January 28, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4K students were so proud of themselves and how quiet they were walking in the hallway!  It was so awesome!

• An EC student communicated to his teachers purposely and was able to get his needs met.  It was a very exciting day!

• The nutrition instructor was sharing with me about how much she loves coming to Dodgeland.  She said, "I love coming here.  It's a great school."  After she said that, one of our students who was sitting in the chair waiting to be picked up for an appointment replied, "I like my school and am glad I go to school here!"  :-)

• Numerous staff members shared with me feedback, thoughts, questions and concerns this week.  I always want you to feel like you can come to me with your concerns and feedback at any time.

• 4th graders were able to take advantage of the decent weather to celebrate their monthly behavior and academic choices with a sledding activity.  One fourth grader was so excited that he "made it" that we had to remind him that others were still in class today!  :-)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 31
• Bus Duty: Stampfl, Chambers, Ganser
• GG Lessons for the week: Avoiding Assumptions, Feeling Confident, Accidents
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am

• Tuesday, February 1
• New Monthly support staff duties start:
• Breakfast: Fobes/Riege
• Parking Lot duty: Bolman/Wieneke
• After School circle drive: Hahn/Lexi
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Miller, Jenkins, Piekarski, T.Caine
• Pyramid Model Leadership meeting 1pm in Elem conference room

• Wednesday, February 2
• Jenny in meeting from 9:45-10:45am
• Grade Level Data meetings resume: 5th grade, 12:35-1:25pm in Elem. conference room
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, February 3
• Grade Level SEL meetings resume: 2nd grade, 12:05-12:55pm in Elem. conference room

• Friday, February 4
• National Wear Red Day

Nitty-Gritty

• Recess Reminders
• Please be diligent of your recess supervision schedule.  There have been a number of times where students have been unsupervised at the beginning of their recess period.  This often results in conflicts between students and/or injuries.
• Students that only have boots on should not be participating in active games in the gym.  Just like in PE, there is a safety concern with students running, etc in boots compared to tennis shoes.
• With the cold weather lately, there have been more indoor recesses.  When your students are in their classroom, what activities do you have them participating in?  Do you have a brain break that is more like a movement break?  Please complete this survey regarding recess at your earliest convenience.

• P/T Conferences
• Our spring parent/teacher conferences are on the schedule for the week of February 14.  It is done this way to provide flexibility for parents and staff.  The expectations for this time is to communicate with your students' families about their progress and set up conferences (in-person, virtual or phone) for all students that you are concerned about.  If you would like me to attend a conference, please communicate with me.  It is not expected that you are present each night until 7:30pm.

• Literacy Night Coming Soon
• On March 2, we will be sponsoring an author for a literacy night for students and families.  The author's name is Marla McKenna.  She will also be presenting to our students during the day as well.  Click HERE to read about some of her books.

• Extra Hats/Gloves/Snow pants
• In the elementary work room, there are at least 2 boxes filled with hats and/or gloves for students to use.  If you see a student without a hat or gloves, please check out these boxes for students to have one to use while at school.  There are some snowpants as well, but far less of them.

PD Spotlight

Lately I have felt very out of sorts.  I can feel myself getting stressed over little things, I am cranky, I catch myself using sarcasm with others and using a tone of voice that is opposite from what I am intending.  I have also noticed that there are others around me that seem to be feeling the same way.  Then I think:  Are we spreading negativity/grumpiness without intending to?  I have read a number of articles and research talking about the harmful effects that negative thoughts have on people's mental health, their physical health and the culture of their workplace.  The fortunate thing is that positivity can be spread in the same way with far better effects.  

This article gave me 5 fairly easy ways to help spread positivity instead.  It has made me stop to think about what message I am sending.  How do my emails sound?  What tone of voice and/or facial expressions am I using when I speak to others?  This is a part of the school year that notoriously gets long and the pressure of getting through content starts to feel heavy.  In Wisconsin, it is coupled with cold and dark weather.  So the easy thing would be to focus on all the things that bother us and tell anyone that will listen about it.  However, the more helpful strategy (for ourselves and our colleagues) is to problem solve the issues we are seeing, talk with your team or myself and try the strategies from the article.  It will help our stress levels and overall mood.  What is your plan to help spread positivity?

Friday Funny

Sometimes I am even fun on a Thursday!  LOL

January 21, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 5K students were learning to compare lengths by measuring using their feet.  They had so much fun counting steps to determine which "line" was the longest!

• I was able to witness a 3rd grade nutrition lesson today where they got to put their new math knowledge about grams to good use!  It was very cool watching them explain what they already knew about this measurement!

• A 5th grader was very proud of his recent growth in i-Ready and attributed it to his Rise intervention.  I love when they can see how their hard work pays off!

• There were a few students this week that I needed to talk to about their behavior choices.  However, there were a number of them who quickly admitted that what they had done was not okay, took the consequence that came with that choice and have learned from it.  I am anticipating that this mistake will not be repeated, which is the true goal of learning.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 24
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Crane, Miller
• Seals on Wheels fluoride treatment visit
• GG Lesson for the week: Managing Anxiety (4th-5th), Making Friends (3rd), Feelings and comparing them (4K-2nd)
• School Board meeting at 6:30pm

• Tuesday, January 25
• Badger Day - Wear your Badger clothes
• Math Coach visit for the day
• Social Media posts due to Josh: Stanton, Bingen, Lucht

• Wednesday, January 26
• Playworks Recess Coach visiting from 11-4
• Staff meeting 3:10 in Learning Commons (all staff should attend) Playworks coach will be there to meet with us
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, January 27

• Friday, January 28
• January Citizenship grades due in grade book

Nitty-Gritty

• New Elementary Office opening
• It's so pretty! I can't wait for everyone to see it and use it!  Starting Monday, January 24th, Michelle and I will be operating out of the new elementary office.  At this point, the mailboxes will stay in the lounge and many of the supplies will be there for a little bit longer, but we will start operating out of the office.  In order to prepare for the opening, I have a favor to ask for each of the classrooms.  Could you please take your class on a walking "field trip" to show them how to get to the office after Monday?  If you bring them after 1:30, Michelle will be in the office to greet you and for the students to actually enter the office.
• Door 29 will continue to be open for families/students/staff to enter the building for a while yet.  The main entrance will continue to have fencing around the plaza because of the broken concrete.  However, there will be a walk way for visitors, students and staff to enter and exit the building from Door #1.

• New Reading Corps Tutor
• Our new full-time reading corps tutor is training this week and will be soon in the building each day getting ready to work with our students.  Her name is Alexis Uttech, Ms. Uttech, and will be working out of Room 104 for the rest of this year and will be primarily working with 5K and 1st grade students.  Please make her feel welcome!

• Bathroom in Music Hallway
• I wanted to update you on the staff bathroom in the music hallway.  One of our district's new students needs access to the space and table that is located in the other staff bathroom. We considered many other options, but this room has the space and features that are needed to care for this student. The bathroom will have numerous supplies stored in it and the student will be using it frequently throughout the day.  However, if it is empty when you need a restroom, you can use it.  Just be careful around the medical devices and supplies.  Thank you for your understanding and flexibility.

• Student of the Month Nominations
• Please complete the student of the month nominations by Thursday, January 27th.  If you need to see the previous month's nominations, they are further down the page.  Click HERE to write your nominees.

• Student Teacher
• There is a good chance that another student teacher will be joining our team in Gabrielle Zastrow's room.  Her name is Molly Christenson and she is currently a student at UW-Whitewater.  The goal is for her to start on Monday, January 24.  

• Student Expectations
• A number of staff members are noticing and commenting on student behavior in the last few weeks.  It is our intention to provide students with the instruction and clear guidance for what is acceptable and what is not.  Please refer to the videos for assistance and step in to help students with reminders when you see students struggling with them.  The more consistent we are, the more improvement we will see.  

• Middle and High School Student Visitors
• One of the best parts of working in a small school district where we are all under one roof is that we have opportunities for students from different areas of the building to learn and work with one another.  However, it is very important that we also have a system in place for when, what purpose and how MS/HS students are interacting with our elementary students.  This includes a sign in process in the elementary office as well as communication between the teachers, myself and the students regarding the logistics of the interaction.  Please watch for information on more specifics regarding this.  If you have visitors from the other buildings, please make sure that you have communicated this with me ahead of time.

Friday Funny

Couldn't resist... :-)

January 14, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 2nd and 3rd graders were working on answering comprehension questions to a book that they just reread in intervention.

• So many of our students have been making gains in their i'Ready score and are excited to share!

• 5th graders were sharing facts with me about Martin Luther King Jr.  They were so interested in "teaching" me and I learned some new things as well!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 17
• Newsletter articles due to Jenny (3rd grade, school counselor)
• EP Meeting in the IMC at 3:15 - Mid-Year SLO, 2nd surveys
• Bus Duty for the week - Schweitzer, Lauth, Klis
• GG Lesson for the week: Equality vs. Equity

• Tuesday, January 18
• Social Media Posts due to Josh - Murphy, Vertz
• Bridges Coach Visit from Kris

• Wednesday, January 19
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, January 20
• Report Cards sent home

• Friday, January 21
• Jenny has a dr appt from 11-12:30pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Summer School
• If you are interested in teaching summer school this year, please click HERE to let me know.  The dates of summer school are June 6-June 30, Monday-Thursday.  Most of our classes will be held in the Middle School wing this summer.  If you are not sure if you'd like to teach summer school, please connect with me and we can talk about options.

• Bathroom in Music Hallway
• As I mentioned in the staff meeting, the staff bathroom that is in the music hallway is needed for a student.  This means that it will be unavailable for staff starting on Monday, Jan 17.  Once the district office is complete, there is a staff bathroom that you can use by entering the district office from the commons area.

• Behavior Expectations
• We are finding that there are students that are struggling with following the expectations for behavior in various locations throughout the school.  Please help reiterate the expectations throughout the day.  One time of the day that I know students seem to be struggling is with transitioning from lockers to lunch.  Please help monitor behavior in the hallway.  When teachers are visible, students tend to be reminded by your presence alone of how to meet expectations.  
• Another idea floated to me is to have hall monitors/Jr Coaches that are assisting in the hallways as well.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well.
• The videos will continue to be linked in the announcements so that you have access to them easily.  Please use them when you need them.

• Report Cards
• There were many staff that were wondering what the report cards look like.  On Friday morning, Michelle will run a 1st draft before you finish your grades to have a chance to look at it.  The reports will be in pdf form and emailed to you.  When the grades are submitted on Monday, she will run them again, email them to you.  You will need to check them and let her know they are accurate for her to print.  We are doing our best to save paper.  
• Michelle did a tremendous amount of work to figure out which parents need a report card mailed to them.  She will get envelopes to you for the families that need them.
• Finally, before you submit, please make sure that each standard you are reporting on has a target based grade on the standards page.  For elementary students, term grades are not printed.  The first column after their names should be blank.

• Reading Curriculum Information
• On Wednesday, I shared with you an example of a possible future curriculum for ELA.  I want to reiterate that this is not for next school year, but I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on it.  I'm also interested in anyone that may be interested in piloting it as well.  Below is the information for the digital demo for the curriculum. In addition to the digital demo, they also sent some electronic articles about research about the curriculum.  Foundational practice research, Foundational Skill overview with options to change to learn about the writing and word study portion at the top in the item section.
• SavvasRealize.com 

• Username: K-12ELAMidwest

  Password: Savvas2021

Friday Funny

Bah, Bah, Bah! 

January 7, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Second Graders were measuring all over the building this week!  It was so great to watch them so engaged and their excitement about sharing it with me was contagious!

• Third Graders have been working hard on their winter i-Ready assessments this week.  So many of them are growing.  I can't wait to see what the other half of the year brings!

• 4K students were participating in Number Corner and had to "correct" their teacher when she counted her ten sticks as 1, 2, etc.  They said, "NO, you have to count by 10's!"  So awesome!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 10
• Bus Duty: Huso, Huelsman, CaineB
• GG Lesson: Calming Down Strategies
• Next Rise rotation starts
• PALS window opened last week.  Please begin the Mid-Year assessments
• Jenny in a meeting from ~1:15-2pm. 
• Mentors/Mentees Meeting at 3:15 in the IMC for Year 1-2-3 teachers and their mentors

• Tuesday, January 11
• Social Media posts due to Josh: (Stampfl, Juech)
• Milwaukee Bucks Day (Wear your Bucks apparel)

• Wednesday, January 12
• Workout Wednesday
• Staff Meeting in IMC @ 3:05pm

• Thursday, January 13
• Jenny is gone all day

• Friday, January 14
• End of the Semester - Student celebration (Watch for email)

Nitty-Gritty

• End of the Semester Celebration
• I had some takers on an end of the year activity for students with me.  I will set up a schedule and you can decide if you want to send your students.  You do not need to stay with them so you have a little bit of extra time to work together, on report cards, planning for the next week, etc.  Watch for an email over the weekend for more information.

• Covid Updated Guidelines
• Earlier this week, Dr. Thompson, sent out updated guidelines for staff regarding COVID isolation and quarantining.  Please watch for an email in the coming days for guidelines for students as well.

• Updated Weather Guidelines
• Mrs. Chambers has been doing some research regarding guidelines for safely playing outside.  Through her research, she (and I quite frankly) were surprised how difficult it was to find a clear cut rule regarding how cold is too cold.  On top of that, we all know that our playground is very windy, all the time.  With that information as well as recommendations on when it is safe to play outside for 20-30 minutes, we are changing the cut-off temperature to 13 degrees Fahrenheit (including windchill).  Any time the temperature in Juneau 'feels like' 13 or below, students will have indoor recess.  We all want our children to play outside as often as possible, but I really do not want to have any kids/adults hurt from the cold.  This includes the morning bus duty "recess" as well.
• Looking ahead, it seems like we are going to be in a cold spell for a few more days yet.  To read one of the articles, click HERE or HERE.  While these are not specifically from WI, it is for states in the midwest that have similar weather to us. 
• Finally, please watch for an email from Teresa regarding Junior Coaches and their routine to keep them safe in the cold weather as well.

• Indoor Recess
• We may be in for a string of indoor recesses in the next week or so.  A quick reminder that if indoor recess falls on a Tuesday for the noon recess, grades 1-5 will need to stay in their classrooms for recess as the elementary gym is not available at that time due to classroom PE sections.

• Young Poets Collection Project
• Today I received a letter notifying us of an opportunity to submit student work to the project.  If this is of interest to you or any of your students, please click HERE for more information.

• The Trojan Way - Behavior Expectations
• Thank you so much for spending so much time reviewing expectations.  It is important that as a team, we are all on the same page with expectations for behavior and routines.  The goal of using and posting our Trojan Way matrix is to positively communicate the expectations across all parts of the building.  While we know that students will make mistakes and have moments where they are not following the expectations, the more positively we teach, reinforce and expect our students to meet the expectations and learn from their mistakes, the better it will be.  However, please know, that I will support you and students that struggle to meet the expectations.  Please reach out to me, or send students to me if it is disrupting learning in your classrooms.
• Please note the added videos in the announcements that the team has been putting together for our students/staff.  Even if you do not have a classroom to show the videos too, please watch them so that you know about the routines as well.

PD Spotlight

At the beginning of my career, I struggled a lot with being consistent.  My students called me on it all the time.  Then I would get upset or frustrated and it would keep escalating until both the student(s) and I hit the boiling point.  It was affecting students' achievement, as well as how I felt about my career.  I knew something had to give.  So, I began to research, and read and watch master teachers and emulate others.  There were growing pains, but this article is one that I hoped I would have had way back then.  (I am not saying that I have it all figured out, or that I don't fail some days, but I have strategies and ideas to draw from now that I didn't have back then.) The article is titled "3 Keys to Being Consistent."  I found it to have good reminders, for me today and I am hoping that you find it helpful as well.  

Friday Funny

January 2, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Welcome Back!  I am hoping you all had a very relaxing break that allowed you to have time to spend with the people you love most, with the things that give you joy, and truly relax your body and mind.  I have finished 3 just-for-fun books and had numerous days of no work!  :-)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 2
• New Duties:  
• Breakfast Duty: Gruenwald/Bolman, AM Circle Drive: Vredeveld/Fobes
• PM Circle Drive: Wieneke/Helmer
• Bus Duty: Juech, Mook, Lisiecki
• GG Lessons for this week: Reviewing the Trojan Way
• Jenny has a meeting from 9-10am
• Jenny is leaving at 3pm for a dr appt

• Tuesday, January 3
• Pyramid Model Leadership Meeting 1pm-2pm in Room 110 for 4K team
• Jenny leaving at 3:15 for a dr appt

• Wednesday, January 4
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 9:45-11am
• Jenny in an important virtual meeting from 12-1pm

• Thursday, January 5
• Friday, January 6

Nitty-Gritty

• Reviewing expectations
• As we come back from break, it is important that we reinforce our procedures, routines and expectations right from the beginning of the school year.  It is also important that as a team, we are all on the same page with expectations for behavior and routines.  Later today (and in the announcements tomorrow) you will find a link to videos that I would like you to show your students on Monday.  The group that met last week is working on other videos and plans to help us keep our students on track with behavior expectations as well.  Watch for more information soon.

• Recess Updates
• Now that we are officially in the midst of winter recess, please pay close attention to announcements about inside vs. outside recess and areas that are off limits.  It is important that we are all on the same page to avoid confusion and conflicts on the playground.  If you have any concerns, please let Teresa or myself know.  Teresa will always be checking for temperatures for recess.  (If she is not present, I will do it and if both of us are gone, Alicia will do it.). This way we have a process with back-up plans in place as well.  Also, it is important that you are on time for your duty.  When we are even two minutes late, it causes a ripple effect to our colleagues and the system.  If you have concerns regarding this, please let me know.
• If you are a daily recess supervisor or on the recess team, please watch for emails for our next recess meeting.  If you are a paraprofessional, please plan to be present for that meeting.  You are an important part of the team.

• Office Update
• While it is very difficult to imagine that Marie will not be with us any more, I knew that we would need someone in that important role in our system.  I am happy to announce that Michelle Wolff is taking on the elementary administrative assistant role full-time. Michelle had the benefit of working alongside Marie for a number of weeks.  While it would be impossible to learn everything that Marie knew from her 30+ years of experience in the short few weeks they had together, Michelle is committed to our school and comes with her own set of experiences that will help her in this role as well.  And what we don't know, we will figure out together!  Please continue to welcome her to our team.

• Calendly Link
• In case you need this link again to set up a meeting with me.  Click HERE to set up a time to meet on my calendar.  I do my very best to make sure that I make these commitments.

• Report Card Reminders
• As we near the end of the semester, please remember that report cards will be printed on Monday, January 17th.  Grades need to be submitted on the standards page in PowerTeacherPro by 7am on Monday, 1/17.  They will be printed and handed out on Thursday, Jan. 20.

• Activity Account
• I know a number of you have handed in the yellow activity account forms the last few weeks.  Over the break, the paperwork was completed so that I have the authorization to write checks from the account.  Please watch your email for information regarding the balances of your grade level's account for your planning purposes.  If you handed in forms in the past month, I will get the checks to you as soon as possible this week.

• Dr appointments
• I know it looks weird to have 2 days in a row that I need to leave early for appointments.  Please know that I have some follow up things to take care of, but I am fine.  I am doing my best to get them outside of school hours whenever possible. I will share with you when I need to be out so that you are not wondering where I am.

• Music Hallway
• Over the break, construction crews were still working hard on the building.  You may notice some changes in the music hallway. Painting in the hallway was scheduled to be completed last week.  In the process of completing this work, things were taken off the wall including the trim around the floor.  Some of these things will not be replaced until after all of the work is completed later this summer.  It is safe for us to use, but wanted you to all be aware of this process.

PD Spotlight

Over the years, we have heard and learned about the importance of relationships in our classrooms.  As we start the second half of our school year, I wanted to draw your attention to the Significant 72 website that has numerous resources and ideas of ways to focus on relationships within your classroom.  Many of our students will be very excited to see us again on Monday, but it will be to our advantage to review expectations, routines and take time to enjoy the people they are before we jump right into the next curriculum lesson.  The more time we spend on these important parts of our learning environment, the easier it will be for students to learn and increase their academic skills.  Click HERE to see the site.

Friday Funny (on a Sunday...) 

This is the shirt that Mason got for Christmas this year.  It was his favorite gift. It makes me giggle...