October 27, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 3rd graders writing equations for multiplication and word problems and explaining how they knew this would work to solve the problem.  I love the math thinking I get to hear!

• Staff have shared how much they were able to accomplish on Monday's PD day including the ability to collaborate with each other.  When we plan and work together, we all thrive including our students!

• 4th grade team had a focused conversation and came up with some ideas of how to address the large number of students that were showing a phonics deficit.  Starting from where they are and providing them instruction in this area will be important for their future success and it was impressive listening to them problem solve together with a number of ideas to address this!

• 3rd grade teachers provided very specific observations of students' behavior and skills in their classes.  Getting to know our students personalities and also their strengths helps us to move them forward in their educational journey.

• Shout out to Becky Scholze for providing a fun October activity with the Pumpkin Bones song and activity.  It got them talking and definitely interested! I have answered that question only about 100 times this month!  :-)

• Shout out to Sam for recreating this flow chart from our handbook in a legible, accurate and so much better way than the one we had.  Click HERE to see the pdf of it.  I'll have paper copies in the office too if you want one.  Watch for an email with the screen recording of how to add log entries to PowerSchool.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 30
• Monopoly Madness event begins
• Bus Duty: Klink, Lucht, Wedel, Schuett (4K/5K playground)
• EP Meeting (Optional) Work time @ 3:15 in IMC
• School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm (Annual Meeting as well)

• Tuesday, October 31
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica - Huso, Donovan, Schuett
• SEL Data meeting (4th gr) in Elem Conf room 12:35-1:25pm
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - Stampfl
• 12:30- Donovan
• 1:00 - Bingen

• Wednesday, November 1
• New Playworks coach (Maggie) will be observing recess from 9-1pm
• Junior Coach training/meeting with Coach Maggie from 10-11am
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Data meeting (2nd gr) in Elem. conf room 12:05-12:55pm
• New Support Staff Duties start:
• Breakfast: Lexi and Vicky
• 4K/5K playground/Circle Drive: Karissa
• PM Parent Pick up: Ann & Sandi

• Thursday, November 2
• Vision Screening from 8-12:30, sign up sheet HERE
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - Juech
• 12:30 - Huelsman
• 1:00 - Huelsman

• Friday, November 3
• Jenny at CESA - returning to the building at 12:00pm
• Last day of Monopoly Madness 

Nitty-Gritty

• New Team Member
• Please help me welcome a new part-time paraprofessional to our team.  She will be working with Shanalyn's team and will be in 5K and 1st grade primarily.  Her name is Bailey Foote.  She has her own business as a photographer as well as working as a respite home health worker for children with significant needs.  We are so excited for her join us.  Her first day is Friday, October 27.

• Staff Meeting Summary
• Here is the link to the slides from Wednesday's staff meeting.  We talked about the lunch detention procedures.  We made a few adjustments to help with this process.  The main thing to remember is that all majors should be documented in PowerSchool by the staff member that observed the behavior/incident.  Between Teresa and I we will assign the lunch detentions and communicated with the detention supervisors.  Trisha will have the binder with the information for you to reflect with our student.  A QR code will be on the binder to easily get to the powerpoint slides for walking students through the reflection sheets.  It is in the shared drive or click here to bookmark if you want.

• Apple TV & Air Play issue
• Just a reminder of Brad's email regarding the known issue of the Apple TV freezing with the last image from the laptop.  Please remember to disconnect from Apple TV from the Screen Mirroring section before closing laptop or walking away from the room.  Apple is working on a fix for this, but in the meantime, if you have any issues with this enter a Helpdesk Ticket or call ext. 1040.  Do not try to fix it yourself.

• Line Spots and Lining Up
• As we talked about in the staff meeting on Wednesday, our students are really struggling to quickly and quietly get lined up for transitions.  One of the reason that we are asking for line spots is to proactively address some combinations in line that may not be great for these unstructured times.  It is okay to have line leader/caboose "jobs" that rotate through students.  The lines do not have to be alphabetical, just done in a way that this becomes their routine.  If it is not working, it would be better to change the line spot to prevent further issues.  Second, if you can please practice and reteach how to quickly line up in their line spots and what they should be doing while they wait.  If you need help, support or have questions, please let me know.  
  
• Also, let's work together and not allow students to convince us that we don't need to line up in line spots.  They may say, we don't have to in this class, or at this time, etc.  We are always requiring it, in every location and every time they line up.  Let's be consistent and not be convinced with possible inaccurate information that could be the equivalent of "if mom says no, let's ask dad."  :-)

• Monopoly Madness
• Starting Monday, we will be playing Monopoly Madness as a school.  The game will be last 5 days.  Game play is simple: Collect as many game pieces as you can to try to win prizes. Each homeroom class will receive a game board to display on your wall, and your class will play together as a team to collect matching game spaces and win the prizes. If your class wins a prize you will win a corresponding teacher/staff prize.  And if you are a staff member but not a homeroom teacher, don't worry, I will assign you to a class to play along with and win prizes as well!  The prizes include teacher lunch, Goose passes, gift card grab bag, extra prep period pass, Coupon for a duty coverage, and more!
• Teachers/staff will receive a handful of game pieces each morning for you to award to students for following behavior expectations, being a bucket filler, working hard on school work or any other reason you see fit to reward a student.  
• Instant Winners will be announced by a short video each day.  If students got a game piece with that number on it, they will win a small prize from the Instant Win Prize Area in the elementary office with Mrs. Pieper.
• The goal will be to collect as many game pieces as they can to try to cover spaces on the Monopoly Board of the same color.  (Think like the Monopoly game that McDonald's did in the past...)
• Why are we doing this?  This is about the time where we start to head into the part of the year where we are solidly into routines and may need some reminders, plus it's a good way for us to have a little fun together to build and strengthen our sense of community.  This helps us to achieve our ultimate goal - LEARNING!

• TA's and Attendance
• If you have a TA assigned to you for this semester (or next), it is important that attendance is taken for them as well.  However, I recognize that it is not always convenient or feasible to stop what you are doing to take attendance for your TA.  So, in order to get the attendance information correct, but make it less cumbersome, I need you to call the High School office (ext. 1031 or ext 1030) if your TA does not show up to your room at their given time or at least by the end of the day.

TechKnow Tip

Everyone receives those emails that you don't want. You mark them as SPAM or report the emails as Phishing. SPAM emails and phishing emails are both types of unwanted and potentially harmful messages that often end up in your email inbox. However, they serve different purposes and create distinct threats.

What's the Difference: 

SPAM emails are unsolicited and typically aim to promote products, services, or content to a large

number of recipients. They can be annoying and clutter your inbox, but their primary purpose
is usually advertising.

Phishing emails are a form of cyberattack that impersonates entities to trick recipients into
revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials, credit card details, or personal data.

They are deceptive and often disguise themselves as trustworthy sources.

What's the Purpose:

The main purpose of SPAM is to market or advertise products, services, or websites.

They may contain links to commercial websites or offers for various products.

The primary purpose of phishing emails is to deceive and defraud recipients.

They attempt to steal personal information, financial data, or login credentials.

Earlier this week the Tech Department shared further details about SPAM and Phishing emails. It's essential to be vigilant and practice good email etiquette to protect yourself and the district from the risks associated with both types of emails. If you think an email looks suspicious, report it to the PAB (Phish Alert Button) or simply delete the email.

Behavior Specialist Information

Field Trips

It is possible for Teresa to attend field trips as an additional support. If you have students that struggle to follow expectations, please meet with Teresa and/or Jenny ideally two weeks prior to the trip so we can come up with a support plan.

Recess Information

Veteran’s Day Recess

4k - same

5k-2 8:50-9:05

3-5 9:05-9:20

Snack after the assembly or whenever you can fit it in.

Recess Reminders:

PLEASE be on time to your recess duty and stay outside until all of the students have been dismissed. This is a change from last year, when certified staff could go in as soon as the whistle blew. The change is because any of our paras that are outside in the morning are there supporting specific students and are not the "general" supervisors like they were in the past. If you need a bathroom break please ask a colleague for help or call the office for coverage either before or after recess so that we have the adults we need outside during recess.

PLEASE also enforce our playground equipment expectations. 

The behaviors causing the most injuries are: 

• students running/chasing on the turf/equipment - running/chasing should only be in the tag zones
• more than one rider and one pusher on the spinning equipment (aside from the volta/merry go round)
• students climbing up slides and/or more than one student going down the slides at a time.

PLEASE also help reinforce our universal expectations to help with transitions. 

• Students should ALWAYS be their line spot. Line spots do not have to be alphabetical order; they should be set up so that students are set up for success. Any time students are transitioning they should be in their line spot. 
• When students line up after recess or lunch, they should be using that time to regulate for learning. Feel free to guide them through breathing exercises, shake downs, to this, or any other calming activity to get them ready for learning. 
• All times that students are in the hall during learning time, voices should be a level 0 (silent).

Friday Funny

Last weekend, the Huelsman family met to spend a few hours together in West Bend.  We tried a new to us restaurant, did an escape room (successfully I might add) and did some axe throwing as well!  Why is it in the Friday Funny section?  Because it feels like perhaps they took one look at our group and thought, "I don't know if we should mix them in with our regular people!"  The place was packed when we walked in and we waited for a host to help us and seat us.  There were a bunch of TV's showing the Badger game and some very invested fans.  So where do they seat us?  They take us to a side room that is narrow and long and has absolutely ZERO people.  We couldn't see anyone and when they started seating others, they took them to a different room from us.  We blamed it on Mason, since the rest of us are just so sweet and are never annoying!  :-)