OLE NEWS October 2013 FROM THE DESK OF MR. DERAAD New School Year: The 20132014 school is now officially in full swing! This year should prove to be one of much educational growth and personal accomplishment. The Otter Lake staff and I look forward to working with your child(ren )and facilitating this process. As a school, we can most effectively accomplish this in partnership with the home. You are a valuable player in the development of your child. Communication is key to a successful, working relationship. Should you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or me. We all have the same goal: success for your child. New Staff: Below is a listing of our new staff this year. We welcome them to Otter Lake as they all bring new strengths to our staff. Jessica Hosmer—Kindergarten Caryn Bernier - ELL Judy Petersen - Special Ed. CLIP Chris Dahl - Media Rachael Markuson - Media Assistant Colleen Ulfig - LD Sabine McGraw - ELL Para Melinda Miller - St. Tchr Lesley Christianson - Tchr. Cand. Justina McDonald - Tchr. Cand. Chloe Cole - Tchr. Cand. Birthday Bash : What a wonderful night to celebrate the past 25 years of excellence in education for Otter Lake Elementary. We had over 1000 people come to our celebration with many former staff and students attending. A huge “thank you” to everyone that helped plan the huge night.

Student Absences: If your child is going to be absent, please contact our attendance line and leave a message stating the reason, even if you tell the teacher. This will eliminate a phone call from our health assistant. For your convenience, the attendance number is 651-653-2832. Security & Safety: We have a new secure entrance. You will need to sign in at the office and get a visitor badge if you will be going into the instructional area of the building. At dismissal, parents are asked to wait in the cafeteria by the stage steps when picking up children . We discourage parents from going to the instructional area as it’s a busy time for students and staff. This practice will eliminate extra distractions for them. Parking Lots: Parents are asked to use the west parking lot for student drop-off and pick-up. Please avoid parking in the front parking lot or drive thru area during the busy times before and after school. The traffic at these times is extremely heavy so we want to take every precaution to assure everyone’s safety and to keep the traffic flow moving smoothly. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter. Peanut Allergies: This is a reminder that we do have students who have very serious allergies to peanuts/nut products and could experience severe, life threatening consequences if exposed to the touch or taste of peanut/ nut products. As a result, we request that you avoid sending lunches/snacks containing those items. Thank you for you help in this matter.

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October 2013

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 651-653-2843 – PRINCIPAL 651-653-2831 - OFFICE 651-653-2833 - FAX 651-407-7540 - SCHOOL CLOSING 651-653-2846 - HEALTH OFFICE 651-653-2834 - EXTENDED DAY 651-407-7538 -

TRANSPORTATION

651-653-2832 - ATTENDANCE 651-653-2839 - KITCHEN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OTTER LAKE ELEMENTARY 1401 COUNTY RD. H2 WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN 55110

GO BEARS!

FROM THE DESK OF MR. DERAAD

“A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart”

Monthly News letter: This is the first edition of our Otter Lake Newsletter. Normally, you can expect to see it around the 1st week of each month. We will send it electronically this year and will provide paper copies to those that do not have internet access. Please contact the office at 651-653-2831 if you would like a paper copy. The newsletter is a primary source of school information. Please take time to review it as it will contain timely information concerning Otter’s programs and procedures.

School Hours: Otter Lake School hours are from 9:15a.m. to 3:40p.m. Students who walk are not to arrive at school before 9:00a.m. When they arrive, they are to line up and get ready to go directly to their classroom. There is no playground supervision in the morning, therefore please do not allow your children to leave home too early. Please encourage your children to follow the directions of the school patrol. School Closing: We are using the same procedures that we have in the past. The district’s ‘Emergency School Closing Hotline” is 651-407-7540. When someone calls this number, they will receive a message regarding the current status of White Bear Lake Area Schools for that particular day. The hotline is for messages regarding late

starts and early dismissals. We will not be using it for messages regarding late buses or any other transportation concerns. If you have any questions, please call 651-407-7538. It’s great to have our Otter Lake staff and students back in the building. I look forward to a great year! Have a wonderful October and enjoy the fall coloration with your family!

BearPower at our School: We believe that every child deserves the chance to reach his/her potential. This is why we are part of the BearPower movement to help families in our community eat well and be active. Our school is pledging its commitment to the principles of BearPower and the movement to build healthier kids and a stronger community. Over the course of the year, we will be making exciting changes at our school to help make eating well and being active fun for all of our students. We hope that you and your family will join us as we get BearPowered! What will we be doing this year? Our school will be looking for lots of ways to make eating well and being active easy and fun for everyone. It will mean making some changes to what we eat, drink and do - but all of those changes will help our kids reach their full potential. So keep an eye out in your child’s classroom, at school events, and in the school newsletter to see all the ways we are getting BearPowered.

MUSIC NOTES Information about activities in music class will be posted on the grade level music schoology courses your children are enrolled in. Please look there for information on activities, curriculum, concerts and class projects. Concert Dates: 5th Grade- Jan. 30, 2pm and 7pm 2nd Grade - March, 26, 2:30pm 3rd Grade -

March 27, 2:30pm

1st Grade - May 1, 2:30pm 4th grade - May 28, 6:0pm

PHY. ED. FACTS FROM MR.O’CONNELL In Physical Education so far this year, students at Otter Lake have been posting some big numbers. We finished up our Second year of Fitness Tests: FitnessGram. The Cooper Institute created FitnessGram in 1982 to “provide a way for physical education teachers to report to parents/ guardians on children’s fitness levels”. Check out the history of the test at www.fitnessgram.net/ history/. Otter’s Fitness Report goal has always been aimed at providing students with accurate indicators of their fitness and physical activity levels. The FitnessGram site starts at third grade, so at Otter our first and second grade students have been doing the FitnessGram tests and I’ve been recording the scores. However, they will not be on the same FitnessGram sheets; UI will send them home using the recording sheets from years past. In order to determine a healthy zone in the aerobic capacity component, a BMI measurement is necessary. The Body Composition test requires the students to have their height and weight recorded. Please note that the height/weight measurements are collected privately and are kept confidential with the option to opt out entirely of that section of the test.

Each test measures a different aspect of your child’s fitness level from upper body strength, core strength and endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness

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Being able to see the great effort Otter Lake students put into these tests is one of my favorite parts of being a PE teacher.

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In the first unit of the year - Fitness games Otter students played: Big Base, Pirate Ship, Pin Guard and many tag games. These energy games consist of combining throwing, running, dodging, tagging and teamwork. Currently in PE we are working on our third unit Football. Students work on throwing, catching, punting and kicking footballs. We also use flag belts to play and learn the basic the basic football rules. Following Football we have a Soccer unit. Students work on dribbling, passing, goalie play as well as learning the rules and playing a game each gym period. Our Tennis unit is usually the last unit we get in outside before we have to start moving class’ into the gym. Any reinforcement you can do at home by playing, talk about or encouraging your child in PE units is greatly appreciated.

All students took five different tests: Bent arm hang, Curl—ups, Sit and reach, 20M Pacer and the Mile or half mile run/jog/walk.

B E A R S

Mr. O’Connell

MEDIA MOMENTS - Chris Dahl

A few ways to celebrate books and promote reading: Family Reading Night: Choose a special day of the week to spend time reading to your children, and listening to your children read. Establish a habit that will last a lifetime! Take a Trip to the Library: The Ramsey County Libraries are great places to go as a family. Whether it is a weekly or monthly trip to the library, establish the habit of getting books, movies, and music from your local library. Need some ideas? Go to Reading Rockets for a list of books your children might like. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/ awardwinners/

Celebrate All you need is an open mind. And an open book!

National Book month 2013!

A note from Senorita Olsrud.

STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS! The first Student Council Meeting is October 11th @8:30am.

Hola Familias! Welcome to OLE Spanish! As our first year having K-5 Spanish, I am looking forward to a very busy and exciting year! As the school year progresses, your child(ren) will learn all about Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. They will learn how to count and say the colors of the rainbow, how to greet one another and state how they are feeling. Also, they will talk about the calendar, Hispanic traditions and celebrations. They will learn to tell classmates what they like and don’t like to do. I would like to ask all of our OLE families to go onto Schoology and join the section for your child(ren)’s grade. The course titles and access codes are as follows: OLE Kindergarten Spanish: Section 1 Access Code: HQ5TH-TB2D6 OLE 1ST Grade Spanish: Section 1 Access Code: VJW7X-6BSV7 OLE 3RD Grade Spanish: Section 1 Access Code:XGZKP-VD9BV OLE 4TH Grade Spanish: Section 1 Access Code: BTQVF-K8B85 OLE 5TH Grade Spanish: Section 1 Access Code: 39MZJ-DBQGQ Thank you for your support and encouragement as we begin our journey into the Spanish-speaking world!

Saludos Senorita Olsrud.

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OLE NEWS