Spotlight
Four Seasons Monthly Newsletter - February 2022
Calendar
- Monday, February 14, National African American Parent Involvement Day
- Monday, February 21 - NO SCHOOL, Presidents' Day
- Monday, February 28 - Makerspace Virtual Gathering
- Friday, March 4 - NO SCHOOL
- Conferences at the end of March
A Message From Principal Mickelson
All children are good. This is the premise we operate under here at Four Seasons A+ Elementary School. Our students deserve to experience the joy and innocence of being a young child at school. This is more challenging than it may seem because there are many outside factors that are out of our control. However, we are working to provide a learning community in which all students thrive and feel free of racial stereotypes. As a Principal, I expect that we show our students that they are cared for unconditionally every day. We take time to listen to our students, give them a few crackers if they need a quick snack, greet them cheerfully in the office when they arrive late, provide a space to have a quiet break to regulate themselves, or give a quick hug at the busses. We expect our staff to see the good in every child regardless of their actions.
Last week a team of people from our staff started a training through a company called Innocent Classroom. Alexs Pate founded Innocent Classroom with the vision of eliminating racial stereotypes in schools through building strong relationships between students and educators. This is important and lofty work but we know our students deserve only the best. If you are interested in learning more, click here to listen to Alexs Pate...I especially like the part where he describes being a young, innocent, African American boy "tra-la-la-ing" after getting a pickle at the corner store. That is our vision for our learning community...we want our students to tra-la-la happily through the hallways and classrooms at Four Seasons A+ Elementary School. I believe we are well on our way to this goal. How do I know? I will end with the words of our 5th grader student, Cam, "Ms. Mickelson, can you make this school into a Middle School so I can go to school here another three years?"
Thank you for all you do to support learning!
MAKERSPACE - Monday, February 24, 5:00 pm
Four Seasons A+ MAKERSPACE
Join us virtually on Google Meet http://meet.google.com/vzq-rpep-wzh
Monday, Feb 28, 2022, 05:00 PM
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IN THE CLASSROOM
Pre-K
Kindergarten
Kindergarten has continued enjoying our DOW unit: Adapting to Our World. We have been focusing on learning about the four seasons, information about weather, and how animals and people adapt to the changing seasons and ever changing weather. Many of the students have explored what a ‘meteorologist’ is and, especially, enjoyed playing in the snow and sledding.
For Literacy, we are still focusing on letter names and sounds and learning to recognize and read new words. Identifying 3D shapes and growing / shrinking patterns are our new explorations in math as well as continuing our practice on number recognition (the Tricky Teens which are 11–19), counting to 100, sorting, and measurement.
We do go outside every day for recess so please keep encouraging your child to learn how to tie their own shoes / boots as well as how to be dressed appropriately for the weather. Just like the change in the weather, each Kindergarten student continues to grow and change each day!
Mrs. Gaslin’s and Ms. Nelson’s class had a very successful APTT (Academic Parent Teacher Team ) Conference which was posted virtually on Seesaw on February 3, 2022! Thank you for your participation! We will leave the games and activities on SeeSaw for the next month so you can complete all of them when you have the available time. The students are really enjoying playing Top IT! Together, we can help your child succeed even more both academically and socially.
Thank you!
Grades 1-2
Our 1/2nd grade classrooms have been working on our social skills. Specifically what kindness means. What kindness looks like, sounds like and how it effects how we are in school…if we are kind, we are respectful, responsible and safe students which leads to being a successful learner!
- Math: Working on addition.
- Literacy: Working in small reading groups and letter sounds.
- Social Studies: Learning about past and present African Americans who change/d our world.
- Science: Learning about various arctic animals.
Grade 3
3rd graders are working lots and showing growth as readers, and as students. Moving forward we will be focusing on biographies as we practice reading, writing, and social studies. During math will be practicing In and Out boxes, variables, and multiplication. Please continue to practice academic skills at home. We recommend that student's practice academic skills at home daily; read for 30 minutes, practice on ST Math for 20 minutes, and write for 15 minutes.
Thank you to all of you and your support. We hope you are well healthy.
Grades 4-5
D/HH Pre-K
D/HH
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students are starting to increase their math sense as we use our minds to learn new ways to think about math. In addition, they have been diligent in their daily writing, and we will have a party to celebrate soon. The D/HH room is full of laugher as we learn how to enjoy learning every day.
Come say hi!
MLL - Multilingual Learners
The MLL teachers continue to work on listening, speaking, reading and writing English. The students are making steady progress in their language proficiency and we are proud of them. Since our last newsletter we have welcomed new students from Columbia and El Salvador.
Starting in February and into March, the MLL staff will be administering the ACCESS test to MLL students. The ACCESS test is administered each year to our English Language Learners to determine their growth in English proficiency.
The third-grade classes will be going on a field trip to Belwin Nature Center at the end of February. Ms. Moga from the MLL Department will attending the field trip with the students.
If you have any questions please contact us. We love to hear from our families.
Sincerely, Ms. Rodefild, Ms. Xiong, Ms. Moga, and Naw Hara.
Dance
Fifth Grade Families
Middle School transition lessons will start in May. We will cover topics such as: peer pressure, reading a schedule, opening a combination lock, and time management.
Parent (Family) Teacher Conferences Coming in March
Teachers will be reaching out to families in March to schedule conferences. We look forward to this opportunity to strengthen the partnership between home and school.
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) Cards
The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program is a supplemental food assistance program by the state for families. Money is put on an EBT card for students who qualify for free/reduced lunch and who miss school due to a Covid-19 absence. Clerks must report the absence as an EPG (Excluded By Guidance) absence and families must make sure their address and contact information is updated with the school so that the P-EBT card is sent to the correct parent/guardian and address. Benefits will be loaded onto the same cards families had last year or families will be sent new cards by the state.
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