Brief Overview of this issue: |
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- Optional DL Week 4/19
- MCA Schedule and Make Up Info
- April Calendar
- Attendance Notice
- Student COVID Testing
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- Chemical Health Webinar
- Spring Musical!
- Lost and Found
- Yearbook Recognition
- Summer Activities
- Book Returns, Family Dashboard
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A Note From the Principal
Dr. Tim Anderson
Help your middle schooler finish the school year strong
As you know, this school year has been filled with challenges. As the superintendent wrote recently, our attention and our hearts turn to the death of a young Black man following a police shooting, and as events unfold around this recent death and as the Chauvin trial comes to a close, we are preparing to offer the kind of support and safe space our students and staff need at school. Right now, if you, your student or family needs support, please contact a counselor, social worker or psychologist at South View (contact information available in the Student Services Corner of this newsletter) who will help find the resource that is right for you or your learner.
In addition, as you know we all are still navigating this global pandemic. We continue to follow safety guidelines at school, and per guidelines execute contact tracing and partner with families around quarantine, and we are working diligently to serve both our in person and EVA students well in the learning model they have chosen. We appreciate your continued partnership around reminding our learners of the importance of these protocols as well as reinforcing the need to stay focused. Further, we are mandated to administer the MCA testing by the state of Minnesota and will begin this process soon. Please see testing details below. Over the next weeks, both EVA and hybrid students will participate in this testing and our staff will serve as monitors and test proctors.
Amidst all of these happenings, you are invited to consider ways to help your middle schooler finish the school year strong. While we just finished spring break, soon most students will be looking forward to the summer break. But summer isn’t here just yet. Remember, the final weeks of school are just as important as the rest, and we have many important learning experiences ahead of us. It’s important for your middle schooler to stay focused in order to finish the school year strong. To motivate your learner to keep working hard as the year winds down:
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Stick to routines. It’s easy to get wooed by warmer temperatures and more daylight. If you find yourself letting your child put off schoolwork longer and longer and stay up later and later, it’s time to get back on track. Morning comes as early as ever, and if your middle schooler doesn’t get enough sleep at night, it can lead to feeling worn out and unable to focus during class.
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Stay interested in schoolwork. Don’t stop asking your child about what’s happening in classes just because by this point you’re pretty familiar with what goes on there. Show your learner you still care about things being learned in school.
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Maintain expectations. Remind your child that if grades begin to slip near the end of the year—or if your learner stops completing assignments—there will be consequences. The thought of missing an anticipated event or may inspire your child to buckle down.
Adapted from The Parent Institute
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Calendar Events
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April 19 MCA Testing Begins
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April 19-23 Optional Distance Learning Week
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April 26-30 MCA Make Up (if applicable)
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Link to April Calendar
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Secondary Level Pause
With a rise in COVID cases the superintendent recommends that middle school and high school students attend school via distance learning next week (April 19 - 23). This is optional. If you decide to keep your student at home they must attend all classes remotely. There is no need to call the office to let us know. Please see below for MCA make up information.
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We need your help with a few things:
Mask reminder: please help remind your learners that they are required to wear masks while at school. Masks need to cover nose and mouth. We have had to ramp up reminders as learners have become less careful with mask wearing after spring break. Your help is appreciated!
Parent Pick Up and Drop Off:
The official parent pick up and drop off locations are the west side of the buildings (grade 8) and the south side of the building (grades 6 & 7).
- We are asking parents who choose to pick up on the north side of the building to remind their kids to use the sidewalk and not cut through buses, which is unsafe.
- Please respect & follow traffic attendant direction as they continue to work to assist with more car traffic than we were designed to handle.
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South View Middle School – Spring 2021 MCA Testing Schedule
April 19 & 20: Gr 6, 7 and 8 MCA Math Statewide Assessment (9:43-11:35am) (9:43-11:35am)
April 22 & 23: Gr 6, 7 and 8 MCA MCA Reading Statewide Assessment (9:43-11:35am)
April 26-30: 8th Grade MCA Science Statewide Assessment (During Science Classes)
**In-Person Learners who opt out of MCAs can be dropped off later in the morning (11:35am). Learners who are dropped off at 11:35am should enter in door 1 and report to their first hour. If your learner does not have transportation to be dropped off at 11:35 am, he/she/they will have a place provided at school to engage in an independent flex until classes resume.
Below are some details regarding this year’s MCA tests as a follow up to Dr. Schultz’s update (4-15-21).
MCA Test Make ups
For learners who missed the designated MCA testing days, the MCA make up tests will be offered the week of April 26th, and possibly extend into the first week of May. Learners will be pulled from their regular scheduled classes for MCA make ups.
If you want to opt your student out of taking the MCA tests a completed waiver form is required. This form can be found by accessing THIS LINK Somali Spanish. Please send the completed form to the SVMS testing coordinator, Kaela Loo (Michaela.loo@edinaschools.org).
You can help your child have a positive experience on these assessments by:
- Seeing that your child is well rested during the testing period.
- Making sure your child has a good breakfast every day, especially during the testing period. There will be no snacks allowed unless approved through the health office.
- Not scheduling appointments or vacations that would take your child out of school during the testing period.
- Helping your child to be confident. Let him/her know that you know that he/she will do his/her best and that no one is expected to get every answer correct.
- Being sure he/she has the appropriate equipment; i.e., several No.2 pencils that are not too sharp, a good separate eraser and comfortable clothing.
- Keeping your child out of school if he/she is truly ill during the testing period.
If you have questions regarding these upcoming assessments, please contact Kaela Loo at 952-848-3761 or michaela.loo@edinaschools.org.
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IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR MCA TESTING (Please share with your child!)
Students should bring to school:
- Grades 6, 7 and 8th Graders MUST bring charged, school-issued Chromebooks
- There will be district-issued devices on site for 8th graders who don’t currently use a district-issued device (students should still bring their own device as they will have classes after testing)
- Wired Earbuds or Headphones (for the Math & Science MCA)
- Water Bottle
- Book to Read (in case they finish early)
Students MAY NOT bring the following into a testing room at school:
- Cell Phone
- Fitness Trackers, Smart Watches
- E-books or other electronic devices
- Bluetooth earbuds/Airpods
*Fadlan ka la xiriir Abdikadir Ibrahim (952-848-4051) ama Abdikadir.Imbrahim@edinaschools.org hadii aad dooneysid macluumaadka warqadan kuqoran in af Soomaali laguugu tafsiiro.
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Notice To Parents
Please call the attendance line or log in to Campus to excuse your student from SVMS.
If you would like to switch your students' learning model this week due to Spring Break travel, please follow the steps below.
Switching your students learning model this week is optional and is a family decision.
How To Excuse Your Child from School for South View
Process to excuse your child from school for South View:
- Parents can now use our online system to excuse their students from school. See below for instructions.
- You may also still call the school’s attendance line at 952-848-3702.
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If you are unable to access the parent portal, please email parentportal@edinaschools.org for your log in.
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THREE STEPS TO TEST at SVMS:
1 | SIGN UP on Infinite Campus. Find Test the Nest forms under ‘documents’.
Both students AND parents must each sign a consent form to complete registration.
2 | SHOW UP on Thursdays between 8:45-9:30am in the City Gym or right inside where the buses unload.
3 | SWAB quick before heading to class.
Pooled test results by 2pm same day. If negative, cartwheels. If positive, diagnostic test to follow (done at school).
Project Test the Nest works to identify asymptomatic cases of COVID to help keep our schools open for in-person learning. Let’s keep students in school and COVID out!
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Lost and Found
The lost and found is close to bursting! Please drop by the door one vestibule anytime between 8am and 6pm to check for your items.
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Join our EPS Chemical Health Coordinator’s April Webinar
Click here for details regarding an upcoming opportunity for parents of teens.
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South View Middle School Thespians Present "High School Musical”!
Throughout the winter and spring of 2020-2021, 52 6th, 7th and 8th graders at South View Middle School have been singing, dancing and blocking High School Musical virtually via Google Meets after school four days a week. Last December they used Flipgrid, an educational software, to submit auditions to their directors, Erica Gardner and Jim Hawthorne. The show was cast, and amid the pandemic, the students and staff worked tirelessly to successfully create the entire musical virtually. Each cast member also sent in individual recordings for the 15+ songs in the show to create a soundtrack because the original intention was to film a movie version of the musical in small, social distance groups. The crew, under the direction of Matt Pearson, also met weekly on Google Meet to learn about filming techniques and camera shots.
In March, when students and staff found out that all hybrid students would be returning to school four days a week, Gardner, Hawthorne, and Pearson began to research the idea of performing the musical live, at an outdoor venue. They also began to prepare for outdoor rehearsals that would still be streamed to meet the needs of any cast or crew who would rehearse from home. When the students returned on March 22, the directors, including choreographer Josh Fremder, were overjoyed with the cast’s knowledge of the music and dances as everything up to that point had been virtual. Every day the cast meets outside on the bus parking lot at South View, electric piano plugged in, speakers connected, no matter the weather. The cast sings, acts and dances, in masks and socially distanced. We are preparing for a live performance for a small audience of 250 family and friends at the Maetzold Amphitheater at Centennial Lakes in Edina on April 23rd. Click here for the live stream link!
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South View Middle School yearbook featured in Jostens Look Book 2021.
Josten's – The South View yearbook has been recognized for excellence and is featured in the Jostens Look Book 2021, celebrating the best-of-the-best in yearbook design and inclusivity. The Jostens Look Book is a collection of outstanding yearbooks and their creative themes, cool covers, beautiful designs, relevant coverage of school events, meaningful storytelling and stunning photography. Along with design excellence, the annually published Look Book honors the work of the students who create the yearbook over the course of 6-12 months. Through it, they chronicle the experiences, stories and achievements most relevant to students and that academic year. Well done!
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Student Services Corner
The latest news from your SV counselors and School Social Workers
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Carmine LeVoir - All of 6th & 7th Grade Great Lakes team School Counselor
952-848-4410
Janet Schmiel - All of 8th grade and 7th Grade Mighty Mississippi team School Counselor
952-848-4412
Doug Eischens - School Social Worker
952-848-4411
Laura Polson - Student Services Secretary
952-848-4402
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Student Leadership Highlights
Learn about our Student Ambassadors Leadership Team here!
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Book Returns
If you have Library Books or Textbooks to return, please place in the Library Return Box just inside Door 1. The lobby is open weekdays from 8am-6pm.
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