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...