GRAMMAR GAZETTE

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Dear Fabulous Nova Lower School Families,

With Quarter 2 now underway, it’s a wonderful time to pause and appreciate all that our school community has accomplished together. The first quarter was filled with milestones—academic achievements, friendships, and routines—that help our students feel grounded and supported. As we move into this next chapter, our focus remains on nurturing a positive environment where each student can learn, grow, and thrive.

I want to give a special shout-out to our dedicated Nova PTO for hosting an incredible Nova Family Carnival last weekend. From bounce houses to carnival games, mascots to wonderful food and treats, to the llamas on the front lawn, it was a day absolutely filled with joy and excitement! It truly takes all hands on deck to bring so many wonderful ideas to fruition, so thank you to the planners, organizers, greeters, game runners, food servers, bounce house bouncers, and attendees for making it such a memorable event for the Nova Classical community! It is so appreciated!

This month, as we look forward to Thanksgiving, we’re especially grateful for the strong sense of community our families, students, and staff bring to our school. Your involvement and support create a place where learning is celebrated and every student knows they belong. We wish you a restful break filled with warmth, connection, and gratitude. Thank you for being such a valued part of our school family!

Please note the following upcoming events. Detailed information can be found below in the newsletter.

• Thursday, November 21, & Monday, November 25: Fall Conferences
• Thursday, November 21: Give to the Max Day
• Monday, November 25-Friday, November 29: No School, Thanksgiving Break
• Tuesday, December 3: Virtue Assembly @ 9:15 AM, Spirit Wear Day
• Monday, December 16-Thursday, December 19: Book Week!
• Monday, December 23-Friday, January 3: No School, Winter Break

Be sure to read this month's Gazette to learn more about upcoming events and school information, and, as always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Warm Regards,

Ms. Tousignant

We look forward to meeting with you at Parent-Teacher Conferences in November!

• Thursday, November 21, 2024, 4:30-8:00 PM, in-person only. Stop by the NPTO-Sponsored Parent Lounge in the Great Room between conferences for refreshments!

• Monday, November 25, 2024, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM, virtual only via Google Meet

• Please note that all Special Education conferences will be virtual

• All conference slots are 12 minutes long and are booked through PickATime

Question? Visit the Parent Directions for Conferences for assistance.

Directions were emailed to all families on Monday, November 4. If you did not receive the emailed instructions, please reach out to contact@novaclassical.org for assistance with any contact information issues.

Give to the Max is Minnesota's day of giving! It is coming up on November 21, the same day as evening Parent-Teacher conferences. We are raising funds this year for our general fund and are excited to expand our network of support for our school.

Give to the Max Day will be a day of fun with hourly challenges and exciting incentives for giving or just spreading the news! Check out the day-of schedule to follow the excitement! Please connect on our social media channels and help get the word out about our school.

Book Week is December 16-19 this year. Parents are invited to attend the following events:

Battle of the Books - Monday, December 16 @ 2:30-3:30 PM

Students in grades 3-5 will be competing, answering questions about 12 books they've read as a team. The top 10 teams will advance to Round 2, taking place in April. Students that have ordered Battle of the Books shirts can wear them on this day. The shirts will be distributed the week before the event.

Book Character Assemblies - Wednesday, December 18

• Grades K, 3 & 5: 8:50-9:20 AM

• Grades 1, 2 & 4: 9:35-10:05 AM

Students are invited to dress as book characters! If they are not dressed as a book character, they should be in their uniform.

Enrollment application for the 2025-2026 school year is open. Please visit our website for information. All applications submitted by January 31, 2025, at 4:00 PM, will be entered into the enrollment lottery in February 2024. Current students do not need to reapply.

Thank you all for sending your plastic film in to be recycled during our Ridwell drive! With your help, we recycled 25 large bags of plastic film! In order to access an opportunity to bring this company to Nova Classical for free, we need 10 families or friends to sign up for a subscription before December 15. This means you would pay for Ridwell collection at home, and help Nova Classical get plastic collection for free! It is not too late to sign up! If you would like more information about how to sign up please see our poster or visit our Ridwell website.

Save the date! This year's Nova Classical's Family Multicultural Night is scheduled for Thursday, April 10, from 5:30-7:30 PM.

Family Multicultural Night is an event hosted by Nova Classical's National Honor Society students and Equity Team and is centered on celebrating the wide and rich cultures of each and every member of our community. We will again be inviting community members to host booths spotlighting your culture! We are also asking every family that attends the event to contribute to the community potluck, so consider what dish, snack, or treat is special to your family that you might want to share. We are looking forward to gathering with the community in April!

All requests will be filled anonymously to ensure confidentiality. To request items, please complete the form here or email Ms. Stella directly at emangan@novaclassical.org. We’re committed to doing our best to fulfill all requests! Stay warm, Nova scholars!

If your child is absent and work has been requested to be picked up, it will be placed on the shelf in the vestibule for pick-up. Families are kindly asked to not enter the building if their scholar is too sick to be at school. This approach helps maintain a healthy environment for all students and staff. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Get Ready for SOS Days at Scholar Zone!

Our next SOS Days are right around the corner, giving your kids a perfect place to relax, explore, and have fun on their days off! With a variety of creative activities and plenty of free-choice time, it’s all about unstructured fun in a safe and welcoming space.

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, 11/25/2024
• Friday, 12/20/2024
• Thursday, 1/2/2025
• Friday, 1/3/2025
• Friday, 1/17/2025

Let your scholars unwind and enjoy their day off with us!

Winter after school club registration opened October 28, 2024. Check out all the offerings on the Extracurriculars page of Nova Classical's website. Act now! Sign-ups for winter club registrations close at 4:00 PM on Friday, November 15.

Join us for the beloved tale of the March sisters: Come see Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy wrestle with difficult lessons, discover their place in a world full of expectation, and uncover the joy in the ordinary. Nova Classical's Upper School Drama presents Louisa May Alcott's timeless classic on November 15 & 16, at the Wellstone Center. Showtimes and tickets are available here.

NOTE: What a great opportunity for a curricular connection, as 5th graders are currently reading Little Women in Language Arts class!

A reminder as basketball season is almost here! Students in Grades K-8 must to be accompanied by a parent/guardian to attend all home athletic events. Students in Grades 9-12 may attend events without a parent/guardian present, but must purchase an annual student pass for $10. The student pass will get an individual student into any contest hosted on campus for volleyball, basketball, or soccer. Family passes are also available to purchase. Events are found here.

Passes and can be purchased online in advance, with a credit card at the door, or with Apple Pay on your mobile device. The ticketing site is located at the GoFan link in the tool bar of the extracurriculars calendar or by the Quick Links on the extracurricular page of Nova Classical's website.

Libraries open doors for reading, research, and resources! Nova Classical Student IDs double as Library Cards again this year! Through our LibraryGo partnership with the St. Paul Public Library (SPPL), all students have active library cards that can be used to check out up to five (5) books and materials, and to access their online databases. Help your student use their account online or at checkout at one of the 14 SPPL branches.

• Account number: Nova Classical’s school number (2209190300) + (the scholar's 4-digit lunch PIN number)
• Password: Your child’s birthday written MMDDYY, for example, January 26, 2012 would be 01262012

If you have questions about this program, contact Ms. Gabor at vgabor@novaclassical.org.

Family Carnival

A huge thank-you to all of the teachers, staff, parents and volunteers who helped with the 2024 Family Carnival. Our goal was to raise money for Nova PTO, have fun, and build community! Over 1200 people came throughout the day-check out the photos on the Nova/PTO socials! More info to come!

Great Gatherings

Couldn't make it to the carnival? Too busy playing ring toss to browse the gatherings? Good news--many Gatherings have seats available and you can purchase them here

Lower School Advisory Council
There are still grade level reps needed! Email Missy for more info- mrsmyth08@gmail.com

Volunteer Opportunities
There are several ways you can volunteer with Nova PTO. The next opportunity is to help with dinner for the teachers during Fall Conferences on November 21. Click here to find out more!

Nova PTO Website
Check out our new website novapto.org!

Save the Dates!
Nova PTO Meeting: December 3, on Zoom, from 7:30-8:30 PM---Dr. Wedlund is the guest speaker

Parents and Community Members:

Apply to become an active volunteer to help support our scholars and school community! Click here to view the always-current list of opportunities and links to sign up.

• Help our NPTO put on a dinner for our teachers in between their parent-teacher conferences next Thursday night (11/21). We need dessert and pop donations as well as help to set up and take down the dinner, sign up here.
• Join the FREE All-School Ice Skating party on 12/15 and help make or distribute hot cocoa and treats and sell spirit wear at the Schultz Arena on Snelling Ave in St. Paul. This event brings our community together to celebrate winter on ice! Sign up here to help.
• Winter Treats - serve Winter Treats (hot cocoa & cookies with dietary restrictions taken into account) to our scholars to celebrate the end of 2024 and their much-deserved winter break. Sign up here to join the crew!

Personalized labels through namebubbles.com or www.mabelslabels.com work great! The cost for a set of labels is usually less than replacing one lost item. If not using personalized labels, please write your scholar’s first name (or initial) & complete last name clearly on all items. There is often a designated “This Item Belongs To:” spot inside items for this purpose. When items are clearly labeled, we can get them back to your scholar quickly. If not, your scholar will need to look through the many items that end up in the Lost & Found.

Unlabeled uniform items may be difficult to reunite with their owners, because many items look alike and are often the same brand & size as one’s classmates. Thank you for helping us keep unlabeled, unclaimed Lost & Found items out of landfills!

November:

15-16: Nova Classical Drama Production: Little Women

18: Special Board of Directors meeting at 6:00 PM

21: Give to the Max Day

21: Evening K-12 Conferences from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM

25: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

25: K-12 Conferences from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

26: No School (Staff Professional Development Day)

27-29: No School (Building Closed)

December:

3: Virtue Assembly at 9:15 AM

3: NPTO Meeting from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM (Zoom)

15: All School Ice Skating Party, 3:10-5:10 PM, at Shultz Arena in St. Paul

16-19: Lower School Book Week

19: Festive Sweater Day for K-12 students

20: No School (Staff Work Day)

23-Jan 3: No School (Building Closed)

January:

1-3: No School (Building Closed)

7: NPTO Meeting from 7:30-8:30 PM (Zoom)

16: End of Quarter 2 (LS) /Semester 1 (US)

17: No School (Staff Work Day)

20: No School (Building Closed)

27: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

See Full Calendar

Athletics Calendar