Happy First Day of School!

Well you did it! Congratulations, you survived the extra-long summer break…94 days to be exact. For some, it felt like the endless summer; for others, it came to a halt too quickly. But for all of us now, it is time to focus on the school year and all the good times that are coming up at Shamona Creek! It’s going to be a fantastic year.

Here are just a few of the highlights for September; please save these dates. Details are forthcoming!

SEPTEMBER 2015

September 4 – Deadline for the Fun Run Business Sponsorship
September 7 – No School (Holiday)
September 8 @ 7 pm – SCHSA Meeting in the Multipurpose Room (all parents welcome)
September 9 – Two-hour early dismissal/Modified Kindergarten schedule (In-Service)
September 10 (RESCHEDULED) September 16 @ 5-8 pm – Family Fun Night/Food Truck Festival in the SC parking lot/playground (all details will be shared soon)
September 11 – Deadline for Box Tops for Education Summer Challenge
September 14 – No School (In-Service)
September 23 – No School (Holiday)
September 28 @ 2:30-6 pm – DASD Flu Clinic at D’town West

We look forward to seeing you in September!

Back to School…Back to Reality

We hope our parents of younger students enjoyed Wednesday’s Back-to-School Night. It was great to meet and see so many people. We will see the other half of our families Thursday night. Same time; same place.

Here is a brief reminder of what you need to do to add your family to the online directory, through the MySchoolAnywhere website. [After the school year officially begins, we will publish a link to the Directory page of our website with instructions on how to access the family/class listings.]

NEW FAMILIES
Please take a moment to add your child to the online student directory.
CLICK HERE {corrected link}

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RETURNING FAMILIES
Please make sure your family information in our online directory is up to date.

1. In the email that you received from HSA President Kathryn Gute, click on the secure link (which is specific to your family) and review your family’s information.
2. Make any changes to your contact information.
3. Verify your child’s current grade and assign him/her to his new classroom teacher (select from the drop down).
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom to click on SAVE AND CONFIRM to be sure your changes have been saved.

If you did not get an email with a specific link for your family, contact Nancy Repko.

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ALL FAMILIES
We want to make sure all parents receive all our SCHSA emails so no one misses any important information about upcoming events/activities.

• In the online Directory, please DO NOT check the box to “exclude” your email address.  If you exclude your email address, you won’t receive any annoucements or communications throughout the year. Email through the online directory is the SCHSA’s primary mode of communication to our families.
• When visiting our website, please click the “FOLLOW” button (under the search feature in the right column) to get notifications from the SCHSA when new posts are written. We will be using our email lists from the online directory and posts from this website as our primary modes of communication.
• We also encourage you to join the “Shamona Creek – Parent Community” Facebook group as a way to connect with parents – new and veteran. Many of our communications are posted to this group.

We appreciate your timely cooperation and look forward to a great year.

Questions?  Contact Nancy Repko.

Gentle Reminder for Returning Parents: Update Your School Directory Information

UPDATE: These instructions are for returning parents only. New parents will be given details shortly.

Back-to-School season is upon us and your Shamona Creek Home & School Association (SCHSA) is looking forward to seeing you soon. We are sure everybody is excited to meet their new teachers and your kids have been trying to find out who they know in their class.

To hit the ground running, we are reminding you to take a few minutes to update your information in our online directory before August 31, if you haven’t done so already.

1. In the email that you received from the SCHSA, click on the secure link (which is specific to your family) and review your family’s information.
2. Make any changes to your contact information.
3. Verify your child’s current grade.
4. Assign him/her to the new classroom teacher (select from the drop down).
5. Scroll all the way to the bottom to click on SAVE AND CONFIRM to be sure your changes have been saved.

We want to make sure all parents receive all our SCHSA emails so no one misses any important information about upcoming events/activities.

• In the Directory link, please DO NOT check the box to “exclude” your email address.  If you exclude your email address, you won’t receive any SCHSA annoucements or communications throughout the year. Email through the online directory is the SCHSA’s primary mode of communication to our families.
• When visiting this website, please click the “FOLLOW” button to get instant notifications from the SCHSA when new posts are shared. We will be using our email lists from the online directory and posts from this website as our main modes of communication.
• We also encourage you to join the “Shamona Creek – Parent Community” Facebook group as a way to connect with parents and use the insight of  veteran parents to help you throughout the year. Many of our communications are also posted to this group.

We appreciate your timely cooperation and look forward to a great year.

Questions about the Directory, contact Nancy Repko.

Helping hands needed to do the “Shamona Sweep”

It has been a long, hot summer, and there are a lot of beautiful flowers blooming at Shamona…and a lot of pesky weeds growing, too!

Please join us at the playground for the “Shamona Sweep” on August 25 (6-8 pm), August 26 (9-11 am) and/or August 27 (9-11 am) to tidy up the playground areas to make our school pleasant and inviting for our children.

The more “Sweepers” we have, the more fun and faster this will be!

Many thanks in advance for all your efforts!

Bring any tools you think may be helpful.  No experience needed!

Sign up using this link: 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0e4eacaa2fa20-dotheshamona

Opportunity: Fun Run seeks family-owned Business Sponsors

One of the Home & School Association’s first big student activities of the school year will be a brand new event – the Sharks Fun Run! The fall, we will introduce this nine-day program to Shamona Creek’s students that will provide them with lessons in character building, leadership and fitness.

It is anticipated to be one of the SCHSA’s largest fundraisers of the year, allowing us to support the needs of the students and teachers throughout the whole year.

As we prepare for this early October program, we are making a late-summer request of those families who own small (or big) businesses…or those who work at a local company…or those whose friends/family outside the school have a business…and want an opportunity to market their company to a captive audience and support school students too.

Business logos will be displayed on the Fun Run t-shirts the students receive (t-shirts are like walking billboards outside of school), as well as on this SCHSA website all year long.

This sponsorship opportunity will introduce your business to the school family and show your support of the children, their education and their Shark Fun Run effort. (More details will come later about how the Fun Run will be organized with the help of an organization called Boosterthon.)

Click Here to read more (page 1) and to print the sponsorship form (page 2). Please forward this link along to anyone you think might be interested.

The deadline for sponsorships for this event is Friday, September 4, 2015.

Please email SCHSA President Kathryn Gute for information. (kathryn.gute@gmail.com)

Hello. Welcome. Allow us to introduce ourselves.

The purpose of the Shamona Creek Home & School Association (SCHSA) is to support the school, communicate with families, and encourage parental involvement for the success and betterment of our students.

If you are a returning parent, welcome back. If you are new to the school, we look forward to getting to know you. We anticipate that it will be another terrific year. Much of our success is connected to parental involvement, and we have many fun events and family activities planned throughout the year for you to get involved.

Where are our manners? First, a few introductions:
This year’s SCHSA Executive Board includes:
President: Kathryn Gute
Vice President: Susan Cozad
Vice President of Fundraising: Megan Suhoskey
Treasurer: Lena Elguindi
Secretary: Gina Thelander

Plus, there are many parents organizing our various programs (Committee List – working draft) focused on communications, curriculum enhancement, family fun, health and wellness, helping hands, fundraising, staff appreciation and school spirit.

Contact any one of these moms if you see a project that interests you. Sign-up lists will also be sent home throughout the year asking for additional volunteers. You can be involved a lot or a little; it’s completely your choice.

When do we meet, you ask?
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend our SCHSA meetings. We try to keep them efficient, focused and casual. To accomodate a variety of schedules we meet regularly throughout the year, but mix it up between mornings and evenings. Meetings will happen during the following months, so please look for the dates and times to be posted soon.

• September @ 7 PM – Multipurpose Room
• October @ 7 PM – Library [agenda = budget approval]
• November @ 9:30 AM – Library
• February @ 7 PM – Library
• April @ 9:30 AM – Library
• May @ 7 PM – Library

How do we stay in touch?

• Well, primarily we use this website and we encourage you to follow the site and look here often for new information.
• We also use the SC parent group on Facebook (Shamona Creek Sharks – Parent Community) to send out reminders, share new website content, answer questions and strengthen our school community. Have a school question? There’s more than likely another parent in the group who knows the answer.
• Finally, we use email to share details and information about upcoming programs. You will learn more about adding your name to the email distribution list as the school year begins, but we strongly encourage everyone to opt in so that you don’t miss out on what you need to know.

We are always here to help our parent community. If you want to know more, if you have a question, or if you have a great idea you want to share … we’d love to hear from you.

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Have a content idea for the SCHSA website? Contact Shamona Creek mom/communications volunteer Lisa Huffman with your idea.

30, 29, 28…The Countdown to Day One has Officially Begun

On the last day of this past school year, the idea of a 12-week-long summer seemed daunting. It’s one of the longest summers I can recall as a parent, and I think the same thoughts crossed everybody’s minds…

• How will I keep the kids happy and occupied all day, every day for 84 days in a row?
• How many weeks of summer camp and activities can the kids and my budget handle?
• How can I inspire them to read and practice math every day so they don’t forget everything they learned?

Well, the first eight weeks of summer are behind us, and there are just four weeks left until the first day of school on August 31. Different questions are now surfacing.

• How do I cram everything from our summer bucket list into the next few weeks/weekends?
• Do I have enough sunscreen and bug spray to last through summer camp?
• Where did I put those books and packets they were supposed to read?

It’s hard to believe how fast summer is going. But have no fear, the start of the school year does not mean the end of the fun. The Home & School Association has been getting its plans in order for another great year. This year’s activities will include Shark night on the playground (September), Chick-fil-A Spirit Nights (fall and spring), a new school-wide Fun Run (October), BINGO night (February), Variety Show (March), various assemblies and teacher appreciation events, and the always anticipated Spring Fair (May), plus more.

The dates and details for all these activities will be shared in the upcoming weeks on this website, through emails, with the SC parents Facebook group, and on the SCHSA Google calendar. We encourage you to bookmark and “follow” this website so you never miss a new post.

Finally, with August now upon us, please save these dates for you and your child to return to school, meet their teacher and see their new classroom.

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHTS
~ August 26 @ 6:15-7:30 pm – Grades: Kindergarten, First and Second
~ August 27 @ 6:15-7:30 pm – Grades: Third, Fourth and Fifth

We look forward to seeing you there! Until then, enjoy the rest of your break. We hope that you and your families fill all your summer moments with laughter, happiness and life-long memories.