Friday Update 2/10/2023

Dear Siwanoy Families,

What could be better for a mid winter pick me up than a visit from a sweet, cuddly puppy? Our 5th graders were lucky enough to receive a visit from the ASPCA (American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals) on Thursday, February 9th. This was a thank you for gathering and donating all of the items that we were able to gift to the ASPCA in December. Thank you for your incredible generosity. Special shout out to Heather Thompson, Adele Reynolds and Rachel Lanzillotto for all of their hard work and help in making this happen. FYI: This is Candy. She's single. And available for adoption in case you are interested.

Siwanoy Dance Party

It was so nice to see so many of you at the Siwanoy dance yesterday. What a great party! Special shout out to our amazing Dance Party Committee members Julia McCarrell, Diane Lanaro, Andrea Peltz, Jamie Hellen, Jamie Porco-Guglielmo, Cristina Chianese, Diana LaScalia, Nev Toaso and everyone else that had a hand in helping to make this event come to life. The kiddos had an evening to remember! And we couldn't have called it a dance party without our own Siwanoy DJ Dad, Stephen Byfield. You all rock! It was amazing to see an idea come to life the way it did through all of your imagination and creativity! A special thank you also to our custodians Tom and Gaspar for helping with the set up and clean up. Our resident handyman Tom also made a billboard for people to hang up heart messages. Team Siwanoy is just the best!

Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that people celebrate on February 14th. On this day we greet loved ones, close friends and classmates by sending them cards called valentines. Just a gentle reminder that if your child is going to be giving out valentines, they should include every one of their classmates. And no food. Special thank you to our PTA Bulletin Board Committee for helping us kick off our Valentine celebration week with our "Siwanoy Loves to Read" bulletin boards. Here are Rachel Gould, Danielle Ganpat, Fabiana Fusco and Joanne Ferrara sharing the love.

Also, please have your child come to school dressed in Valentine's Day attire. Should be fun!

Celebration of Black History Month

Did you know that February is Black History month? This week we learned about Mark Dean, Nina Simone and Toni Morrison. Did you know that in 1993, Toni Morrison became the first African American woman to win the famed Nobel Prize for Literature? A true inspiration.

Siwanoy Read-A-Thon

Thank you all so much for your active participation in our first read-a-thon. You helped to raise over $34,000. Special congratulations to our top reading classes, Ms. Rossi's 2nd grade class and Ms. Diano's 3rd grade class.

Siwanoy Serves

On Wednesday, we were paid a very special visit by a few of our local Pelham Veterans. They came and spoke about their experiences and even showed some of our children how to fold the flag. We will be following up by writing letters of gratitude to them as well as other brave local veterans. This is inspired by our site based council initiative "Siwanoy Serves" and included classes 2R (Ms. Rossi's 2nd grade class) and 3D (Ms. Diano's 3rd grade class). Special shout out to Liz Alderman for putting this extra special visit together.

Student Government

Next week we will be celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Week. Each day we will try to do a different act of kindness to everyone in the Siwanoy community. Student Government has chosen the following kindnesses for Siwanoy: Write a nice post-it note to someone, sit next to someone new at lunch, say “thank you” to someone, greet someone new, smile at someone. Please make sure to be kind these days and every day. And feel free to participate at home.

Alvin Ailey Dance Class in Pelham

Siwanoy Diversity Committee presents Family Fun Night- Alvin Ailey Dances with Pelham!

In collaboration with the Diversity Committees of all 4 Pelham Elementary schools and SEPTA, we cordially invite you to an evening of dance and fun!

When: February 28, 2023, 6:30-8:00pm

What: West African & Jazz/Hip Hop Dance class led by Alvin Ailey Arts in Education & Community Programs

Where: Hutchinson Elementary Gym

Who: All K-5 kids in Pelham *Chaperone required – this is not a drop off event*

Cost: Free! Space is limited so come early

Alvin Ailey Dance Flyer

COVID Update

While COVID cases overall remain low in our district, as we get deeper into winter we are seeing at times some cluster cases in classes. Our Nurse Coordinator, Jackie Huezo is currently on leave and in the past has been the person notifying parents of such situations. Moving forward, if there is a COVID case in a class, the school nurse will be sending a letter via the classroom teacher to backpack notifying parents.

CultureFest Planning Committee

We are looking for volunteers to join the 2023 CultureFest planning committee! We had our first CultureFest last June and it was a smashing success! We are hoping that we can build on last years momentum to make this year's event even better. CultureFest is an event of food, dance, music and art that celebrates the rich tapestry of families and cultures that make up our Siwanoy community. If you would like to help plan in any way (big or small), please reach out to siwanoydiversity@gmail.com. (CultureFest Date: Thursday, May 4 from 5pm-7pm. More details to come!)

Building Bridges program starts May 8th

Please see the link below about additional information on Building Bridges and on how to get involved.

Building Bridges Program

Upcoming dates:

2/13 - Day 4/100th day of school celebration

2/14 - Day 5/Valentines Day

2/15 - Day 6/Jump Rope for Heart Health

2/16 - Day 1

2/17 - Day 2