Head of School Message
Heather Moore, Head of School
Dear Parents,

Each morning and afternoon our faculty and staff work to ensure the safety of all of our students during drop-off and pick-up. We also work hard to reduce time spent waiting in the carpool line. Please help us by taking a moment to review the following carpool procedures and share them with those who will be pick up your children:

Drop Off: 
  • Please remain in your vehicle at all times. During drop off, you will need to wear a mask so our staff can perform the welcome screening. 
  • Have your child’s belongings ready to go, so we can take them from the trunk or from the car easily. 
  • If you come to school later for drop off please call the security office at 757-965-6113 and a staff member will come to your car to escort your child to class. Please do not call the classroom directly. 
  • We ask guardians, parents, siblings and caregivers not to enter the school building through our front entrance or the Cardo entrance. 
  • Please don’t pass another vehicle in the car pool line unless directed to do so by SIA staff.

Pick Up: 
  • If you need to arrive earlier than your scheduled pick up, please call the security office at 757-965-6113 when you enter our lot and we will have your child brought to your car. Please do not call the classroom directly. 
  • For safety reasons, Early Years parents must buckle their child(ren) in the car seat.  Please do not get out of your car until your child is outside.
  • If you do not need to get out to buckle your child, please remain in your vehicle.
  • Please DO NOT pass another vehicle in the car pool line unless directed to do so by SIA staff.
  • DO NOT congregate outside your cars or on the sidewalks while waiting for your children. 
  • When picking up your child, if you are meeting us outside the car, wear a mask until you and your child are back in the car. 
  • If someone from your certified pick up list will be picking your child up, we will ask for ID prior to escorting your child to the car. Be sure to inform the person picking up your child of our procedures. 

Just a reminder that next Friday, February 26, 2021 is Purim and we have a 12:00 Noon Dismissal. We hope everyone has a Happy Purim! Full care and SIA sundown are open until 4:00pm.

Below you will see some reminders for next week. Shavuah Tov, wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

Heather Moore
Head of School
UPCOMING DATES
2/23 Primary Years Author Visit with Steve Metzger

2/26 Purim Celebration; 12pm Dismissal; Sundown and Fullcare close at 4pm

3/26 - 4/2 Passover Break

3/26 - No School, Fullcare Closed, JCC Holiday Camp Open

3/29 - No School, Fullcare Closed, JCC Holiday Camp Open

3/30 - 4/2 Fullcare Spring Break Session/ JCC Holiday Camp
SIA Art Show at the Norfolk International Airport
SIA has an art exhibit on display this month at the Norfolk International Airport The art is part of an effort by the Norfolk airport to showcase the artistic efforts of students of Hampton Roads. The art work will be on display from now through Feb 28. It is located in the upstairs main waiting area on the left side of the food court. Congrats SIA Artists!cop
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Student Agency
Lorna Orleans, Early Years Director

In the language of IB the term student agency expresses an important component of our pedagogical philosophy. So what is student agency? Perhaps it is best explained though the actions taken by our EY4 students trickling down even to our young EY2 friends. 

In their IB unit Sharing the Planet our EY3 and EY4 students learned about the importance of sharing and protecting limited resources. They learned, through a variety of sources, that by reducing, reusing and recycling we can save and preserve our earth's important resources like water and air. 

The EY4 Lam /Matchett class created a recycling station for paper, plastic and aluminum, After learning that recycling can reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and our waterways all of our EY4 students were inspired to recycle materials from their lunches. The recycling effort has become a part of the culture of our program. EY3 students are contributing daily and even our EY2 students understand that being a part of a community means helping that community achieve goals. One of our EY2 teachers, Tiala Blocker, wrote the following in one of her weekly newsletter:

Through recycling and composting, and making a conscious effort to participate in the four-year-old’s project, we’ve also discovered how we can contribute to the betterment of a community, specifically our community here in the Early Years Progamme at Strelitz! Each day after snack and lunch, the kids are asking if the food they’re finished with can go in the trash, or in the bag for compost.

Yes! Our EY4 friends are spearheading, besides the recycling project, a composting project for the school. With help from Mr. Mike, one of our groundskeepers, they put the composter he donated to use for the first time. He adds the brown matter and they add the green matter, contributed by everyone in the preschool as well as from some of our PY friends. Students in EY4 classes faithfully take turns making sure the composting drum is rotated on a daily bases. In a few more weeks they will see their diligence has paid off. They will have created compost from their food waste which can be distributed throughout our garden boxes. 

What is student agency? It is when students are enabled to become “agents for their own and others’ learning” This in turn connects our students to a “belief in their ability to succeed.” When they have this self-efficacy they are on the path to success in becoming global citizens who have a “a strong sense of community and an awareness of the opinions, values and needs of others” *

Shavua Tov,
Lorna Orleans

* From The Learner, an IB PYP publication 
EY4 students made and put up posters advertising their project as they learned about sharing the planet.
Student in EY4 are introduced to the composter.c
Above right and left: EY3 friends contribute green matter to the composting effort from pumpkins they used when exploring how things grow. One of their classmates volunteers to rotate the drum to mix up the green and brown matter.

Right: Even our EY2 friends contributed their lunch waste to the composting effort.

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Left and Above: EY4 friends continue to take turns rotating the composting drum.
Above: One of our grandparents shared how reusing and recycling can result in the creation of beautiful and useful objects like these necklaces made from recycled paper and sea glass. What a great lesson!
Right: One success leads to another as EY4 students determine to clean up the garden area.
Presidential Portrait Walk
The Kindergarten Presidential Portrait Walk at SIA shows some great and upcoming leadership ideas from establishing new holidays to creating new rules. Birthdays will be recognized as national holidays along with Ice Cream Day, Hot Dog Day, Job Day, Pet Day, Butterfly Day, Cookie Day, Giving Day and Unicorn Day. But the best Presidential rule is for everyone to be free and everyone to be friends. Keep up the great work future leaders. SIA kindergarteners are the best! ae cop
Celebrating Rosh Chodesh Adar in the Primary Years
Last Friday all of our students in Primary Years joined together virtually to celebrate Rosh Chodesh Adar/the new month! During the month of Adar we customarily focus on joy and as such we kicked off the month with a ventriloquist show followed by Shalom Shabbat! Thank you so much to Mrs. Brashevitzky for organizing another wonderful Shabbat for our students. Our next Primary Years Virtual Family Shabbat is Friday, March 12, 2021.eae cop
Lost & Found
Is your child missing a jacket or coat?
Please send a description to Linda Bridges, and she will be happy to see if the missing item is in our Lost and Found Box!
Please write your child's name in all items.
Why We GIVE
Become a Pearl Home
Dear SIA Families,
 
Our school is applying for the 5th year in a row to become a Pearl Award School through the Lynnhaven River Now Project. Pearl School Awards are given in recognition of schools that provide outstanding environmental education. Through project based learning and several of our IB Transdisciplinary units like Sharing the Planet and How the World Works we offer our students, from preschool through 5th grade, opportunities to learn about important sustainable practices that help maintain the integrity of our environment.
 
To help us achieve the points needed to meet the requirements for becoming a Pearl Award School we invite you to apply to become a Pearl Home. You can find an application in the link below created especially for our school.
 
 
Our school can earn up to 15 points toward the 50 points needed to receive the award of Pearl School if five of our families apply for the Pearl Home Award. Here is an excerpt from the LRN website.
 
So much of the progress we have made in restoring our waterways is a result of the great work our residents are doing to change their practices and adopt more sustainable behaviors. These PEARL HOMES are all over Virginia Beach. PEARL HOMES are places where people care about our community and our environment and want to do what they can to live responsibly and help protect our resources.
 
The application is very easy to fill out. You only have to choose 15 actions that you have put in place to help make your neighborhood become a more environmentally friendly place. Please join us in our endeavor to teach the importance of sustainable practices.
 
Lorna Orleans
SIA Director of Early Years
 
Nicole Bernal - EY Pearl Award Coordinator
Marin Genova -PY Pearl Award Coordinator
LUNCH ORDER REMINDERS
Ms. Linda Bridges, Office Manager
PLACE YOUR FEBRUARY LUNCH ORDER!!

If you order lunch for your child (Toddlers to 5th grade), please order in advance from https://orgsonline.com/. Print the days you ordered so you know when to pack a lunch. Primary students should bring several snacks on the days they order lunch from school. Everyone needs to bring a reusable water bottle.

If you need to cancel or change a lunch, please do before 9:30 a.m. if it is on the day of the order.

Remember: if you wait to order, you may forget.

Lunch instructions are included for anyone who needs to start an account or needs a reminder about the program.

JCC Summer Camp 2021
It is hard to believe that Summer Camp is only 5 months away! If you have not registered your child in SIA's 12 month program and would like to register your child for camp this summer, please click here to register. To check if you have registered for camp 2021, please refer to your tuition statement.

In addition, the 2021 Summer Camp Brochure is out, so check out all the fun that is in store for Summer 2021! If you have any questions, please email Sierra Lautman at SLautman@ujft.org.
Help Raise Money for SIA

Harris Teeter will automatically give a percentage to SIA everytime you show and use your VIC Card!

Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Strelitz International Academy whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
February Babies!!
Students

Avi Debb 2/1
Jonah Repoki 2/2
Amelia Moll 2/4
Alexa Kass 2/4
Lila Ann Atherton 2/13
Quinn Harvey 2/13
Ryan Gibson 2/15
Henley Hoover 2/15
Avyan Taank 2/15
Benjamin Ohana 2/17
William Booth 2/18
Theodore Lanier 2/22
Ohad Hassid 2/22
Lena Aftel 2/23
Ari Mulligan 2/23
Alexa Steerman 2/23
Heidi Freihofer 2/23
Madeline Cohen 2/25
Faculty and Staff

Deborah Moye 2/4
Lavette Ricks 2/12
Nicole Gamboa 2/17
Janet Jenkins 2/26

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CARDO HAMENTASHEN ORDERS FOR PURIM
Updated Class Cupcake Order Form Below
Ice Pops or Cupcakes can be ordered for Class birthday treats!
For Cupcake, please use the form below and drop off at Cardo Campus Cafe or email to: lunch@ujft.org

NO OUTSIDE TREATS MAY BE BROUGHT IN FOR BIRTHDAYS AT SCHOOL.