Thursday, December 21, 2023

December 22, 2023



What's Happening at Dodgeland?

  • NEXT Week - Winter Break 
    • I hope you all have a great holiday and get lots of rest!
  • Monday, Jan 1 -  No School
  • Tuesday, Jan 2
    • Bus Duty: Caine-Arnes, Chambers, Zastrow, Koenings (3K/4K playground)
    • New Support Staff Duties
      • AM Breakfast - Lexi, Vicky
      • AM Circle Drive - Karissa
      • PM Circle Drive - Ann, Sandi
    • Happy Birthday Trisha Pieper
    • NO Lunch Detentions this week
    • Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Zastrow, Schuett
    • Paraprofessional Meeting in IMC @ 3:15pm-3:45pm
  • Wednesday, Jan 3
    • Workout Wednesday
    • Academic Data meeting - 3rd gr 12:05-12:55pm
  • Thursday, Jan 4
    • Jenny has to leave at 3:30 for a dr appt
  • Friday, Jan 5
    • Happy Birthday Sarah Patton
    • Jenny at Cesa from 11-3pm

Nitty-Gritty

  • SANTA is COMING!!!  I KNOW HIM!!!
    • On Friday, December 22, Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting Dodgeland Elementary to spread some cheer.  They will have a bag of treats for each teacher to hand out at a time of your choosing.  (They greeting MS/HS students before school and then will make there way down to the elementary wing!)
  • Mid-Year Assessments (i-Ready and FastBridge)
    • The window for mid year assessments starts on Monday, January 8th.  Please coordinate with interventionists and/or special education teachers regarding the assessments so that students have access to the accommodations they need to do their best work.  In addition to the reading and math assessments, the SAEBRS and mySAEBRS assessment should be done by the end of January as well.
  • iPads during Break
    • Please make sure that iPads for students in grades 4K-3rd grade are in the case and plugged in so that they can be updated during the winter break.  Any devices that are not in the case and plugged in will not be updated and will most definitely have no charge left when school restarts in January.
  • Group Photos for Class pictures
    • The photographer(s) will be here on Friday, Jan 12 to take the group photos of each class starting at 8:15 in the morning.  At this time, the photos will be taken in the commons near the new Dodgeland wall.  Please encourage your students to wear purple/Dodgeland apparel that day.
  • Summer School???
    • Did you forget to sign up to teach summer school this year?  This year there are two sessions again.  The first is our regular session, and the second is a Jumpstart session for invited students only.  The dates are June 10 - July 11, Mon-Thurs only.  July 1-2 only during the 4th of July holiday.  There are a number of options to teach.  If you are not sure what you would like to teach, please let me know and we can talk it through.  Please let me know your interested by clicking HERE.


Recess Information

Next Junior Coach Meetings in the PLTW Lab:

  • 4th grade - 1/8/24 at 9:45 
  • 5th grade - 1/8 at 2:15


Behavior Specialist Info

In order to have a consistent message, please sign-up for an expectations review time for me to come into your class and review our common spaces and recess expectations after our winter break. It would be great if you plan to be part of the conversation, and paras, if possible try to attend one of the review sessions with a classroom to ensure we are all on the same page with what expectations are and how to enforce them. Sign-up here.


TechKnow Tip

Ho ho ho! It's that time of the year again when we all get excited about the new gadgets and gizmos

that Santa might bring us. But what about the old ones that we no longer need or want? Do we just toss

them in the trash and forget about them? No way! That would be a waste of resources and a threat to the

environment. Instead, we should e-recycle them! E-recycling is the process of safely disposing of electronic

waste and recovering valuable materials that can be reused or recycled. E-recycling is not only good for

the environment, but also for your wallet and your community.

 

How do you e-recycle in Wisconsin? Well, it's easy and convenient. Wisconsin has a statewide e-waste

recycling program called E-Cycle Wisconsin. E-Cycle Wisconsin collects fees from electronics

manufacturers and uses them to reimburse registered collectors and recyclers who accept eligible

devices from households and schools. Eligible devices include TVs, computers, monitors, keyboards,

mice, printers, fax machines, DVD players, VCRs, DVRs, and cell phones. You can find a list of

registered collectors and recyclers near you on the E-Cycle Wisconsin websiteor by calling 1-800-RECYCLE. Take a look at this helpful Infographic for more information!

 

So don't let your old gadgets gather dust in your closet or end up in the landfill. E-recycle them today

and make a difference for tomorrow!


Friday Funny

Last night, this week's Friday Funny just "fell in my lap!"  I am not sure if this is titled, 'Mom Fail' or 'Are you Serious?!'  

Mason called me last night around 7:30 to ask me how to wrap presents.  Initially I started to giggle, but it turned into a full belly laugh when he explained that he has already watched a YouTube video and the crazy lady in it is talking about how to avoid seams on the gift! His response to that was, "Who cares about SEAMS!" So, I start to walk him through it and he is being a very good student.  Then he gets confused on the corners, so I switch to FaceTime, where he gets stuck on the "weird" cut he made and how the tape is much too skinny to wrap presents with.  Listening to him complain about the tape and the presents and then, "How did you do this when we were kids?"  and "I am never having kids so I don't have to do this!"  But, the victory pose at the end makes me laugh even harder.  But wait...Did I fail to teach my son life skills???



BONUS!

The Holiday Photo Booth was entertaining as usual.  Ella, Lexi and I went to get a picture taken last night and we couldn't help but look through the other photos.  When we came across this one, I had to share.  Can I ask what is going on in this picture?  Should I be worried about Brent?




Thursday, December 14, 2023

December 15, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

  • The Doors around the school look so fun!  Thank you for putting in extra time to making the school look so exciting!
  • Shout out to all of our students and Gail Hoffman for putting together two fun nights this week for our families and community to enjoy.  Also, to all of the staff that helped put it together with logistics as well.  Thank you all!
  • A Special Shout-out to Melissa Arnes for stepping in to help out on concert night and allowing Lexi to tag along while you put out visuals to help them, organized students in the room, and helped give reminders of concert behavior.  :-)
  • The first graders were so great with our guest from MyView that was teaching in their classroom this week.  I didn't get to see everything, or sit in on the afternoon meetings.  However, she emailed me and stated that she had really good conversations with you.  I hope that you found it helpful as well.


What's Happening at Dodgeland?

  • Monday, December 18
    • Bus Duty: Klink, Lucht, Wedel, Schuett (3K/4K playground)
    • Merry Monday - Dress in Green and Red
    • Board Meeting at 6:30 in IMC
    • MS/HS Choral Concert at 7pm
  • Tuesday, December 19
    • Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Klink, Donovan, Koenings, Riege
    • Winter Wonderland Day - Dress in White or like a snowman
    • SEL Data meeting for 4th gr (12:35-1:25)
    • Lunch Detention
      • 12:00 - Juech
      • 12:30 - B Caine
      • 1:00 - 
    • MS/HS Band Concert at 7pm
  • Wednesday, December 20
    • Dress like your favorite Holiday character
    • 2nd graders on a field trip to Milwaukee Public Museum
    • Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
    • NO Academic DATA meeting today! (4th grade is moved to January 18)
  • Thursday, December 21
    • Get Up and Go Day - Dress in your PJ's
    • Happy Birthday Alexis Uttech!
    • Holiday Photo Booth in the Green Screen Room in IMC
      • Everyone that gets their photo taken is entered in a drawing for a gift card
    • 5th graders Field trip to Clearview 9:45am-11:15am
    • Lunch Detention
      • 12:00 - Koenings
      • 12:30 - 
      • 1:00 - 
  • Friday, December 22
    • Festive Friday - Wear your ugliest sweater or festive wear
    • Citizenship Grades for December due today
    • Santa on Trial performances for families at between 10-12pm
    • Enjoy your break!  See you on January 2nd! 
    • Watch your email for Mrs. Johnson's video on the Personal Day giveaway!


Nitty-Gritty

  • Personnel Information
    • At the school board meeting on Monday night, they most likely will approve the hiring of a new 2nd grade teacher, Abby Ruplinger.  She will be visiting next week to meet students, some families and staff.  Her official start date is Jan. 2. (Jessica's board update will give you more information.) Please help me welcome her to Dodgeland. 
    • This also means that Brent's last day with us full time is Friday, December 22.  Please help me in thanking him for all of his hard work the past 5+ weeks. It is very much appreciated!
    • Also, Sandi Amis is planning to be returning after the break, so that means that Brenda Schumacher will not be with us full-time either.  Please help me thank her for filling in and being with us for the last 4+ weeks as well.
    • We are hoping we still get to see them both subbing throughout the building next semester though!
  • Class Picture Day - New this year
    • Please mark your calendars!  On Friday, January 12, LifeTouch will be in the building to take group photos of each class, probably by the Dodgeland Wall in the commons.  There will be order forms and a flyer for parents.  Parents can elect to purchase this additional group photo.
  • Citizenship Grades
    • Please make sure to update your gradebooks with December citizenship grades by Friday, Dec 21.  If you need to do it after that date, it's okay.  I was just hoping you wouldn't have to work over break!
  • PowerSchool How-To's
    • There are two things that I found this week that some of you may need assistance with in PowerSchool.  To assist, I will create a screen recording to share with you on Monday.  The first is how to put in log entries for discipline issues.  All staff can put in a log entry regardless of what grade or class the student is in.  Second, if you are looking for contacts for your student, you must do this through PowerTeacher Pro to have the most up to date information that is tied to registration/enrollment.  Please do not use the demographic page as it is an outdated form that can not be taken off of the list.
  • Summer School??
    • Yep, it's time to start planning for Summer School already.  This year there are two sessions again.  The first is our regular session, and the second is a Jumpstart session for invited students only.  The dates are June 10 - July 11, Mon-Thurs only.  July 1-2 only during the 4th of July holiday.  There are a number of options to teach.  If you are not sure what you would like to teach, please let me know and we can talk it through.  Please let me know your interested by clicking HERE.


Techknow Tip

The holidays can be a stressful time of the year and we are knee deep in it! Take a moment to think about your digital wellness. Digital wellness is the pursuit of an intentional and healthy relationship with technology. Take a look at this graphic, "Boundaries for Digital Wellness" Reflect on yourself as a technology user and think about starting a conversation with students about this too. Digital wellness is one facet of being a well-rounded digital citizen, something all students and staff are aspiring to be.


Friday Funny

My friend sent this to me last weekend, and I thought, "Wouldn't this be great for all those days that I fall asleep in the chair at night!  




Sunday, December 10, 2023

December 8, 2023

 What's Happening at Dodgeland?

  • Monday, December 11
    • Candy Cane Day - Wear Red and White (Comfy Countdown starts for Staff)
    • Happy Birthday Broedy Soter!
    • Winter Concert Rehearsal
      • 8:45-9:15 for 5K/2nd/4th
      • 9:30-10:00 for 1st/3rd/5th
    • Morning Recess Schedule
      • 9:00-9:15 for 4K/1/3/5 with Mook, Ehlenbeck, Schweitzer, Chambers
      • 9:15-9:30 for 5K/2/4 with Schweitzer, Zastrow, Wedel
      • NO 9:30 recess
    • Mentor/Mentee Meeting for Year 1 certified staff and their mentors from 3:15-4:00pm in IMC
    • Concert night for grades 5K/2/4 at 6:30pm (kids arrive by 6:15 in classroom)

  • Tuesday, December 12
    • Grinch Day - Wear Green
    • SEL Data meeting for 5th grade - 12:35-1:25pm in Conf rm
    • Concert night for grades 1/3/5 at 6:30pm (kids arrive by 6:15 in classroom)
  • Wednesday, December 13
    • Early Release schedule (No morning recess)
    • Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10:00am
    • MyView Literacy coach will be here from 9-3pm
    • 3K/4K consultant (Golshan) from Healthy Minds, Healthy Children grant will be here from 12-2:30
    • Workout Wednesday
    • Staff Meeting CANCELED - See Below for details
  • Thursday, December 14
    • Mad about Plaid Day
    • Jenny leaving for an appt at 3:45pm
  • Friday, December 15
    • Purple Pride or Holiday Color Day
    • Pyramid Model Leadership meeting 1pm-2pm


Nitty-Gritty

  • MyView Literacy Coach visit
    • We have a different literacy coach coming in this week. Her name is Blanca Campillo. This is the last time someone will be here in person to answer questions from MyView.  Please complete this survey to help her plan for her visit.  I will be creating a schedule for her to visit classrooms/teachers to talk about your individual classroom(s).  The schedule will have grade levels meeting with the coach throughout the day.
  • Proactive Strategy Brainstorming
    • If you haven't had a chance to add to the brainstorming doc for behavior strategies, please add them here before Wednesday, 12/13. I changed the format of the document so that we can add ideas easier to it.  If you sent me ideas, I put them in the document for others to read too.
  • Staff Meeting on Dec 13
    • On Wednesday, anyone that is interested in meeting to go through the ideas that were submitted or suggested for proactive strategies, we will be meeting in the IMC at 3:00.  The purpose of the meeting is to discuss possible system ideas that we can put in place and to discuss what is viable options for us as a team to put in place in our school.  


TechKnow Tip

Are you ready for a little fun?! BreakoutEDU is an immersive learning game platform with both physical and digital puzzle elements to solve. A physical BreakoutEDU “room” can be time consuming to set up, so that’s where a digital BreakoutEDU “room” can come in handy. BreakoutEDU is provided to all classroom teachers through the IMC- that means you can use the pre-created materials from the site, you can create digital breakout “rooms” specific to your content, and you can create classes of students to view progress and statistics of any of the BreakoutEDU puzzles. Digital BreakoutEDU puzzles can be shared with students via link or QR code- what a fun thing to do as a soft-start/bell ringer, study hall, or end of the day fun. It is a great opportunity for cooperative learning, problem solving, encourages persistence, and an outstanding alternative to movies. For those not already connected, you will receive an email to get started sometime today. Until then, check this one out as an example!


Behavior Specialist Info

As you all know, the closer we get to the holidays and break, the more excitement and in some cases behaviors we see. Please continue to encourage Bucket Filling and use our poms as reinforcement in addition to your classroom management systems.


Recess Info

Oh Wisconsin Weather!

This winter feels different in that the weather has been so much more variable making it really

difficult to have a consistent snow pants/boots rule that makes sense.

Here’s the scoop (at least until the next snow):

  • Morning bus duty - staff on duty please continue to monitor the equipment in the morning and close the play structure if it is too slippery/wet.
  • Recesses during the day - Boots are required for grass. It is recommended that students continueto dress appropriately according to our weather recommendations (here)
  • After school bus duty - K-3 should be playing on the playground or standing in their lines. 4-5 should be playing 4 square, gaga, basketball or standing in their lines.
  • No students should be on the snow hills or grass past the end of the blacktop at any time of the day.


Friday Funny

This week's Friday Funny comes from last weekend.  Mason (most know, but he is my middle child that lives in Milwaukee) came to the musical on Saturday night to support his sisters.  At the end of the performance, he waited a little bit, but only saw Ella.  He then decided to go to Kwik Trip to get something to drink for the drive home.  Lexi comes out to the gym and asks where Mason is.  I tell her he left so that he can get back before it starts to snow.  She then calls him, asks where he is and gives him a guilt trip for leaving before she got to see him.  He says, "Do you want me to come back?"  She says, "Yes" and so HE DOES!  This is the picture I took of his return to the school. As you can see, he is not super pleased, but Lexi sure is!  He tells her, "You know when I asked if I should come back, it was to be nice.  Most people would say, 'No, that's okay.' not YES PLEASE!"  I'm not sure if I find it more funny or more sweet that he 1. showed up to support his sisters to something he is not a fan of or 2. that he actually returned to see his big sister whom he had seen for now three weekends in a row or 3. that Lexi is so dang proud of herself for getting him to come back just for her!