November 19, 2021 (Blog for next 2 weeks)

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• A 3rd grade student shared with me that he was having a great day.  He was smiling and seemed proud of himself for his choices.   

• 5K students couldn't wait to show me how to use their iPad to spell new words!

• Classrooms have solid routines and procedures in their classrooms that it makes it easy for others to step in to help out.  Students love to tell me how things work in their classrooms, and I love to see that they know exactly what to do!

• Teachers are consistently sending a message to students about showing respect and kindness.  I know that it doesn't always seem like it is sinking in, but I believe if we stay the course, we will all benefit from a positive environment to work and learn in for all of us!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, November 21
• Bus Duty (Stampfl, Chambers, Ganser)
• GG Lesson for the week is on being Thankful
• School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, November 22
• Social Media Posts due to Josh (Mook, Zastrow, Lucht, TCaine)

• Wed-Friday, Nov. 23-25
• Have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!

• Monday, November 29
• Bus Duty (TCaine, Vertz, Murphy)
• GG Lesson this week:  Being Assertive
• Welcome Back Stephanie S!

• Tuesday, November 30
• Final Day to place those Shout Out tickets on the board!
• Social Media posts due to Josh (Juech, Huso, Murphy, Johnson)
• Student of the Month Nominees Due
• RE-Scheduled Academic Grade Level Meeting 2nd grade: 12:05-12:55

• Wednesday, December 1
• Jenny is gone for the day.
• New Month - New duties 
• Breakfast Riege/O'Toole
• AM Circle Dr Wieneke/Gruenwald
• PM Bus Duty Vredeveld/Hahn
• NO Academic Grade Level Meeting 2nd Gr.

• Thursday, December 2
• Student of the Month announced at 8:15ish
• SEL Grade level meeting - 5th gr 12:35-1:25

• Friday, December 3
• Badgers Day - Wear your Badger Apparel
• November Citizenship grades due in PowerTeacher Pro

Nitty-Gritty

• Elementary Winter Concert Returns to In-Person
• The 5K, 2nd and 4th grade students are performing in the elementary winter concert on December 9th, starting at 6:30pm. I am excited to see them perform live this year.  If you teach one of these grades, please connect with Mr. Johnson regarding any details that you and/or your students need to know in preparation for this performance.

• Staff News
• As you know Bethany Turcotte has been our long-term sub for Stephanie Schuett since the beginning of the school year. However, what I am excited to share with you all is: Bethany has agreed to stay on with us until the end of the school year working in our 4K program alongside the 4K team.  This year, our 4K students have a unique set of needs that often require our paras to be available and with students outside of the classroom.  By having Bethany remain with us with her background in 4K students, we can meet all of our students' needs.  Please continue to make her feel welcome at Dodgeland!

• Dodgeland Elementary Clothing Store
• We are selling Dodgeland Elementary apparel this month.  Please click HERE to view the items for sale.  This will also be shared with students and parents.  If you have any questions, please see Rachael for more information.

• Personal News
• I have a very important appointment on Wednesday, Dec 1.  I need to move the grade level meeting to Tuesday that week for 2nd grade.  Please let me know if this does not work for the group.   Thank you in advance to everyone on team Dodgeland for helping with students and staff in need that day.

PD Spotlight

Last week, this article came to my inbox and it caught my attention immediately!  I had to read it immediately.  By the end of the article, I had two thoughts.  1.  I am so glad to know that it is not just the students that I am seeing each week that are struggling with respect.  and 2. It's nice to read some ideas that I already know, but now am reminded about why they are important.

Finally, the article helped me to remember that we must stay the course, regardless of how frustrating it may seem at times.  This is another reason why it is so important to recognize when you need a break or when you need help.  Calling for help is sometimes the best option so that we can consistently follow the expectations and follow-through consequences, but still maintain our relationships with each other and our students. I hope you find this article as helpful as I did.  Please remember that I always want to support your work so that together we can help our students grow to be happy, successful and kind people.

Friday Funny

I think my sense of humor gets more and more bizarre the more tired I get.  But, embarrassingly, I laughed for a very long time over this.

November 12, 2021

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 3rd Graders could not wait to tell me all about the state that they are researching.  I learned about state flowers and flags and bordering states from so many of them.  I love to hear students excited about their learning.

• Multiple teachers respectfully, honestly and passionately asking follow up questions when they are concerned about something going on in their classrooms or DES.  I always want you to feel like you can share anything with me.  We may not always agree on things, but I can promise that I will listen and work with you to find the best solution possible. I encourage you to make an appointment to see me (or stop me when you see me) about anything.  We are a team and together we will provide a school that all of our students and us will thrive in!

• How about those 5th grade writers/readers this week, huh?  I was so proud of them all today I actually had tears in my eyes.  They were poised and clear and hopefully they felt proud at the end of the assembly.  I know I was proud of them!

• Our Playworks Recess Coach had very positive things to share about our recesses and students (including our Jr Coaches).  Although, we know we can always get better and better, it was nice to hear the affirmation about your hard work, especially our internal recess coach!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, November 15
• Newsletter articles Due (5K and Speech)
• Reading Corps Tutoring begins
• Bus Duty this week (Bingen, Crane, Miller)
• GG SEL skills this week: Listening with Attention for 4/5, Using Self-Talk for gr 3, Focus Attention 5K-2

• Tuesday, November 16
• Social Media Posts due to Josh (Lisiecki, BCaine, Crane, Vertz)

• Wednesday, November 17
• Workout Wednesday
• Special Surprise for DES students 8:30am (see below)
• Jenny is in a meeting from 9:45-10:45am
• Academic Grade level data meetings (3rd gr 12:05-12:55pm - Rm 133)

• Thursday, November 18
• SEL Data Meeting (5K, 11:35-12:25pm - Rm 108)

• Friday, November 19
• The Energized Guy Online Assembly
• 4K-2 - Live Stream assembly 9am
• 3-5 - Live Stream assembly 10am
• Alternate Recess schedule for the day, Teresa's email was sent Friday.
• 4k/5k - 8:30-8:45
  1st and 2nd grade - 9:45-10:00
  3rd - 5th grade - 9:30-9:45
• XPD registration due to Kimi

Nitty-Gritty

• Shout Out Board
• I've noticed some new shout out tickets on the board already.  Keep them coming.  Showing our gratefulness for our fellow staff members is rewarding for both the givers and receivers!  And.  Don't forget, at the end of the month, I will be drawing names tickets for gift cards.  There is A LOT to recognize and celebrate at school, so let's get them publicly shared!

• Surprise for our DES Students!
• I had an unexpected phone call this week from the executive director of the United Way of Dodge county.  It appears that a number of college students at Moraine Park organized and completed a community project to fund children's books for elementary students in the area.  They were VERY successful and they are coming on Wednesday, November 17 at 8:30am to begin the book drive.  Every student in our elementary school will receive a free book to keep.  Watch for an email on Monday to find out details about how students will be getting and choosing their book.

• Assembly on Friday
• In classroom teachers mailboxes, you will find a card from the National Theatre for Children with some information regarding the online assembly next Friday, 11/19.  In the past, Juneau Utilities has sponsored the spring live performances that our children have really enjoyed.  Due to COVID, they moved the performances to the Fall and have a narrator that is introducing pre-recorded skits.  I really appreciate our communities support for our students' learning.  You should receive an email from the National Theatre for Children prior to the performance on Friday.
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• Arrival at School
• As many of you know, I am NOT a morning person.  I often tell people if there was ever a time where a 2nd shift school would be open, I would be first in line to work there.  However, I'm afraid this is just an outlandish dream!  So, in the meantime, I will have to put up with the snooze button and the morning people around me. :-). In all seriousness though, we do need to make sure that we have adequate supervision of students and having the opportunity to have a smooth start to the day starts the day off on the right foot. Please make sure that you are arriving at school and in the building by 7:30 (or 7:45 for some paras) ready to enjoy your day!

PD Spotlight

Christina shared this article with me this week and I've been reflecting on it all week.  As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to share it with you this week too.  I found it so affirming to read about the things we do at Dodgeland to build relationships, to offer instruction and the structures to provide a safe place for students to avoid shutdown modes.  I believe one of the most rewarding parts of our jobs is to build strong relationships with children.  I want our students to know that I care what happens to them, but I also have expectations for how they conduct themselves in the school as well.  I believe when I show them that I mean what I say, and I follow through with my words, I still show them that I care about them at the same time.  It is also the reason I work to make sure I know every student's name and get to know them all.  The part of the article that spoke to me most is the end where it lists the practices to consider using in a school system.  Do you see these practices in your classroom and in our school?  I do! What resonates in this article for you?  

Friday Funny

So I read this to Lexi and she said, "No, that is not funny. Find a new Friday Funny."  But, she was laughing as she said it, so I thought, Dodgeland teachers need to see this.  I wonder what fraction of DES staff will find it funny.  (You can tell me if you agree with Lexi. lol).  :-)

November 5, 2021

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4th graders worked together to study for a summative assessment by explaining how they got the answers and working on breaking numbers apart to multiply.  It was so interesting to listen to how they explained their thinking.

• 3rd graders are starting to work on their state writing piece.  I love hearing students tell me what they are learning from their reading.  Two boys even read a Spanish paragraph to me and then explained the important points to me in English.

• 5K students were reading and spelling "star" words in their weekly message from their teachers.  They were using whole body listening even with distractions in the room and were excited to find them in the message!

• Staff members working together to create a routine to help out with a student with significant needs.  There is a plan, but yet flexibility and open to feedback, and focused on what the student needs.

What's Happening At Dodgeland?

• Monday, November 8
• Mentor/Mentee Meeting @3:15pm in IMC - Year 1 Teachers only (Mentors are optional)
• Bus Duty for the week (Schweitzer, Lauth, Klis)
• GG Topic this week: Empathy and Respect

• Tuesday, November 9
• Recess Team Meeting in Room 120 at 3:05pm for all paraprofessional recess supervisors and certified staff recess team members
• Social Media Posts due to Josh (Miller, Piekarski, Schuett/Turcotte, Bingen)
• Rise Intervention - Round 2 begins.  This round goes until Winter Break.

• Wednesday, November 10
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Grade Level data Meeting - 4th grade in Rm 138 from 12:35-1:25
• Staff meeting (See below)

• Thursday, November 11
• Veteran's Day Assembly @ 9:30am (See below for more information)
• SEL Grade Level data Meeting - 1st grade in Rm 122 from 12:05-12:55pm
• Jenny is in a meeting from 1:45-2:45pm

• Friday, November 12
• Packer Day Attire

Nitty-Gritty

• Staff Meeting - 11/10/21
• On Wednesday, 11/10, I have a very important appointment to go to. It was the only time they had available.  I know how precious and limited our staff meeting time is this school year, so I am truly sorry for this.  I will send out a video of important information before Wednesday afternoon.  Please plan to watch the short video during that time period.

• Veteran's Assembly
• The district Veteran's Day assembly will begin promptly at 9:30 in the HS gym.  Morning recess will be canceled for the day. Many local veteran's will be guests in our building that day, please dress professionally.  Due to Covid precautions, the veterans will not be welcoming elementary students for handshakes/high fives this year.  If you are new to this assembly, we will sit in the same section as the Homecoming assembly.  Please revisit behavior expectations prior to the assembly.

• Locker Mischief
• I am just bringing attention to all about a behavior that seems to be increasing. It appears that some of our students find it funny, or a good idea to move the locker name tags from lockers to new locations to make it confusing for classes.  (For example, this last week 4th graders came back to their lockers with their name tags on totally different lockers than their own.). I have found some of them on the cameras but not all of them.  For those I have talked to, I am not getting a very logical or satisfying answer to the rationale for this.  At any rate, lockers are provided for students to place their items in and it is disrespectful for others to enter anyone's locker but their own or to touch the labels on the outside.  Please keep an eye out for this as you are moving through the hallways.

• Open Door Counseling Services
• I received an email about updated information about accessing the Open Door Counseling Services that are at Dodgeland weekly.  Click HERE for a copy of the brochure.  If you have any families that are interested in this for their child, these can be printed and sent home for students.

PD Spotlight

This week I had a very interesting conversation about students and their ability to attend and have the soft skills/executive functioning skills to be successful in a classroom.  The conversation made me reflect on how these skills are affecting their success in the classroom and learning complex skills as well.  Executive functioning has three main parts: working memory, control emotions and responses, and cognitive flexibility.  It appears that lately I have had more and more conversations with children working on their on emotion/response controls.  I came across this short video as a tip from an elementary school teacher that shared how she models this skill to help students build their own skills as well.  I believe this will take time, but it can be done and be effective.  In addition, the most important part is that this works when we have strong relationships with our students.  Just as many of our PD lessons in previous years have emphasized; relationships matter.  Students will learn and grow in a safe and kind classroom environment. Holding students accountable is the kindest way to show students that you care.  Please click HERE to watch this teacher describe how she models this skill to help students develop their own executive functioning skills so that they can learn at high levels.

Friday Funny

I don't know about you, but I plan to put that hour to good use this weekend!