May 31, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Shout out to Teresa and Sophie for organizing and putting on a fantastic Field Day for our students and staff.  Our students were so excited to share with me what they got to do.  Thank you again!

• Shout out to the picnic committee (and others that helped!).  Mary Jo, Teresa, Rachael, Blasia, Christina (and our awesome retirees Pam and Sue who came to help at the Book Fair!), Brenda, Lexi, Ella, Courtney (and Rachel C and Kelly from the HS), Brad all contributed to making the picnic a success.  Whether you helped plan an activity, a food truck, ordering supplies, setting up or cleaning up that day, it was all noticed and appreciated.  Thank you so much.  And for those that were able to attend our indoor rainy end of the year picnic, I hope you enjoyed yourselves!

• 5K Graduation was adorable and well-done tonight!  Shout out to Bethany and Mandy who put so much work into this project and our families LOVE it.  From the video that melts my heart to the sweet singing to the proudest smilest I've ever seen on a child's face.  It is one of my favorite events of the year!  (Did you know we have a Dodgeland YouTube page?  If you want to see it, click HERE to watch the live stream version from tonight!)

• Sam, Christina and Brad are always appreciated, but it is week's like this one where I can not possibly thank them enough.  They man the tech for practices, they set up the risers/platforms/audio/etc, they collect and organize all of our student iPads, and then train Watson to perform in a concert!  I wonder when they sleep?  :-)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, June 2
• Graduation at 1pm (All staff are invited to attend!)

• Monday, June 3 (See PD Schedule for more details)
• Dodgeland Appreciation Breakfast - All staff (certified and non-certified) invited (7:30-8:30am)
• Staff meeting in IMC from 1-3pm 

• Tuesday, June 4
• Grades and Comments for Report Cards due at noon
• Pyramid Model meeting from 1-3pm in Elem. Conf. room

• Wednesday, June 5
• Dodgeland Debrief in Multi-purpose room 7:30-9am
• Class List Meetings in Elem. Conf. room 9:15-12:45pm (see schedule for specific grade level times.
• Last DAY!  Have a great summer!

Nitty-Gritty

• Extra Duty Forms
• Please complete these forms and turn them into Jenny's mailbox by Monday at 3pm.  I need to go through them and sign them for Laura by Tuesday morning so that you all can get paid on June 15.  If you do not turn it in on time, you will have to wait longer for your money for those duties.

• EP Forms
• If there are any forms that you need me to open so that you can complete them, please let me know.  I went through the ones I had, but I may have missed some.  I will be going through these as fast as I can.  Do not feel that you need to be super wordy on them, brief and concise is best!  :-)

• Staff Meeting on Monday
• Please bring a device with you to the staff meeting on Monday afternoon.  We will have a tech presentation first and then will be working together on some other pieces to prepare for next school year.  Also, please make sure that you have read through the rubrics and matrix for behavior before you get to the meeting.

• Class List meetings
• All staff that works with the grade level that is meeting to create class lists is welcome to join these meetings on Wednesday.  This includes specials teachers, special education, homeroom teachers, etc.  All voices are welcome as we create these lists.  We will use the Class Creator to make the first draft and then we will adjust it as we see fit.  Over the summer, I may have to make adjustments depending on move ins or move outs though.

PD Spotlight

Please spend time this summer taking care of you, relaxing, spending time with the people that make you happy, and ultimately taking a well-deserved BREAK!  Being an educator is a challenging career as you all know.  Yes, it is rewarding, and yes, it provides a regular schedule (for the most part...).  But it also demands a lot from you mentally, physically and emotionally.  I am in awe of how you all are able to make it look so effortless even though I KNOW it is not.  Taking care of yourself is NOT selfish, it is necessary.  Enjoy this time and I look forward to seeing you in August.  (Those of you in Summer School, we get to spend a few more weeks together!)

Friday Funny

So.  I go to the Dr today and it takes longer than I plan, but I enter the office around noon and some group called "The Parliament" has left a note on the door saying, "You're Welcome."  As I enter it is apparent that there has been a break-in.  The district administrator had to be notified, as well as our safety and crisis coordinator.  Then to find out that the "parliament of owls" that were all over my office were taken from a fellow teacher's CLASSROOM!  I was outraged!

However, as the investigation continues (and you saw earlier today) it became apparent that this might have been an inside job.  As I start to conduct my investigation and conduct interviews, I am narrowing down my list of people of interest.  I am not sure that you all realize how many "true crime" shows I really watch in a given week!  I feel like I have SKILLS!  My first witness:  a sweet angelic little 2nd grader.  She immediately names the perpetrators!  I've never known her to lie to me before (even when it gets her into more trouble mind you!).  Then I watch the video evidence from Mrs. Johnson and I realize there are other witnesses as well.  Mr. Schweitzer and Mrs. Fobes, unfortunately, you seemed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time as they say!  Then later, I find out that Miss Chrissy and Mrs. Lauth were eye witnesses to the preparation of this heist.  You poor, poor souls that were just thrown into this melee!  I am hoping you were able to sleep on Thursday night after watching such a flagrant crime!

After multiple interviews with the suspects, they continue to deny being the perpetrators. However, I believe that I have found the proof.  I submit for the final evidence, this 2 min. video.  I am confident that I have found the members of "The Parliament" gang.  (LH, EH, SV, TP, BD) Do you agree with my conclusion? 

Now, who is the Duck Master??  You, sir/madam, have dodged all of my attempts at solving your case.  I am sending that case into the cold case files until another lead presents itself or more evidence comes to light...