January 23, 2025

Dear Park Spanish Immersion Elementary School Community:

¡Hola, familias de PSI!

We hope this finds you well. It was great to welcome students back yesterday! There are so many engaging and exciting things happening around our school. Please see below for more information, and we look forward to seeing students display their "imagination and invention" at the middle school on Wednesday night. All are invited to attend.  

As a reminder, tomorrow is a grading day for teachers, and we do not have school. First semester progress reports will be sent home in backpacks with students next Friday, January 31. As a reminder, the progress reports are new this year, and they are standards-based.  

We also wanted to give you an update on our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) as today is the last day of the first semester. Please see here.  

We have four goals this year related to:

1. Collaborative Action Research for Equity (CARE)
2. Language Arts
3. Math
4. Family Engagement

Each of the highlighted actions are “in progress,” and we have completed two of them. During the second part of the year, we will spend additional professional development and planning related to updating our biliteracy plan, the future K-5 language allocation plan, and looking for more ways to integrate science and social studies standards into language arts. We are always looking at how best to serve our learners and our families. Thank you for sharing your children with us, and thank you for being members of our community.

In partnership,

Corey Maslowski, Principal

Megan Paulis de Rangel, Assistant Principal

In this section, we are featuring some of our amazing PSI Staff so the community can get to know every adult in the building as we work together to support each student at PSI!

This week we want to highlight three PSI staff members. As it is MN Paraprofessionals Week, we are introducing three of our wonderful paraprofessionals, Heidi Thompson, Kathy Tran and Anna Ramsperger. We are so happy to have them here!

Elders' Wisdom, Children's Song

Our fourth graders have begun working on the Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song (EWCS) project. EWCS is a program that incorporates community, history, education, and celebration through storytelling, song, and spoken word. Each fourth-grade class will adopt an elder from the community who will share his or her story. Each elder’s story will be recorded, analyzed, and interpreted by students. Then, inspired by the life story of the elder, each class will write a song that they perform to honor the elder.

If you have a fourth grader, they may seek your assistance to identify elders in your community who would be willing to share their stories and be honored at our PSI community celebration on Monday, April 28. Elders might be grandparents, neighbors, coaches, etc.

Contact Sra. Wieber with questions.

Somos Uno (Latino Family Affinity Group) Meeting

January A-E Day Calendar

Families With 2025-26 Kindergartners: Registration Reminder

The online registration form for incoming kindergartners is due February 11! Please remember to indicate you would like your kindergartner entered in the PSI lottery.

A note from the enrollment office:

• There is a page dedicated to the PSI Lottery (see photo below), families need to make sure they select "yes" on that page and enter the rest of the data. 
• In order for a student to be entered into the PSI lottery, families need to fill out and submit the Kindergarten Enrollment form by February 11, 4pm. After 4pm, they will not be included on the lottery and will be placed on the waitlist. The PSI lottery page literally turns off at 4pm.

National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID)

Sharing Culture

Based on community feedback, we are adding a new section to La Prensa, Compartiendo Cultura (sharing culture). This section will highlight the many ways that we help students bring to life our SLP public schools’ vision statement, in becoming their best selves as globally minded contributors to society. 

In this issue, we wanted to send an update on our second grade mask project! The work on the masks is complete, and now the second graders are working hard on creating a play in order to present their masks. Please see some photos below!

School District News

MinnesotaCare: Free or Lower Cost Health Insurance

Everyone living in Minnesota deserves the peace of mind that comes with health insurance. All are welcome to apply for free or lower cost coverage with MinnesotaCare regardless of immigration status.

Applications are accepted 24/7/365. There is no deadline to apply, and no limit on the number of people who enroll.

Learn more at mn.gov/dhs/MinnesotaCare.

PTO News

Science and Imagination Fair

We want all students to participate in the Science and Imagination Fair! This year's fair will be held January 29th from 6:00-7:30 pm in the Middle School Field House, and all PSI students are invited to submit a project and show off their creativity and brilliance! Projects do not have to be a traditional science project, anything that you'd like to create and share with the school, sculptures, works of art, or homemade contraptions, are welcome. Still not sure what to do? Take a peek at this Google Doc for links to more inspiration!

Click here to register!

Silent Auction Donations

We are reaching out to you- our amazing PSI community - for help in providing items to be included in our 17th annual silent auction. Maybe you have a cabin up north and are willing to offer a couple nights stay, or season tickets you could share, or maybe you work for a business that could provide a gift card?  

What kind of Experiences/Items:

While this is really up to you to decide, we have examples that have worked well in the past to help spur some ideas.

★ Leisure activities (sports tickets, vacation homes, etc.)

★ Do you have connections to a restaurant, local business, or service?

★ Share your talents! Anything from handyman services to garden upkeep to interior design

If you are interested in donating something, please fill out this quick google form and we will connect with you.

Health and Fitness Bingo

Happy New Year, PSI! As we start 2025, we want to encourage students and families to keep moving and continue or add some healthy habits into your routine. Complete a BINGO in January, and get the chance to win two St. Louis Park Recreation Center skating passes.

Please click here to download your bingo card! We will also send a hard copy home.

Click here for the week 3 "minute to win it" activity!