December 10, 2021

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Parents of a student sharing how proud they were of their son and the growing confidence he has this year.  Watching students grow each year is so exciting!

• First grade students making such thoughtful predictions and strong language during discussions surrounding Mystery Doug's weekly segment.  So awesome to hear their thinking.

• Students were SO excited for their concert all week.  It was so wonderful to watch them perform live this year.  I missed it so last year!

• Speaking of the winter concert...The cute factor was on overload!  The kids nailed each song that they sang and you could tell they were learning a lot more than just the words to the songs. I could tell they were learning about rhythm and instruments, and so much more!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, December 13
• Bus Duty - Schwoerer, Piekarski, Johnson
• Mentor Meeting Year 1 teachers only - 3:15 in the IMC
• Newsletter articles Due to Jenny - 5th grade, anyone else?
• Milwaukee Bucks Day
• GG Lessons for the week: Respecting/Accepting differences for gr 2-5, following directions for K-1

• Tuesday, December 14
• Social Media Posts due - Stampfl, Bingen, Schwoerer, Piekarski
• Jenny in a meeting from 1-2pm

• Wednesday, December 15
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Grade Level meeting 5K - 11:35am-12:20pm in room 108
• Jenny in a meeting from 9:45-10:45am
• Jr Coach Lunch Reward 3rd gr @ 12:30, 5th gr @ 1:00 in room 120

• Thursday, December 16
• SEL Grade Level meeting 3rd gr - 12:05-12:50pm in room 133

• Friday, December 17
• Books are Fun orders due

Nitty-Gritty

• Supervision after Noon recesses
• It appears that many of our 1st-3rd grade students are struggling when coming in from recess and then safely and quietly getting to the commons for lunch.  Please help remind students of the expectations of how to transition from recess, lockers to lunch in a safe manner.

• Vacant classrooms
• Earlier this week, a safety inspection was done across the school building.  One area that we received feedback on was in regards to empty classrooms. If your classroom is vacant for any reason, please make sure that your door is shut and the lights are off. This will send a message that the room is unavailable to others to enter without an adult.

• Extra Duty sheets
• As we discussed at the staff meeting on Tuesday, there may be extra duties that you have done that you didn't realize could be written on your extra duty sheets.  If you turned one in already, Laura has processed it.  Please grab another one from the shelf in the office and submit it to me so that it can be added to the Dec. 31 paycheck.  Below is a reminder of examples of extra duties at the elementary level.
• Extra Lunch Duty (covering for someone else)
• Extra Recess Duty (covering for someone else)
• Teaching during your prep
• Teaching other classes during part or all of your day (including taking on another class with your own)
• Each time you have students with you to teach/supervise, write it on the extra duty form.
• I would recommend that you have one handy all year long so that you can add it on the sheet as you go.  I appreciate the collegiality and the teamwork in covering for others when they can not be at school.  It is truly appreciated.

• Recess Reminders
• Mrs. Chambers is our school recess coach.  As such, she is working hard at putting procedures in place to help make this part of students' days an extension of their learning and a successful and fun place to be as well.  Please make sure that you are reading her communication and following the guidelines.  If even one person (myself included), strays from the routines, it creates confusion and conflict amongst students.  If you have questions, please reach out to Mrs. Chambers at any time.
• Now that we seem to have hit winter (sigh), there are questions related to whether recess will be indoors or outdoors.  The rule is:  If it is below 0 degrees, windchill included, recess will be indoors.  If it is 0 or above, windchill included, recess will be outdoors.  Each day, Mrs. Chambers will be checking weather conditions and will communicate if recess is indoors by 9am for morning recess and 11:15 for noon recesses. If you do not hear an announcement, you should assume it is outdoors.  If Mrs. Chambers is not here, I will make the determination.  If we are both gone, Ms. Hahn will make the determination.
• Finally, if it is raining, recess will be indoors.  If it is snowing (unless it is blizzard conditions), recess will more than likely be outdoors.  Again, there is a procedure set up for who will make that decision and it will be communicated in a timely way.

• WIN
• After winter break, we will have our next round of i-Ready/FastBridge testing.  Once we have that data, it will be important that we begin creating WIN groups for reading and math for each grade.  I understand that there are a lot of things on our plates right now, but I am afraid that if we are not looking carefully at our data and efficiently responding to what our students need, they will not grow as much as they otherwise might.  Please keep this in mind as you think about your next semester planning.

• Field Trips
• As we continue on for the next semester, I would like you to know that field trips can be reinstated for classes.  Please keep in mind what the COVID protocols are for the locations that you are considering taking your class to in your planning.  In addition, a field trip is an opportunity to provide learning in another place.  The trip should relate in some way to what you are doing in your yearly curriculum.  If your grade would like to plan a field trip, please fill out the field trip request form before finalizing any dates with locations.  If you have any questions, please see me.

• Expectations Reboot
• After the winter break, all of us spend a good amount of time reviewing the behavior expectations in the classroom, reminding them of the classroom procedures and practicing the "right" way to do things.  In one of the grade level SEL meetings, an idea (one I LOVE) was brought to the team about setting up some sort of Welcome Back Expectation rotation.  We could clearly cover the expectations we have for students' behavior in the hallways, in the lunchroom, at recess, etc.  Are there any people that would be willing to work on a plan of how we could systematically present this to our students when they return to us in January?  Click HERE to indicate willingness to help out.

• New Staff Member
• Most of you already know this and have even worked with her, but in case you haven't, there is a new paraprofessional on our team.  The opening was created to be proactive regarding some upcoming referrals and student move-ins that we are aware of in the special education department.  Please welcome Lexi Huelsman to our team.  As I told you in the staff meeting, she is much more excited to work with you than me!  She would prefer to be called "Ms. Lexi" to students to prevent any confusion with me.  I know that she is looking forward to joining you and wants to do a good job, working hard on work that matters!

Friday Funny

Is it weird that I used to LOVE looking through my school's card catalog?  I loved the smell of the cards and the rows of drawers, and even the way that each card was individually typed, like with a typewriter!  I may be dating myself here since there may be some that never had the privilege of doing this... :-)