Winter break was great, but I am glad to be back at Normandale with eager students and dedicated staff. We are five days into 2022 and we are already feeling the effects of COVID-19 and the omicron variant. We need your help to get students and staff through this month safely. 

Below are some highlights from Superintendent Stanley’s recent letter to families.

• If your student(s) is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, please keep them home and complete a COVID test. (Check the MNCOVID Response Test site, your local pharmacy for drive up tests or at-home kits.)
• Edina Public Schools will continue to follow the current Minnesota Department of Health isolation and quarantine protocols. People who test positive for COVID-19 should stay home until all three of these things are true:
• They feel better. Cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms are better, and;
• It has been 10 days since they first felt sick or tested positive, and:
• They have had no fever for at least 24 hours, without using medicine that lowers fever.
• If a COVID test is negative, please do not return to school until symptoms have subsided. 
• Be sure to use the district’s COVID/Illness Reporting Form to report an absence.
• Consult the Symptomatic Student flowchart and the district’s COVID Monitoring webpage for more information. 

With the surge of the highly transmissible omicron variant, wearing a well-fitting mask is important. N95 and KF94 masks are best, however any mask worn properly is a key element to our mitigation strategy. The CDC provides this Guide to Masks, to help you choose a properly fitted mask. Please ensure your child has a mask when they come to school and help them wear it correctly- completely covering their nose and mouth at all times.

Hopefully our collective efforts vaccinate, test and mitigate will help us weather this next surge. Thank you for partnering with us!

DEADLINE EXTENDED: ONLINE KINDERGARTEN PREFERENCE FORM

Current French Immersion families who have an incoming kindergarten student for the 2022-23 school year will need to submit the Program Preference Form in order to receive Sibling Preference for Edina residents. 

The Preference Form is available online now and is due by 6:00pm on January 7. Please note the deadline has been extended due to website access issues. If you would like to verify that your submission has been received, please contact Anne Anderson or call the office at 952-848-4100.

RALLY MONTH IS HERE!

During the month of January, we are recruiting Host Families for the 2022-2023 school year!

The success of our Edina French Immersion program depends on having warm, welcoming host families for our amazing French Interns! Without French Interns, we could not sustain our position as a top immersion program.

To continue this momentum, it is critical we secure 62 Host Families by January 31st. With 62 Host Families, we can support 27 French Interns, meeting our ideal allocation of Interns across all schools:

Normandale French Immersion

K-2nd grade: 5 interns, 1 per class

3rd - 5th grade: 2 interns per grade

Valley View/EHS Extended French

Valley View: 3 interns

Edina High School: 3 interns

To learn more, check out our Rally Month hub on the Normandale PTO site.

Already know you want to host next year? Sign up now!

Hosting an intern is a one-semester commitment but the benefits are life-long!

Don't miss our first Rally Month theme day this Friday 1/7: Pajama Day!

TOY DRIVE UPDATE

Hello Normandale families. The toy drive is now over. We received around 300 toys, which you can see in the video. Thank you so much for donating! The toy drive would not have happened without Normandale’s amazing families that supported this toy drive. We are so proud of the students for their support. These toys have gone to Toys for Tots, and then to kids in need. We all need a little holiday cheer in this difficult time! We wanted all the kids in need to have a great holiday season.

Thank you from Andy, Gabby, Finley, and the rest of the 5th Grade Ambassadeurs

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS - GET IN ON THE FUN!

Community Connections events are LIVE on our Membership Toolkit platform! There are many great events for parents and kids in all grades still open for participation. Winter is long; support French Immersion in the Edina Public Schools and delight your family with fun experiences!

COLD WEATHER CAR LINE REMINDERS

The weather outside has turned frightful and it's easy to run late with all of the cold weather gear we have to deal with now! Here are a few reminders as we transition in to winter.

• Once you enter the circle, please pull as far forward as you can before letting kids in or out of the car.
• Please remain in your vehicle. If you need to help kids enter/exit your car, please park in the lot.
• NEW! The coned off area at the front of the line is reserved for kids club drop off until 8:25am
• No parking in the signed Handicapped parking spaces unless you have qualifying tags

LUNCHTIME VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We need volunteers EVERY DAY to supervise home lunch in the Normandale Auditorium. Please sign up HERE if you are able to help. Volunteers are what allows us to offer a separate space for home lunch students.

Fully Vaccinated and Quarantines/Illness

Quarantine: To be fully vaccinated is to be 2 weeks out after your second dose.

If someone is exposed during that two week period, they would still need to quarantine, regardless of receiving the second vaccine.

Illness: Although a child or person may cross that glorious threshold of being fully vaccinated, it is still a requirement to test for COVID if you or your child has symptoms. If you need assistance accessing a test or need more clarification on when to test, call me ;) 

Curious on the benefits of getting vaccinated for you or your child?

1. Significantly decreases you or your loved ones chances of getting severely ill from COVID-19.
2. Offers greater protection to those around us who are too young for vaccination or are immunocompromised.
3. No quarantines if exposed to a COVID+ person (MDH Decision Tree)

FIND A VACCINE FOR YOU OR YOUR LOVED ONE HERE

MOHAMED-AMIN DAMEZ - EHS

About me...:   I live in Chambéry, it's a lovely city located in Savoie. My city is known for its good cheese. Chambéry is located near the third biggest city of France: Lyon.

I have two sisters, one is 22 and her name is Maryam and my other sister is 17 and her name is Emna. My parents are Nora and David and i have a very beautiful cat. Its name is Kyûbi.

I like reading books like mangas, supernatural ones, etc.. And I enjoy watching anime. I like eating, cooking and running too.



In The US...:  I would love to travel while I am in the US. It is a good opportunity for me to visit big places such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C but also I would like to travel in order to see lots of landscapes such as lakes, etc...

My favorite food…:  My favourite food is Arabic food. As a Tunisian, I know how to cook Arabic food and I love cooking it and eating it with my friends. I enjoy eating sushi, maki, etc... I am a big fan of Asian food in general.

I am excited about…: I am excited to see snow and to discover the American way of life. Staying 1 year in Minnesota is going to make me discover the American culture.

MERCY CLOSET

If you are in need of winter clothing, check out Mercy Closet for no cost, gently used winter items. For more information, please visit https://www.mercycommons.net/mercy-closet-1

Normandale PTO| [normandalepto.org]