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A message from 3rd Grade Teacher Thruelsen:
İFelíz Mes de la Herencia Hispana! İHola amigos de QAE! I am taking it upon myself to share some information about Hispanic Heritage Month, which falls between September 15th and October 15th. This is incredibly important to me as I have Hispanic family members and spent many years working in Spanish immersion in Los Angeles, where 47.5% of the population is Hispanic. Though we have a smaller Hispanic and Latino community at Queen Anne Elementary, we have a substantial one within Seattle and it’s important our children know and celebrate their Hispanic neighbors! Here are a few FAQs about Hispanic Heritage Month that I think you might find helpful in talking about with your students. Please reach out if you’d like ideas on how to incorporate this in your teaching over the next month! Preguntas Frecuentes: Frequently Asked Questions What’s the difference between Hispanic and Latino? Hispanic refers to a linguistic lineage, from Spanish. Latino refers to those who come from Latin America. Therefore, many Latinos are Hispanic, but not all (I.e. Brazilians), and many Hispanics are Latino, but not all (I.e. Spaniards). Many people identify as both and will use the terms interchangeably, but not all choose to do so. Why the dates Sept. 15-Oct 15? Why not a full calendar month? September 15th is an incredibly symbolic day to many Hispanic countries in Latin America. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all declared independence in 1821 on September 15th. In addition, September 16, 1810 was the day when Mexicans gave el Grito de la Independencia (the Cry of Independence) to declare the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans traditionally celebrate El Grito starting at midnight on the night of the 15th of September. Many Hispanics celebrate this day within our city in September. There is a Fiestas Patrias at the Seattle Center this weekend if you’d like to explore! Details here: https://www.mygiraffe.com/Home/Detail/47459 Who should the kids absolutely know about? There are thousands of influential Hispanic men and women who have made phenomenal differences in our country’s growth, progress, and success. However, oftentimes I find that students don’t know even the most significant leaders. Every child, by the time they leave elementary school, should know at the least the following influential leaders: (it’s killing me to only write down three names here): Cesar Chavez: (SAY-sar CHA-vez) devoted his life to assisting thousand to receive better wages and safer working conditions, specifically agricultural workers in California. Hero to many Hispanic families throughout our country. Dolores Huerta: (Do-LOR-es WUER-ta) was a leader on behalf of farmworkers, partner to Cesar Chavez in many ways. Obama’s campaign slogan, Yes we can! Was an echo to Dolores’ slogan, Si, se puede! Sonia Sotomayor: (SON-ya So-to-my-or) was the first Latina and Hispanic Supreme Justice in our country. (also fun fact: type one diabetic like me! ) I so appreciate everyone’s efforts to make our classrooms welcoming spaces for all. Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, even on a smaller scale in our classrooms, helps us fulfill our mission to include and celebrate every single student in the Seattle Public Schools system. Sinceramente, Srta. Thruelsen Below are a handful of the photos taken by QAE parent Christa Winquist during our recent Project-Based Learning Showcase and our first ever MakerSpace Marketplace. It was a such a great night - amazing to see all the excitement, the kids so eager to share what they've learned. As Christa said, "I loved how this event and evening was teacher and student led and focused with parents in a supportive role. The event really captured the spirit of QAE! My kiddos and our family really enjoyed it!" Queen Anne Elementary is participating in Hour of Code for the sixth year! And we need your help to make it a success! Hour of Code is an annual event at QAE teaching beginning coding skills to all students. It is important that every student has an opportunity to learn computer science, and this event also teaches problem-solving, logic, and creativity. These are vital skills no matter what field students go into as adults. Only a tiny fraction of us are learning computer science, and fewer students are studying it than a decade ago (and women account for only 12% of computer science degrees). That’s why our entire school is again joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week. More than 100 million students have participated already (and our kids are among them!) This year's Hour of Code focus is creativity. See the series of videos that highlight creativity and feature Bill Gates, Malala, Serena Williams, Sheryl Sandberg, Neymar and many more. Show them to your kids to get them excited! Volunteers Needed The Hour of Code Team is looking for volunteers to help the students throughout the day on 12/6. This is a fun activity, and it does not require any advanced technical skills. Please sign up here today! We're going to start with a volunteer meeting at 8:30 for a quick tutorial about what programs students will be doing and how you can support. We'll then head to classrooms. We'll be sure you're in the class of your child. If you can stay throughout the day, great. If you can only stay for part of the day, just note on the volunteer form. Sign up here to volunteer... If you work for a technology company, we'd love to have a group of engineers volunteer! If you have any other questions, please contact Greg Marks, PTSA Technology Director and Hour of Code maestro, at tech1@qaeptsa.org.  PBL Night is Thursday, Dec. 13th from 5:30 – 7:30pm at John Marshall. This year, we will be adding the first ever QAE MakerSpace MarketPlace!
Project-Based Learning Showcase Schedule
If you have family or friends thinking about registering at QAE next year, please invite them to this fantastic event! MakerSpace MarketPlace Makerspace MarketPlace is a place to support the student directed MakerSpace fall challenge. Students wrote proposals to “make a difference for themselves, the community or the world”. Explorers had the freedom to create initiatives, which included fund-raisers, awareness campaigns and products to sell. These products will be shared at the MakerSpace MarketPlace to raise money for different charities on PBL night. All funds raised will be pooled and divided equally amongst the students’ initiatives. There will also be a raffle and a bake sale to raise funds for the QAE MakerSpace. MakerSpace MarketPlace will be open from 5:30 – 6:30pm in the Cafeteria. If your child would like to sell their MakerSpace items at the MarketPlace or showcase his or her learning, please fill out the application here: https://qaeptsa.wufoo.com/forms/2018-qae-makerspace-marketplace/ After we receive your entry, we'll follow up with more details! If you would like to make or contribute baked goods for the MakerSpace Bake Sale, please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084eaaad29a0fb6-makerspace Come support our students and community, buy delicious baked goods and see the amazing learning happening in MakerSpace! Questions? Kristin Teske (Teacher) - kmteske@seattleschools.org Kristi Barnes (MarketPlace) - kristi_barnes@comcast.net Pia Silverlieb (Bake Sale) - silverlieb@yahoo.com Earlier this afternoon Principal Roy shared the following e-mail with the student community. The PTSA wants to underscore the thanks given to Ms. Dudley, Ms. Palumbo and Ms. McCormick for helping us work through this difficult situation. We are relieved that there will be no reduction in existing classrooms at QAE!
-------- Dear QAE Parents/Guardians, Each September, Seattle Public Schools examines initial school enrollment and makes staffing adjustments district-wide. This year, SPS enrollment is significantly below projections which impacted many schools across the district. Queen Anne Elementary is one of several SPS elementary schools directed to make staffing adjustments. This means we must adjust our staffing by one full-time teacher. Our next step is to determine how to best do this while having the least impact on students. In light of losing a full-time teacher, which would force a reorganization of almost all of our classes, the staff came up with a unique approach that minimizes the impact on our children. We thank Ms. Bonnie Dudley, Ms. Megan Palumbo and Ms. Helene McCormick for their dedication to supporting our students in crafting an innovative plan. After consensus with the Building Leadership Team (composed of staff, PTSA Executive and parents; K – 5th grade teachers and Career Ladder Teachers) and QAE staff, here is our plan:
What does this mean for your child?
Ms. Bonnie, Ms. Palumbo, QAE staff and I will work closely with students and parents in the 2nd grade class to navigate this unexpected change. All students will continue to have great teachers and continue learning alongside their current classmates.
I want to express my appreciation and support to every QAE family, our incredible QAE staff, our BLT and PTSA. Collaboratively working together has been essential during this process. We will get through this change over the next few days, and most importantly, we will get through this together as a supportive QAE community. Yours, Janine Roy, Principal QAE 2018 Reorganization FAQ When a school has to reduce a teaching position, how is this done? When a teacher needs to be displaced in a school, we are contractually required to ask for volunteers and if none emerge, then the least senior classroom teacher is automatically displaced. At QAE, we had three volunteers which allows us to keep classes intact:
Are we at risk of losing any additional staff/resources? No. Staffing adjustments are only made at the beginning of the year at elementary schools. Could we have made cuts/savings in other places to save this position? No. Schools are allocated separate budgets for staffing and supplies. Supply budgets cannot be moved to cover staffing needs, nor would they be sufficient to meet these costs. Were enrollments down across all Seattle Public Schools? Enrollment at the elementary level is down across the district. Schools are impacted differently based on their boundaries, housing trends, etc. How does this compare to other elementary schools in our area? Other elementary schools in the Queen Anne community had a difference between their projected enrollment and actual enrollment as well. Did we take all the students off our waitlist? Yes, all interested families were accepted at QAE this year. QAE Curriculum Night - Thursday, Sept. 27th, 6:30-8pm at John Marshall
For new QAE families, Curriculum Night is an annual SPS evening information session for parents. This year, QAE parents/guardians will begin in the John Marshall auditorium/cafeteria at 6:30pm for staff introductions and an overview of our five pillars and QAE foundational elements, such as Project Based Learning (PBL), social emotional learning and innovative technology. Then parents/guardians will move to your child’s classroom where your child’s teacher will provide a presentation from the grade group team on academic programs, social emotional learning and supporting your child at home. We begin in the John Marshall auditorium/cafeteria at 6:30 pm for staff introductions and an overview of QAE pillars. A 20-minute presentation will be offered by each classroom teacher in their room at 7pm and repeated at 7:30pm to accommodate families with more than one child. Beginning at 7:30 pm, Janine Roy will be available in the cafeteria to answer any remaining questions. Games Club Available We have a limited number of slots available for Games Club during Curriculum Night. You can drop your kids off for fun while you focus on Curriculum Night. Sign up here. Slots are limited and are by reservation only. SPS is working towards adopting a new science curriculum. In this process the science adoption committee is asking for your participation. Please encourage your friends, family and community members to share their thoughts. We need all voices to weigh in on their ideas regarding K-8 science.
Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SPSNeedsSurvey-Community Calling all QAE citizens to our June Project Based Learning Showcase on Thursday, June! This is our chance to celebrate student learning, hard work and determination. We encourage all families to celebrate both their child’s PBL work and see the PBL products of other students and older students so all children develop a vision for what is possible in the years ahead. PBL Showcase Schedule 5:30 – 6:00 - Kindergarten (classrooms) 5:45 – 6:30 – 1st grade Symposium begins in Cafeteria and breaks out into hallway and 1st grade classrooms 6:15 – 7:00 – 2nd and 3rd grade Brick and Treehouse classrooms 6:45 – 7:30 – 4th and 5th grade Treehouse and Portables  Our wonderful Head Teacher / Kindergarten teacher Katie Cryan Leary put together a site that summarizes what each grade has done for PBL this year.
Take a look at the site: http://qaepbl.weebly.com/blog/fall-2017-pbl-projects From "What's in My Heart? What's in Your Heart?" to "We Are Seattle" to "Food Justice", learn more about how our students into a complex challenge and learning! On Thursday, QAE PTSA is paying for all students to participate in the Groove Experience, classes will be rotating in throughout the day.
QAE PE, Art and Music Specialists and classroom teachers worked together to arrange this interdisciplinary opportunity for students. It is a creative dance approach that will get you up on your feet, moving to music, while inspiring self-expression, community and nurturing a healthy body and mind. Benefits include enhancing self-responsibility, mindfulness and respect. It is a wonderful fit for our core teachings at QAE, and the best part... when you Groove, “You can’t get it wrong!” Queen Anne Elementary is Creative Approach School that joins Project Based Learning (PBL), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and our Five Pillars with the Common Core Curriculum. A couple of amazing parent volunteers, Jenny Brailey and Mike LaRocque, helped put together these videos that highlight what each of the Five Pillars means. Check them out and share with other parents as well as those incoming families who are considering QAE!
We are self-directed learners We encourage each other to think critically and learn more We are concerned, confident and compassionate citizens of the world We learn everywhere, we learn together We are creative Poet Charles Waters is coming to QAE on Thursday, Jan. 25th to talk about poetry with our students. Antioch University will be bringing 30 signed copies of Charles Waters' book Can I Touch Your Hair: Poems About Race, Mistakes and Friendship for sale the day of his visit. The can be purchased for $15 each with cash or check. Parents are welcome at the assemblies! 8-8:50am for K-2 and 9:10-10am for 3rd-5th grades. We've had enough pre-sales of his book that Antioch will be able to give 30 copies of the book to Puget Sound area schools that do not have sufficient funding for their libraries! We'd also like to give a last minute call out for student art that encompasses the themes of race, friendship and mistakes. Please have your child submit their work to their teacher by Tuesday, January 23rd.  A message from Julie Colando: ------ Thanks to PTSA we are thrilled to welcome poet Charles Waters to QAE for two assemblies on Thursday, January 25th. 8-8:50pm for K-2 and 9:10-10 for 3rd-5th grades. Attached is a book order form for copies of his breathtaking new book: Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems About Race, Mistakes and Friendship. Charles Waters will read poems from some of his earlier work as well as poems from this new book. as well as talking about his writing process as a poet. He will also read poems with students from QAE, who will be working on poems and artwork around the book's themes–race, mistakes and friendship in advance of his visit. Antioch University will include one QAE student's poem in a chapbook they will be publishing with a previously unpublished poem of Charles Waters'. This chapbook will be distributed to public school libraries in our area. You can download the book order form below. BOOK ORDER FORMS ARE DUE BY TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018. Thank you very much! Julie (on behalf of the Reading Culture Committee) 
Our first Project-Based Learning Exhibition is this week! Come to the school on Thursday evening, December 7th, from 5:30-7pm to see some of the results of our kids hard work this Fall! You can view in-progress and completed PBL presentations. Here's the schedule:
"We called ourselves the Explorers and we knew we wanted our kids to learn differently." - Mr. Jeffery
In exchange for receiving a very significant discount when we purchased new cases for our school's iPads, the company that makes the cases produced a video about how our students use our iPads to learn and explore. It really captures part of what makes QAE so special! |
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QUEEN ANNE ELEMENTARY PTSAOur Vision: Create, maintain, and support a healthy and successful environment within the QAE community and support staff, students, and their families in the quest for an excellent education.
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CONTACT2100 4th Ave N
Seattle WA 98109 206-252-2480 Principal: Janine Roy Administrative: Karen Alvarez Office Assistant/Attendance: Catie Coyle |
SCHEDULE7:30am - Breakfast & Playground Supervision Begins
7:50am - Breakfast Ends, Opening Bell 7:55am - School Day Begins 2:25pm - Dismissal Wednesday Early Release 1:10pm - Dismissal |
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