Husky Newsletter
Fall Edition, 2022
The Science Museum of Minnesota provided their portion of The Twin Cities Collaborative residency Water is Life to our second graders!
IMPORTANT DATES
Nov. 2 & 3 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
Nov. 3 - No school for students
Nov. 4 - No school for students & staff
Nov. 5 - Daylight Savings *reminder to set clocks back 1 hour
Nov. 7 - District 196 Magnet School Choice Night @ 6:30-8:00 PM Valley Middle School
Nov. 10 - Title One Family Night @ 6-7 PM in media center
Nov. 11 - Veteran's Day Breakfast at Glacier Hills @ 8:15-8:45 AM in media center
Nov. 14-18 - Maintenance, Clerical & Secretarial Staff Appreciation Week
Nov. 14 - Site Council/Booster Club Meeting @ 4:15-5:15 PM in media center
Nov. 15 - Magnet Spotlight Tours for Prospective Families @ 10:30-11:30 AM & 6-7 PM
Nov. 17 - Grade 4 Music Concert @ 6:30-7:30 PM in Main Gym
Nov. 21 - Technology Family Night via Zoom @ 6:30-7:15 PM (see below for details)
Nov. 24-25 - No School for Students & Staff for Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 28 - Students resume back to regular school hours
Dec. 1 - End of Trimester 1
Dec. 2 - No school for students *Staff Development/Report Card Day for Teachers
Dec. 6 - Magnet Spotlight Tour for Prospective Families @ 10:30-11:30 AM & 6-7 PM
Dec. 12 - Site Council/Booster Club Meeting @ 4:15-5:15 PM in media center
Dec. 15 - Grade 2 Music Concert @ 6:30-7:30 PM in Main Gym
Dec. 20 - Orchestra Concert @ 7-8 PM in Main Gym
Dec. 23-Jan. 2 - Winter Break *No school for students and staff
Jan. 3 - Students resume back to regular school hours
***GHESAS Office Hours During School Year***
Monday-Friday 7:30 AM-4:30 PM (student contact days)
Fourth grade heart maps! Creating opportunities to share who we are!
Principal Henderson's Message
We are off to a great start to our school year and will be sharing our classroom news and school updates through our Husky Newsletter! The first several weeks of school have been focused on building our classroom community, sharing about who we are as a school, building relationships, setting routines, and establishing expectations for learning. We believe all are welcome and work to ensure a positive learning community focused on safety, inclusion, and a strong culture for learning.
Additionally, our school team has been working toward setting up the workshop model for reading, writing and math. Students work to build their stamina and independence daily during managed independent learning during the workshop times of their day. The workshop model provides opportunities for students to engage in new learning through a whole group mini-lesson, practice skills and work with peers during managed independent learning and meet with their teacher for targeted instruction. Sharing of the day's learning takes place at the end of our workshop model.
New Math Curriculum Resources for Elementary
New curriculum resources have been provided to our all our elementary teachers in District 196 this year to support math instruction and target math fluency. A focus on number sense and building math fluency is part of all grade level academic standards. At Glacier Hills, classrooms have 60 minutes of math workshop and an additional 15-20 minutes of Calendar/Number Corner.
According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, “Computational fluency refers to having efficient and accurate methods for computing. Students exhibit computational fluency when they demonstrate flexibility in the computational methods they choose, understand and can explain these methods, and produce accurate answers efficiently. The computational methods that a student uses should be based on mathematical ideas that the student understands well, including the structure of the base-ten number system, properties of multiplication and division, and number relationships”
Kindergarten is learning about the newest edition of Number Corner by Bridges in Mathematics and grades 1-5 are learning about Building Fact Fluency. Both are supplemental resources added this year to our core math curriculum and are research-based designed to build number sense and math fluency.
~ Adriana Henderson, Principal
Kite Flying Success at Eagan Art Block
Mrs. Paulson, Art Teacher, teaching students how to make a kite using school materials.
Annual Husky Hustle 5K Fundraiser EXCEEDS Goal!
Many thanks to our entire school community and our Booster Club for their tremendous efforts in helping our school fundraise $36,495.60! We exceeded our fundraising goal of $30,000. Proceeds go toward our school's magnet theme programming and support the costs for teachers to offer residencies, plan for field tries and experiences. Additionally, these funds also are used toward covering the costs of instructional supplies and materials needed for students to engage in meaningful magnet programming! To learn more about how your child is engaging in magnet programming, please check out our school's Facebook page @ GlacierHills and communication updates from our teachers.
We are truly grateful and humbly appreciative of the ongoing support and dedication to our school through our community's generous giving and gift of their time. A huge thank you to our sponsors, our parent volunteers, our Booster Club parents and our parent volunteer coordinator, Rebecca Chevaillier. Additionally, we would like to personally thank the following individuals for their time and efforts in making this event such a GREAT success!!! We wouldn't be able to do this fun community building event & fundraiser without the support of our students, staff and families!
Sponsors
St. Croix Electric
Fiddlesticks Bakery
Horace Mann Insurance
Anderson Race Management
Fusion Martial Arts
Kwik Trip
Core Custom Curbing
Volunteers
Theresa Plaunt
Nicole Henry
Chris Bates
Colleen Cahill
Stephen Bartos
Lisa Broitzman
Amanda DeAngelo
Irina Rumyantseva
Harsitha Vasudeva
Jennifer Oxborough
Heather Caldentey
Ramana Towsley
Kirsten Ahlberg
Rebecca Chevaillier
Kindergarten students use materials found in nature to create a nameplate using science tools in the STEAM Lab.
News from the STEAM Lab
The first month of school was very exciting and busy in the STEAM room! Every grade level had the opportunity to participate in indoor or outdoor learning activities with their class. Below are some highlights about learning in the STEAM Lab with Ms. Hosek!
Kindergarten
During kindergarten back-to-school days, students came to the room briefly to meet me and see our learning space. There were many interested faces and great questions about science and the STEAM Room. Kindergarten students learned about manmade vs. natural materials in the STEAM Room. They found various natural materials in nature to “write” out their name on a painted piece of cardboard. A very fun and awesome art and science connection! Check them out!
First Grade
First grade students spent some time in the STEAM room learning about science tools and scientific observations. Students learned many skills and the observing our different Glacier Hills’ outdoor environments. We visited the forest and the flower area around the flagpole. Students also collected soil from different environments for an art project with Mrs. Paulson aligning science and art learning.
Second Grade
Second grade students participated in three different outdoor learning experiences. We went on a habitat hunt in our Glacier Hills forest and prairie. We also looked for various objects through two different scavenger hunts in a different forest and our rain garden.
Third Grade
Third grade students created a self-portrait by following the Engineering Design Process and by using materials in the STEAM Room. They spray painted a wood block and then used a variety of tools to add screws, nails, keys, and other metal pieces to make their face. They look amazing and are on display at school - check them out during parent/teacher conferences!
Fourth Grade
Fourth grade students started the year with a quick visit to the STEAM Room to introduce themselves to their classmates. They used a variety of tools and materials in the room to make something to tell us about themselves. Students followed the Engineering Design Process for their next project. They were given an 'extraordinaire' to learn about using the following steps in the process: ask, imagine, plan, create, improve, and communicate. Students worked together with a partner on their creation.
Fifth Grade
Fifth grade students started out their last year of elementary school with a visit to the STEAM Room to introduce themselves to their classmates. They used a variety of tools and materials in the room to make something to tell us about themselves. Ask them what they created! As part of the learning this year, students are engaging in “Classroom Connections” throughout the school year. This is an opportunity for students to learn more about themselves and their classmates through various activities and outdoor learning including a nature mandala.
I’ve really enjoyed working with our students that were at Glacier Hills last year as well as meeting all of our new faces. Thank you for sharing your child or children with me.
~ Ms. Hosek, K-5 Science Specialist
Studying soil from different biomes, then turning it into art!
First graders at work in the art studio!!!
Ms. Grimsrud Presents at MN & WI Art Conference for Art Educators
Magnet School Application Process OPEN for 2023-24
Applications for the 2023-24 school year are now opened for all Magnet Elementary Schools and Valley Middle School of STEM. The application window closes on January 5th.
To access our magnet application for the 2023-24 school year online, please visit our website at https://www.district196.org/academics/magnet-schools.
**Please note - Students that reside within the Glacier Hills attendance boundary are not required to go through the lottery process. Likewise, students that have been accepted through a previous magnet lottery and are currently enrolled at Glacier Hills are not required to go through the lottery process. However, siblings of enrolled magnet students that are not currently enrolled, will need to apply for the lottery.
Questions? Please call our school office at 651-683-8570.
Sign Up for Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences
Fall conferences are next week on November 2nd (4:45-8:00 PM) and November 3rd (12:00-8:00 PM). Families are asked to sign up for a 15 minute in-person conference time with their child's classroom teacher. To access our conference sign up system through our school's website, click here. Contact our school office at 651-683-8570 if you have any questions or need assistance in signing up for a conference online.
On conference days, please stop by our welcome table at the front of the main entrance to learn more about how to sign up for Educational Benefits, access information about our school, and pick up a conference scavenger hunt card. Bring your conference scavenger hunt card back at the end of conferences and enter to win a gift card for Cub Foods. We look forward to seeing our families during conferences.
My Payments Plus & iPad Student User Agreement/Protection Plan
ALL families are expected to review and acknowledge the iPad Student User Agreement, and also accept or decline the Protection Plan. Anyone who has not either accepted or declined the Protection Plan at this time will be considered to have declined it and will be responsible for any costs associated with damage or loss until such time that you have actively accepted the Protection Plan.
Log into your MyPaymentsPlus account and for each child search “iPad” to display the following two activities of which you will register for one:
22-23 iPad User Agreement + ACCEPT Protection Plan
Choosing this activity allows you to review and acknowledge the Student User Agreement and accept the protection plan at a cost of $20/iPad
22-23 iPad User Agreement + DECLINE Protection Plan
Choosing this activity allows you to review and acknowledge the Student User Agreement and decline the protection plan
If you have any questions or need assistance in accessing My Payments Plus, please go to our school website to follow the steps for setting this up for your family. If you need assistance, please contact our school office at 651-683-8570.
Shop our Scholastic School Book Fair ONLINE!
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/glacierhillelementaryschool1
Nurse Becky
Hello! I am Nurse Becky and this will be my first full school year as the school nurse at Glacier Hills. I spent the previous 19 years as a nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis working with mostly adult patients. I made the leap to school nursing because my passion is working with kids and the community. I live in Apple Valley with my husband, four kids, and two dogs. I am so glad I am here.
When can you expect to hear from me? I will contact families regarding injuries leaving visible marks on the face, injuries requiring monitoring at home or medical attention, and any other health concerns I may need to discuss with you regarding your child. Bumps, cuts, scrapes, and incontinence accidents frequently happen in an elementary school, especially one of our size. If and when these happen, I will take care of your child’s needs and send them back to class. If necessary, you will receive follow up communication regarding your child's visit to our health office.
When should your child stay home? The following guidelines from the district are to help you decide when to keep your child home. They may need to rest at home if they have:
- Fever
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- or are not feeling well enough to participate in the school day
When your child is feeling ill please don’t hesitate to call me with questions or concerns. We would prefer students remain at home for 24 hours after the symptoms have subsided. This helps prevent the spread of communicable diseases and allows the student the opportunity to rest and recover fully from the illness.
I’m looking forward to a great school year together!
Becky White, BSN, RN, PHN
Licensed School Nurse
Fifth graders created and studied their aquariums, which were later added to the terrariums, all while recording scientific observations.
Technology Family Night via Zoom @ 6:30-7:15 PM
Join us for our GHESAS Parent Technology Night on Monday, November 21st at 6:30pm. This will be a Zoom meeting (see details and link below).
We will share our Learning and Technology Framework, engage in conversations around Digital Citizenship, and share our District 196 Digital Expectations and iPad Filtering and Restrictions. Parents will learn to access additional limitations tools on your child’s iPad.
Topic: GH Technology Family Night
Time: Nov 21, 2022 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://district196-org.zoom.us/j/81620891130...
A recording will be available on the district website if you are unable to attend.
Staff Appreciation Dinner for Fall Conferences
Our amazing GHESAS Booster Club will be hosting a special dinner in appreciation of our teachers and staff for their first night of conferences. The dinner will be catered for our staff and a sign up is available for families who wish to contribute toward the cost of the main dish or to bring beverages, desserts, snacks and paper products.
To sign up, click the link below:
Site Council & Booster Club News and Updates
Our next Site Council/Booster Club meeting is November 14th at 4:15 p.m. at GH Media Center. If you would like to attend, please email glacierbooster@gmail.com for the meeting information. All are welcome!
Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts & Science
Email: GH.Attendance@district196.org
Website: https://gh.district196.org/
Location: 3825 Glacier Drive, Eagan, MN 55123
Phone: 651-683-8570
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlacierHillsArtsandScience
Twitter: @GlacierHills