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The Cheetah Chatter The Newsletter of Chelsea Heights Elementary School December 2016
Parent Teacher Organization Updates By Brooke Ust
Come meet and greet other Chelsea Heights parents in our informal meeting on December 15th at Ran-Ham bowling lanes, 490 Hamline Ave South (in the lower level of The Nook.) The PTO has reserved lanes from 7-9 p.m. We hope you will take the time to join us for this community-building event.
Thank you to families who picked up winter gear dur-ing fall conferences. We successfully depleted our sup-ply of snow pants and mittens. Coats, hats and boots also found children to keep warm this winter.
The food drive for Neighborhood House was a smash-ing success again this year thanks to many donations by Chelsea Heights Families, community members and our partnership with Salon 27 (2727 Lexington Ave North, Roseville). Congratulations to Ms. Paz's second grade class, which collected 259 items. The class has been awarded a pizza lunch with Principal Gebeke for bringing in the most items. We continue to be amazed and humbled by all of the support we receive.
The Principal’s Corner By Jill Gebeke
Thank you to all the parents who attended parent- teacher conferences, we had over 96% attendance. Re-search indicates that families who are involved in their child’s education directly influence whether the child’s success in school. Also, thank you to those of you that assisted with the conference meals for staff. The two meals were awesome.
Safety of students, staff and visitors is something we take very seriously at Chelsea Heights. We have the sys-tem safeguards of locked doors, fire drills, tornado drills, lock down drills, and daily routines that help students feel safe. We have a small number of students who ex-perience behavior difficulties due to traumatic events in their lives or mental health diagnoses, and we work in-tensively with these students to help them maintain self-control. On the rare occasion that a student might strike out and injure another student, we will notify the parents of both students and have the social worker or behavior specialist help the student doing the harm to apologize and make amends. If you have any questions about a particular situation, please feel free to contact your child's teacher or me. We want all children to feel that Chelsea is a safe place to learn.
With the winter weather here, this is a reminder that children go outside for fresh air and exercise 15 minutes daily, unless it is raining, the temperature is below zero, or there is a severe wind chill. Please be sure your child comes to school with appropriate outdoor clothing. We have gently used coats, boots and snow pants available for families who may need them.
In case of inclement weather, when schools are closed or programs are cancelled, the district communicates that information as quickly and as broadly as possible.
The decision to close schools is determined by the Su-perintendent. Notification of school closing is made available in the following ways: A telephone call, text or email MySPPS app The official school closing radio station, 830 AM -
WCCO Other major TV and radio stations The school district website: www.spps.org
Important Dates 2
Marvelous Mitten Makers 2
Papa John’s Fundraiser 2
Erickson an Excellent Educator 2
Teacher Profile: Adam Sorenson 3
Gym Class Back in the Rotation 3
Northwest Como Rec Center 3
Ms. Quinlan’s Class Uses Pumpkins 4
Box Tops Contest Winners 4
Inside This Issue:
PTO President Brooke Ust * Vice President Carrie Peltier * Secretary, Kim Klinge
Co-Treasurers, Lisa Preston and Julie Small * Grants Chair Jamie Proulx
Chelsea Heights Contact Information
1557 Huron Street,
Saint Paul, MN 55108 Main Office: 651-293-8790
Contact PTO board members:
Contact the newsletter editor:
Important Dates:
Dec. 1 3rd and 4th Grade concert
Dec. 6 PTO Fundraiser: Mudslingers
Dec. 8 PTO Fundraiser: St. Paul Bagelry
Dec. 15 PTO Fundraiser: Davanni’s
Dec. 22 Winter break begins
Jan. 3 School resumes
Laura Erickson Featured as Excellent Educa-tor by WCCO Television
In November, second grade teacher Laura Erickson was featured on WCCO television as an Excellent Educator. Retired teacher Cherie Frarseth, who volunteers in Erick-son’s classroom, nominated her for the award based on her use of mindfulness techniques with her class.
Erickson makes time on a daily basis to have her learners focus their awareness of the present moment, to focus on their breathing and their listening in order to improve self-regulation. You can learn more about how she applies this therapeutic technique in class by viewing the full story online at http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/11/09/excellent-educator-laura-erickson/
Order Papa John’s Pizza Online and
Support Chelsea Heights
When you, family and friends order Papa John’s Pizza
at PapaJohns.com and use promo code CHEETAHS,
you will receive 20% off your order at regular menu
price and Papa John’s will
donate 20% of net sales to
our school.
You can take advantage of
this “Dollars for Dough”
fundraiser at all Papa John’s
restaurants in Minnesota.
Marvelous Mitten Makers Help St. Paul Kids By Anita Dualeh
Teachers at Chelsea keep extra pairs of mittens on hand in case someone in their class forgets to wear this essen-tial winter accessory. They also have access to a large bagful of mittens to give out to students as needed. Many of those mittens have come from the Marvelous Mitten Makers, a local organization that donated 13,400 hand-made items to Saint Paul Public Schools this fall.
The Marvelous Mitten Makers began over 30 years ago when a Saint Paul resident who lived across the street from a public school observed children playing outdoors in the winter without hats or mittens. She knit hats and mittens to address the immediate need and then told a friend about it. That friend told a friend and soon there were several people making hand-made items for school children who might otherwise go without these winter-time essentials.
Today the Marvelous Mitten Makers has grown to a group of 170 people who knit, crochet and sew mittens, scarves, headbands and lap quilts for St. Paul schools. Volunteers create items at home, and once a month a volunteer driver picks up completed items and delivers them to a warehouse. Each October items are distribut-ed to various schools in the district.
Marvelous Mitten Makers often purchase the materials they use for their handmade items, but they also accept donations of yarn, fleece and batting. And they are al-ways willing to accept more crafters into their fold.
“It’s a very heartwarming project for many people who enjoy their crafts,” write Marvelous Mitten Makers coor-dinators Judy and Ron Bonnevier, “and it helps so many children and adults.”
Gym Class Back in the Rotation at Chelsea Heights By Emma Schaetzke
It’s great to be back at Chelsea with our wonderful students. I have lot of fun activities planned for the gym this year.
The first few weeks have been dedicated to getting everyone familiar with the rules of the gym, and playing some team work games that stress the importance of sportsmanship and compassion.
Starting in December, we are going to be working on our soccer skills, practicing kicking, passing, and working on using offensive and defensive strategies during game play.
In addition to soccer, we will continue to work on our fitness skills by increasing our cardiovascular endurance with our running Wednesdays, and increasing our muscular strength and endurance with fitness station Thursdays.
Look for monthly updates from me, or come check out our fitness boards in the Physical Education hallway for ideas that you can do at home – and to see who our top runners are in each grade.
It’s been great to see how excited the students are to be back in the gym and moving.
Teacher Profile: Adam Sorenson
I’m Adam Sorenson, the art teacher at Chelsea Heights. This is my first year at Chelsea and I’m so happy to be a part of such a great school. Ms. Gebeke, the teachers, and the parents have been so welcoming and supportive. I love com-ing to school every day ready to teach and watch the kids learn and create art.
My wife, three-year-old son and I have recently moved home to Minnesota after living and teaching in Austin, Texas. We are happy to be back home surrounded by our family and friends and living in such a rich arts community.
When I’m not at school I love to spend time with my son. We spent the summer exploring the different swimming areas and parks in Minneapolis/St Paul and had many visits from family members. I also had a chance to discover and play many new disc golf courses, which is my favorite outdoor activity. When it comes to making visual art, I like to draw and paint as much as I can. I also make time to pick up my guitar and write and perform music.
Again, I would like to say what a pleasure it is teaching at Chelsea Heights Elementary. I’ve been able to meet so many interesting and inquisitive kids and their families. It makes teaching a fun adventure.
Winter/Spring Class registration begins December 5th at Northwest Como or online at https://apm.activecommunities.com/saintpaul/Activity_Search
Upcoming Classes/Activities Include: Artist Workshop Classes ages 5-12 Archery ages 9-17 Parents Night Out on February 10 Babysitting Training ages 11-17 on February 4 Senior Games weekly on Tuesday from 1-3 pm Family Open Gym beginning January 8-March 26, 1-3 pm Power Up Fitness ages 7-17 Men's 25+ Ice & Advil Basketball
Creative Movement/Ballet ages 3-5 Hip Hop ages 6-18 Jazz/Ballet ages 6-10 Ice Skating Lesson ages 3-6 Women's 35+ Basketball beginning January 8 Men's Indoor Soccer beginning January 8 ***Family Skating Party & Bonfire February 3 from 6-8 pm
Spring Sports Registration is the month of Jan 1-31. Sports include indoor soccer and volleyball. Register directly at Northwest Como or online at https://apm.activecommunities.com/saintpaul/Activity_Search
Register for Upcoming Events at Northwest Como Recreation Center
Mr. Arndt’s Fourth Grade Class Won Fall Box Tops Contest By Alex Lodner
The winner in Chelsea Heights’ Fall Box Tops Classroom Contest was Mr. Arndt’s fourth grade class with a total of 885 Box Tops. Along with the Box Tops Traveling Trophy and medals, the classroom also received their Box Tops earnings to spend on classroom needs. Second place went to Ms. Arcand’s class while Ms. Barnick’s class came in third.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the contest. Watch for details on the next contest of the year.
Ms. Quinlan's 4th grade class used pumpkins to work on math skills such as creating quadrilaterals, estimating, organ-izing data, graphing and division.
Ms. Quinlan's Class Reviewed Math Skills with Fall-Themed Activity
