Welcome to 2022! We hope your year will be filled with great learning opportunities, plenty of exciting adventures, good health and friendships old and new.
We'd like to start this week's Wolf Pack Press with a note of appreciation for our Nurse's Office staff who are working above and beyond the call to service this year. The below text was written by SAP parent and Library TA, Lauren Renner; the sentiment is from us all.
These days a call from the nurse’s office at school is the last thing anyone wants. Do you know the smiling and caring faces behind these calls? Our health office is staffed by Rosaleigh Minder and Kelly Nelson. They are working tirelessly at the moment to keep our school community and surrounding community safe and healthy. We want to extend sincere thanks to Rosaleigh and Kelly in the St. Anthony Park Elementary Health Office. Together they have spent countless hours contract tracing, contacting families and teachers, acknowledging disappointment, answering questions, and comforting kids. What is truly amazing, they are doing this on top of an already busy daily schedule of nosebleeds, lost teeth, and upset stomachs! They show up every day to our building ready to serve our kids, staff, and families with care and compassion. We are grateful they are part of our Wolf Pack. Thank you, Rosaleigh and Kelly for all you do. We appreciate you.
Do you have a note of appreciation you would like to share with the school community? Please send to president@sapsamn.org and we will include in the Wolf Pack Press!
Our Blanket Drive to benefit Project Reach is off to a great start! Over 30 families ordered blanket-making kits before winter break. In addition to the hand-made blankets students are making, we are accepting new twin sized blankets through January 11th (next Tuesday). You can send donations into the building in the morning or stop by with your donation when the building is open to drop it off in the box by the front office. Thank you for your generosity!
How cute are these pandas? A big thanks to Lara Bollweg and Cara Melvin for pulling the fleece tie-blanket kits together, distributing them and showing off some super cute examples of the donations our students are making. We are grateful for their work and delighted to see our students' creations.
Be A Reading Hero, SAP's 15th Annual Read-a-Thon!
We are very excited that our fifteenth annual Read-A-Thon will start next Monday, January 10th! This year's theme is "Be a Reading Hero!"
If this is your first Read-A-Thon, you may have some questions. A Read-A-Thon is an activity and friendly competition to encourage students to read and to raise money for the school. Your student will not be graded on anything related to the Read-A-Thon. It is just for fun!
A packet with all the details you need will be sent home with your child on Monday. We know that this month is going to be extra weird and challenging when it comes to Covid, so we've also posted all the materials online just in case you need them: www.sapsamn.org/read-a-thon.
Our school goal is to read 195,000 minutes this year. To achieve that goal, each student would need to read 40 minutes each day over the 10 days of the Read-A-Thon. Reading independently, being read to, or listening to audio books - it all counts towards our overall school goal!
Our fundraising goal is to raise $8,100 to support our school. If we reach our school goal of reading 195,000 minutes, Dr. Duke will transform into a superhero for the day! Reading minutes also makes kids eligible for raffle prizes. And whole classrooms will be eligible to win a pizza prize (one per grade) if they are reading heroes! We'd love to hear all about what the kids are reading over the ten days and let them send words of encouragement to each other! They can share their thoughts on this Padlet: https://padlet.com/president144/69t6fzgp6qfzjado
Wolfies, there is a situation brewing in the Lost & Found at school. With parents unable to really get in there and snoop around for gear, our Lost & Found has become super unwieldly. We are lighting up the Lostandfoundsap Instagram handle and will be posting photos of lost items. Please follow so you can help us reunite items with their owners and please nag your children to take a look in Lost & Found for items they may not even realize they lost. Please follow: www.instagram.com/Lostandfoundsap
Health & Wellness, Vaccines & Tests
It's shaping up to be a challenging month in regards to Covid, and we once more have to dig deep to take care of our kids and our community. We are so encouraged by the numbers of students in our school who have been vaccinated (at our last SAPSA meeting, we learned that over 60% of our students had received at least one shot!) We know this diligence goes a long way towards preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and health complications; it also helps protect our teachers and staff from the same. Thank you.
If you are now considering vaccinating your student or need to plan a second shot, these two links are very helpful: https://www.ramseycounty.us/covid-19-info/covid-19-vaccine#1 and https://mn.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaxforkids/index.jsp#find_vaccine_locations. You can also schedule a vaccine or booster for yourself. Teens are now also eligible for boosters.
Additionally, Saint Paul Public Schools is offering free vaccine clinics on January 6, 12, 13, 20, 22, and February 2 at various district sites. You register, and find a list of other vaccine locations, at this website: https://www.spps.org/covidvaccine
One key note we hope you noticed in Dr. Duke's Principal's Update: Fully vaccinated persons do not have to quarantine! You will still be notified if your vaccinated child was a close contact, but they will not have to stay home. That is 1-2 weeks of learning that they won't miss, which can make a huge difference in a child's social and academic growth.
What's For Lunch?
What's For Breakfast?
Upcoming Dates
January 3-11, Blanket Drive/Project Reach (Leave donations at box near front entrance)
January 10-20th Read-a-Thon 2022! Help your student read 40 minutes a day
January 11th Advisory Council, POSTPONED (Reschedule date to come)
January 11th SAPSA, POSTPONED (Reschedule date to come)
January 17th MLK Jr Day (No School)
January 22nd School Choice Fair (Saturday, 9:30AM start at St. Paul River Center)
January 27th School Spirit Day (Beach Day) and Read-a-Thon Assembly
January 28th Professional Development Day (No School)
February 8th SAPSA & AC Meetings
February 21st– Presidents’ Day (No School)
February 25th School Spirit Day (Hat Day)
February 26th St. Anthony Park Winter Festival
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 11-13th Plant Sale
May 13th Spring Carnival (outside)
May 20th Ninja Anywhere
May 30th Memorial Day (No School)
TBD Fifth grade celebration
June 10th Last Day of School