February 2025

Dear Parents & Families

With the second semester underway, and students settled into our new school routines with many substitutes, we want to thank you all for your continued support of your children and our school. As a reminder, our instructional day is from 7:30-2:00 pm.

During the school day, we are continuing to work on our Burnside School-Wide Expectations of Be Safe, Be Kind, and Be Responsible. We need your assistance to stress this with your children, as we all work to stay in routines with many substitutes in the building.

This February, we have our yearly fundraiser through APEX, which is a Minnesota company that also provides leadership lessons and pep rallies for our students. More information will be provided below. All funds raised through this fundraiser will go towards our Innovative Learning Fund, which provides money for transportation to field trips, different seating for classrooms, and other things that directly benefit our student's learning, including the buses that our fourth graders will use to participate in the Youth Frontiers Retreat later in February.

As always, please contact us with your questions or concerns.

Jennifer Grove, Burnside Principal

jpgrove@rwps.org

651-385-4700

February 3-14 - APEX!

Feb. 3 - Calendar Committee Meeting

February 5 - Winter Walk to School

February 7 - No School for Students

February 11 -- Target Time Begins

February 13 - 100th day of School! /APEX Event

February 17 - No School For Students: Staff Duty Day

February 25/26: Youth Frontiers 4th grade

Looking for a fun and healthy way to change up your commute to school? Wednesday, February 5 is Winter Walk Day! This year, we will be doing a story walk. The story that we will read is "Llama Destroys the World," by Jonathan Stutzman, a fun book that you can find at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLX8kJ2dy2s.

If you can, go for a winter walk yourself! It's a great way to explore your local neighborhood or take in the beautiful scenery of nearby parks and trails. #winterwalking #saferoutestoschool #MnSRTS

For more information on Minnesota Safe Routes to School, visit http://www.mnsaferoutestoschool.org

Apex is the main fundraiser of this semester. We want to be able to provide our students with interesting school experiences and have the right tools to learn and grow, so this fundraiser will go towards the Innovative Learning Fund for Burnside.

The theme for this year is APEX Future Leader's Theme. Future Leaders Are Grateful, Show Respect, Practice Kindness, Do What’s Right, Stick With It, and Start Today. Our PBIS-based leadership lessons change annually so schools have fresh curriculum every year. We use kindness and care-based focus on our leadership lessons and skills.

Our Apex Fun Run is a high energy, celebratory fun run that will be held on Thursday, February 13, 2025 in Burnside's gym. You can help support our fundraising efforts by making a donation online at www.myapexevent.com using your students unique ACCESS CODE to log in.

On February 25 & 26th, our fourth graders will be participating in the Youth Frontiers Kindness Retreat. Youth Frontiers (YF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing experiences that inspire character, civility and community. The retreat will be at SE Tech College and we've used our ILF (Innovative Learning Fund) to cover costs.

Mrs. Albers', Mrs. Schneider's, and Mrs. Wenstrom's classes will be going on Tuesday, February 25. On February 26, Mrs. Will's, Ms. Subra's, and Ms. Buratti's classes will attend.

A retreat is a high-energy day that challenges students to think critically about the impact of their everyday choices and how they treat themselves and others. Small-group leaders establish the energy and tone of the retreat and have a major influence on its success. Their main job is to meet with their student small groups several times throughout the day to lead discussions about the messages of the retreat.

Let us know if you'd like to volunteer! We would love to have you! Please contact the office at 385-4700 if you have any questions and to volunteer.

This is a reminder that students are prohibited from using personal cell phones and other electronic devices during the instructional day. These devices must be stored in silent or “off” mode from the student’s arrival at school until dismissal. A cell phone or other device used or visible during the instructional day will be confiscated and a parent will be expected to pick up the device. Other consequences may also be assigned.

Attendance matters each day. Absences and tardies add up and students miss classroom instruction. See below to review how attendance affects a student's progress.

Now’s the time to start thinking about registering your child for kindergarten!

Red Wing Public Schools will host an in-person kindergarten registration help session Monday, Feb. 10 for the 2023-24 school year. The session will run 6-7 p.m. at Sunnyside Elementary School.

Children must be 5 years or older by September 1st, to enroll in kindergarten this fall.

Please bring a photcopy of your child's official birth certificate.

The session will be moved to February 24 from 6-7 if there is bad weather or school closure.

Enrollment forms are also available:

• at the District Office, Colvill Family Center as well as Sunnyside, Burnside and Twin Bluff schools.

• at www.rwps.org.

Forms may be returned to any of those same locations.

During January and February, our classrooms are using their Morning Meeting time as a time to revisit expectations and continue to build community by using the lessons from How to Bullyproof Your Classroom (Caltha Crowe) for teaching children about gateway and bullying behaviors.

Aside from clear instruction, classroom teachers are also using picture books and stories about relationships to reinforce being safe, kind, and responsible within our relationships. Some of the books that the teachers are using are:

• Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
• The New Girl...and Me, Jacqui Robbins
• Just Kidding, Trudy Ludwig
• My Secret Bully, Trudy Ludwig

You can find many of these books on Youtube.com as read alouds.

Email: jpgrove@rwps.org
Website: www.rwps.org
Location: 5001 Learning Lane, Red Wing, MN, USA
Phone: (651)385-4700
Facebook: facebook.com/awesomeBES