October 30, 2025 | Volume 44, Issue 9

Get Ready to Dress, Impress & Bowl! 🎳📚

Literary Character Day — Friday, Oct. 31

This Friday is one of our favorite fall traditions—Literary Character Day!

In celebration of October’s Power Reading genre, Traditional Classics, students will come dressed as the main character from their chosen book and bring a homemade prop that represents their story.

A big thank you to the Styke, Hyun, and Nehme families for providing fruit, veggie, and cheese trays for our classroom treats!

Schedule Highlights:

🎳 Afternoon: Bowling fun at Super Bowl in Canton!

Let’s celebrate a day of creativity, reading, and community—see you in costume this Friday!

SUBMIT WINTERFEST

PERFORMANCE PROPOSALS

DUE MONDAY, Nov. 3rd

Gold proposal forms are due next Monday!! Students are invited to submit independent proposals for performance pieces, which will be followed by auditions demonstrating performance-ready acts.

Don’t Miss Out:

“Demystifying Giftedness” Virtual Conference

Next Mon., Nov. 3rd, 7 PM

The Michigan Association for Gifted Children (MAGC) and The Roeper Institute are hosting their fall virtual conference, “Demystifying Giftedness: Yes, Giftedness Is Real & No, It Is Not a Scary Word!”, on Monday, November 3rd, from 7:00–8:30 PM.

This special evening is designed for educators and parents/caregivers and will feature keynote speaker Dr. Chandra Floyd from the College of William & Mary, a national expert in gifted education. The event will be followed by separate discussion panels tailored for educators and parents.

💻 Virtual Event

💵 $20 Registration Fee

🔗 Register [HERE] or scan the QR code on the flyer!

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insight into supporting and understanding gifted learners.

TURN IN YOUR WINTERFEST

PRE-AUCTION RAFFLE TICKETS

By Wed., December 4th

Winterfest Pre-Auction Ticket-Selling packets have been sent home today. Proceeds raised from these pre-auction raffle tickets will go towards the end-of-the-year school trip. In your packets, you will receive:

• Pre-Auction Raffle Tickets (1/$10)
• Ticket Selling Logs
• Winterfest Tri-Folds
• Auction Tri-Folds
• Auction Posters

Student ticket-selling prizes will be announced as follows:

• Science Fair Day (Nov. 13th): Gold Auction Coin 
  Tickets sold between 10.29-11.13 (must be submitted during morning entry)
• December Spirit Day (Dec. 4th): TBD 
  Tickets sold between 11.14-12.4 (must be submitted during morning entry)
• Winterfest Event (Dec. 11th): Pick a new saltwater critter 
  Cumulative ticket-selling winner; the winner will also draw the Winterfest pre-auction raffle. 

If you need more tickets and/or collateral, please contact Mr. Roder at jroder@steppingstoneschool.org.

NOVEMBER SPIRIT DAY

Next Thu., Nov. 6th

Our second Spirit Day will be next Thursday, November 6th! Remember to show off your school spirit by wearing your Spirit Wear. If there are any parents or special guests that would like to join their student(s) for lunch, please inform Mr. Liou.

SCIENCE FAIR

Thu., Nov. 13th @ 7 PM

Our first school event, the Science Fair, is coming up on Thursday, November 13th 7PM. There will be no afternoon enrichment classes during that week as students will be practicing presentations during that time. More information to come in next week’s newsletter.

AMAZING ACROSTIC POEMS

During October, writing lessons have been focused on different kinds of poetry. Last week we worked on acrostic poems. Students first used their own first name to write poems describing themselves. Next, they chose their own topics. Fifth-grader Francis chose to write about Steppingstone, and we'd love for you to read it!

Smart school

Teachers are loving and caring

Exciting classes and camps

Part of National School of Choice

Potluck ceremonies

Interesting activities

No body contact

Goes on a lot of field trips

So much fun learning

Tons of enrichment stations

One half-hour of lunch

No talking time at lunch

Express your feelings

Nice writing, Francis!

(Ed Note: "no talking time" is only for the end of lunchtime to ensure students finish their lunches)

EGYPT AND KUSH

This week, the Upper Elementary students learned about social classes and daily life in ancient Egypt, and about Kush, Egypt's neighbor to the south, with a rather complicated relationship.

Here we see them playing one version of Senet, a board game popular in ancient Egypt.

🐢 A New Addition to Our Tortoise Family!

Double the Shells, Double the Joy! 🐣

There’s even more excitement in our Russian tortoise terrarium — one of the eggs has officially hatched (pictured below)! Last Friday, Mr. Liou discovered a brand-new baby tortoise joining our Steppingstone family.

This wonderful milestone is the fruition of Francis’s (Gr. 5) dedicated daily care under Mr. Liou’s supervision. Their teamwork ensures that our tortoises are thriving and receiving everything they need.

Our newest hatchling is a little bigger than our first baby, showing that proud parents Azalea and Archimedes are healthy and well-nourished.

And now… (pictured below) you can see the two babies together in their own little terrarium! We can’t wait to watch them grow side by side — a true testament to the care, curiosity, and compassion that fill our classroom every day.

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