Dear Nokomis Families,

February 2015

Would you like to send a sibling to Nokomis?

Applications are now being accepted for the
2015-2016 school year. Our Open House is
scheduled on Thursday, January 29 at 10:00 a.m.
at North campus, 2:00 p.m. at South campus and
6:00 p.m. at both campuses. Reminder, students
who turn 5 by September 1, 2015 register for
Kindergarten classes. Applications are available in
the Nokomis Office, Student Placement Center
(2102 W. University Avenue, 632-3760) or apply
online at www.apply.spps.org. Pre-K Grade 12
Application Deadline is Friday, February 20,
2015. Acceptance priority is given to St. Paul
residents and siblings of St. Paul residents.
Saint Paul Public Schools is excited to offer two
Parent Seminars at our Nokomis Montessori North
campus. The Parent Seminars are designed to
provide parents with additional tools and resources
to build trustworthy and lasting partnerships
between the school, parents and the community.
Our Site Council/PTA selected two parent seminars
for our school community:
Parent Advocacy & Leadership is scheduled
on Thursday, February 5. We will serve
family pizza dinner from 5:30-6:00 p.m. &
6:00-8:00 Parent Seminar at North campus.
Dream Plan Achieve is scheduled on
Tuesday, March 3. We will serve family pizza
dinner from 5:30-6:00 p.m. & 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Parent Seminar at North campus.
This Parent Seminar is FREE to all SPPS
families, but space is limited. Our school budget
is providing the family pizza dinner from 5:306:00 p.m. Light snacks and childcare will be
provided to registered families by district Parent
Academy. To register, please return the enclosed
Parent Seminar form to the office at Nokomis
North or South campus by Tuesday, Feb. 3. If
you have questions, please call Ashley Cannaday at
651-744-2022 or email ashley.cannaday@spps.org.

Thanks for making it a priority to join us for our

National Family Involvement Day on Monday,
February 9. Parents and younger siblings can join
us for complimentary Italian Pasta Bake lunch
provided by our school budget.
Lets celebrate the exemplary work of Steve
Benson (North campus), Tom Nun (South campus)
Dan Graham (North campus) and Tommy
Fletcher (South campus) for Custodian Engineer
Appreciation Day on Thursday, February 19.
THANKS Steve, Tom, Tommy and Dan for
working hard together to keep our buildings clean!
We encourage children to wear appropriate winter
clothing (jacket, hat, mittens, boots, snowpants) for
outdoor recess in the winter months. Reminder,
students go outside for recess every day unless
the temperature or windchill is below 0.
Sincerely,
Melissa McCollor, Principal

Pre-K Grade 12
Application Deadline
Friday, February 20, 2015
Applications available online at
apply.spps.org or Nokomis Office
No School for Students

Monday, February 16 (Presidents Day

Holiday)
Friday, February 27 (Teacher Conference
Prep Day)
Friday, March 20 (Day Parent-Teacher
Conferences)

Lego League Team

Congratulations to Xiomara Canales, Earl

Floren, Faith Her, Cha Lee, Pheng Moua, Max
Rouillard-Horne, Ethan Vang, Tysen Whiteis,
Angelina Xiong and Athena Yang for joining after
school Lego League team. Our Lego League team
participated in a tournament on Saturday, January
24 at Washington Technology Magnet School.
Thanks to Kelsey for coaching our Lego League
team! Thanks to Deb Horne for serving as a
volunteer parent coach! Our Lego League
enrichment opportunity is funded by a generous
grant from 3M!

Begin Feb. 10 May 1

Hmong CLAnD Spring Session will begin on
Tuesday, February 10 for our grade 3-5 students
from 4:05-5:30 p.m. at North campus. South
campus students ride the bus to North campus.
Transportation home is not provided. All parents
need to pick up their child at 5:30 p.m. at North
campus. A flyer will be sent home. Thanks to Bao,
MaiKa and Pai for teaching our Hmong CLAnD
After School classes! If you have any questions,
please call Bao at 744-7487. Our Hmong CLAnD
students will perform on Friday, May 1 at the
district Hmong Enrichment Celebration at
Washington Technology Magnet School.

National Family Involvement Day

Monday, February 9

Talent Development and

Accelerated Services

Thanks for making it a priority to join us on

National Family Involvement Day on Monday,
February 9. All parents and preschool children are
invited to join us for a complimentary Italian
Pasta Bake lunch on Monday, February 9.

Our district uses the CogAT7 to identify students

for accelerated services. The CogAT7 test
measures your students ability in three areas:
verbal, non-verbal and quantitative. The CogAT7
test provides their teacher additional information
about your childs unique learning strengths and
challenges.

Site Council/PTA News

Our next Site Council meeting is scheduled on
Tuesday, February 10 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at
South campus. Our agenda items for this meeting
are:
Progress towards our Title I Family Engagement
Plan
Parent Seminars on Feb. 5 & March 3
March parent-teacher conferences & PTA
Potluck Teacher Dinner
Clubs Choice Fundraiser

Nokomis Montessori has a high percentage of

students identified as Gifted and Talented
using the CogAT7 district assessment.
Differentiation is embedded in the Montessori
methodology. Parents are encouraged to talk
with their childs Montessori teacher or Coach
Ashley Cannaday at 744-2022 if they have
questions about ways we can accelerate learning
for your child at Nokomis Montessori.

Grade 2 NWEA MAP Math Testing

Feb. 2-13

Parents can also contact Nate Gibbs, district

Coordinator for Assessments, at 651-325-2572 or
nate.gibbs@spps.org if you have questions about
CogAT7 assessments.

Our grade 2 students will take the online NWEA

MAP Math testing in the computer lab. Thanks to
Ashley Cannaday for facilitating MAP Math
testing!

Hmong CLAnD Classes

ACCESS Testing
ELL identified students
February 2 March 20

Science Fair
Thursday, March 19
North campus: Judging 9:45-11:45
South campus: Judging 1:30-3:30
and
5:00-8:00 p.m. Science Fair Open House

Our students who are identified as English

Language Learners in grades K-5 will participate in
the ACCESS for ELLs language proficiency test.
The test window is from February 2 March 20.
ACCESS for ELLs provides a standardized
measurement of academic language proficiency for
ELL students throughout the state of Minnesota.
With this information, we will be able to monitor
your childs English language progress on an annual
basis. If you have questions about the ACCESS
test, please contact the ELL teacher who provides
instructional support to your child. Our ELL
teachers are: Bao Yang at 744-7487 (North), Erica
at 744-4195 (North), Tatiana at 744-7486 (South)
or Kris at 744-7502 (both). THANKS to the ELL
teachers for administering the ACCESS test! Our
ELL teachers will send home an ACCESS
information letter with students they serve.

Our fifth grade students are required to participate

in our Science Fair. We encourage our fifth grade
parents to keep checking in with your child to see if
work is completed by Science Fair due dates.
Our grade 1-4 students have the opportunity to
prepare and display a Science Fair project in our
annual Science Fair scheduled on Thursday, March
19. If your child plans to participate, your child
must complete the Project Entry Form and bring it
to Science Kelsey at North or Science Beth at South
campus by Friday, February 6.
Our Science teachers will complete a Science Fair
project with our E1 and E2 classes to model
expectations to our students.
Our school budget provides a display board for
each child to complete their Science Fair project at
home. Students select the display board color on
the Science Fair Information Project Entry Form.

March Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled on
Tuesday, March 17 from 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 19 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. &
PTA Teacher Potluck Dinner
Friday, March 20 from 9:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

Our students participating in our Science Fair will

receive a special Nokomis Montessori Science
Fair t-shirt funded by our school budget.

Montessori classroom teachers will send home

March Parent-Teacher conference appointment
sheets with your child on Friday, March 6.
Please contact your childs Montessori teacher if
you need to reschedule your childs conference.
Montessori teacher direct phone numbers are listed
in the 2014-2015 Nokomis Montessori Calendar.
Thanks to the ELL team for arranging interpreters
for conferences!

Students bring their Science Fair project to school

on Thursday, March 19.
If you are available to volunteer on March 19 as a
Science Fair Judge, please contact Kelsey Rose
(North) kelsey.rose@spps.org at 744-7463 or Beth
Hallstrom (South) beth.hallstrom@spps.org at 7448151.
Thanks to Kelsey and Beth for inspiring our
students to participate in our Science Fair!