Weekly Post 3/13/23
Literacy Night March 2nd from 5:30pm to 7pm
ParentSquare
Please visit https://www.parentsquare.com/signin for the latest news.
Principal's Message
Welcome!
Thank you for taking time to learn about our school. Sunnyside is an amazing community of students, teachers, staff, parents, and volunteers who work together for the success of every student.
We take pride in the safe and welcoming learning environment that we have established at Sunnyside. We know the importance of students and families feeling like valued members of our community. We strongly believe that every person should feel supported in achieving the shared goals we have for high academic success. By working together in a strong partnership, students, parents and teachers make the biggest difference at our school!
Sunnyside is a recognized AVID school which means that we teach school and college preparedness. We provide students with a challenging and rigorous academic program along with the skills necessary for them to achieve their best. Students are supported in learning organization, time management, and scholarly habits that will ensure good habits for life.
We are also a 1:1 iPad school. Students are learning to embrace technology as a tool to collaborate, communicate, think critically, create, and maintain good digital citizenship. Teachers focus on the applications of the iPad to enrich, enhance, and extend learning opportunities daily.
The district adopted English Language Arts program, Wonders/ConnectEd, provides students with all of the essential components that build foundational skills, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. Writing skills are embedded in daily reading instruction and enhanced with engaging lessons through Lucy Calkins, an excellent writing program. Math instruction is balanced to ensure that students are building computational, conceptual, procedural, and relational knowledge in order to become proficient in grade level standards. Math is taught through Saavas, the adopted math program, and problem-solving lessons provided by UCI. TWIG Science provides activities that allow students to investigate, design, build, and understand scientific phenomena using hands-on, digital, video, and print resources.
Students know the school expectations which ensures a safe school climate. Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. (PBIS) is a school program that focuses on supporting students with social emotional learning and academic success. A monthly emphasis on character traits teaches students the importance of responsibility, respect, kindness, and how to develop and maintain positive relationships.
At Sunnyside, we truly believe that all students can succeed. With a balanced approach to teaching and learning, we are accomplishing great things every day.
Our School
Welcome to Sunnyside Elementary!
Parent Opportunities: We welcome families and parents to be involved at Sunnyside. We have an active PTA with monthly meetings and activities. Our PTA supports fun school activities where families are welcome to participate and support our students, such as, fundraising events, learning events, social events, and more. Parents are also invited to be well informed and contribute to school decisions on our School Site Council and English Language Advisory Committee which meets every other month. The principal invites parents for opportunities to learn about our school at Pastries with Parents meetings. She shares topics of interest and information about our school. Family Education opportunities are provided to our families as a means for sharing ideas and strategies to support our students through opportunities to learn together.
Sunnyside PTA – Our PTA meets monthly on the second Thursday of every month at 2:45 in our MPR. Our meetings are led by our PTA President Maria McCormack and all of our families, including students are welcome. The time is spent sharing successes and planning for future events. Our focus this year has been fundraising for our new playground.
After School Intervention and Enrichment Opportunities – Several grade levels offer after school support for students who need reinforcement of skills. We also have coding classes that serve upper grade students before school.
Recognition - Sunnyside has been recognized as a California Distinguished School, Blue Ribbon School, and Title I Achieving School.
Sunnyside is a warm and welcoming school that puts students and families first. We take great pride in the accomplishments of our 679 students as we set high academic goals for each student’s success. Teachers utilize the most effective teaching strategies and truly know their students unique learning needs. Engagement is high throughout our classrooms as students participate in academic discourse and work with each other to maximize learning. Teachers facilitate learning with a highly meaningful learning activities, strong presence, and questioning techniques that increase levels of knowledge.
What makes Sunnyside unique is the warm, caring school environment. Our office team is supportive of our families and ensures that families understand how to participate and contribute in their children’s education. Sunnyside teachers participate in collaboration to provide equitable and valued opportunities that promote strong learning outcomes. Our focus on scholarly habits contributes to students being accountable for their learning and bringing their best every day. We acknowledge strong character traits in our students and provide monthly opportunities for students to focus on the traits that will lead to their life long success.
