February 2025

2/6 - Field Trip - Hengel & Weber’s classes to Mill City Museum, 11-2:45

2/7 - Field Trip - VB, Schleper & Anglin’s classes to Mill City Museum, 11-2:45

2/7 - 3rd grade will sing the national anthem at a Basketball game at SHS at 7pm.

2/14 - Valentine’s/Friendship Day Party

2/17 - No School Students & Staff/President’s Day

2/17 - 2/19 - Marco Pizza Night Fundraiser

2/18 - Conferences 4-8 pm

2/19 - Field Trip - Kindergarten to Children’s Theatre, 11:30-2:20

2/19 - Jazz Brass Band at HS (4th Graders) (10:30 AM - 11:30 AM) Leave JC at 10:10 and return at 11:35. Walking weather permitting.

2/20 - Conferences 4–7:30pm

2/24 - Conferences 4-7:30pm

2/26 - I-Team Meeting 8:00 am

2/28 - 4th Grade Music Concert 2:30 PM

February 18 from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm

February 20 from 4:00 pm – 7:30 pm

February 24 from 4:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Parent Teacher conferences will be open to parents to sign up on Friday, January 31 at 4pm and will be closed on Friday, February 14 at 4pm.

An email with a “Meet the Teacher” link to sign up will be sent at 4pm on January 31.

If you have questions or need a change in the conference date and time, please email your classroom teacher.

If you need an interpreter, you should have already received an email from “Meet the Teacher” with a prescheduled time. If you have questions, you may contact the following liaisons:

Russian: Svetlana Mshar: smshar@shakopee.k12.mn.us or 952-496-5094

Spanish: Ana Soto Rodriguez: Asotorodriguez@shakopee.k12.mn.us or 952-496-5885

Somali: Houda Abdo: Abdo, Houda habdo@shakopee.k12.mn.us or 952-496-5166

Vietnamese: Kris Trang: ktrang@shakopee.k12.mn.us or 952-496-5146

If you have any gently used, elastic waistband pants (especially size 4-10) or underwear, the health office would appreciate it if you would donate them to us! Please send in extra clothes with your children if they are likely to get wet playing outside or may have an accident and need to change at school.

Licensed School Nurse Nichole

nfleming@shakopee.k12.mn.us

Greetings from the Art Department!

Well, we are at the end of our clay units so that means spring is in sight!

The Kindergarteners have brought home their clay pinch pots and 1st graders have brought home their clay snowmen. They are now working on creating forms in the art room. You can review the words with your student: Cone, Cylinder, Sphere, Pyramid, and Cube. They have also learned how to make a pop up card.

The 2nd and 3rd graders will be bringing their clay faces home after conferences. I hope you get a chance to stop by and see them when you are here for your conference. They turned out great! Plan for a special place to display it in your home.

The 4th and 5th graders have brought their free form clay animals/creatures home. There were so many creative creatures this year! Right now these students are completing their Food Truck form They will soon be working on creating a mask form and these will be on display in the hallways at Jackson in March. The theme is FORM this month!

Sincerely,

Mr. Olson

Jackson Art Specialist

• District Band Concert (grades 5, 8, & HS), Sat. Mar. 22nd, 4 pm in the high school gym (arrive at 3 pm to rehearse)

• 3rd Grade Optional Event, Singing the National Anthem, Basketball game at Shakopee High School Gym, February 7th, 6:45pm

• 5th Grade Band Optional Event, Pep Band Tunes at the high school varsity basketball game, Feb. 11, 6:30, details here

• 4th Gr. Jack Brass Band field trip at Shakopee High School, February 19th, 2025

• 4th Gr Concert, Friday, February 28th, 2:30 pm in the Jackson Gym

• 3rd Grade Orchestra Hall Field trip, March 20th, 2025

• Kindergarten Concert, Thurs. April 17th, 2:30 pm in the Jackson Gym

• 5th Gr. Band + General Music Concert, May 16th, 2:30 pm in the Jackson Gym

• Grade 5 – Analyzing the Elements of Music from the World Music
• Grade 4 – Preparing 4th grade music program on February 28th at 2:30pm
• Grade 3 – Identifying the Orchestra Instrument I Hear – especially strings and woodwinds; Lunar New Year Song
• Grade 2 – Using la-sol-mi pitches and half-note rhythms in songs and chants.
• Grade 1 – Great job on your concert!!! Improvising with sol-mi pitches and rhythms in songs and chants
• Grade K – Identifying the difference between Steady beat and rhythm; Continuing to identify and perform high vs low pitches in songs and chants

Mrs. Peoples emails band parents every Sunday at about 1pm with a

1. Home practice report link for parents to fill out (takes less than a minute to complete).
2. Band Newsletter

If you are a band parent and are NOT receiving this important weekly information, please contact Mrs. Peoples at speoples@shakopee.k12.mn.us or call her at school

Playing with the parachute was a big hit at the end of the month! We start February with the hockey unit, 2 days of stick handling and passing practice, 2 days of mini games. The second half of the month we will be doing cup stacking and jump ropes, 25 minutes each. The littles will be learning the basics of swinging the rope by themselves, and the big kids are going to be challenged to learn some new skills and learn how to jump with more than one person at a time!

Mr. Levi Gotto lgotto@shakopee.k12.mn.us

Mr. Dan Koenig dkoenig@shakopee.k12.mn.us

Mrs. Jill Nelson jnelson@shakopee.k12.mn.us

Reading Log for a prize

https://overthebigmoon.com/wp-content/uploads/download-files/Reading-Bookmark-Punchcards.pdf

Students earn a bracelet/pencil/bookmark or other prize of choice when completed. Students will come to the Media Center with their punch card signed by a parent on the back to redeem a small prize.

“Get Caught Reading Display” in the hallways! Students will be able to look to see if their photo makes it on the wall!

Dress up days

• Monday, February 24 - Books make me bright day - neon/bright colors day

• Tuesday, February 25 - Get lost in a book day - camouflage day

• Wednesday, February 26 - “I’m crazy about reading” day - crazy socks, crazy hair, crazy inside/out clothes

• Thursday, February 27 - Books make my brain pop day - hat day

• Friday, February 28 - Wearable Words Day - Wear a word on your shirt

Teacher Reading Suggestion Display

• Teachers have selected their favorite books and we display the book along with the teacher’s photo. Student really enjoy seeing and reading their teacher’s favorites!

Book Fair at Jackson during P/T Conferences

Book Bingo Each day of the week during the Book Fair for classes to try to win a book for their classroom library!

There are quite a few students who are reading these books!

Here is the list for 2024-25: https://myrahome.org/mhl-2025 We are reading the Division I titles for Grades 3-5.

It is encouraging to see the number of students interested in this optional program! If a student reads 3/10 of the titles, they will receive an invitation to the MHL Book Voting Party. MHL Parties will take place in Mid-March. All book tests/reviews must be completed by March 3. Students at Jackson in all grades are taking tests using QR test codes that I have posted in the building. At the voting party, students will have an opportunity to vote on their favorite book for the year, receive a certificate and a small prize along with ice cream or donuts! … In short, it's just a way to reward students for participating and reading!

Reading logs are sent to classroom teachers for distribution to students. Read 20 minutes a night and color in the picture for each day of the month! Make sure that a parent signature is on the reading log, and please do not return it until the first day of the new month! Students will select a small prize as a recognition of their extra reading!

• During students book checkouts, for grades 3-5, students can bring their iPads to search for books. Also, please encourage students to use a shelf marker to help keep our shelves neat.

• Please remind students who are returning books to our media center to place books in the teacher’s return bin and a student helper will bring the classroom book bins back to your classroom. If books can be turned in at the start of our school day, it helps us know which students can check out books on any scheduled day.

• Most teachers have opted to have their students check books out during Media class. They also have a second checkout day during a 10-day cycle.

Thanks for reading about our efforts to encourage reading, support our students and teachers, and the STEM related activities that we bring to our Learning Commons.

Mackin VIA is our school’s e-book platform! Student can select from a wide variety of e-books. Download the app for free on any home device!

To log into Mackin VIA at any time:

User name: student number

Password: First name initial capitalized, Last Name initial lowercase and birthdate in numbers with year listed as last 2 digits (ex. Gh012868)

Destiny is our Learning Commons book catalog. From home at any time, you can search for a book in our Learning Commons! It will tell you whether the book is checked in or out. To get to Destiny to search for a book or e-book, use this QR code:

This is a Link to The Learning Commons Resources!

• Destiny Catalog Search
• MackinVIA
• Virtual Student Library Card
• FREE databases for research

All students in Shakopee Public Schools have the opportunity to use their Virtual Student Library Card! The virtual card give all students access to the Scott County Libraries and the Metro Twin Cities Libraries. SORA is an app that allows students access to age-appropriate Ebooks. To log in to SORA:

User Name: 720+student ID number

Pin: Last 4 digits of the student’s ID number

All students in our school will be introduced to the 40 Book Challenge for this school year! We will track our own individual progress in reading 40 books that are on each of our reading levels.

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP Lessons: Students in all grades will be exploring lessons about Digital Citizenship using the Common Sense Media Curriculum. Students will be talking and learning about using common sense on-line, private information, not being mean behind the screen, and a host of other topics about being safe on-line.

HOW DO I PICK A BOOK ON MY READING LEVEL?

Students have also been discussing the Five Finger Rule! If there are 4 or 5 words on a page that they don’t know, the book is too hard - unless they are reading with an adult! 1-3 words that they don’t know on a page = books that are the best fit!

Please read with your child every day! You read a page, and then listen to your child read! Take turns and learn together!

Thank you to everyone that came to the dance and attended our meal night at Chipotle in January. We are more than halfway through the school year, but the PTO is not slowing down in its efforts to support Jackson staff and students. The “Show Your Teachers Some Love” campaign (formerly Blizzard of Wishes) will run February 10-14. This is your chance to purchase items from the Amazon wishlists of our teachers, specialists, and other staff members. We love our Jackson staff, and supporting this campaign is a great way to express your appreciate for everything they do for your students.

Everyone’s favorite meal fundraiser with Marco’s Pizza will take place Monday, February 17-Wednesday, February 19. Students will decorate a pizza box, you place an order identifying your child during the ordering process, and I guarantee you won’t see a more excited child than one who gets to eat pizza from a box with their own artwork. Instructions for getting pizzas in your student’s box will be on the “Jackson Parents” Facebook page and on the flyer that will be sent home soon. If you’d like to help prep boxes at Marco’s during the fundraiser, please sign up here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FADA823A0FCC07-54646497-marcos.

Thanks to the generous donations during our Fall Fundraiser, the PTO will once again provide delicious meals for our teachers and staff during Parent Teacher Conferences this month. Conference meals are just another example of how our fundraiser dollars are spent. Providing meals would not be possible without your support of our fundraisers, and the PTO is very grateful for all of your assistance!

Mark your calendars for a very special movie night. On Thursday, March 6th, at 6:00 PM at the Marcus Southbridge Crossing Cinema, the PTO will host a private screening of Paddington in Peru. Admission will be $5/person and is open to Jackson Elementary students and their families as well as Jackson staff and their families. An adult must accompany children. This will be a fun night for the whole family! Payment and RSVPs will be due February 19th. Look for flyers and payment forms to come home in your student’s folder in the next couple of days.

Have you joined the “Jackson Parents” Facebook group? Answer three simple questions to be admitted into the group. The Facebook group provides updates and reminders and paves a way to connect with other Jackson parents. With so many amazing events happening between now and the end of the year, you definitely want to join so you stay in the loop.

Don’t forget to order a yearbook! The last day to order is April 20 and it will be here before you know it. Order yours at YBpay.com using the Jackson yearbook ID code 15118125. Students will have the opportunity to sign yearbooks on the second to last day of school.

Sincerely,

Diane Bowen
Jackson PTO president

• Daily Announcements
• Winter Weather Guidelines & Information
• Elementary Report Card Rubrics
• How to Access Report Cards
• Drop Off and Pick Up Procedures

• Visitor Reminders: All visitors are required to check-in at the front office and must be screened through the Raptor system during normal school hours.

• Now Hiring Part-Time/Full-Time Paraprofessional Positions, Food Services and More: Training provided, job share responsibilities and weekend/summer/school breaks off. Click here for a list of positions and to apply.

• Communication Reminder: We encourage families to download the Seesaw app on your smartphone or bookmark on a computer to gain access to important school communications and teacher messages.

Parents and guardians can submit absences for their students via Infinite Campus or via the attendance line.

• If possible, please try to submit absences via Infinite Campus or the attendance line before 10 am.
  
• While you can email the teacher about absences, please also notify the office.
• If it's after 10 am and you will be picking your child up early, please call the main office (952-496-5802) instead of submitting the early pick up time via Infinite Campus.
• If you will be changing how your child is getting home at the end of the day, please call the main office before 2:30 pm.

Here are a few reminders if you are joining your student for lunch or breakfast this year.

• Please sign in through the main office.
• Please arrive five minutes early and have your driver's license with you.
• If you plan to eat lunch from the school, please bring exact change or a check. Adult breakfast is $2.85 and lunch is $5. If your student's lunch account has money in it, you may also use that to purchase your food.

If you would like to volunteer in the media center, especially during our upcoming book fair, please let Mrs. Hilgers know ghilgers@shakopee.k12.mn.us.

You will also need to fill out this form below and be approved to volunteer in our school.

You can drop off at the school any school day with my name on it! Any donations to our Learning Commons are used with our curriculum and are appreciated! We also accept hard cover books that are K-5 appropriate, and this list is being updated with needed titles. Thanks so much!

This is the criteria that teachers will be following to ensure that students are safe outside. Please send your students with the appropriate warm clothing each day.