We hope this message finds you well and enjoying your summer vacation and all of the flora and fauna that Minnesota has to offer. This year will be a very special Meet the Teacher Open House, as we welcome you all into the wonderful learning environment that will be our new home in Edina. Because of some minor delays in our building schedule, Meet the Teacher will be on September 8th, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. As a reminder to new and existing families, this is a casual, open house format where you can get a chance to see your child’s new classroom, to check out the renovations of the new building, and drop off your school supplies, pick up Spirit Wear and other information, and most importantly---meet your teacher!
At our July 20th board meeting the Board of Directors approved an updated calendar for the 2021-2022 school year, with a new start date of September 8th for Pre-K, September 9th for grades 1-6, and September 10th for Kindergarten. It is worth noting that 8 out of 9 of our neighboring districts are starting after Labor day, and we are still well within our statutorily required instructional time for the school year. In addition, we have an ample number of extra instructional days in case we need to cancel for inclement weather.
ISLA Families: Welcome to the start of another great school year! I just wanted to remind everyone of some important things before the school year begins. In order to provide the best possible care for our students, we ask that families turn in the following information to the Health Office on or before the first day of school:
Medications and forms can be brought to ISLA at the Open House on September 8 or on the first day of school. Forms can also be emailed to the School Nurse ahead of time.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Tanya Nelson, ISLA School Nurse, by email at tnelson@isla.school. Thank you!
Hello ISLA Friends and Families,
We are happy to report that with your involvement and generosity the first ever Summer Social was a huge success! Attendance was great and we couldn’t have asked for better weather to be outside at the beautiful Emerson Pavilion!
The raffle was a fun addition to the night and 10 lucky winners won prizes! Emails have been sent to those winners who could not attend.
Thank You again to the following companies for their donation and/or partnership on this event:
Rob Lind -Emerson
LTD brewing
The Vine Room
Lauren Damrow-United Soccer
Justin Elder-ChiroCenter Chiropractic
Anne Hodgdon-The Hair District
Katie Almquist-My Little Cakery
Dukes on Seven
We greatly appreciate LTD Brewing Co, The Vine Room, and Minnyrow Market for allowing us to bring a taste of Downtown Hopkins to the evening!
Until the next fun ISLA community event….
Cheers,
Betsey and Katie
ISLA PTO Event Co-chairs
ISLA will be partnering with Reading Corps tutors for the 2021-2022 school year to help our students succeed. By giving your time and talent as a tutor, you can help our students gain the confidence and skills they need to be successful learners. Tutoring isn’t just a meaningful way to give back to the community; it also helps create bright futures! Tutors work one-on-one or in small groups with students from kindergarten to grade 3. No experience? No problem! Reading Corps provides great training in strategies proven to help students build skills and become better readers. Part-time and full-time opportunities are available. Tutors commit to serving 35, 25, or 18 hours a week during the school year, and can choose to begin in August, October or January.
While you give your time as a tutor you’ll receive some great perks!
Learn reading strategies to apply with your own children/grandchildren
Receive a paid stipend every two weeks
Earn up to $4,400 for college tuition or student loans. Tutors 55 and older may gift the award to their child, grandchild, stepchild or foster child.
Free health insurance and child care assistance for those who qualify.
If you’re ready to be a change maker for kids in our community, visit Join.ReadingandMath.org to learn more. Questions? Contact join@servetogrow.org or call 866.859.2825. Minnesota Reading Corps and Minnesota Math Corps are AmeriCorps programs (sometimes called the domestic Peace Corps). Thousands of kids in Minnesota need help in reading and math, and your time can make all the difference. Please share this email with others as we work to ensure there’s a tutor available for every child who needs one. Thank you!
The United States Department of Agriculture is allowing schools to provide meals for the 2021-22 school year through a provision of the National School Lunch Program called the Seamless Summer Option (SSO). A waiver has been issued in order to support access to nutritious meals while minimizing potential exposure to COVD-19.
Our school has chosen to use this waiver and operate the SSO which enables us to provide meals free of charge for all students.
Families will still need to pre order meals through Boonli.com to ensure our vendor provides enough meals for our students, but they will be free of cost to all families. Online Lunch Ordering Instructions and Setup
Those families that wish to purchase milk for their student can now do so for $0.65 per carton. Milk will be ordered through the Boonli.com site as well.
No application is required to receive this free meal benefit, however, your child(ren) may qualify additional benefits such as reduced fees or the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) which is a federal temporary emergency nutrition benefit that is loaded onto electronic cards for families to purchase food. Your application also helps the school qualify for education funds and fee discounts for field trips and Wolf Ridge, if you qualify.
Application for Educational Benefits 2021-22 (English)
Application for Educational Benefits 2021-22 (Spanish)
We do have a few openings for families that are needing before/after school care and early release care. Please complete an application for enrollment if you are interested in care and send it to aventuras@isla.school. Applications can be found under the Current Families tab and then the School Age Care tab.
In the event that we reach our maximum enrollment, families will be put on a waitlist until a spot becomes available.
The PTO is set up with Mabel’s Labels for fundraising too. If you need labels, they’re a great brand. They have a huge variety of choices but I always liked this fundraising combo - fairly cheap and a decent amount of labels. Make sure to select International Spanish Language Academy under ‘Support A Fundraiser’. Click here to order.