The Carnival is THIS Saturday!!!

Are you ready for the event of the year for the kids? Get ready for games, raffles, face painting and more!

Thank you to all who have already volunteered to help with the Carnival AND bake cakes for the first annual Cake Walk. The Carnival will happen because of YOU! If you haven't already signed up to volunteer, we really need every family member to give an hour of their time before, during, or after the event. We are still in GREAT need of volunteers for the games during the last hour. Without a volunteer to man a game, we have to shut down the game during that shift. We would even love to have older siblings or Normandale alums volunteer. What a fun way to visit the school! PLEASE sign up to volunteer! At this point we will have very few games open at the end of the event. Only those with a parent volunteer will be able to stay open.  

Volunteer Here

If you haven't already done so, please remember to buy your admission and food tickets ahead of the event. It saves you time and money! The deadline to pre-order admission and food tickets is midnight on Friday, May 1st. 

Purchase Admission and Food Tickets Here

Do you want to win Taylor Swift tickets? An XBox One? A yellow tandem bike? We hope so! If you would like to purchase Raffle Tickets for both the Staff/Intern Raffle and the $1.00 and $5.00 baskets before the event, you may do so outside the school auditorium from 3-4pm on Friday, May 1st. If you buy your tickets early, you can label them with your name and cell number before you arrive at the event on Saturday. All tickets must be bought with cash or checks. Sorry, no credit cards. Staff/Intern Raffle tickets are a suggested donation of $.25 a piece. Tickets will also be available at the event itself!

We still need your raffle basket donations! It is our hope every family will donate $10 per student to the highlight of the event. Thank you to all the VERY GENEROUS families who have already donated.  

Donate to Raffle Baskets Here 

And, new this year... we are going old-school with a Cake Walk and a Stuffed Animal Walk! For just $1.00 a turn, you could come home with an awesome stuffed animal or a fabulous cake. Make sure you have your dollars ready! We still need some bakers to make cute creations for the kids to win at the Cake Walk. Please sign up below to bake a cake.

Bake a Cake

You will be able to recognize the amazing Carnival committee at the event because we will all be wearing navy blue. Some will be wearing their new and fabulous Normandale Carnival t-shirts. You, too, can buy a t-shirt! You can pre-order below (by midnight Friday, May 1st) and pick up at school on Friday when you buy tickets, pick up at the carnival, or you can purchase them at the event. Buy early so your child can wear his/hers to the carnival. They come in adult sizes too, so buy one for yourself.

Purchase Normandale T-shirts

This is going to be an amazing event. The committee has worked so hard pulling everything together and we hope to raise a lot of money to help our outstanding intern program. Thank you for all of your support and financial contributions. We are so appreciative.

See you at the carnival!

  

ATTENTION PARENTS OF CURRENT 3rd AND 4th GRADERS

To succeed in school and life, children and young adults need ongoing opportunities to learn and practice essential skills. This is especially true during the summer months.

Did You Know?

• All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).
   
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose m
  ore than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).
   
• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al, 2004).

Many Americans have a wonderful image of summer as a carefree, happy time when "kids can be kids," and take for granted the prospect of enriching experiences such as summer camps, time with family, and trips to museums, parks, and libraries.

However enriching these activities may be, children also need specific activities to boost their reading comprehension and prevent the "summer slide" so when they return to school in August they feel confident in their abilities as a reader.

We have heard from many parents for the need of a "reading program" over the summer months to help them help their children in retaining the skills they learned over the school year. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a tailored program where parents received weekly updates with specific activities for their child to do?

If this is a question you have asked yourself and you would like to receive weekly reading activities and suggestions throughout the summer months, and you are a parent of a current 3rd or 4th grader, please send an email to Jennifer Johnson before May 15th. She, along with Laura Hanson, will tailor activities based on your child's grade level/reading level to help them keep up with comprehension skills over the summer months through reading fiction and non-fiction selections. These will include other activities that you can do with your child while reading to them every day, sent to you in a convenient weekly email update throughout the summer.

The Normandale Leadership Team (NLT) is looking for a Treasurer and a Vice-Treasurer to serve for the 2015-2016 school year. The Vice-Treasurer will serve as Treasurer for 2016-2017 (2-year commitment). The Treasurer, assisted by the Vice-Treasurer, will help with PTO financial affairs. Their duties, among others, include:

• Coordinate collection of field trip and room party dues.
• Assist PTO sub-committees with budgeting and review budgets periodically throughout the year.
• Assist on the day/night of fundraising events by collecting, counting, and depositing revenues.
• Attend NLT meetings and semi-annual General Membership meetings.

Basic accounting skills and knowledge of QuickBooks software are required. 

If you or someone within your household can serve Normandale in these capacities, please send an email to either Charles Amevo or John Conte to discuss.

Next week is election day in Edina Public Schools. It is important that all residents be informed about the referendum proposal and Remember to Vote Tuesday, May 5!

Have a question about the upcoming referendum?

Recent Additions to the Referendum 2015 website

• How will facility improvements impact learning?
  Research suggests that having a variety of learning spaces available to personalize learning to diverse needs actually improves overall student engagement and achievement.
   
• What will new learning spaces look like? As part of the district's Secondary and BG5 Strategic Studies, examples of what these spaces could look like have been collected and are available on the Next Generation Spaces page of the district's referendum website.
   
• Looking for a referendum publication, presentation or video? All referendum communications are archived on the district website here.

Normandale Carnival 2015 - Next Weekend!
Recommendation from the Health Office
From the Normandale Office
• Second Annual Student Wellness Challenge
• From the District
• Summer/Year-Round French Reading Opportunity
• Happening in the Community
• Last Week's News

You can always view last week's newsletter on Normandale's PTO website or on the Newsletters page of the Normandale Website.