Lake Elmo E-News
Hello Lake Elmo Families,
Wednesday evening we celebrated the opening of our new school with our official “ribbon cutting" and Community Open House. With this event we are “officially open,” getting into our routines and diving into learning. Ask your student(s) what they have been learning in class. I have seen classes diving into Benchmark, our reading curriculum, and using house learning spaces for whole group instruction. Our new space is giving us so many opportunities!
I appreciate your flexibility as we move forward in our new building! Breakfast and carpool pick-up/drop-off is becoming more efficient and that is because of the wonderful staff, students and parents working together.
Take care and enjoy the long weekend!
Principal Gina Doe
Just a reminder that there will be no school tomorrow Friday, September 4, or Monday, September 7. Enjoy the long weekend with your family, and we’ll see everyone back at school on Tuesday, September 8! 🎉
House Rules - Each classroom worked on creating classroom “house” rules together. Next week we’ll be creating our school “house” rules.
Kindergarten & 3rd grade - Do you know your neighbor?
Purpose: To build community in the classroom by learning student’s’ names and similar information about each other
1st grade - Who Cares about me/Who cares for me? - video link
4th grade - Who Cares About Me? - video link
Purpose: To help students identify people (with a focus on adults)who care about them
2nd grade & 5th grade - Strands of Gold
Purpose: To provide an opportunity for students to identify who has helped them and to remind everyone to provide support and kindness to others
Yesterday was a very special day for the Lake Elmo Elementary community! We welcomed families, staff, community members, and friends to our Open House and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to celebrate the opening of our beautiful new school.
Guests had the opportunity to explore the new building, see our learning spaces, and experience the excitement of this incredible new chapter for Lake Elmo Elementary. The ribbon cutting was a wonderful moment to officially celebrate the new home of our school and all the memories that will be made here for years to come.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and to our community for supporting Lake Elmo Elementary throughout this exciting journey. We are so grateful to call this amazing new building home! 💙
Our school was designed to be a welcoming, flexible place for students to learn — with safety and security built into the design.
Lake Elmo has a secure entrance and multiple areas that can be quickly locked and separated from other parts of the building. Each grade level has its own learning pod that can be secured from the rest of the school. Learning pods also have exits to the outside, giving students and staff options in an emergency.
The learning pod design supports everyday safety, too. Classrooms, small-group spaces and other learning areas are located together within each pod. Students can access most of what they need without moving throughout the building. This means fewer transitions and less hallway traffic.
Even the glass walls serve an important purpose. They provide better visibility and help staff supervise students throughout learning spaces and common areas. This helps prevent and address everyday safety concerns, including bullying and negative student behavior.
It’s all part of a thoughtful design that brings together safety, security and great spaces for learning.
With school now fully underway, here are some visitor reminders:
Driver's License Needed
- You need to have your driver's license every time you visit. We scan it each time so you can get a visitor's badge to wear while in our school.
- When you're done with your visit, please come back to the office to sign out.
No Walking In
- If you're dropping off your student late or picking them up early from the school, a staff member can walk your student down if needed or we can call down your student to the office.
- To reduce classroom interruption, we ask families to not walk down to the classroom.
Lunch Visits
- Families are welcome to have lunch with their student any day, no need to call ahead of time to inform the school.
- Please remember to bring your driver's license to sign in.
- If you visit, we ask you only go to the lunch room and back to the office to sign out. No walking with your student back to class to avoid interruption.
- You may bring outside food for your student but do not share this food with any other student that is not your own to avoid any food allergies.
Volunteering
- If you'd like to volunteer in a classroom, please reach out directly to your student's teacher.
- If you do volunteer, please have a completed background check done. They are free and last for 4 years.
- Please email lakeelmo@stillwaterschools.org if you're unsure whether your background check is expired.
- Fill this out if you need to request a background check form to be emailed to you
- Again, please bring your driver's license to sign in.
🌈 Color Run – October 2!
We are in need of color run volunteers throughout the day. Volunteers will be helping throw the colored chalk powder on our kiddos as they run. Sign up here.
Get Involved
We always love our Lake Elmo community members to get involved. This year we are hoping to have a classroom parent representative for each teacher. If this is of interest, please reach out and let us know! Everyone is welcome to be part of the PTA. Contact us: lakeelmopta@gmail.com
You can also follow us on Facebook!
SAFETY - Upcoming Drills Second Fire Drills
Second Fire Drill - September 11th
Secure Drill - September 18th
Connect with us
Email: lakeelmo@stillwaterschools.org
Website: lakeelmo.stillwaterschools.org
Location: 11030 Stillwater Blvd, Stillwater, MN 55042
Phone: 651-351-6700
Facebook: facebook.com/Stillwater834
Instagram: instagram.com/stillwater834