Wolf Pack Press

Wolf Pack Press, February 23rd

Feb 23, 2022
4 min read

Luminary Walk & Fire Dance Performance

Saturday, February 26th at 6PM

Please RSVP here so we can estimate hot cocoa & snacks:

Volunteers Needed

We will need volunteers on the afternoon of the 26th to help create the luminary path and get everything else ready. You can sign-up yourself or bring a buddy. Kid-sized buddies are great and will be entirely capable of helping with this afternoon project and are very welcome! We have also added a few items since last week. The tasks are 90 and 60 and 30minutes in length. We want everyone to be able to enjoy this event, so the slots are designed to give volunteers plenty of time with their families to stroll the luminaries. Please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084DA4AC2DA0FA7-luminary

Luminary Walk: What To Expect

The weather will be just about as perfect as we could hope for with temperatures hovering around 32 degrees! Just the right temperature to keep ice luminaries frozen, but human beings dressed warmly pretty comfortable. As just about anything to do with small kids, we think it is always good to know a few basic things before embarking on an adventure. Here are some things we think it will be helpful for you to know:

The Hope & Peace Oasis

When you arrive, there will be a table with paper and pencils. Students (and their entourages) can decorate or write a message to add to the giant jar in the heart of the Hope & Peace Oasis. The oasis is not yet on the map, but you will be able to discover it along the walk!

The Basics

Please dress warmly and put the kids in their boots and snow pants.
The school will be open for bathroom use only. Please have a mask handy since masks are required to enter all SPPS buildings.
We will have hand warmers, snacks and cocoa available. Let's all make sure everyone able to enjoy these treats before going back for seconds if they are available.
Please do not litter. Let's be nice to our park.

The Main Event

The walk through the luminaries will start around 6:05PM.
There will be a physical barrier in place to mark where our fire dancing friends will be working and to keep children from wandering into their space.
Embrace the Light will take the stage at 6:40PM.
The luminaries will be set up until 9PM for anyone who wants to stroll around with older children after the fire dancers are done being totally awesome.

How to get there:

Please consider walking if you are local.
If you will be driving, please consider parking a few blocks away so families with very small children or mobility challenges have an opportunity to park more closely to the event.
If you will be taking public transportation, the #3 and #87 buses arrive at Como & Raymond Aves every 30 minutes.

Would You Like To Make Some Ice Luminaries?

Preparations are still underway! Here are some ice luminaries we've made this week. These are made by pouring water into a bucket and leaving outside for several hours, depending on the temperature outside! The top and sides will freeze, but the bottom will not. When you flip over, water will pour out and you will be left with a frozen bowl like this! The trick is to catch them before they freeze completely. If you would like to make some for the event, we would welcome the additional luminaries. You can bring them over to the school forest on the afternoon of the 26th and leave them by the bases of the trees.

We are now offering Every Meal (bags of food). If you are interested in having your child bring home a FREE bag of nonperishable food on the last day of every week, please open the link below to sign up.

Click here for full details (in English, Somali, Hmong and Spanish)
Click here to sign up for Every Meal

You may also let your child’s teacher know, or email our school counselor, Megan Rinn, at megan.rinn@spps.org

Lost & Found

Are these items your child's? Please follow https://www.instagram.com/lostandfoundsap/ and connect with us! Your items will be identified and put into the laundry basket in the front office. And please label your child's clothes! It is the very best way to get your items back to you. Thanks!

What's For Lunch?

What's For Breakfast?

Calendar

February 25th School Spirit Day (Hat Day)

February 26th St. Anthony Park Luminary Walk & Fire Performance 5:30-7PM

March 4th Conference Prep Day (No School)

March 8th SAPSA & AC Meetings

March 23-24 Conferences 3-6PM

March 25th Conferences AM & PM (No School)

April 1st School Spirit Day (Pajama Day)

April 4-8th Spring Break (No school)

April 12th SAPSA & AC Meetings

April 15th Digital Learning Day

March 28th, SAP Science Fair

May 1st Board Nominee Deadline

May 10th SAPSA & AC Meetings

May 10th Board Elections

May 10-12th Plant Sale

May 13th Spring Carnival (outside)

May 20th Ninja Anywhere

May 30th Memorial Day (No School)

June 2 Fifth Grade Celebration

June 7th Fifth Grade Celebration (RAIN DATE)

June 10th Last Day of School

July 31st – End of 2021-2022 Fiscal Year and Current Board Positions

August 1st – Start of 2022-2023 Fiscal Year and New Board Assume Positions

Wolf Pack Press, February 16th

Feb 15, 2022
2 min read

Luminary Walk & Fire Dance Performance

Saturday, February 26th at 6PM

Please RSVP here so we can estimate hot cocoa & snacks:

RSVP

Volunteers Needed

We will need volunteers on the afternoon of the 26th to help create the luminary path. Do you think you can help? You can sign-up yourself or bring a buddy. Kid-sized buddies are great and will be entirely capable of helping with this afternoon project and are very welcome! The tasks are 90 and 60 minutes. Please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084DA4AC2DA0FA7-luminary

Would You Like To Make Some Luminaries?

Preparations are underway! Here are some ice luminaries we've made this week. These are made by pouring water into a bucket and leaving outside for several hours, depending on the temperature outside! The top and sides will freeze, but the bottom will not. When you flip over, water will pour out and you will be left with a frozen bowl like this! The trick is to catch them before they freeze completely. If you would like to make some for the event, we would welcome the additional luminaries. You can bring them over to the school forest on the afternoon of the 26th and leave them by the bases of the trees.

Click here for full details (in English, Somali, Hmong and Spanish)
Click here to sign up for Every Meal

You may also let your child’s teacher know, or email our school counselor, Megan Rinn, at megan.rinn@spps.org

Thank you!

Lost & Found

What's For Lunch?

What's For Breakfast?

Calendar

February 21st– Presidents’ Day (No School)

February 25th School Spirit Day (Hat Day)

February 26th St. Anthony Park Luminary Walk & Fire Performance

March 4th Conference Prep Day (No School)

March 8th SAPSA & AC Meetings

March 23-24 Conferences 3-6PM

March 25th Conferences AM & PM (No School)

April 1st School Spirit Day (Pajama Day)

April 4-8th Spring Break (No school)

April 12th SAPSA & AC Meetings

April 15th Digital Learning Day

May 1st Board Nominee Deadline

May 10th SAPSA & AC Meetings

May 10th Board Elections

May 10-12th Plant Sale

May 13th Spring Carnival (outside)

May 20th Ninja Anywhere

May 30th Memorial Day (No School)

June 2 Fifth Grade Celebration

June 7th Fifth Grade Celebration (RAIN DATE)

June 10th Last Day of School

July 31st – End of 2021-2022 Fiscal Year and Current Board Positions

August 1st – Start of 2022-2023 Fiscal Year and New Board Assume Positions

Wolf Pack Press, February 10th

Feb 10, 2022
7 min read

YOU ARE INVITED!

SAP Luminary Walk: Saturday, February 26th from 5:30-7PM

Please join us for a special evening where we will light over 800 luminaries to create a path through Langford Park. Families can gather and let kids play starting at 5:30PM on the school blacktop. When the sun sets around 6PM, it will be time to get a cup of cocoa and stroll through the park during twilight. And then (DRUMROLL) . . . . . . . . . . at 6:40PM we will gather near the bandstand for some thrilling fire & light entertainment by the artists from Embrace the Light!

We will be sending flyers home next week with more details about public transportation, parking and ways to help make the evening a fun, meaningful and safe event for everyone. This event is free; extended family and close friends are welcome to join you. We will ask families to RSVP next week so we can have the right amount of hot cocoa and snacks on hand. In the meantime, please mark your calendars! Thank you.

Here are the Embrace the Light Artists in action! WOW!

Volunteers Needed

As you can imagine, we will need volunteers on the afternoon of the 26th to help create the luminary path. Do you think you can help? You can sign-up yourself or bring a buddy. Kid-sized buddies are great and will be entirely capable of helping with this afternoon project and are very welcome! The tasks are 90 and 60 minutes. Please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084DA4AC2DA0FA7-luminary

恭喜發財 / Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Lunar New Year! Our Second Grade classes had their marvelous parade last week! Each year, they design their own dragons and other festive art, then parade them through the school. It is one of the real delights of our year at St. Anthony Park Elementary. We wish you all a prosperous New Year.

Meeting Recaps & Minutes

SAPSA Meeting, 2/8/22

Summary: This month we reviewed our recent activities, discussed upcoming board elections, received updates from our chairs/board members and discussed plans for the Luminary Walk.

Read-a-Thon. We raised a staggering $23,280 for our Read-a-Thon (almost TRIPLE our goal!) and our kiddos read an astonishing 341,000+ minutes and each child received a free book for their efforts.

A big thank you to Sara Shepard for leading this event, to our minute-counting volunteers for giving us time on their weekend to tally minutes, to Julie MacGregor Farris for coordinating the book purchase, to Lauren Renner for library support, to Dr. Duke for being game to wear a superhero outfit, to our teachers who got kids jazzed and helped them stay on task, to all the families and friends from near and far who supported our kids' efforts, and to our kids for giving it their all. And a big shout-out to Word Girl for her encouraging message! We are so grateful to you all.

Blanket Drive. Our blanket drive brought in 60 blankets to support Project Reach! The blanket kits were super fun and a welcome activity during winter break. Thank you to Lara Bollweg and Cara Melvin for coordinating this effort! Lara and Cara lead our Service Projects; if you would like to be more involved in these projects, please email president@sapsamn.org and we will put you in touch with them! Looking ahead to March, they will be organizing a drive to support Afghan (and other) newly arrived families to Minnesota.

SAPSA Board Positions. This year, a number of terms are up for the SAPSA board: Vice President, Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, Secretary, Advisory Council Chair. Serving on the board is a great way to meet people, dedicate your time to creating community and make a real impact on very local decisions. If you are interested or would like to know more, please reach out to vicepresident@sapsamn.org

Chair Updates. Our board members gave recaps of how we are doing and then we discussed plans for the Luminary Walk on February 26th. Please read the minutes for more information about our SAPSA budget, upcoming volunteer needs and events.

Advisory Council Meeting 2/8/22

Summary: this month we received an update from Principal Duke about SAP, discussed the various budgets that will impact SAP and Saint Paul, and heard an update on SPFE (St. Paul Federation of Educators) / SPPS teacher contract negotiations.

Principal Update. This month, Principal Duke shared with us encouraging decreases in Covid at our school and in the city/county. Staff absences are also significantly down. Additionally, SPPS quarantine guidelines have changed to shorter periods with fewer people having to quarantine due to vaccinations.

We have also increased our enrollment to 496 students. In addition to students returning to in-person from Virtual School, we often see new families in January due to other factors like moving, new jobs, etc. A warm welcome to our new and returning families! We hope you find St. Anthony Park a welcoming and nurturing environment for your child(ren).

2022 WK #	1	2	3	4	5
Cases	21	21	16	6	2

Budgets. This year, the Minnesota state budget has a surplus. There is hope some of the surplus will go to education. However, the Saint Paul Public School (SPPS) District is anticipating a significant deficit this year due to a decline in enrollment city-wide. Additionally, there are emergency Federal funds which are temporary in nature and currently being used to primarily support staffing. Our school budget (which most notably impacts our staffing) is based, in large part, on enrollment. Projected enrollment is anticipated by early March and Principal Duke will most likely receive our budget in April. At that point, there will be information sessions to present/discuss these numbers.

SPFE Negotiations. Negotiations and mediation are ongoing. Some smaller proposals have been agreed upon but things are not going great. The union has created a parent/community action team who would like to support educators in negotiations. Shared link: spfe28.org/the-time-is-now. Families can sign up and/or sign petition of support. Update: SPFE has since shared this message.

The Milk Situation. A reminder that while school lunch is free for all students, milk costs 50 cents as an a la carte item. This means that in order to get a free milk, students need to take two foods items they may not need or want. It is an head-scratching bureaucratic "huh?" kind of thing. It's a weird position to put our kids in -- we don't want them wasting food, but we also don't want them to not have milk that is essentially free. There is now a bit of a school balance for the cost of milk that kids who don't take the two items but didn't pay the 50 cents for the milk. Does this make your head spin a little? Ours, too! The long and short is that the school can likely cover the debts and SAPSA can help, but if your child is just getting milk and milk alone it costs 50 cents and you can put some money on their account in School Cafe.

Enrollment. We discussed online open house, tours and some additional plans for getting the word out about St. Anthony Park.

Enrollment

This is the message we are sharing with the world about our school. If you have friends with in-coming Kindergartners or who are impacted by school closures due to Envision or have maybe left SPPS during Distance Learning, please share with them. A fully enrolled, robust school is very important for funding and staffing. The more the merrier!

PLEASE SHARE BELOW.

It is time to choose a great school in Saint Paul! Enrollment in Saint Paul Public Schools for next year is now open (start here to enroll). We want to share some information about Saint Anthony Park Elementary School for families with children entering Kindergarten through 5th grade.

SAP Elementary is a community school in Area E with a 7:15-2:00 school day. The school serves a diverse community of approximately 500 students in 21 classrooms staffed by experienced, caring, and dedicated educators. SAP Elementary is located at one end of Langford Park, giving students access to abundant open space and our school forest during recess and outdoor time. Inside, the school was recently renovated and includes a beautiful, light-filled library. We also have dedicated, specialized spaces for art and music instruction, gender-neutral bathrooms, and spacious classrooms.

We are proud of the variety of instruction our students receive including a daily rotation of art, music, science, physical education, and technology instruction with weekly visits to the school library. After school hours also bubble with activity at SAP:

Our school is a hub location for Discovery Club.
Other afterschool enrichment opportunities include Extended Day Learning (free, 2X a week for grades 3-5) and Saint Paul Community Education.
Other childcare services include Langford Park Recreation Center which offers its free Rec Check program daily. SAP Kids (a paid after-school program) is just a block away.
St. Anthony Park School Association hosts events for the school community like our annual Read-a-Thon, Fall/Spring Festivals, speakers nights as well as providing support for our educators. You can get a sense of the great school community at their website: www.sapsamn.org

If you are interested in learning more about what makes SAP Elementary an excellent choice for your elementary school student, please attend one of our upcoming online open houses (more information here), or contact advisory@sapsamn.org with any questions. We hope to see you on the playground soon!