News and events

August 26, 2024

Who: K-5 Students and Their Families

What: Hoover's Open House

When: Wednesday, August 28th from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Where: Hoover Elementary School

Why: To meet your teachers, drop off school supplies, and more!

Start in the cafeteria where you will pick up your classroom teacher assignment and important information and resources for the school year, visit your classroom and teacher, drop off your supplies, and check out other community partners.

School Supplies List:

• Kindergarten
• First Grade
• Second Grade
• Third Grade
• Fourth Grade
• Fifth Grade

School Supplies List with Visuals:

• Kindergarten w/Visuals
• First Grade w/Visuals
• Second Grade w/Visuals
• Third Grade w/Visuals
• Fourth Grade w/Visuals
• Fifth Grade w/Visuals

In case you missed the last Smore Newsletter: Hoover Family Updates, here's the link.

If you have questions about bus transportation for your child/ren, please call district transportation office at 763.506.1125.

Every student may receive one breakfast and one lunch at no cost during the school year. The state’s Free School Meals program will cover the cost of one breakfast meal and one lunch meal for every student daily, however the cost of a la carte items, such as milk, other drinks, or extra meal items will not be covered. Students will need to have funds in their meal accounts to purchase any additional food items.

If your family needs access to any other educational benefits available to your student, please visit ahschools.us/freereduced to complete an application. If you don't know if you would qualify or not, apply anyway! You may receive additional benefits that you are not aware of.

The enrollment window for the 2024 Applications for Educational Benefits begins Aug. 1, 2024.

Anoka-Hennepin asks that ALL families complete an online application to provide additional school funding to support all students in the district. By filling out this application, your school can earn funding and you can save money.

Educational benefits include:

• Athletics fees: Eligible students may qualify for fees to be waived or reduced.

• SAT, ACT, AP Fees: Students may be eligible for discounted fees for academic tests

  and some lab fees.

• Other high school activities: Students may qualify for discounts on speech, debate,

  theater, band and others.

• Additional benefits and cost savings: Chromebook device protection, Comcast Internet

  Essentials discount, Amazon Prime membership discounts, discounted bus fares with Metro Transit, Xcel Energy account assistance, discounts at museums and theaters.

Our Hoover Spiritwear online ordering site will be active and ready for staff, students/families to order starting Wednesday, August 28th! Look for QR codes throughout the building and in your Open House folders with directions to order. Stock up as a family or purchase for gifts and spread the Hoover Spirit. All orders will come to Hoover and will be distributed to students to take home the week of October 14th.

Continuing this year, families can order grade level t-shirts for students to wear to field trips/experiences, school assemblies, and Track & Field Day! The cost for a t-shirt is $7.00. Again, look for QR codes throughout the building and in your Open House folders with directions to order. Stock up as a family or purchase for gifts and spread the Hoover Spirit. All orders will come to Hoover and will be distributed to students to take home the week of October 14th.

What to expect the first week of school:

Anoka-Hennepin has a tradition of hosting a “Welcome Week” for kindergarten students, to ensure each student has the time and opportunity to focus on new experiences. The goal is to ensure all students and families get off to a strong start.

Schedule an individual meeting with your child’s teacher on Sept. 3rd or Sept. 4th:

Families will be invited to schedule a one-on-one opportunity to meet your Kindergarten teacher, drop off school supplies and familiarize your child with their new classroom. These meetings will be scheduled in 30-minute time slots and will be offered on Tuesday, September 3rd, and Wednesday, September 4th. An email with the classroom teacher information and a link to sign up for the 30-minute meetings was sent to kindergarten families on August 19th. There is no school for kindergarten students on these two days.

School begins in a phased approach on Sept. 5th or Sept. 6th:

This means that half of the students will attend school on Thursday, Sept. 5th, and the other half of the students will attend school on Friday, Sept. 6th. Schedules are determined by site based on alphabet and number of students at Hoover:

• Thursday, Sept. 5th: Students with last names A-L attend in person.

• Friday, Sept. 6th: Students with last names M-Z attend in person.
  
  

Welcoming smaller groups of students provides your child’s teacher the ability to provide individualized attention as they introduce students to classroom and school routines such as arrival and dismissal procedures; schedules for small group and full class activities; introductions with physical education, music, art, media center, technology, and science teachers; and school lunch routines.

All kindergarten students attend school together beginning Monday, September 9th:

Again, Kindergarten teacher and class assignments will be sent out the week of August 19th, via email. Open House for all K-5 students will be on Wednesday, August 28th from 4:30-6:00 pm. Students in 1st-5th grade will find out their teacher and class assignments at Open House.

• Wednesday, August 28th, 4:30-6:00 pm - Open House
• Monday, September 2nd - Labor Day - No School
• Tuesday, September 3rd - First Day of School for 1st-5th Grade Students
• Tuesday, September 3rd & Wednesday, September 4th - Individually Scheduled Kindergarten Conferences (an email was sent to Kindergarten families with a sign up link on August 19th)
• Thursday, September 5th - Kindergarten students with last names starting with A-L attend school
• Friday, September 6th - Kindergarten students with last names starting with M-Z attend school
• Monday, September 9th - ALL Kindergarten students attend school
• Tuesday, September 10th, 6:30-7:30 pm - PTO Meeting (In-Person and Virtual option)
• Monday, September 23rd - Fall Picture Day
• Thursday, September 26th - PTO/Schoolwide Title Family Bingo Night

Students in 1st-5th grade, don't forget to return your Summer Express Activity Book completed certificates to your teacher to receive a special reward!

I hope you have all had an amazing summer! Can you believe school is just around the corner?! With school starting in less than 2 weeks, we have a lot happening at Hoover that staff is looking for help to prepare for the new school year. If you are available to help at all in the couple weeks before school and the first couple weeks of school, your help would be greatly appreciated! We have the following volunteer requests starting the week of August 19th going into the first couple weeks of the school year.

Workroom Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers to assist with many workroom projects that include making copies, laminating, cutting, counting, etc to assist our teachers throughout the school year. This can be daily, weekly, monthly or whenever you are available.

Lunchroom Helpers

We are looking for 1 to 2 volunteers to help assist the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes during lunch the first 2 weeks of school. Main need is helping them with their pin numbers. 1st grade will need a refresh and many Kindergarteners are doing this for the first time.

Recess Helpers

We are looking for several volunteers to help our staff outside on the playground during all grades recess time. For returning students, reminders of how to use the equipment and following rules and for new students, teaching them the rules for the playground. Extra eyes is key during these first couple weeks as they are getting situated into a new routine or back into old ones for those returning.

Picture Day

The start of the school year means Fall pictures!! We have Lifetouch coming in on Monday, September 23rd to take individual photos of students. We are looking for 3 volunteers in the morning and 3 volunteers in the afternoon to help escort students to and from class, adjust collars, fix hair, etc. Volunteers that assist with this will receive a voucher for $14.99 to purchase photos.

PTO Meeting Childcare

PTO meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm. The first meeting of the 2024-2025 school year will be Tuesday, September 10th. We are looking for 2 volunteers to come hang out with any kids attending the meeting with their parents. Meeting runs to between 7:30pm and 8pm.

As of July 1, 2024, all volunteers, including those who volunteered last school year, will need to complete a new volunteer application and background check in order to volunteer for the 2024-2025 school year.

Please reach out Tina Fletcher, Volunteer Service Coordinator, at Tina.Fletcher@ahschools.us or 763.506.2830 with any questions.

Another option is to go to https://www.boxtops4education.com/ to learn more about downloading the app to scan receipts for box tops for Hoover Elementary.