January Newsletter
School District of New Richmond - January 27, 2023
Letter from the Superintendent
Friday, January 27, 2023
I would like to send out a personal thank you to all of the families, community members and staff who participated in the Sledding with the Superintendent event. We had a great turnout and I appreciate all of you for taking the time to stop by and have some fun.
On another note, the winter weather is bringing about a change for our district. Effective immediately, there will be no more Late Start Wednesdays. The School District of New Richmond is also proud to announce that we will be participating in Distance Learning on days of inclement weather, when it is unsafe to travel to school. More in-depth information is listed below in our newsletter.
Our goal as a district is to inspire every student to learn and grow everyday, and we can now achieve this when students are unable to be physically present in the classroom.
Respectfully,
Dr. Troy Miller
Superintendent
Miller on the Move Episode 2: Sledding with the Superintendent
The Sledding with the Superintendent event, held on Saturday, January 7, 2023, was a lot of fun! Thank you to all who came to sled with us. A special thank you to Carbone's Pizzeria and Dunn Brothers Coffee for bringing snacks and beverages for everyone to purchase!
Important Dates in February 2023
February 2: NR4Kids Information Meeting
February 4: NR4Kids Open House at all sites
February 6 - 10: Empty Bowls Week
February 9: Empty Bowls Soup Night @ High School
February 13-17: Random Acts of Kindness Week
February 13-17: High School Ice Fest Week
February 13: NR4Kids Early Registration Opens @ Paperjack Elementary
February 14: Valentine's Day
February 16: Parent Teacher Conferences at all schools
February 16: All Elementary Early Out 1:45 Dismissal
February 16: 2023/2024 Kindergarten Information/Registration Meeting
February 20: PLD No School For Students
February 23: Parent Teacher Conferences at all schools
February 23: All Elementary Early Out 1:45 Dismissal
February 27 - March 3: Spring Break
Communication Frequency Survey!
We want to hear from you!
Please fill out this three question survey below about the frequency of communication from your school district.
Distance Learning
The School District of New Richmond is excited to announce a new Distance Learning plan for students. In the event of future inclement weather delays and closures this school year, we have created a plan to monitor and ensure that our secondary schools meet the state required instructional hours, so that we do not have to add school days to the end of our academic calendar.
Please see information about Distance Learning HERE.
Chromebook Info
Linked below are the details regarding the Chromebook device, expectations and insurance information. You can also view this information on the School District Website. If you have any questions, please contact your school’s media center.
Ice Fest Week 2023!
High School ICE FEST WEEK!
Let's celebrate our winter sports, music, and clubs! Ice fest is about coming together AND getting outside to enjoy the snow!
When: February 13th - 18th
Team Activities: Get your team of 10 together (see more information here & to sign up or get a signup form outside Mrs. Hughes' room E124) to get points for dress up days and during TEAM DAY where your team will go outside and participate in 5 activities (inner tube, pyramid build, board race, circumference, and tug o war)! This will happen during a one hour Tiger Time on 2/15. If you aren't on a team, you must go to Tiger Time! Get your team together! You don't want to miss it!
***Need help getting on a team of 10? Sign up on the forms outside of Mrs. Hughes' room E124 and once a team is filled, there will be a meeting to "meet" your teammates.
Dance: Saturday, February 18th (semi-formal) 8-11 pm
See Mr. Swanson to get a form to bring an out of town guest.
Dress up Days:
Monday 2/13: Celebrity/Character Day
Tuesday 2/14: Red/Pink Out
Wednesday 2/15: Team Day (dress like your team of 10)
Thursday 2/16: BBQ Dads VS Soccer Moms
Friday 2/17: Tiger Pride
2023 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student: Aidan Berquam
Aidan Berquam, a senior at New Richmond High School, has been named a Commended Student in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students who entered the 2023 competition by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
The staff of the School District of New Richmond extend our congratulations to Aidan Berquam on this honor. We are proud of him and his accomplishments.
To read more, please see the article published by the Star-Observer HERE.
Photo to the right of Aidan Berquam and his family, (L to R): Matthew, Taylor, Aidan, and Kari Berquam.
We Are Hiring!
Celebrating the Classics
Back in the day...
In the 1915 Orange and Black Annual Yearbook, the McNally's Creed was printed. This is a genuine speech written to inspire and create confidence in children and adults alike as they travel through the journey of life. Enjoy the read!
NRHS Spanish III Class Studies Argentina Through Traditional Recipes
Title I Books and Breakfast at Hillside Elementary School
Child Development Days at Northwood Technical College
Featured Classrooms and Events!
Each month we highlight a classroom or group that strives to share our District's story with the community.
Mrs. Lietz's Wildlife Management Class at NRHS
This month we have chosen to highlight Mrs. Lietz's Wildlife Management Class as they practice their taxidermy skills.
Throughout the past quarter, students in Mrs. Lietz's Wildlife Management Classes fished for bluegill and walleye in order to complete their taxidermy unit. Students went through the taxidermy process from start to finish: cleaning the fish, filling and shaping their animals, and finally painting the fish to create a wonderful wall display!
Providing unique opportunities for students to learn and practice new skills is something that this class prides itself on.
NRMS Future City Competition Participants
This month we have chosen to highlight the Future City Competition Participants.
Future City Competition is a national program sponsored by the engineering community to promote technological literacy and engineering to middle school students. Our goal is to interest young people in math, technology and scientific studies needed to develop engineers of the future.
The 2022-2032 theme is Climate Change. Teams are asked to design a futuristic city and provide examples of how the city uses three principles of a circular economy to address climate change while keeping its residents safe and healthy 100 years in the future.
The following NRMS students participated in this year's regional event at Dakota County Tech College in Rosemount, MN.
City-Von Kuppel
Winner of Best Project Plans Award
Aleah Rodriguez, Isaiah Hamdorf, Grant Huebscher and Norah Lofgren
City- Geothermia
Dylan Andre, Josh Stangl, Jackson Allwood, Mason Allen and Abe Sandor
City- Dinch Nuttersusn
Ben Mehls, Nikko Kosin and Brandt Pederson
Hillside Fourth and Fifth Grade Student Leadership Team
Hillside Elementary opened it's Tiger Ticket Store thanks to the hard work of our Student Leadership Team. Students were able to select the items and pricing for the PBIS Tiger Ticket store. This has allowed students to save up their Tiger Tickets to buy items every Tuesday and Thursday based on their achievements of being safe, respectful and responsible scholars.
Ms. Johnson's First Grade Class at Paperjack
Ms. Heidi Johnson's first graders earned a "Reading Party" by reading 10,000 minutes outside of school. Guest readers were invited in and able to read with the students. Everyone had fun in the classroom during this "Reading Party." What a great experience it is for students and families to share a love of learning both at home and in school!
Mrs. Heinselman's Second Grade Class and Mrs. Lengyel's Fifth Grade Class at Starr
Walking into Mrs. Heinselman's (grade 2) or Mrs. Lengyel's (grade 5) classrooms, you will notice the vertical white boards on the walls around the room. Vertical boards are an implementation of Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC). Over the summer, Mrs. Heinselman and Mrs. Lengyel took part in the BTC professional development opportunity. During math lessons, students in groups of 2 or 3 stand at the boards solving math tasks. Being in the classroom you can feel and see the student energy and engagement in their learning. Vertical non permanent surfaces encourage students to take risks with active thinking and encourages them to share their knowledge with others. The task given at the boards is one that not only requires thinking but also encourages it. In kindergarten through 2nd grade you might see the Jellybean Task. In this task, you have 16 jellybeans and four jars. Students must place the jellybeans in the jars so that each jar has either 3 or 6 jellybeans. Are there some things that are not possible? An example of a 3rd through 5th grade task is Four Numbers. Students must select four numbers from 1 to 9 at random. They then use these four numbers and any operations they choose, to make the values have totals from 1 to 30.