Dear Eagles,
The federal government is providing relief funding for families by paying for school breakfasts and lunches for all children under the age of 18 until December 2020 or the funding runs out. This includes babies and preschoolers. You do not need to sign up for this benefit—it is automatic. If your child is attending school in person, they can come at 7:45 for breakfast and then pick their lunch choice in their classroom for lunch. No student names or lunch numbers will be needed. You do not need to send any lunch money to school. If you currently have money in your student’s account, it will be available after the relief funding is completed.
Online and At-Home Learning school meals
For those students learning at home or those families with preschoolers, please contact the lunch manager by 9:00 each morning (or let her know for the week) so she will have enough food ready to go. Pick up will occur from 10:30-10:45 at the front of the building by the main office. You can pull up in our drop-off lane and a lunch worker will deliver it to your car. You will receive that day’s lunch as well as a breakfast for the following day. Again, anyone under the age of 18 qualifies for these breakfasts and lunches, we just need some notice to have food ready and available. Her email isSUE.TAYLOR@canyonsdistrict.org
Sue is a manager at two schools and needs to know what school you are located at so the correct amount of lunches are prepared. You don’t need to list your child’s lunch number in the email, but let her know which school you are from and the number of meals needed.
Student Council Officers
Fifth graders just presented their speeches last Friday, and students voted on who will represent them in our student council this 2020-21 school year. Congratulations to our new Student Council Officers! They will serve our school well!
President: Alex Gonzalez
Vice President: Luke Featherstone
Secretary: Rush Larsen
Historian: Evelyn Jensen
Charitable Fund Raiser: Hats on for Kids!
The Silver Mesa Student Council is excited to partner with the Utah Food Bank this year to collect non-perishable food items for those in need. A student may wear a hat on Fridays in exchange for one piece of non-perishable food. This will begin on Sept. 11 and run through May 14 and will be managed by our student council. Thanks in advance for your generosity and support!
Online Dual Language Immersion Students
The state is working on creating content to help with the Spanish language while students are learning online. They still need to work out some details with the state CANVAS account and State Digital Learning to finalize platforms available. They had hoped to have that ready to go this week, but it is not ready quite yet. We are also working on some things we can do from the school level. Since the students are not attached to a teacher here at Silver Mesa, we will need to create a new class to give them access. We are working on that and should have some language activities by next week.
Kindness Is Cool
Shout out to 5th grader Claire Fauver this week who was exceptionally kind! Claire won the vote to be the classroom representative for student council in her class. She decided that a new student should have the opportunity to serve in student council, so gave up her spot. Way to be kind, Claire. That’s impressive!
In-Person Learning
Our upcoming Parent Teacher conferences will be virtual this year. You will still need to sign up for a time to meet via Google Meet. Just plan a time that you have access to technology (even smart phones will work) to meet virtually with your child’s teacher. We are figuring out schedules now and sign-ups should be ready by Sept. 10th. Watch for a Peach Jar flyer with info about how to schedule your individual time to meet with the teacher the week of Sept. 21st.
PTA News
All Spirit Wear Orders are due this Friday, Sept. 11th, by the end of the day. We are selling our masks for $4–you know you want one! All of our spirit wear can be ordered on our website, silvermesapta.org. The shirts and sweatshirts are soft and of great quality.
Thank you to all who have volunteered to help with Safety Patrol. We now have Sept. & October pretty much covered. What about November & December? You guys, we have a sweet grandpa driving up from Highland to help us out. Surely, you can spare a morning??? We STILL NEED YOUR HELP! Sign up here.
Emergency Kit ziplock bags have come home with your child. Please remember to fill them up and send them back to school!
Coming up:
Tuesday, September 15th: Zupas family dinner night, dine in or take-out. Put it on the calendar!
Sept. 14-27 VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR! Details coming soon!!!
Our first PTA general meeting is next Monday, September 14th, at 12:30 pm in the library. We will be voting on this year’s budget, along with many other items. Zoom will be available for those who’d like to participate remotely; the link will be posted on our website. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY TO ALLOW FOR A SLOWER, COVID-STYLE CHECK-IN TIME, and please fill out the district volunteer registration ahead of time. Thank you!
Still looking to volunteer? There are many positions open. Room parents (talk to your teacher), masterpiece art & music, and more! Sign up here!
And finally, a word about joining PTA from another parent out there:
…People often don’t understand why they should pay money that leaves their school and moves up the levels to fund council, state, and national PTAs. I didn’t used to understand either, and with one income, six kids, and extremely tight finances, for many years I did not join PTA. And then I learned what PTA really does. I caught the vision. In addition to our dues funding the AMAZING Reflections program all the way to the top, our dues enable the existence of a national organization that has a motto that I can stand proudly behind. Every Child, One Voice. Did you know that many of our state PTA board members, who are all volunteers, spend the ENTIRE legislative session at the capitol advocating for the children of Utah? They advocate for all children. PTA is non-partisan. They advocate for our children’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being. They fight to protect and increase education funding. PTA has a powerful voice that is not only heard, but sought out. I now gladly give my $6.50 for membership. What a small amount to pay to be part of that voice. And I invite you, if you can spare the money, to join your local PTA this year. Membership numbers are steadily decreasing. My elementary student is a virtual learner. I joined the PTA. My junior high and high school students are attending in person. I joined their PTAs. Yes, I joined 3 PTAs this year. I also bought memberships for my 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. I’m being really raw and personal here. Money is still tight for my family. We are mostly a one income family and we have a missionary out. But, I will find that money every year for as long as PTA still exists, because I don’t want it to disappear. I will join when my kids are raised and gone, because I will still care about the children of Utah and the children in America. And I invite you, if you haven’t joined PTA this year, to join. Okay, I’m done with my soapbox. Have a great day, ya’ll!
Idle Free Awareness Month
Salt Lake City ranked #1 in worst air quality in the United States on Monday and #4 worst in the world which brings me to this. September is ‘Idle Free Awareness Month’. You as parents and caregivers for the children that attend Silver Mesa can make a difference on the quality of air in our community. It has been observed that many vehicles left idling in the adjacent parking lot at the church and along the streets where the children walk by on the sidewalk. In addition to wasting gas and contributing to air pollution, idling creates a concentrated area of emissions known as a hot spot in your school’s pick-up zones. While sitting in an idling vehicle, drivers and passengers are exposed to higher levels of pollution than when in motion. We are asking our children to wear masks all day while nearby idling cars are creating hot spots that have a significant impact on their health.
Sandy City has one of the strictest no idling ordinances in the valley. If you see someone idling for longer than 1 minute on public property or private property that is accessible to the public, you can file a report here: http://apps.slcgov.com/general/absolutefp/IdleForm.htm
Let’s take the air we breathe personal and do our part in making the air cleaner for our children’s tomorrow. Weather permitting, we are encouraging everyone who is able, to join us in the, “You made a difference!” challenge and walk to school starting tomorrow. If your child walked to school then have them sign the, “You made a difference!” log in your child’s classroom. Each student will be entered into a drawing for each day they walked to school, and at the end of the month 3 winners will be selected for a prize.
Upcoming Dates
Sept 10th-18th—Sign up for a time to meet with your child’s teacher for Parent/Teacher Conference. Conferences will be virtual this year.
Sept. 14th—PTA general meeting; 12:30; library; All are welcome!
Sept. 14th-27th—Virtual Book Fair
Sept 15th—Zupas Family Dinner Night with Silver Mesa
Sept. 23rd and 24th—Parent/Teacher Conferences
Sept. 24th—Early Release day; 1:15 dismissal on this Thursday
Sept. 25th—Compensatory day; no school
Sept. 28th—Picture Day; Students learning at home may come for school pictures that day. We’re working on a time to coordinate that.
Here’s to another GREAT week!
Julie Fielding, Principal
Silver Mesa Elementary
