2021 Sacajawea PTA Award nominations

Nominations Open for Sacajawea PTA Awards

Deadline: Friday, May 28th

Each spring, Sacajawea PTA seeks nominations for our Golden Acorn, Outstanding Educator and the Roy Norman S.H.I.N.E. Award.  These awards celebrate the people in our community who have gone above and beyond to make Sacajawea a wonderful place for our students and families.  Please submit your nomination by Friday, May 28th.  Awardees will be announced the week of June 14th.

Golden Acorn Awards
Every year three deserving volunteers receive a Golden Acorn Award.  The Golden Acorn is a Washington State PTA award given by local PTAs recognizing exemplary and outstanding volunteerism and service to the PTA. Golden Acorn nominees should be active volunteers in PTA, our school and/or our Sacajawea community.

Outstanding Educator
This award is given to an individual (teacher, instructional assistant, staff member, administrator -- anyone on staff at school!) who has made significant contributions to our school and community and has helped to enhance the educational, social-emotional outcomes and well-being of our students.

Roy Norman SHINE Award
We are proud to continue the tradition of presenting the Roy Norman SHINE Award, in honor of Roy Norman, Doreen Norman’s late husband. Roy exemplified the SHINE values that are at the heart of our Sacajawea community (safe, helpful, inclusive, neighborly, engaged). Nominees for this award will also have demonstrated SHINE values in how they have supported our school and community.

Please Submit your nomination online by Friday, May 28th.

Thank you!

Sacajawea PTA Awards Committee
(Seth Bridges, Laura Riley & Charlene Shanahan)

Preparing Children for Changes in School Routine

Click here for Spanish Version

Preparing Children to Return to “In Person” School

• Talk with your child about how school will look different (e.g., desks far apart from each other, teachers maintaining physical distance, playing at recess while maintaining social distance).

• Help your child identify their worries and fears, and then provide child-friendly, fact-based information to address those issues

• Anticipate behavior changes in your child. Watch for changes like excessive crying or irritation, excessive worry or sadness, unhealthy eating or sleeping habits, difficulty concentrating, which may be signs of your child struggling with stress and anxiety.

Create a routine of practicing mindfulness/breathing exercises many times a day (They have learned many at school.  Ask them to lead these exercises)

• Establish normalcy and a routine. Children do best when they know what to expect.   Create a calendar that outlines which days are online versus in-person learning, and then break down what will happen during each of those days.

• Practice with your child washing their hands before they leave and when they get home; before and after eating; after using the bathroom; and after sneezing or blowing their nose.

• Practice putting a mask on every time you leave the house. Show your child the correct way of using the mask so that it covers from the top of the nose to the bottom of the chin.

• Reassure your child that their teachers will be there to help

• Encourage your child to take “coping breaks” when they feel anxious, such as deep breathing exercises, doodling for a few minutes, moving their body, imagining a favorite place, or repeating coping statements such as, “It’s normal to be nervous, but I’m OK, and I’ll make it through the day”

• Attend school activities and meetings. Schools may offer more of these virtually. As a parent, staying informed and connected may reduce your feelings of anxiety and provide a way for you to express any concerns you may have about school.

Preparing Children to Stay in “Remote School”

• Talk with your child about your decision to keep them at home.

• Help your child identify their worries and fears, and then provide child-friendly, fact-based information to address those issues. (e.g., heath risk factors of child or family member, not being vaccinated, etc)

• Validate your child’s feelings about staying in remote learning.  Plan dedicating some special time with them doing some fun activities together.

• Reassure your child that their teachers will be there to support them and maintain the connection they have created during the year.

• Maintain normalcy and review with your child the new routine that will be provided. Children do best when they know what to expect.  

• Update a calendar that outlines the schedule for synchronous and asynchronous times.

 Ask for Help. If you have doubts about your child’s mental health, let the school know. Talk to teachers and counselor.  We can provide support and information about services to students in need of extra support.

Contact the school counselor, Ms Ximena Grollmus.  In her Seesaw page or by  e-mail   ixgrollmus@seattleschools.org

Black Lives Matter at School - Year of Purpose: Student Activists Highlight the Power of Empathy and Loving Engagement

In Spanish click here

Dear Sacajawea Community,

This month, the Sacajawea’s Parent Racial Equity Team celebrates Barbara Johns, a Black youth activist in the early 1950s, along with present-day student activists who continue her work to achieve racial equity and justice. This month’s guiding principle focuses on engaging others with the intent to learn about and connect with them, as well as practicing justice, liberation and peace in our interactions with others. We share the determination of Barbara Johns, Thandiwe Abdullah, Jerome Foster II, and Marley Dias with the intent to encourage our community’s continued engagement with Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose. Our goal is to empower parents and students to do the necessary work to achieve racial equity and justice. 

Barbara Johns Powell (1935-1991) ~ I walked out of school this morning and carried four hundred and fifty students with me. 

Barbara Johns’ story is not well known, but it should be. In 1950, she was 15 and a student at Robert R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Barbara grew increasingly frustrated with the sub-standard conditions at her school. She was well aware that Farmville High, the all-White school in her hometown, had modern-day heating, state-of-the art classroom facilities, a cafeteria, and an auditorium with sound equipment.

Moton High, on the contrary, was a small brick building hemmed in by temporary classroom structures made of wood and paper coated in tar. Students often referred to the ad-hoc buildings as chicken coops. Inadequate construction led to rain-seeping ceilings and cold conditions during the school year. Barbara discussed her concerns with her favorite teacher who rather than offering a solution, asked her a question: “Why don’t you do something about it?” she asked. 

Although Barbara felt frustrated and let down by her teacher’s response, she kept thinking about the conditions of her school and her teacher’s response to the unfair conditions. She also reflected on the everyday racial discrimination she experienced. She resolved to do something about her school. 

In 1951, Barbara gave a speech that fellow classmates described as “electrifying” and inspiring.” She led 450 classmates on a two-week strike that resulted in becoming one of the five cases in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Twenty-first Century Black Student Activists

Thandiwe Abdullah  ~ I want to transform the systems that we live under from ones that oppress us to ones that empower us.

@BLMLAYOUTH on Twitter

Thandiwe Abdullah founded the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Youth Vanguard, an advocacy group of kids that fights for justice for black youth. Thandiwe also helped to create the Black Lives Matter in Schools program, which was adopted by the National Education Association. She spoke in front of more than 40,000 people at the March for Our Lives and later at the National School Walkout, to remind crowds about the near-constant loss of Black lives to guns and how Black people are targeted for searches in a way that white people are not. After joining forces with the student advocacy group Students Deserve, she succeeded in ending random searches in 28 schools around L.A.

Jerome Foster II ~ Change starts in the streets and ends at the polls.

@OneMillionOfUs on Twitter

Jerome Foster II organizes and strikes with Fridays for Future to demand legal action on climate change. Jerome also founded OneMillionofUs, an organization dedicated to getting out the youth vote. He argues that his multiple projects to combat climate change are not due to his passion about the subject, but due to his fear for our future, and that we need to change our behavior at home and advocate for sweeping legislative change. 

Marley Dias ~ …We can become optimistic – in a realistic way – if only we knew that there really are people out here fighting, trying to change the world.

@iammarleydias on Twitter

Marley Dias started the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign to make stories with strong, Black, female leads available to students all over the world. Marley also wrote her own book, Marley Gets It Done: And So Can You!, encouraging kids to pursue their passion and use it to make the world a better place. 

“Frustration is fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea.”

We encourage you to learn more about Barbara Johns and the student activists discussed in this newsletter. Young people are sparking political, environmental, economic, and social change by finding their voices, speaking their truths to those in power, and devising solutions to problems they didn’t create. Like Barbara Johns’ teacher asked her when she complained about inequality and injustice, these children responded with action to the question, “What are YOU going to DO about it?”

What ignites your passion and what steps can you take to initiate action?

Write a letter or call an elected official’s office, march in protest, gather petition signatures, post educated opinions on social media, or join an organization that supports furthering your cause.

What can you do and how can you learn more?

If you have 3 minutes, read Thandiwe Abdullah’s op-ed in Bustle, “What a Black Lives Matter Teen Activist Says #NeverAgain is Missing from the Gun Debate.”

If you have 4 minutes, read this article on Jerome Foster II: “This 16-Year Old is Taking the School Climate Strike to the U.S. Capitol” in Yes!

If you have 5 minutes, read “‘They just wanted us to read about a white boy and his dog’: Why Teenager Marley Dias Fought Back” in The Guardian. 

If you have 7 minutes, read “Overlooked No More: Barbara Johns, Who Defied Segregation in Schools,” in New York Times.

If you have 12 minutes, watch this segment from “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” on PBS Learning Media: Barbara Johns of Farmville, Virginia

If you have 15 minutes, watch this conversation with Thandiwe Abdullah about youth activism and BLM: Patrisse Cullors and Thandiwe Abdullah on Bing Daily Digest 

Check out these books focused on loving engagement, empathy, and student activism:

The Girl from the Tarpaper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement by Teri Kanefield (Ages 10-14 yrs)

Generation Brave: The Gen Z Kids Who Are Changing the World by Kate Alexander (Ages 10-15 yrs)

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Christine King Farris (Ages 6-11 yrs)

March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World by Christine King Farris (Ages 8-11 yrs)

I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde (Ages 4-8 yrs)

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara (Ages 3-7 yrs)

All the Colors We Are (Todos Los Colores de Nuestra Piel) by Katie Kissinger (Ages 3-6 yrs)

Can You Say Peace by Karen Katz (Ages 4-7 yrs)

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson and E. B. Lewis (Ages 5-8 yrs)

With gratitude,

Sacajawea’s Parent Racial Equity Team

Jennifer Sunami, Becky Beard, Dana Robinson Slote, Robin King, John Delfeld, Karla Sclater, Sophie-Shifra Gold, Lori Phipps, Jenna Buzzard, Ara Swanson

Article written by Becky Beard and John Delfeld

Yearbook Photos and Artwork

Deadline is March 28th!

Hello Sacajawea Community –

Social distancing means no cool candid photos of us having fun at Sacajawea!  So this year I would like to showcase the work of our incredibly talented kid artists in the yearbook. 

Along with at home school candid photos I would love to put in your favorite artwork that you have done with Mr. Ryan.  I could also put in short writings such as poems or thank you notes to your teachers and other Sacajawea Staff.  

If your child had their portrait taken by Dorian this year their portrait will be in the yearbook. If not, then please submit a portrait photo for the class page by one of the two options below.

There is a possibility of setting up an outside photo booth for a couple of hours at the school during a distribution day to help get student portraits. Details are still being worked out and will be shared in the school newsletter and on the Sacajawea Facebook page when organized.

There are two ways to submit items for the yearbook:

Option 1:

1.     Please take a picture of the artwork or writing.

2.    In a Google Chrome browser, go to: https://commpe.pictavo.com/ 

3.    Search for Sacajawea or use the code: 93978

4.    Click ‘Create an Account’

5.    Use your email address to make your account (You only need to do this once!)

6.    Click on the blue ‘Upload Images’ bar

7.    Select the image(s) to upload 

8.    Choose which album to upload the image to 

9.    Don’t forget to “Tag” who the artwork/writings are by

 Option 2:

1.     Please take a picture of the artwork or writing (or send a typed copy of the writing)

2.    Email the photo to sacajaweayearbook@gmail.com

3.    Please include who did the artwork/writings in the body of the email

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS MARCH 28th!!

Unapologetically Black: If One of Us is Not Free, None of Us Are Free

As we come to the close of Black History Month, Sacajawea’s Parent Racial Equity Team is reflecting on how the stories we tell about our history shape the present. Black History Month is both an opportunity to explore the contributions of Black figures from the past, and an invitation to think about how their actions and experiences continue to change and shape our lives today. In this newsletter we are highlighting two towering Black literary figures and storytellers, Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, as part of our continuing engagement with the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose (previous content is on the Sac PTA website).

This month’s guiding principle asks the question, “How can you share who you are without shame?” The principle of Unapologetically Black affirms that Black Lives Matter, without need for qualification, recognizing that freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others.

Two authors who embodied this principle are Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, who refused to compromise their expressions of the Black experience in order to appeal to White audiences. Their works illuminate universal truths while remaining grounded in specific identities.

Toni Morrison

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, and more, Toni Morrison explored the complexities of the Black experience with a distinctive literary voice, earning enormous critical and commercial success over her long career. Many of her books, including the modern classics Song of Solomon and Beloved, are explorations of how past trauma can reverberate into the present and future, and how the damage inflicted by racism warps our lives in long-lasting ways.

Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was a “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," whose prolific writings grappled with intersectionality and how our different identities shape how we interact with each other and the world. Lyrical and deliberate, Lorde used poems, essays, speeches, and activism to push for a world that would allow the free expression of the whole self:

"There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single-issue lives. 

Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone. 

What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities.”

- Audre Lorde

We encourage you to learn more about these two great authors, and ask how the stories we tell about history and identity shape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

More resources:

If you have one minute, read The Work You Do, the Person You Are by Toni Morrison

If you have four minutes, watch ‘It Is My World’: Remembering Toni Morrison, Iconic Author of the Black Experience

If you have six minutes, watch this introduction to Audre Lorde from PBS Learning

If you have ten minutes, read this biography of Audre Lorde at Poetry Foundation, then explore some of her poems on the site

Check out some of the all ages books on this list, created by the Seattle Public Library, including:

• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales and Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales both by Virginia Hamilton

• Meet Danitra Brown by Nikki Grimes

• Women in Black History: Stories of Courage, Faith, and Resilience by Tricia Williams Jackson

• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

• Black Girl Magic: A Poem by Mahogany L. Browne

Use The Essential Toni Morrison guide or 'Her Subject Is America': Teaching Toni Morrison, both from the New York Times, to help you get started on one of her books, or explore her life

Pick up The Selected Works of Audre Lorde for an overview of her writings