September 25, 2025 | Volume 44, Issue 4

MESSAGE from the City of Plymouth

Railroad Construction

CSX Railroad will soon begin repairs to four railroad crossings in the City of Plymouth.

Each crossing will be fully closed for approximately one week while crews repair the base and replace the crossing materials.

The tentative schedule is as follows (subject to change due to weather or other factors):

Friday, September 26th: Farmer Street

Monday, October 6th: Main Street

Monday, October 13th: Starkweather Road

Monday, October 20th: Mill Road (North Crossing in Old Village)

Drivers should expect detours and use alternate routes. Questions can be directed to the City of Plymouth Manager's office.

SEND OUTERWEAR TO SCHOOL!

Check the weather and send jackets to school. Kids go outside for recess every day unless it’s raining or bitterly cold. When it is too cold to stay outdoors, students usually still take a walk for fresh air.

DRESS TO IMPRESS

LITERARY CHARACTER DAY

Thu., Oct. 31st

Yesterday, Wednesday, September 24th, we had our monthly visit to the library. This month our goal was to pick out traditional classics for October's Power Reading genre. Each student chose a favorite from their group of books. This book was then covered with paper to conceal the title. Why? We're getting ready for Literary Character Day!

A favorite annual event, Literary Character Day will occur on Friday, October 31st. Students should arrive at school dressed as someone from the book they chose. The costume should be student-made as much as possible. The first activity of the day is a round of 20 Questions. Students ask each other "Yes or No" questions to determine the person about whom their book was written. It's a challenge to have kept their "identity" a secret for the whole month of October!

Other activities for this day include snacks, games, and a PE field trip (watch for information on that as the day gets closer). Students will take a walk through the "Scarecrows in the Park" and have lunch in Kellogg Park if it is not raining.

Thank you to the Styke, Hyun, and Nehme families for volunteering to donate a fruit/veggie tray or cheese and crackers for this event.   If you send other treats, they should be individually or commercially wrapped. These will be sent home with students at the end of the day. Teachers would be grateful if you avoid high sugar content and food dyes since several students are sensitive to those ingredients.

PARENT CONFERENCES

CONFIRMATION

A big THANK YOU to all the families for RSVP’ing so quickly! A yellow confirmation slip has been sent home with your conference time.

After your 30-minute conference, please join Mrs. Coffin in the hallway for a brief housekeeping discussion. This will be concise and should take no more than 30 minutes.

SPIRIT DAY

Thu., Oct. 2nd

Our first Spirit Day is coming up next Thursday, October 2nd. Don’t forget to wear your spiritwear to show off your school spirit! Parents and relatives are welcome to join us for lunch on this day. If you are planning to come, please let Mr. Liou or Mrs. Dudek know.

SUBMIT WINTERFEST

PERFORMANCE PROPOSALS

DUE by Mon., Nov. 3rd

Although Winterfest is still a couple of months away, we want the students to start thinking about potential variety show performance(s). A gold form has been sent home and the proposal is due by Monday, November 3rd. If you have any questions/concerns, please contact Mr. Liou.

Some examples of performance:

• Singing, Dancing
• Joke telling
• Piano, Violin
• Recitation (eg memorizing a poem)
• Karate demo

ANNUAL GIVING 2025-26

from Bd. President, Michelle Belt

Steppingstone has mailed a kick-off letter (PDF) to all our generous donors this week for the beginning of our 2025-26 Annual Giving campaign. These heartfelt words come from Irene Wojchihosky, a former Steppingstone parent, who has experienced first hand the raising and educating of a gifted child - not always an easy task, but a highly rewarding one! 

Our fundraising goal this year is $90,000. We are planning to reach this goal primarily through our Annual Fundraising Benefit Auction on May 2, 2026. This year's auction event theme is Galactic Gala, and we're building excitement and anticipation for the event!

There are many ways to participate in Steppingstone's fundraising endeavors. See the pledge form below for various ways to give, and also note Steppingstone will be sending email messages to remind everyone of Giving Tuesday on December 2, 2025. Please consider a gift to Steppingstone in any form that is from your heart. 



Thank you all for recognizing the vital importance of Steppingstone's role in the education and well-being of gifted students!

Ed. Note: If you're interested, our pledge form is here (PDF).

FANTASTIC FLOSSING

The Early Elementary class had their first Science lesson last week. We began a short unit on dental health. To begin, we stabbed a perfectly good apple with a popsicle stick to represent a tooth with cavities. We'll check on it frequently to watch the decay. We enjoyed snacking on a second apple, paying attention to which teeth we used to bite and chew as well as what our tongues do while we eat. Next, we snacked on crackers and discussed the job of saliva.

We also watched a video about how to brush and floss our teeth.  To practice, we used a little play dough stuck in a Lego brick for the tooth and embroidery floss as dental floss.  Here you can see Jacob (above) and Aliya (below) practicing their techniques.

Annual Giving 2025-2026

We would like to thank everyone who made an Annual Giving donation in the 2025-2026 school year.

$5,000 to $9,999

$1,000 to $4,999

Fran Eldis

$500 to $999

$100 to $499

$50 to $99

James & Alicia Phillips

Up to $50

In-Kind

Volunteers

Auction Chair

Barbara Malnar-Styke

Auction Acquisitions

Michelle Belt

Dena Nehme

Brad Styke

SMART Center Chair

Dr. Reef Morse

Marketing

Jorge Contreras