Every year Gordon Parks High School has a "giving sleigh" for staff and community members to donate gifts for their students. Names are drawn all week long, then there's an end of the week celebration with breakfast and fun activities.

Gateway to College girls' group leaders, Ella Hinderaker and Kat Hanson, collected donations of personal hygiene products and created 60 hygiene bags and gifted them to the Safe Space Shelter. 

Washington Technology Magnet Middle School Student Council members volunteered to be Salvation Army bell ringer’s at a Cub Foods store on one of the coldest nights of the year. This year mark's the 129th year of the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. The Salvation Army annually helps more than 23 million Americans overcome poverty, addiction and economic hardships through a range of social services.

Second graders at Hamline Elementary School enthusiastically recite "The Donut Song" from the new K-2 phonics curriculum in front of a captive audience during their lunch break.

Students at Mississippi Creative Arts School engaged in listening to books on tape in the school's new "Listening" Reading Station. The students enjoy listening to a variety of books on tape. These students are not yet readers, but they do love books.

Highland Park Senior High School senior and state cross country champion, Oliver Paleen, signed his national letter of intent to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He will join the Badgers on their Men's Cross Country team next year.

Ramsey Middle School students play a game called "Heads-Up", a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) reteach activity. The words on the cards connect to their school-wide and classroom expectations.

American Indian Magnet students observed Native American National Heritage month during physical education classes with a unit on Lacrosse. The tribal game was originally played by eastern Woodlands Native Americans and by some Plains Indians tribes in what is now the United States of America and Canada.

Students in Ramsey Middle School's AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination) sold concessions and gourmet fudge at the "Art at Ramsey" Community Education event in conjunction with the Grand Ave. Business Association's Grand Meander. Students visited with hundreds of community members and shared highlights of the AVID program, while earning over $1300 to help fund field trips.

American Indian Magnet School celebrated Hmong New Year on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

SPPS middle school educators attended the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) conference in Nashville, Tennessee. AMLE's 16 research-based characteristics of effective middle grades education are a contributing factor in the SPPS Middle School Model, which aims to equip all students with the knowledge and skills they need to be advocates of their own learning, to address life's challenges and to be ready for high school and beyond.