Backpack Online - May 6, 2024

May 6, 2024

• Community Meeting #1: Northdale Middle School, 11301 Dogwood St., Coon Rapids. Monday, May 13 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., brief presentation at 6:15 p.m.

• Community Meeting #2: Educational Service Center, 2727 Ferry St., Anoka. Tuesday, May 14 from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., brief presentation at 7:45 a.m. Enter at Door 1.

• Community Meeting #3: Jackson Middle School, 6000 109th St., Champlin. Wednesday, May 15 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., brief presentation at 6:15 p.m.

• Online feedback option: An online feedback form and video link to view the presentation will be available May 13. Remain alert for a follow-up email with these resources.

Three schools from Anoka-Hennepin have been recognized by Project Lead the Way (PLTW) for their commitment to helping students own their education by increasing student access, engagement and achievement in PLTW programs.

• Secondary schools: Blaine High School - Center for Engineering, Mathematics, and Science (BHS) and Coon Rapids High School - Center for Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (CRHS) were both named PLTW Distinguished High Schools. BHS and CRHS are the only two high schools in the state of Minnesota to receive the award.
• Elementary schools: Monroe Elementary School - Mathematics, Science and Children’s Engineering was named a Distinguished School Launch.

Background: PLTW is a national program that creates engaging classroom environments by empowering students to develop and apply in-demand, transportable skills by exploring real-world challenges. Through pathways in computer science, engineering, and biomedical science, students not only learn technical skills, but also learn to solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate, and collaborate. PLTW also provides teachers with the training, resources, and support they need to engage students.

PLTW Launch is an elementary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curriculum designed for PreK-5 grade levels that taps into students’ exploratory nature, engaging them in learning that feels like play, and encourages them to keep discovering.

Takeaway: BHS and CRHS are the only two high schools in Minnesota to receive this award this year.

• This is the seventh straight year BHS has been recognized by PLTW
• It's the fifth overall and fourth straight for CRHS to earn the award.
• Monroe has earned this recognition in five consecutive years.

🌲 Adams Elementary School in Coon Rapids was recently entered into the Minnesota School Forest Program through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). A School Forest is an outdoor classroom where teachers and students explore the natural world to teach core subjects.

About the program: Adams is one of around 150 schools statewide in the School Forest Program, and schools in the program range from rural to urban, preschool to university-level and public and private schools.

🌏 Why it matters: The program is designed to increase outdoor education activities at schools and improve forest stewardship in schools and communities. The DNR provides professional development for staff to help teachers use their school forests and offers site management assistance to ensure school forests are used for many years.

🤝 Community partners: On April 25, students at Adams received a donation of 30 outdoor desks hand-crafted by Michael and Pam Pagelkopf to use while learning in the school forest. The desks are made of wood and feature a clipboard for completing assignments, and a desk to store writing utensils or other materials while being used outdoors.

During the first activity with the new outdoor desks, students participated in a scavenger hunt and took turns planting red maple saplings throughout the designated school forest area.

Two Anoka-Hennepin educators have been named finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

• Math: Sarah Donovan, a third grade teacher at Hamilton Elementary
• Science: Krista Wyvell-Fink, a fourth grade teacher at Rum River Elementary

Why it matters: The PAEMST are the highest honors bestowed by the U.S. government specifically for K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching. The awards were established by Congress in 1983 and the President recognizes around 100 exemplary teachers each year. The award recognizes teachers who have deep content knowledge of the subjects they teach and the ability to motivate and enable students to succeed in those areas.

What they’re saying: Donovan loves seeing math through the eyes of her students and the curiosity and excitement they bring each day, and Fink has a sign in her classroom that reads “We do magic here, we call it science.”

💻 Read the full story to hear more from nationally-recognized teachers, Donovan and Fink.

After being inspired to come up with a passion project by her talent development teacher Janeen Burow, Morris Bye Elementary fourth grader Leah Doyle thought big and made a major impact.

🌏 More on the story: Doyle created a plan for a schoolwide event at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) and arranged everything from raising money for buses, permission slips, parent chaperones and bag lunches.

With the support of Burow and her fourth grade teacher Mackenna Frederickson, Doyle brought a total of 103 Morris Bye students and chaperones to FMSC in Coon Rapids. Together, the three fourth grade classrooms packed 19,656 meals which is enough to feed 54 children for one year.

What they're saying: “I knew this would be a big project but I was happy to help her make it happen,” Burow said. “She communicated her project with her teachers, met with the principal to get permission and asked questions about how to organize the field trip.”

Doyle also personally recruited many of the adult chaperones, including reaching out to the Coon Rapids VFW for support.

Pictured, JMS students: SSA - Rose Callan, Abby Vang, Britta Moll, Melody Yang, Caroline Pha, Johanna Kirkham, Rebekah Timm.

Andover High School junior Ashlee More, Anoka High School junior Maisie Stover and Andover High School sophomore Lauren Rockers were presented school letters during a special ceremony held during the Coon Rapids Ice Show on April 27 at the Coon Rapids Ice Center. The skaters were recognized with a school athletic letter in 2024.

Anoka-Hennepin Schools coordinates with area figure skating programs and clubs to recognize skaters who meet U.S. Figure Skating criteria to receive school recognition for their achievement and hard work. Cindi Shore, district figure skating advisor and math teacher at Champlin Park High School, presented the honors.

Students enrolled in the district’s Compass and Northdale Middle School’s AVID programs recently participated in a financial literacy simulation where students experience a hands-on approach to learning about personal finance management.

💵 Financial literacy: Students were given a “new identity” for the day, which included information about their job, family size, income and debt. Next, students visited nine stations to purchase real life necessities, such as a residence, mode of transportation, food, clothing, home items, and more.

The next and most important task students faced was building a budget based on their income and debt. They set up savings accounts and deposited funds for emergencies and future savings with the goal of having up to $100 in their account after purchasing all of their necessary supplies.

Each of the nine stations were staffed by volunteers or family and friends of staff members from Compass.

📣 What they're saying: “We are not sure who enjoyed the experience more, the students or the volunteers,” said Erica Dahlin, assistant principal for the Compass program. “Our students took on the roles and responsibilities of their characters seriously and asked real-life questions of our volunteers during the exercise.”

Students were faced with real-life situations and walked away with a better understanding of decision-making and financial responsibility

Anoka-Hennepin and the University of St. Thomas (UST) have a partnership that provides hands-on experience to support success in future teaching careers.

The Grow Your Own and Work and Learn programs aim to recruit, prepare, retain and support highly qualified paraprofessionals and Tier 1 and Tier 2 teachers to become Tier 3 licensed special education teachers. The program offers an affordable, accessible and accelerated program to earn an Academic and Behavior Strategist (ABS) License and Master’s degree in two and a half years.

UST is offering informational sessions:

• Monday, May 20, 4 p.m. - Join the Zoom meeting
• Thursday, June 6, 4 p.m. - Join the Zoom meeting

Work and Learn Program

• Complete an initial ABS license and master's degree in 34 credits (instead of the traditional program of 48 credits) in 2.5 years.
• New cohort scheduled for fall 2024 (online, evening courses).
• Student teaching on the job.

Only nine credits more to add a special education license (DD, ASD, EBD, ECSE (12cr)

Participant Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in any field from an accredited institution
• Current or prospective employee working in Special Education in a Minnesota school district.
• Commitment to Special Education

SEED Federal Grant: Work and Learn Tuition Support

The School of Education may offer qualified students up to $10,000 in tuition support for the Work and Learn cohort starting fall 2024. Submit your St. Thomas application to be considered.

• School Board meeting set for Monday, May 6, 2024.
• Anoka-Hennepin high school graduation rates increase, continue to outperform state average for the 202 school year.
• SROs: School/police partnership return following state law update.
• District to being budget reduction and realignment process this spring.
• Register for Community Education summer classes and activities.

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