May, 2015 - Northrop Urban Environmental School

 Naturally Northrop Northrop Urban Environmental Learning Center st
4315 31 Avenue So. Minneapolis, MN 55406 Main Office 612-­‐668-­‐4520 Website: http://northrop.mpls.k12.mn.us/home.html Spanish Line 612-­‐668-­‐4523 Minneapolis Public Schools Issue #7 Dear Northrop families, On behalf of all of us at Northrop, I’d like to thank you for your support and contributions during the school year and for making my first year as Principal a huge success. Collaboration and community is what makes Northrop School such a positive place for students, their families and staff. We will continue to provide this neighborhood with quality K-­‐5 programming, and provide our students with a solid foundation in Science, Reading, Writing and Math while maintaining our environmental focus. Our early Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores indicate that we have met or exceeded our goals in Math, Reading and Science and we are well above the district and state averages. The success of Northrop students is due to the strong community and partnership that we are able to maintain with our staff and community. We are already thinking about and planning for the next school year with anticipation and excitement. Many of our classroom teachers will be involved in Summer Professional Development, and they have signed up for seminars on Focused Instruction, Positive School wide Behavior, Equity, Environmental Education, Reading, Classroom Management, Technology, Science and Instructional Leadership. I look forward to conversations with staff as they present us with this new learning this fall. The next school year has the potential to be an even more successful school year.
Things to look forward to as we start the 2015-­‐2016 school year: We will be adding an additional fourth grade classroom to our building to accommodate the large number of students we have. Over the summer we are scheduled for construction to update our current media center and enhance our STEM classroom. This new design will give STEM students more opportunity to be in our habitats and gardens and a more centralized location for the school. Our Read-­‐A-­‐Thon raised enough money to purchase the classroom set of iPads and the charging cart for our first floor kiddos. These iPads are already in use by kinder students and they will continue to have access to them in the fall. Our green team will be meeting in the next few days and weeks to plant some additional habitats over the summer and throughout the fall. Check future emails and webpage notifications to volunteer on site to plant and maintain these habitats. We are looking into adding a pollinator garden; which is so so exciting!
Again, I thank you for making my first year at Northrop a fun, exciting and academic success. I continue to feel energized as I work with the Northrop community, students, families and staff investing our energy and resources into Northrop school. As we look to the future, your continued involvement and commitment are appreciated and essential. Have a wonderful summer! See you in the neighborhood. Tara FitzGerald Northrop Principal Sincerely, Tara FitzGerald May 15th, 2015 Northrop Calendar 5/21: PTA Mtg.& Potluck 6:30pm 5/25: NO SCHOOL Memorial Day 5/26-­‐5/29: Grand Marais Trip Students return by 3:00pm 5/30: Rally around Northrop 5k Run 9:00a.m.-­‐1:00p.m. 6/1: Patrol Field trip to MOA 9:30-­‐3:30pm 6/3: Award Ceremony: Gym Grades K-­‐2: 9:45-­‐10:30am Grades 3-­‐5: 10:45-­‐11:30am 6/4: Kinder Graduation 2:00pm-­‐Gym 6/5: 5th Grade Graduation 2:00pm-­‐Gym. 6/5: Students Last day of School Report cards go home. 6/15-­‐7/23: Summer School! 2015-­‐16 Dates 7/26 Open Eye Theater Driveway Tour presents:“The Adventures of Juan Bobo” Puppet Show -­‐ Northrop playground 4:00pm 8/20: Open House 4:30-­‐6:30pm 8/24: Grades 1-­‐5 First day 8/26: Kindergarten First day Student Progress Reports Student report cards will go home with students on the last day of school. Classroom assignments for fall will be included with the report card. Kindergarten through fourth grade students are automatically reassigned to Northrop School for the fall (unless you requested a school change). Lunch Money Must Be Prepaid Please be sure that your student’s lunch bill is paid up to Friday, June 5th. If you have questions about your students’ account, call the food service manager (Gloria Richardson) between 10:00am -­‐Noon at 612-­‐668-­‐4531. Calling all Library Books All school library books MUST be returned to the media center by the last day of school on Friday, June 5th. If you lost a book, please pay for a replacement or donate a comparable book to the Media Center. Questions? Call Sam Woolever at (612) 668-­‐4536. Northrop Yearbooks Prepaid yearbooks will go home with students on Monday, June 1st. Thanks to Hannah Lynch for all the time and effort put into compiling the yearbook. Interested in volunteering? Northrop is still looking for both Reading and Math Corps volunteers for the next school year. Reading and Math Corps members tutor students struggling in reading and math one on one using research-­‐based interventions. This is a perfect position for anyone looking to gain experience in working with kids in an elementary setting. The position is open to people of all ages, backgrounds, and skills. If you know anyone who might be interested in learning more or applying for a position please contact Rachel Kaster at: rachel.kaster@mpls.k12.mn.us or apply directly at: http://minnesotareadingcorps.org and indicate your preference is Northrop Elementary. Kindergarten Graduation
Thursday, June 4th at 2:00 p.m. in the school gym.
Fifth Grade Graduation
Friday, June 5th at 2:00 p.m. in the school gym.
Northrop Summer School:
June 15th – July 23th
Monday-Thursday
Folwell School: Grades K-­‐4 Keewaydin School: Grade 5 9:15a.m.3:15p.m. 9:15a.m. -­‐ 3:15p.m. (612)-­‐668-­‐4550 (612)-­‐668-­‐4670 Applications were due May 15th, after this date students will a utomatically be put on a wait list and are not guaranteed a bus stop for the first few week of summer Families will have to work with existing bus stops. school. Transportation information will be mailed home to families in June. If you move or change daycare address during the summer: Call transportation at 612-­‐668-­‐2300. New Leadership Team Members! W e welcome new members to the Northrop Leadership for the 2015-­‐16 school year: Emily Martin (Teacher) Team Kaster (EL Teacher) Miriam Deskin (parent), Kate Rachel (parent) and Jen Cash (parent). We look forward to Seager together to further Northrop’s goal of academic working excellence! We thank Leadership members who are ending their term this year: Sam Woolever, Larry Tifft, and Kristina Guindon for their commitment of service to Northrop for the past two years. School Call Transportation at 668-­‐2300
New bus stops or changes made in August can take 4-­‐8 weeks to th
set u p. Northrop office staff are in the office until June 11 Moving this summer? The School Garden Greetings Northrop Families! It gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to work with students this spring in the classroom and in the school garden. The second grade classes and Ms. Bohlers group got busy right away last week readying the garden beds for new plantings by pulling up weeds and dead plant material from last year. This was much needed work, which they accomplished with gusto and efficiency. Some students were in awe of the long root systems of the weeds. They wanted to take them home….did you find one in your student’s backpack? We talked about perennials and investigated the chives and mint (which many kids took a nibble of) and noted the dill and cilantro that re-­‐seeded and sprouted anew this early spring. We closed the lesson with some toasted pumpkin seeds. Quite easy to do: Just heat some raw pumpkin seeds in a skillet until they lightly brown and drizzle a small amount of soy sauce on top. The kids enjoyed them with a sip of water after their time working outside. In individual cups we planted seeds: pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans and peas. The kids had a choice of what they planted -­‐ so families of second graders -­‐ you will see what they bring home next week and can help them find a permanent growing spot for their seedling which will be easily transplanted to a garden or a larger pot, but be sure to harden-­‐it-­‐off, which we will talk about in class next week. Uli will work with the Kindergarten rooms next week, so those students will also be getting their hands dirty with seeds and plants. A few days ago we tried some potatoes with chives, as the kids will be planting potatoes next week, along with a few other plants, including the much requested strawberry, which will have a bed all of its own, ready to sprawl and produce one of nature’s candies for the kids at Northrop! The Midwest Food Connection has been working with Northrop for a few years now and we look forward to coming back in the fall to work other grades outside, studying and harvesting the plants that will have grown over the summer, with our tastings likely enhanced by some of the great produce we will find from local farms at Twin Cities co-­‐ops,. Please check out our website at www.midwestfoodconnection.org or find us on Facebook. Sincerely, Haruko Ruggiero Music Concert:
Sound of Music Tribute
Wed. May 20th
9:30 a.m. (grades 1 & 3)
11:00 a.m. (grades K & 5)
1:45 p.m. (grades 2 & 4)
Dear Families,
I am planning to retire this June. I will miss all of you;
students, families and colleagues very much, and I want
you to know you have all brought me immense joy and
meaning to my life during the years I have been privileged
to be a part of the Northrop community. I wish you success
and happiness in the future, and hope you will always have
a song in your heart!
Best Regards,
Cynthia Brown-Music Specialist
Rally Around Northrop! Saturday, May 30th Join the Northrop PTA for the 2nd Annual Rally Around Northrop 5K Run, 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk and Festival on Saturday, May 30 from 9 a.m. -­‐ 1 p.m. There will be food available from Hot Indian food truck and Peeps Hot Box food truck, as well as entertainment from Roosevelt High School's Latino Dance Group, the Metropolitan Boys Choir, and local band Clementown. Visit http://northrop.mpls.k12.mn.us/rally_around_northro
p_2 for more information and to register! Volunteers NEEDED! Rally Around Northrop on May 30th is in need of volunteers. To learn more about the Rally, follow this link http://bit.ly/1lRFVXY. To volunteer, visit www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0A4BA9AE2BA7F85-­‐
rally/15399135, or connect with Northrop parent Annie Mason at 612-­‐655-­‐8227; annmogushmason@gmail.com No Child Left Inside At Northrop we value the relationship between children and the natural world around them. The book “Last Child in the Woods,” by Richard Louv is on most of our teachers’ bookshelf. The book suggests keeping it simple. Go on a color hike: Assign kids to look for yellow, red or blue things. Encourage exploration by bringing tools: a magnifying glass, a bucket, a sketch pad or a trowel. Ask questions instead of giving instructions: "I wonder if any bugs live under the rocks out here." Set a boundary for how far they can roam: Let them explore new environments.