St. Louis Park Middle School's Weekly News
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Calendar
March 30-April 3, No school, Spring Break
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A Message from the Principal
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Heading into Spring Break (3/30-4/3)
Looking Back--
The last time school was in session for students was Monday, March 16, and a lot of the day was spent preparing for the time we were going to be away from each other, gathering books to give out, checking in with students on technology needs, handing out chromebooks to some, trying to answer a multitude of questions; when in some cases there were no answers, and of course saying our good-byes for this moment in time. On Tuesday, we spent the day preparing to teach virtually while still setting infrastructure in place to do so. That afternoon I conducted my first onsite virtual staff meeting in our school’s history. I saw determination in their faces over the computer screen and resolve in what we were going to do . . start teaching our students from afar.
Present Day--
Today we are finishing third quarter and we are now in our eighth day of teaching and student learning virtually. I am proud to say we have only have six students out of a 1040 who we haven’t made contact with and we won’t stop trying until we have. I must admit it hasn’t been smooth sailing, the waves have felt ocean like at times. Creating completely new systems from scratch to meet student and staff needs, new communication patterns, new approaches to safety, teaching and learning, food preparation, cleaning and disinfecting, establishing new human resources support systems, inbedding technology throughout every fiber of the school, continuing construction, etc.
Looking Ahead--
Governor Walz has declared that we will continue distance learning with the middle school being closed for an extended period of time. We will start distance learning in our district again on Monday, April 6, right after Spring Break. Over the past few days I have been asked by parents what that means. Parents and students who would like more information on what to expect regarding the upcoming teaching and learning process may view a district document. This information will be available on the St. Louis Park website on
March 30, 2020
, under the Coronavirus tab titled: “SLP Distance Learning Overview for Parents/Guardians”.
From the principal’s chair I am asking the staff to focus first on reconnecting and re-establishing virtual relationships, rebuilding virtual class structure and then engaging on academic content with your child.
My ask--
If you are able, take this Spring Break week and focus on your family member’s needs. We know some people may be working through medical issues, job related concerns, and a few might even be putting themselves potentially in harm’s way to try and keep the rest of us safe. Most family structures are new and fluid as well. Be especially kind to yourself and others. Try to recognize the stresses and acknowledge its potential impact on you and the ones you love. When we come back to start “distance learning” with your child, know that it is not going to be perfect, "perfection is often times the enemy of progress”. Give the teachers some time to build a working team with their students and know that we will monitor and adjust to what we are seeing. Know that we will continue to grow in our knowledge to make the everyday teaching we do better. Know that when we get through to the otherside we will be even stronger in our ability to harness what we have learned to extend what happens in the classroom once we physically come back to SLPMS.
Take Care.
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Les Bork
Park Pride Supporter (35 yrs. & counting) and Principal
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With distance learning set to begin on April 6th, the PowerSchool Public Portal and mobile apps will be disabled Thursday, March 26 at 3:00 p.m. for quarter 3 grading. They will reopen by Friday, April 10, by 3:00 p.m.
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Community Resources (Food Resources, Mental Health, Crisis, Technology, Unemployment, Social Isolation/Anxiety etc.)
Food Resources
Information Regarding Free Childcare for Children of Healthcare & Emergency Workers
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A Message from the Student Services Team
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Greetings SLPMS families and students -
We miss you! We hope you are all doing well and settling into a routine during this strange time. Most importantly, we hope you have found ways to stay connected to others. Community (even digital community) is vital during this time, and we are grateful to be part of the SLPMS learning community with you.
Thank you for your dedication to the learning process. Transitioning to distance learning has not been without its struggles. We appreciate your patience. Know that we are here to support you during this time. We all need to work together - MS staff, families and students - to ensure that students are productive learners during this time away from the school building. Our student services team continues to be available to assist families and students in any way we can. You can find contact information for the whole team listed below.
While important, we know that academics are not the only concern on many families’ minds. This is a stressful, uncertain time. Please understand that during this time, anxiety, fear, and anger may present itself in different ways for your child. As a result, you may see more behavioral issues than usual at home. This is normal and to be expected. We all need to practice mindfulness, and extend grace and patience to each other. If the stress level in your home is unmanageable, please reach out to us.
Our Grade Level Coordinators and other support staff are also ready to assist. Even though they are not physically in the Reflection Room, they are still available during school hours to reflect with students. It doesn’t have to be academic related. Any student or parent can reach out for additional support as they normally would.
Spring break starts today and extends through April 5th. We look forward to continuing our distance learning adventure with you Monday April 6. Students will need to check their school gmail and Schoology account each day that school is in session. If you have any technology needs, please let us know.
Our district has compiled a comprehensive list of resources. Check out this link:
Resources
While it won’t be what many of us expected, we do hope you enjoy spring break. Find time to rest, reflect and connect with your community. Be kind to each other. We’ll see you (digitally) in April.
Your SLPMS Student Services Team -
School social worker: Kara Fahey
[email protected]
(Kara returns from maternity leave 4/9/20)
Instructional Assistants:
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The list of SLPMS databases, including BrainPop, CultureGrams, EBSCO, Discovery Ed Streaming, Encyclopedia Britannica, Gale and ProQuest, and their corresponding login information is on page 6 of your student's agendas. They can log into any of the databases with this information when they are not in school.
Here is a link to a View Only document with this information.
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Attention 8th grade families:
Unfortunately, no one was able to present their Community Projects before school changed over to Distance Learning. Students put in a lot of effort and made a great contribution to a community and grew as individuals. We want to honor that contribution and their effort even though as a school, we will not be doing any further work with the Community Project this year. Instead, we want to focus on subject specific school work through Distance Learning.We encourage students and families to take time and reflect on the project they had selected and consider all that was learned.
Community Project supervisors are being asked to review evidence they have seen from student work in class, reflections, process journals, and student action, to prepare a grade for the project in third quarter. This deadline was communicated to students all throughout the project. Instead of scoring the projects in four criteria we've decided to move to a Pass or No Grade scoring option for this. The grade will be a Pass/P in Powerschool in the Community Project line to show that your child passed the Community Project if there is evidence that they were working on one. If the teacher has not seen any evidence from students, they will be reaching out to students to communicate this and to gather evidence before April 6th marking a "no grade" NG until evidence is turned in.
International Baccalaureate schools consider the world as our community. We encourage students to continue growing as compassionate humans, reaching out in as many ways as possible to positively impact others. We look forward to hearing more about the projects you are involved in during this unique time across the planet. Stay well...
Sincerely,
Mia Waldera
MYP IB Coordinator
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The following pictures are of the mock trials that some of our 8th grade students participated in at the University of Minnesota Law School on March 10. We had over 35 students involved in the event. The students worked throughout the year with practicing lawyers to prepare through program director Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. During the evening the students took a tour of the Law School and three different courtrooms were used where students were either on the prosecution or defense teams trying to win a verdict for their side. We completed our third year offering this opportunity and each year it has grown in student numbers.
A special thank you goes out to Catherine and congratulations to all our participants.
Click
here
to see a list of the participants.
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Ms. Ahrens had a little fun with her students this week and posted a video and a selfie asking them two questions. What are you thankful for? What are you doing for fun? (Video games don’t count! Here are some of the responses to those questions.
Ms. Ahrens says, “My students Rock!”
Look for more photos from Ms. Ahrens classes in upcoming issues of OT News.
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March Health Topics Newsletter
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Hello SLP Middle School Families,
We hope that you continue to enjoy our Health Topics Newsletters! Our dream is that these newsletters spark conversation with your middle schooler. We welcome your feedback and hope that you connect in some way with these monthly “newsletters”.
This month's topic is...getting ready for physical activity/exercising at home!
Please read the newsletter and stay healthy.
Derek Wennerberg
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Click
here
for the March issue
of tips, activities, and helpful information for families
.
Click
here
for the April issue.
Click
here
for the May issue.
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Looking for other opportunities? Check out these programs
Census 2020 How to Respond in Spanish
Young Entrepreneurs Academy
2020 Census
E.X.I.T.E Camp
Golden Valley Girls Softball
Northern Breezes Youth/Teen Sailing Day Camp
SLP Parenting Series
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Washington D.C., updated 3-13-20
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2020 D.C. Trip (Current 7th Graders):
1) There is still a bit of time to register! Please call WorldStrides at 1-800-468-5899; our Trip ID number is 175696.
2)
Final payments are due this month.
Please ensure that all payment arrangements have been made through WorldStrides to avoid cancelation. Call 1-800-468-5899 and use Trip ID number 175696.
3) Within the next few weeks registered families should receive a mailing from WorldStrides at their home address. It will contain a
Roommate Request Form
and an
Emergency Contact/Behavior Contract
(2-sided document).
BOTH
items should be completed and returned to David Burr at the Middle School as soon as possible.
4) Our pre-trip parent meeting will be 1-2 weeks prior to our trip departure.
2021 D.C. Trip (Current 6th Graders):
1) An informational parent meeting for next year's trip was held at the Middle School Thursday evening. If you were unable to attend and want more information please contact David Burr at
[email protected]
or (952) 928-6375.
2) Our Trip ID is 188262. There is a discount if you register by March 20! Here are 3 easy ways to register:
- Call WorldStrides Customer Service at 1-800-468-5899
- Mail in the registration form that was in your student's invitation packet
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