GRAMMAR GAZETTE

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Dear Fabulous Nova Classical Families,

We hope you had wonderful, relaxing, and enjoyable spring break! We are entering 4th quarter and are looking forward to a strong finish of another wonderful school year with all of our scholars, teachers, and staff. Quarter 3 report cards will be mailed out next week, so keep an eye out for those! We are so thankful for your support and partnership as we round out this year!

I also want to highlight some upcoming important dates and community events. More information can be found below.

• Thursday, April 11: Family Multicultural Night, 5:30-7:30 PM
• Friday, April 12-Thursday, April 18: Lower School MCA Testing
• Saturday, April 20: Earth Day Cleanup at Nova Classical and Victoria Park, 9:00-11:00 AM
• Friday, April 26: No School (Staff Development Day)
• Tuesday, April 30: Battle of the Books Round 2 @ 2:30 PM
• Thursday, May 2: Lower School Art Show
• Friday, May 3: No School (Staff Work Day)
• Tuesday, May 7: Virtue Assembly @ 9:00 AM
• Friday, May 10: Boosterthon Fun Run
• Thursday, May 16: Lower School Concert

Please see below for more news and notes from the Lower School!

Warm Regards,

Ms. Tousignant

A big group of Nova Classical's 4th graders, alongside some 9th grade leaders and Ms. Urbrock, spread smiles with songs at Sholom Home before break. Ms. J added to the cheer with colorful paper flower bouquets adorned with Springtime messages! Songs included classics like "You Are My Sunshine," "My Favorite Things," and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," with an extra fun rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" featuring kazoos! We were thrilled to share this joy with our neighbors across the street, and appreciate Ms. Urbrock's efforts in making it all happen!

Our own Ms. Irish, a wonderful Special Education Paraprofessional, has spent this year hosting an after-school needlework club, sharing the love of embroidery, cross-stitch, and needlework with some Lower School students. Their efforts and hard work paid off as she hosted an event in Exhibition Hall to showcase all of their amazing projects! Thank you to Ms. Irish for sharing her passion for this form of artwork with so many scholars in such a creative way!

The kindergarten scholars in Ms. Koehler and Ms. Knuden's classes did a great job teaching us all about fortitude at this month's virtue assembly! They retold the story "I Choose to Try Again" and we heard from a special guest engineer about the importance of using fortitude in their daily lives! We also celebrated all of the scholars that have received virtue shout-outs over the last month and handed out our Silent Hallway trophies to the Kindergarten classes. Congratulations and a job well done to all of these wonderful scholars!

The National Honor Society and Nova Classical Equity Team invite you to join us at this year's Family Multicultural Night on Thursday, April 11, from 5:30-7:30 PM. All are invited to a night of celebrating our families and our exciting diversity of cultures through delicious food and good conversation! We hope to see you there!

Questions? We welcome any questions at equitycoordinator@novaclassical.org!

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) annually administers statewide assessments. They are designed to provide the state, districts, and schools with a snapshot of student progress towards meeting the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards. At Nova Classical Academy, we will have MCA testing in the Lower School (grades 3-5) April 12-18 and in the Upper School April 19-25. If you have any questions about the MCAs, please contact our Academic Director, Dr. Johnson.

MDE has a site to promote student readiness for the MCAs if you'd like to take a look with your student prior to testing. Please make sure that your student has plenty of sleep and eats a nutritious breakfast each morning. We are so excited to see how our students continue to grow in their academics!

Celebrate Earth Day 2024 and join the Victoria Park Cleanup! Nova Classical's Green Team and Office of Community Engagement have partnered with the St. Paul Parks and Rec to clean up Victoria Park, across the street from our front door. We'll supply gloves and trash bags. All are welcome, we need helpers and chaperones. Sign up as a family to help our community park. Required waivers are linked from the signup.

Nova students are Wildly Creative! Join us for the Lower School Art Show celebrating our exploration of animals in art. Wander the biomes, support the Nova Classical art program through the silent auction and giant plushie raffle, and perhaps even take a selfie with some feathered friends! We will have some food trucks on site with food available for purchase as well! We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, May 2, from 5:30-7:30 PM in the NCA Gymnasium.

Volunteers: We need you to help make this event a success! Sign up here to help out!

Boosterthon is returning this year to help us fundraise $60,000 to help bring down our rising field trip fees! Boosterthon is Nova Classical's spring fundraiser during which students are invited to gain pledges for running 30-35 laps around a fun track on the day of the Fun Run. Families are welcome to join the fun and come cheer on our runners on May 10!

Registration will open next week on April 18 and the excitement will start to build in classrooms with our in-school kickoff on May 2. Families will then begin gathering pledges for every lap your student runs (30-35 laps) through Friday, May 10, at which time we’ll celebrate at the Fun Run!

We need volunteers to make this event a success! You can read more about the event and sign up here!

Nova Classical is excited to announce upcoming virtue assemblies and non-uniform days:

Tuesday, May 7: Virtue Assembly - Spirit Wear Day

Friday, May 10: Boosterthon Fun Run - t-shirts will be provided!

Tuesday, June 4: Virtue Assembly - Spirit Wear Day

Nova Classical Lower School students may wear bottoms of their choice (they do not need to be uniform bottoms) on these days. If students are not wearing spirit wear or school colors, they are required to be in their uniform.

Need spirit wear? Nova Classical works with the following vendors:

• Game One (password: novaknights)
• BSN

Summer Scholar Zone 2024 is available for all current K-5th grade Nova scholars. Registration is now open, and you can register your student(s) here.

Our 2024 Summer Activities Calendar is available on our website, too! Take a look at all the fun projects, activities, special guests and field trips we have planned throughout the Summer! Additional fees for *special* days are indicated on the calendar.

For any other questions, please review our Summer Scholar Zone 2024 Handbook.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Nadia Hussain at scholarzone@novaclassical.org.

An exciting new Art Summer Camp is coming to the twin cities! Outside the Lines is all about kids following their creative bliss out in the fresh air, and Nova Classical's own Ms. J is leading the way. Campers will have 3 sessions every day to make art in the open-air studio of their choice, or join the theater crew and rehearse the weekly play!

Summer 2024 dates:

• June 24-28
• July 8-12
• July 15-19

More information about the camp can be found here.

School Day

Please remember to bring your State or Federal Photo ID when checking your students in and out. We ask that you wait in the Main Office for your student, rather than in the Great Room.

Traffic

Please remember to follow all road and parking signs around the school including no parking areas, as well as any instructions from Nova Classical staff. Please also be sure to follow the one-way traffic areas during drop off and pick up each day. Please do not U-turn in front of out building's entrance. This is a safety hazard for pedestrians and other drivers.

Check out the spring basketball camps being offered. More information on the flyer and on the Extracurriculars page of Nova Classical's website. Click on the Camps/Clinics tab. Summer camp information coming soon!

Thank you for sending your scholars to school with the necessary items (sweaters/jackets, cold weather gear, and water bottles/food containers) to stay warm, fed, and hydrated! Unfortunately, some of these things don't make it back home to you. We’re here to help!

Lost an item?

1. Encourage your scholars to look in the Lost & Found area by the recess door. There is a purple bin with recently lost items as well as organized, categorized shelves with older lost items. Upper School scholars may also find lost items on a table outside of the district office on the second floor. Valuable and/or little items (such as AirPods, jewelry, and glasses) are kept in the front office. Please have your scholars see Ms. Anna for these items.
2. Please contact Ms. Ann Anderson at aanderson@novaclassical.org if your scholar is having difficulty finding an item.
3. Please help us by labeling all of your students items. If it is a pair (e.g. shoes or gloves), label both. Please label items with a permanent marker and use both a first name (or initial) & full last name. Personalized clothing 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.

We 💛 your labeled items! When items are labeled, we will try our very best to get them back to your scholar at school. Unlabeled uniform items, because they look and are often the same brand & size as a classmates, are difficult for scholars to find. Thank you!

Great Gatherings

Several gatherings are still available, visit this link to view the complete list, click here.

PTO Meetings

• Tuesday, May 7: Last PTO Meeting of the 2023-2024 School Year featuring Special Guests, Dinner, and Kid Activities (more details to come).

Sign up for the Nova Classical Family Directory at novapto.membershiptoolkit.com.

Follow NPTO on Facebook, Instagram, or visit their website for more information!

Parents/guardians and community members are invited to volunteer to help with our upcoming events such as Multicultural Night, the Earth Day cleanup at Victoria Park, the Lower School Art Show, and the Boosterthon Fun Run! Please click here to browse and sign up for opportunities.

All volunteers must have an up-to-date background check on file. Apply to volunteer with us, today!

Have you ever wondered if it is an A, B, or C Day? Can't remember when picture day is? Subscribe to our calendar to always be in the know!

Click the link here for instructions to add our calendar to your personal calendar.

April:

8: Start of Quarter 4

9: Virtue Assembly at 3:00 PM

10: No School (Staff Work Day)

11: Family Multi-Cultural Night, 5:30 - 7:30 PM

20: Earth Day Cleanup at Nova and Victoria Park, 9:00 - 11:00 AM

26: No School (Staff Work Day)

29: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

30: Battle of the Books Round 2 at 2:30 PM

May:

2: Lower School Art Show, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

3: No School (Staff Work Day)

6-10: Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week

10: Boosterthon Fun Run

16: Lower School Concert at 6:00 PM

20: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

24: No School (Staff Work Day)

27: No School (Building Closed)

See Full Calendar