News and events

December 8, 2024

Our Character Strong trait for December is EMPATHY. Check out what each grade level is working on:

• Kindergarten

• First Grade

• Second Grade

• Third Grade

• Fourth Grade

• Fifth Grade

Hello Hoover Families,

Thank you for all of your help with making sure students are coming to school with their winter coats, snow pants, hats, gloves/mittens and boots. Even though the snow is no longer on the ground this week, the temperature is still cold, and that's when students don't think they need to layer up, but they still do!

Trimester one report cards can be viewed online starting Monday, December 9th. Directions on how to access are below (keep scrolling). Please reach out to your student's teacher with any questions.

We are so grateful for our PTO's "ReStock the Classroom" Drive and what has been donated so far. This drive runs until Thursday, December 19th. Please scroll down for more information.

Winter weather guidance:

• Please make sure students come to school dressed appropriately for the weather. The grounds may not have snow yet, but the temperature is extremely cold. Temperatures under 50 degrees mean coats/heavy sweatshirts for recess. Temperatures in the 40s and lower mean coats and winter gear for recess. Snow pants are required if students are playing in the snow. If no snow pants are worn, they stay on the blacktop and playground (if there’s not a lot of snow).
• Indoor recess takes place when the air temperature is 0 degrees or -10 degrees windchill, following the district guidelines. It may also occur when heavy rain and/or the playground and surrounding areas are soaked, and puddles are everywhere.

This Week's Events:

• Monday, December 9 - Tri 1 Report Cards Go Live Online
• Tuesday, December 10 - PTO Monthly Meeting - In Person and Virtual Option
• meet.google.com/akx-bbpm-vbj
• Tuesday, December 10-Wednesday, December 11 - Gr 4-5 Winter MAP Math Testing
• Thursday, December 12 - Gr 1 STEMH Muscle Madness Onsite Field Experience

Best,

Mrs. Strusz

P.S. In case you missed the last Hoover Family Updates. Click here to view.

P.S.S. Check out last week's Hoover Howl News video announcement. Click here to view.

• Monday, December 16 - Gr 2 STEMH Hoo Got Ate? Onsite Field Experience

• Tuesday, December 17 - Winter Ugly Sweater Day

• Wednesday, December 18 - PTO Dining Night at Noodles & Company (4-8 pm)

• Thursday, December 19 - Winter Classroom Parties

• Thursday, December 19 - PTO Spirit Night @ Cheap Skate (5:30-7:00 pm)

• Friday, December 20 - No School - Licensed Staff PD Day

• Monday, December 23-Wednesday, January 1 - No School - Winter Break

Elementary school report cards will be available to view ONLINE ONLY on Monday, December 9th.

Elementary school report cards will be available online. This change was made district-wide last school year. Families will be able to access report cards by logging into A-HConnect or viewing it on the ParentVUE mobile app.

To ensure access to the report cards when available on December 9th, families are encouraged to make sure they have their login information now. Currently, report cards from last school year are available for viewing.

How to view report cards from A-HConnect (view detailed instructions):

• Login to A-HConnect.

• Click on the ‘My Student Information/ParentVUE’ icon.

• Select a student from the dropdown menu.

• Select ‘Documents.’

• Select and view the applicable report card from the ‘Documents’ window.

• The report card will open in a new tab where the capabilities to download or print will be available.

View from the ParentVUE app:

• Go to the AppStore or Google Play and search for the ParentVUE app.

• Enter your zip code when prompted, and select “Anoka-Hennepin School District” from the menu options.

• Confirm ‘yes’ and select ‘Already Activated,’ if prompted.

• Use login/password to login.

• Select a student from the student list.

• Select ‘Documents.’

• Select and view the applicable report card.

• Click the share button to save or share the PDF.

If you need assistance logging in or forgot your password, call 763-506-HELP (4357) or email 506help@ahschools.us. For questions about the report cards, please contact the main office at your child’s school.

Mrs. Anne Lubben, Special Education Para Educator, submitted a grant application to the Anoka-Hennepin Education Foundation for Nurturing Dolls this past fall, and her application was accepted!

The Nurturing Dolls have arrived. A big thank you to A-H Educational Foundation for funding our grant request for the Nurturing Dolls. As educators, we understand that many of our students, especially the younger ones, can struggle with challenging concepts like the Character Strong traits. The Nurturing Dolls can be a way to bridge that learning gap through play and modeling. The dolls have been distributed to the Den and Paws rooms, several Special Education case managers, the Multi-lingual

Learning program and our school social workers.

Mrs. Katie Edson, Explorations Teacher, wrote a Donors Choose proposal for additional seeds and supplemental materials for the hydroponic tower that was purchased through our STEMH speciality program funds. Donations would be matched on Giving Tuesday, and Mrs. Edson's proposal was funded in about 24 hours! The total amount was about $550, which will provide about $400 of hydroponic seeds & other materials. The hydroponic garden is off to a great start; Hoover students have been really excited about it so far! These are lettuce seedlings from the top shelf.

Elhanan in 5KF was this year's Hoover winner for the CRFD Fire Safety Poster contest. For his hard work on creating his poster and being selected the winner, Elhanan won a $50 gift card and a ride on a fire truck with the CRFD!

Please send an extra pair of pants and underwear for your child in case there is an accident (bathroom, breakfast/lunch spill, etc.). The health office loves donations of gently used sweatpants and leggings sizes 5-10. We also appreciate new packs of underwear for boys and girls sizes 5-10.

The health office has free at home Covid tests. Email Darlene.Anderson@ahschools.us and we can send them home with your child.

Wondering if your child is well enough to come to school? Click here for more information.

If your child goes to the doctor or dentist, please request a doctor's note and send it with your child for attendance purposes.

Welcome back everyone! We have only a few weeks until Winter Break begins!

Don't forget to send in items for the Restock the Classroom Drive! The class with the highest number of students participating will receive a prize from our amazing PTO!

It's a bit slower right now this month but we still have some volunteer opportunities available. You can find links to sign up to all of them HERE as well as information in my newsletter below.

Just a reminder that any volunteer 18 years or older must complete the volunteer application and background check each school year. Those 17 and younger only need to complete the volunteer application each school year.

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

Hello Hoover Staff and Families! We wanted to share an update about things we have planned for the year.

Fall Fundraiser

Thank you for sharing the fundraising information with our Hoover families and supporting this event!! Our top three classrooms were KSB, 4MR, and 2MT. We’ll reach out to you separately regarding your classroom reward. The pickup date for those who chose to ship items to the school is November 4, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM.

Restock the Classroom - December/January

We’ll sponsor another “Restock in the Classroom” with a January delivery goal. This time we’ll ask for donations from families and our community supporters in advance so we can do more for you!

Read-A-Thon - February

We’ll host a Read-a-thon in February, and this event will rotate every other year with the Kids Heart Challenge. We’ll do our best to inspire the students as much as the Kids Heart Challenge did. One of our annual commitments is to donate $1000 to the Media Center for book purchases.

Spring Carnival - May

We will host the Spring Carnival in May. This event requires many volunteers, and you know we’ll ask you for help too. Feel free to share any feedback or suggestions through Mr. White.

HundredX - May

Our HundredX Fundraiser will return this school year. This one is awesome as it doesn’t require families and supporters to purchase anything. They simply complete questionnaires regarding their recent shopping trips or business interactions.

Fundraiser Nights

We’ll try to have either a restaurant night or a family entertainment night once a month. This is a great opportunity to bond with Hoover families and earn some funds for our initiatives.

PTO Meeting

Our PTO meeting time changed to 6:45 PM – 7:30 PM. We hope the time reduction will entice participation. The PTO Board will now meet beforehand to hash out plans that may overwhelm new attendees. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month unless there is a conflict or need to change.

Classroom Amazon Lists

If you have an existing list or need one created, please send us an email. We will share them on our social media platforms throughout the year. The links will be housed on our Google site here.

We also have a page on our site that will list school & PTO items. Feel free to reference this page for your weekly updates to families.

Please reach out if you have any questions or feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you for your support; we appreciate you!

Cheers!

Hoover PTO

Hoover PTO Facebook page

PTO's website

Hoover Elementary Facebook page

Handling traumatic events can be a difficult topic for families to address. This month's Parent Press includes ways for caregivers to recognize the signs a child may exhibit after experiencing a traumatic event, as well as ways to provide connection and protect children.

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.

The Anoka-Hennepin School District allows qualifying flyers from nonprofit groups to be distributed at school and sent home with students. These flyers have gone through the district approval process. A virtual gallery of flyers is also available. These events, classes and activities are not sponsored or endorsed by Anoka-Hennepin Schools.

This does NOT change our regular flyer policies or procedures! To have a flyer posted, the organization still needs to go through the process, be approved, and deliver paper flyers to schools in our district.