August 20, 2024

 The First Dodgeland Download of the YEAR!  

I read this meme and thought of the people I get to work with every year.  I know that you are all working so hard, long before the first day of school, whether it is the things on this list or all the planning you do for instruction, routines, transitions, etc.  I want you to know how much this is appreciated by myself and the hundreds of families that will walk through our doors at Open House.  

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I know this is going to be a VERY long post, but please read it carefully.  It has a lot of details about this upcoming year, including things you will need to sign up for, things to mark your calendars about, and information that will be explained in more detail at staff meetings during Inservice Week.  As always, if you have questions, please let me know!

Jenny's Note:

I have spent quite a bit of time this summer reflecting and thinking about the feedback from staff and the survey results from last spring.  I appreciate so much that so many of you took the time to take the surveys, talk to me in person, debrief during the PD days, and/or send me emails.  I have the same goal as you all, which is to make Dodgeland the best place for our students to thrive and for us to work.  I have always loved being at Dodgeland and it is much more than a place to go to work for me.  I care about the people I get to work with, currently and in the past.  I brag often about the staff and children at Dodgeland.  However, it doesn't mean that everything is perfect and that there aren't ways that we can continue to improve.

One of the things that I heard clearly from elementary staff is relating to student behavior, routines and procedures.  Many of the behaviors can be addressed through proactive measures including thought out procedures, relationship building and focusing on encouraging good attendance.  Many of you brainstormed ideas in the attendance committee last week and it was all brought to me.  You will see in the following section and in next week's staff meetings that I have thought about these things.  I also know that in order to continue to see improvements, we need to work together, communicate often, and share supervision responsibilities so that we are all on the same page for all of our students.  I also spent time making sure that I was cognizant of prep time minutes for staff so that you can do your planning but also what needs we have for our students as well.  I share this with you because you will see some changes in the schedule that is below.  If you have questions, concerns, comments, please be ready to share them on or before Monday, August 26 so they can be addressed at staff meetings.

Nitty-Gritty

• New Faces
• You may have seen this in Jessica's packet as well, but wanted to take this time to welcome our new elementary staff as well.  I know you will, but please help me welcome them to our school!
• Karissa Wagner - While she is not new to staff, she is taking on the teacher role in the 4K classroom she has been in for the past two years.  I'm glad she's here and taking on this role too!
• Eneida Conway - Eneida is a parent that we have been able to work with for a number of years, but now we get to see her everyday in the building.  Last year, she was a long term sub in 4K, and now she will be working with our 4K students full-time.  I am so excited she will be on staff with us!
• Tina Ellefson - Because our 4K student enrollment has been quite high this year, we have opened another 4K section.  Tina comes to us from St. Katharine Drexel with a number of years of experience in 4K and 5K and will be teaching out of Room 120.
• Melissa Uttech - Melissa will be joining our 4K team with Amber Jenkins and Ella.  She worked in the MS special education department last year, but she is joining us to work with our littlest learners.  It'll be a big change, but I know that she will do a fantastic job.  She gets to join the ranks of people that work alongside one of their children!  :-). She is Miss Alexis's mom.
• Kari Westphal - Kari is probably a familiar face and there are probably a number of us who got to be her teacher at one point too!  But, she is now ready to join our team as a colleague and take on teaching 3rd grade.  She will be teaching from Room 124. Help me to welcome her to the Elementary in this role!
• Ashley Heuer - Ashley is joining Bethany N. in the Reading Corps program.  She is also a former student.  She will be starting her training on the reading interventions soon and will be ready to work with our students at the beginning of the school year.  
• Julie Kaiser - She will be in the building periodically in Kathy Miller's room doing clinical hours as she works towards her teaching degree.  So, we will still get to see her too!
• Felicia Harmon - She is a Junior Practicum student from Maranatha that will be completing her hours with Mary Jo in 1st grade this fall.  If you see her around the building, please introduce yourself and make her feel welcome!
• Samantha Keberlein - Another familiar face!  Samantha has been a parent of students in our building for a number of years and she was doing long-term subbing last spring as well.  She is now joining us full-time, splitting her time between Ms. Vertz and Mrs. Caine-Arnes' room.  I'm so glad she is able to join us full-time this year!
• Klair Fortmann - Klair is joining our team as a 5th grade teacher in Room 141.  She spent the last year in Jefferson.  She also has been in the building working on getting her classroom ready and reading through teacher's guides. Please help me welcome her.  We are fortunate that she is joining our team as well!
• Carrie Houk - Carrie is joining us in the music department with Noah.  She gets to teach all of our elementary students, many of our MS students and some HS students as well.  She will be very busy, but I can't wait to see our students continue to enjoy music with her too!

• Google Classroom
• This year I will be using Google Classroom to communicate important resources, information, etc.  In fact, the blog will be posted in Google Classroom each week instead of sending out an email each Friday morning.  The more often we use the platform, the more comfortable we will all become.  When you go into Google Classroom, please enter my code to be a member of my "class."  If you need help let me know, and I can send you an invite as well.  The CODE is: 6qdbanp. Or you can accept the invite through your email from me to join the class.

• Act 20 Reading Training
• The literacy training regarding the Science of Reading that is required for reading specialists and myself was actually pretty interesting and engaging.  We will spend our Early Releases working through the modules this school year.  We will start during the week of inservice.  We will be using an online program called Cox Campus.  If you get an email from them, please create an account so that you can watch the online courses as we go through the year.  More information will be shared at Act 20 training on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 8am.  Although not all of you teach literacy, I do want all certified elementary staff and all paras to attend this meeting on Tuesday.  

• Student Lockers
• As I was watching student enrollments coming in this year, I started to consider that we will need to plan for where students' lockers will be located due to classroom placement and so that there is room for each class.  Please check this doc to find your name and the locker range for your class.  It may be slightly different than past years to fit in the enrollment we have.  Let me know if you have any questions.

• Room Changes in the Elementary
• There are a few changes in where you will find some people and programs this year.  See the list below:
• Dodgeland Den for grades 1-5 will now be in Room 102 near the Gym.  This room will still be able to be used for indoor recess this year as well.
• PLTW Lab will be in room 137.  There is a magnetic lock on the wardrobe closet and all of the lower cabinets in the room.  The magnet is located near the top and side of the tall wardrobe closet.  
• Reading Interventionist/Specialist - They will be sharing a space in Room 139.  Brenda Caine and Andrea Schulte will be in this room, but will also be taking some groups in the MS and also over at St. Johns.  They will both have their own phone and voicemail though.
• Room 120 will now be a 4K classroom.  However, the team has a plan for rest time and the students will be moved to another location for rest time.  This way first graders in that hallway won't have to worry about waking up any students.

• Recess and Lunch Schedule Changes
• The morning recess schedule is between 9-9:45am and the afternoon recesses are between 11:30-1:00pm.  The groups will be consistent between all recesses.  4K students will have recess on the early learning playground outside Door #29.  The other recesses will be on the large playground/blacktop area.  The groups are: 5K/1st grade, 2nd/3rd grade, and 4th/5th grade students.  This was changed to help with supervision, developmental similarities and consistency between recess prior to lunch.

• For the past few years, we have had a number of students that have struggled in the lunch room.  Sometimes it is due to the noise, sometimes it is social conflicts, sometimes it is just an environment that sets off students and carries into their classrooms and learning after lunch.  To address this, Teresa and I talked about an idea that we are hoping will help and keep the office more calm during the lunch period. We have set up a consistent room (room 137) and supervisor for an alternate lunch space for each period.  The goal is to build relationships and have a successful lunch period that includes appropriate conversation, cleaning up after themselves, etc. It is not meant to be a punishment, but rather a proactive way to help students be successful.  We will continue to have lunch detentions for consequences, but this is a separate plan from the alternate lunch room. 

• The lunch period is 25 minutes long this year.  The 5 minutes between the end of lunch and the start of the academic period is built in to be able to transition students from the commons to the classroom and any bathroom runs that are needed. Classroom teachers (or specials teachers if you have a group right after lunch period) should be in the commons to pick up their class at 12:25/12:55 or 1:25 based on when your grade has lunch.

• Duties for this school year
• This school year there are a variety of duties to help with supervision, to be proactive with student behavior, and to provide united, consistent expectations across the entire building.  In addition, this will help us build relationships with our students that also help with student behavior.
• Bus Duty: Before school students will be able to leave their backpacks, etc in their line spots and play until the whistle blows at 7:44am.  Start having them enter the building at 7:45am.  After school, the buses should be at the playground outside as soon as school lets out.  Please stay outside until buses have left campus.  Our MS/HS students are dismissed at 3:05 and will exit through Door #26 (by 4th/5th gr doors) by coming down music hallway. (This year there are about 6 weeks during the school year.)

• Recess Duty: Please be on time to your recess duty.  If necessary, you may have to dismiss your own class one min. early to get outside when the recess starts.  When you enter the building, please call the office if you need someone to cover your class if you need to use the restroom.  While on duty, please constantly circulate through your assigned area to supervise students' behavior and the games they are playing. It is important that we are spread out and remain diligent in our supervision. Remember, any chasing game is called TAG and is not allowed on the equipment, regardless of what students say. (Most of us have 1-2 fifteen minute recesses in the morning and some have recesses during the Noon hour recesses as well.)

• Lunch Duty: This is a new duty for this year. I need your help in the commons so that we can have successful lunch periods.  Each staff member has 5 weeks of lunch duties during the school year, joining the paras that are consistent each week.  I tried to spread the weeks out and I made sure that they do not coincide with data meetings this school year. The first 3 weeks there is an extra person assigned in the commons to help with the transition to procedures and create routines.

• Lunch Detentions: This duty has a sheet for you to sign up for 3 days of lunch detentions during the school year. (Click HERE for the sheet.)  You will get a copy of the referral to use to meet with students regarding their behavior.  You will also have a copy of the reflection sheet that is appropriate to their age.  Teresa or myself will share with you who (if any) has been assigned to a lunch detention with you.  Please use your own classrooms for this detention.  The goal is to ask students to talk through the situation, think about what other choices they could have made, and send a consistent message.

• Event Planning Committee Sign Up
• This year, there are 8 planning committees for the school year.  If all of us sign up for 1 committee, we can share the work for the school year and provide events for our students and their families.  Please check out the Google Doc HERE to sign up for 1 committee. This is for certified staff, but as always, all support staff members are welcome to attend all events!

• Social Media Sign Up
• It is important to continue to tell "our story" to the community.  Please sign up on the Social Media sheet for 4 weeks out of the school year.  The pictures and a short write up should be submitted by Tuesday of that week to Sam Santana this year to be posted at some point during that week.  Sam will schedule the posts during the week.  Also, make sure to check your PowerSchool alerts to see if any of your students have a "No Photo Release" alert on file.

• Open House
• There are a number of details that we would like our families to know about this school year, including how important it is for students to have strong attendance at school.  One suggestion that staff had was for me to have a presentation for families during Open House.  I have scheduled a presentation in the IMC during Open House at 5pm and repeated at 6:30pm. I will share the slides with you when they are completed so that you are in the loop.  Also, please remind families to make sure they stop in the commons to get their child's picture taken.  We have a new company this year, Josten's, and we will have a retake day only during the school year.

• Staying the Same
• Not everything is changing though.  :-)
• Grade Level Data Meetings:  These will continue to occur during the middle of the day.  There are 3 of them this year and are on the meetings tab of the master schedule.  I put multiple ones in a week so that we can meet in a more timely manner to assessment results. (A 4th one is scheduled the week of Thanksgiving.)
• PLTW Goals: Our goal is to complete 2 modules for each grade before the end of the school year.  Please plan ahead for when you will do each module so that you do not run out of time.
• Workout Wednesdays: They will continue each week unless it lands on something special that requires more formal dress.
• Nutrition Lessons with Kimberly Laffler: She will continue to work with our 5K-3rd grade classrooms on nutrition.  She is also working with Natalie on a program called Harvest of the Month and will be supporting the fruit or vegetable of the month that Natalie has chosen!
• Citizenship Grades: We will continue to grade our class with our learning targets in citizenship at the end of each month. 
• Report Cards: Reports cards will continue to be done at semester and will be shared with parents digitally and through PowerSchool.

Technology Updates

• KnowBe4 Training
• You should have all received emails with the link to KnowBe4 to complete the online trainings.  Most of them are mandatory per DPI, and others are to help us remember/gain knowledge to protect our data and privacy from people trying to gain access to all of the data that is on our servers.  Please watch them carefully so that you are able to apply this information to your work.

• DSD Staff Resource Page
• Our Technology Dept is incredible and they keep our DSD Staff Resource page up to date with information for us on tools to use, how-to directions including how to login and passwords and even videos in some cases.  Please bookmark this page so that you can get back to it easily when looking for help.  There is info on Google Classroom as well which we all will want to know!

• iPad Roll-out
• iPads are in the process of being placed in lockers in the classrooms. For grades 5K-3, please use the template, or one of your own to post which number slot is for which student's iPad.  This will help the tech team be able to grab/return an ipad easily if the classroom is empty. Again this year, Christina will be coming to your class to go over iPad expectations with your classrooms.  
• Grade 5K - Connect with Christina when you're ready - absolutely no rush!
• Grades 1-2 - HERE are some resources used in the past.  Please sign up for a time and let Christina know which resources you'd like her to use to present with.
• Grade 3 - HERE are the documents that were used the past couple of years.  Let Christina know if you want anything changed.  Sign up HERE for a time.
• Grades 4-5 - Sign up for a time for Christina to come to your class.  HERE are the documents that were used last year.  If you want anything changed, please let her know.  Also, remember to hold onto the completed document and use it to facilitate conversations with students if issues arise throughout the school year.
• Once Christina has gone through expectations with your class, the ipad lockers will be unlocked for use.

• Lunch and Milk Count
• Heads up this year!!  We will not be using the Google sheets for lunch and milk count this year.  We will be using PowerSchool to send counts to Natalie. There is a spot for lunch and milk count.  Because we need to indicate white milk vs. chocolate milk (and we can not modify the names of the categories), we will use the milk box for chocolate milk and the ala carte box for white milk.  The cooler that is delivered to your room will have the class list in the pocket.  Each teacher should check off each student that takes a carton of milk for snack.  In PowerSchool, there will be a green shopping cart alert by a student's name if they are eligible to receive milk for snack.  All students can have milk for snack break until Friday, September 13.  After that, please be sure the alert is by their name or contact the office if you are not sure before ordering them a milk.

• Digital Citizenship Lessons
• We have taught the digital citizenship lessons from Common Sense Media for a number of years, but wanted to bring attention to the lessons as a quick reminder of our rationale.  The goal is to make sure that each student gets the instruction in these very important topics when it is developmentally appropriate.  Our students are technology natives and it is a critical skill for them to be safe online and using technology appropriately.  We will follow this curriculum (Click HERE) from 5K right through 12th grade and if we continue to review it throughout the school year, it has more of a chance to be second nature to them at school and at home!  Let me or Christina know if you have any questions regarding these lessons.

• FYI: Small Tech Changes This Year
• Students will not have the capability of printing this year.  Students should use Google Classroom or pdf's to submit work to teachers.  If things do need to be printed, it will need to go through adults in the system. Students can share their work with a teacher through Google Drive, Google Classroom, Air Drop, etc. If you need any assistance with printing student work, please submit a help desk ticket and they would be glad to help!
• Subs will be using iPads when they are subbing in the district this year.  They will not have individual emails this year either.  Please make sure that you have everything in the sub folder for them as they will not be able to get an email from you. This also means that if the sub needs to show a video, it needs to be digital with a link in the sub notes. We have a number of resources for this like Discovery Ed, Learn 360, etc.  (A super drive will not work with the iPad.)
• Elementary Student email will have a change this year as well.  All students in Grades 5K-2 will not have access to email.  All students in grades 3-5 will have the ability to email internally with teachers/staff within the district.  They will not have the ability to email to other students though. 

Master Schedule

Below is the link to the Google Sheet that contains the Master Schedule.  It is in View only mode, but you can make a copy to your own Drive if you need to.  However, Trisha and I will be using this document to make any changes if necessary, and to check on your schedules. (i.e. we need to find a student in your class, etc.) If you need or want to make any changes, please communicate with us so we can check that it doesn't conflict with other things and so that we can make the changes on the original Google sheet.

The document has tabs along the bottom for different parts of our master schedule: Grade Level Schedules with specials noted, duties, meetings for the year, recess/lunch times, etc.  If you have questions, please let me know!

Click HERE to see it!

I know what you are thinking.  "FINALLY, it's over!!"