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