Perspectives

This newsletter provides updates, information and event details for Horace Mann School, the Horace Mann School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), and Saint Paul Public Schools. It is published weekly and distributed through email. Past issues can be found at mann.spps.org.

Winter break is December 21 to January 5. School resumes Monday, January 6, 2025.

I hope everyone has fun, rest, relaxation, and whatever you need to recharge for the New Year!

Jim Litwin, Principal

4th and 5th graders had a great surprise at their concert on December 10. Recording artist Jeremy Messersmith attended the concert. Not only that, but he also sang and played ukulele on his song "Everybody Gets a Kitten."

After the song Messersmith said, "I wrote that song because I think it's important, if we want to make the world a better place, we need to use our imagination. There's nobody better at imagining than students." He wanted the children to realize that they can picture a better world and work to make it happen.

There are pictures below. If we can get every family's permission, we will publish the video too.

5th graders (and two brave 4th graders) played for the school on Monday during lunch. Students got to see each of the instruments and hear them play. Several family members were able to attend. If you couldn't attend or are curious, click the video below for two snippets.

Next concert will take place near the end of the year!

Looking for a way to recognize your child's teachers? Want teachers to know how much you appreciate their work? Consider nominating a teacher for the KS95 Teacher of the Week. Click this link and follow the directions: https://www.ks95.com/teacher-of-the-week/.

The Horace Mann School Leadership Team met. Discussion items included the building an effective team, our school climate survey completed by Grades 3-5, our school comprehensive improvement plan, school security, celebrating everyone's holidays, and communicating with the community.

There were three broad ideas to try to change student perceptions. The two questions with lower scores were "I like school" and "Students behave so teachers can teach." We thought these three things might have an impact for students:

1. Control/Leadership- Get student feedback on some of their concerns and address them in the classroom.

2. Creativity- Look for ways to bring play and imagination into classroom activities. Look for ways to get in movement/fidget to help with students' difficulty to stay on task/focus.

3. Environment- Look at how rooms are set up. Does the arrangement match the purpose of the teaching approach and student activities?

After break, each of the family representatives are going to reach out to five families for further input on our work. Next meeting is January 23.

Saint Paul Public School students will have two assessments after winter break.

• All students will take FAST Reading measures to check on how well they are understanding letter and word sounds, decoding words or knowing them by sight, reading fluently, and understanding what they read.
• All students will take the Math Growth Measure. This test will assess how well they have learned what has been taught this year, what else they might need to know, and what they might have learned on their own. It will check students' ability to compute.

Your child's homeroom teacher will send out information when they schedule the two assessments. Teachers will also use the information to help them in planning class instruction. They will use it to help determine who might need a little extra support in small group.

As promised, Mr. Litwin spent December 17 on the roof in a tent. Cold weather gear made him comfortable, but it was windy and noisy. He's thankful for Winter Break so he can catch up on sleep.

He read a story from the roof. Unfortunately the Google Meet didn't record. Mr. Litwin made a short video showing the tent set up and then recreated the read aloud. Check it out below and share with your child.

Congratulations to all the students and thanks to the families for all of your support!

Bookmark our school calendar. It can be found at the top of our website. Here are some highlights for the next two weeks.

Monday, December 23-Friday, January 3

• No School- Winter Break

Monday, January 6

• Window opens for Math Growth Measure and FAST Reading assessments
• 2:00-3:45pm Extended Day for Learning (EDL)

Tuesday, January 7

• 2:00-3:00pm Language Sprouts Spanish

Wednesday, January 8

• 8:15am Tour for Prospective Families
• 2:00-3:45pm Extended Day for Learning (EDL)
• 6:00-8:00pm Virtual Gender and Sexual Diversity Parent Advisory Council

Thursday, January 9

• 2:00-3:00pm Language Sprouts Spanish

Friday, January 10

Mark your calendars for this year's exciting live auction event (adults only):

• Date: Friday, March 21 at 6:30pm
• Location: St. Kate's

Stay tuned for more details after winter break! In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to get involved, feel free to email us at auction@hms-pta.org.

Auction Committee Co-Chairs: Allison Deep, Sarah Haley, Virginia Ryan

President: Grace Hanson, president@hms-pta.org

Vice-President: Gina Corradi, president@hms.-pta.org

Treasurer: Alex Stuart & Sam Smith, treasurer@hms-pta.org

Teacher Reps: Amy Kortuem & Mark Lindskoog, teacher-rep@hms-pta.org

Communications: Lisa Ortmann, communications@hms-pta.org

Volunteer Coordinator: Christine Holloway, volunteer.coordinator@hms-pta.org

Recorders: Andrea Gleckner & Sarah Liuzzi, recorder@hms-pta.org

Check the HMS PTA website for the most up to date information about meetings, latest forms, announcements, contact information, volunteer opportunities and more. Click on the “Treasurer’s report and Budget” to see this year’s budget. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please email web-admin@hms-pta.org.

Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is not sponsoring, endorsing, or recommending the activities/events announced in the PTA Section and no SPPS student will be turned away due to inability to pay.

Perspectives Submission Deadline: Thursdays by 8:00am

Email: jim.litwin@spps.org
Website: https://mann.spps.org/
Location: 2001 Eleanor Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55116

Phone: 651-293-8965
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SPPSHoraceMannSchool/