Summer 2024 Newsletter
Welcome from Mr. Brunner & Ms. Houghan
Good Morning / Buenos Días, Sugar Creek families,
We (Ms. Houghan and Mr. Brunner, above, coming to you from the playground!) and the staff of Sugar Creek are excited to be welcoming you all to the 2024-25 school year, later in August. It's going to be a great year! This newsletter has key information you will need now and up to and including the first days of school.
Sugar Creek Family News
Registration
This week you will receive an email from VASD’s central office, providing you with your child’s unique Infosnap code and giving you directions on how to register for the 2024-25 school year. It is very important that you complete this process soon.
Student placement information:
We are presently planning to share with you the name of your child’s teacher late on Friday, August 2nd. Sometime afterwards, you will receive a welcome message from your teacher.
Welcome Back (and supply drop-off) Night:
Don’t miss it! On Wednesday, August 28th, all classrooms will be open and teachers will be here to meet and greet you. Families can drop off your child's school supplies at this time, should you wish. If possible, please adhere to these times:
4:00-5:00 Students with last name A-M
5:00-6:00 Students with last name N-Z
Present at this event will be local resources, including:
*VASD Food Service staff, to answer any questions (there are exciting plans to diversify meal offerings and increase "meal appeal" at Sugar Creek this year!).
*First Student Bus staff, with a school bus, so students and families new to riding a school bus can board and ask any questions.
*VASD Human Resources staff, to share employment opportunities and answer any questions.
*Sugar Creek staff, to assist with any start-of-the-year questions.
*Futura Language Program information.
*A photographer, to take the picture of each family as you enter, so that we can put up family photos in our Faces of our Families hall display.
Supply Lists
Our 2024-25 school supply list can be found on our website. Sugar Creek strives hard to keep your child’s school supply list simple, to save you money. However, if you want to support your teacher by giving more than the basics, please check out our easy-to-use Amazon wishlist. You can even select to have donations shipped directly to Sugar Creek!
Kindergarten Play Dates
Our fabulous PTO is sponsoring Kindergarten Play Dates for new Kindergartners and their families! They are 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. on August 8, August, 15, and August 22. These are held at Sugar Creek’s Kindergarten playground area, behind our school. A great time to meet other students and families. You can attend one…or all! (The back door (Door 9) by the playground is open for bathroom access.)
At each play date, Sugar Creek staff will be present to meet and greet you, and if you are interested your family can even join an informal school tour (at 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30).
Grades 1-5 New Family Night:
We do our best at Sugar Creek to ease the transition for new students in Grades 1 through Grades 5 and their families to our great school and community. This fun event, giving you and your child a special time to see the school, meet key staff and get any questions answered, will be in our cafeteria on Monday, August 26th, from 6:00 - 7:00 pm.
Planning for the First Day of School
What time is school each day?
See here for school times.
How do I drop off and pick up my child from school?
See here for our drop-off / pick-up procedures.
Picture Day!
See here to learn about your child’s school picture day.
Important Sugar Creek information!
Can be found here, organized and designed with family feedback to be most helpful to you. Take a look!
Get Your Free Fun Run T-Shirt!
Sign up ASAP in order to get your child’s FREE T-Shirt by completing the link here.
Get ready for … The Fun Run!
The Fun Run is our PTOs main fundraiser of the year, and truly just a super fun event for the entire family. This year’s Fun Run starts at 9 am on Saturday, October 5th. There’s music, free drinks and snacks, games, sponsors, and lots of school staff. Please join us!
Family Survey Results
VASD sends out a district-wide survey to families each spring. We are committed to doing our best for your children each day. That means celebrating what’s going well (and making sure it stays that way!), and improving where we should. A few highlights among the overwhelmingly positive highlights for Sugar Creek include:
“My child’s school has classrooms that support student learning” - 100%
“My child’s school has clean classrooms” - 100%
“Students at my child’s school are proud to attend the school” - 98%
“Students at my child’s school feel like they belong at school” - 100%
“Students at my child’s school feel welcome at school” - 100%
“Students at my child’s school like school” - 98%
“My child feels safe at school” - 98%
“My child feels safe going to and from school” - 100%
Update: Field Trip fundraiser success continues!
Our fundraiser to help support field trips at Sugar Creek raised over $1,600 in 72 hours! Again, a Sugar Creek parent has agreed to a 2-to-1 matching, up to $2,500.
If you or someone you know might like to help, so that we can continue to keep these opportunities free to all students, you can either send a check to our main office marked “Sugar Creek Field Trip Fund” or you may use this QR code:
Health and Wellness Committee: seeking members
Sugar Creek has a long history of focussing our efforts on the health and wellness of our students. When simple things like access to food and access to good health can be addressed, this levels the playing field for all kids to achieve great things in school, and life! Some of our efforts include:
*Free breakfast for ALL students (first school in Dane County to do so)
*K-5 Biking Unit (first school in Dane County to offer this).
*K-5 Snowshoeing Unit (first school in Dane County to offer this).
*1-5 Swim Unit (first school in Dane County to offer this).
*K-5 three physical education classes a week, including high-interest activities like soccer, swimming, gymnastics, and in-line skating.
*All-family school walks each semester.
*Our annual school PTO fundraiser is the hugely successful Fun Run
*Nine 20 minute recesses a week.
*Wildcat Walkers program whereby students can walk quarter mile loops while at recess and earn prizes.
*A "Sharing Table" in our lunchroom to reduce waste AND reduce hunger, *School picnics.
*A Garden Club run by a staff member
*Farm-to-School foods
*Teachers access the nearby district forest and prairie for lessons.
*Free dental clinics
*A weekend backpack food program for families
*A strong all-school elementary counseling curriculum, Second Step.
*A hands-on highly supportive and involved Student Services team which includes a nurse, social worker, psychologist, and two counselors.
*Recess before lunch.
*Annual investments in playground resources, such as Gaga ball pits.
*New playground equipment
*After school clubs such as Pickleball, Tri 4 Schools, Girls on the Run, etc.
We are planning to create a school Health and Wellness Committee of interested staff and family members. If you have an interest in participating, or an idea you’d like to share, please email Mr. Brunner at brunnert@verona.k12.wi.us Thank you!
Want to work at Sugar Creek?
We partner with Americorps in Action who provide us with two full-time reading tutors to help our younger students with their reading. If you, a relative, a neighbor or someone you know is looking for a job and would like to do good work, for good kids, in a good school, they can apply here.
School renovations this summer
All exterior windows, which were over 30 years old and in declining condition, were replaced this summer. The new ones are modern, brighter, and have narrower frames so allow in more sunlight!
Another larger project included renovations of almost all 300 halls cubbies and lockers, with the old ones removed and new ones being installed, which resemble the beautiful ones that we have in our Kindergarten wing.
Looking for a Late Start Monday morning idea for your child?
Sugar Creek strives to create a bilingual, bicultural Spanish - English school. One of those ways is by partnering with the Futura Language Program to offer Spanish language enrichment classes, this year with brand new content. Classes are Monday mornings before school starts, right here at Sugar Creek, and kids then transition directly from their Futura class to their school day. See here for enrollment information.
Sugar Creek PTO Parent Teacher Organization
Below is the link to the Sugar Creek PTO newsletter. It's the same link each week, and every week important information, events, and ways families can be involved at school are shared:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ruo9aznJeNn7BFkkRjWVeaNny1vIuBR-6xuTI8cYgow/edit?usp=sharing
Family Learning Resources
Chromebooks
While students in K-1st will continue to use iPads, students in Grades 2nd - 12th will be using Chromebooks starting this year. Among the benefits of this change, and are easier to update, they have touchscreens, and quad-core internal processors. Stay tuned for more information on learning opportunities for families around technology and Chromebooks.
Health Services Updates
Upcoming FREE Dental Care Treatment available at Sugar Creek - REGISTER NOW!
New this school year, Verona Area School District is partnering with Verona Smiles to provide free dental services (x-rays, dental exams, and treatment) to eligible students at school! If you have not registered your student for Verona Smiles this school year, you still can by completing this Google Form: Verona Smiles enrollment.
REGISTER NOW FOR LOW OR NO COST PREVENTATIVE Dental Care at Sugar Creek!
Verona Area School District continues to partner with Bridging Brighter Smiles to provide preventative dental care at school. Registration remains active for two years. If you have not registered or re-registered recently on the Bridging Brighter Smiles website, your student may no longer be registered. You can still register or re-register your student to receive preventative dental care for this school year here: Bridging Brighter Smiles enrollment. If you have questions about the program or your student’s enrollment status, contact Bridging Brighter Smiles at wecare@bbsmiles.org.
Does your child need a doctor? Concerned about your child’s hearing or vision? Your child recently started on medication that needs to be administered at school?
Please call the School Nurse at (608)-354-1102, email sc-healthoffice@verona.k12.wi.us or stop by the Sugar Creek office for assistance. We are here and happy to help families.
If your child is sent home with clothes from the Health Office, please return to the Health Office as your earliest convenience.
Looking for information about medications at school, the latest illness guidance, or requesting dietary accommodations? Check out the updated Verona Area School District Health Services website: VASD Health Services. Please email sc-healthoffice@verona.k12.wi.us with any questions or concerns.
Kelly Borelli, School Nurse
Cell Phone: (608)-354-1102
Health Office: (608)-845-4115
Email: borellik@verona.k12.wi.us
Heather Strang, Health Assistant
Health Office: (608)-845-4115
Email: strangh@verona.k12.wi.us