News and events

February 2, 2025

Our Character Strong trait for February is HONESTY. Check out what each grade level is working on!

• Pre-Kindergarten
• Kindergarten
• First Grade
• Second Grade
• Third Grade
• Fourth Grade
• Fifth Grade

Hello Hoover Families,

Winter Conferences are coming up in a few weeks. MyConference sign-up information was sent home last week with students. If you haven't already, please sign-up for a conference slot with your student's teacher so we can share all the great growth and learning that is happening. Please scroll down for more information on how to sign up. If you have any questions, please reach out to your student's teacher.

It looks like we're back to winter weather after the brief warm up late last week. Snow is in the forecast with temperatures dropping back into the teens and single digits. So please continue to send everything (coats, snow pants, hats, mittens/gloves, boots). We will continue to have recess outside unless the air temp is 0 degrees or -10 degrees with windchill. Thank you for your help in keeping all of our students warm and safe! We appreciate your help with keeping our students warm for arrival, recess, and dismissal time.

This week's events:

• Monday, February 3-Friday, February 7 - I Love to Read Spirit Week
• Monday - Read Your Heart Out Day - Wear Hearts!
• Tuesday - Read My Shirt Day - Wear Something with Words on it!
• Wednesday - Grade Level Color Day - Wear Your Grade Level Color!
• Thursday - Reading Rocks - Rock Your Socks Day - Wear Fun Socks!
• Friday - Super Readers Day - Wear Sports Gear!
• Tuesday, February 4 - Coon Rapids Lions Club Book Distribution
• Tuesday, February 4 - Gr 4 STEMH Circulatory Circus Onsite Field Experience
• Wednesday, February 5 - Gr 2 STEMH Science Museum Offsite Field Experience
• Wednesday, February 5 - Gr 1, 3, 5 Hearing/Vision Screening
• Thursday, February 6 - Gr 5 DARE
• Friday, February 7 - Gr 3-5 Academic Growth Recognition Assembly - Invites were sent home to families being recognized
• Friday, February 7 - PTO Movie Night (6:00-8:00 pm)

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, February 10 - PTO Read-a-Thon Fundraiser Starts
• Tuesday, February 11 - PTO Monthly Meeting (In-Person and Virtual Option - meet.google.com/akx-bbpm-vbj)
• Thursday, February 13-Friday, February 14 - Gr 5 STEMH STARBASE Offsite Field Experience
• Friday, February 14 - Classroom Valentine's Celebrations
• Monday, February 17 - K-12 No School; District Closed
• Tuesday, February 18 - No School; Staff PD Day
• Tuesday, February 18 - Conferences (2:30-8:30 pm)
• Wednesday, February 19-Friday, February 21 - Gr 5 STEMH STARBASE Offsite Field Experience
• Wednesday, February 19-Friday, February 21 - Gr 1-3 Dental Sealant
• Thursday, February 20 - Conferences (4:30-6:30 In-Person, 6:30-8:30 Virtual)
• Wednesday, February 26 - Educators Rising - Shadow Day (Hoover will be hosting students from Buffalo High School)
• Wednesday, February 26 - Hoover Blood Drive (12:00-6:00)
• Friday, February 28 - Gr 3 STEMH Conquer Ninja Gym Offsite Field Experience

IT’S PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE TIME!

Conferences are scheduled for:

• Tuesday, February 18th - 2:30 pm - 8:30 pm (In-Person)
• Thursday, February 20th - 4:30-6:30 (In-Person) and 6:30-8:30 (Virtual Conferences Only)

To schedule your preferred time for a parent-teacher conference:

1. Go to www.Myconferencetime.com/Hoover
2. Click on the name of your child’s teacher (if you need multiple conferences, click on the link “Register for Multiple Time Slots”)
3. Select the desired date/time for your conference by clicking ‘Sign Up’

4. Conferences are In-Person Only, Except 2/20 from 6:30-8:30pm.

5. Click “Sign Up”

After you schedule a conference on-line, the date and time are reserved for you. If you entered your email address correctly, you will receive an email reminder a few days prior to your conference. Please reach out to your student's teacher with any questions.

Every February, the U.S. honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the nation. Black History Month celebrates the rich cultural heritage, triumphs and adversities that are an indelible part of our country's history.

At Hoover, we've highlighted African Americans and other men and women change makers, past and present, in "Who Am I?" wall collages throughout our hallways for staff and students to inquire and learn more about each individual.

We had another wonderful family night this past Thursday focused on reading fun! Even with the abnormally warm weather, we had a great turnout of families joining us for an evening of playing games that reinforced reading skills and then for a light dinner and socializing with other Hoover families and staff. All students, siblings included, received a free book to take home at the end of the event. It was also so fun to see previous Hoover students who are now middle schoolers, join their younger siblings and attended the event.

Third grade students had a chance to engage in some hands on science exploration with an onsite field experience with the Science Museum. Click here for more pictures.

Thank you to our fabulous PTO again and Wellness Funds for providing staff with another Coffee Bar this past week. It is always greatly appreciated by our staff to have these fun perks now and then!

Through February 21st, 10% of sales that come through our school’s unique code, FUN4HOOVER, will be returned to Hoover PTO in the form of an eGift Card, which we'll use to purchase carnival prizes. This is the perfect time to start planning and stocking up for Valentine’s Day parties, birthday parties, and more!

Hoover is excited to partner up with the Dental Sealants Program this year to bring dental care ONSITE at Hoover for students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Students brought home permission forms - please reach out to your student's teacher if you need another one. The Dental Sealants Program will be at Hoover, Wednesday, February 19 - Friday, February 21.

Hoover Elementary will host a community blood drive with the American Red Cross on Wednesday, February 26th from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Hoover Elementary.

For more information or to make an appointment to donate, call 763-506-2890 or sign up online at bit.ly/HooverGiveBlood.

Hoover Elementary is committed to strengthening our community and helping meet hospital and patient needs through blood donations. This blood drive is our way of giving staff, colleagues and families an opportunity to help save lives.

Blood is a perishable product that can only come from volunteer blood donors. With someone in the U.S. needing blood every two seconds, blood products must be constantly replenished, according to the Red Cross.

We urge community members to donate blood and help ensure that patients in local hospitals have a supply of blood ready and waiting before an emergency occurs. There's no better feeling than knowing that your blood donation may give someone a second chance at life.

According to the Red Cross, donors with all blood types are needed, especially those with types O negative, A negative and B negative.

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.

It's getting busier! We have lots happening at Hoover and we need your help!

I Love to Read Week is here which means once again, thanks to the amazing generosity of the Coon Rapids Lions Club, we get to give every student a free book! Distribution will be on Tuesday, Feb 4th. We are still looking for volunteers to come assist with distribution. This is a fun way to get involved with the school.

Guest Readers are needed for World Read Aloud Day on Wednesday, Feb 5th in a couple classes. Even if your child's class isn't listed, if you still would like to come in, you can sign up for any class!

PTO Movie Night is on Friday, Feb 7th. PTO is in need of some volunteers to assist with set up, hall monitoring, clean up, etc. Volunteers will be able to also enjoy the movie while they attend.

PTO will provide the Staff Conference Meal on Tuesday, Feb 18th. PTO is making mac and cheese and providing lettuce to give the staff a mac and cheese and salad bar. They are requesting assistance with sides, toppings, drinks, etc. Both items and monetary donations are welcomed.

Staff Appreciation is the beginning of May and there is a lot of planning that goes into this. I am looking for some volunteers to assist with this. You can either sign up or reach out to me via email if you'd like to help or have questions.

You can find sign up links for all our volunteer opportunities HERE.

Thanks everyone!

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.

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

It may be cold, but in Minnesota we play outside all year long! In this month's Parent Press, we focus on having fun in the frigid weather with simple ideas to make winter fun.

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.