September 15, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Staff worked together to improve procedures for transitions and different parts of students' days.

• Teachers worked hard to help students have the best pictures possible for their families.  The funny faces and jokes behind the photographer was all in the name of cute smiles!  :-)

• Number Corner is off to a great start. It is so great to see kids jumping right in to math.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 18
• Fundraiser starts
• Blasting is supposed to start across the street today
• Bus Duty: Klink, Lucht, Wedel, Schuett (4K/5K Playground)
• EP meeting on Rapid Cycle Feedback in IMC @ 3:15pm
• Library Lessons start this week

• Tuesday, September 19
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Miller, Lucht, Schweitzer, Mosher

• Wednesday, September 20
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, September 21

• Friday, September 22
• Purple Friday
• Pyramid Model Leadership mtg @1pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Fundraiser Begins
• On Monday, Sept 18, our annual Elementary fundraiser begins.  There will be fundraiser packets in your mailbox to send home with students on Monday.  Also, there will be a short video to introduce the fundraiser in the announcements on Monday morning.  Please play this in each classroom at a time that is convenient for you.

• Health Room Pass
• Please use the electronic Health/Nurse Form.  It is a quick link on your iPad with the First Aid symbol, or on the staff resource page. Click on the Health Services tab.  This will help Leah tremendously with keeping records of students that she sees during the day.

• Alt Comp Option
• PBS Kids is offering a free online EdCamp in November at the Watertown Public Library.  Click HERE to see the details of this event.  Registration closes on October 28.

• Nutrition Lessons by Kim Laffler for grades 5K-3rd grade
• Kim will be returning to Dodgeland again this year for nutrition lessons.  She absolutely loves working with the staff and students here.  She will be reaching out to teachers individually to set up the nutrition lesson times for your classroom.  Please respond to her email to schedule these lessons.

• 5K recess Change Reminder
• 5K students' recess will move to the big playground for recess for the morning and lunchtime recess. They will have recess at the same time as 1st and 2nd grade and will be joining them along with the current assigned supervisors (meaning if you have 5K duty, you will still have 5K duty, it will just be on the big playground instead of the fenced in area). They will be allowed to play core games or play on the equipment.
• Bus duty before and after school will remain the same and the 5K will play on the small playground in the morning before school.

• Bright Arrow Test
• On Thursday, 9/14, a text message from our school messenging system, Bright Arrow came through.  If you did not get a text message wishing you a Happy Friday Eve, please email Jessica Johnson.  You will want to make sure you are getting messages from our system as this is how we communicate important messages including weather cancellations, etc.

• Parking Permits
• Please be sure that you have your parking permit easily visible in your car.  If you do not have one, please ask Kimi for one.  There are periodic checks for parking permits in the lots and so it's important that your permit is easily seen when this happens.

• Milk Payments for Snack
• Starting Monday, please check the milk calendar when completing the milk count for those that have payments made for semester 1 milk payments.  Any student without a date listed by their name under the Sem 1 column is not eligible for milk.  See Natalie's email with a copy of the letter to parents regarding milk payments.

TechKnow Tip

What’s up with Google Chrome?

Frequently throughout the year Chrome releases updates to fix current issues and security vulnerabilities within their software. To ensure the safety and security of district devices and data we have access to, we implement auto updates. For example, earlier this week Google released a new version of Chrome. When Google releases a new update, Chrome grabs the update and updates based on the user’s settings. Since the district has auto updates enabled, the update can occur at any point during the day. If the update fails, chrome will try again until a successful install and a software verification occurs. We understand that this can be inconvenient at times, but the risk of users never updating their software is much higher than an issue with a failed update. 

The Technology Department understands that this may cause frustration at times. It is never our goal to create more issues for you as a user, but we are limited on when we can ensure your technology is safe, secure, and protected. We make every effort to force all updates to technology components after school hours, and in some cases, we can not wait until that time. We thank you for your continued support as we ensure high quality instruction occurs here at Dodgeland.

Just as a reminder, there are other browsers available on your device in case of an emergency. The other browsers are Safari and Microsoft Edge. These can be used in a pinch until Chrome is up and running again. 

 

What you can do:

• If Chrome no longer appears in your dock or applications list, go to self service and install it. Once installed and opened, right click on the icon, select ‘Options’, and click ‘Keep in dock’.

• Utilize bookmarks instead of keeping tabs open or pinning tabs. HERE is a great resource walking you through how to create bookmarks, organize them into folders, and even how to utilize a bookmarks bar. 

• Think about putting your most frequented websites into a bookmarks bar which is located under your opened tabs and the address bar.

Behavior Specialist Information

The Pupil Services team will pop in tomorrow around snack time with the Bucket Filler Friday treat!

Thanks for all of your hard work getting procedures in place to build routines with your class!

A couple points of clarification:

-If a student needs to be removed from class, please call the office in addition to filling out the brief “help me, help me” form so we can get you assistance as soon as possible.

-Please email me if you would like to set up a time to meet regarding problem solving student behaviors or a classroom routine you are stuck on. My office is room 104 right next to Ms. Mosher. Stop in any time for a quick breather, chat, and chocolate!

Routine Sign-up

Please use this link: here to sign up for Ms. Mosher and I come in and teach/reteach bathroom, hallway, and lunch room routines. Please plan to stay in your classroom during these lessons so we are all on the same page about expectations. You should sign-up during one of your grade level “WIN” times on the schedule. So you will still have “regular guidance” and additionally one “WIN” time next week will be routines. 

Recess Information

Please remind students NO gum or candy should be on the playground.

Mrs. Chambers plans on reviewing Junior Coach applications today (Friday). If you want to help review applications, please let her know. We are hoping to get going with Junior Coaching next week.

PD Spotlight

This week we talked about procedures and routines and how this helps us with classroom management as well as behavior with students.  By having a predictable routine, it provides students something they can depend on.  To help each other with ideas, I am sharing the results from the survey that I sent out earlier this week for ideas for your own classrooms or reaffirm your own procedures.  Please remember, if you need help brainstorming ideas for your classroom, Teresa or myself are always available and willing to plan with you.

Friday Funny