Food Still Needed for Uppers Conferences Tomorrow

Help still needed!  Can you donate items for staff appreciation for upper's conference meals on Thursday February 19th?

Please sign up to bring specific items at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9a7oKrzQdc14LlIx5TT7IGY_J_ERbBDuacpr0TBtCI/edit?usp=sharing

Questions can be addressed to dani.nikolai@gmail.com or Dani at 254-3594

Thank you for your help in showing our amazing staff how much we appreciate them!!

PPT Staff Appreciation Committee

Special Projects Proposals are Available for Review - Consensus Meeting February 25

Special Projects Proposals are Available for Review!
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 2015 PROPOSALS 

Consensus Meeting Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 6pm
Lincoln Media Center

Please join us for the special projects consensus meeting. No prior experience necessary. Our facilitator will guide us through an established review and decision process. Just review the proposals before the meeting. Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: Winter Dance February 13/Volunteers STILL Needed for Uppers Dance/Permission Slip Attached

Lincoln School Dance

Friday, February 13^th, 2015
Music by: DJ Tom Garrett

6:00 PM to 8:00 PM – K-5 Grade – Parents Required to Stay

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM – Uppers – Need Completed Permission Slip to Attend
CLICK HERE FOR THE PERMISSION SLIP

We are STILL looking for 2-3 volunteers to help chaperone the Uppers Winter Dance on Friday, February 13 and then assist with clean up afterward.  The Uppers Dance follows the K-5 Dance and will run from 8-10pm. Chaperoning is fun - a great way to meet and talk to other Lincoln parents while watching our kids have a great time.

Please email the VIE coordinators at beccakurup@yahoo.com if you will be able to help out.

SCRIP News

What Is Scrip? Scrip is a term that means “substitute money”. When you purchase Scrip, you’re purchasing negotiable gift certificates and prepaid cards that are used just like cash. You can use Scrip to purchase everyday expenses like food, gas, clothing, and other essentials, and with every purchase, you earn revenue for our organization to support technology and PLTW at Lincoln.H

How does Scrip generate revenue for our school? The Great Lakes Scrip Center acts on behalf of churches, schools and other non profit organizations to purchase large amounts of Scrip from grocery stores, department stores, and other retailers. Because the Scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. Our organization buys the scrip from Great Lakes Scrip Center at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to families like yours for full face value. The discount from two to fifteen percent or more – is Lincoln’s revenue.

Remember, If you purchase a $10.00 Kwik Trip card you get the full amount. So spend $10.00 and get $10.00. Use SCRIP to purchase things you would usually purchase with cash or check.

CLICK HERE for a listing of SCRIP cards we carry in the office and the Amount of the Rebate. Print it out and put it on your refrigerator!
As a reminder SCRIP is available in the office and at most parent events (Conferences next week and for Uppers Conferencs.) We accept Checks and Cash.

Student Count Form for Next Year

Attention Parents: As a reminder, please turn in your student count form. This helps us in planning for the new school year! If you have any questions, please contact Amy in the school office.
CLICK HERE FOR THE STUDENT COUNT FORM

Staff Appreciation - Items Needed For February 10, 17 and 19

Could you help to bring items for staff appreciation for conferences?? We need help for:

• K-5 conferences on Tuesday, February 10th
• Uppers conferences on Tuesday February 17th and Thursday February 19th. 

Please sign up to bring specific items at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9a7oKrzQdc14LlIx5TT7IGY_J_ERbBDuacpr0TBtCI/edit?usp=sharing
Questions can be addressed to dani.nikolai@gmail.com or Dani at 254-3594.
Thank you for your help in showing our amazing staff how much we appreciate them!!
PPT Staff Appreciation Committee

February PPT Meeting, this Monday, Feb. 9th

Please join us for the February PPT meeting, this Monday, February 9, from 7-8pm in the Lincoln Media Center.  Principal Jim Sonju will host a Principal's Forum to give parents an opportunity to ask questions.  He will also provide an update on the one-to-one iPad pilot project.  All Lincoln parents, guardians and staff are welcome.  If you have any questions, please contact your PPT Co-Presidents, Jodi Kruse (jmkruse22@gmail.com or 269-6344) or Cinnamon Marxen (cinnamonmarxen@yahoo.com or 250-4527).

District Survey on Calendar Options for Next Year - Your Feedback is Needed

We are aware that many parents were unable to access the District survey on Calendar Options for next year from the email sent via Skyward. Here is the information - please take some time to complete the survey. The deadline to complete the survey is February 4 at 11:59pm.
http://www.rochester.k12.mn.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3083753&pageId=6100598

The major differences between the Options are:

• Option 1: 3 day Thanksgiving Break, 6 day Spring Break, Last day of school is June 8
• Option 2: 2 day Thanksgiving Break, 3 day Spring Break, Last day of school is June 2

Text of original email sent out by District:

Rochester Public Schools 2015-2016 Calendar Options

Dear RPS Family,

RPS has put together TWO calendar options for the 2015-2016 school year. ​You are welcome to provide your input on which calendar you prefer along with open-ended feedback via the link below.  The feedback survey will remain available until February 4, 2015 at 11:59 pm. 

The calendar options and survey are posted here.

Thank you,

Rochester Public Schools

All Pro Dads - Friday, February 13

This month's All-Pro Dads will meet on Friday, February 13 at 8:00-8:45 in the Gym.
This promises to be another great morning!
Perkins is a strong supporter of this program and donates muffins and juice for all of the events.
Please RSVP to Amy amkrahn@rochester.k12.mn.us if you and your kids can attend - RSVPs help us with the food order, door prizes, etc...

This is a great way for Dads to support their students at school and make connections to home.
We have an outstanding group of Lincoln Dads that are co-facilitating the events this year.

Dates to be announced for the All-Pro Dads dates for the rest of the school year.

 

Lincoln Makes the Front Page

In case you missed it on the front page of the Post-Bulletin yesterday:
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/digital-wave-hits-rochester-schools/article_1f98f165-d044-521f-9fa9-42b50b08e5a0.html


 Principal Jim Sonju hands out iPads Monday to Lincoln at Mann students Makenna Studer, left, and Kyleigh Anderson. The high technology devices will be distributed to 7,000 students in the Rochester School District.

Digital wave hits 7 Rochester schools 
MATTHEW STOLLE, mstolle@postbulletin.com | Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 8:04 am 

Lincoln K-8 Choice School student Tommy Welch was handed a new iPad, an episode that was repeated thousands of times across the district Monday and today, as Rochester Public Schools, after a series of fits and starts, officially jumped into the digital learning era with both feet. "I definitely think this is the next step in education, getting our education linked up to technology," said Welch, an exuberant Lincoln eighth-grader, soon after being handed an iPad Air along with 30 other students in his class. "I feel that it will (impact my learning), but I don't even know how yet because it's just so new, so many options. I can't even think of all of them." 

Seven schools are going fully one-to-one with the tablets this week, making it the largest digital wave in Rochester Public Schools since Longfellow Elementary School started out as a tablet pilot site three years ago. The distribution will take place over two days, with middle schools receiving them Monday and elementary schools today. 

In addition to Lincoln, Pinewood, Riverside Central and Gage elementary schools, Willow Creek and Friedell middle schools and the Alternative Learning Center high school will be going fully one-to-one as Rochester students start second semester. More tablets also will be heading to Rochester's other high schools. Altogether, nearly 3,500 iPads will be added to the district's inventory of tablets as part of what district officials are calling a Phase 1 expansion, said the district's Director of Communications Heather Nessler. The move brings the total number of the district's iPads to 7,000. That equates to about 41 percent of the district's more than 17,000 students. The district paid about $1.3 million for the new devices. 

But what all of this means for education in Rochester classrooms isn't crystal clear. Whether this was a transformative moment or an evolutionary one for Rochester schools — or a little bit of both — depends on who you talk to. But there was a sense of change taking place within classrooms — that there would be a learning curve to using the devices. 

Linnea Archer, a Lincoln language arts middle school teacher, called it both an exciting moment and an anxious one. "I've got to step up my game," Archer said when asked how the devices would change her classroom. "I've got to change the way I do things, which is both exciting and terrifying. And if I'm a good teacher, it's more exciting than terrifying." But Archer said she didn't intend for her classroom to drown in technology and anticipated the first couple of days would be used to explore the devices. Students often are referred to as "digital natives" because of their adeptness at using such tablets. But Archer thought the learning would be two-way. "Most kids know how to use it for games, but they don't know how to use it as a tool," Archer said. 

Lincoln students had their own views about how the devices would change their school's culture. Sometimes students forget their textbooks or leave them in their lockers, but that won't happen anymore, now that students will be able to access them on their iPads, said eighth-grader Ashley Stortz. Stortz also thought the iPad expansion would help bridge the digital divide in Rochester, between the haves and have-nots when it comes to technology. "Some people don't have computers at their homes or they don't have a very good working Internet, and now, they can take this home and use this," Stortz said. 

Yet, several students and teachers resisted the notion that this new infusion of technology would somehow represent the end of books. It wouldn't, they said. "I love books because, even with technology, if you're constantly looking at it all the time, it's not good for your eyes, and you start getting headaches," said eighth-grader Christine Lawrence. 

There was also a sense of excitement about a device's potential to change education and make it more engaging for students. Lincoln teacher Andy Roth talked about a new application he planned to use in his algebra class. It would allow him to check his students' work in near real time as students worked on their tablets and offer immediate feedback in the classroom. "A lot of times, I don't get to see (their work) until it's turned in," Roth said. "If the kids are making the same error over and over, I can hopefully correct it at the time they are making it." 

District officials say the goal is to have complete one-to-one coverage across the district by the 2016-17 school year. But they say a date for rolling out a second wave of iPads has not been determined yet. "We are currently focused on Phase 1, which is the second semester of this school year," Nessler said in an email. "We believe that Phase 1 will continue through the beginning of next school year. We anticipate a second phase, but what that looks like at this time is not clearly defined."

Special Projects - Applications Due 2/6 and Consensus Meeting 2/25

It's Special Projects time! Special Projects is what we call the process we use to determine how to spend the money raised at the Lincoln Auction that is above and beyond our PPT budget for the year. This year, we have $11,854 that is just waiting for you to claim it! Yes, you!
Parents, teachers, and students, all can submit a proposal. No project is too big or too small. We'd love to see a variety of projects submitted for consideration!
Examples of proposals funded in previous years include:

• Lynx leveled library books
• Netbooks
• Cameras
• Microphones
• iPads
• Playground/gym equipment 

Applications are due Friday, February 6th. CLICK HERE FOR AN APPLICATION FORM

You helped raise the money, now please help decide how it gets spent! Come to the consensus meeting on Wednesday, February 25th, at 6:00 pm in the Lincoln Media Center. We will be guided through the process of creating a proposal that funds items/experiences that will benefit the Lincoln community.
CLICK HERE FOR A FLYER ON THE SPECIAL PROJECTS PROCESS

Lincoln Fun Day - January 24

Lincoln Fun Day At the Boys and Girls Club
Saturday, January 24th, 2015 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Boys and Girls Club 1026 East Center Street, Rochester MN
Get out of the cold and have some fun with other Lincoln Family and Friends!!! Join us for gym games, art activities, and game room. We will have activities for the entire family.

Mr. Pizza pizza will be available for $2.00 a slice and drink (cheese, sausage, or pepperoni).

Please RSVP by 1-20-15 so we know approximately how much pizza to order and how many people – what ages – are coming. LincolnK8social@yahoo.com or to the Lincoln office.

CLICK HERE FOR A FLYER ON LINCOLN FUN DAY

Digital Learning Transformation/iPad Parent Information Sessions - Uppers Parents - January 22

Lincoln 6th,7th and 8th grade students will be receiving an iPad on January 26 as part of the District's Digital Learning Transformation program. Parents are strongly encouraged to attend a Parent/Guardian Information Session before their student receives their iPad.

At the Information Session, parents/guardians will receive information about the iPad, including proper care, use, expectations and how parents/guardians can help students be successful.

The District is holding a Parent/Guardian Information Session on Thursday, January 22 from 5:00-6:30pm in the Lincoln K-8 Gymnasium. There are Information Sessions also being held on other dates - parents/guardians can attend any of the sessions at any of the locations.

CLICK HERE FOR THE INFORMATION LETTER FROM THE DISTRICT ON THE DIGITAL LEARNING TRANSFORMATION.

Information session dates:
January 20 - Willow Creek - 5:00pm-6:30pm
January 22 - Lincoln - 5:00pm-6:30pm
January 23 - Friedell 11:30am - 1:00pm
January 23 - John Marshall 1:30pm-3:00pm
January 23 - Willow Creek - 3:30pm - 5:00pm

PPT Meeting - January 12

 Please join us for the January PPT meeting, this Monday, January 12, from 7-8pm in the Lincoln Media Center.
We will hear from Joscelyn Martin, Special Projects Chair. Joscelyn will speak about the Special Projects application process. Come learn about how much special projects money we have available this year and how YOU can get involved in deciding how it can be used to benefit Lincoln students!
We will also get a 2015 Lincoln Family Auction Preview from auction co-chair Donna Layton.

All Lincoln parents, guardians and staff are welcome.

All-Pro Dads - January 16

All-Pro Dads is on January 16th at 8:00 am in the Gym. Please let Amy know at amkrahn@rochester.k12.mn.us if you will be able to attend so we can order the proper amount of Perkins muffins and juice.

Skyward

Uppers parents please check skyward to find out if you student is missing any work.   They can collect it next week and get it done over break.  It is a great feeling to start the new year without missing work.

Rochester After School Program (RAP)

There will be no RAP next week.  Today, Dec 18th,  was the last day of RAP for 2014 and we will begin again when school starts in January.

Uppers’ Information Night (5th grade Parents) - December 11

Thursday, December 11th
5:15pm-6:15pm Science Lab Downstairs
6:30pm- 4/5 Production

All 5th grade parents are invited to an opportunity to hear from the Uppers’ Staff and current students on the dynamic program we offer all students in grades six through eight at Lincoln. We will share specifics of our Lincoln Uppers’ program and how we create amazing opportunities for our students.

We will present information that many of you may or may not know about our impressive Lincoln Uppers’ Program.

• Did you know we have had some of the highest science test scores in the entire state the past few years? 
• Did you know we have incredible support for students to perform at the highest levels in all areas? 
• Did you know our Uppers’ students perform in a Rocktown Tour each year performing in front of nearly 1,000 students in a single day? 
• Did you know we have had over 50 Uppers’ students and staff publish their novel science in professional scientific journals over the past couple years? 
• Did you know we have nearly twenty Uppers’ taking high school Math here at Lincoln having accelerated multiple levels in the math program? 
• Did you know our Uppers’ students have a multitude of leadership opportunities? 

Come join us to hear about the awesome program that is awaiting your soon to be Uppers’ student. Students are also welcome, but not required, to attend the informational meeting with you before the production.

Uppers Parents

Now is a good time to check Skyward to see if your student has any missing work.  We are well into the second quarter so missing work becomes an issue.  Please check Skyward and discuss any missing work with your son or daughter.

ACTION 100 Q and A: How often are students’ color levels tested by teachers?

Teachers are continuously recording data on the skills your child has mastered along with those skills needing additional practice to exit the level. Students are tested for the next color level once they have mastered the entry/exit level requirements, foundational skills, and comprehension at that particular level. If you are uncertain of what these skills are, ask your child’s teacher. Bookmarks or skills cards are available from classroom teachers listing these components.