November 1, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

•  4K students were learning about patterns and were so proud to predict the next one in the pattern.  I love watching them be excited to learn.

• A Jr Coach brought in two students that had fallen during recess to the nurse.  She was so compassionate and took care of them through the whole thing.  Such wonderful leadership skills our students are building!

• 2nd Graders are drawing food for their Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs project.  I loved listening to them tell me about all the food they have drawn!  I love that so many projects relate to literacy too!

• Shout out to Trisha who finished the November newsletter this week and found a new setting where she can translate each page of the newsletter to Spanish for our families.  This will save us both time and I had no idea it even existed!  Thank you Trisha!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, November 4
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Juech, Stampfl, Wagner (3K/4K Playground)
• Lunch Duty:
• 12:00 - Schuett
• 12:30 - Huso
• 1:00 - Fortmann

• Tuesday, November 5
• Election Day
• Printers Down all day - No printing/copying all day
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica - Jenkins and Schuett
• Lunch Detention Duty
• 12:00 - B. Caine 
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - Bingen
• Paraprofessional Staff meeting in the IMC - 3:15-3:45pm

• Wednesday, November 6
• Happy Birthday Lindsey Klink!
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am

• Thursday, November 7
• Lunch Detention Duty
• 12:00 - Turcotte
• 12:30 - Miller
• 1:00 - Open

• Friday, November 8
• Happy Birthday Kerri Frey!
• Harvest of the Month Lessons for Grades 4-5 from 10-12pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Veteran's Day Assembly
• Looking ahead:  The Veteran's Day assembly this year will be Monday, November 11 starting at 9:30 in the HS gym.  Watch for information about recess adjustments.  The assembly usually lasts between 30-40 min. for your planning.  Please dress professionally as there will be a number of guests here that day as well.

• Gathering Area outside the Art Room/Bathrooms
• Please remember that there are a number of students learning either in the classrooms surrounding the gathering area, or at the tables in this section throughout the day.  If you send students here for the bathroom, or take your class for a bathroom break, etc, remember to keep your voices low so that students have limited disruptions.  Thank you!

• Harvest of the Month for November
• Our FoodWise nutrition educator, Kimberly Lafler, works with Natalie to present the harvest of the month food.  This month is dedicated to cranberries.  Watch for them to be highlighted in the lunch menus this month and she also will be in our school to teach about this food to our 4th/5th graders as well.  For more information, see below.

Recess Information

New Shed

Huge thanks to Lance for getting our recess shed built. Starting next week this is where our recess equipment will be kept. There is a lock on it, however, all ES staff members' keys should work to open it. It would be very helpful if the staff members on bus duty in the morning could open the shed at 7:45 when they blow the whistle so the Junior Coaches could set up the equipment while the students are transitioning in. 

Please continue to hold our students accountable for taking care of our equipment, playing core games, and using kind language. We are starting to see equipment being misused and more and more “imaginary” games being the cause of conflict between students at recess.

Techknow Tip

Four Easy Ways to Stay Safe Online

Keeping families safe online is essential, especially as online threats grow. By following these four simple steps, we can protect ourselves from scams and keep our personal information secure.

1. Recognize & Report Phishing

Phishing scams often trick people into sharing private information or opening harmful attachments. Knowing how to identify phishing attempts and reporting them can prevent these attacks.

2. Use Strong Passwords

Creating strong, unique passwords and using a password manager are simple yet powerful ways to protect our accounts from unauthorized access.

3. Enable Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi Factor authentication, or MFA, adds an extra layer of security by requiring more than just a password to log in. This could mean entering a code sent to your phone or using a fingerprint, significantly increasing account security.

4. Update Software Regularly

Keeping software up-to-date ensures we benefit from the latest security fixes, which protect us from potential vulnerabilities. Regular updates help secure our devices from threats.

By incorporating these habits into our digital routines, we create a safer online environment for everyone in the family. Happy Cyber Security Month!l📱💻🖥️🔒

PD Spotlight

This week's PD Letter is J.  This is a really good message to remember. We all have our own struggles and things we are going through.  As we work with each other and our students, please remember to assume positive intent.  Ross Greene says, "Kids do well if they can," fits in with this idea too. We have such an awesome job!

Friday Funny

So, I can't wait for the extra hour of sleep this weekend, especially because I have a busy weekend celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary coming up.  However, my oven clock is about 2 days away from being the right time, which really is just a bonus for us all!  :-)

October 25, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4th graders working hard on their math.  It is such a great sound to hear in a classroom of learning and everyone working.  It's just a low hum that is like music to my ears!

• Special Education teachers working together to do their best to find support for our students' needs and across grade levels.  It's a complicated situation, but I appreciate their collaboration!

• Dodgeland Den staff met last week to collaborate as well.  When we work together, our students and our system benefits.  Thank you all so much!

• Shout out to Carrie Houk who is teaching her students to read music on their iPad!  It will be a process, but it's very exciting that you are teaching them a new skill as well.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 28
• Bus Duty: CaineT, Huso, Lucht, Braunschweig (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty:
• 12:00 - Donovan
• 12:30 - Westphal
• 1:00 - Klink
• School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm (Annual meeting is first)

• Tuesday, October 29
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Braunschweig, Donovan, Huso
• Lunch Detention Duty:
• 12:00 - Ellefson
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - Fortmann

• Wednesday, October 30
• Workout Wednesday
• 3rd Gr. Field trip (8:10-2:50pm)

• Thursday, October 31
• Seals on Wheels 1st visit, start pulling kids at 8am
• KnowBe4 Training Due by the end of the day
• Lunch Detention
• 12:00 - B Caine
• 12:30 - B Caine
• 1:00 - Open

• Friday, November 1
• Citizenship Grades Due for October in the Gradebook
• Run for State: Cross Country - 10:40am
• New Duties begin for Support Staff
• Breakfast: Lexi and Vicky
• Morning Circle Drive: Eneida
• PM Circle Drive: Jessica and Sandi

Nitty-Gritty

• Seals on Wheels
• The staff will be in the elementary conference room on Thursday performing the procedures for our students that have been signed up.  I do not have a list yet, but I will share when I get it.  They will start at 8am and the goal will be to complete before any Fall parties.  

• Cox Campus Update
• There are two different Cox Campus modules/lessons going on right now for staff.  For some staff, you are being asked to do the Build my Brain module.  This one has 4 lessons for part of it.  Originally, I had planned to meet with this group during the Early Release/PD day in October, but I didn't realize that so many other staff were at conferences, so I am postponing the debrief on this.  For other staff, you are completing the Act 20 modules.  These are broken down into a couple of lessons per month.  Please use the Early Release schedules to determine work time for these lessons.
• For paras, we are going to use some time on Early Release and our PD meetings to do this work. Please don't worry if you do not have them complete.  No worries.

• Citizenship grades
• Please make sure to put grades into your gradebook for October by the end of the week.  By inputting them. in each month, it will be easier to see growth, trends or changes at the end of the semester.  Make sure that as you are putting grades in for each learning target that it is reflective of their actions for the past few weeks.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  You also can ask your colleagues that work with your students for their input as well.

• OT Sessions
• A friendly reminder that Chrissy will not be back at school until Friday, November 8.  Any students that have OT sessions will not have them this week and most of next week.  Anyone that could help us out for recess duty on Friday, Nov. 1 from 9-9:15am, please contact Trisha in the office.  Thank you!

• PowerSchool Contact Information
• On Friday, Oct. 18, Brad sent us an email out about how to find parent contact information.  As a reminder, you will get the most up-to-date information in PowerTeacher Pro Gradebook. Do NOT USE the demographics part from the main teacher screen of PowerTeacher.  This is not tied to the contact part and the information is outdated and potentially inaccurate.  If parents contact you about any changes in phone, email, address, etc., it can only be changed by the office.  They either need to contact Trisha by phone or email or if you get it, you can pass it to Trisha.  Parents can not change the date themselves so that we can keep the integrity of what is in the system.  If you have questions, please see Brad's email or let me know.

• Clearview Visits
• The director of life enrichment, Amanda Stein, contacted us this month and invites our students to visit and perform for their residents.  Last year, we had a couple of groups that visited and it made their day.  If you have an idea of something that our students could do for/with them, their director would be glad to hear from you!  Her contact information is below:
• Amanda Stein, AP-C
• Office: 920-386-4249
• Email: astein@co.dodge.wi.us

Recess Information

Green Tickets

Our “respect” extra incentive ended on Friday. We/Sophie will be introducing a new word of the month in

November to reinforce with the green tickets. More information to come… (So green tickets are on hold

this week, please continue the bucket filling incentive).

PD Spotlight

We are on Letter I. I is for Interest.  How do you get to know your students?  This also fits with the Oral Language strategy we talked about last week as well.  The more you do this, the better it is for our students.

TechKnow Tip

We all know the internet is a fantastic world of learning and entertainment for kids, but, like the real world, there can be dangers, too. With some precautions, you can set your children up to become upstanding digital citizens that will lead the future. On the other hand, giving children uninhibited access to the internet can put your child, computer and personal data at risk.
For more information and tips:
Secure Our World: Simple Steps to Protect Your Family

Friday Funny

This might be me someday after retirement, but it won't be about ferrets.  Probably something related to some documentary I just saw!  God knows my children will definitely be done talking to me by then!  :-)

October 18, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Another fabulous night of conferences this week.  Thank you to all you do to be ready to share the positive and next steps with our students' families.  The families are so fortunate to have such caring and competent teachers for their children.

• Staff members were using their devices to use translation tools to help with communication for families.  I know that our families appreciate the work to communicate effectively.  Rose was busy all night translating, but there was only one of her!  

• Shout Out To Trisha for taking care of all of the activity account deposits and checks (and the fundraising paperwork too!) for each of our grades. I appreciate that she is able to keep up to date on this important task!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, Oct. 21
• Happy Birthday Sue Reimer!
• Bus Duty: Zastrow, CaineB, Schulte, Donovan (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty:
• 12:00 - Vertz
• 12:30 - Turcotte
• 1:00 - McKay
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-10am

• Tuesday, Oct. 22
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Westphal, Miller
• 4th/5th Grade Field trip from 9am-12:30pm
• National Color Day! Wear the color of your grade (or pick a grade if you work with more than one grade.)
• EC/3K- purple, 4K- green, 5K- pink, 1st- Yellow, 2nd- black, 3rd- blue, 4th- Orange, 5th- Red
• Lunch Detention Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Wagner
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - Bingen

• Wednesday, Oct. 23
• Workout Wednesday
• 1st Grade Field Trip from 8:40-2:30
• 5K Field Trip from 8:15-11:30am

• Thursday, Oct. 24
• Happy Birthday Bethany Turcotte!
• Early Release - No Morning Recess
• 12:30 Staff meeting for those in Act 20 training

• Friday, Oct. 25
• Happy Birthday Lynn Bentz!
• PD Day 7:30-3pm (Schedule will be out soon!)

Nitty-Gritty

• PowerSchool Log Entry Update
• HUGE Shout out to Brad for his hard work to get some really helpful settings added to our system that will help us all with communication and work flow for us as well.  There is now a button for us to use that will allow us to send an auto email to authors of log entries in PowerSchool after they have been addressed or sent to parents.  As a reminder, all minors are sent out daily between 3:30-3:45 to parents through Bright Arrow and are added to the Parent portal.  Majors are also sent out to parents, but they may not be the same day as written.  When an administrator addresses it, you will get a notice that tells you a summary of it and also confirmation that it has been shared with parents through Bright Arrow as well.  

• Wellness Committee Note to Staff
• Thank you for taking time to complete the staff wellness survey. The committee reviewed your feedback and are working on next steps to provide you with opportunities to make sure you are filling your cup!
• First, we want to make sure that you know the administration gives permission for you to take time for self-care activities during your prep or lunch if you choose. This could be going for a walk, reading for pleasure, etc. Second, we will have some wellness activity choices for you on Friday's PD day. Let us know if you have any ideas that you want us to incorporate for the next PD day!

• Monday's HS Assembly
• On Monday, there is an assembly in the HS gym for the Alumni Recognition Ceremony. This will bring in a number of community members.  The assembly begins at 1:30 which is at the end of our 4th/5th grade lunch period.  It will be especially important that we are in the commons at 1:25 (or a little before) to transition students out of the commons so that the students do not unintentionally disrupt the presentations.  

• KnowBe4 Training
• Did you see your email from KnowBe4?  There is a new training for you to finish before the end of the month.  There will be some time to complete this training by the end of month.

TechKnow Tip

Many people use some form of social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. When using social media platforms, it’s important to be careful about what you post. Cybercriminals can use this information in cyberattacks to try and trick you into clicking malicious links. Cybercriminals may also try to phish you through a direct message. Some cybercriminals will even use online bot accounts to reply to your posts or message you automatically. Luckily, many social media platforms allow you to have a private account and restrict who can contact you. Be sure to use privacy features to protect your personal information from strangers and cybercriminals. To learn more please visit Share with Care: Staying Safe on Social Media

PD Spotlight

This week we are on Letter H which is for Hope.  As I read through the statements, I can think of a number of children throughout my career that I believe would have felt this way.  Do you have any names or faces in your mind of your students this year?

Friday Funny

How many of you felt like this on Wednesday night?!  :-)

October 11, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• There were so many parents coming through the doors on Wednesday ready to hear how their child is doing at school.  Thank you for all your hard work preparing for these conversations.

• 4K students have had a couple of really fun visitors lately, including this week's visit from firefighters with their truck.  Shout out to the team for organizing this for our students!

• 2nd Graders in Mrs. Zastrow's class used small mirrors to see what their mouth does to make each vowel sounds.  This is another way to help them learn the sounds for each letter by knowing what their mouth/jaw does.  This helps them say the right sound!  Way to go!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 14
• Bus Duty for the week: Schweitzer, Mosher, O'Toole, Ellefson (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty for the week:
• 12:00 - Braunschweig
• 12:30 - Miller
• 1:00 - O'Toole
• ASQ-SE2 due for 3K/4K staff
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Community Briefing on Social Connectedness and Youth Mental Health in the Commons at 6pm

• Tuesday, October 15
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: No one signed up, but feel free to send her a post! :-)

• Wednesday, October 16
• Workout Wednesday (Just be sure to have professional attire for conferences)
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Parent/Teacher Conferences from 4-7:30
• Jenny will be providing some food for staff that are here for conferences that night.  Stop in the lounge after 3:30 to grab something.
• Book Fair is open from 4-7:30pm

• Thursday, October 17
• 4K Field trip to Busy Barns from 8:15am-2:15pm

• Friday, October 18
• Happy Birthday Sophie Mosher!

Nitty-Gritty

• Parent Teacher Conferences
• After conferences this week, please email Trisha the number of conferences you held from each night of conferences.  This information gets reported to the school board so it is important that we collect this data.  Thank you in advance!
• EP Documents
• If you have any outstanding documents, please complete them soon.  The Rapid Cycle planning document was due at the end of Sept and for some of you, the survey document and the SLO/PPG documents are due in the next week or so.  For some of you on your summative year, I would like to meet with you about your goals for the school year.  Please watch for an email from me to sign up for a time to do this.

• Cox Campus
• For many of you, we will be meeting to go over lessons from Cox Campus.  The resources, including the study guides, are in Google Classroom.  We will be meeting during the October Early Release or PD day (10/24-10/25) to go over the highlights and answer any questions.  If you have questions, please let me know.

PD Spotlight

I can't remember if I put in the blog before that these weekly PD posts are from Jen Johnson.  She has one for each letter of the alphabet I believe.  We are on G.  I like them because it is always something thought provoking and helpful.  This week's post reminds me of the study I shared with you a few years ago about culture improvement in a hospital.  The one thing the staff committed to was to acknowledge everyone that you pass, meet or see as you move through your day with a wave, greeting, smile, or some other way to show them that they are seen as part of the community in their workplace.  Just changing this one thing, helped improve the workplace culture across the entire building. When we are under stress or have a lot on our minds, this is something that can easily be forgotten, but when someone is greeted, it feels good whether your a child or an adult.  This week's post is a great reminder of something that we previously committed to here at Dodgeland.  If you haven't heard me say it lately, I love working with you all and am proud to call you my colleagues.

Friday Funny

Sharing this that Gabrielle sent to me!  How true this might actually be!  Aaaand, I wonder how many of us and our students will grow up to have neck issues and humps on our back from looking down all the time!

October 4, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Interventionists working hard to get to know our students and their strengths/needs.  They are matching their instructional needs to the resources we have or working to find the resources they need!  Thank you so much!

• I sat in on a few student meetings this week with educators who came prepared to share positives and next steps for their students, as well as open to suggestions and ready to work as a team with parents and other professionals.  I just love listening to our staff explain student growth, watching them be as excited for our students as parents are.  Our students are so lucky to have this quality of educators in their life!

• Shout out to all of those that have stepped in to help out with coverage from individual students, to classrooms, to helping/saving me from messing up math instruction (Thanks Sue!).  I truly appreciate all of you that help out across the building where help is needed.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 7
• Bus Duty: Fortmann, Miller, Chambers, Wagner (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty for the week: 12-Ellefson, 12:30-Juech, 1:00-Bingen
• Fundraiser Packets Due to the office
• XPD registrations due to Kimi in DO
• Everyday Speech lessons start in Grades 2-5
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-10am
• 2nd Grade Data meeting from 12:05-12:55pm
• Jenny in meeting from 2-2:30pm

• Tuesday, October 8
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Wagner
• Jenny/Teresa in meeting from 8:15-9am
• 5K Data meeting from 11:35-12:25pm

• Wednesday, October 9
• Workout Wednesday (Please have professional dress for P/T conferences though)
• Parent/Teacher Conferences from 4-7:30pm
• Book Fair from 4-7:30pm

• Thursday, October 10
• Jenny at Cesa from 7:30-1pm

• Friday, October 11
• SAEBRS assessment due for grades 5K-5 (Don't forget to have students complete the mySAEBRS in grades 2-5)
• ASQ-SE2 assessment due on Monday, October 14 for 3K/4K teachers
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-8:45 and 9:30-10am

• Saturday, October 12
• Happy Birthday Teresa!

Nitty-Gritty

• Parent Teacher Conferences
• If you would like me to attend any conferences for any of your students, please let me know.  I will do my best to be at any/all conferences that you'd like my support for or even just for me to answer questions.

• Everyday Speech
• Please watch for information from Sophie regarding the weekly/daily lessons in Everyday Speech for grades 2-5.  The information will be posted in Google Classroom under the Elementary Staff.  The goal of this is to help our students have more interaction with SEL instruction throughout the year. You do not need to add the reflect lessons unless you think it will be helpful for your class.  If you have questions, please reach out to Sophie or myself. 

• Dodgeland Den Reminders
• Because both of the after school Den staff are in classrooms at the end of the day, please make sure that you are not sending students to the den before 3pm.  The last few weeks there have been students arriving at the room prior to 3 and there is no supervision for them at that time.  Thank you for your help!

Recess Information

Playground Coverage

Please make sure that you are coordinating with other staff to cover our zones

(here is the presentation with the zones, slide 10)

on the Playgrounds. Additionally, if a student has a minor injury (needs/wants ice),

please radio the office and send them in alone or with a Junior Coach. If there is a

major injury and the student needs to be escorted, please call for the nurse or

support staff to come and assist so that no adults are left outside alone. There are

first aid kids inside of both the 2nd grade and 5th grade doors for bandaids.

Confidential - Bee Alerts

Maverick Westphal (3K), Layla Lewis (5K) and Kinsley Kadinger (5th grade) are allergic to bees.

If they are stung, please call for support as they need to be escorted to the office and assessed

(none have an EpiPen). Any updates will be added to Powerschool and shared out.

If you are aware of a student with a bee allergy that is not on the list, please share

that information with Leah and Trisha so we can confirm the allergy and add it to Powerschool.

Behavior Specialist Information

Recess/Lunch Coverage

Please take this short survey to help us determine how to move forward with coverage when staff are out without a guest teacher. If you know of anyone that may be able to be a guest teacher, please reach out to them and encourage them to apply. 

Bathroom by the Multipurpose Room

Students seem to be hanging out and messing around by the gym bathroom. Please limit the number of students allowed to use the bathroom at one time.

TechKnow Tip

As you prepare for Parent/Teacher conferences, keeping a student’s information confidential is required. Teachers should not show a live PowerSchool Gradebook with parents. It is recommended that parents log into their Parent access account to view their students’ progress and grades. If they do not have access to PowerSchool, another option is using PowerTeacher Gradebook Reports. PowerSchool Reports can assist you with conversations with your students’ Parents/Guardians. Helpful reports may include “Individual Student Report” and “Missing Assignment Report”. These reports are available for all your classes, but ensure you are only sharing specific student data with specific parents/guardians. Specific directions can be found here.

Friday Funny

Today I had the displeasure of riding around town while Ella drove to run errands.  Part of me wonders how on earth she passed her driving test, and then I remember that I was a TERRIBLE teacher for Ella so I take some blame.  But, she did share what I think may go down as one of the most interesting ways to get out of a speeding ticket.  She was pulled over in Beaver Dam going 12 mph over the limit.  The officer says, "Where are you heading to in a hurry?"  Ella says, "I'm going to work.  I work at an elementary school in Juneau and start at 9."  She then says, "I have recess duty and I CAN'T BE LATE!"  He must have thought, "Well this is original, or maybe he thought, this is a new one, or maybe he just thought she was losing it!"  Either way, she walked in at exactly 9am with NO TICKET!!

PS:  Whatever else she adds to this story I choose to ignore. I don't care which street it was, or why she thinks this wasn't that fast.  All I hear is blah, blah, blah, agree with my excuse!  (If she starts with the statement, "in my defense" you know it is an excuse coming next!). LOL