February Newsletter 2021
Valley View Elementary School
From Principal Kuhlman
Dear Valley View Families,
We are proud of the accomplishments made by our students and staff in creating and implementing Heights from Home during this pandemic. As you know, PreK and Kindergarten students are slated to return to in-person on February 1st, and subsequent grades in the weeks that follow. We are excited to have kids back in the building to learn, yet support the decisions of parents to continue with Heights from Home. We are committed to maintaining the level of quality in our Heights from Home instruction, as well as in-person learning. This is a complicated challenge and we have the perfect community to make it work!
We have been working hard to create a safe learning plan that brings back students in a safe and structured environment. As we have always said, safety is our number one priority. We are bringing in only two grade levels at a time, and are being very mindful of how students interact with each other around the school. We will require students and staff to wear masks except when eating lunch. The school day will be shortened to accommodate students eating lunch in their classrooms and having recess with their class. Specialist days will continue online, as they were scheduled during Heights from Home learning to accommodate for in-person and Heights from Home learning. Together we can make students returning to school in-person a success.
Parent-Teacher conferences are right around the corner. We will continue to use our virtual format for conferences. In order to ease some of the scheduling stress, we will be using the same conference times we did in the fall. Classroom teachers will be pushing out times and dates to families via Seesaw and in an email. If there is a conflict please work with your child’s teacher to reschedule a suitable time.
Thank you for all you do to support your child in learning,
Jason Kuhlman
2nd Grade
Wow! It is hard to believe that we’ve entered 3rd quarter already! The second- grade classes have been working hard, learning much and making great connections with the kids in their classes. Before winter break, students learned about different celebrations around the world and created artifacts from each place. This was truly awesome; students did a great job showing their creativity! While reading some excellent books, second grade students have been learning about the different elements of fiction. Ask any second-grade student and they can tell you all about the elements! Students have also been learning different strategies for adding and subtracting numbers, as well as learning about the writing process. This has all been done from home, you ask? Yes!!! The students are helping to make Heights at Home successful! We have a wonderful bunch of caring, thoughtful and hard-working students! We are all looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring… because we CAN do this!
Spanish
The focus of Spanish class this year is to practice math strategies that will help them in math class. The students are learning various strategies to solve math problems. Some of the strategies are: how to use a number line, how to draw to solve problems and using manipulatives to answer word problems.
Any questions about Spanish class can be emailed to simensor@colheights.k12.mn.us
5th Grade Band
Teaching band on a computer.
It’s been an interesting and challenging year, certainly. In my career, I (Mr. Hanson) have never been presented with such a unique challenge as this pandemic. Band is a social, collaborative art that requires the interaction of teacher and students with an audience to be fully realized. Teaching students their notes online and coaching technique through a low-definition and often glitchy camera took innovation and determination, but it has been working. Students skill levels with their playing and their note reading are nearly on par with a regular year, and that is with a long delay in getting instruments distributed at the beginning of the year.
There is no substitute for a real, live concert with an engaged and appreciative audience. The words are not there to describe being a part of a group of many who are breathing as one, focused on one goal, and creating artful sound as one voice. Unfortunately that challenge, thrill and culmination will likely not be experienced by our students this year. We are working on ways to get as close to that as possible however. I’m currently in the process of syncing up the over 450 sound files students have spent hours practicing and recording to create a group concert. In the end, it will amount to about 4 minutes of music. That said, it is unbelievably important to share our work.
Music is not meant to be played alone. It is an art that, by nature, must be shared. As the student’s first concert is released, hopefully by the start of third quarter, I hope you take the time to listen to it and appreciate the mass of effort and collaboration by students to share with you. I certainly appreciate their work and dedication to growth that they show, especially in this interesting and challenging year.
Virtual BINGO Night
PreK Zoom Link: https://colheights-k12-mn-us.zoom.us/j/4108998222
Kindergarten Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86120027076
1st Grade Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87617981551
2nd Grade Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89897784434
3rd Grade Zoom Link: https://colheights-k12-mn-us.zoom.us/j/3652300476
4th Grade Zoom Link: https://colheights-k12-mn-us.zoom.us/j/89257368007
5th Grade Zoom Link: https://colheights-k12-mn-us.zoom.us/j/81009299520
*LEAP students will join their respective grade levels
Culinary Heights
Click on the picture below to check out the digital cookbook and to try new recipes! Families that submitted a recipe received a copy of the book in their student's quarter 3 tote.
PTO Information
The Valley View Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) met in January to share updates and to discuss the Quarter 3 learning model with Principal Kuhlman. PTO has also been promoting recent ways to connect and build our Valley View community, including the cold weather gear drive, the Valley View Flat Hylander hunts, and city events like the Snowblast. PTO is continuing to organize fundraisers at local restaurants, so keep an eye out for ways to support our school! Additionally, we encourage your family to participate in virtual BINGO night on February 4th.
Our spring Scholastic book fair will be virtual, held February 18th through March 3rd. We are very excited about this virtual event, as it is a fun way to encourage students' love of reading, and earn money for the Valley View library at the same time. This year, you can even use eWallet on the Scholastic website to contribute Scholastic dollars directly to Valley View for media center needs, or to individual teacher classrooms for teachers who set up an account. Visit the Book Fair homepage to learn more and get started with online shopping: www.scholastic.com/bf/valleyview.
Lastly, our next PTO meeting will be held virtually on February 11th at 6:00 p.m. Join our mailing list to get the details, or email us at valleyviewmnpto@gmail.com to get connection information. Can't make the meetings? Let us know and we can share meeting summaries or video recordings with you. You can also always connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/valleyviewmnpto.
About Us
All Belong, All Succeed
Email: KuhlmanJ@colheights.k12.mn.us
Website: https://www.colheights.k12.mn.us/VVES
Location: 800 49th Avenue Northeast, Columbia Heights, MN, USA
Phone: 763-528-4200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VVisd13