Sunnyside Scoop m e
April, 2016 Sunnyside Elementary School
Principal Points April 2016 Amazing Opportunities Families, As many of you are aware our Sunnyside students have been able to be apart of some pretty cool opportunities this year, and I wanted to take a moment to share just a few of them with you. UNICEF Kid-Power bands As highlighted in this spring’s edition of School Talk, Sunnyside received a grant through UNICEF which allowed every student in grades three through five to receive a fitbit band that is used in conjunction with the UNICEF kid-power program. Students were able to get their bands in early February and begin earning points through movement and exercise to unlock food packets for malnourished children around the world. The more movement or steps students have, the more food packets they earn. The UNICEF kid-power website shows the top ten classes who are earning points all around the Twin Cities, and heading into spring break Sunnyside classrooms were 8 of the top 10 classes in the metro area. Great job students! What’s really exciting for our students is they get to keep the fit -bits at the end of the program and keep earning food packets even during the summer months. A big thank you to Dr. Greg Ulrich for applying for the grant, and to Gregg Tranowski, one of our Sunnyside parents, who made us aware of the grant to begin with. Google Expeditions Some of you may of heard of Google Cardboard, a way to use a smartphone to experience virtual reality. Google Expeditions is Google’s educational outreach program, launched earlier this school year, which utilizes their Google Cardboard platform to allow students to engage in about 100 different virtual reality experiences such as touring the Galapagos Islands, the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, or even walking through ancient Greek ruins. There were 100 classrooms around the metro who were awarded this grant, and Sunnyside has 17 of them! All of our students in second through fifth grade were able to participate in this fantastic opportunity coming back from spring break. Needless to say, our students are leaders both in and out of the classroom, helping raise food packets for malnourished children out of the classroom, and participating in highly engaging technology opportunities in the classroom. I could have only dreamed of such possibilities when I was in elementary school. What a great time to be a student. Way to go Sunnyside! Nathan Flansburg