April 29, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The students in the Seussical musical did such a fantastic job.  I loved watching them perform and all of the positive responses they got from their classmates and families.

• I watched a group of 5K students noticing patterns in the rhythms they were working on in Music.  It was so cool to watch them transfer their number corner work to another subjects.

• 5th graders are working on writing argumentative (persuasive) essays.  Today a student explained to me what quote he wanted to use in his essay and why it fits with his argument.

• This week, we did the finishing touches on finishing the Forward.  There were so many kids that took their time and really wanted to write a great essay for the TDA.  I was so proud of their hard work and focus!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, May 2
• Bus Duty: Schwoerer, Piekarski, Johnson
• New Support Staff duties start: 
• Breakfast: Riege, Bolman
• Circle Drive, AM: Fobes, Vredeveld
• Circle Drive, PM: Hahn, Wieneke
• GG Lessons for the week: Growth Mindset and speaking assertively
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• Elementary Art show: 5:30-6:30
• Elementary Music concert, grades 1, 3 & 5: 6:30-8pm
• i-Ready/FastBridge testing window opens

• Tuesday, May 3
• Jenny gone for the day for Title 1 Meeting
• Pyramid Model Leadership meeting 1-2pm in Elem. Conference room
• 4th grade field trip to Horicon Marsh
• National Teacher Appreciation Day

• Wednesday, May 4
• Workout Wednesday / Star Wars Day - May the Fourth Be with You!
• Mandatory Staff Meeting for ALL staff in IMC from 3:15-4:00pm
• 5K field trip to the farm

• Thursday, May 5
• Playworks visit from 11:30-4:00
• Recess Team meeting from 3:05-4:00pm in Room 120
• Talent Show auditions 3:10-5:00 in the music room

• Friday, May 6
• Nurses' Appreciation Day

Nitty-Gritty

• Target Based work for grades 1, 3, & 5
• Our last Cesa 6 math coach visit is on Tuesday, May 10.  Grades 1, 3 & 5 will be working with Kris on preparing for our target based grading work in June.  Watch for an email from Sue O'Toole with details on times and resources to bring.  There are 3 rotating subs here that day that will cover each teacher's class during your work time.

• Art Show/Music concert
• On Monday, May 2, the Dodgeland Elementary Art Show will be showcased in the commons for the hour before the spring concert. (5:30-6:30). The Music concert will begin at 6:30 and grades 1, 3 & 5 will be performing.  Please see Mr. Johnson's email for the schedule for the rehearsal on Monday for these grades.

• Class Creator
• Next week, classroom teachers will receive an email from Class Creator (or a link from me) to input data in for creating class lists for next school year.  The week of May 9th, we will meet as grade levels to finalize lists for next school year. I would love to have input from interventionists and specials teachers on these lists.  You have the advantage of seeing the entire grade and I think your insights will be very helpful to this process.  Information from this last year will be stored in the historical data section.

• Tech Staff meeting
• Now that most of you have met with the tech team to make sure your files are saved correctly, the tech team is ready to share the next steps in the device refresh.  Please make sure that you are present on Wednesday in the IMC at 3:15pm.  This is for all staff of the district.

• Beaver Dam Library Reading Celebration
• Click HERE to see a flyer from the Beaver Dam Public Library regarding a family fun event centered on Reading. Please share with your students and families in case they are interested.

• Bridges Math
• Susan sent out an email asking for information to help us complete the budget process for next year.  Click HERE to provide information about your current supplies and anything that needs to be ordered for next school year.  She is putting this together so that we can order it as one order under the Math curriculum budget.

PD Spotlight

This week I talked about the anxiety I felt when I realized how few days we have left with our students this school year.  I came across this 2 min. video from Daniel Pink's PinkCast describing an alternative to the "to-do list" and I think I am going to try it.  What do you think?  Will it affect your work productivity and motivation? I am hoping it helps me! Let me know what you experience if you try it!

HERE is the link!

Friday Funny

During Easter weekend, I lost my wallet somewhere in Madison.  I spent the next couple of days cancelling cards and ordering new insurance cards, an ID, etc.  Then out of the blue on Monday evening, I get a phone call from an unknown caller stating that his sister had found my wallet in a parking lot in Madison and they wanted to return it to me. (I really just wanted the red wallet since it was the last Christmas gift Matt gave me.) But, I was a little suspicious, so I asked if they could leave it at the service desk at Costco where I believed I lost it.  On Wednesday, I received a text asking if I could meet them outside their house to get it back.  That did not seem wise, so I suggested the Costco again.  They told me they would meet me in the parking lot at Costco.  I then texted by children with an exaggerated message. The following is a screen shot of this text conversation.  Enjoy our warped sense of humor!