February 2024

Greetings, Woodland Families,

I truly hope this message finds you and your family healthy and well.

Happy Lunar New Year for those of you that celebrate this holiday(Feb.10th)! According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, this is the year of Dragon. In the Chinese culture, the dragon symbolizes power, strength, justice, and good fortune. The year of dragon will bring forth lots of excitement, boldness, and good luck!

February will be another busy and exciting month. First off, we look forward to sharing your child’s progress with you at our Parent/Teacher conferences. Your partnership is crucial for the success of your child. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with your child’s teacher. Conference sign up information will be forthcoming soon. Be sure to check out the Scholastic Book Fair in the lobby during your conferences.

February is Black History Month, we will be learning about and honoring the many important contributions of our African American role models of past and present. We also will have many local guest speakers, everyday heroes coming to Woodland on NAAPID, on Monday, February 12th, to share a favorite book, a special trade, or tradition or an inspiration with our scholars. We are excited to learn from our special guest speakers. If you would like to come share a story, a special tradition, share a special talent or interest, please contact me at Jacksont2@district 279.org, or your child’s teacher.

We will be celebrating “I LOVE to Read” month in February! We are always looking for fun ways for our students to fall in love with books and increase their stamina for reading! We invite you to creatively find fun ways to increase reading in your home with the whole family. Please be on the lookout for communication of special ways we will be celebrating I Love to Read Month at school.

As always, thank you for your continued support and partnership!

Sincerely,

Terri Jackson, Principal

The Woodland Elementary gym was buzzing with excitement and energy Jan. 19 as the school’s fifth graders took part in a Kindness Retreat put on by Youth Frontiers.

The event’s energetic leaders directed the students through a variety of fun activities, games and discussions. Students were set loose for active activities and then gathered back together for group discussions on why and how to make kind choices, determine how words and actions affect others, and develop conflict resolution strategies.

The daylong retreat included games, goals, songs, small group discussions, dancing and sharing.

“Throughout the day, Youth Frontiers mixed games with lessons on kindness and how to be an everyday hero,” said fifth grade teacher Bobbi Lastovich. “Our favorite lesson was about Kindness Boomerangs-if you want to catch kindness, you have to throw it out there first. We brainstormed ideas on kindness boomerangs we can throw to our classmates and teachers to make our school a better and kinder place to be.”

“It was the best day ever – it was like sunshine,” said fifth grade student Purity Chikezie. “They made us laugh and smile and dance. I learned sometimes you have to give people a chance and get to know them.”

On January 25th, we gathered to celebrate our Woodland Eagles who were nominated for practicing the character trait of self control. Shown here are four of our many recipients. Congratulations Eagles!

Welcome Kennedy Day who comes to Woodland through Lee Carlson Center for our students/families who are interested in mental health support. She currently has openings and welcomes you contacting her.

In her spare time, Kennedy enjoys spending time at her cabin, playing soccer, puzzles, painting and embroidery.

For more information on how to connect with Kennedy, please see the link below.

This year we are VERY excited to get to put on our Career Fair for our 5th grade scholars just as we’ve done in past years! The purpose of the Career Fair is to expose the students to a variety of trades and careers that match their interests and to hear about people’s experiences and education. This gives our scholars a chance to start setting their educational and career goals!

We are in need of some amazing volunteer professionals to pull this event off! This may or may not work for you, but feel free to pass this on to spouses, friends, or family members who may be interested in participating.

The Career Fair will be held on 5/17 from 2:30-3:30 and will require about 1.5-2 hours of commitment with any set-up/tear down time you require. (School dismissal starts at 3:50, so we’ll help to get you packed up and out of there as soon as possible!)

A brief overview of what our career fair will look like this year if you choose to volunteer:

We will have all of our professionals in the gym representing each of their individual displays. We encourage you to bring visuals and anything else that may be able to showcase your career and role. Wi-fi is available as well as outlets for electronics if needed. Students will be coming in to walk around and interview you about your job, so no formal presentation is needed for you to prepare. Though, you will be provided a copy of their interview questions to give you an idea of what they will be asking. Students will have time to go around to multiple professionals during their time to maximize their learning experience.

Due to room available in the gym we will be capping our volunteers at 25, so get your name in as soon as you can if you are interested! We will also only be able to take one individual of a certain career path in order to broaden the learning of different careers available! ALL careers and trades welcome!

What will you gain in all of this? The warm and fuzzy feeling of seeing our scholars’ excitement and interest in what you do in your day-to-day job! The students will receive a better understanding of the wide variety of trades and careers available to them and the education and training it will take to get there.

Please let me know if you have further questions about the upcoming Career Fair at Woodland.

If interested in being a volunteer, please go to the link attached, complete the form and return to school.

Laura Larson

School Counselor

Woodland Elementary

763.315.6400

LarsonL@district279.org

Upcoming Events and Opportunities

Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming volunteer opportunities from working the Book Fair to helping provide meals for our staff during conferences. Stay up to date by following our Facebook page Woodland Elementary PTO or visit woodlandpto.org.

We are also looking ahead to the 2024-2025 school year and open Woodland PTO Board Positions. We need your help to fill these positions and keep our mission going. Please attend an upcoming PTO meeting or reach out to us if you want to learn more (wdptomn@gmail.com)

February Woodland STEM Night

Our next family event is quickly approaching on Feb 8th. The Works Museum is coming back with free STEM activities for students to enjoy in the gymnasium. This year we are combining Paint-a-Tile and the STEM Night. You can enjoy STEM activities in the gymnasium and then head over to the cafeteria to paint a tile to be hung up in the Woodland entrance. Cost to paint a tile will be $10 (includes tile, paint, brushes). We do plan to have catered food available for purchase (cards accepted).

Upcoming Events:

Feb 8th, 5:30pm-7:30pm: STEM Night and Paint-a-Tile

Feb 12th, 6:30pm: PTO Meeting (Media Center)

Feb 20-28th: Book Fair and Conference Meals

March 4-17th: Woodland Read-a-Thon

Special Thanks to our Gold Level Sponsors: Chick-Fil-A Brooklyn Park, MAP Transportation, Marigold Home Inspections, Accorde Orthodontics, Leo’s Seamless Gutters, Card My Yard-Maple Grove. Don’t forget to support the local businesses that help support Woodland! Links to all sponsors are on our website: woodlandpto.org

2023-2024 Board
President: Jenna Maurer
President Elect: OPEN- Seeking Volunteer
Secretary: Megan Fordice
Communications Chair: Rachel Johnson
Marketing Chair: Jennifer Broden
DPAC Representative : Bridget Bennett and Janelle Bernards
Treasurer : Marrissia Gearld
Treasurer Elect: Brianna Johnston
School Reps: Scott Lund, Jody Levy & Gail Huggins