Elementary School News Feb. 2019

Hamline Elementary School

By JESSICA KOPP

One of the very best things about Hamline Elementary is its educators—their experience, talent, and whole-hearted love for their school keep the students learning and growing as human beings, scholars, and future leaders in our community.

Photo right: Hamline Elementary kindergarten teachers Kathleen Walsh (left), and Carol Schjei have a combined 40 years of teaching experience. (Photo submitted)

Meet Hamline’s dynamic kindergarten duo—teachers with a combined 40 years of teaching experience and amazing hearts to match.

Kathleen Walsh

In her over two decades at Hamline Elementary School, Kathleen Walsh has taught every grade except 3rd (including sixth when Hamline had a sixth grade). This year you’ll find her in kindergarten, likely doing one of her very favorite things to do with kindergarten students—singing songs about math, reading, butterflies, and making maple syrup. She says there really is a song for everything and enjoys incorporating music and movement into all areas of study.

When asked what makes Hamline special, Walsh describes the professionalism of her colleagues and how seriously they take their work with children, how well they support one another, and how much fun they have as a team. They are friends as well as co-workers.

Walsh also loves how much she learns from the students and families in the Hamline community saying, “Every day I’m learning something about the world from the kids.”

In addition to being a teacher at Hamline Elementary, Walsh knows what it’s like to be a Hamline parent. Her children made the journey from Minneapolis with their mom to enjoy the benefits of this amazing place. It was a decision that created long-lasting friendships and a solid foundation for future learning.

Outside of school, Walsh enjoys the great outdoors and spends time with her family at their cabin in Wisconsin tending to their big garden/small farm where they have beehives, bunches of berry bushes, maple trees to tap for syrup, and heirloom tomatoes, all of which they sell to local restaurants and farmer’s markets.

Carol Schjei

“I have been teaching Kindergarten at Hamline Elementary since 1998. I LOVE spending my day with five and six-year-olds, and I LOVE Hamline Elementary!” exclaims Carol Schjei.

“Hamline Elementary is set apart from other schools because of our collaboration with Hamline University,” Schjei said. “Every day we have 70+ university students in our school tutoring elementary students. Hamline tutors work under a teacher’s direction tutoring those students who need extra challenge and those that need extra practice to master skills. They also work with small groups to ensure that all learners are held accountable.

At Hamline Elementary, we can meet learners where they are and make great progress with them. Our learners also benefit from going to the University for connections with athletic teams and academic departments, swimming lessons, musical performances, and more.”

Schjei concludes “I love Hamline Elementary so much that I hope to teach here until I retire from SPPS.”

News from Galtier Community School

By SAMANTHA HENNINGSON

The weather has been unforgiving, but it’s been warm and busy inside Galtier Community School this winter.

Feb. 11 was National African American Parent Involvement Day. All parents were invited to spend part of or the entire day with their students at Galtier, including an all-school assembly. Lunch was provided from local restaurants.

Midway resident Anne Reid is a teaching artist for COMPAS. She will be at Galtier for a couple of weeks in February. K-3 students will be doing seed art including self-portraits, landscapes, or portraits of their heroes. Fourth and fifth graders will be making night lights where they build all the circuitry from scratch and then design and create custom shades for the night lights.

Winter field trips will include pre-K and Kindergarten students heading to the Children’s Theater for either “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” or “The Biggest Little House In The Forest.” Third graders will head to the Minnesota Zoo for a day of animal adventures.

On Feb. 28, Galtier will host its Winter Wonderland event where families and students will enjoy food, activities, and being together in community.

For neighbors interested in supporting Galtier Community school, they can check out donorschoose.org and search “Galtier” for projects seeking funding. Alternately, Galtier has a wish list of books for its library that anyone can purchase via Amazon and donate directly to the school: http://a.co/0lYsKhX.