyone
In order to promote healthy eating and taking into consideration students with food allergies, we are asking that you only send in a snack for your child from the list of foods provided below. We have found in the past that this policy has worked well to keep our students healthy and safe. Since our students may rotate classrooms throughout the day for different learning opportunities, it is essential that all rooms remain free of peanuts and nut allergens.

Families of students in grades 1 and 2 are already aware of our healthy, kid-friendly snack options. Extending this to our kindergarten children seems natural and the right thing to do.

PLEASE NOTE: This list only refers to foods eaten during snack time in the classroom. Your child may bring whatever foods he or she wishes for lunch that is eaten in the cafeteria. 

Snacks that are not on the list will NOT be allowed in the classroom due to severe allergies. Your cooperation and commitment in respecting this policy will ensure the safety of our students.

Healthy Kid-Friendly Snack Options
All fruits
All vegetables
Cheese sticks
Raisins
Applesauce
Goldfish brand goldfish crackers 

The following individually packaged options are acceptable as well. Items must be individually wrapped with label on and are brand specific.

Yogurt
Yoplait Go-Gurts, Go-Gurt Fizzix, Smoothies,
Trix yogurt cups
Dannon Danimals Drinkable yogurts
Dannon Danimals vanilla/strawberry surprised sprinklings
Dannon Frusion Drinks
Price Chopper squeezable yogurt tubes

Graham snacks/Animal Crackers
Nabisco Teddy Graham Snacks (Chocolatey chip, chocolate, honey cinnamon, minis)
Keebler Graham Crackers (Bug Bites, Scooby Doo bones)

Salty Snacks
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers - cheddar, rainbow, pretzel, baby, pizza, Parmesan varieties
Nabisco Cheese Nips Crackers-Cheddar, four cheese, and bold flavors
Sunshine Cheeze-its crackers

Though we can never fully prevent an allergic reaction, we are taking as many precautions as possible to lessen the likelihood of cross-contamination. We strive to create the safest environment possible for these young students who may not be able to advocate for themselves.

The Stonehedge Blue team (K-2), along with the District, are working to promote healthy minds and healthy bodies.  This is why we are proud to celebrate birthdays WITHOUT food! 

But please understand:

• Every Child’s Birthday will be Special
• Instructional Time will be Preserved 
• All Students will be Safe 

At Open House (September 15, 6:30 – 8 p.m) you'll receive information about how birthdays will be celebrated in your child's classroom.

At Stonehedge learning is the goal. We strive to keep every child happy, healthy, and safe to help achieve that goal.


Kindergarten Orientation is Tuesday, August 30

We are looking forward to seeing our incoming kindergartners and their parents at Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday, August 30 from 9 - 11 a.m.

Reminders for Drop off and Early Pick Up
Our school day begins at 9 a.m. and ends promptly at 3:17 p.m. If your child is not taking the bus in the morning, please understand that he or she must be dropped off as close to the start of school as possible. Our staff and teachers are busy preparing for the day ahead so there is no supervision available prior to the first bell ringing.

If your child is not taking their usual bus home, you must fill out a change of transportation form that day. This form was sent home in the packet earlier this summer. In addition, if you are picking up your child early, your child must have a written note. For safety reasons, we can not accept change of transportation requests over the phone.

If your child is being picked up at dismissal, you must send a note in. Our students are signed out in the Blue Cafeteria. Due to chorus rehearsals, the cafeteria cleaning, and staff commitments, we are unable to open the cafeteria doors until 3:05 p.m. When picking up your child at dismissal, please head directly into the Blue Cafeteria and sign your child out.

Thank you! We are looking forward to an incredible year!

Dates to Remember:

August 30, 9 – 11 a.m. Kindergarten Orientation

August 31, 4-6 p.m. Find Your Locker Night

September 6, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (Full Day)

September 15, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Fall Open House

September 19, 6:30 p.m., Welcome Back PTA Meeting

September 20 and 21, Class Pictures

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
~Lori

Have A Wonderful Summer

The end of the year is always bittersweet. As we close one school year, we look forward to another: more opportunities for growth, learning, friendship, and new experiences.

A long-standing tradition, our faculty and staff line the sidewalk and wave to students as the buses depart.

Additionally, each year our second graders call up their art skills and decorate the front sidewalk with chalk. Happy sunshines, flowers, squiggles, and fun summer messages greet the students as they head out to buses for the final time this school year.

Last week all of our students enjoyed the water carnival on two beautiful days. We can't thank Mr. Shoults, the physical education staff, and the PTA volunteers enough for their time and dedication to this incredible event. The water carnival is a memory students carry with them throughout their elementary lives.

These kindergarten students are excited to flutter into first grade

Have a wonderful and safe summer. We will see you again on September 6 for the first day of school!

~Lori

The Water Carnival is Monday and Tuesday!

Kids enjoying the fun at last year's water carnival.

 As you already know, the schedule for our water carnival is as follows:

Monday, June 13 

Grade 2, from 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

Grade 1, from 10:50 a.m. - 12:05 p.m.

Grade K 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

In case of inclement weather, the rain date will be Thursday, June 16.

We suggest your child wear his/her swimsuit to school and bring a change of clothes. Boys will wear their swimming trunks and a t-shirt during all activities. Girls should also plan on wearing shorts and a t-shirt over their swimsuits as well. Students may wear sandals or water shoes. BRING A TOWEL!!Your child may want to bring sunscreen and a water bottle.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us at 487-4633 or x 4631. 

WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS! Please email Loryn Petrik at  lorynpetrik@gmail.com if you'd like to join the fun!

The Yearbooks Are Here!

The 2015-2016 yearbooks have arrived and they look great! Yearbooks will be distributed to fifth grade on Friday, June 17. Yearbooks will be distributed to kindergarten through fourth grade on Monday, June 20.

We have a limited number of extra yearbooks that will be available for purchase in the offices beginning on Tuesday, June 21. They will be available on a first-come, first serve basis. If your child needs to purchase one, please send them to school with $15 (exact change only) or a $15 check made out to Stonehedge PTA on Tuesday, June 21 or Wednesday, June 22.

Report Card Time

You should expect your child's report card to come home with them on June 22, the last day of school. You will find out your child's teacher for the upcoming school year through a letter in the mail in mid-August. 

Lots of Fun End of the Year Activities Planned

In celebration of another amazing school year, there are a lot of fun special activities coming up for all of our students. Each grade level celebrates in its own way. Our second graders will be visiting the Harriett Tubman house. Grade level picnics and parties help wind down the year and allow students to reflect upon all their hard work!

Monday, June 13 Water Carnival for grades K-2

Thursday, June 16 RAIN DATE for Water Carnival grades K-2

Monday, June 20 is a full day of school with lunch served. 

Tuesday, June 21 half-day with dismissal at 11:30 a.m.

Wednesday, June 22 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL --half-day with dismissal at 11:30 a.m. 

~Lori

Celebrating Our Special Olympians and Much More May Learning

Many of our students recently took part in the Special Olympics held at the Cicero-North Syracuse High School.  Students competed in a variety of track and field events and returned with several ribbons for their accomplishments. 

As part of what's become an incredibly moving tradition, the staff and students of Stonehedge lined our sidewalk and hallways with handmade signs to welcome our athletes as they returned from their day of competing. The cheers and support rallied the competitors as they paraded through the school. 

We are so proud of our athletes!

We are so proud of all our participants!

Congratulations to our Citizenship HEDGE Award winners

At this month's Character Education assembly, Miss Finger's and Mrs. Mathewson's second grade students talked about what it means to fill a bucket and take away from someone's bucket.Their skit featured students saying nice things which added to the bucket. The lesson stemmed from the book "How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids" by  Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer.

Olivia Astafan, Anthony Barba, Alex Bojarski, Aidan Bosak, Mason Boyles, Hunter Briggs, Zachary Channels, Kendra Dudman, Connor Hayden, Corinna Gartner-Baca, Scott Hayes, Patrick Holzhauer, Abbey Jacuk, Jayden Maeweathers, Helen Melnik, Evan Moscibrodzski, Sophia Olson, Anthonoy Pallone, Luke Pena, Michael Ravesi, Gianni Russell, Jack Senus, Abbey Smith, Abigal Simmons, Lucas Strain, Adam Tremblay, Rosemary Vrabel, Bryant Yackel

Mia Barbuto, Alex Bigelow, Brayden Carvel, Molli Clark, Renee Cluckey, Isaiah Coleman,  Colin Crinnin, Jacob Dalton, Ryen Doran, Jakob DiMauro, John Egerbrecht, Ashley Foss, Gino Haskell, Lilly Hodell, Sophia Lawrence, Austin Luke, Quinn Kilbury, Mason McAloon, Katie McDonough, Andrew McLaughlin, Haleigh Mattice, Yana Melnik, Gavin Moore, Mischa Raczka,  Audrianna Reed, Colby Rienhardt, Niyzo'nn Salami,Nicole Sanderson, Aubrey Vincentini

Recently Stephanie Scheirer, Growing Healthy teaching assistant, visited second grade classrooms and performed a demonstration dissection of a sheep's eye with the children. 

The demonstration coincided with a science unit the students were studying. The visual dissection taught students more than anything a book could! They retained a great amount of information about the eye. They were surprised about the size and feel of the eye and compared a sheep's eye to a human eye.

Getting into the Silly Spirit for a Great Cause 

Today, May 26, is Red Nose Day. According to their website, Red Nose Day is on a mission to lift kids out of poverty and has raised over $1 billion globally in the last 25 years. Stonehedge's Balloon bus got into the silly spirit by donning noses purchased by their generous driver Theresa Doner. Another great example of school spirit for the greater good and kids supporting other kids. 

Showing Our Stripes for Buddy Day  

Many of our classes teamed up with the grade level buddies (kindergarten with fifth, first with fourth, and second with third.) for special activities and crafts today. The first and fourth graders traced their hands and cut them out and will be creating unity wreaths from the hands to decorate the hallways. They also read together to learn more about the holiday. Different grade levels created various crafts, all tying in lessons of patriotism and Memorial Day.

Please remember these important dates:

Friday, May 27  no school (Snow Day give-back)

Monday, May 30 no school for Memorial Day. 

Monday, June 13 Water Carnival for grades K-2

Thursday, June 16 RAIN DATE for Water Carnival grades K-2

Monday, June 20 is a full day of school with lunch served. 

Tuesday, June 21 half-day with dismissal at 11:30 a.m.

Wednesday, June 22 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL --half-day with dismissal at 11:30 a.m. 

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!
Lori

                       

                        

We Want to Hear From You!

Stonehedge’s Shared Decision Making Team has created an online survey to find out how we’re doing! Your opinion is so important to us. Please take a few minutes to take the survey found here. The short survey has 25 multiple choice questions. There are several opportunities to comment on different sections as well. We appreciate your participation, and look forward to your valuable input and feedback. 

In an effort to take the results of this survey and use them to guide the Shared Decision Making Committee’s goals for the upcoming year, we ask that you complete the survey by Thursday, May 26. Thanks in advance for your time and attention.

Springing Towards the End of the Year

Spring Break is often about relaxing and vacationing. All thoughts of school and learning fly out the sunny window, right? Not so for a group of students in Patty Munley’s first grade classroom.  Though they traveled with family or stayed nearby, the learning didn’t stop.Rich vocabulary poured from the mouths of these six and seven year olds as they excitedly shared memories from their breaks. Words like herbivores, carnivores, habitats, and more punctuated their stories.  

Katelyn traveled to the Nashville Zoo and was thrilled to see all the different habitats they were learning about represented there. “My favorite was the African Savannah because I got to see giraffes,” she explained.

Soleil went to the OnCenter for a dinosaur exhibit and was surprised to learn that many dinosaurs lived in the same North American habitats that we live in today.

Liam went to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo and wowed his family with facts about lions.

Dominic fished with his family and talked about freshwater habitats.

Miss Munley’s room is not unique, with children’s minds absorbing the world around them at an inspiring rate, I’m sure all classrooms could vouch for their students’ thirst for learning, even when school doors were closed.  

Kindergarten Students Plant Seeds of Learning

While studying the plant life cycle, kindergarten students got hands-on experience planting and caring for sunflower seeds. 

Jackson concentrated hard while filling his cup with soil.

Mackenna, Caleb, and Lilyana poked a hole in their soil, preparing it for the sunflower seeds.

In addition to planting, students drew nature-inspired murals.

Lennon, like the rest of the students, worked on cutting and pasting pictures of the life cycle of a seed.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

First grade students have been studying living versus non-living things in classes. They have been able to get up close with living things like cockroaches, pill bugs, and more.

Don't miss the school-wide art show (6:15-8:30 p.m.) while you are here for OPEN HOUSE on Wednesday, May 11 from 6:15 - 7:15 p.m. Please note that the Art Show times are different than Open House. 

Budget Vote Process Different this Year

When you visit the polls for the Annual Meeting on May 17, 2016, it will have a little different feel to it. The laws allowing us to utilize the pull lever machines have expired, so we will be utilizing the paper ballots and scanner machine that you have become accustomed to in general elections.

For more budget information, click here.

There are a few important dates to keep in mind in May:

5/11    Open House, 6:15 - 7:15 p.m.

5/11    School-wide Art Show, 6:15 - 8:30 p.m.
5/16    PTA Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

5/17    Budget Vote, 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., WGHS
5/24    4th and 5th Grade Concert, WGHS, 7:00 p.m.

5/27    No School - Memorial Day

5/30    No School - Memorial Day