Spotlight
Four Seasons A+ Elementary School Newsletter - January 2023
Four Seasons A+ Calendar
- Tuesday, January 3, School Resumes
- Tuesday, January 10, 7:30-8:30am Morning Meet Up
- Tuesday, January 10, 7:30-8:30am New Family Open House
- Tuesday, January 10, 1:00-1:50pm New Family Open House
- Monday, January 16, NO SCHOOL MLK Day
- Friday, January 27, NO SCHOOL teacher professional development day
- Thursday, February 2, 5:30-7:00 pm DHH APTT Conference
- Tuesday, February 7, 7:30-8:30am Morning Meet Up
- Monday, February 13, NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day)
- Monday, February 20, NO SCHOOL Presidents Day
National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID)
Celebrate National African American Parent Involvement Day at Four Seasons A+. Drop in any time during the day . We invite parents/guardians/family members to join us for an African American Read-In and lunch with their child. All families are invited to attend.
Volunteer to read in your child's classroom as part of our African American Read-In promoting reading and works authored by African American writers. Contact your child's teacher to be a guest reader.
Lunch with Your Child (menu to be shared soon). Lunch times are:
- 10:20 DHH classes and PreK
- 10:30 Kindergarten
- 10:40 2nd Grade
- 10:50 1st Grade
- 11:20 3rd Grade
- 11:30 4th Grade
- 11:40 5th Grade
RSVP here by January 23 to eat lunch with your child. We need to know our numbers to prepare enough food and plan space to eat.
Monday, Feb 13, 2023, 07:30 AM
Four Seasons A+ Elementary, 318 North Moore Street, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Principal's Message
I hope all of you had a fantastic winter break and were able to spend quality time with the ones you love.
Thank you to all families and staff attending our Makers Space Family Night in December! It was exciting to see a small group of our fifth graders perform a short skit. The skit was written, and directed, by the students during theater class. I also enjoyed watching everyone who attended join together to make beautiful paper chains! We are excited to host several more family events throughout the remainder of the school year and are looking for more opportunities to highlight how our students explore the arts each day.
We are also already beginning to plan and prepare for next school year and would love to hear from all of you about how we can best support children. Attending family events is an excellent opportunity to come together, share ideas, and build a strong Four Seasons community. You are also welcome to contact me at any time with feedback or to schedule a meeting where we can discuss your ideas together.
I look forward to a fantastic 2023 with all of you!
In Partnership,
December Makerspace Event
Morning Meet Up - Tuesday, January 10, 7:30-8:30am
Join us for coffee/cocoa/tea & conversation!
Morning Meet Ups:
- Tuesday, January 10, 7:30-8:30am
- Tuesday, February 7, 7:30-8:30am
- Tuesday, March 7. 7:30-8:30am
- Tuesday, April 11, 7:30-8:30am
- Tuesday, May 2, 7:30-8:30am
Parents/guardians/family members are invited to join us for a treat and conversation in the Four Seasons A+ Family Room throughout the year. Our Morning Meet Ups will feature different topics. The focus for Tuesday, January 10 is Who We Are - Embracing the Arts and Our Diversity. We look forward to welcoming prospective families and sharing what it means to be part of the Four Seasons A+ community.
In Our Classrooms...
DHH PreK
DHH Grades K-2
The DHH K-2nd grade classroom has been excited to be back to school after a restful break. We have been working on all things snow! Making snowflakes, reading books about snow mittens, and counting snow people! We have been exploring during science by seeing how snow melts with warmer temperatures and by making "snow" to play with in the classroom. Its been great to be back in class!
DHH Grades 2-5
In math, we practiced subtraction and addition with single to double digit numbers, word problems and some reading graph skills. We also covered ASL signs related to math, like; add, subtract, count, how many left, equals to, number handshapes and more to help the DHH students learn math mainly through the visual language of ASL.
It has been a joy to watch the DHH students learn and grow!
Pre-K
Coming back from break, Pre-K will move into a new Area of Study: Transitioning Back to School. Two weeks is a long time for preschoolers! We will take the first week relearning routines and rules that have already been established.
For the rest of January we will move into another Area of Study: Adapting to Our World. Having already explored the changes that we have previously seen with weather and our growth, we will be learning about adapting to those changes. What clothes should I be wearing outside now? How much bigger have I grown since the start of the school year? How are animals changing and adapting to this new weather? Pre-K will have a fun time learning about all the things you can do in the Winter!
Kindergarten
1st Grade
Happy New Year to our 1st Grade Families!
The first weeks we will be focusing on our schedules and routines and getting back into learning successfully. We are continuing to practice letter sounds, how to form letters and learning how to read words and short stories. For math we are growing in being able to explain our thinking during number talks and are using teamwork to solve math problems using strategies and skills that we are learning during our lessons. Please remember to send students with outdoor gear as we continue to go outside for recess. Looking forward to the year ahead!
In partnership,
Ms. Pappas and Mrs. H
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
January brings lots of fun things for 3rd grade.
In math, we are finishing up our units on multiplication and division, and will dive into algebra, too, while always focusing on review of past math units.
In literacy, we are working in our guided reading groups, continuing to strengthen our independent reading skills and are using our ipads in conjunction with our books and lessons.
In writing, we are starting more "story-form" compositions, with the goal of completing a personal narrative, along with other writings, by the end of the year.
Happy New Year!
Ms. Rejda and Ms. Thorpe
4th Grade
We worked lots in 2022 on rituals and routines, and are ready to finish up this fourth-grade year of 2023 with more academic practice. We hope all of you are off to a good start this new year. And please encourage your children to practice reading writing/spelling, and math skills at home.
Currently in ...
- Math: we are focused on multiplication.
- Writing: stories and different perspectives.
- Reading: independent practice and small groups to help students build their reading skills.
Speech/Language Tip of the Month: Expand Language
The speech/language tips of the month are great strategies for any and all students, regardless of age or ability level!
When a child uses a word inaccurately or doesn’t use the correct grammatical form, expanding language is a great strategy.
For example:
- Child: “Her is going.”
- Grown-up: “You’re right, she is going to the bus.”
Using the strategy of expanding allows you to model the correct production, without telling the student that they said something the wrong way.
DHH Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT)
- meet other families in their child's class
- review student progress
- learn about standards
- explore ways to support their child at home
Pizza served 5:30-5:45pm. Childcare and interpreters will be provided.
Thursday, Feb 2, 2023, 05:30 PM
Four Seasons A+, 318 Moore Street, St. Paul, MN 55104
Social Worker and Counselor's Corner
The Science Museum is offering free, interactive ways to engage students in grades 3-8th in STEM with a social justice lens. View the flyer here for more information. Register with the QR code.
January is a great time to tour and learn more about potential schools that may interest your student and family! The dates and times for Winter Open Houses can be found here: www.spps.org/openhouses
The deadline for priority applications to Saint Paul Public Schools is Friday, February 3rd. Please reach out to Brooke Hardman if you have any questions about the application process.
Four Seasons A+ Elementary School
Email: karen.shanahan@spps.org
Website: spps.org/fourseasons
Location: 318 North Moore Street, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone: 651.290.7595