What's up Wednesday

10/2/2024

Hello Cedar Island families,

As we conclude September and move into October, I’d like to share some of the many highlights from the first month of the school year.

• We had a tremendous first day and week of the year. Excitement was high and the vibes were positive. Staff felt energized by having the students back in the building!
• Staff and students alike have enjoyed our upgrades from the summer construction.
• Teachers successfully launched our new district-wide reading and literacy curriculum. Although some growing pains are to be expected, the early signs and feedback are encouraging.
• The Fun Run was a massive success. Not only did we have a blast in the days leading up the Run, but also, largely thanks to our amazing families, our PTO raised enough money to help ensure our Bobcat community has everything it needs to enjoy a successful year.
• In partnership with the Maple Grove Rotary, we were able to plant 12 new trees along the east and south sides of the building. The variety of trees will add a lot to our “curb appeal” once they grow in.

Thank you for your continued support of what promises to be an exceptional school year. We look forward to seeing you all at conferences (more info on that below) over the next couple of weeks. As always, please reach out with any questions you have or feedback you’d like to share.

Take care,

Alex Berg

Principal

THANK YOU to everyone who made the Fun Run the HUGE success that it was.

We launched into space hoping to raise $32,000 for Cedar Island, but our brave space explorers blasted past that goal, and we raised $40,900! We are still holding out for a few promised checks and company matches - so if either of those scenarios applies to you, please turn those in as soon as your rocket boosters are able.

The funds raised will help pay for classroom and specialist support, grade level activities, classroom supplies, staff appreciation, classroom parties, field trips and other fun items for our school.

Speaking of FUN; we have a few post race events to celebrate and look forward to.

• October 16th - Our Blue Astronauts were victorious in the team battle, and have earned a popcorn party!
• October 31st & November 1st - Inflatables Party during your child's gym class!

Fun Run FUN Facts:

• Total Dollars Raised: $40,900
• Green Alien Dollars Raised: $19,172
• Blue Astronaut Dollars Raised: $21,728
• Weekend Challenge Winners: Ms. Haugen's 3rd Grade Classroom
• Top Classroom: Mrs. Sorbel's 4th Grade Classroom
• Top Students: Lily & Jack S
• Coloring Contest Winners: Tess, Kiaan, Mary, Abby, Molly, Tatum, Hadley, Rae, Ryder, Sydney, Isabelle, Olive

The window for scheduling conferences will open at 4:30pm tomorrow, Thursday, September 26 and will close on Sunday, October 6.

Scheduling will be done using ParentVUE. Instructions on how to schedule your child(rens) conferences can be found here: Conference Scheduling Instructions

If you do not yet have a ParentVUE account activated, you may activate it now via this link: ParentVue Activation Instructions

Conference Dates and Times

Tuesday, October 8th 8:00am - 9:00am and 4:30pm - 7:30pm

Thursday, October 10th 4:30pm - 8:30pm

Monday, October 14th 4:30pm - 8:30pm

Fall Conferences are “Listening Conferences” For Teachers, Grades 2-5

We will have been in school for about 5 weeks when conferences begin. Therefore, we don’t use fall conferences as a “reporting conference”. Teachers in grades 2-5 will spend minimal or no time sharing about student academic performance as it’s too early in the school year to give an accurate picture of how our scholars are performing. Rather, we use fall conferences for 2 purposes:

• Teacher, parent and children can work together to determine a good independent reading goal for at home.
• Teachers will ask parents questions to help build a relationship and better understand our families hopes and desires for their child(ren) for this school year. This, hopefully, will help us better understand the needs/desires of our families for their child(ren)’s education. Teachers will send these questions to parents ahead of time so that they can prepare for them. Please watch for this information from your child’s teacher.

Kindergarten/1st Grade Conferences: These will include reporting about how each child is adjusting to being a student and may include some of their academic and social/emotional adjustments. Teachers will also ask questions to better learn about each child.

Scholastic Book Fair is Coming!

The book fair will be open in the Media Center during conferences as well as some additional times during the school day (students only).

Book Fair Hours:

Tuesday, October 8: 8:00-9:30am; 3:30-7:30pm

Thursday, October 10: 3:00pm-8:30pm

Friday, October 11: 9am-10:00am

Monday, October 14: 3:00pm-8:30pm

Tuesday, October 15: 9:00am-10:30am

The hours are subject to change if we don't have volunteers! Please consider signing up for a shift to keep the book fair open! Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094BA9A92DA0FC1-51725985-fall

Can't shop the fair?

• Shop online https://www.scholastic.com/bf/cedarislandelementaryschool
• Send your student to shop with money in an eWallet https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/hub/ewallet.html

Questions on the book fair? Contact Taryn tarynkuebelbeck@gmail.com

We have seen instances this year of students using smart devices (phones or watches) to call their parents when they are not feeling well and asking to be picked up.

Please note, per the student handbook (pg 18): Use of cell phones and other electronic devices is allowed during school hours, for educational purposes only, at the direction of a staff member… Students should not use their personal devices during the instructional day unless for academic purposes. In addition, the Cedar Island expectation matrix states that all personal electronics should be stored in backpacks/lockers.

For the safety of all students and staff at Cedar Island, students feeling ill must be evaluated by the building nurse prior to leaving during the school day. If the student does not meet illness exclusion criteria (for details, see www.district279.org/departments/health-services) they will be encouraged to stay at school.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Becky Christensen, RN-BSN, PHN

Licensed School Nurse

• October 8 - Parent Teacher Conferences 8:00am - 9:00am and 4:30pm - 7:30pm
• October 8 - Book Fair Begins
• October 10 - Parent Teacher Conferences 4:30pm - 8:30pm
• October 11 - Pajama Day
• October 14 - Parent Teacher Conferences 4:30pm - 8:30pm
• October 16 - Blue Team Popcorn Party (In school)
• October 17 - No School MEA
• October 18 - No School MEA