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Letter from the Director

There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. Nelson Mandela

September 8th, 2023

Queridas Familias, 

We had an amazing start to the 2023-2024 school year! Children were bouncing with excitement as they went down the hall to their new classrooms and familiar classmates. I am always amazed to see how much they have grown over the summer--what are you feeding them? 

As we enter the new school year, we were pleased to welcome many new families to the fold, and to see them getting quickly involved in volunteer activities and committees. 

A few reminders:   

1. Every year we have a few kinks to work out with busing, lunch, and other logistics. Please remember that we are humans and mistakes happen. Please be patient, kind, and respectful with my team--we are only doing our best to serve you--that is intrinsic in our mission. Several conversations with administrative colleagues and parent friends from other districts informed me of anecdotes of numerous missed bus stops/ lunch snafus/ and class scheduling mishaps--at all levels of districts, with all kinds of resources. On reflection, I think that ISLA did pretty well in comparison. 
2. Although this year the MN legislature has assured us of free school meals, you must all still request the meals through BOONLI. We need this for our reimbursement submission. 
3. I must plead with you again to comply with our traffic plan. We have been asked by MN traffic professionals to please not turn left on 78th St. into the campus. Please join the line of drop off which approaches ISLA from the East on 78th St. 
4. In the same way, please do not get out of your car to drop off your child in the drop off line.  If you need to walk in with your ISLA student, please park and do so accordingly. 

We are fortunate at ISLA to have such a great team of talented immersion educators who are dedicated to teaching within the International Baccalaureate curricular context, and to have such a committed community of parents and volunteers. Working together,  I am confident that the 2023-2024 school year will be better than ever.   I look forward to seeing you soon at upcoming school events. 

Atentamente,

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Jeremy Perrin
Executive Director

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Fundraising Committee Corner

It was great to meet so many of you at Meet the Teacher Night last week! Hopefully you had a chance to swing by the Giving Tree table and talk to some of ISLA's Fundraising Committee members! If not, we are sending home some information about our 2023-2024 School Year Fundraising Campaign in the red folders today. As a nonprofit charter school, ISLA must fundraise a portion of our revenue each year. We hope that you will join us in trying to fully fund the apples on our Giving Tree, which can be found near the front entrance to the school. If you have any questions or would like to get involved, please reach out to the Fundraising Committee Chair and ISLA parent, Lisa Wittig at lwittig@isla.school.

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Attention Parents, PTO, Board, Community, and Staff!

We have an opportunity for intercultural competence training for our ISLA Stakeholders in both Spanish and English.

Are you interested in developing your ability to effectively communicate with the culturally diverse students, staff, and families at ISLA?
If so, this training is for you! We are starting with a small cohort of interested people from a variety of stakeholder groups.

Curious? Find out more information HERE.   Spanish information here

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Welcome back to school! The kids are off to a great start this school year,  and we loved seeing so many families come out to celebrate at Yahoo/Boohoo!! Thank you to our fundraising chair Leala Christensen for her part in coordinating the delicious breakfast via our sponsors Bruegger's Bagels (Edina), Panera Bread and Starbucks (Edina- right near school)!! Please visit our sponsors next time you want a good cup of coffee or breakfast item

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Spirit Store Open!

The Spirit Store is now open through Monday, September 18! Orders will be ready approximately 2-3 weeks after store closing and delivered to the students classroom. For expedited delivery, please indicate the student/teacher name in the order. (For families with multiple children only one name is necessary)

The order link is here: https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/isla-spirit-store-september-2023

The Spirit Store is provided by the ISLA Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) for families to purchase uniform approved shirts and sweatshirts and show their school spirit! The Spirit Store is a fundraiser for the PTO, and proceeds support PTO sponsored events such as the back to school picnic, provide funds for classroom supplies and field trips, and also supports the LA program.

Each grade level has an assigned color and all grades are allowed to wear black. While the shirts are not required, teachers like to have kids in their "Se Habla Español" shirts for field trips and students like to represent ISLA!

• Black - All School
• ISLA Sweatshirts (hooded and full zip) - All School
• Kinder - yellow
• 1st grade - blue
• 2nd grade - green
• 3rd grade - red
• 4th grade - orange
• 5th grade - purple
• 6th grade - white (for in classroom tie dye project)

New this year! We have partnered with a vendor that offers the option for classroom delivery  (no additional charge) or ship to home (shipping is calculated at checkout). Please be sure to add in your student’s name, grade, and teacher. Doing this helps our volunteers get the order quickly to the correct student.

Questions? Please contact spiritstore@isla.school

• • •  Language Ambassador Updates • • •  

Looking for Spring Hosts

The LA Family team is looking for homes for the LAs in January. If you are interested please reach out to islalaprogram@gmail.com or fill out this google form! Have questions? You can also go over the new LA Family FAQ sheet.

Meet and Greet at Davanni's

If you're planning on coming to Davanni's for the PTO fundraiser we encourage you to come between 5:30 - 7:00 to meet some of our wonderful Language Ambassador and Host Families. We will have fast facts about all 7 of our LAs this year as well as ice breaker cards for the kids. As a reminder, we do request all adults speak with LAs in English and kids in Spanish per their school contract.

• • •  Upcoming Events • • •  

Back to school Ice Cream Social

* * * * * TOMORROW * * * * *

Saturday 9/9 2-4pm @ Burnes Park in Hopkins
Please RSVP so we can provide enough ice cream for all!!

It’s time to celebrate the start of the school year! Join other ISLA families as we have some delicious ice cream treats and the kids can run around the playground. Please note, there is a splash pad that MAY be functioning (don’t want anyone to be surprised by the water)!
Click here to RSVP to the Ice Cream Social or scan the QR codes below!

• • • Community PTO Meetings • • •  

Next meeting: 9/13 6:30-7:30pm @ ISLA playground & conference room
Please RSVP so we can plan dinner for everyone!

Our next community meeting will be the first of the official school year! Come enjoy dinner, meet other ISLA parents & caregivers while we share-out all things ISLA PTO for the upcoming year! If you have upper grade level kids that can help with childcare during meetings, that would be a huge help!! Follow the links or scan the QR codes below for further details:
PTO Community Meeting Attendance
PTO Community Meeting Childcare Volunteers

Link to PTO Community Meeting Slides

• • • Restaurant Nights • • •  

Thank you to all that came out to Panera in August! We raised $140.21 just by eating dinner there!! It may seem like a small blip to some, but every little bit counts and helps us towards the goal of helping support ISLA!! Here’s a list of our upcoming restaurant nights. And if you’ve got suggestions or connections of a place that might be interested in partnering with us, please reach out to PTOchair@isla.school!

Monday 9/18 4–8pm

Davanni’s
5124 Gus Young Ln, Edina, MN 55436

Saturday 10/7 8–10am

Applebee’s
8421 Joiner Way, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Tickets now available!!!

Click here to purchase your tickets to support the Pancake Breakfast!

*We will need volunteers to serve for this event (14+) – Sign-up Genius to come soon, but please mark your calendars!!

Monday 11/13 5–9pm

Chevy’s
2251 Killebrew Dr, Bloomington, MN 55425

Wednesday 12/6 4–8pm

Noodles & Co.
8120 MN-7, St Louis Park, MN 55426

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• • • More ways to get involved • • •  
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Sign-up for Box Tops for Education!

Download the app on your phone and search for International Spanish Language Academy to begin benefiting your kids’ school! After setting up your account, you can send digital receipts via email or scan a hard copy in the app. No more ripping boxes up!!

Use any of the below referral links to give ISLA an extra bonus when you sign-up:

https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=CWLL52QA

https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=L0Y82RM7

https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=FCGQ9A6Y

Teacher Wishlists!

Our wonderful teachers work so hard to make their classrooms welcoming and comfortable for our kids. This year, the PTO has asked that our teacher’s share a list of items they need to complete this huge task. Here are their lists, broken down by grade. Any item is a huge help for our teachers & is SO very appreciated by them AND your kids in their rooms. We are still awaiting a few lists, and will send out updated links when they are ready!





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El Nido
Group wishlist for all of El Nido

Kinder
Doris Bonifacio Salas
‍Silvia Herrero-Fernandez
‍Maryann Najera
‍Luis Vivas


1st Grade
‍Bonyin King
‍Erika Leal Gil
‍Edily Sanchez

2nd Grade
‍Irene Martinez
‍Miriam Oropeza
‍Lina Pinto Perez

‍3rd Grade
‍Corene Adams
‍Rosa Fernandez
‍Patricia Floe

4th Grade
‍Riana Dilley
‍Roberto Izquierdo
‍Pilar Robles

5th Grade
‍Stewin Bernal
‍Jordi Costa

6th Grade
‍Rachel Karlov

‍Specialists
‍Exploración & Art: Adriana Maldonado
Exploración & Art: Ana Luisa Galleres (link to come)
Physical Education: Igor Diaz
Tech: Edgar Avendano (link to come)
Music: Danyelo Rivera

Special Education
‍Ruth Garcia (link to come)
‍Tatiana Gordillo
‍Thairys Rodriguez

Office
‍Emily Smith
Jessica Gielen
‍Nurse: Tanya Nelson (link to come)

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• • • Save the Date • • •  

When: Saturday, March 9th, 2024 6-11pm

Where: Bloomington Event Center

New to ISLA or need a refresher on what Fiesta de la Primavera is? No problem!! Each year, the ISLA PTO hosts the biggest fundraiser AND party of the year for parents, teachers, LAs, staff and more from our ISLA community. This is an adult-only event where we will have food, games, prizes, music, dancing and our live & silent auctions! It is a time where we can come together as a community, connect or reconnect and celebrate!! All proceeds raised at Fiesta de la Primavera go back to the ISLA PTO to support the Language Ambassador Program where we bring student teachers to our school from native-Spanish speaking countries. They provide support for our classrooms and enrich the experience our kids have everyday at school by sharing their unique cultures & stories both in-school and with after-school activities, social gatherings and more! It's such an amazing program & I'm grateful to take part in that coming together.

Get involved!!

Our kick-off meeting as we begin planning this shindig will be Thursday September 21st, at 6pm at the Edina Davanni's. We'd love to see the community get more involved in planning Fiesta again. We have quite a few options/areas of interest to choose from. Click here to view our '23 Fiesta Committees and discover small & big ways to help plan this party & fundraiser!

PLEASE know that by attending the kick-off meeting, you are NOT REQUIRED  to participate in planning. This is an informational meeting to share WHAT the event is about, what goes into planning it and give a sneak peek of what's to come. So if you're curious to find out what goes on behind-the-scenes, we've got the info.

Jenner & I will work with you to find a way you can help if you'd like– Big or small! It takes a village to put this fundraiser on every year & I'm really looking forward to my third year on this committee!!

• • • More ways to help with Fiesta  • • •

Donate a Great Gathering!!!

This year, we are encouraging Great Gatherings to be held anytime throughout the year… This will allow for more Fall & Winter fun before our actual Fiesta event in the Spring, but all the funds raised will still go back to the ISLA PTO to support the Language Ambassador Program and enrichment for our kids in the classrooms! So our donation forms are now OPEN!! We will get our Givesmart website launched in the coming weeks to allow purchasing tickets to upcoming Gatherings that are submitted!

Fiesta ‘24 Donation Form Links

Gift Basket Donations

Community/Parent Donations
Staff/LA Donations
*Info on business sponsorships will be coming soon!!

Recommend potential donors/sponsors

Do you have a favorite restaurant, salon, birthday party spot or other locale? Send us the business name and we will reach out to see if they’d like to participate by donating to Fiesta!

Any friends own a local business?

Or maybe you want to get your own small business involved with this fundraiser? We’re sorting out details for sponsorships to help advertise your business(es) while contributing to the growth of the LA Program!! Stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks, but you can always reach out to us (Jenner Moretto or Caitlin Edstrom) at Fiesta@isla.school with any questions!