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