It was great to see so many of you last week at our first Family Engagement Event. It was fun to "tailgate" with hot dogs, chips, corn, lemonade and popsicles. Thank you for joining us for the tailgating and the parade! Some families walked with us during the parade and some families watched the parade along downtown North St. Paul and cheered as we drove/walked by.

FASTBRIDGE

Last week our students participated in FASTBRIDGE Assessments for Reading. This week our students will be completing the FASTBRIDGE Assessments for Math. These assessments will replace the NWEA assessments. We will have students complete these assessments Fall, Winter and Spring. We will also be doing "progress monitoring" so we can help students at every level. Our small groups will be able to target what every student needs whether they are on grade level, below grade level or above grade level.

MIddle School Advisory and Electives

ALL Middle School Students have an "Advisory" class and an "Elective" Class during their school day. Advisories are multi-grade levels where students are doing team-building, community building and academic planning. The electives this trimester are Broadcasting, Yearbook, Student Council and Service.

Band and Orchestra

Numerous students in grades 4 - 8 started Band Lessons. This week many students K-8 will be starting Orchestra lessons. (Please call the school if you missed the information about this great after school opportunity!)

Hill Murray Partnership

We have had a partnership with HM for 5 years. This year 20 HM students will be helping our students at lunch and recess.

Attendance

Last week, our overall attendance was 90%. Please let us know how we can help support increasing attendance for our students! Thank you so much for partnering with us!

Have a great week enjoying our last week of summer. Friday is the first day of FALL.

Be safe, kind and responsible!

Mrs. Kranz, Principal

Wednesday, September 20 NMFA School Board Meeting 4:00 PM (All parents welcome.)

*We are also searching for more school board members*

Friday, September 22 Orchestra Program Starts!

September 15 - October 15 Hispanic Heritage Month

Thursday, September 28 5:00 PM

Parents "Chat" with Mrs. Kranz (Please join me at school or I can send you a zoom link to join virtually.) All parents welcome!

Friday, September 29 September Birthdays celebration

Week of October 9 - 13 Goal Setting Conferences

Week of October 9 - 13 Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, October 18 School Pictures (In uniform please)

Thursday, October 19 and Friday October 20 NO SCHOOL MEA Break

Monday, October 23 No School - Staff Development

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school - and themselves. Let's help our NMFA children by building the habit of a good attendance record early which will lead to success in the classroom!

School hours are: 7:30am – 2:00pm

School doors for parent pick up open in the morning: 7:15am

School doors for parents pick up open in the afternoon: 2:00pm

PARENTS - DROP OFF AND PICK UP REMINDERS

As we approach the 3rd week of school we want to send out some friendly reminders! All students must be signed in by an adults after 7:30, students will be marked tardy starting Monday September 18th if they are arriving after 7:45.

Any students being dropped off in the morning should be brought to the cul-de-sac on Helen Street until 7:30. If you are needing to pick up your student who normally rides a bus, please call the office no later than 1pm to notify the front desk. They will get the message to their teacher.

For students who ride bus stops, we have had several reports from different buses that students are not at the assigned stop at the time and are delaying the routes. Your students must be at their assigned stop 5 minutes prior to the pick up time.

If your student is sick, please leave a message on the attendance line, utilize the attendance form on our website, or use the JMC Family App to submit attendance. As a general reminders, students will be sent home from school if they have a fever of 100 or over, they have vomited or have diarrhea. We may also call to ask that you pick your student up if they are not able to participate in class due to feeling ill. Students should be kept home until they are fever, vomit, or diarrhea free for 24 hours with no medication. Students who miss 3 or more days will need a doctors note.

Please call the front office if you are needing to speak with a staff member directly, or send an email to that staff member. During the day they may not be available to take a call directly but will call you back as soon they have a free moment.

Please see the link below to enroll in a free weekend meal program! If you are interested and sign up student will receive 1 bag of ingredients. You have different options to choose from as well. All information requested in the form is for the school only.

Thank you to the families who brought to our attention the issue with uniform orders not shipping on time. We have been in communication with our Account Representative. They were able to give us the following update:

· Any orders that have the following estimated ship dates 8/16, 8/29-8/31, 9/4-9/6, are all currently being processed and are expected to ship out this week.

· Orders with estimated shipping dates of 9/10-9/11 have not yet been processed as they are trying to fulfil older orders.

· The customer service department is trying to respond to all inquires within 2-4 business days.

Try Aamodt's Apple Farms located in Stillwater. Aside from offering a variety of delicious apples picked daily and bakery goods baked fresh on site, the apple farm offers a variety of family fun activities including a goat farm (free), wagon rides ($5) and the "Honeycrisp Express" ($5). It's also dog-friendly!

https://www.aamodtsapplefarm.com

(Little known apple fact: there are 7,500 different varieties of apples!)

If you choose to send healthy snacks and healthy lunches to school, your student is still able to receive the breakfast and lunch, if they want it. (If for some reason you do not want your child to have the food offered, please let your child's teacher know.)

Monday - Premium Chicken Nuggets

Tuesday - Swedish Meatballs

Wednesday - Enchilada Nachos

Thursday - New Butter Chicken

Friday - Pizza

o Debbie Kranz ~ Principal dkranz@nmfamn.org

o Dave Isaacson ~ Special Education Coordinator disaacson@nmfamn.org

o Chelsea Smieja ~ Operations Manager csmieja@nmfamn.org

o Jenny Hubin ~ Office Assistant jhubin@nmfamn.org

Buses C, S2 PM ............. (651-777-2319)

East side Families ......... (612-808-8868)