FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Chris Holden | @MonsieurHolden | 952.848.4100

Dear Normandale Families,

While Spring hasn’t sprung, I am already asking you to think about the end of summer! On August 29^th and 30^th Normandale Elementary will be hosting Connect and Assess Days with all Normandale students and families. Please mark your calendars to be in town on these important days. Students will be invited by their teacher to participate in the planed assessments of learning and important connection and relationship building activities. More information to come. Thank you!

STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK MAY 2-6

Please join us in celebrating our Normandale teachers during National Teacher Appreciation week May 2nd-6th! Our teachers and staff work incredibly hard to make Normandale the amazing school it is and next week we want to honor them and show our gratitude. Below are the week’s daily activities for the teachers and ways that you can participate:

Monday, May 2: We donut know what we’d do without our teachers!

-Donuts and coffee in the staff lounge in the morning, donation and volunteer opportunities in the SignUpGenius.

Tuesday, May 3: These teachers are fantas-taco!

-Taco bar lunch catered by El Camino Tacos in Edina, donation and volunteer opportunities in the SignUpGenius.

Wednesday, May 4: We NOTE-ice how hard you work!

-Bring handwritten thank you notes or cards for your teachers. Here are some printable templates for students may use if they’d like (younger or older). Don’t forget to thank our specialists, listed here.

-Thank you cookies for the staff

Thursday, May 5: Our teachers are simply the zest!

-Lemonade bar available during lunch, donation and volunteer opportunities in the SignUpGenius.

Friday, May 6: Here’s the scoop: We love our teachers!

-Sweet Science ice cream served during lunch

Please click here for the SignUpGenius to volunteer to bring items or donate time. All of these appreciation events are paid for by donations to the Normandale PTO. If you want to help but don’t want to drop off an item or fill a volunteer shift, please consider a donation to the Normandale PTO here.

Thank you for helping us show our staff how much they mean to us!

LOST AND FOUND

Spring has sprung-ish and it’s time to spring your lost items from the lost and found!

Items will be in the lobby from Monday, May 2 through Friday, May 6. Stop by between 7:30am and 6pm to claim lost items. 

Items not claimed by Friday, May 6 at 6pm will be donated.

NORMANDALE CARNIVAL - LA KERMESSE - MAY 21!

Please save-the-date for Saturday, May 21st from 3-6 pm for the Normandale Carnival, "La Kermesse." It will take place in and around the Edina Community Center Gyms (backside of Normandale).

The date is fast approaching, but we know our community can pull together a wonderful La Kermesse de Normandale for our students and families. However, we need your help. 

There will be a volunteer sign-up sheet coming soon for the event (please help if you can!), but in the meantime we have two opportunities to help make the carnival super fun for our students. 

1. Raffle Baskets: We are looking for cash donations to put together one raffle basket per grade. No amount is too small. We will divide up the funds and make 6 raffle baskets total. All payments should go to Betsy Mulvehill's venmo (betsy-mulvehill) or email/text her if you'd like to give another way (betsy.mulvehill@gmail.com, 612.227.5057)

2. Prize Wall/Gift Cards: We will have a gift card prize wall at the event. We are looking for gift cards to include in this prize wall. It could be $5 or $25 or anything in between. All gift cards can be dropped off at the Normandale front desk in an envelope for Elizabeth Fulmer. 

Thank you all so much for your consideration and generosity. We can't wait to gather as a community. Please look for Facebook posts and emails in the coming days and weeks for volunteer signup and more updates. 

The La Kermesse Committee

Betsy Mulvehill, Berit Allar, Elizabeth Fulmer, Jen Cook, Lauren Warner, Liz Seaman, Molly Borg, Nicole Stevens, and Sarah Priest 

LUNCH TIME MOOD BOOST

It’s well known that food affects physical well-being. Now, new evidence finds that food also affects mood and mental well-being.

To help students identify how certain foods can make them feel, Chartwells K12 is bringing back Tasting Tuesdays with a fun new program ... Mood Boost!

Every Tuesday, Registered Dietitian Alex Turnbull will help students sample fresh vegetables that are featured on the lunch menu. If students don’t want to taste the vegetable, she will help them engage with it by smelling, touching and encouraging even a lick.

Edina Public Schools and its foodservice partner Chartwells K12 want every

student to leave the cafeteria happier and healthier than they came. The Mood

Boost program makes learning about and tasting healthy foods even more fun

while educating students through engaging demonstrations, mood-boosting

recipes, fun activities and collectible giveaways.

Mood Boost tasting schedule:

5/3: Jicama

5/10: Snap peas

5/17: Grape tomatoes

5/24: Radish

NORMANDALE SNEAKER DRIVE

Hello Normandale families!

We are doing a shoe drive from April 21 - May 13. The purpose is to collect shoes. This will keep old sneakers out of our landfills. After the drive the shoes will go to Gotsneakers, which is a sneaker donating company. They will pay for the shoes. They donate the shoes and keep them away from landfills. The money we acquire will be donated to Warrior Dog Rescue. This charity helps rescue and relocate neglected dogs. We are doing this as a joint Earth Day and animal rescue project. 

Our 5th grade Ambassadeurs will be leading this project along with some of our 4th grade apprentice Ambassadeurs. They are all very excited about this project and hope you will be too. You can bring cleats and sneakers with laces or velcro. They cannot be any kind of heels/sandals. You can bring in used shoes or new ones you are not wearing. Any size shoes will be accepted. You may send these shoes to school with your child and they may leave them in a box in hallways. The Ambassadeurs will be collecting the shoes everyday. Any contribution will be greatly appreciated and will help us save our great planet and the dogs of our great planet. 

Thanks, the Ambassadeurs Communication Committee-

Gabby, Andy, Finley, Nora on behalf of all the Normandale Ambassadeurs

BONJOUR CAMPS SUMMER 2022

Are you interested in having your child practice French over the summer? Through the Edina Community Education program we have Normandale teachers Madame Abdo, Madame Heffelfinger, Madame Thomas, Madame Suglia, and Madame May who will be teaching our Bonjour Camps! This is a great opportunity for our students to practice their French before the fall. Links and dates for camps are listed below. Please note that the grade level is the grade they will be entering in the fall.

July

Gr. K 10am-12pm

Gr. K 1-3pm

Gr. 1 10am-12pm

Gr. 1 1-3pm

Gr. 2 10am-3pm

Gr. 3 10am-3pm

Gr. 4 & 5 10am-3pm

August

Gr. K 10am-12pm

Gr. K 1-3pm

Gr. 1 10am-12pm

Gr. 1 1-3pm

Gr. 2 10am-3pm

Gr. 3 10am-3pm

Gr. 4 & 5 10am-3pm

VOLUNTEER CORNER

• Here is the sign up for cafeteria volunteers on Fridays
• Here is the sign up for auditorium lunch volunteers needed each school day
• Please note that volunteers are allowed in the auditorium only, not in the cafeteria (other than Friday lunch service)

WEEKEND FOOD BAGS FROM EVERY MEAL

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.

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

EDINA COMMUNITY EDUCATION

Community Ed Summer Registration is open!

Check out our 400+ camps and classes for age 2 through grade 12, our all-day care for incoming kindergarten through outgoing 5th grade, and employment and volunteer opportunities. Register on Edina Eleyo.

New This Summer: Tutoring for Developing Readers and/or Students with Markers of Dyslexia: Grades K-3. Edina Community Ed is partnering with Edina Schools' Teaching and Learning to offer specialized reading tutoring taught by licensed Edina teachers uniquely skilled in the Orton-Gillingham approach. Foundational reading skills are taught explicitly, systematically, and sequentially using multisensory approaches and research-based resources. To learn more and register, visit: edinacommunityed.com/Tutoring

If you have additional questions, read our “Common Questions and Answers sheet.” You may also email Jody De St Hubert at jody.desthubert@edinaschools.org and/or call 952-848-4096.”

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE

The Alliance Française is the non-profit French cultural center serving the Twin Cities and is a proud partner of French immersion schools and their families. Alliance Française offers a library, summer camps for children of all ages and levels, French classes for adults, cooking classes, and more than 150 cultural events each year including an annual Bastille Day festival on July 14. Learn more about Alliance Française Mpls/St Paul at www.afmsp.org.

Normandale PTO| [normandalepto.org]