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In Photos: Hard at Work

Student News

Creative Bears

In their brand new Matoska Makerspace, 4th grade students at Matoska International IB World School took on an engineering design challenge. Students built structures out of tooth picks, marshmallows and cardboard to test how strong their designs were. This activity was led by students from the University of Minnesota. The 4th graders had fun while learning about the work engineers do!

3rd grade students in Ms. Solem's class at Oneka Elementary school are getting ready for the first snowfall, by making paper snowmen. Students painted winter themed backgrounds and cut out the different shapes needed for their creations. Then, they glued the shapes together to make snowmen from an aerial point of view.

Several 5th graders at Willow Lane Elementary are taking on new responsibilities by stepping into leadership roles. The students are setting good examples and helping the younger students while engaging in different duties around the school as teams. Some include a welcoming team, mentor team, cleaning team, listening team and multicultural team.

Central Middle School students showed off their creative sides in Ms. Vadnais’s art class. They sculpted figures out of wire and tape. In this fun hands on lesson, students first wrapped paper towels around the wire, before putting on layers of tape to form their  figures.

Area Learning Center students in MAAP Stars worked in teams on decision making skills. Not only can they apply these to their everyday lives, but it's also good practice for the student's spring competition where they will compete in problem solving events. 

Bears across the district are continuing to learn and grow. Distance Learning Academy families stopped in to pickup materials which will be used in their virtual classrooms throughout the month.

Bears in Motion

WBLAHS senior Charlie Larson had an impressive showing while competing in the 2021 Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Team USA finished 4th in the team final, while Charlie placed in the top 20 individually in tumbling. Before Charlie left for the competition, he was featured on Twin Cities Live! Watch the video highlighting him here. 

Thanks to generous donations from the community, the Senior Center reached their goal of raising $2,500 during the Walk To End Hunger campaign for Meals on Wheels. The event took place throughout the month of November. The $2,500 is being matched by Metro Meals on Wheels bringing the total amount raised to $5,000.

Ten students from White Bear Lake Area High School were recently selected for ACDA-MN 9-10 Honor Choir. The audition process is very selective, and it's a huge honor to be chosen for these ensembles. These singers each submitted a recorded audition and will sing in either the SATB, SSAA, or TTB MN Honor Choirs on Saturday, February 19.

The WBLAS American Indian Education Program will be hosting two upcoming Drum & Dance events for students and the community. They will be taking place at Willow Lane Elementary on Thursday, Dec. 9 and Thursday Jan. 13 both from 6-7:30 p.m. Attendees can experience the drumming and teaching of Little Earth Singers and Jingle Dress.

A number of 6th, 7th and 8th grade students were honored at Central Middle School as part of the school's "Student of the Quarter" recognition. These students were selected by their teachers as being great role models, demonstrating BEARS' essentials, and showing perseverance, kindness and positivity toward others. (7th grade honorees pictured below)

The district is facilitating an attendance boundaries process in order to accommodate student enrollment and to best utilize new/expanded facilities. A steering committee made up of district staff has been meeting since May to develop a variety of proposals. A stakeholder committee meeting, with parents and staff serving as representatives from each district building, took place on December 2. Another stakeholder committee meeting is scheduled for December 15. The stakeholder committee is divided into two teams, one analyzing boundaries for northern elementaries and one analyzing boundaries for southern elementaries. Both north and south teams are analyzing middle school boundaries.

Community stakeholders are encouraged to review the draft plans and provide feedback on strengths, considerations, and recommendations. Find complete information and a survey link at isd624.org/AttendanceBoundariesProcess. The direct link to the survey (which is open for input through Dec. 17) is here.

Important Reminder

The Community Services and Recreation Winter Catalog, with multiple opportunities for community members of all ages, will be arriving in residents' mailboxes soon. Click here to read other publications.

 Activities Updates

The Football Team had 8 bears named to the All-SEC list among other top honors. Read their article here. The Boys and Girls Soccer Teams had one player each named to All-State teams. Senior midfielder Lauren Eckerle was named to the 3A Girls' Soccer 2021 All-State first team, while Senior forward Gavin Rogers was named to the 3A Boys' Soccer 2021 All-State second team. Making the Suburban East All-Conference list for Girls Swim and Dive was senior Gianna Mcleod and sophomore Lucy Borofka, for Girls Tennis 7th grader Lucy Saari and 9th grader Tally Domschot made the list as did Girls Volleyball player, junior Annika Olsen.  The Cheerleading Team placed 1st out of 7 teams at the East Ridge Extreme Cheer Challenge in the small varsity non-tumbling game day division. They also placed 1st out of 12 teams in the game day teams competition. The Girls Basketball Team beat Elk River in a recent game. Read their article here. The Boys Basketball Team defeated St. Croix pep in overtime during a recent game. Read their article here. The Boys Hockey Team won their first two games of the season. Read their article here.

Along with season passes and punch cards, the WBLAHS Activities office is now offering digital ticketing to all regular season, home athletic events. Information is available here.  

Please contact the Communications Department (651-407-7695) to submit Student News for inclusion in future publications. 

The Week in 62.4 Seconds

Enjoy The Week in 62.4 Seconds videos highlighting weekly district activities throughout the school year.

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November 22 Work Session

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