Park Terrace Elementary
November 11, 2020 Newsletter
Hello Park Terrace families and Happy Veterans Day!
First and foremost, I want to say thank you to those in our Park Terrace community who have served in our armed forces. We are all so grateful for your service. We have two Veterans Day Videos in the newsletter today – one honoring the veterans within our Park Terrace school community and one featuring two SLP veterans, Mindy Bellomy and Matthew Boucher. Please take a few moments to watch. Thank you, veterans!
Please also check out the story on the SLP Extended Flexible Learning experience below. It has been an exciting week here at Park Terrace! Today, students in Extended Flexible Learning had their picture day at school. It was so nice to see some new faces here. We hope it was a fun day for them on an always memorable day for students.
Our teaching staff has been working hard doing professional learning on our new reading resource. We will begin using the resource in trimester 2. This new resource will not only help our students learn to read but will give them a chance to experience many amazing books for each grade level. As we get closer to the end of the trimester we will share more about how this will roll out.
Here are a couple of important reminders:
- December 4: Reminder that we adjusted the academic calendar at the beginning of the year to move two additional days up to the front of the year for planning. This means Dec. 4 – which was originally a no student contact day – is now an instructional day. See the 2020-2021 1-page calendar.
- Winter gear: It is getting cold and snowy outside so please remember to send your student with appropriate snow gear like boots, a hat, gloves, snow pants and a winter jacket.
- Kindergarten and 1st Grade Parents: please send an extra pair of pants and underwear in your child’s backpack, just in case of an accident or need to change clothes. We do not have extras in the nurse’s office, so it will be helpful to have kids keep an extra pair in their backpacks.
Finally, I want to take a moment to say thank you to each and every family here at Park Terrace for your hard work and flexibility this year in supporting our students. As all of our families, teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff work together for the common goal of supporting, educating and enriching the lives of our students, I am reminded that there is nothing we cannot accomplish together.
Thank you!
Mona Perkins
Principal
Extended Flex Learning Families: Requesting Changes, Important Dates
Greetings,
My heart is filled with deep appreciation today. It is with great honor that I thank our veterans for their sacrifice and willingness to serve our country.
The story featured in this week’s newsletter about the distance learning experience describes so well what many have shared with me over the last several weeks. It is written from the perspective of students, families and teachers. I hope you will take a couple of minutes to read it. I’m sure it will leave you smiling, as I am.
Requesting a learning model change
As we near the end of Trimester 1 and the beginning of Trimester 2 you may be considering a change for your family from the Extended Flexible Learning (distance) model to the Modified Campus (hybrid) model.
If you are planning to request this change, please contact your home school’s main office to make your request by November 15, 2020. The switch to the new learning model would begin December 8, 2020. Students making a transition will likely not remain with current teachers or classmates.
Here are a few important dates to note:
- November 18: Our distance learning teachers (Kindergarten, Grade 3, Grade 4) will be participating in professional learning. Teachers will be communicating details about this day in upcoming class emails.
- November 26-27: Thanksgiving (no school)
- December 4: End of Trimester 1
Have a great week!
Kim Fehringer
Thank you to our Veterans
We had the opportunity to hear from two of our very own SLP Veterans, Mindy Bellomy and Matthew Boucher.
Experiences from distance learning
There are 1,973 Spring Lake Park Schools students at all grade levels who have been learning in the SLP Extended Flexible Learning (distance learning) model this fall. There are more live interactions, creative ways to engage students and more and more personalized feedback.
COVID-19 dashboard available on the website
Spring Lake Park Schools is working with our regional support team – including public health experts from Anoka County and Minnesota Department of Health – to understand county infection rates and trends, rates within the district zip codes and impacts to our local schools. A dashboard is now available that shows county 14-day numbers, daily county infection rates and key data points from our school district. This dashboard will be updated each Friday going forward. See the dashboard. This will be updated on the 2020-2021 School Year page on the district website.
Request change in learning model by Nov. 15
We are nearing a district trimester transition. Families can request a change to your student's current learning model — to or from Modified Campus (hybrid) or Extended Flexible Learning (distance) — for the second trimester (through March 11). Please note that the Modified Campus (hybrid) model may be subject to change should the public health situation deteriorate.
Communicate your request by Sunday, November 15 to our front office by calling the main office number, 763-600-5600, or emailing lcole@district16.org.
We'll review requests against current staffing plans and communicate with requesting families the week of November 30 for any transitions to begin at the start of the trimester on December 8. Please be aware that with any transition, your child would likely be learning with a different teacher and group of learners.
Community Education Youth Take-Home Kits
Music Class in the Snow
Translate This Newsletter / Traducir Este Boletín
To translate this newsletter information to another language, please click anywhere on the newsletter to open it in a web browser and at the top of the page, select your language from the dropdown menu.
Para traducir este boletín de noticias a otro idioma, por favor presionen en cualquier lugar del boletín para abrirlo en un navegador web y en la parte superior de la página seleccione su idioma del menú.