April 10, 2020 - News & Notes

Dear St. Michael Catholic School Families:

Our teachers and staff want to thank you again this week for your partnership and feedback as together we support one another and continue to live out our mission to "ignite the spiritual, academic and social growth within each child" during this first week of the final quarter of the school year. From our homes to yours, we wish you a blessed Easter-don't forget to send in your family photos in your Easter best as you attend online Easter Mass!

ONLINE LEARNING SURVEY (PreK-Grade 8 Families): As we complete our second full week of online and distance learning, we'd like to hear from your family. Thank you for the many kind emails and important feedback we have already heard. I've shared a few highlights, below. Please take a few minutes to complete the "Online Learning" survey to help us learn how best to support you: ( Survey )

STUDENT SAFETY: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis along with St. Michael Catholic Church and School, are taking additional steps to ensure your child's safety. As you may be aware, our teachers are using either Google or Zoom to hold "live classes." The extra precautions put into place to ensure your child's safety are:

  • An additional Essential 3 certified adult is logged into the classroom (This is either one of our staff members or a qualified parent who has their background check and essential qualifications)
  • Only classes with a passcode are being sent out 
  • Teachers keep students in the waiting room until they confirm their identity
  • The link is deleted after the class

If the class is recorded for a student who missed the class, this recording is only shared in our private St. Michael Catholic School Google or See Saw classroom. 

In addition, the Archdiocese at this time is asking that we update your online and safety permissions since we are using some new online platforms for your child. Please find this form attached, sign by April 17, 2020 and return an electronic copy to Darlene casey at  [email protected] . Link for the new signature page: https://conta.cc/2UZPdcI

SUPPORT FOR PARENTS : We understand that online and distance learning is new for our parents, and it's new for our staff! Please be patient with one another as we build and establish routines. I'm so impressed with the beautiful partnerships that you are creating and all of your work as we create a new learning environment, together. Here are a few links to great parent resources: NCEA Parents Parent Care, Parent Resources and Star Tribune Article.

PRAYER: We invite every family to join in prayer. Stay connected through our parish and school with online prayers and streaming events. Please watch the parish website for up-to-date prayers and programs: Church FB Page . Click on this link: "Litany in Time of Need".

Continue to pray that we will all be back together soon. Pray for those who are sick, students learning at home, teachers creating new online learning strategies, and our world as we experience this crisis, together. Prayer is powerful!

Blessings,  Mindy Reeder Principal   [email protected]  
Our students love live classes and miss each other! Here is Sam at his 2nd grade meeting!

 POSITIVITY PROJECT
Week 30: Appreciating the Good in Others

  • Calendar
  • St. Michael Preschool to Grade 5 Summer Care Sign up 
  • Picture Challenges

Parent Link:  Growth Mindset

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS:
Absent: 952-447-2230
School fax: 952-447-2132
Federal tax ID: 41-086790

 School Calendar:  


SUMMER TUTORING :
Kelley DeGross- [email protected]
Deanna Vochoska- [email protected]

YEARBOOKS! Our Life Touch representatives purchased every St. Michael Catholic School student, Preschool to Grade 8, a school yearbook. We will be in touch when the books arrive! THANK YOU!
Krystal Magnuson & John Wartman

**If you already purchased a book, you will receive a voucher for 2020-21!
School Week Ahead : April 13-April 17
Specialist Links for K-5: Students in grades K-5 will continue working on their BINGO board. Students in Grades K-4 can submit photos of work or photos of their completed BINGO board to Specials' Bingo Board folder in Seesaw. The 5th grade students can submit photos to their Google Classroom. (Band students, see the link on our "Online Learning" webpage linked below.

  • Friday - April 17: St. Michael Catholic School-Spirit Wear Day! Wear spirit wear all day and send in photos of you capturing the St. Michael Catholic School Spirit!
  • Wednesday-April 22: Earth Day! Send in your photos of your earth day projects! (Cleaning up your yard, the park, sidewalks, planting, ... ?)
  • Friday, April 24: Hat Day! Send in photos of you doing your homework with a favorite hat on!

ONLINE LINKS:

THANK YOU FOR SHARING WHAT'S GOING WELL! PROUD OF OUR STAFF!
Here are few highlights from families this week

" I wanted to send a quick thank you to you and those involved in the preparation of the distance learning models our kids have experienced the past two weeks. St. Mike's has gone above and beyond in laying out clear expectations and resources for both parents and students. While there was a learning curve at the beginning, I feel it was short as my middle-school son adjusted very quickly and did not feel overwhelmed or confused after that adjustment." 

"I just wanted to drop a quick note to say that we’ve been so impressed with Mrs. Gillham’s leadership and organization the last couple of weeks with the 2 nd  graders. She’s done a great job with Monday Zoom calls to connect with the kids and her voice memos on Seesaw commenting on work are excellent. Her organization of the weekly tasks into a consistent template has been super helpful for us as parents and just yesterday, we received a nice Easter letter in the mail that was so appreciated.  She’s making this difficult time so much easier on us."

"I just want to tell you how fantastic Mr. Peters is doing with the kindergarten distance learning. The organization of his classroom content on See Saw is easy for us adults to figure out. His lesson videos are engaging to watch and respond to. Our child especially likes to shout out responses to the questions he asks and likes to watch Mr. Peters write the snap words. We can see that you, Mr. Peters, put a lot of prep and thought into your lesson videos each day. Thank you so much for everything you are doing to make distance learning a success. This is not an easy grade or age to do distance learning for but you are truly rocking it!"
Weekly Picture & Video Challenge
EASTER BEST FAMILY PHOTOS
SPIRIT DAY PHOTOS
** Videos of your child reading
NEXT WEEK: Earth Day & Hat Day Photos!

PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION-We Need You!
As part of our restructure of the PTO, we are need of leadership and team members for our Faculty Appreciation Team. We also need team members for our Parent Enrichment and Event Team. Planning for the 2020-2021 school year will begin this summer. Please contact Maggie Stack at  [email protected]  or 952-452-3485 with any questions.
MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT
Mental Health Support: Please be aware that at this time our children are also feeling the anxiety of all that is happening around them. While school is closed, a routine is a healthy way of structuring your days. Included scheduled time for school work, outdoor play, free-choice reading, unstructured play and rest time. Address children's questions directly and honestly. Continuing with regular bed and meal times is also helpful. Limit exposure to media and screen time as well. Our School Counselor : Dr. Keri Brenden

Additional resources that you may find helpful:

Additionally, as a parent at this time, you need support. Here are parent support resources:

Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
©2012 EWTN. Used with permission.

Join the parish in prayer, spiritual communion and virtual Mass
through Facebook or the parish YouTube channel.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:   Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you can stay up to date on Masses, Prayer Services, and other St. Michael Catholic Church videos. Click here to subscribe
REGISTER FOR SUMMER CARE-PreK to Grade 5
SUMMER CARE : We know we are all experiencing uncertain times and it's hard to know what the future will hold, but we wanted to share that St. Michael Catholic School plans to offer our summer programming for both preschool and Summer Adventure's Plus (SAP). Staff are researching best practices outlined by the Archdiocese and the State of Minnesota to ensure everyone's safety while still providing this care including, but not limited to, cleaning standards, check in process, illness procedures, class sizes and structures.

We look forward to offering a rich summer program and are praying that with the proper guidelines in place, we will be here to serve your family with your summer care needs.

SCHOOL AGE: CLICK HERE for more information

Click on the Preschool Summer Care graphic
for preschool summer information.