It's a wintery start to the month! Stay warm, and read on to learn what is happening at school.
A fire dancer mesmerizes the crowd in front of the school at the Luminary Festival.
Upcoming Events
- Friday, March 10 - No School
- Tuesday, March 14 - SAPSA Meeting, 6:30-7:30pm in the SAP Library
All are welcome!
Link will be made available to virtually attend, as the meeting nears.
Please note: Advisory Council March meeting date TBD.
- Thursday, March 16 - Evening Conferences
- Thursday, March 16 - Carnival Game Set Up Night - 6:00-8:00pm in the SAP cafeteria
- Friday, March 17 - Family Friday - 7:30am in the cafeteria, Walk your students to class, then join other families for coffee and conversation.
- Wednesday, March 22 - Evening Conferences
- Friday, March 24 - No School, Daytime Conferences
- Monday, March 27 - SAP Science Fair - See below for ways to get involved.
SAP Luminary Festival
From Bryn Manion, Luminary Organizer:
We had an extraordinary festival this past weekend at Langford Park with over 450 attendees Saturday evening! From beginning to end, our school and the broader SAP community displayed generosity, support, ingenuity, teamwork, positivity and whimsy to pull our winter oasis together. Here are a few things I want you to know and take heart in:
This festival was entirely funded by a community grant from the SAP Foundation, as well as cash and goods donations from you! And so far, we have raised over $2,000 to benefit the school. If you enjoyed the Festival and feel moved to donate, there is still time. Please visit: https://www.givemn.org/event/Sapluminary
With school out of session and so much snow, we had no idea how we were going to clear a path for everyone. But a few dozen people with sleds, skis and a good attitude, showed up and stomped out a path. Then school parent Ryan Courtney spent hours snowblowing the trail and performance circle.
On Saturday night, the kids ran and played and screamed and played and did all the kid things we are so grateful to see them do. And do you know what happened to all the paper and ice luminaries? Absolutely nothing. All one thousand of them were completely in tact when I took a solo stroll around the park that night. Our kids are responsible, thoughtful, careful and trustworthy young citizens. Thank you to their adults for guiding them so well and safely through the event.
Sunday many families returned! And because it was a more gentle evening, many families from the area with younger children and several older residents from the area were able to stroll through the park and take in the fruits of all our work. They were full of wonder because of your generosity and hard work.
And Monday? Guess what else happened! The clean-up was canceled due to rain, but volunteers still showed up and cleaned the entire park. It was such a gift and eased the workload once more.
You have all proved that we can be the light and that many hands do make light work. Thank you and bravo.
Spring Carnival - Coming up!
With all this rain and snow coming down, it's easy to start dreaming about spring. And what better way to help us get through these last weeks of winter than to announce our upcoming Spring Carnival on May 12th?
The Spring Carnival is an important fundraiser for our school, and with the support of our community we know we can make it a wonderful event for our students! It will be a fun evening of games, raffles, obstacle courses and a way to come together as a community to support our amazing school. Check your child's backpack this week or click on the links below for more information about how you can help us with this great event.
Volunteer to help with the Silent Auction! This is a flexible way to help with the event: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904044aacaa28abfa7-2023#/
Carnival Game Clean Out Night is Thursday, March 16 from 6-8pm - Come dig out and set up the old carnival games that have been stored on the stage for years. Curious about what's there? We are too! This will be a fun night of discovery, with pizza and drinks. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904044aacaa28abfa7-spring#/
Donate an item to be a prize for the kids' raffle here: https://a.co/gsHqgGX Also, as always, we're looking to conserve resources when possible by using what we already have. If you have any new toys or other items that you think could make a good raffle prize (similar to items on the raffle prize link above), please reach out to Amy Raddatz at president@sapsamn.org
Donate an item for our Silent Auction! Do you own your own business, or just want to help us add a fun item to our Silent Auction. Click this link : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9T3-9fm5JBZcSwNTCmgqlGduZcEmOCUzK-CQ-iuDKByrinw/viewform to complete the form.
Library Helpers
SAP Library TA Suzanne Gural would greatly appreciate help with reshelving books for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am-noon. Re-acquaint yourself with the Dewey decimal system. Please pick a time slot if you can help keep the books organized for our kiddos. Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904044AACAA28ABFA7-library1
Science Fair
From Mr. Schrankler:
Dear SAP Families and Friends,
The St. Anthony Park Elementary Science Fair will take place on Monday, March 27th. Our 3rd-5th Grade students will be presenting their Science projects. I am reaching out to ask if you would be interested in helping at the SAP Science Fair. We could use at least 25 people to help with giving students feedback on their projects. No special scientific talents are needed, just the ability to communicate with the presenters (students) and give them some friendly feedback. We could also use some help in taking down tables and cleaning up after the evening session. Please pass this along to any other friends and family who you think would be interested. Here are the two opportunities:
7:45AM—11:05 AM Evaluators Giving Feedback (at least 25 volunteers needed)
6:45 PM-7:30 PM Science Fair Clean-up
LINK to sign-up as a volunteer.
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Staff Interview: Mr. Engstrom
Kicking off the return of our staff profiles, first grader Keagan Beckstrom interviewed Mr. Engstrom!
Alright, I’m Joel Engstrom, the Math Intervention Specialist at St. Anthony Park, and I’m here with Keagan Beckstrom, the two Stroms, just hanging out! And Keagan has some questions for me.
Keagan: What job do you do at SAP?
Mr. Engstrom: I am the, like I said, the Math Intervention Specialist, which means I teach half of a 1/2 split for Ms. Krider. I teach the first graders, which includes you. And then I take Ms. Crowe’s fourth graders, because she has a 4/5 split, and I teach them math. I take them for a full math period. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays, I take one third grade group and we work on skills that their teachers say they need some refresher on or something that they are getting into during class time. And then I take lots of small groups and help them out on things they need a little extra boost on.
Keagan: Do you have any pets?
Mr. Engstrom: I have three pets! I have a big dog named Bernice. I have a medium-sized dog named Blanche. And I have a wee, little dog named Jeff.
Keagan: What do you like to do when you are not at school?
Mr. Engstrom: I try to do some exercise. I play hockey on Sundays, but that’s only one day a week. But, if the roads are icy, it’s kind of hard to do some exercise. I also like to spend time with my family. We watch movies and my brother and I watch sports together. I like to go to Gopher hockey games, especially when they are number one in the nation!
Keagan: What is your favorite animal? Why?
Mr. Engstrom: My favorite animal…I’m thinking about that as what animal would I want to be if I could be an animal for one day, and I would say something cool like a killer whale, because then you could swim underwater for a long time, but nothing’s gonna eat you. And I always liked the ocean, and I always have liked whales.
Keagan: What do you do in the summer?
Mr. Engstrom: In the summer, you know, for twenty-some years I taught summer school. But for the last couple, we haven’t, either because of the pandemic, or last year, there just weren’t that many summer schools open. So, last summer, we did lots of gardening. I did some driving around for Meals on Wheels, which was interesting. I helped my parents out with their landscaping projects, and we always go on a trip in the summer, usually somewhere out west so we can see mountains and play in the water.
Keagan: What is your favorite book? Why?
Mr. Engstrom: My favorite book…I’ll tell you my favorite book I read as a kid, and I’ve read it probably ten times, if not more. I used to read it to my classes. It’s a book called Where the Red Fern Grows. And it’s about a boy and dogs, and I’m a boy with dogs, and one of my dogs is actually a coon hound. So the story is just really well-written. It’s about a boy and his two coon hounds that go raccoon hunting in the Ozark Mountains, I believe, and they just have lots of different adventures. It’s like almost every chapter is a new story, and I think a lot of it is based on the author’s real life experiences, so that makes it cool.
Keagan: What do you like to do outside?
Mr. Engstrom: Outside! I can tell you the things I like to do, and then I will tell you the things I have to do. Like, I know, this week I am going to have to shovel, and snowblow, and scrape. What I like to do, my wife and I like to go running. I like to sit outside on nice summer days and drink my morning coffee and do a crossword puzzle. What do you think of that, Keags?
Keagan: Good.
Mr. Engstrom: What do you like to do outside?
Keagan: Well, just, pretty much, I love to play in pools outside because my friend has a pool right next to his house.
Mr. Engstrom: Sweet!
Keagan: So I went with him in the summer.
Mr. Engstrom: That’s awesome! Alright, well, that’s all you got from Engstrom and Beckstrom! Until next time…Say something. Say, “Bye!”
Keagan: Bye!
Mr. Engstrom: See ya!
More links
The SPPS COVID Policy is available HERE. Please don't forget to report any illness with COVID to SPPS.
School Spirit Wear can be purchased HERE.
Every Meal is a free weekend food program, with food distributed to students at school ahead of the weekend. Please contact Mr. Edwards if you have questions about the program: errol.edwards@spps.org Otherwise, you can learn more and sign up online. Information is available in English, Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Karen, Arabic, Amharic, and Pashto. Use the links below to find out more or to enroll. MORE INFO HERE ENROLL HERE
Joy of the People asked us to share information about their summer soccer camps -
"Always the most fun. Ever. Lots of Joy and a little soccer. No tryouts. Ever. Non Profit Soccer Club combating Pay to Play with a focus on Free Play."
Weekly camps, Punch Cards, Endless Summer and more.
Enter code [summer23] at checkout to save an extra 10% by February 15th. More details and registration in link. https://www.joyofthepeople.org/general-6
What's for lunch in March?
We like breakfast too!
"Did you know that you could bring a reusable bag for breakfast? Just bring your own bag, eat your breakfast and bring it for another day. Save a couple trees, and some money."
--Message from SAP Destination Imagination (STEAM club) team, The Pickled Gummy Bear Wolf Crusaders
Have a great week, Wolf Pack!
If you have suggestions for content or questions about anything in the Wolf Pack Press, please reach out to communications@sapsamn.org