Early Release! Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022

Due to severe winter weather, St. Louis Park Public Schools will have staggered early release times to allow more time for afternoon transportation on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022.

Early Release Times – Wednesday, Dec 21
• Aquila, Susan Lindgren, Peter Hobart, Park Spanish Immersion: Release at 1:15 p.m. (1 hour early)
• High School: Release at 2:30 p.m. (45-minutes early)
• Transition Plus: Release at 2:30 p.m. (45-minutes early)
• Middle School: Release at 3:22 p.m. (30-minutes early)
• There will be no Early Learning afternoon Pre-School
• There will be no Transition Plus

Even with the early release times, buses may still be delayed.

Track your Student’s Bus

Families can download the Traversa 360 App to view real-time mapping for school bus arrival for pick-up and afternoon drop-off. We understand there have been some issues with the application. We are working to have these issues resolved.

KidsPlace

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to pick up children from KidsPlace elementary sites and KidsPlace Preschool at Central as soon as possible after the early release times. KidsPlace will close as soon as the last child is picked up from each program. We are giving this advanced notice so that families can plan to leave work early or arrange for their child/children to be picked up on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

Cancellations – Wednesday, Dec 21

After School Activities and Athletics
There will be no after school activities, practices, or competitions at the elementary, middle or high school.

Community Education
Community Education evening and aquatic programs will be canceled.

Stay tuned to slpschools.org for the latest information. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility with this information. Decisions about any cancellation for activities and athletics happening on Thursday, Dec. 22 will be shared tomorrow. Please stay safe.

Lost & Found Clear Out!

Our Lost & Found is overflowing. Please take a moment to look through and claim items that belong to your child(ren). You’ll find the Lost & Found in the hallway between the media center and the gym. Any remaining items will be donated at the end of January.
As a reminder, please be sure to label everything so that items left behind can find their way home again!

Silent Auction Planning Kick-off Meeting

Hard to believe, but it is already time to start planning for our spring silent auction. Every March we hold an online silent auction to raise money for Amity and other PTO programs. It takes lots of volunteers to make it successful. We are having our first meeting on Tuesday, December 20th at 6pm.

Please reach out to psivolunteers@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the Silent Auction Team.

We can give you more details on our meeting and what to expect moving forward. If you cannot make this first meeting, we’d still love to have your help. This is a great opportunity to meet and collaborate with other PSI parents. As always, new parents and new ideas are very welcome.

 

Community Volunteers Requested

Do you know someone interested in supporting our teachers, students and staff? Are they a community member that has a special skill or talent that they would like to share with our learners? Ask them to consider volunteering with St. Louis Park Schools! From homework help to reading, math or helping on the playground, find more information on our website, https://slpcommunityed.com/volunteer/, fill out a volunteer application, or connect with Denise Tennen!

PSI currently has volunteer positions for volunteers in classrooms and the media center

Denise Tennen, Volunteer Engagement VISTA
tennen.denise@slpschools.org or 952-928-6445

PSI PTO Science and Imagination Fair

The 2023 PSI Science and Imagination Fair is scheduled for Tuesday, January 17, 2023 from 6:00-7:30 pm in the PSI gym. The goal of the Science and Imagination Fair is to encourage all families to participate and nurture our children’s love of science and imagination! Keep in mind that projects do not have to be a science project either. Past projects have included catapults, test plants and sculptures, to name a few. Winter break is a great time for your child to begin working on their project. Each child will have half a table to display their project. The gym will be open as early as 4:00 pm the day of the fair for participants to begin setting up. For those wishing to register their child, please use the link located at:

https://forms.gle/kXZnj8B4Qhn1TQoP9

We look forward to seeing you all on January 17 and what your children create for the fair.

Students vs Teachers & Staff Basketball Lightning Challenge!

As promised for exceeding the student body fundraising goal for Leer-a-tón, the date is set for Friday Dec 16 for the Students vs Teachers & Staff basketball challenge! The latest total is $23,600 raised. Hooray for all the wonderful supporters of PSI’s Amity ProgramI!

Students who read over 600 minutes will have their names entered in the raffle to play on the Students team. Students will be notified in class next week. Winners of the raffle for Dick’s House of Sport Climbing Wall passes will be announced on Friday Dec 16th.  Go Team Student!!

A big thank you to Susie Kaufman for organizing this fun and successful Leer-a-tón with help from Amanda Sacho.

 

Thank You Volunteers!

Thanks to this year’s parents, there are currently no urgent volunteer openings! But we would always love more help. If you are interested in joining a team or pitching in to help at an event, please email psivolunteers@gmail.com and let us know!

We will announce volunteer needs for Staff Appreciation Week and Carnival in the upcoming weeks.

Do you know about the PSI Pizza Siren?

Last school year, Parkway Pizza donated over $900 to PSI PTO as part of its Dine Out for Schools program to give back to the community.  Parkway donates 5% of sales on the first Wednesdays of the month to PSI. Dine-out, delivery, or carry-out. It all counts! No code needed.

Want to participate but need a reminder? Whenever you hear the MN Tornado Siren Test at 1pm on the first Wednesday of each month, know that all orders that day earn money for PSI PTO!

Park Pride! Sr Davis

David Davis is first Minnesota teacher to be semifinalist for Grammy Music Educator Award.

Read the full article here!

Spiritwear is here!

If you selected “school delivery” for your Spiritwear order, pickup dates available are:
Thursday 12/1, 5:45-6:45, at the St. Louis Park REC Center, inside between the East and West rinks
– OR – 
Monday 12/5, 2:15-4:00, at PSI school inside the main entrance doors

If you selected home delivery, your order will be shipped to you directly.

SCHOOL CLOSING: 11/29/2022

Per the St Louis Park School District social media page

Due to severe winter weather, St. Louis Park Public Schools will be adjusting dismissal times by 20 minutes today, Nov. 29, 2022 for elementary schools, the high school and early learning students who receive transportation.

Early Release Times
Aquila, Susan Lindgren, Peter Hobart, Park Spanish Immersion: Release at 1:55 p.m. (20-minutes early)
High School: Release at 2:55 p.m. (20-minutes early)
Early Learning students who receive transportation: Release at 2:40 p.m. (20-minutes release)
*Note that St. Louis Park Middle School will release at its normal time.

Track your Student’s Bus:
Families can download the Traversa 360 App to view real-time mapping for school bus arrival for pick-up and afternoon drop-off.

After School Activities and Athletics
There will be no after school activities at the elementary, middle or high school. The boys hockey games will be postponed. The girls basketball game with Minnetonka at the high school will continue as scheduled.

KidsPlace
Parents and caregivers are encouraged to pick up children from KidsPlace elementary sites and Kids Place Preschool at Central as soon as possible after the early release times. KidsPlace will close as soon as the last child is picked up from each program. We are giving this advanced notice so that families can plan to leave work early or arrange for their child/children to be picked up.

Community Education
Community Education evening and aquatic programs will continue as scheduled.
Unless notified otherwise, staff and students will be expected to attend school in person on the next scheduled learning day. Stay tuned to slpschools.org for the latest information. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility with this information.

Student Directory Update

The online student directory has been updated for the 2022-2023 school year.   More information can be found here.  A link is also available on the parent resources menu on the right side (when accessing this site from a PC), or on the bottom (when accessing this site via a mobile device.)

Spring Amity Intern Host Family Still Needed!

Hosting is a unique experience that can benefit your entire family, plus it’s a great way to give back to the students, teachers, and staff of PSI and beyond. If you are interested in learning more, check out a list of commonly asked questions in the Host Family FAQs.

Email psiamity@gmail.com to connect with one of our PSI Amity Coordinators, Kyle Wermerskirchen, Megan Patterson, Paige Young or Susan Croom for more information.

And The Leer-a-tón Winners Are…

Congratulations to Srta. Bernal’s and Sra. Ziegle’s classes for highest participation in this year’s ¡Leer-a-tón! They earned a donut party!

A big round of applause for the top individual readers:

Charlotte M. (Kinder), Dagmawi B. (Gr. 2), Emmalyn T. (Gr. 2), Walter L. (Gr. 4), and Will S. (Gr. 3)!

Students who read more than 1,000 minutes will soon have their names on the Leer-a-tón Wall of Fame. Bravo readers!

The PSI Directory Is Here!

The PSI online directory has been updated. It can be found here. For first time users, be sure to register using the email you have on file with the school district. For detailed instructions on how to access the directory and edit your info, please click HERE.

Give to the Max donations exceed $1,500!

Thanks for all of your GTMD donations today for the PTO! So far we have raised over $1,500.  That amount is enough to cover an amities stipend for 5 months!

Donations will continue to be accepted at GiveMN.Org

Leer-a-tón Goal Met!

has raised more than $22,700 for the Amity Intern Program, crushing our goal of $20,000! Congratulations students, and THANK YOU families for your incredible generosity!
Students, get ready to celebrate and cheer during the students-versus-teachers basketball game during the next assembly! Individual winners will be announced before the Thanksgiving break.

Meet Pilar Hinojosa

Hi, my name is Pilar I am 21, and I have studied education.

I did a major in special needs and I would like to do something related to psychology someday.

I have always been working with children, being a babysitter or giving particular classes to reforce school learnings.

I have a little family with only one sister that is everything to me. We like to spend many time together sharing sports moments or visiting new places. I have done horse riding, dance, pádel, tennis, volleyball,….

We are from Sevilla spain, but we used to live in Osuna that is a little village of Seville.

I love reading, listening to music, running or walking, cooking, or proving new things.

I am a happy girl, with too many things to learn that has just opened a door that I believe will be the beginning to many good things and the way to grow up strongly and more confident in herself.

I like to be with people but I also enjoy time being alone and thinking.

Meet Daniel Ferrero

My name is Daniel and I was born in Spain, in the city of Valladolid in 1997. I live there with my parents  Isidro and Claudia.  My parents are from a little village named Medina del Campo, which is a town that historically has been the capital of the world because the empire’s merchandise was gathered in the main square.  When I was a child I studied in Medina and after high school I went to the university to study a degree in philosophy and specialize in doing a master’s degree that qualifies me as a teacher. I really like philosophy and soccer, that’s why I am also a soccer coach.  I love all the sports. When I was a child I played soccer, swimming, karate, basketball, tennis… but recently I try american football and baseball.  Also, I like the reggueaton music, read books of philosophy, ride my bike with my family, go to my village to see my family, hanging out with my friends to do many plans with theirs and travel.

I am very excited with my future experience in Minnesota because I want to learn about the culture here, and the native culture. I also want to show my culture since this program offers a unique exchange of knowledge and is an opportunity to grow in all aspects, both as a teacher and as a person.

Meet Lisbeth Villalobos Melendez

My name is Lisbeth Villalobos Melendez. I was born on September 15th, 2000 in El Salvador. I am 21 years old. I am a student at Gerardo Barrios University. I am studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in English. This year I had the opportunity to participate in a virtual internship, teaching physical science at Collinsville High School located in Illinois for 4 months, it was a fantastic experience that has motivated me to learn the different techniques and methodologies that education has in the United States. and I also want to know about USA culture and traditions.

My family includes five members counting me; my mother, my father, and my two brothers, I am the oldest one. I am an outgoing person, I have an adventurous soul, I really appreciate places surrounded by nature, I enjoy listening to music, singing, watching movies, reading, I am creative, I stand out a lot for handicrafts

I am more than excited about my future experiences in Minnesota, because I know that it will help me as a future teacher since it has been my dream since I was a child, I want to make my beautiful country known, and I want to connect with my future students creating an environment reliable and effective, Additionally, I will improve my English and share special moments with you.

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