January 26, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I got to have a number of meetings with parents this week. These meetings had staff that had some difficult messages to share, but it was done respectfully and clear.  I know this can be hard, but it is important that we do this timely and clearly.

• Shout out to Trisha P. who worked so hard this week, learning everything report card and PowerSchool. Also, a shout out to Brad who spent extra time training Trisha and checking to make sure that everything was working plus answering so many questions.  (Mine, not Trisha.  She's a quick learner!)

• So many teachers are using the mid-year testing information to make groups and instructional decisions in their classrooms.  I love listening to your conversations and planning.  It always reminds me of the incredible talent at Dodgeland.  Thank you all for the things you do for our students.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 29
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Ruplinger, Stampfl, Donovan (3K/4K playground)

• Tuesday, January 30
• Social Media posts due: BCaine, O'Toole
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - Miller
• 12:30 - Wedel
• 1:00 - Schwoerer
• SEL Data Meeting - 2nd Gr 12:05-12:55pm

• Wednesday, January 31
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Data Meeting - 5K 12:05-12:55pm
• KnowBe4 cyber training due date - Please make sure it is completed by the end of the day.

• Thursday, Feb. 1
• New Support Staff duties
• Breakfast Duty: Rose, Jessica B/Jenny Kilburg
• AM Circle Dr: Brittany
• PM Circle Dr: Reilly, Bethany T?
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• All are open, let me know if anyone wants to pick up one of the time slots.

• Friday, Feb 2

Nitty-Gritty

• Class Picture Day
• Friendly reminder that the rescheduled class picture day is Friday, January 26.  The time schedule is HERE. Please bring your class to the commons at your time and hopefully it will be a quick process. :-). For support staff, please join the class/classes that you spend a lot of your school day with.

• Technology Maintenance
• Please make sure that you have read through Brad's email about technology maintenance. It is important that you are restarting your devices weekly.  Also, be sure that you stay up to date with updates that are needed for the software or apps by the end of the first week of each month.  If they are not done, the updates will automatically be pushed out from the network.  This means that it could be at a very inconvenient time or in the middle of your teaching.  Please make sure that you are charging and connecting your devices to the network weekly.

• Digital Report Cards
• The test run worked today.  On Friday, Jan. 26, the digital emails with the report cards will be sent out to the families.  Part of the message to families will be directions for them to access them on PowerSchool as well as to contact us if they need a paper copy mailed to them, as well as notifying them that the 2nd semester report cards will only be shared digitally.

• Summer School
• I am still looking for teachers that want to teach for one or both of the summer school sessions.  If you are still thinking about it, please let me know.  We can talk through ideas of courses as well.  I always love talking summer school.  It is a short amount of time, but provides a safe place for kids to be and also the opportunity to keep learning! It is also a great time for professionals to try new subjects or activities on a smaller scale.  HERE is the link to sign up.

• Personnel Information
• While Jessica Bauer is getting to the home stretch of welcoming her new little one, we will have a substitute para, Jenny Kilburg, in the building twice a week for her working with Blasia and Ann and the 4th/5th grade teachers.  She may be a familiar face as she helped out during Hailey's maternity leave and she has three children in the school as well.  Please help make her feel welcome!

Recess Information

The snow hill behind the basketball hoops is closed and will remain closed.

Please do not allow students to climb on them at any time.

Behavior Specialist Information

In case you missed it at the staff meeting, here is the Zones of Regulation information. Please take a few minutes to look it over and reach out with any questions as this will be our universal framework for supporting our students' regulation and for the program to be effective, it is essential that we are all on the same page. Once I learn Canva, nice posters with the information will be provided and hung throughout the building.

TechKnow Tip

Have you checked out Novel Effects yet?! It is a read aloud aide that adds sound effects to the book you’re reading. Some great seasonal titles you may want to check out first are Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, Dino-Football by Lisa Wheeler, and The Secret Life of Squirrels: A Love Story by Nancy Rose. All these can be checked out from our library or the Sora app and read with your students. They also have a great activities and learning resources page. They provide activities like printable coloring sheets and games, as well as resources like graphic organizers and supplemental research information. These can be a great way for students to continue to practice their literacy skills they are working so hard on with all of you! You can find login information HERE on our staff resource page.

Friday Funny

This week I had a group of third graders in the office to talk to them about some poor choices that they made at recess. At the end of the conversation, one of the boys says to me, "I hate getting in trouble. I wish I could turn back time and not do _______." Another student says, "I don't like to get in trouble either." A third student says, "Well, we can't do that because it would mess up the whole timeline!" And at that point, it became a science fiction conversation about time traveling. I may have to repeat my message, but it started as a remorseful statement at least!