Amina Luqman-Dawson, American author, is this year's winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newberry Medal for her book FREEWATER, a novel following 12-year-old Homer, his sister, and other members of a community of Black people who escaped slavery to settle in a village they call Freewater. The Coretta Scott King Award recognizes the most outstanding book for young adults and children that reflects the African-American experience. The Newberry Medal is awarded for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. One medal is awarded each year (since 1922), and Amina Luqman-Dawson is just the 6th Black writer to receive the medal and the first Black woman to win in more than 40 years, since 1977 when Mildred Taylor won for Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.

HPS Kindergarten Information Night is set for February 16 at 6:00 pm in the HPS Gym. This meeting is for Parents of Incoming Kindergarteners for the 2023-2024 school year, so please spread the word through your network of families with preschoolers! *Please Note* in order to keep the meeting focused on informing the parents, this meeting is for parents/guardians only, not the incoming Kindergarteners. Socials for incoming families to meet one another and for the children to meet their teachers will take place in the Summer.

Parent-Teacher conferences are being held before and after school on Thursday, February 23. In appreciation of our teachers, the PTO will cater a lunch for the staff. We are asking volunteers to provide individually packaged light snacks and treats to help our teachers stay energized through the long hours. Please sign-up here to donate a snack. (Please indicate in the comment section what specific items you will provide). Items can be dropped off either on the table outside the main office doors or by handing items to the staff in the car line in the days leading up to February 23. Thank you for your support!

The HPS Student Council's Winter Kindness Challenge is in full swing and the competition is fierce! Student council is collecting items for shelters around our city. Each week in February, each Homeroom is challenged to bring in 25 of the following items:

This Week, February 14-17: Pairs of Gloves

February 21-24: Baby Diapers or Wipes

Performing Arts Inc. is hosting a School Musical Club open to students in all grades K-6, and registration is now open! Register for the club by signing up for an Audition using this link: https://www.performingartsinc.net/hyde-park. Auditions will take place in 15 minute time slots on March 2 after school. Everyone who auditions will get a part!!

The cost is $110 to participate and must be paid online at https://www.performingartsinc.net/payments at least 24 hours before your child's audition. Please contact HPS Resource Coordinator Alyse Averdick at averdia@cps-k12.org if you are interested in a scholarship for your child to participate.

Following auditions, the club will then meet Thursdays after school from 2:15-3:15 beginning on March 9. The club will end by performing Willy Wonka on May 6 at 4pm at Withrow HS (dress rehearsal at 2pm). This club will also need parent helpers to coordinate each after-school rehearsal. If you are interested in helping with school musical practices Thursdays after school beginning March 9 through May 6, please contact Hilary VanderMolen at vp@hydeparkschoolpto.org.

Planning is underway for the 11th Annual Spring Celebration! If you're new to HPS, Spring Celebration is a large-scale adults-only party that serves as our biggest fundraiser for the year! The Spring Celebration provides an opportunity for HPS families, staff, and community sponsors to celebrate our successful and growing school. At Hyde Park School, we are proud to provide a personalized learning environment that supports academic achievement and social-emotional development for children in grades K-6. We are proud to serve more than 550 students primarily from the Hyde Park and Oakley neighborhoods.

We invite your family or business to participate as an Event Sponsor. Your contribution will help our PTO bridge the Cincinnati Public School funding gap by covering the costs of field trips, classroom supplies, technology upgrades, and enrichment opportunities for our students. By making a sponsorship donation, you will receive recognition in all Spring Celebration communications and enjoy the amenities our sponsor packages have to offer. If you are donating as a family, don’t forget to check with your employer as many companies have matching programs. The HPS PTO is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit. Sponsors will be provided with a donation acknowledgment for their records. Thank you in advance for your support! Visit the Spring Celebration website to see the levels of sponsorship available and to purchase a sponsorship. To purchase a sponsorship, click on the name of the sponsorship level (e.g. HPS Friends & Family Gold, Ticket Sponsor, etc.), and follow the prompts to add the sponsorship to your cart.

What better way to get the most out of Spring Celebration than by volunteering and being part of the team that makes this spectacular event happen! Links to various volunteer opportunities will be posted in this Newsletter in the coming weeks. But in the meantime, we are seeking volunteers to help solicit donations from area businesses to stock Raffle Baskets and the Silent Auction. If you are interested in helping, please contact Ashley Hammond at president@hydeparkschoolpto.org.

Thursday, March 2 from 5:30-7:30pm marks the long-awaited return of International Night at HPS! International Night is a fun and exciting event of exploring different countries, cultures, religions, and traditions. Parents and students have the opportunity to create exhibits displaying flags, maps, traditional dress, artifacts, sports, music, art, games, traditions, food/drink, or any other aspect of their heritage or a country/culture of interest. If your family is interested in participating in International Night, please click here to sign up as a presenter. Or, if you don't want to create a display, you can travel from country to country through the halls of HPS experiencing the different cultures and traditions along the way! We look forward to traveling the world with you on March 2!

Acts of kindness make the world a happier place! Being kind boosts the confidence, optimism, and happiness of yourself and those around you, and leads to greater feelings of self-control. Being kind also encourages other people to pass it on and repeat the good deeds they've experienced themselves, contributing to a more positive community. Here are some children's books about Kindness.

And the theme is Songs from Musicals! Get ready for another night of stunners led by Music Director Mr. Messerly and Art Director Mrs. Best! Kindergarteners will have their own concert the evening of May 25 at a special Stepping Up Ceremony.

With colder temperatures hitting here and there throughout the Winter, indoor recess is inevitable. HPS is seeking to create several Board Game Carts that will travel to classrooms and provide good old-fashioned entertainment for the indoor recess days. If you have extra or otherwise unwanted board games and/or extra plastic containers to store games/game pieces when the cardboard boxes become too torn and weathered, we'd put them to good use at HPS! Please bring them to the Main Office or send them to school with your child (along with a note/post-it that the game is being donated to the school's indoor recess supply). Thank you!!

Lunch time involves a learning curve, and our youngest students are in need of some assistance during lunchtime! Tasks like opening cheese sticks yogurt lids, and even putting straws in drink boxes can be challenging to little hands. If you could spare an hour of your time, please join our lunch and recess period to help make the most of this important hour of their day! Click here to sign up. This signup link will be included in this Newsletter each week for you to access.

*IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION*: To allow for more eating time, Kindergarteners now will be having recess BEFORE lunch. This means if you are the Lunch/Recess Duty Volunteer, you should check-in at the Main Office, then report to the Playground instead of the Cafeteria. Then, following recess, you will help escort the Kindergarteners to the Cafeteria where you will assist them as they eat lunch. Please act as the Caboose for the line, ensuring that the very last students and any stragglers make it safely into the Cafeteria.

*Please note (and, yes, it goes without saying, but) by signing up for this opportunity, you will be signing up to assist ALL Kindergarteners with their lunch and to help monitor ALL students on the playground during recess, not just your child.*

Streamline your life by using this link to upload all HPS Events to your calendar: HPS Events Calendar. Throughout the year, this link will be updated with other events like socials, movie nights, family swims, playground dates, and more!