Dear Normandale families,

Students and staff are back at Normandale after a lovely MEA break. As we all get back into the swing of things, here are a few post-MEA reminders:

-On October 29 Normandale students will celebrate our fall party. While different from year’s past (less hoopla), the fall party represents the first in-school celebration for students since February 2020!

-On November 2 Normandale teachers will be hosting parent/teacher conferences. Sign-ups for conferences have been sent out by classroom teachers. If you visit Normandale for an in-person conference don’t forget wear a mask and check the lost and found!

-On November 3 @ 9 am I will be hosting Nouveatés à Normandale. Normandale’s Intern Coordinators- Lisa Bekemeyer and Sharon Norlander will join me as we share a behind the scenes look at our intern program. We will share information about how we recruit, hire, train, and host interns. Spoiler alert, it is not as easy as it looks! If you plan on attending, please RSVP here so we can send you a Google Meet invite.

-We routinely collect information about how our students are doing academically. Part of that process involves periodic checks to determine what progress is being made. To that end students in grades 2-5 recently completed the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test in math and students in grades 3-5 also completed the MAP reading test. Information from these tests will help current and future teachers program reading and/or math instruction for your student over the school year. You will have access to the online report of your student’s achievement via the Parent Portal on Learner’s Edge sometime next week. If you have questions about the testing, please contact me at 952-848-4199.

From the Principal: Parking lot reminders

Our priorities during student drop off and pick up are safety and civility. Please be patient with and cautious around other drivers and pedestrians when maneuvering in the parking lot and drop off circle. Here are some procedure reminders:

• The Normandale Circle is for quick drop-offs and pick-ups only. If your student(s) need assistance getting in or out of your vehicle, please park in the lot and walk them up to the sidewalk.
• Please do not exit your vehicle during drop-off and pick-up.
• Please pull as far forward in the circle as you can before dropping off or picking up your student(s).
• To enter the circle, use the OUTSIDE lanes of the parking lot. You may not enter the circle from the middle lane of the parking lot.
• Please exit the circle as quickly and safely as possible. If you need to check your phone or take care of other tasks, move to the parking lot so you are not blocking the flow of traffic behind you.

Thank you for helping to keep traffic moving!

Our School Board Election is nearing and EARLY VOTING is available now! There are 4 open seats and voter turnout is typically low for School Board only elections. Our schools need you to get out and vote!  

These are YOUR schools - Please Vote and help shape the School Board.

Early Voting available:

Weekdays @ City Hall: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 30th: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Monday, November 1st: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.



Tuesday, November 2nd: at your polling place 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

Below are links to the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum and the Parent Leadership Council Forum to learn more about the 6 candidates vying for the 4 open seats. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VISId-QPPQI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K598PLn2DY

NEW WEBSITE: WHERE DO I FIND...?

As the district announced last week, we have a new website for Edina Public Schools. The new website is fresh and current, but is navigated a little differently from our former website. First of all, please bookmark our new homepage address: https://normandale.edinaschools.org/

You can use the "Find it Fast" menu at the top of any webpage for a one-click navigation to the Parent Portal, COVID/Illness Reporting Form and more. You can also use the search menu to find what you are looking for (please note this searches the entire EPS website.)

The main banners for Normandale are Our School, Learning, Resources, Student Life and Get Involved. Here is a sampling of what you will find:

• Our School
• All school announcements/event information (which used to be on our homepage)
• Attendance information
• Email and phone numbers for Normandale teachers and staff
• Learning:
• Media center information
• Information on curriculum and academic programing
• Resources
• School calendar
• Parent Portal link and information
• Food services, health services and transportation

Please contact the office at anne.anderson@edinaschools.org or 952-848-4100 if you are unable to find what you are looking for on the website. 

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS ARE BACK!

Community Connections are events that come in all sizes – small, larger and just right. They are events for both students and parents hosted by Normandale, Valley View Middle School, and Edina High School families in the French Immersion Community. The events are designed to bring together our community while raising funds for our fantastic Edina French Intern Program. Sign up on the Normandale PTO site to host a party!

THANKSGIVING MEAL BASKETS

If you are interested in receiving a donated Thanksgiving Food Basket from the Edina Rotary, please contact the Edina Resource Center.

Requests for baskets are being taken until 4:00 PM Thursday, November 11th

If the number of requests exceeds the number of baskets available, a lottery will be held. You will be notified by email.

Basket includes: cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, canned veggies, pumpkin pie, loaf of bread, and a bag of oranges.(No meal substitutes) Plus hats and mittens for the kids.

To sign-up, provide: name, address, email, phone number, ages of child(ren) and school(s) attending.

Someone must be available to receive the basket delivery at the address you give us between 12:00pm-3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 24th

Edina Resource Center

952-848-3938

Krista.Phillips@edinaschools.org

Sign up to receive a free bag of food every weekend. There are no qualification requirements and your family's privacy is protected. Once you have signed up, please check your child's backpack for the food bag each Friday starting November 5.

Please contact our school social worker, Lisa Rapke Hoffman with questions.

LOST AND FOUND

Our lost and found is overflowing!

Please come collect your lost items any school day this week before 5pm, any time during conferences day, Tuesday, November 2, or Nov. 3-5 in the Normandale lobby from 8-6.

Any items not claimed by end of day on November 5 will be donated.

The PTO makes an effort to sort through the lost and found and return labeled items to students. Most items in the lost and found are not labeled!

Need name stickers? Use this link for Name Bubbles and Normandale PTO will receive 20% of the subtotal of your purchase.

NOUVEAUTÉS À NORMANDALE

Nouveautés à Normandale is a monthly Google Meet to bridge the distance between home and school. They cover topics specific to Normandale, language immersion, and education in general.  

The topic of our first meeting this year will be Normandale’s French Intern Program. Normandale’s Intern Coordinators, Lisa Bekemeyer and Sharon Norlander, will join Principal Holden as they share a behind the scenes look at our intern program. Please join us on November 3 @ 9 am as we share information about how we recruit, hire, train, and host interns. Spoiler alert, it is not as easy as it looks! 

If you plan on attending, please RSVP here so we can send you a Google Meet invite.

LUNCHTIME VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We continue to need volunteers to supervise outdoor home lunch. Please sign up HERE if you are able to help. As a reminder, volunteers are what allows us to offer outdoor lunch for students.

Halloween 2021- COVID Safety

CDC director encourages kids to go outside on Halloween and ‘enjoy your trick-or-treating’ (Firozi, 2021)

• Put on those costumes!
• Stay outside and enjoy your trick-or-treating!
• Don’t gather in large settings outside and [scream]... if you are unvaccinated. 
• If you spread out [during] your trick-or-treating that should be very safe for your children
• Any activity that is outdoors is safer than it is if it’s indoors. And if you’re gathering multiple households, make sure as many people are vaccinated as possible, so you can protect the people who are vulnerable, who might not yet be vaccinated — our young children, our elderly.

Vaccines for 12-17 year olds:

“Kids Deserve a Shot,” a vaccine incentive program consists of two sets of rewards: a $200 Visa gift card for 12-17-year-olds who start and complete their vaccine series between October 18 and November 30, and five drawings of $100,000 Minnesota college scholarships for any 12-17 years old in Minnesota with a complete vaccine series.

Full program details and rules and online registration are available here.

Vaccines for Under 12:

FDA Panel recommends Pfizer vaccine for ages 5-11! Read the NPR article for more info.

Edina is holding vaccine clinics for our under 12 crowd, SAVE THE DATE! More details to follow.

The Minnesota Department of Health is requesting that schools continue to track COVID related cases among their student population.  

Covid/Illness Reporting Form - Please use this form to report your child’s absence due to illness. It is helpful to us in tracking illness related absences and which families we need to follow up with to guide through the decision tree.

As always, call if you need consultation on whether or not your child should stay home, get tested, and where to get tested. We’re here to help!

MARGOT PUERTOLAS - THIRD GRADE

About me...:  My name is Margot and I’m 22 years old. Last year, I was an intern in distance learning. I have an elder brother. His name is Thibaud. He is a future engineer. I also have a little sister. Her name is Pauline. She is a coach. My mother is Brigitte. She works in two sports centers. My father was Eric. It’s thanks to him that I want to experience this internship. He was sporty, adventurous and liked traveling and discovering other cultures.

I live in Pau. It’s situated in the southwest of France. It’s an hour’s drive from the Pyrenees, very high mountains, and an hour and a half’s drive from the ocean. My house is a zoo! I have one dog and 4 cats.

In The US...: I would like to discover another country, another culture and how people live. I want to travel and walk in order to see awesome landscapes. This great experience will allow me to know other ways of teaching and it will make me grow. What’s more, thanks to this work experience in Edina I hope to improve my English.

My favorite food…:  is chicken and fries and hamburgers too. I love desserts with chocolate. I also like crepes with ice-cream and whipped cream. By the way, I like cooking for my family and the others.

I am excited about…: to meet you in reality and see your way of living. I am also excited to see MN’s countryside and to live this great experience with you. I also want to know if I will resist the very cold temperatures.

EDINA ELEMENTARY 1 MILE CROSS COUNTRY RACE

For boys and girls in grades 4 and 5, sponsored by the Edina High School Boys and Girls Cross Country teams.

Saturday, October 30th

Edina High School Lower North Grass Fields

Please click HERE for more information on this free event.

Normandale PTO| [normandalepto.org]