2022-02-18 Noticias de ISLA y ISLA PTO

February 18, 2022

Emily Smith

Administrative Assistant

ISLA Celebrates Black History Month

This year our student council has taken charge of organizing activities that educate and celebrate Black culture. Classrooms are participating in an inquiry walk of biographies around the building that highlight important contributions from people in the Black community. During the month of February our Monday morning announcements spotlight a famous Black, scientist, artist, author, community leader, etc. Sra. Yepes, our media center specialist, has curated a selection of books that teachers are using for read alouds in the classrooms. The student council has invited all classrooms to decorate their door to highlight achievements of members of the Black community. Student council members will announce a winner on Thursday, March 3rd.  The winning classroom will have a uniform-free day on Friday, March 4th. One of our 6th graders took the initiative to prepare and deliver a presentation to upper grade classrooms and invited his parents to come in and speak to kinder, 3rd and 6th grade classrooms from a personal perspective. We will end the month with a bonus activity: stay tuned for a Kahoot from our student council to test the knowledge of our students in a fun and engaging school wide activity.

President's Day

There will be no school, Aventuras or El Nido on Monday, February 21st in observance of President's Day. Enjoy some extra time with your children.

Get to know our venue!
We are SO excited to hold this year’s Fiesta de la Primavera on March 19th at the Latin-influenced craft brewery, La Doña Cervecería! Their mission aims to celebrate the vibrancy and depth of Latino and Minnesotan culture. La Doña provides a fun space as both a brewery & event center to help support social, economic, and environmental issues within our community.

The space is vibrant and inviting with room for us to enjoy La Doña’s delicious food & unique brews (as well as our own signature Fiesta Margarita) all while raising funds for ISLA’s LA Program. We’ll also have space for music & dancing… Compliments of a playlist created by ISLA’s very own Jorge- Who you/your kids may see in the lunch area at school!

La Doña is the perfect setting for some dancing considering they host weekly Salsa lessons with an experienced teacher. They also do a weekly yoga class featuring a local instructor! Pre-covid, La Doña offered a monthly Spanish/English conversation club to help practice your non-native language while helping others practice theirs. They hope to see this club return soon. Visit La Doña Public Events page to see more about these events.

Considering La Doña is a Cervecería, it would be wrong not to mention their unique drinks. Their three Flagship brews, along with a mix of seasonal rotations, and our very own signature margarita will be available for purchase at Fiesta de la Primavera.

Flagship Brews

  • Doña Fria  Mexican Lager
  • Big Mama  Blonde Ale
  • La Reyna IPA

Food

  • Tacos, shrimp skewers & quesadillas
  • Yucca (Cassava) Fries
  • Chips & Guac or salsa
  • Tres Leches Cake

La Doña Social Media Links
La Doña Facebook
La Doña Instagram

Want to get involved?
We have plenty of opportunities to be a part of the fun! Check out our Fiesta Volunteer Sign-up to see what might be the best fit for you. And don’t forget to purchase your Fiesta Tickets! Prices will go up after February 28th, so grab yours now!

STAFF: You will receive one free ticket for yourself, but must claim it via the link by February 28th!

Stay connected!
Official ISLA Facebook Page
ISLA Families Facebook Group - Please note that this Facebook group is not run or monitored by ISLA Staff. It is a place where ISLA parents can gather to share information and connect. You may also consider searching for your child’s specific graduating class group to connect with other parents!

Covid Protocols

We will continue to monitor both the city of Minneapolis as well as La Doña’s requirements. We will be following the current guidelines at the time of Fiesta de la Primavera (3/19). As of today, the City of Minneapolis has lifted its proof of vaccination/negative test requirement for diners. La Doña will no longer require proof for entry, however MASKS ARE STILL REQUIRED when not eating or drinking and when moving around the taproom.

Please note: Covid requirements are changing often. We will provide updates on the current protocols as Fiesta nears. La Doña's website has provided their updates as well that we will monitor. We greatly appreciate your understanding while we navigate these guidelines.

ISLA Fundraising Update “Building Our Future Campaign”

February 18th, 2022

Queridas Familias, 

We are pleased to send you some updates to our fundraising initiative today.  Since our last report, we have now raised $44,000 of our $100,000 goal!   Next week, the ISLA Fundraising Campaign will kick off a call a thon on February 23rd in the evening. Please pick up the phone when we call and consider donating at that time. 

As we have now moved into our new building in Edina, we are pleased to remind you that ISLA enjoys a unique position and a specialized niche among a list of immersion options in the Twin Cities; our position is strong, and getting more robust every year.  As one of the few International Baccalaureate immersion schools in Minnesota, our students learn through the process of inquiry, through transdisciplinary units of study intended to build global citizenship. The IB looks at this citizenship outcome as manifesting itself in International Mindedness--and this is done by developing curiosity for all things, and a deep appreciation of the intricacy of our world and our relationships to each other.  Essential to this conversation is an understanding and celebration of the value of diversity, encouraging empathy, and nurturing the skills to develop a better and more peaceful world. 

Of course, ISLA is also a leader in immersion education.  The secret is out--immersion education works, and works extremely well: immersion students not only have the obvious advantage of becoming bilingual, but have higher levels of divergent and critical thinking, pattern recognition, and problem solving skills.  There is even evidence that immersion students are better at picking up on verbal and non-verbal cues, and are more empathetic to their listener’s needs during conversation--a skill which is highly prized in many different vocational fields (Fortune, 2012). At ISLA, we are proud to be able to foster all of these skills, and many more.  We are the only immersion school that has 100% of our specialist classes in Spanish, including Music, Art, Physical Education, Media Specialist, and Special Education; we have 75% native speakers on our faculty; we are also fortunate to have nearly all of our after school and extracurricular programming in Spanish and a great group of language ambassadors every year.   

Undoubtedly, an enormous part of our story so far is you.  As you know, one hallmark of any successful school is the level of parental involvement, and we certainly have that.  Our families help in so many ways--by being involved in the numerous volunteer opportunities, by joining the Board of Directors or other steering committees, by helping us build the close knit community that we enjoy every day, and by helping us to tell our story.   

Another way to help ISLA is by contributing to our “Building Our Future'' campaign.  “Building our Future '' is the fundraising campaign created to continue to raise funds to be directed for further enhancements of ISLA as we continue to build the school of our dreams.  We would like to ask you today to follow the link to the fundraising page on our website, which you will find on our enclosed handouts, or: https://www.isla.school/families/donate and submit a donation if you can.   

Atentamente, 


ISLA Fundraising “Building our Future” Committee

March Lunch Ordering Window is Open

The lunch ordering window is open now until Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022 at 9am!

Please make sure you get your order in for each day for the whole month of March.

We have added the option "MILK ONLY" for the kids that bring lunch from home :)

Please be informed that when you choose Quick Pick - Hot lunch or Quick pick - Vegetarian, you'll have to select this option for each day. For some reason it doesn't choose every day of the month automatically.

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