2024-04-19 Noticias de ISLA y ISLA PTO
Emily Smith
Transition Communication
Hola ISLA Comunidad,
I have been SO excited to meet such amazing educators, families, and board members in my transition to ISLA! It is clear that the staff at ISLA are so positive, invested, and thoughtful around continuous learning and culturally relevant practices. My hope is to provide ongoing updates this spring as I spend time getting to know ISLA and support efforts to build a strong team and new systems for the 24-25 school year. Here are some of areas I am focusing on so far:
- Meetings with key leaders and board members around finance, transition planning, human resources and hiring, academic and behavior programming, and other priority needs
- Supporting work to clarify our organizational structure and make strategic position shifts to have strong leadership in academics, behavior and school culture, and operations
- Working with current team members to hire several on-site ISLA staff members in Special Education to strengthen this growing team
- Working to secure new and existing contracts, including creating a partnership with Twin Cities Counseling Co-op to provide school-based therapy on-site
I am continuing to meet and build relationships with staff and community members, including a very fun Professional Development day with the team this week! My hope is to have one-on-one meetings with all interested ISLA staff by the end of the school year and to have more opportunities to engage with families and students! You will see me at some of our events this spring while I am wrapping up at my current school. I look forward to providing ongoing updates clarifying more information about the 24-25 school year and beyond!
Con gusto,Molly
ISLA Yearbook
It's time to purchase YEARBOOKS! ¡Ya es tiempo de comprar el ANUARIO!
THE WINDOW CLOSES IN EARLY MAY - PURCHASE NOW SO YOU DON'T FORGET!
Order your yearbook HERE today! Compre su anuario AQUÍ hoy!
We’re also looking for ISLA community photos to use in the yearbook! Use the links below to share your photos with the yearbook team. If you need to sign up for the first time, our school code is 1016123740893948. Please reach out to hestrada@isla.school with any questions.
También buscamos fotos de la comunidad de ISLA para usar en el anuario. Usa los vínculos abajo para compartir tus fotos con el equipo del anuario. Si necesitan registrarse por primera vez, el código escolar es 1016123740893948. Por cualquier pregunta, se pueden conectar con hestrada@isla.school.
ISLA Seeking Welcome Committee Chair
ISLA is seeking a chair for the welcome committee. This individual would be responsible for organizing welcome events (kinder playdates) over the summer and seek current families to host the event. They will participate in phoning new families to welcome them to the ISLA Community and answer questions. Candidate would ideally organize families to mentor new families and keep the welcome packet up-to-date. Reach out to Emily Smith at esmith@isla.school if interested.
Fundraising Committee Corner
Thank you to all who have participated in our Square1Art fundraiser! We surpassed our goal of selling $3,000 of artwork and now ISLA School and ISLA PTO will now get back 50% of whatever is purchased! If you ordered something and have received it already - show it off in the Facebook Family group so we can all see!
The deadline to purchase artwork has been extended to Wednesday, May 1st.
- Search for your child’s artwork on their website.
- School: ISLA International Academy
- Search by your student’s first or last name (note - a small percentage of students did not submit artwork due to absences - if you are unable to find your student’s artwork, you can upload a picture of another piece of their art).
- Add your student’s art to your account by clicking the blue ADD TO MY ART button.
- Click the red SHOP NOW button and find something special for a loved one.
**A generous donor has offered to purchase an item for any family interested in participating who may not have the funds. To inquire, please email Lisa Wittig with the student’s name, teacher, and item of interest, and more information will be shared.**
PTO Highlights
We want the PTO Website to be the go-to source for our community. The information provided in Noticias may be slightly more condensed... So please make sure to keep tabs on the website as we continue to work towards this goal!!
Kudos to the Community
There are so many wonderful humans in the ISLA Community & we would really LOVE to give special shout-outs to those that you feel deserve it!! Please complete this form (available in English & Spanish) and let us know about someone/something so we can give them a little extra TLC!!
MOM / DAD / TEACHER / CAREGIVER APPRECIATION!
ISLA PTO is joining forces with ISLA-Family owned small businesses, Morful Flowers & Arte Bella Jewelry, along with the ADORABLE art project keepsakes where we are teaming up with the ISLA School Fundraising Team to provide you with many ways to celebrate your caregivers and/or teachers while simultaneously giving a little back to the PTO! Read on to find out more about each of these three amazing opportunities!
Morful Flowers
Our very own ISLA Parent Karen Hernandez of Morful Flowers is once again partnering with the ISLA PTO to provide an amazing opportunity to show love, appreciation & support for the caregivers and/or teachers in your life!! Karen recently sponsored ISLA Fiesta with her GORGEOUS floral arrangements. Now, lucky for us, she will be handcrafting floral bouquets for the ISLA Community to gift to the Moms, Dads, Caregivers, Teachers and more in your life!!
Full details & the order form for this gifting option can be found here!!
Arte Bella Custom Jewelry
Yet another amazing ISLA Parent Marcos Ortega of Arte Bella Jewelry is partnering with the ISLA PTO to provide you with custom made rings, earrings, pendants, engagement rings and more to treat your Mom/wife/partner/caregiver/loved one with a beautifully unique piece– Made just for them!! We are so excited to be working with Arte Bella Inc.– A family owned and operated custom jewelry manufacturer since 1993, located right in Golden Valley. They are so graciously extending their friends & family pricing while giving back to our community– And all you have to do is mention ISLA for 10% to come back to the PTO!! Gold & platinum jewelry; Diamond, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and other gemstones are all potential options to build from and Arte Bella Diamonds can be both Naturally Mined or Lab Grown Gemstone. All custom items AND repairs are done in-house by Arte Bella Jewelry which makes their prices unbeatable!! We are so excited about this fun, new option to celebrate & support our community!!
Please reach out via email to marcos@artebellajewelry.com or via phone at 612-338-2595 to learn more!
Announcement: ISLA Earth Day
Celebration April 27th from 10 am - 3pm (open house style - come when you can)
Come join our ISLA community for a day of service & fun!
We invite all of you to join us in volunteering for spring cleanup of ISLA grounds, enjoy activities for the children (creation of seed bombs and insect hotels), and have a free lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers served from 12-1:30 pm.
Come for as little or as much time as you can. For anyone who signed up to receive a free tree - we will distribute trees at the event.
Help the PTO Raise Another $10,000+ by Volunteering
ISLA family, friends and extended family are serving concessions for Twins games this season, and you can get involved by working one or more games. Each game our group brings at least 10 volunteers, the PTO receives at least $1000! Get more details and share your availability by filling out this volunteer survey ASAP.
• • • Get involved • • •
You can find more information on all of these topics on the PTO Website!
Serve lunch
Click here to see available time slots!
Box Tops for Education
Get started!!
Mabel’s Labels
Visit their website and search for International Spanish Language Academy
Teacher Wishlists
Click here to view the full list of teachers broken down by grade!
Join the ISLA Community at some favorite local restaurants each month!!
We just wrapped up the FamFare fundraiser where we did a meal-pickup at the school and it was a huge success where you all helped us raise $358.08!! Adding that to our total, so far this year, you have helped us raise $3,712!!! Woohoo!!!! For our May Community Night, we will be featuring an ISLA-family owned restaurant… Jersey Mike’s!! Please visit the PTO Website for the full schedule!
Tuesday 5/7 4–9pm
Jersey Mike’s
525 Blake Rd N, Hopkins
Fiesta Updates
Any remaining auction items are ready for pick-up in the office across from the wonderful Emily!! They are on top of the file cabinet sorted by item#.
Please pickup your items ASAP as this space is also used by the staff! Any items not picked up by 4/26 will be returned.
Great Gatherings: All March and April hosts & winners have been connected via email from fiesta@isla.school and we will continue to work on connecting all events hosts & winners in the coming weeks!
There are still tickets available for Great Gatherings that we will leave open until the event is held or they sell out! There are some REALLY FUN events on the site- Please go check them out at: https://e.givesmart.com/events/sgz/i/_Great%20Gatherings/
Please use this folder to share any photos you may have taken during the event.
Raffle drawings for the school sponsored events will be announced by 4/21.
Questions? Reach out to Caitlin Edstrom on Facebook or via email at fiesta@isla.school
THANK YOU ISLA!! We are so grateful for this community! Please mark your calendars for next year's Fiesta... March 15th, 2025! We sold out this year and we hope to fill the Bloomington Event Center again next year...
Upcoming Great Gatherings with available tickets:
5/4 Get outdoors with some friends! Sunshine, friends, snacks and board games at Normandale Park with Sra Ruth & Tatiana!!
5/11 Scavenger Hunt! Meet at the Hopkins Library for a fun scavenger hunt with a special stop for ice cream!
• • • Final Numbers • • •
The Fiesta Committee is so excited to share that you all helped us raise $88,381 at Fiesta!! You can watch the full video update on Facebook. Thank you so much to our amazing community. This has been a team effort that you all are included in and we are so excited to see this outcome for our kids, our school and the Language Ambassadors!!
