October 3, 2024 | Volume 43, Issue 5

SMILE!

PICTURE DAY

Thu., Oct. 10th

School Picture Day is next Thursday, October 10th. Order forms will be sent home in your child’s planner tomorrow. Please return by Monday, October 7th. Earlier is fine, too!

All students will be photographed for the yearbook, even if no prints are ordered.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

PARENT CONFERENCES

Fri., Oct. 11th

Parent Conferences are next Friday, October 11th. A yellow confirmation slip was sent home in your child’s planner with your conference time.

RSVP FOR SPARClers NOW!

Our first SPARCler (parent support forum) will be on Tuesday, October 29th 7PM at Steppingstone School. This year, we will be kicking off our SPARCler series with a Q&A panel discussion following the MAGC Virtual Fall Conference noted above. This will be an opportunity for you to take away personalized information regarding your child(ren)’s academic and social/emotional needs. We have invited Kristin Cotts to be a part of our panel discussion in addition to Kiyo Morse (Steppingstone founder), a teacher, and parent representative. To attend, please complete the following:

1. Register for the MAGC Virtual Fall Conference
2. RSVP for the SPARCler session
3. Fill out the questionnaire

TAKE NOTE:

CONTINUING ROUGE RIVER

WATER QUALITY TESTING

Rouge Water Quality testing has been postponed due to the end of the grant resources used by the FOTR (Friends of the Rouge) and pending renewal. However, Dr. Morse decided to stay on track in the event the program gets the grant funding to continue at a later date.

Because we have only Early Elementary students this year, he chose our two Gr. 2 students, Fin & Finn, to learn the procedures that would be followed in the Spring by all students.

He and mom Barbara Malnar-Styke shared the event. He worked with Fin on chemical testing while Barbara worked with Finn on identifying life in the water. Halfway through the morning, they traded students so both had the opportunity to learn what they will be leading others to do in the Spring.

Below, Dr. Morse demonstrates the technique for one of the chemical tests they ran while Fin (center) and Finn (Rt) observe. The boys ran the tests on river water samples later.

It was a beautiful morning to be wading into the river to collect samples of water and river life. Below, Ms. Malnar-Styke and Finn are shown collecting samples. 

In the photo below, Fin expresses his excitement upon catching the very young snapping turtle in his net.

Below is a close up of that same Snapping Turtle.

Less exciting were the worms and other bugs that they caught and identified for the data collection requested by FOTR.

DONATE CANDY for

PUMPKIN PALOOZA

Sun., Oct. 20, 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM

Steppingstone will be participating in Plymouth’s annual Pumpkin Palooza again and is asking for candy donations to support this community event. We are also looking for volunteers to help out during this event. Volunteers will help pass out candy and collateral. 

If you are interested in volunteering or donating candy, please contact Mr. Liou at dliou@steppingstoneschool.org.

RECYCLE YOUR BROWN BOTTLES

& SUPPORT THE AUCTION!

Are you a lover of beer or root beer? Does your favorite brand come in a brown glass bottle? The Auction Decoration Committee is in need of about 30 plain brown glass beer bottles. Bottles should be empty, clean, and free of any labeling.

If you are able to provide a few bottles, please bring them to the school. We will update as bottles come in and when we have enough.

Thank you for your continued support!

FIRST SPIRIT DAY!

Thu., Oct. 3rd

Today we celebrated the first Spirit Day of the new school year! We honored our students' September achievements. In addition, students who wore their Steppingstone gear were given 50 Kids' Auction dollars. 

CONGRATULATIONS to Aliya (pictured below), our High Stepper Button Designer! She drew a girl surrounded by swirling fall leaves. 

What is a High Stepper? Students who are in their seats at 9AM with all of their work completed for each school day for the month earn this distinction. For September 2024, our High Stepper was Aliya (pictured above)! Honorable mentions were Owen and Vera, who missed the award by just one day.

RUNNER OF THE MONTH

Each day at recess after doing some stretching, we run laps around the track. Our second graders run 4 laps (1 mile) while younger students are required to run only three laps. This month, something extraordinary happened: EVERYONE ran extra laps just for fun! Finnley ran an extra quarter mile. Vera and Aliya both ran an extra 3/4 mile. Cassie ran an extra 1.5 miles. Owen ran an extra 3.25 miles! Our Runner of the Month, Finley (pictured below), ran an extra 5.5 miles, for a whopping total of 20.5 miles! CONGRATULATIONS!

On Spirit Day, students' parents or relatives are welcome to join us for lunch. Today, we were joined by Aliya's grandma and sister (pictured left), along with Finley's grandma & great-grandma (pictured right)!

FOLLOW UP YOUR STUDENTS'

CHEROKEE CELEBRATION!

with Blueberry Dumplings!

This week the Early Elementary class wrapped up their Social Studies unit on the Cherokee people. We discussed traditions that have lasted through the generations, including special ceremonial dances. The Smithsonian provided a video of the Bear Dance, Ant Dance, and Stomp Dance. These dances show respect and thanks to animals and the harvest. Pictured below, the students had a fun time dancing around our "sacred fire" as the Cherokee might do. 

Finally, it was time for the highly-anticipated FOOD! Pictured below, we cooked our own Cherokee Blueberry Dumplings, which were delicious! They were very easy to make. Cherokee people in Oklahoma might have used huckleberries in this recipe instead of blueberries, which would be just as yummy! Try it yourself at home sometime!

Blueberry Dumplings:  

• 1 lb bag of frozen blueberries
• 2 cups bakery mix (like Bisquick)
• 3½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put the blueberries in a pot with sugar and 3 cups of water. (This was quite watery - 2 cups may be enough!) Cook on medium heat until it has thickened up a bit.
2. In a separate bowl, mix bakery mix and ½ cup of water and mix until all the large clumps are dissolved. 
3. When your blueberry mix comes to a boil, put a large tbsp of the dumpling mix into the blueberries.
4. Continue to put dumplings into mixture until the top of the mixture is covered in dumplings.
5. Cook an additional 8 minutes or until dumplings are fluffy.

Volunteers

Auction Chair

Chris Isberg

Auction Acquisitions

Michelle Belt, Chair

Anthony Bonanni

Dena Nehme

Brad Styke

SMART Center Chair

Robert Schiff

SPARC Chair

Michelle Tan

Marketing

Jorge Contreras

Yearbook & Keepsake Editor

Barbara Malnar-Styke