October 28, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Field trips are so much work, but thank you for putting so much time into planning them.  Our kids benefit so much from these experiences.  Thank you for putting them together for them.

• Greg was so impressed by the professional dialogue on Monday.  He enjoyed how you problem-solved together and supported one another through difficult situations.  You probably don't even realize how impressive this because you've done it so naturally for so long, but it always reminds me of how much I love to be a part of your team.

• Teachers celebrating student progress since conferences.  I love to hear the pride in your voices when you share this information.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 31
• EP meeting @ 3:15pm in IMC
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Juech, Vertz
• 3rd Grade Lunch/Recess Switch begins

• Tuesday, November 1
• New Monthly Support Staff Duties for November
• Breakfast: Blasia, Vicky
• AM Circle Drive: Chris V
• PM Circle Drive: Karissa, Lexi
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Huso, Donovan, CaineT
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• 5th Grade SEL data meeting 12:35-1:25 in Elem. conf rm
• Para-educator Meeting @3:05 in Elementary Conf. Room
• Pyramid Model Training @3:30pm in EL PLTW lab

• Wednesday, November 2
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-9:15am
• 1st Gr academic data meeting 12:05-12:55pm

• Thursday, November 3
• Jenny out for appt until 10am.
• Free Covid Vaccine Clinic at the Gathering source from 4:30-7:30pm
• Community Event from 5 Stones at 6:30pm at Harvest Church

• Friday, November 4

Nitty-Gritty

• Families in Need
• Earlier this week, Jessica sent out an email describing resources available for our families in need. If you have a family that would benefit from one of the following resources, please tell them you can share their name with Jessica for an email with online application.
• Dodge County Toy Bank - provides gifts for children ages 15 and younger in a family that qualifies
• A Child's Smile: Sponsors about 40 families/ Approximately 120 children with gift cards from Walmart.  This is not exclusive to age 15 and under.
• Holiday food basket

• EL tip for Staff
• The Cesa 6 Language and culture center has monthly tips that they send out for staff with practical ideas to use to help improve skills.  The tips are not limited for just EL students either.  Click HERE to read this month's post.

• Veteran's Assembly
• Please mark your calendars for the annual Veteran's Day assembly.  It will be held on Friday, November 11 at 9:30am.  Please plan to have your students in the gym prior to 9:30 so that it can start right on time.  

Friday Funny

Do any of you live in a Haunted House?  :-) My friend sent this to me as she has two teenage boys in her home.  Thought it fit with the theme of this weekend.

October 21, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Seriously.  I can not express my gratitude or how truly impressed by the Dodgeland team tonight.  Your professionalism, your preparation and organization and your relationship building with families was truly inspiring.  Thank you so much for all you have done.

• Interventionists are working so hard to provide instruction with students that are in need of extra practice and re-teaching.  I love listening to colleagues problem solve together when a student is in need.

• Listening to 1st graders sincerely offering up compliments and apologies to one another at the end of the day as a reflection was so remarkable.  What a wonderful way to provide a space to practice social skills as well.

• I would like to publicly thank Lexi and Ella for delivering the food Thursday and to Amber for helping to set it out for us.  I appreciate it so much!

What's Happening At Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 24
• PD day 7:30-3:30pm
• Dodgeland Den open from 6:30-5:45pm
• Bus Duty: Chambers, Schweitzer, Johnson
• School Board meeting 6:30pm

• Tuesday, October 25
• MyView Coach Visit from 8-2pm
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Koenings, Mosher, Turcotte, B Caine
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am

• Wednesday, October 26
• Workout Wednesday
• 5th grade field trip
• 2nd Grade Level Academic Meeting 12:05-12:55pm in elem. conf. room
• Staff meeting 3:10-3:55pm

• Thursday, October 27
• 3rd grade field trip
• 4K field trip
• 5K half day field trip
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-9:30am

• Friday, October 28
• Seals on Wheels visit

Tech Know Tip

Happy Digital Citizenship Week! We do so many great things here at Dodgeland that every week could be considered Digital Citizenship Week. Not only do we teach our students grades K-12 the Common Sense Media digital citizenship lessons every year, you all have meaningful conversations with our students about their digital lives. We know that the best way for students to learn about themselves as digital citizens is for adults to demonstrate what a digital citizen is through examples and discussions, as well as reinforcing ideas throughout the year in your content specific lessons. Remember that any of the Common Sense Media lessons can be retaught through the lens of your content specific lesson. Looking for some more resources to use throughout the year? BrainPOP digital citizenship has a variety of short videos that are always accompanied by a quiz and activities. Google’s “Be Internet Awesome” includes interactive lessons accompanied by online games which give students an opportunity to apply their knowledge. Finally, Discovery Education has a great teacher portal which breaks down different topics within digital citizenship and suggests resources to support each topic.

Nitty-Gritty

• Schedule Update
• The logistics committee met this past week to discuss some recess and lunch procedures.  Our 1st and 2nd graders are struggling more than any other grades during the unstructured parts of their day with extreme reactions to conflict, eloping and other unique behaviors in these two locations. Due to these student needs, we discussed rearranging 3rd grade's lunch/recess.  This would mean that our 3rd graders would eat at noon and then go to recess at 12:30pm.  This does require a bit of a movement of supervisors and other routines, but we decided it would be worth it to try it. It will provide more time and resources for re-teaching and direction for our 1st and 2nd graders so that more successful recess/lunch periods allow them to return ready to learn in the afternoon.  It also gives our 3rd graders an opportunity to become leaders and positive role models for our 4K/5K students.  Please watch for an email this weekend with specifics.

• NED show is coming to Dodgeland
• Please mark your calendars for an assembly for our 4K-5th grade students on Thursday, November 10.  NED stands for Never give up, Encourage others, Do your best.  The purpose of the show is to talk about positive behavior, character and building growth mindset. The show will take place from 2 - 2:45pm in the multipurpose room.

• PD Schedule
• The PD agenda/schedule is HERE.
• Greg Wolcott is returning to continue our discussion on SEL skills, relationship building and routines and reinforcement.  We began this school year talking about ways to help our students that have had an increase in dysregulation and behaviors at school.  Now that we are almost 1/4th of the way through the year, it is a good time to re-engage in this conversation to help our students thrive in our classrooms.  
• You will notice in the afternoon a Q/A section on grading. I have had a few questions lately about grading so I have this time period built in for staff and teams to meet with me about questions.  If you have specific questions, please add them HERE so that I can make sure to answer your questions.
• Finally, there is time built into the schedule for you to plan and work with your grade level.  If you are piloting MyView, please work as a grade level team to determine what questions or materials you would like Allison to discuss with you.  A schedule will be sent soon.

• Recess Doors Information
• The doors that we use for recess are on a time schedule for each day.  In order for the doors to be unlocked for students/staff during the schedule, someone must swipe their key fob after the door is scheduled to be open in order to activate the schedule.  Each door must be activated individually and if you swipe your key fob prior to the beginning time, it will not stay unlocked for the duration.  Below is the schedule for each door for your reference.
• Door 26 (4th/5th hall) & Door 27 (1st/2nd/3rd hall)
• 9:15-9:45 & 12:00-1:05
• Door 29 (3K/4K hall)
• 9:00-9:30 & 11:30-12:30pm

• IXL Resource
• HUGE shout-out to Gabrielle for taking the time today to create a 3 min. screencast to show us all how to use the textbook resource under skills plan in IXL so it can be tied to Bridges or for those piloting, MyView, especially when planning for WIN.  Please watch her video HERE to learn how to do this yourself if you are interested.  Thank you again Gabrielle!

• Seals on Wheels
• The first visit for students participating in the Seals on Wheels program is scheduled for Friday.  The hygienist will be using a cart to go from classroom to classroom to grab students and do the fluoride treatment quickly in the hallway so that students do not miss very much class.  A list will be shared with you as soon as I receive the final list from them.

• Did you Hear?
• The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation has been a large supporter and champion for our work.  Thanks to their work and their support we have been able to implement long-lasting changes and improvements to our system.  They had an exciting announcement this past week.  Read their press release HERE on the amazing donation that they just received to continue their awesome work. 

Friday Funny

I am SOOOOO excited about Friday night.  I am going to see one of my favorite comedians, Nate Bargatze.  His delivery and content always makes me laugh. Stand up comedy is one of the ways that I use to relieve stress.  Watching comedians makes me laugh, which makes me feel better.  I am sharing this link with you HERE so that you can enjoy a little bit of his material as well.  Have a great weekend!

October 14

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Paula, Michelle, Teresa and Holly (and so many others) all stepped in to help while I was gone this week.  I can not ever express to you how much I appreciate your help!

• Teachers worked so hard to prepare for conferences.  I was able to sit in on a few and was truly impressed by the professionalism and clarity that you shared important information with parents.

• Teachers and staff advocating for their students and their needs.  I am always open to discussions to find solutions for struggling students.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 17
• Bus Duty: Miller, Schwoerer, Klis/Huelsman
• Michelle will be out all day
• Logistics Committee meeting 3:15-3:45pm

• Tuesday, October 18
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Mook, Murphy, Lisiecki, Mosher
• 5K SEL grade level Meeting 12:05-12:55pm

• Wednesday, October 19
• Workout Wednesday
• 3rd gr Academic grade level Meeting 12:05-12:55pm

• Thursday, October 20
• Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7:30pm
• Book Fair: 4-7:30pm

• Friday, October 21
• SAEBRS and MySAEBRS assessments should be complete by today.

Nitty-Gritty 

• SAEBRS/MySAEBRS Assessment
• Now that we have been in school for at least 6 weeks, it is time for us to complete the SAEBRS assessment.  For students in Grades 2-5, they should complete the MySaebrs assessment.  All classroom teachers should do the SAEBRS assessment for their own class in grades 5K-5th grade.  Click HERE for the video on how to do the SAEBRS assessment on FastBridge. (The only thing that is different from this video is that FastBridge is on the District Tab at the top.). The MySAEBRS assessment is also on Clever for students.  They would go to Clever on their ipad, go to the district tab, and click on FastBridge and then on the MySAEBRS assessment on the screening page.  If you need assistance with this, please let me know.

• MyView Coach Visit
• Alison will be in the district to observe and meet with individual teams to see lessons and also to answer questions individually.  I will create a schedule for her to come to each grade level.  However, I would like to know if you want her to observe a phonics lesson, a word study lesson, or a reading/writing lesson.  Please click HERE to indicate your preference.

• Parent Teacher Conferences
• On Thursday, I will have food in the lounge for you all to enjoy before or during conferences.  I know these are long nights for you all, so please take time to get a snack so that you at least don't have an empty stomach too!  Again, if you have any conferences that you would like me to attend, please let me know.

• My Calendar
• If you want to make an appointment to meet with me, the link to my calendar is HERE. Feel free to use this at any point.  I know that I am not always easy to find, but I will do my best to honor all appointments.  If an emergency comes up, I will connect with you to reschedule.

• Virtual Field Trips
• Did you see Jahra's email this week about possible virtual field trips for your class?  Click HERE to see the pdf of details in case it fits with your curriculum or what you are reading/studying.  I am certain that Jahra would be willing to answer any questions about her experiences as well.

• Purple Purpose Room
• The NHS is the group that mans the Purple Purpose room that is located in the High School.  Below is information that they would like us to know about this room/initiative.
• The Purple Purpose Room is now open to all students in need of school supplies, clothing, and hygiene supplies. It is located in Room 340 in the high school (take the hallway next to the concession stand, third room on the left). We will try to be open before school, 7:30-7:45am, and from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm. Here is the website link of details as well.

• CESA 6 Looking for Volunteers
• The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation is looking for volunteers to evaluate applications for the 2023 awards. Anyone can be a reader! You just need a computer and the internet. Scoring takes approximately 20-30 minutes per application. There is a brief online training is required before beginning. Click HERE to register to be a reader.

TechKnow Tip

Network and Data security is a major focus as we become more dependent on digital platforms. Keeping your personal data, students data and the district data protected is a major priority for the Dodgeland Technology Department.

One of the most common ways hackers breach a system is through phishing (email) attacks. We recently did a simulated phishing test with all of our staff members. 20% of our staff clicked on the simulated phishing email. To ensure staff know what to look for you should receive a KnowBe4 Tech Tip later today. We will continue the tips next week, with a new email tip each day. These KnowBe4 tips are not to scare you, but educate you on what to look for in a suspicious email.

PD Spotlight

During the past two weeks, I have had the privilege of attending a couple of sessions through the Foundation and AWSA.  One of the things that was similar about these sessions was inspiring messages about the importance and gratitude that others have about what we get to do everyday.  I don't know about you, but there are many days where I am so physically and mentally and emotionally exhausted, that I lose sight of my why and the reason I chose this career. I beat myself up about the errors I have made or the things I have forgotten to do. Today, the speakers talked about courage and bravery and grace.  Their message was that our work is not easy.  We do not always receive gratitude from others.  The days can be long with tremendous stress.  But.  The courageous action is to do the things that scare you.  To show up each day ready to take on the challenges.  To never give up and accept that you are NOT going to know all the answers. To give yourself grace and keep going with hope for the future. While I can appreciate these messages, it is not an easy message to carry around with me each day and remember. Then there are things that occur in my life that help me put things in perspective and reflect on what is truly important in life.  

Below is a picture of 6 very wonderful people.  Two of these people are my parents.  (They are the middle two in the top picture.). This group of people have been a part of my life since I was an infant.  They all met in their early 20's and have been friends for almost 50 years. They have celebrated many milestones together and yes, have grieved together as well. Between them there are 10 children, all of whom know these people very well because they have been present at almost every milestone event. 

As a child (and even still today), I loved watching them and listening to them talk.  They were highly entertaining.  When I look at the first picture, I can actually hear their distinct laughs as I look at it.  They care about one another, they help one another, they sometimes disagree with one another, but they always show deep love for each other. They are a true definition of lifelong friendship.

Why do I include them in the PD spotlight?  Because this group of people have had more than their share of adversity, especially in the last couple of years. Yet, when my mom's surprise party came around, (bottom picture), this group of friends dropped everything to be there for her, even though it was not easy. They spent time together laughing, reminiscing and catching up.  It was just like so many events of my childhood.  Except this time it was different.  This time, I look at this picture (bottom picture) and while I still see joy and can still "hear" the laughter, I also see pain and worry. No one knows the future, but they are all about to enter a time where they will need to do things that scare them too.  They don't know all the answers. (Although, as a kid, I certainly thought they did.)  They are supporting one another by giving and offering help.  They provide a listening ear and are protective of one another. They are still guiding us "kids", modeling for us about life and bravery, and how to reflect and have hope for the future.

So while, this is not a professional development section on teaching practices, I am hoping this section resonates with you.  If you have felt that deep exhaustion in the past few weeks, perhaps this section helps give you pause and encourages you to give yourself grace, to be courageous, to ask for help when you need it, and to see this group that you may have never met as inspiring you to reflect on what models you have in your life of bravery, grace and hope.  How do your models affect how you see your day-to-day challenges?  What support can I offer or provide?  What can I do for you?  Please see me if you need my help or support. You are all important to me.

Friday Funny

So, Michelle might not find this as funny as I do as she went three rounds with the Fed Ex people in the last week, but how about you?  Any of you relate to this?  :-)

October 7, 2022

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Staff members asking great questions of the MyView literacy coach.  I love how you are thinking and advocating for your students.

• Staff working together to help out when students are struggling with their own SEL skills.  It always seems better when you have colleagues and others to lean on when these situations become stressful.

• The para-educator meeting was full of really great questions and idea sharing to help us all understand issues and be on the same page. Thank you for your professionalism.

• Michelle went through all of the fundraiser packets and organized the orders to be sent in amongst about a million other things that she did this week.  Thank you so much Michelle!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 10
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-9:15am
• Bus Duty: Donovan, Lucht, Palen

• Tuesday, October 11
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-10am
• Social Media Posts due to Josh - Bingen, Chambers
• 1st Gr SEL meeting 12:05-12:55pm
• Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7:30pm
• Book Fair 4-7:30pm

• Wednesday, October 12
• Workout Wednesday
• 4th Grade Academic Data Meeting 12:35-1:25pm
• Jenny leaving for a conference at 9:45am

• Thursday, October 13
• Jenny gone all day

• Friday, October 14
• FFA Petting Zoo (9am-2pm)
• Picture Retake Day (on stage)
• SLO/PPG forms due for EP
• Jenny gone all day

Nitty-Gritty

• FFA Petting Zoo
• Here is a message from Carley Nehls from Dodgeland FFA.
• The FFA is excited to once again host the Annual Petting Zoo on Friday, October 14. The members are working hard to develop their educational stations that your classes can rotate through. Please sign-up for a time slot on this Google Sheet. Attached is a letter that you can share with your families regarding the event.

• Parent Teacher Conferences
• Please let me know if there are any conferences that you would like me to sit in on.  In addition, I will have some food set up after school for you to snack on both nights before, in between or after your conferences.  This is just a little something to show you how much I appreciate all the hard work you are putting in to prepare for these important conferences with your families.

• Passwords
• Did you change your password yet?  Some of us may have had passwords that expired this week, if it didn't, it will soon.  Brad sent out an email with directions for us last week.  In case you need some reminders of how to make a password that matches the Dodgeland Password Policy requirement, it is below. Click HERE to see the video on how to create a strong password.
• Must be 10 characters long
• Must have a symbol
• Must have a number
• Must have a Capital Letter
• Password expires every 370 days
• Cannot contain words or phrases such as Dodgeland, Trojans, Juneau, password, teacher and other common dictionary words
• Search for Brad's email from last week and this week that describes the process of how to change your password.  The subject line was Password Portal/Change Network Password.

• Substitute Teacher folders
• Below are the details that Christina emailed out this week.  Please keep these in mind as you create your lesson plans in the folders when you need to be out.
• Add your daily sub plans and emergency sub plans to the Google Shared Drive titled "Substitute Teacher Plans". Emergency plans will most likely stay the same throughout the year unless you end up using them. Daily sub plans are for the plans for your scheduled absences. 
• Title your daily sub documents with the dates you will be absent. (Example: 10-10-2022)
• Create your plans in Google Docs. You can add hyperlinks to websites and resources that can be accessed easily for substitute teachers with one click.
• Substitutes will be able to look at your seating charts through PowerSchool, so be sure to keep them up to date.
• Check out more information on the staff resource page here. 

PD Spotlight

Below is a summary of the virtual meeting with our MyView literacy coach.  She will be visiting in person on Tuesday, October 25.  She will be coming to observe classrooms during literacy for as many as she can and then meeting with grade levels/individuals to answer any questions and provide guidelines as you continue the pilot for those involved.

• If you would like to see a detailed scope and sequence, you can find this in the Savvas Realize learning system.  You would need to go to the browse resources section, find the gettting started link.  From there choose the grade level and then scope and sequence.  This will give you a pdf of the entire year.  From there you can see what skills spiral and particular routines that repeat throughout each unit.  (For example, you will see genres spiraling throughout the units and also from grade to grade.)

• Not every skill is expected to be at mastery during the year.  For example, the 5K curriculum has about 90 high frequency words that are intended to provide exposure and emphasize and teach the difference between decodable and non-decodable words.  Plus, many of these words are then repeated in 1st grade where they do become mastered words.

• Independent reading by students does not need to tie to that week's genre.  The important part is that they are reading during independent reading.  You could encourage students to read from a number of different genres throughout the year though, but be careful not to make it mandated that they read from each genre which could cause more harm than good in reading enjoyment as well.

• Pacing - 
• The goal is to finish 4 units by the end of the year.  When planning for the lessons, set aside the time that you need for certain sections and then plan the other parts around that.  For example, if you want to have small group instruction going set those 30 minutes into the schedule first.  Then put the other lesson parts around that time period.  One day's lesson may take 2 days and that is ok.  Looking ahead, will you be finished, or close to finished by November 11?

• Spelling - It is not necessary to give weekly spelling tests to put in the gradebook, but you certainly can.  The word study section is one of the weakest areas for our students currently, so some of your students (or many of your students) may need to have a shortened list to work on or a list from a previous grade.  Work with your team to determine what would be best for students in your class.

• Student page:  "Just because there is a student page, it doesn't mean that the kids have to fill it out.  It could be done as a discussion, or a whiteboard lesson, etc."  I wrote this down verbatim from Allison because I thought it might be something you need to hear again down the line.

• The writing from Weeks 1-5 is meant to build from one week to the next with a published piece at the end of that week.  This was a point of confusion with myself and many others.

• Finally, Week 6 is the project and the writing project there is separate from the writing from weeks 1-5.  This was done by design.

• Clever - In order to get in to the MyView online portal for anyone that is not in yet, please login through the Clever app on your ipad and go to the District tab.  OR Go to Clever.com and log in using Google and go to the District tab.  Some have shared that they are going in with the demo site yet, but this should work for us all.  Please enter a helpdesk ticket if you are unable to get in through Clever.

Friday Funny

In honor of the book fair that is next week, here's the Friday Funny for this week.  This is exactly how I felt when I was a kid and the book fairs came to school too!