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La Liaison
A Publication of the Normandale PTO
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Important Dates
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March
1 Imagination Fair, 6:00 - 7:30, Auditorium
8 K-5 Classes NO SCHOOL, Parent/Teacher Conferences,
8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
9 Teacher In-Service - NO SCHOOL
30 Spring Vacation Begins at Close of Day.
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Expand your Family, Expand your World!
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Expand your Family, Expand your World!
23 = # of French Interns we want to invite to Edina for the 2012-13 school year
18 = # we can invite at current host levels
We are seeking 3 more Fall Hosts, 6 more Spring Hosts, and 4 alternate Host Families by March 1.
A huge Merci to the 37 families who have already signed up to host!
For many families, hosting an intern is the highlight of their children's years in French Immersion and the beginning of a lasting and valuable friendship. Hosting brings a French-speaking young adult into your home, giving you the opportunity to learn about French culture and speak French in a casual, family setting. The sharing between an intern and host family has an enduring impact, opening doors in a way few Americans experience.
Our wonderful French Interns are an integral part of our French Immersion environment. The presence of the Interns in our schools and community greatly increases students' opportunities to hear French spoken by native speakers and provides unique cultural exchange opportunities. Having a second French-speaking adult in the classroom deepens immersion by providing more small-group experiences, as well as regular opportunities to listen to adults conversing in French.
We can't make offers to Interns until we know we have homes for them. The best intern candidates are IN DEMAND, and we want to snap them up quickly and bring them to work in our schools with our children.
Sign up to Host Here
Watch our YouTube video here: Expand Your Family, Expand Your World
Learn more at www.edinainterns.org
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Edina Intern Experience | |
All of our students benefit from having French Interns in the classrooms, but it takes a lot of volunteers to make it possible! How can YOU help?
The French Interns play a key role at Normandale Elementary by providing a second French-speaking adult in the classroom. Their presence deepens the immersion experience, increases students' opportunities to hear conversations in the French language, helps teachers provide additional small-group instruction, and provides unique cultural exchange opportunities at school and at home.
You help make it happen! Please sign up now.
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February NLT Meeting Minutes Available |
The Normandale Leadership Team (NLT) met on Monday, February 13th. In an effort to keep all Normandale families up to date, NLT Meeting Minutes are made available online after each meeting. Click here to see minutes from this meeting and past meetings.
Want to get involved? Mme. Lukaska has requested that the School Advisory Team research and suggest to the NLT changes to our Lost and Found Policy and our Playground Supervision Policy. Work on these two policies will be getting underway soon. Click here if you would like more information on these topic areas, to get involved, or to leave comments on the discussion page.
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French Students Visiting Normandale
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Friday February 17 to Thursday March 1 Normandale School will be welcoming eleven French students and their French chaperone, Guillaume Bonneval. The French students attend Sainte Marie de la Bastide in Bordeaux France and Jeanne d'Arc in Pessac France. Many activities are planned for the French students by Language and Friendship, Inc. and by Normandale Back to Back parent volunteers. A sample of activities that the French visitors will be attending are visits to the Science Museum, Mill City Museum, the Edina Fire Station, Byerly's, the POPS concert, the Works, the State Capital, the St. Paul Cathedral, J.J. Hill House, and snow tubing at Elm Creek. Also, the French students will be attending school at Normandale along with attending English as a Second Language classes. French students will be staying with families of fifth graders who are participating in the Back To Back program in June. This year the Back To Back program has been renamed Aller-Retour Bourdeaux 2012. Gaining insight of American culture, food, families, and learning English are the goals of the French visitors.
June 12 to June 26, sixteen current fifth graders will be traveling to Bordeaux/Pessac France with the Back To Back, Aller-Retour Bordeaux 2012 program. Karen Meyer and Mary Livant are the chaperones for the 2012 June trip. All sixteen Aller-Retour Bordeaux participants attend monthly classes taught by the chaperones to prepare them for the trip. Topics covered in the preparation classes range from dealing with homesickness, understanding French culture, and converting dollars to Euro. While in France the Normandale students will be staying with French families, attending school, and going on field trips. This year will mark the sixth year that Normandale students will visit the Bordeaux/Pessac area. In past years the Normandale students have toured a chocolate factory, a patisserie, the Dune du Pyla, a winery, toured Bordeaux , and attended school with their French host student.
 The Back To Back, Aller-Retour Bordeaux 2012 program is an optional activity that gives fifth grade students the unique opportunity to travel to France and experience French culture while staying in the home of a French family. Language and Friendship, Inc. organizes the trip and parent volunteers help facilitate preparing the students for the trip. |
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Thank you for coming to the Garage Sale!
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Normandale 3rd graders would like to thank everyone who was involved last Wednesday in the Garage Sale for Lougou, Haiti. We were able to collect the amazing amount of $1,388.35 thanks to your purchases and money donations. Also, a huge thank you to all the parents volunteers who helped all day to make this event possible. We are very excited about the possibilities of these contributions and how we will be able to assist the community of Lougou.
Merci, les 3èmes années
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Sport Stacking Club
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Join Mr. Hannemann for sport stacking and fun! Training, drills, and games will be included to increase quickness and efficiency while keeping the atmosphere fun. A snack will be provided during each session. Loaner cups will be provided for those who do not own them or forget theirs at home. Students who would like to purchase cups can choose either a Stackpack (cups, mat, timer, dvd) for $35 or cups only for $15 (payable to instructor). Parents or assigned guardian will need to pick up students at the classroom each day.
John Hannemann, NBCT, teaches physical education at Normandale Elementary and is the former sport stacking world record holder for 3-3-3, 3-6-3, and cycle. He is also the current US record holder for doubles cycle (all records in Master 1 division).
Starts the last week of February (Feb 27 or 29). Click here for K-2 info or click here for grade 2-5 info.
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Congratulations to Nicholas Rewey!
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Congratulations!
Nicholas Rewey, from Mme Swiderski's 4th grade class, has created an artwork that was accepted to be part of a 500 piece display in New York City! Nicholas's Mandala artwork will be in a slide show with art from around the country in Big Screen Plaza. During the National Art Educators Association's National Conference on March 2nd and 3rd the slide show will run between 5 and 8 PM. Artsonia, the website displaying Normandale's artwork, asked art teacher, Leanne French-Amara, to submit one work of art along with 499 other art teachers around the nation. Normandale is very proud of this honor and we all want to congratulate Nicholas for his outstanding artistic work! Please visit Normandale's Artsonia website to see all the student's artwork!
 
Big Screen Plaza, New York City
Nicholas Rewey's Artwork
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3rd Grade Service Learning Project: Empty Bowls
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Empty Bowls: 3rd Grade Service Learning Project: Thursday March 8th, 2012
Normandale's 3rd graders will be participating in a unique, hands-on service learning project called Empty Bowls. Empty Bowls is a Fundraising event put on by STEP of St Louis Park (St Louis Park Emergency Program). The basic idea for Empty Bowls is simple. Participants create bowls to donate to the Empty Bowls fundraiser. At the fundraiser, the bowls are displayed, and guests are served a simple meal of soup and bread donated by local businesses. Guests may choose one of the donated bowls to keep as a reminder that there are always people faced with empty bowls in the world. Normandale's third graders have been making two bowls each inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings.
These flower shaped bowls will be fired and glazed in our kiln. When the bowls are finished, our third graders will pick one bowl to donate to the Empty Bowls Event and one bowl to keep. The bowl they choose to keep will be photographed and posted on Artsonia and then returned to them. Please try to make it to this wonderful event! Thank You! Mme French-Amara
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Submit Photos for Yearbook!
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The yearbook committee is looking for any snapshots you would like to share for this year's book! All photos must be good quality, high resolution, digital photos. We are also currently looking for group class photos of all kindergarten classes. If you have photos to share please submit them to Suzanne Magnuson via email or Marit Swanson via email.
Deadline to submit kindergarten photos is Friday, February 27th. Merci!
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Normandale Imagination Fair
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The 2012 Normandale Imagination Fair is coming Thursday, March 1st from 6-7:30pm.
It is an opportunity for all Normandale students (Kindergarten to Fifth Grade) to showcase their experiments, inventions, or creations.
All students (participants and non-participants) are invited to bring family and friends to our auditorium that evening to enjoy the variety, creativity, and educational aspects of the different projects on display.
This year, a 3M Visiting Wizard will be presenting and demonstrating a special science experiment during the fair.
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Band/Orchestra Sign-up!
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Attention all 4th grade families! Band/orchestra signup is right around the corner!
If your child is interested in playing an instrument next year, plan on attending your informational meeting to schedule an appointment time with us to try out instruments.
Mark the date on your calendar now!
Monday March 19th - 7:00pm (Cornelia, Creek Valley, Highlands students)
Tuesday March 20th - 7:00pm (Concord, Countryside, Normandale students)
Valley View Middle School auditorium - enter at door #1 (SW corner of building)
If you are not available on your scheduled night, please attend the other session.
Students and parents will learn about instrument choices available in 5th grade and will reserve a private interview time to try out the band and orchestra instruments.
Interview dates/times are limited - we strongly recommend attendance at one of the informational meetings to ensure that your preferred interview time is available.
For more information visit our websites. See you soon!
Kyrsten Swenson, orchestra - (all elementaries)
Patrick Mulligan, band - (Countryside, Creek Valley, Normandale)
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Edina PCN Hosts "A Race to Nowhere" Showing
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Does your calendar look like a complicated puzzle? Are your children filled to the brim with homework and activities? Do you sometimes wonder whether it's worth it, or even good for them? Are you and your children just stressed out? These are some of the questions posed by the ground-breaking documentary, "A Race to Nowhere". A concerned mother turned filmmaker aims her camera at the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children's lives. This remarkable new film shines a light on the price young people pay for this "race to nowhere".
Edina PCN will host a viewing of the film on Monday, February 27 from 7-9 pm at South View Auditorium.
Click here for more information. Whether you agree or disagree with the film's message, it should raise some interesting questions and provide a great opportunity for discussion in our community. Admission is free.
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Happening in the Community
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Check out some fabulous Community Opportunities for Youth listed on the EPS Facebook page.
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La Liaison is published every Wednesday. Submit articles to LaLiaison_MN@hotmail.com by noon Monday prior to your desired publication date. Unless designated otherwise, articles will be published in La Liaison for two issues and then removed.
Editors: Deb Gardner and Angie Porter . |
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