Upcoming Dates:

Mon-2/8: Virtual Tour for Prospective Families 8:30am (link on website)

Tue-2/9:

Wed-2/10: 4th grade Dodge Follow-up Q & A 9:00

Virtual Tour for Prospective Families 12:30pm (link on website)

Check for Conference Sign up from Classroom Teachers

Thr-2/11: Distance Learning Packet Pickup (all DL classes) 7:30am-6:30pm

Fri-2/12:

____________________________

Mon-2/15: No School-President's Day

Tue-2/16: Welcome Back 3rd & 4th graders In-person!

Virtual Tour for Prospective Families 8:30am (link on website)

1st grade-Liekis-Dodge Visit: Animal Tracks 10:30

1st grade-Rall-Dodge Visit: Animal Tracks 11:00

Wed-2/17: 1st grade-Brignac-Dodge Visit: Animal Tracks 10:30

1st grade-Paton-Virtual Dodge Visit: Animal Tracks 1:00

Thr-2/18: Virtual Tour for Prospective Families 9:00am (link on website)

Fri-2/19:

Parent Teacher Conferences for Spring will take place on March 2 and 4. Conferences will be virtual and an email with sign-up information will be sent 2 weeks prior.

Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on Tuesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 4 from 3:30-8:30pm.

Classroom teachers will be sending out links to secure a Google Appointment time for your child's conference. All conferences will be virtual through Google Meet. If you do not have a gmail address to access the Google Meet, you can always use your child's school device. Just let your child's classroom teacher know so we make sure the device is sent home on the day of your conference.

Links to sign up for conference times will be sent on this coming Wednesday, February 10.

Would you like to help provide our teachers with dinner on conference nights AND support local small businesses? We will be ordering boxed dinners from El Burrito Mercado and Food Smith for conference nights.

Click the link below to donate money or desserts/beverages for our wonderful Somerset Staff!

With the support of the generous Somerset PTA and the work of our fabulous OT, Tebeth Emmons, each classroom teacher and specialist at Somerset Elementary received a Calm Box.

Each Calm Box has a variety of sensory tools that students can use when they need some help focusing or calming down when they’re having a challenging moment. The boxes have several fidgets, movement cards, glitter bottles, motion bubblers and deep breathing guides to target the students’ sensory system. These new tools will be used to help ground and calm the students so they can keep learning from their awesome Somerset teachers!

The transition back to in-person learning may have its challenges but now our Somerset Stars have some additional tools when they have a hiccup in their day. Thank you, Somerset PTA, for your support and providing resources to meet the needs of our amazing Somerset Stars!

This year Somerset is continuing our Kindness Day and service learning approach to Valentine’s Day, with a Covid twist.To continue our tradition and make it Covid and Distance Learning friendly, we will have Kindness Week this year! Rather than focusing on store bought cards and candy we will take the opportunity to involve the students more authentically. Throughout the week, children will be involved in service learning opportunities through the non-profit Doing Good Together.

We are looking forward to benefiting several local organizations including: Neighbors Inc., DARTS, local hospitals, police and fire stations (essential workers), and one project to be used in your own backyard!

Celebrating student friendships, practicing empathy and building a stronger school community are all goals we can work toward with these activities which are also supported by our whole school Somerset STAR Behavior practices. Thank you for your continued support as we work toward these important goals.

We ask that you do not send any Valentine cards or candy to school with your child. We will accept any unaddressed valentines for donations to Neighbors, Inc., which serves families in northern Dakota County.

We are very excited about the opportunities for our students and trust that it will be a fun and meaningful week of celebrating our wonderful Somerset Star Students!

Kindness Week will begin on Monday, February 22. We will be discussing the following topics, while creating projects for each topic:

• How can we help the hungry?
• How can we help animals?
• How can we help the elderly?
• Why do we share our gratitude?

Project Materials will be in the February 11 Packet Pick-up for Distance Learners. For students in-person, project materials will be provided in classrooms throughout the week.

As part of our Covid-19 mitigation efforts, parents driving their children to school at Somerset Elementary must remain in the car for both drop off and pick up. Please do not park your car and approach the school to drop off or pick up your child during our arrival and dismissal times.

EDIT: If your child is still in a car seat, we absolutely understand the need to hop out for a quick buckle/unbuckle in the parent drop off lane. Your child's safety is our number one priority.

Drop-Off (Between 8:15-8:30): Parents will enter the parent loop from the South driveway of the Somerset parking lot. Follow the lane around to the sidewalk, once you are safely parked in a "Drop Zone", your child may hop out of the car and follow the sidewalk down to the main entrance. There will be stars spray painted on the sidewalk to help students visualize the 6 ft. distance while entering the school. There will be several Somerset staff members assisting with parent drop off and greeting students as they enter the building. Parents, please create a drop off routine with your child that does not involve you getting out of your car. We will need to continue to have the line of cars moving through the parking lot. In addition, to help with traffic flow, we ask that all parents plan to exit the Somerset parking lot heading South to alleviate cross traffic if at all possible.

Pick-Up (We will begin loading cars at 2:30, not before): Enter the parking lot and follow the parent pick up lane alongside the sidewalk. We will have students stationed 6 ft. apart as they wait for their rides. Parents will be provided with a Somerset Parent Pick-Up sign to put on your front dash. The sign will have space for your children's names, grades, and teachers. This will give our staff the information necessary to get your child to your car as quickly as possible. Again, please plan to exit the parking lot heading South if at all possible.

Additional Tips:

• Please do what you can to enter the parking lot from the North and exit the parking lot heading South. This allows the traffic to flow the smoothest.
• Mrs. Westman (or another adult) will be calling down with your child's teacher, name and the number of the Drop Zone spot. Our Somerset Staff will get your child ready for you when you arrive to your numbered spot. We found that rotations of 6-8 students at a time worked well. To make this process smooth, make sure you have your carpool sign posted on the dashboard or passenger side window.
• Please refrain from using the "Bypass/Parking Lane" during Pick-Up in the afternoon. The carpool line runs efficiently if all cars remain in the carpool lane and travel through the parking together.

Picture Day for students attending school in-person will be Wednesday, February 24. Picture Day for our Distance Learners will be on Thursday, February 25, aligned with a packet pick-up day. A sign-up genius will be sent for Distance Learners to sign up for their picture time.

School Age Care (SAC) is happy to announce that we are offering after school SAC to families whose children are returning to in-person school. The first date of SAC will be the first day that your child is back in school in person.

Flexible scheduling is available. Please contact Necole Berglund at necole.berglund@isd197.org for registration information.

The 4th Grade Recognition Committee is looking for help with planning and organizing Somerset’s year-end celebration of outgoing Somerset Stars. We will be working hard to create a fun, memorable, safe and healthy send-off for this great group of kids!

If you are interested in helping out, please email Angie McIntyre at angiemc00@gmail.com. We’ll be starting our work soon!

Interested in learning more about Somerset Elementary? Would you like to see our Somerset Stars in action? Somerset Principal, Libby Huettl will be offering virtual tours throughout the month of February. This will be a time for you to see the school, get a feel for what it means to be a Somerset Star, and have the opportunity to ask any specific questions you may have.

Click here join the virtual tour

Tours will be offered on the following dates/times. We will post a video of one of our virtual tours as soon as it is available.

• Friday, February 5, 2021, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
• Monday, February 8, 2021, 8:30 am – 9:30 am
• Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
• Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 8:30 am – 9:30 am
• Thursday, February 18, 2021, 9:00 am – 10:00 am
• Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
• Friday, February 26, 2021, 1:15 pm – 2:15 pm

Please remember to use the Minnesota Department of Health home self-screening tool each

day before sending your child to school.

https://www.isd197.org/district/covid-19-resources/home-self-screening-tool

If your child develops symptoms of illness while at school, we will be using the MDH decision

tree to determine the next steps that need to be taken in order to maintain a safe environment at

school.

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools/exguide.pdf

You will be called to pick your child up if they present with two or more “less common”

symptoms or one “more common” symptom. Further guidance on how long your child will need

to be out will be given by the school nurse depending on the situation.

If a positive case arises in your child's class, you will be notified and advised to quarantine your child for a 14 day period. During this time, the entire class will move to distance learning format temporarily. It would be best to have a back up plan ready for remote learning ready to go, given that a situation could occur at any time.

Thursday Packet Pickups will continue on the dates listed below for Distance Learning classes only. Because we will now have students in the building, the Packet Pickup table will be placed on the main sidewalk and families will need to hop out and grab their child's packets. We will no longer have staff available to deliver your packets curbside. The Packet Pickup times will remain 7:30am-6:30pm. Please avoid picking up your child's packet between 8:10-8:40 and 2:15-2:45 as these are our arrival and dismissal times and the parking lot will be busy.

Packet Pickup Dates 2021

Thursday, February 11 (Distance Learning Only)

Thursday, February 25

Thursday, February 11

Thursday, February 25

Thursday, March 11

Thursday, March 25

Thursday, April 15

Thursday, April 29

Thursday, May 13

Thursday, May 27 (Final Packet Pickup)

Students in full-time distance learning will continue to receive asynchronous activities from our specialists throughout 2nd semester. In addition, distance learning students will receive synchronous time with Mrs. Garrett on Wednesdays!

Please know that the feedback provided by specialists may take longer than what you have experienced thus far. With the return of many students in person, our specialists are teaching in person throughout the school day and will be using before/after school times to respond to our distance learners. Thank you for your understanding as we do our best to juggle both learning models.

Somerset will again compile a Somerset Family Directory this school year. Families that would like their information included in the Family Directory should complete the linked form for each of your Somerset Stars. We will send out the link to the Family Directory next week. Updates will be made throughout the year as more families add their information.

Click here to provide your information for the directory.

We are off to a slow start, but here is the start to our Somerset Family Directory! We will update with new submissions weekly until the end of October, at which point updates will become less frequent.

2020-21 Somerset Family Directory

All students and staff at Somerset will be required to wear face masks when inside of the school building and while riding the school buses. Masks may be removed while outside when social distancing of 6 ft. or more is in effect and while eating or drinking indoors. We will spend the first few weeks of students being on site to review and practice these expectations.

Please be sure to LABEL your child's mask with their name. Masks will not be placed in the Lost & Found.

Students riding the bus to school must wear a masks while riding the bus. Hand sanitizers will also be placed on all busses. Students will have assigned seats on the school bus. Upon arrival at school, all students will remain on the bus until they have been dismissed by a Somerset staff member. We will space out the dismissal of busses to help with social distancing. There will be stars spray painted on the sidewalk as a social distancing visual as well.

If a positive Covid case is found on the school bus, students sitting two rows in front or behind of the student that has tested positive will be asked to quarantine for 10 days. For these 10 days, the quarantined students will join our Distance Learning class at their grade level to continue with their instruction.

Breakfast and Lunch will continue to be offered for free to ALL students. Breakfast and Lunch will be consumed in classrooms this school year. A grab and go breakfast option will be available to all students as they enter the main doors in the morning. Depending on the grade level, lunches will be delivered to the classroom OR students will walk with their class to the cafeteria to pick up their lunches and return to their classrooms.

We will not be able to have the fruit and vegetable bar this school year. Instead, fruits and vegetables will be pre-packaged for students. There will still be both a hot lunch and sandwich options for students each day.

For the 2nd semester, there will only be a hot lunch option each day, no alternate will be available. Please visit the Somerset Menu page for daily lunch options: https://schools.mealviewer.com/school/SomersetElementary

Students in the in-person model will receive 30 minutes of outdoor recess each day. Our recess area is broken up into sections. Each class cohort will be assigned to a certain section of the playground, which will rotate on a daily basis.

Students will not be required to wear masks while outside at recess. We will have recess paraprofessionals supervising recess and helping to teach students to remain social distanced while outdoors. There will be one para outside assigned to each cohort of students.

Each in-person student will be assigned their own locker to use while at Somerset. There will be no sharing of lockers.

Just a friendly reminder to please continue to contact our Somerset nurse Kali Gray at 651-403-8202 if your child is either COVID positive or a close contact with another COVID positive person/family member. Despite being in Distance Learning, ISD197 will continue to maintain a snapshot view of how COVID is affecting our staff and student population.

COVID-19 Dashboard on the ISD197 website: https://www.isd197.org/district/covid-19-resources/covid-19-data-dashboard

Email: libby.huettl@isd197.org
Website: www.isd197.org/somerset
Location: 1355 Dodd Road, Mendota Heights, MN, United States
Phone: 651-403-8200
Facebook: facebook.com/somersetelementary