Staff Spotlight: Ms. Walsh

Adeline: What is your favorite thing about a new school year?

Ms. Walsh: I love getting to see how much people have changed over the summer. Like getting to look at the first graders that were kindergarteners last year and my second graders who were first graders last year and how much you've changed in just a few months.

Sera: What is your favorite Science topic?

Ms. Walsh: I absolutely love teaching about plants. I think it's a lot of fun because I think plants are really interesting and sometimes they get called the boring subject, but I think they're fascinating.

Adeline: What inspired you to let your students decide your hair color.

Ms. Walsh: I had a lot of people in my life tell me that I couldn't color my hair or anything that wasn't a normal hair color and I was like, nah I'm over that and so I like having fun hair and I thought it would be fun to let you guys pick. And you guys picked really fun combos.

Sera: Do you have any pets? Like if you do have any pets maybe you should bring them and maybe we could see them.

Ms. Walsh: Well, I'm not gonna bring Jada the cat into the classroom, because she is not a huge fan of people that are not her people.

Sera: Probably because um, if I touched her then I have to wash my hands before I went home because my dad's allergic to cats.

Ms. Walsh: Yeah. Jada was a rescue cat. So, she likes to be with her people and no one else.

Adeline: What's your favorite animal?

Ms. Walsh: I love tigers. I think they're really cool, um white Siberian tigers I think are the prettiest, but all tigers are cool.

Sera: What are we most likely to find you doing on Saturday morning?

Ms. Walsh: Sleeping in much later than I meant to and then knitting.

Adeline: ooOOo

Adeline: What is your favorite book?

Ms. Walsh: Ooo, when I read this was one of your questions, it was a really hard question for me because I have so many favorite books.But one of my favorite books, especially when I was your age, were the American Girl books. I really loved those. They were a lot of fun.

Sera: I love American Girl doll books too!

Ms. Walsh: I begged my parents for American Girl dolls, they wouldn't let me have one.

Sera: What is your favorite time of year?

Ms. Walsh: Fall actually, I love it when the leaves start changing and I love it when it's a little cool.

Adeline: Me too.

Sera: I love spring, because spring is when it starts getting warmer and there are a lot of fun things like Easter, my birthday, and we do some things for the groundhog.

Adeline: I like summer and fall, too.

Ms. Walsh: Yeah.

Adeline: Do you have a favorite outdoor activity?

Ms. Walsh: I do! I love hiking. I'm a huge hiking fan. In fact, I actually just completed a virtual race and I just got my ribbon from that and I'm actually going to bring it into school, so you'll get to see it soon.

Adeline: Ooo!

Sera: Wow! That's great!.

Sera: This is the last question. Last but not least! What do you love to eat?

Ms. Walsh: My favorite food is sushi. It has always been my favorite. Well, not always, but it's been my favorite since I started eating it.

Sera: I love sushi. When I tried it I loved it so much, even though avocado is in sushi, which I hate avocados, but I still loved it.

Ms; Walsh: But it tastes good in sushi!

Sera: Yeah! I know!

Ms. Walsh: All right, we know her favorite food. What's your favorite food?

Adeline: I like... Caprese salad and beans.

Ms. Walsh: Oh, good choice.

Staff Spotlight: Ms. Williams

Ivette: What is your favorite book?

Mrs. Williams: Well, I have two favorite books. One is an adult book, for me. I love a Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. I’ve loved it since college. And, I read you my second favorite book, that’s a children’s book. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes because he is my favorite children’s author.

Zeynep: What is your favorite thing about first graders?

Mrs. Williams: That one is easy! How excited they are to learn everything!

Ivette: What are we most likely to find you doing on a Saturday morning?

Mrs. Williams: On a Saturday morning, I like to get up before my whole family and when it is quiet in my house, I like to drink coffee and read.

Zeynep: What is your favorite thing about the first day of school?

Mrs. Williams: Meeting all of the first graders!

Ivette: What is your favorite season?

Mrs. Williams: Summer! I love summer because in Minnesota it’s cold for so long and summer is so short. I think that’s why it’s one of my favorites.

Zeynep: Do you have a favorite school subject to teach? What is it?

Mrs. Williams: My favorite subject to teach is reading. I love reading, especially in first grade, because some kids come in and they know how to read, then they can learn how to read better. But some kids don’t know how to read and when they first learn how to read…do you remember how it was like magic when you first learned how to read? And everything started to make sense? I love that!

Ivette: What do you love to eat?

Mrs. Williams: Oh boy…well, mainly I just love to eat. But I do love Ethiopian food. I love eating injera. It’s a bread you rip with your hands, and you get to eat with your hands. And then you can dip it in food and I love potatoes with lots of spices. So, that’s my favorite food. It’s Ethiopian food.

Zeynep: Do you have any pets?

Mrs. Williams: We have two rescue cats! One is Vivi. She is an orange tabby. And one is Oscar. He’s a white and grey cat, and he acts like a dog!

Ivette: What is your favorite memory from this summer?

Mrs. Williams: Mr. Williams and I went to Seattle. And we took a ferryboat across the water and I loved looking back at the city of Seattle from the ferryboat. So, I think that’s my favorite memory: seeing the city of Seattle from the water.

Zeynep: Where is one place you have never been but would love to go?

Mrs. Williams: Can I choose two? I really want to take Mac and Selah, my son and daughter, to Hawaii and to Washington D.C. And if you made me choose, I would have to sit here for a long time! I want to go to Washington D.C. because of all the history there and show them that. But I also want to go to Hawaii and see all of the beautiful nature in Hawaii.

Ivette and Zeynep: Thank you!

Mrs. Williams: You’re welcome! Can I ask you one question? Do you have a favorite book, or even a favorite author or series?

Ivette: I think The Book With No Pictures.

Zeynep: I like Mercy Watson.

Ivette: Oh, I also like that one!

Mrs. Williams: She’s a porcine wonder!

Ivette: She really is…

Wolf Pack Press, 20 September 2021

Volunteers Needed

Annual School Clean-Up, Saturday, September 25, 9-11AM

Please join us as we clean-up the school yard. We currently have three volunteers and need 22 more.

Our school yard needs some attention! After a few seasons left to nature due to the school remodel and Covid, it is time to roll up our sleeves, grab our garden gloves and get out there to tend the space. The Spider, the Peace Garden and our front sign on Como will be our main focus.

Please bring your own weeding tools and gloves. We will be outside and socially distanced, but please have a mask handy if you need to work closely with others. We expect there will be a decent amount of yard waste and will need some help getting that to the Yard Waste Center around 11-12PM. Kids are welcome to come help out. We will have plenty of donuts on hand to keep you super-charged! Please sign up here.

Also Saturday from 9-11AM at SAP Elementary:

Yearbook Distribution

2020-2021 yearbooks are in! There is a yearbook for every student. We will have yearbooks available to pick up from 9-11AM on Saturday the 25th at the school during the Annual School Clean-up. If you miss this chance, we will have several more opportunities for you in the weeks to come.

Lost & Found Pop-Up

Missing something? We will have our Lost & Found items available to peruse during the Annual School Clean-Up from 9-11AM on September 25th. Which is a great reminder: please label coats, sweatshirts, mittens, hats, water bottles, backpacks with your child's name in a permanent marker. We end up with a huge pile of lost items every year and want to be able to reunite them with their owners.

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Keeping Each Other Healthy

One of central mitigation strategies for managing Covid in our school community is regular testing. We checked in with a few families to ask how they are incorporating testing into their weekly schedule.

"We order free Vault at home kits. You have to create an email profile for each of your kids, but once you do it's pretty simple. When you order the test (here is a link), it is express shipped directly to your home. Then you hop on a Zoom call with a practitioner who observes you spit into a tube and seal up your test. Drop it off at UPS and get your results in about 24 hours."

"We just make appointments at Walgreens. We also have BinaxNOW kits at home that I plan to use if my son shows any symptoms. We figure if he is sick, we'd want to know asap then make plans for a confirmation test later. The BinaxNOW kits can be a little hard to get your hands on, but try CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Sam's Club, etc."

"Last week, I scooped the kids up from school and hit the airport for our 3PM appointments. Free tests. They were troopers! So we picked up some McDonalds on the way home. Hey! At least I didn't need to cook dinner!"

Please see below (below the blog post) the free Twin Cities test sites. You can also go directly here to make an appointment: mncovidtestingappt.as.me

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SAPSA Meeting Re-Cap

Last Tuesday night, SAPSA met to approve our Q1 fiscal spending budget. As explained at the meeting, our annual budget was approved last June, but with the unique challenges Covid has presented, we are in the practice of addressing our expenses on a quarterly basis to address emergent needs created by Covid. A summary of some of our annual expenses can be found here.

In addition to routine expenses, SAPSA approved two major expenses.

The first is $8,000 to supply HEPA air filters to classrooms without them at St. Anthony Park Elementary.

The second is a $1,000 stipend for a volunteer coordinator dedicated to possible lunch time volunteers. SAPSA has advocated for rotating classrooms to eat outside on days when the weather permits, but due to staffing limitations at lunch, this would require 15-30 routine and dedicated volunteers to cover 1 1/2 -3 hour volunteer shifts per week through the end of October.

Are you interested in this position? Please email vicepresident@sapsamn.org

Outside Lunch Survey: Please Respond ASAP

Advisory Council Meeting Re-cap

Advisory Council met on September 14th to kick off the 21-22 school year. At the meeting, Dr. Duke presented information on enrollment numbers and COVID protocol. Attendees made suggestions to Dr. Duke for how student pickup might be improved and the group developed some ideas that keep the process as safe and efficient as possible.

We then discussed the important Saint Paul School Board elections coming up in November and brainstormed ways that the Advisory Council can help the SAP school community learn more about the candidates. We hope to provide voters with more information about the candidates’ positions on a number of issues relevant to district families in the coming weeks.

Finally, the attendees discussed the importance of transparency and family engagement with district administration especially around decisions related to the American Rescue Plan and Envision SPPS. Complete minutes of the September meeting will be available soon on the Advisory Council webpage. If you would like to be added to the Advisory Council email list or just learn more, please email advisory@sapsamn.org.

SAP Staff Spotlight

Do you think you know which of our classroom teachers has a cat named Oscar who acts like a dog? Some more hints include a fondness for Ethiopian food and books by Kevin Henkes, quiet mornings with coffee and a good book, a summer trip to Seattle, and a love of teaching reading. Do you give up? It’s Mrs. Williams, one of the first grade teachers new to SAP! She was recently interviewed by two of her students and you can learn more about Mrs. Williams by reading their interview here.

Would your student like to interview a SAP staff member? Please email advisory@sapsamn.org to make arrangements for your own budding journalist.

What's For Lunch?

What's For Breakfast?

What's Coming Up?

Reminders

• Our Fall Bulb sale raised over $500 last week! We have raised a total of $1,046 out of our $5,000 goal.

• Please fill out this form to be included in this year's school directory. Submissions are due by October 1st.

• Please create an account for your family and fill out the benefits application for each student in your family. This is crucial, even if you will be refusing benefits! It helps the school district determine the true needs of our school and we need every family to respond. This application can be translated into Spanish, Somali or Hmong using the drop down on the application page.

Free Covid Testing Sites

St. Paul

Roy Wilkins Auditorium, 175 West Kellogg Fourth Ave South Saliva Monday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

To schedule an appointment: mncovidtestingappt.as.me

Minneapolis

Minneapolis Convention Center 1301 Second Avenue South Saliva Monday - Friday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

To schedule an appointment: mncovidtestingappt.as.me

MSP Airport

Terminal 1, 4300 Glumack Dr. (follow signs to the testing site on Level 2 of the Blue Ramp) Saint Paul Saliva 7 days a week 7 am - 7 pm every day

To schedule an appointment: mncovidtestingappt.as.me

Parking will be available for all seeking a COVID-19 test:

• Drive to Terminal 1 and into the entry plaza for the parking ramps. Signs will guide you from the inbound roadway to the clinic location itself.

• Follow signage to Level 2 in the Blue Ramp.

• Walk to the centrally located elevator lobby and follow signs to the clinic.