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White Bear Lake Area Schools Community e-Newsletter |
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December 2, 2011 |
Leading
minds to learning, hearts to compassion and lives to community service. |
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In This Issue ·
Wiggles and Wonder ·
General Information ·
Opportunities ·
Awards and Honors · MAPP STARS · Donut make sense? · College cramming · 歌舞, canto y danza ·
Activities updates ·
Meeting agendas ·
Upcoming meetings Upcoming · School Board meeting · No School – Winter Break · Welcome to White Bear Week · Kindergarten Registration Night · No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day · End of 2nd Quarter/1st Semester
WBLAS In the News · Chinese
Immersion · WBLAHS
sailors earn second in national competition
· WBLAEF
awards nine Brosious Grants · WBLAHS
sailors earn second in national competition
· WBLAS
plans to recognize additional top graduates
· New
partnership gives job experience · Alumni
news story - Chance encounter unites once-neighbors in Ireland · Alumni
news story – UMD kicker Nadeau is cool, calm and collecting records · Activities
News Archives
e-Newsletter Published By Office of
Communications Please contact Marisa Vette (x7695) to submit
information for inclusion in publications. |
Wiggles and Wonder On my desk was the message, clear and
direct. "The bus will be out in front of school, and will leave promptly
at 9:15 sharp. They hope you can ride the bus with them!" Preoccupied with my meeting schedule, I
puzzle why months ago I had made such a commitment. Helping chaperone third graders on a field trip? What was I thinking? My meeting finished, I slip out of the
office and hurry to the elementary school. As I arrive, the final boys and
girls are filing onto the bus. In a moment I am seated mid-ship, surrounded
by eager, chattering boys and girls who are dressed up properly for the
occasion. After one last count to make sure no child
is left behind, the bus pulls out of the parking lot, grinding gears rising
and falling in concert with a cacophony of voices. As we draw towards our
destination, wiggles and giggles swell, peaking as the bus crosses the
Mississippi River and boys and girls view downtown Minneapolis. Minutes later the bus driver successfully
negotiates crowded downtown streets and pulls up alongside dozens of school
buses. Lines of children follow teachers into a cavernous auditorium and
disappear into the dark. We follow. Wiggles are front-to-back, side-to-side,
and up-and-down. Unrestrained giddiness. Children pass through the massive doors and
become suddenly quiet. In the auditorium, lights fade. Thrilling music draws
their eyes to the orchestra on stage. By magic, Hansel and Gretel appear and
the children are surrounded by a living scene. In the darkness, larger than
life puppets appear. A masked figure at least seven feet tall enters the hall
from behind, brushing the children with outstretched wings. "Look",
the children whisper, in awe. Now on the edge of their seats, wide-eyed,
no wiggles. Wonder. Do
you remember moments of wonder from your childhood? This month is a time of wiggles of
excitement and anticipation as children look forward to programs,
celebrations, family, and gifts given and received. It is also a time of
wonder. Wonder as only a child can experience. As adults, being present when children
experience wonder is priceless. Even if it means chaperoning third graders
on a field trip. And sitting in the middle of the wiggles. Dr. Michael Lovett Editor's Note: All
third graders in the White Bear Lake Area School District have the
opportunity to attend the Minnesota Orchestra's production of the opera Hansel and Gretel. General Information
Find other important information here.
Information forms
for the 2012 White Bear Lake Area Schools Teacher of the Year nomination
process are available here. Nominations are due January 20, 2012. Disability
Awareness Parent Notices:
·
Early Childhood Family Literacy Program - Classes meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-3:30
p.m. Find information here. ·
Strategic Planning - The White Bear
Lake Area Schools Strategic Planning website allows community members,
students, parents and District staff members to follow the plan as it is
considered by the School Board. Updates can be found here. ·
Schools for Energy
Efficiency® (SEE)
- Find a newsletter from the SEE program here. ·
Activity Calendar – To request a
2011-12 Activities Calendar, pick one up at a neighborhood school or District
Center, or email Jody Reber to
request a copy be mailed to you (please include your full name and address in
the email). Find an electronic version here. Other calendars that are available
are: 2011-12 and 2012-13 Parent Calendar, 2011-12 Staff Calendar, 2012-13 Staff Calendar ·
White Bear Lake Area
Educational Foundation - The White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation, Inc.
(WBLAEF) is an independent, non-profit corporation promoting excellence in
education in White Bear Lake Area School District 624 schools. Find the
WBLAEF website here. o
Staff Appeal Campaign Results - The 2011 Staff Appeal Campaign results are in – with
a record-breaking total of $24,048! Click here to see
details, and to learn which buildings will be treated to lunch as part of the
donor incentive program. o
Holiday Angels program - The White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation
(WBLAEF) recently kicked off its annual Holiday Angels program, a special
fundraising initiative for the Angel Fund of the WBLAEF. The Angel Fund
provides each school building in the White Bear Lake Area School District
with discretionary funds to assist students and families experiencing special
economic needs throughout the year. School district families and staff, and the
community-at-large are encouraged to make a donation to the Angel Fund in
honor of an educator or other district staff member. Honorees receive a
special Holiday Angels greeting card recognizing the donor. Deadline is December 14. Find information and the donation form here. o
2011 Brosious Teaching Grants announced - The WBLAEF recently announced Brosious
Teaching Grant recipients. Find information here. o
Year-end charitable giving - As you consider your year-end charitable giving,
please give the WBLAEF serious consideration. Find information here. o
Student Enrichment
Scholarship
- The Eugene D. Johnson and Kathleen J. Johnson Student Enrichment
Scholarship.
Applications reviewed on a continual basis throughout the year until a
maximum per year has been awarded. Miscellaneous ·
Host an exchange
student - The White Bear
Lake Rotary Club is looking for families in the area to host high school
foreign exchange students for 3-4 months during the school year. This is a
great opportunity for your family to share in the life changing experience of
befriending a young boy or girl from another country. Experience the culture
and learn the language of a young adult from France, Germany, Spain, Poland,
Turkey, Czech Republic, Japan, New Zealand, or some other exotic place in the
world. Find additional information here. Opportunities Support
WBLAS students ·
Extended Day cookbooks - Extended Day compiled a
cook book and is selling them for $10 each to fund the program’s annual
adopt-a-family service project, through which the program raises money to
help purchase gifts for a local family in need of help during the holidays,
The cook book has more than 275 recipes from Extended Day parents and staff
members of Lakeaires and Extended Day. Find an
order form here. ·
Hat and Mitten Drive - South Campus Ambassadors
are holding a hat and mitten drive. A box has been placed at the main office
for the collection of new or gently used hats, mittens, scarfs, etc. The
donations will be going to St. Joseph's Home for Children located in St.
Paul. New is preferred, yet donations that look new are acceptable. The hats
and mittens are for children, so all sizes will most likely work (infant to
adult). The drive ends December 7th. ·
Hire WBLAHS students - White Bear Lake Area High School
- South Campus opened a new Career Center this year. The Career Center will
have a job board with all current local job opportunities for their students.
If you are looking to fill any positions at your business and are looking for
WBLAHS students to fill them, please contact Josie Robinson at WBLAHS to advertise on the Career Center job
board.
Awards and Honors ·
2011 Brosious
Teaching Grant Winners Announced: ·
Jody Pontious ·
Jessie Prissel
and Transition Plus staff
·
Christine Plana, Char Cady and
Emilie Buesing ·
Heather Schidt,
Nancy Higgs, Teresa Shafer and Abbi Case ·
Elizabeth Ulmer ·
LuAnne Oklobzija, John Barnes and Kristine Erickson ·
Tim McGraw and Mike Hamernick ·
David Nathanson,
Mary Dahle, Janelle Toussaint, Kerry Feirn, Ted Anderson and Kari Sundberg ·
Paul Meuwissen
and Christopher Lyons Find information here. ·
RtI Study Finalists – The
District learned this week that Lincoln Elementary and Hugo and Oneka
Elementary Schools have been nominated and chosen as finalists in a national
research study. We anticipate we will hear within a few weeks whether we are
among the 110 schools chosen throughout the nation to participate in a
congressionally mandated national impact evaluation of Response to
Intervention (RtI) in elementary reading. ·
The 2011 Staff Appeal
Campaign results are in – with a record-breaking total of $24,048! Click here to see details,
and to learn which buildings will be treated to lunch as part of the donor
incentive program. ·
Make a donation to the White
Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation’s Angel Fund in honor of an educator
or other district staff member. Honorees receive a special Holiday Angels
greeting card recognizing the donor. Deadline is December 14. Find
information and the donation form here. ·
In 2011, the White Bear Lake
Area Educational Foundation distributed the following gifts to students and
educators in our district: ·
$34,000 in Brosious Grants and Glasrud
Fellowships to district educators ·
$1,000 in Ryan Family
Elementary Arts Grants ·
$14,000 to families in need
through the Angel Fund Find information
about Year-End Charitable Giving to WBLAEF here. ·
The Eugene D. Johnson and Kathleen J. Johnson Student
Enrichment Scholarship. Applications reviewed on a continual basis throughout the year until
a maximum per year has been awarded. Please contact Marisa
Vette (651-407-7695) to submit District News, General
Information, Opportunities or Awards & Honors for inclusion in future
publications.
The experience
was a reflective one. Reported one student: “The trip to Camp Ripley taught
me not to judge someone by how they look, there’s a lot you don’t know about
a person and you should take that into consideration.” This spring, ALC
students will attend the MAPP STARS conference and present projects they have
been working on throughout the school year. ALC has participated in MAAP
Stars for more than 15 years. The students who
participated in the conference are members of the newly-created ALC
Leadership Team, an honor for which students are nominated and apply to
participate in organizing and implementing projects in the school and
community. Activities include an “Acts of Kindness” showcase and various
fundraising initiatives.
After
filling up in the cafeteria, guests followed their little ones to classrooms
for short visits so the students could show off work they had recently
completed and introduce guests to their teacher. The
smiles and animated conversations going on throughout the school that day indicated
the donuts and special time to connect “hit the spot” as a fulfilling start
to the day.
College-specific activities were celebrated
throughout the week. Lunch menu items had special college-themed names and
college trivia contests were enjoyed daily in homebase
classes. On Monday, staff members spent time in class discussing students’
college choices. Wednesday was a Spirit dress up for students and staff
members, who posed for a photo that was posted in the main office area.
School fight songs were played in hallways during passing times on Thursday. The week
culminated with an opportunity added to the mix this year. On Friday, eighth
graders visited one of four colleges: the University of Minnesota, Gustavus Adolphus, Century
College and Anoka Technical College.
Last week,
Lincoln fourth and fifth graders welcomed a Concordia Language Village
instructor, Shenghua, who visited the school and
provided a “mini-immersion” experience that exposed students to the Chinese
culture through dance, song, food, video and chants. Shenghua
only spoke Chinese during her time with the students, who learned quite a bit
of the language in a short time. Find a short video clip of the experience here. Oneka will be hosting a Chinese residency next week.
Willow students will have their residency and field trip to the Concordia
Language Village in January, and other district schools will following with
the experiences later in the year. Activities Updates Girls gymnastics had their first meet last night vs. Cretin-
Derham Hall. Cross
country team member Joel Reichow competed in
the Footlocker Mid-west Regional Cross Country meet held in Kenosha,
Wisconsin on Saturday November 26th.
Joel was the second Minnesotan to finish the 5k race in 15:53 placing
42nd. Cross-Aged Mentoring Program
(CAMP) kicked off its mentoring year this week. Students will begin
weekly mentoring sessions with Matoska and Willow
fifth graders next week and the following. Girls basketball kicked off the season at the Pat Patterson
Thanksgiving Tournament. In the first game, White Bear came from 14 down to
defeat defending class AAA champion DeLaSalle
74-69. In the second game, White Bear was able to outlast Eastview
42-30 in a low scoring battle. Chorus
Updates: Aly Carney, Emily Nies,
Dylan Rugh and Jon Woodruff were chosen to sing in
the 20 student choir on Friday night with Minnesota vocalist Linda Eder for a
Hennepin Theatre Trust SpotLight Musical Theatre Program In Concert
event. Additionally, Jon, Dylan and Emily were asked to sing solos for Ms.
Eder and receive feedback in a Spotlight
Master Class. WBLAHS sailing team
members Eddie Cox, Natasha Skaalrud and Ema Johnson placed 2nd overall at the Great Oaks Allstate
Sugar Bowl National High School Championship in New Orleans, narrowing losing
to Toms River South High School from New Jersey (2 points after 12 finals
races). White
Bear Lake Area High School Athletics schedules can be found here.
Meeting agendas This
year’s White Bear Lake Area School Board meeting agendas are available to
District staff members at J:\ALL DISTRICT\2011-12
School Board Agenda Packets.
·
Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. ·
Thursdays at 10 a.m. |
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