Richardson Elementary

Pictured above: Richardson staff, students and families at the North St. Paul Parade.

This year's parade is this Thursday (Sept 19th) at 6:30 - hope to see many of your there showing off your Penguin Pride!!! If you are looking to show off your Penguin Pride throughout the year by purchasing Richardson Spirit Wear, you can visit this website. Branding Wearhouse - Richardson Spirit Wear

I hope this message finds you well. Last week at Richardson, we spent valuable time getting to know each other through community-building activities, helping us set the foundation for a successful school year. We also practiced important routines and had our first fire drill of the year, during which our students did an AMAZING job! Their attention and readiness were truly impressive.

In addition to practicing safety drills, ISD622 is deeply committed to ensuring our schools are safe and welcoming for all. We approach school safety comprehensively, which includes securing our building perimeters and ensuring our interior spaces are equipped with important safety features. The well-being of our students and staff is our highest priority. For more information about our safety protocols, please refer to the ISD622 Safety One Pager.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to teach and reinforce essential safety practices, including bus safety, bike/pedestrian safety, severe weather preparedness, and how to respond to potential threats. These are all part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that every child feels safe and secure at school.

As you continue reading this newsletter, you’ll find key information about upcoming events like fundraisers, Picture Day, and CoGAT testing. We’ve also included important reminders about arrival and dismissal procedures, as well as how to report absences.

Thank you for your continued partnership in keeping our school community safe and thriving. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the main office, Miss Susi or me anytime. My contact information is mhoude@isd622.org or 651-748-6910.

Together,

Mrs. Houde (pronounced "hood")

Principal

Repeat Information: Click here for our Family Information Document

Repeat Information (Online "Absent Today" Form): One new procedure we are excited to introduce this year is the option for families to report an absence to school via a Google Form. You are still welcome to call Richardson's Attendance Line (651-748-6945) to report an absence, however, we are hopeful this new form will be easier for families. Richardson's "Absent Today" form - moving forward I will keep a link to this new form at the bottom of each of our weekly newsletters.

See below for a message from Richardson's PTA...

Our fall fundraiser has started!

We are doing the Slice The Price Card from Domino’s Pizza!!

Let’s begin by checking out our school’s dashboard: https://dash.dominos.cards/43323

Scroll down to the section “Register to Pick Your Prize” or click here https://register.dominos.cards/43323. Once you register, your child will be able to pick their prize and share their very own store link! Once the fundraiser is complete, they will receive the prize they selected from the highest level they qualify for.

The card allows one to buy a large pizza at menu price and get a large pizza FREE!

The cost of the card is just $20* so it can quickly pay for itself! * plus shipping, if ordered online

Use the card as many times as you would like until 6/30/25.

The card is great for parties! Buy 10 large pizzas, get 10 large pizzas FREE!

The Slice the Price card works in 1,788 Domino’s stores in 29 states, and counting! https://slicethepricecard.com/map

Thanks!

Click here for LifeTouch's website

Note: When using the online order form you will need to type in Saint Paul instead of North St Paul.

REPEAT INFORMATION - Please read, if you have not done so already, to ensure safe and efficient arrival and dismissal each day.

Please review our Family Drop-Off and Pick-Up procedures and refer to the map below, along with this, we ask that everyone follows all staff directions.

IMPORTANT NOTES - DROP OFF/ARRIVAL:

* At arrival, join the carline and wait for a staff to give your child/children permission to get out of your vehicle before releasing them.

* DO NOT walk across the street at the drop off area. You may cross the street at the crosswalk areas only. This is to ensure safety for everyone.

• Soon, we will start emailing/calling families who are not following these expectations to individually review the protocols - it will save our staff time (so we can focus on the learning in our building) if we do not need to make any calls to review these expectations with families. We appreciate your support.

IMPORTANT NOTES - PICK UP DISMISSAL:

* The most important things you can do at pick up to ensure the carline moves quickly is to bring your pick up sign. Hang it in your window so our staff can scan it.

• Don't have your sign yet? Or lost your sign? Email mhoude@isd622.org
• Tip: You can take a picture of your sign in case you forget it, or if you need to send it to someone else to have them pick up your child. If needed, you can show the picture of your pick up sign to our staff and they can scan it directly from your phone.

After talking with our bus drivers about how the first few weeks of the school year have gone, we have a few tips to share with families:

• Morning Pick-Up: Please ensure your child(ren) are ready and at the bus stop when the bus arrives. As we settle into the school year, we expect buses to arrive closer to their assigned times. However, in some areas, ongoing road construction may still cause delays. We appreciate your patience and look forward to smoother routes once the construction is completed.

• No Eating on the Bus: Drivers have noticed some students eating during the morning bus ride. Please remind your child to eat breakfast at home or at school (remember, breakfast is free for all students). Additionally, there’s a concern that if students eat their snack on the bus, they may not have any left for snack time later (if their class has snack time scheduled).

Richardson's PTA will host a family dance on Friday, September 27th from 6:00 - 8:00. Below is the RSVP for that event.

https://forms.gle/42YwxXCpgLDEviPT9

We hope to see you all there!

All fourth grade students, as well as third and fifth grade students who are new to our district, will be taking the CogAT screener test sometime during September 23rd-October 4th. The CogAT screener provides a snapshot of your child’s verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning abilities.

The test is administered on a computer during the school day. Each of the 3 sections will take approximately 10 minutes and the students will complete the entire 30 minute test with their class in one day. Students who score within a qualifying range on the screener will complete the full CogAT assessment.

The CogAT test results will be used as one piece of information for Advanced Academics identification. Families will receive notification if their child qualifies for services.

This test is optional. If you would prefer not to have your child participate in the CogAT test, or have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher.

Email: mhoude@isd622.org
Website: https://richardson.isd622.org/
Location: 2400 17th Ave E, North Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone: (651) 748-6910