September 10, 2021

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• So many of you stepped in to help out all over the building.  From extra people at bus duty, to hallway help in the morning, to lunch help.  I can not possibly thank you enough.

• Teachers that are getting to know their students by putting relationships at the forefront of their goals for the week.

• Teachers working so hard at delivering Bridges math lessons.  I know that this is so much reading and planning and preparing and thinking.  You got this.  Please use your resources to help you.  Digital, paper and especially people resources!

• Kids in PE are having so much fun this week.  I love to hear their voices as they participating with their class with Mr. Schweitzer!

• Teachers giving me open and honest feedback on procedures and routines and ideas to make them better and better.  I can not express enough how much I value you all.

• Teachers working together to make sure that all of our students are safely on their way at the end of the day.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 13
• GG starts for the year
• Bus duty for the week is: Bingen, Crane, Miller
• Mentor/Mentee Mtg @3:15 in the IMC

• Tuesday, September 14
• Picture Day

• Wednesday, September 15
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, September 16
• Friday, September 17

Nitty-Gritty

• Kids Heart Challenge SEL resources
• This year, we will return to participating in the Kids Heart Challenge. (Formerly Jumprope for Heart).  Our rep sent me some resources on SEL that I thought you may find useful.  There are calming music clips and mindfulness strategies including mindful breathing.  Click HERE for the resources.

• Picture Day
• Picture Day is on Tuesday, September 14.  Watch for more details on Monday afternoon.  We will start with our youngest students and work our way through the elementary.  There are extra picture forms in the mailroom.

• Fundraiser starting soon
• Just an FYI for all of you.  The elementary fundraiser will be starting on Monday, September 20.  Very soon Marie will be putting packets in your mailboxes.  Please do NOT send them home until Monday, 9/20.

• Grade Level Planning Meetings
• Please share with me in the next couple weeks your grade's day of the week and time that you plan to meet to plan together.  Please make sure to also include Christina to your meetings to keep her in the loop with your learning targets and plans so that she can support in the library.  Also, please include the interventionists and special education teachers so that everyone is in the know to support students' learning as well.  I would like to know in case you need me for anything from me.

• New Staff Member
• Next week, Michelle Wolff (you may remember her from last spring when she subbed in Mrs. Chambers room) will be starting to work with Marie in the office area for a few hours a week.  She will be with us Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for partial days. Please help me welcome her back to Dodgeland!!

• i-Ready Testing for grades 3-5
• Please connect with your teams if you need support with proctoring the i-Ready assessments. The testing window is open for 4 weeks to complete both reading and math.  

PD Spotlight

During last week's inservice week and this week's staff meeting, we have talked about SEL skills.  For the next few weeks I want to use the PD spotlight section to highlight one of the five SEL competencies.  This week I am highlighting the area of self-management.  I know we only had a 4 day week, but for me it felt like it was 30 days long!  (It's probably because I was here way earlier than I typically arrive at school!)

However, it was also because it is the start of the school year.  Every year, the list of items to get done at the beginning of the year always seems impossible to complete.  But then, it turns into October and all of sudden I can hardly remember what happened at the beginning of the year.  In my head I know it logically, but my emotions and stress sometimes get the best of me.  I am still a work in progress on my own self-management skills.  Click HERE to watch a 4 min. video that describes it in the context of students and school, but I also was able to relate it to my own skills too.  I hope you find it useful as well.

Friday Funny

So this week's Friday Funny comes from Bethany Donovan.  She shared her observation with Christina, who shared it with me.  Once you see it, you can never unsee it!  The speakers or lights or wifi or whatever this is in the commons looks exactly like a frog looking over at all of us.  This made me laugh and I will never look at them the same again!  Thanks Bethany!