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Homecoming Game
Update Hopkins Public Schools
The community’s guide to the District. Hopkins Welcomes the Newest Royals on Staff
Back to School 2018
com m u ni t y
Come and cheer on the Hopkins Royals as they take on Chanhassen in the Homecoming football game on September 28 at 7:00 p.m. Free to students with a valid student ID. GO ROYALS! Hopkins High School, 2400 Lindbergh Drive, Minnetonka
Kindergarten Information Sessions Learn about 2019-20 kindergarten at Hopkins and get your questions answered. For dates and times, visit: HopkinsSchools.org/kinder or check your school’s online calendar!
Youth Fall Enrichment Classes
Hopkins Community Education youth classes are ready and waiting for you. Art, drama, chess, cooking, sports, and more! Explore our classes, meet new friends, reach your goals, or try something new. HopkinsCommunityEd.org
Orientation Day Helps Build Strong Relationships ‘Soft start’ to school year allows students to feel greater ease and comfort as they enter a new building.
We are thrilled to welcome many new professionals to Hopkins Public Schools! There are 69 new teachers and other Hopkins Education Association professionals, four technology service specialists, eight clerical staff members, seven nutrition services professionals, 15 paraprofessionals, four custodians, one assistant principal at the high school, two cabinet members, 19 community education professionals, and two new head coaches.
District Kickoff Event Celebrates Start of 2018-19 School Year
Teachers and staff celebrated the start of a new year with the annual District Kickoff event on Tuesday, Aug. 28. They were welcomed with cheers, high fives, a pep band, a performance from the pom team, and a gymnasium filled with passionate educators. Superintendent Dr. Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed welcomed staff and gave an update on progress with our efforts to move the District from Great to World Class. The Royal Reps presented findings from a community survey they conducted, and keynote speaker Jenni Donohoo talked about the power of teamwork.
The first day of school can be exciting and energizing, but it can also come with a series of questions and unknowns, especially for a student who is new to the building. Where is my locker? How do I navigate my class schedule? What’s the lunch line process? In an effort to alleviate some of the anxieties that come with the first day of school, Hopkins secondary schools implemented an all-day immersive orientation for new students. The orientation day was held Sept. 4 for grades 7 and 10, as well as students new to the District. The remaining grade levels returned Sept. 5.
Students were attentive and engaged with first day of school activities.
“This orientation schedule gets new students into all of That’s why parents were also invited to some sessions on their classes, gets them through the lunch process, and orientation day. Teachers informed parents takes care of all the seemingly little things about what is expected of their child, how that actually weigh heavily on students’ You can’t the grading process works, and other school minds in advance of school,” said Doug information. It was also a way for teachers build authentic Bullinger, Hopkins High School principal. to start making stronger connections with Strong relationships benefit students learning families. Allowing students to become familiar West Junior High principal Leanne experiences with their new surroundings isn’t the only Kampfe agrees that strong relationships are reason for a full-day orientation. Rather unless you know a necessary for strong learning. Anything that than jumping into content on the first administration can do to provide time and day, orientation day helps create stronger student, opportunity for students and staff to connect relationships between students and staff. results in a better academic outcome for validating what Becky Melville, principal at North Junior students, she added. is important to High, said significant learning cannot begin A welcome start to high school without building relationships. them, including There was already lots of noise and energy “You can’t build authentic learning the halls when new high school students their families and in experiences unless you know a student, arrived in the morning. The pep band, Lean validating what is important to them, Mean Performance Machine, played in the culture. including their families and culture,” entrance to greet sophomores for orientation. Melville said. The school day began with a welcome from high school leadership in the auditorium. Students spent the rest of the day involved in a variety of social activities, a walkthrough of their schedule, picking up Chromebooks, and checking out student groups and clubs. Anne Sateren Burow, a history teacher at Hopkins High School, said that allowing new students to have the building to themselves on the first day of school allows for greater ease and comfort when returning students arrive the following day.
Where Everybody Belongs (WEB) leaders welcomed seventh graders at North Junior High with a human tunnel and lots of cheering.
“Orientation Day is meant to introduce new students to the Hopkins High School community and what it means to be a Royal,” Sateren Burow said. see Orientation Day, inside