Laura Jeffrey Academy

While you have been enjoying your first week of summer vacation, LJA staff have been back to school learning more about Restorative Practices at the Minnesota Department of Education. ✏️

What are Restorative Practices? Strategies that build strong relationships, support scholar accountability, and repair relationships when harm occurs.

Restorative Practices:

🌱Are rooted in indigenous wisdom and culture

🛞Recognizes strength in the community

💞Are relationship focused

❤️‍🩹Repair harm

At LJA we continue to cultivate a school culture rooted in respect, accountability, and community care. We are so excited to carry this work forward and refine our practice.

See you later, LJA! 📦☀️

Our teachers and staff are busy wrapping up the school year by cleaning, organizing, and packing up their spaces before heading off for a well-deserved summer break! 🎨📚✨

As we look around our classrooms, we're reminded of all the laughter, friendships, learning, and memories that filled these spaces throughout the year. Most importantly, we're celebrating the incredible growth and progress our scholars have made, from trying new things to reaching goals and discovering their strengths. 🌟💜

Thank you to our scholars and families for making this year so special. Now it's time for our teachers and staff to recharge, soak up some sunshine, and enjoy a little rest and relaxation! 🌻😎🏖️

See you next school year, LJA! ☀️

Happy Last Day of School, LJA! 📚🎉

What a fantastic way to wrap up an incredible school year! ☀️💙💚💜

Our scholars and staff celebrated with fun activities, friendly competition, and lots of laughter! The Staff vs. 7/8 Scholars volleyball match kept everyone on their toes, it ended in a tie, but our 7/8 scholars took home the victory in the third set! 🏐👏

Meanwhile, our mighty 5th graders showed their strength and teamwork by winning the Tug-of-War against every advisory in the school! 💪🏆

From games and activities to a school-wide dance party, it was the perfect way to celebrate all the hard work, growth, and memories made this year. 🕺🎶✨

Thank you to our scholars, families, and staff for an amazing school year. Now it's time to rest, recharge, and enjoy summer break! ☀️🌻

We'll see you next school year, LJA! 💜

One last adventure as LJA 8th graders! 🌞🎉

Our 8th graders had an amazing field trip filled with laughter, teamwork, and unforgettable memories! 😄 💜 From helping each other with food 🍕 to cleaning up and taking care of our space 🧹, they showed what it means to be a supportive community!

The best part? Spending quality time together and enjoying these special moments as LJA scholars before their next big adventure. 🎓✨

Scholars Teaching Teachers?! Yes, it happened at LJA! 💡✨

A group of our amazing scholars stepped into the spotlight and presented their research on rubrics to our educators! They collected data 📈, conducted surveys 📝, and explored how color can make rubrics more engaging and easier to understand 🌈.

Our educators listened, asked thoughtful questions, and reflected on how we can continue improving our rubrics to better support learning. 📚✨

We are so proud of our scholars for their hard work, teamwork, and confidence in sharing their findings with the LJA staff! 👏🎉 Your voices help shape our school community. 💜

5th & 6th Grade Overnight Camp! 🌲🏕️

Our scholars had an amazing overnight camp experience! They worked together to set up tents, learned how to fish, played board games, sang, had a fashion runway, and built a stronger community through teamwork and fun!

What a memorable adventure! 🎣🔥🎶

What is something you do when you go camping? Share your answers in the comments section!

Help Us Grow After-School Opportunities at LJA! ✨

For the 2026–27 school year, we are excited to launch AFTER-SCHOOL CLUBS one day each week! 🎨♟️🎭📖🎵

To make this possible, we are raising funds to support:
✨ Staff compensation
✨ Club materials & supplies
✨ Snacks for scholars

Our goal is to raise $5,000 by the end of September 2026, and every donation makes a difference! 🙌

Please help us bring these opportunities to our scholars by donating and sharing our GoFundMe with your community!💫

Link to the GoFundMe page is in the comments!

Learning came to life for our 7th & 8th graders! After reading “The Latehomecomer,” scholars explored Hmong culture and the refugee experience in a powerful and meaningful way. 📚✨

We were so excited to welcome a parent guest speaker 🗣️, who shared her personal experiences, answered scholars’ thoughtful questions, and brought in beautiful Hmong embroidery for students to see up close! 🪡✨🌸

From meaningful conversations to hands-on cultural learning, our scholars were fully engaged, curious, and eager to learn more throughout the experience. 💭 We love when our community helps bring learning beyond the classroom walls! 🌟🙌🏽📖

Congratulations to 8th grader Hannah Pojhan! 🎉

Hannah was selected as the ONLY 8th grade winner in Minnesota in the Minnesota Council on Economic Education poster contest hosted by the University of Minnesota! Her creative artwork stood out among submissions from across the state. 👏

We are so proud of Hannah’s hard work, talent, and accomplishment! 💜

We LOVE when our alumni come back to visit us! 💜 🎓

There’s nothing better than hearing about all of their achievements, growth, and exciting journeys after LJA. 🌟 Your success continues to inspire us and scholars. No matter where life takes you, you will always have a home here at LJA! 🫶📚