Alice Smith Families,

Last night we hosted our Annual Imagination Fair and the creativity, hard work, and talents showed by all the scholars that participated really made this evening memorable for families and staff!

Thank you to our SchoolWide Enrichment STEAM teacher Mrs. Myers for her hard work in making this night a reality. The hard work started months ago in her SchoolWide Enrichment STEAM class as scholars planned and developed their ideas into a reality! We are fortunate to have this class support the curiosities, the talents, and the creativity of ALL AS scholars!

Book Store: - Thank you to our Media Center Team for dreaming up a new way to get books to our Hopkins Community at a super super low cost! The AS Book Store continues this week so please send either your Book Voucher or cash with your scholar next week!

Weather Alert!

Hopkins families should prepare for the possibility of an eLearning day or late start on Monday, March 25 due to significant snow in the forecast Sunday into Monday. We ask families to be prepared for either scenario. Our weather team will meet on Sunday evening. If we feel certain we have enough information to make any weather calls at that time, we will notify families. Otherwise, you will hear from us either way by 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning.

PLEASE remember to send the I-Pad back to school when we resume school

Our scholars use this device for so much learning

HUGE Thank you to one of our very own AS parent, Bryan and his Koo Koo Counterpart Neil for treating us to a SUPER FUN Koo Koo Concert today!

Our Gym was jamming and kids were having so much fun!

(Check out the Video below)

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Do you have a GREEN THUMB? - Our Alice Smith school is looking for one or two community volunteers to help us with our Garden Club. Without your support and knowledge, we will not be able to run the club this year! We have a budget, the materials, and we will definitely have the interested scholars to participate, we just need you and your skills/knowledge!

IF you are interested in being a Garden Club Coordinator, please email me. Mr. Navidad

HERITAGE FEST is coming SOON!!!

Save the Date, order your shirt, and read all about it below!

Mr. Eduardo Navidad

Direct Line: 952-988-4201

Email: eduardo.navidad@hopkinsschools.org

Alice Smith Elementary Principal

Follow Alice Smith on Social Media

Twitter: @AliceSmith270 and @NavidadASE

Facebook: @AliceSmithElementarySchool

Alice Smith Weather Station

Every student at Alice Smith was invited to create a project for the Imagination Fair held on Thursday, March 21 at Alice Smith! Even if a student did not create a project, they were welcome to attend with an adult and check out what others had created. Projects were science, technology, art, or math related. The sky was the limit and imagination's ran wild. Click here for the photo gallery or the button below!

We start off every Friday with a PAW ticket drawing. Scholars earn PAW tickets throughout the week for being Respectful, Responsible, & Ready to Learn. On Friday, Mr. Navidad draws 12 tickets randomly during morning announcements and if your name is on that ticket, you are rewarded with a prize. Congratulations to this week's drawing winners!

Friday, April 12, 2024 @ 5:30-8:00 pm

Please join Alice Smith families, friends and staff as we celebrate our cultural heritage and enjoy time with our community. The evening will include a potluck dinner, art activities, and informational displays on a variety of countries/cultures spread throughout the cafeteria, gym, and hallways. You will also be able to enjoy a fashion show, as well as musical performances by Indian dancers and a Mariachi band!

If you would like to volunteer or contribute, please:

-Scan the QR Code and fill out the Google Form OR

-Fill out the attached sign-up sheet and return to your child’s teacher OR

-Contact Holly Wick Bower, 952-988-4254 or Holly.Wick@hopkinsschools.org

4/1/24-4/5/24- Spring Break - No School

4/10/24 - Eid al-Fitr holiday - No School

4/12/24 - Heritage Fest @ AS - 5:30p-8p

4/19/24 - Willy Wonka Jr. Musical @ AS: 7pm

4/20/24 - Willy Wonka Jr. Musical @ AS: 3pm

Every Wednesday ICA/AS Food Market From 3:30pm-6:30pm (Click Here For Appt)

As of Monday, Hopkins will adjust our COVID policy to follow recent CDC recommendations. This means staff/students who test positive for COVID-19 can return to school/work when the following are true:

Alice Smith yearbooks are now on sale! The yearbook is a great way for students to remember all of the friends, staff and fun they will have this year. Yearbooks cost $22 and will be sold from now until April but don't waste any time in ordering! Yearbook order forms should be coming home with your scholar but in case it doesn't find its way, here are your purchase options:

1) Go to ybpay.com and enter Yearbook ID: 14430324

2) Use this QR code and enter Yearbook ID: 14430324

The PTO is already starting to plan for next year! Do you have ideas for events, fundraisers or other ways to engage with the Alice Smith community? We would love to hear from you!

Are you interested in helping to plan and organize the PTO events? There are multiple PTO positions open and a variety of opportunities to help out. Reach out if you would like to learn more about the open positions or have a specific way you would like to get involved!

• Meeting Leader
• Communications Coordinator
• Fundraising Event Leads (Classroom Sponsorship, Restaurant Nights)
• Community Event Leads (Parents Night Out, Heritage Fest)

E-mail Kelli Gabbert (kmgabbert@gmail.com), Ellen Wilkinson (eswilkinson12@gmail.com), Tim Hawkinson (tim.hawkinson@gmail.com), or Laura Ciotti (laura.ciotti@gmail.com) with your ideas and questions.

Alice Smith Production of Willy Wonka Jr will hit the stage on Friday April 19th @ 7pm & Saturday April 20th @ 3pm

If you would like to support Alice Smith Theater by purchasing some show spirit-wear below is the information and link

There will be ONLY ONE Order submitted for WW24 Spirit-wear.

ONLY prepaid orders will be submitted to the printer.

ORDERS ARE DUE BY 5pm Monday 25th, 2024

Order Link https://forms.gle/3fQVRkHZbpKyCajF6

I hope this message finds you in good health. It is our goal to ensure transparency during the budgeting process. Therefore, I want to provide you with another budget update. On Monday evening, 92 individuals attended the Parent Info session. If you were there, thank you!

This coming Tuesday, March 26, we will provide a budget update at the School Board meeting. This update will yield information about where we are with next year’s budget and include high-level information about budget reductions. If you’d like to watch virtually, you can do so at this link.

As you have read previously, we have to reduce around $4M. While this is tough, we’re also relieved that our responsible use of ESSER dollars and fund balance has had a mitigating impact. In addition, we are in a better position than many surrounding districts that are faced with cutting much more. While every position is valued and important, the unfortunate truth is that because salaries and benefits make up 85 percent of our budget, we cannot afford every position we currently have in our system. We have carefully identified central office and district-wide reductions that least impact classrooms, while preserving functions we need into the future.

Though these items are subject to change as we continue finalizing, some of them include:

• $1.2 million in district office position reductions, consolidations or reclassifications

• $490,000 in district office and district-wide reductions in contracts, printing, travel and professional development.

• $1.7 million reduction in reclassifying instructional coaches and restorative specialists from general fund into categorical

• $420,000 in reclassifying eligible general fund expenditures into community education

• $400,000 in restructuring our media center program into a digital literacy program.

I want to address the restructuring of our media center programs. Under our proposed model, media centers will remain intact. High-quality books and literacy support will continue under the supervision of our professionals. In addition, computer science and coding will be introduced as a new learning feature of our schools’ multimedia center spaces.

This plan was created for two main reasons. Firstly, we currently fund our media center professionals using capital project levy (CPL) dollars, which are meant for technology equipment, software, and technology professionals. Recently, the state adjusted CPL spending criteria to be more specific, requiring us to align expenditures more closely with this criteria. Therefore, the first reason for the restructuring is to align the role from library media specialist to digital literacy specialist, ensuring continued funding from CPL without facing scrutiny.

The second reason concerns our budget. Currently, we use general fund dollars to pay for certain technology items. We have the chance to shift some of these expenses to CPL, which would free up space in our general fund. However, we need flexibility in our budget to make this change. Since we are committed to prioritizing core instruction and classroom teachers, we must find alternative ways to make district-wide budget cuts.

Ideally, we would love to maintain our current staffing structure in media centers (this currently includes a full-time library media specialist, 1-2 full-time media paraprofessional(s), and 1-2 technology specialists). Unfortunately, this model is financially unsustainable for us.

Our goal is to retain as many (4-6) of our ten library media specialists. Thus, the proposal is to eliminate the specific position/title, create a digital literacy specialist job description, and invite our current professionals to apply for this new role. We regret any negative impact this proposal is having on our media professionals. And, every budgeting crisis presents an opportunity for innovation and potential transformation.

We are doing our best to support our Hopkins employees through this transition, as well as protect core instruction, classroom teachers, and reduced secondary class sizes. Thank you for your dedication to our schools and our staff.

Be well,

Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed

Superintendent

We are excited to welcome our new families and share important information.
Please save these dates and plan to join us in the New Year at Hopkins North Middle School: 10700 Cedar Lake Road

• Tuesday, April 9

• Parent Information Night - 6-7 p.m., Hopkins North Middle School Cafeteria

• May Date TBD

• Student Step-up Day - 5th graders at NMS for the day!

Stay tuned for more information to follow!

At the most basic level, reading is the ability to decode/recognize words in print - and to know the meaning of those words. This is often referred to as the Simple View of Reading.

Measuring a student's ability to decode words is easier - and is more skill-based - which allows more targeted intervention when needed. Language comprehension or vocabulary is more difficult to measure and to intervene upon because the number of words a student may see in reading is almost immeasurable.

The broadness of language is why rich vocabulary development is so important. The more knowledge and academic vocabulary students hear, the more likely they are to recognize it in print. One of the best ways to build vocabulary is to read to and with your child. Another way is to talk to your child a lot - explaining what you see and do, what things are and why things happen, and using rich language in descriptions. "Strive for five" is a structure often used by teachers but is a great home language-building structure as well.

(Strive for Five, David Dickinson, 2003)

For students, it’s important to become curious about words they don’t know. Modeling when you don’t know a word or how it is being used and then investigating the meaning together is a great way to model learning vocabulary. As students become older, helping them understand the nuance between words that are synonyms: content vs. joyful vs ecstatic or anger vs. rage vs. irritation. Kids love learning “big words” - it makes kids feel older, more mature, and smarter - and they learn new words faster than at any other time in their lives. Students with lower vocabulary struggle in all areas of school, not just reading, so building a strong vocabulary is critical to academic success.

Understanding Vocabulary: Why It's Critical to Your Child's Reading

Book Recommendations:

Stacey’s Extraordinary Words by Stacey Abrams

Stroll and Walk, Babble and Talk by Brian P Cleary

Please take a look in our Electronic Backpack to find a variety of offerings & information for our scholars:

Hopkins Ultimate Frisbee

Hopkins Softball

Hopkins Little League

Try Hockey For Free!

Hopkins Youth Box Lacrosse

School Supply List 23-24

Cub Scouts Flyer

Winter Indoor Soccer Flyer

School Day: 7:50am - 2:20pm

Arrival Basics

School doors open: 7:30am.

Breakfast Available: 7:30am - 7:50am

No students are allowed to go to their classroom until the first bell rings at 7:43am. Class begins promptly at 7:50am. Late arrivals will check-in at the front office for tardy pass.

Dismissal Basics

Class ends at 2:20pm. If there is a change your students' end of day arrangements, please notify the school 2 hours in advance by calling the office at 952-988-4200 to ensure safety and avoid any miscommunication.

To Report your students absence:

• Attendance Line: 952-988-4210
• Online Attendance Form

Website: https://hopkinsschools.org/schools/elementary-schools/alice-smith-elementary
Location: 801 Minnetonka Mills Road, Hopkins, MN 55343, USA
Phone: (952) 988-4200
Facebook: facebook.com/AliceSmithElementarySchool
Twitter: @AliceSmith270