March 28, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Students and staff supported our students testing the last two weeks.  We have 1 testing day left, April 1.  Thank you for keeping students quiet in the hallways and for being flexible with the schedules.  It is much appreciated.

• Shout out to Natalie and her staff that provide a consistent breakfast for our students.  This week I witnessed a student get out of their car at the curb and start running to the school yelling, "Breakfast Pizza today!"  Now there was a student that was starting his day very happy!

• Shout out to Alexis, Reilly, Lexi, Ella, Kari and Gabrielle for being flexible with moving Dodgeland Den for 2 days to accommodate our 3K/4K screening.  I know that it is a lot of work to help kids and families with a new routine, but it was very helpful.  Thank you so much!

• So many of you helped provide feedback and information on the summer school booklet and letter.  Thank you so much for your attention to detail and sharing it with me.  While I do reread what feels like a thousand times, I miss things. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, March 30
• Happy Birthday Brad!

• Monday, March 31
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Juech, Stampfl, Schuett (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Lucht
• 12:30 - Huso
• 1:00 - Schulte
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Lance's LAST day!

• Tuesday, April 1
• Election Day
• Forward Testing for 4th grade from 8:15-9:45 and from 10-11am
• Recess for 4th/5th grade is from 9:45-10am
• Normal Specials Schedule for all grades
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - O'Toole
• 12:30 - O'Toole
• 1:00 - Open
• Paraprofessional Meeting in the IMC from 3:15-3:45pm

• Wednesday, April 2
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am and 12-1pm

• Thursday, April 3

• Friday, April 4
• Harvest Lessons for grades 4-5 from 10-12
• 4K Data meeting from 11:35-12:25 in Elem. Conf room

• Saturday, April 5
• Happy Birthday Mandy!

Nitty-Gritty

• Summer Position??
• Future All-Stars Academy will once again be running their summer camp within our elementary school.  They have openings for staff to work with school aged students so that they can offer a fun and safe place for children to be this summer. If you are interested in working in the summer camp this summer, please contact Tricia Peterson at the center at (920) 386-4700.

• Trojan Tickets
• Don't forget to give out tickets to our students for a chance for you to win a prize too!  Thank you to Teresa for organizing this for us all!

• Field Trips
• If your grade is planning a field trip for this spring, please make sure to get the forms in as soon as you can. I want to make sure that the bus company has enough drivers to accommodate the groups that are traveling and providing learning experiences out of the building for our students. 

• Planning Ahead
• Please make sure that you are planning out projects, units, etc so that you can cover the material that is necessary for your class/grade.  While we still have 2 months of school left, it will go fast. I would hate for you to run out of time for something important. What units are left in MyView, Bridges? Did you complete your PLTW modules yet? What projects do you need students to complete? 

• Observations
• I will be continuing to complete observations for the Effectiveness Project.  If I haven't been in your room lately and there is something you want my feedback on or something you want me to see, please let me know the time and I will do my best to be there. If you have any unfinished EP documents, please complete them at your earliest convenience.

TechKnow Tip

Looking to connect your students outside their known world and celebrate the amazing planet we live on? Try any of these 12 Websites for Virtual Field Trips. One highlight on the list is “The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks” where you go on an interactive tour (including videos, audio recording, activities, and 360* views) with a park ranger at one of our beautiful U.S. National Parks. Another favorite from the list is Explore.org Live Nature Cams which has an endless variety of staffed nature cameras including a kitten rescue sanctuary in California, an osprey nest in Montana, a puppy nursery in Maryland, or inside a honeybee hive in Germany. Many of these relaxing live cams have soothing music accompaniments, making them great to use at the start of the day, during work time, or a way to calm down in preparation of quality learning.

Behavior Specialist Information

Trojan Tickets

Please continue to hand out tickets daily for our students that are following expectations. Here is the document if you need a refresher.

Recess Information

Worth a Repeat

I know this time of year we are all hanging on by a thread, but please do your very best to get to recess duty on time. When people are late it often impacts the system as then other adults are late for their next assignment. 

Please also do your best to be in our recess coverage zones:

5k-5th

*near home plate/far side of the playground

*sidewalk near the near side of the playground/grass area

*by the gaga/four square games

4k

*near the playground equipment

*near the merry go round/house

Thanks in advance for being proactive and holding our kids accountable to the expectations to prevent injury and/or major behavior issues.

PD Spotlight

Friday Funny

My friend's parents have a car that still needs two keys.  When she told me about it, I honestly could barely remember this.  And Now... I rarely even see my car key because I just push a button and hope the key is still in the car somewhere!  Thank goodness for technology!

March 21, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Staff provided a memorable St. Patrick's Day for many of our students this week. I know this is a lot of planning, but your students will remember that for a long time!

• The team that put together the Screening event for our new students worked SOOO hard!  It was organized and they did a great job of welcoming our students and their parents to our school.  I can not thank you all enough!

• Shout out to Noah McKay that put together his instrument petting zoo to get kids excited for learning an instrument and joining band.  One student was so excited to tell me that he was going to play the trumpet!  I love to hear their excitement!

• Shout out to Carrie, Noah, Brad, and so many others that helped our first co-op musical with Hustisford be successful.  It was a fun show with beautiful singing, set and costumes.  Way to go everyone!

• Our first Attendance Super HERO class received their prize this week.  Congratulations to Mrs. Schuett's 4K class!  I hope that I will get to come to all of your classrooms yet this year!  (Hopefully before spring break???)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 24
• Bus Duty: CaineT, Huso, Lucht, Braunschweig (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Stampfl
• 12:30 - Arnes
• 1:00 - Bingen
• Jenny in Meeting from 8:30-10am
• School Board Mtg @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, March 25
• Happy Birthday Watson!
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Schuett
• Forward Testing from 8:15-11:30 for grades 3-5
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5
• 3K/4K Screening from 3:30-6:30
• Dodgeland Den is moved to Zastrow/Westphal's room again

• Wednesday, March 26
• Workout Wednesday
• Forward Testing from 8:15-11:30 for grades 3-5
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5
• HS is testing for Pre-ACT - NO TA's for us today!
• Staff Meeting @3:10-3:55pm

• Thursday, March 27
• Happy Birthday Shanalyn!
• Forward Testing for Grade 4 from 8:15-9:45
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5

• Friday, March 28
• Citizenship Grades due in gradebooks for March
• Wheelchair Basketball Assembly for Elementary from 1:30-2:10pm in HS gym

Nitty-Gritty

• Gallup Poll Reminder
• On Monday, you will receive an email from Gallup for the spring engagement survey.  Please take the time to complete this survey next week.  It is very helpful for me and the district to see areas for me to focus my work on.  Thank you in advance for your attention to this task!

• Wheelchair Basketball Assembly
• A few years ago, we had this assembly for our elementary students to learn more about the sport of wheelchair basketball.  They are returning this week to speak to our students again. Please mark your calendars for this on Friday, March 28. The elementary students' assembly time is 1:30 (right after the 4th/5th gr lunch) in the HS gym.  The assembly ends at 2:10 so that the HS students can enter at 2:15.

• Hillsboro School District Email
• Today I received an email from a principal in Hillsboro asking me if there are any teachers that would be willing to speak to some of their teachers about your experience teaching with MyView.  They are possibly interested in visiting us as well.  Please let me know if you are interested in collaborating and sharing your thoughts with colleagues from this school system.

• Summer School Registration
• The summer school booklet will be coming out digitally next week Tuesday.  Registration for this year will start on Wednesday, April 2 at 4pm. To prepare for this, please consider recommending remedial courses for students that would benefit from summer school.  The form is HERE that you can print and send home with students. The booklet is HERE, but it can not be shared outside the building until it is approved by the school board.  Finally, please let me know HERE any students that you are recommending for a course for summer school.

TechKnow Tip

Thank you to those who have already shared their valuable insights into how you utilize your devices, how often you use them, and how they contribute to your job functions. We believe that understanding your experiences with these tools is crucial for optimizing our digital resources and empowering you to deliver the best possible learning experiences for our students.

If you haven’t already, please take time to complete the survey below. We value your honest feedback and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. We appreciate your commitment to our students and your willingness to contribute to our ongoing efforts to enhance our educational practices. 

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtWeXcku4DAYmg2amG0RnBMxGmdYaTxmZtom6tM3Y_qQtfUA/viewform?usp=header

The survey will close Monday, March 24th.

PD Spotlight

The Power of Yet!  This is so powerful for not only our students, but for us as well! It's so awesome to see it enter our students' vocabulary without prompting, but it comes from our modeling and prompting first.  This is a great reminder!

Friday Funny

So, this might be true, but the way Janice said it, was iconic.  I believe that has been repeated more than 1000 times by just me!  And that is mostly because I can say what I am thinking/feeling in my tone instead! :-)

March 14, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4th graders using math talk with great vocabulary as they review geometric shapes and practice the concept of symmetry.  Shout out to Trisha Caine for the system she has put in place to engage them in this work!

• Shout out to Melissa Arnes and Shanalyn Vertz and their teams for stepping in and covering for our colleagues when they are pulled in different directions to make sure their students get the best support they can get.  Thank you all!

• The 3K and 4K team have been working so hard to get all the supplies and routines ready for our events coming up.  It is always fun to meet our new and youngest learners.  Their hard work helps make the event run smoothly and also helps ease anxious parents' minds too.  Thank you all so much!

• Shout out to Brent who is so flexible and is willing to help wherever needed in the building, even if it is last minute in the morning.  Thank you so much Brent for choosing us to spend your time!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 17
• St. Patrick's Day
• Bus Duty: Zastrow, CaineB, Schulte, Donovan (please meet buses at the end of the sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Vertz
• 12:30 - Mosher
• 1:00 - Fortmann
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• EP Mtg - Documentation Log in IMC at 3:15pm

• Tuesday, March 18
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica - Donovan, Mook, O'Toole
• Forward Testing starts for grades 3-5, Please help keep hallways quiet! (8-11:30)
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day

• Wednesday, March 19
• Workout Wednesday
• Happy Birthday Chris V!
• Forward Testing from 8-11:30
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day
• Jenny in meetings from 8:30-10:30am
• 3K/4K screening takes place from 3:30-6:30 in the Elementary (in the 3K/4K hallway, please exit door #2 or door #28 between Zastrow and Stampfl's room)
• Dodgeland Den is moved to rooms 123 & 124 for the night.
• Instrument Petting Zoo from 4:30-7pm in the Band room for 4th-5th graders

• Thursday, March 20
• Forward Testing from 8-11:30
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day

• Friday, March 21
• Happy Birthday Brittany!
• Jenny at dr appt, be in by 9:30 am
• Pyramid Model Leadership mtg @ 1pm in Elem. conf. room

Nitty-Gritty

• Email labeled External
• Reminder from Brad's email that if you receive an email from outside of Dodgeland it will be labeled [External].  This is another clue to help you apply your training on cyber security before opening any links, attachments, etc.  In addition, if it looks suspicious, please use the phish alert button on the web version of Gmail to report it.

• Forward Testing
• This is definitely not one of my favorite events of the year, but it is important yet taxing on many of our children.  Please help support our students and staff that are proctoring these assessments for our students.  Encourage our kids to do their best work, help our younger students stay quiet and avoid testing rooms whenever possible, and model flexibility during the weeks to help our students with any changes to routines.
• As I shared earlier this week, the specials may have changed for your class.  Please look at the schedule carefully to determine what your schedule might have for next week's planning.  I know that this is difficult, but I wanted to be sure that our 3-4-5 students had these courses in their week to help them.

• Our Celebrities
• Did you see our celebrity and supporting cast in the paper?  On the front page of the Daily Citizen is one of our very own classes!  Click HERE if you haven't read the article yet.  The picture draws you in and the article shares some great information for all.  Share with anyone you think may be interested!

• Homeless Liaison
• Ashley Neis is our district's homeless liaison and she sent out some important information for us regarding this.  HERE is the pdf of information to help us identify what it is and how we might determine if a student qualifies or needs resources.  If you have questions, please contact Ashley. 

• It's Spring!
• With spring, comes an increase of biking to school.  We have already had a few of our students that are cutting through the parking lot to get to school.  I have talked to the ones that I know about and have contacted home as well.  In addition, there are a number of students that are coming to the playground after school.  Due to the Dodgeland Den programming, the playground area is closed to the community until 5:30 when that program ends.  This will be in the next newsletter and signs will be posted as well.  If you see any students that are making unsafe choices, please remind them of these expectations and/or let me know the situation and I will address it as well.

TechKnow Tip

Brad's email for us is below.  Please fill this survey out as soon as possible!

We are committed to continuously improving our educational environment and ensuring you have the tools you need to succeed. To better understand how laptops and iPads support your daily work, we are launching a brief survey on technology usage.

This survey aims to gather valuable insights into how you utilize these devices, how often you use them, and how they contribute to your job functions. We believe that understanding your experiences with these tools is crucial for optimizing our digital resources and empowering you to deliver the best possible learning experiences for our students.

The survey will ask questions about:

• How often you use laptops and iPads?
• The specific ways you utilize them in your daily tasks.
• How your work would be impacted without these devices?

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtWeXcku4DAYmg2amG0RnBMxGmdYaTxmZtom6tM3Y_qQtfUA/viewform?usp=header

We value your honest feedback and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. We appreciate your commitment to our students and your willingness to contribute to our ongoing efforts to enhance our educational practices. 

PD Spotlight

We are on "X" already!  When we model our flexible thinking and mindset, we are influencing our students and peers.  And, we get to grow as people and professionals too.  Win-Win!

Recess Information

Please, Please, Please make sure that you are at your recess duty on time and that you are covering the zones on the playground.  I know it is tempting to chat with our colleagues or some of our students that want all of our attention, but we must be diligent during recess to be sure that we can head off injuries or behaviors that should not happen.  Thank you in advance for your help with this.

Friday Funny

The meme below was shown at a staff meeting a few weeks ago.  And when I was talking about the song that goes with it I remember saying, "When I sang it she asked her mother for fifteen cents."  Then many of you told me that it was FIFTY cents.  Now I am wondering if it was always fifty cents but my horrible hearing heard fifteen cents and I was the only one!  So what I thought was an inflationary change was really just me making my own lyrics I guess!  :-)

(I have been known to do this with other songs as well!  I just realized a few years ago that during the song "Drift Away", one of the lines is "Give me the beat boys, and free my soul..."  I ALWAYS sang this song with the words, "Give me the Beach Boys, and free my soul..." It made total sense to me because the Beach Boys were one of my parents' favorite groups and I listened to a LOT of their songs as a kid.  It's embarrassing that I was in my 30's before I realized that those were not the right words! sigh.)

March 7, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The Reading and Math Family Night was so much fun!  Thank you to the committee for putting such a great event together for our families.  Shout out to Tina, Andrea, Sue, Brenda and Christina for welcoming and showing our families how fun learning is!

• Noah put on a presentation with his HS students to show our 4th/5th grade students the band instruments that are open to them to learn. Thank you for organizing this Noah!

• Shout out to Melisssa A and Ashley G. who did such a great job of explaining the complex process of a re-evaluation to a parent as well as celebrating the tremendous growth that her child has made in the past year.  Such great work!

• Kathy's morning meeting one day this week talked about perseverance.  I love how she used recent experiences that her class had during PLTW to help them understand this idea. The way she tied the experience in to the new word, the feeling they had during PLTW work and finally with the read aloud was so well done!  Kudos!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, March 9
• Happy Birthday Hailey!

• Monday, March 10
• Happy Birthday Jen!
• Happy Americorps Week! Let's celebrate Bethany and Ashley!
• Bus Duty: Lexi, Mosher, O'Toole, Ellefson (please meet the buses by the corner)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Schuett
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - CaineT
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Community Referendum Information meeting at Clyman Village Hall @ 6pm

• Tuesday, March 11
• Wear Black/Red to support our Reading Corps Tutors!
• Social Media posts due to Jessica: No one signed up, but feel free to send one anyway!
• Community Referendum Information meeting at Reeseville Community Center @ 6pm

• Wednesday, March 12
• Early Release, Dodgeland Den opens at 12:20
• Workout Wednesday
• Lance's Retirement Celebration at 11am-12:30pm
• Act 20 Staff meeting @ 12:30pm in the IMC
• 3K/4K Screening team mtg in Elem. Conf. rm @ 1:45pm

• Thursday, March 13
• Community Referendum Information meeting in IMC @ 6pm

• Friday, March 14
• Pi Day!  :-)
• Harvest of the Month lessons for Grades 4-5 from 10-12
• Jenny at dr appt from 10-11:15am
• HS Musical performance of Cinderella @ 7pm

• Saturday, March 15
• HS Musical performance of Cinderella @ 7pm

Nitty-Gritty

• School Nurse Update
• We are currently working on securing contracted nursing services with an outside agency. However, we will not know until after the April 1st referendum election whether we will be posting to hire a full-time school nurse or if we will need to move forward with a part-time or contracted part-time position.  It is not uncommon in districts our size to have either a part-time nurse or a contracted part-time nurse (some of you may recall in the days before COVID we only had a nurse 4 hours a day). In the meantime, staff in the office will continue to triage students with minor issues/injuries and we will continue to have ice and bandaids on hands. (For most of our students, these two things work wonders! :-)) In addition, we will continue to address what we can, or call home or for emergency help if necessary.
• Field trip season is coming up soon too, so, please make sure that you connect with Patti or Ella to get the materials ready for the trip in advance.

• PE teacher update
• I have been looking and talking to many people about the next steps for the PE teacher vacancy.  I wanted someone that would be dependable, patient, and understood that there has been some inconsistency in PE instruction delivery for more than a month.  However, I was finding that to be quite challenging and the teacher I thought I had decided not to take the position.  So, that means I am going to put in place a long-term substitute plan. This is the plan that I am going to use for the remainder of the year based on availability of people, and also so that our students have some consistency for awhile.
• Lexi is going to be the sub for PE classes four days a week while Anna Volkova subs for her job in the Special Edcuation Dept.  Every Thursday, Bekah Mountin will be subbing for PE while Lexi is in her regular job and Anna is off.  In order to help with this transition, Lexi has met with Sue Kuhn (Bless this lady for helping me out this month with ideas and coming in to help. If anyone sees her, please help me thank her!) and talked with Marcia.  Lexi has taken these tips/ideas and has begun to plan for procedures to create a system that hopefully will create a structure again for the kids coming to PE.  
• I want to personally thank Teresa, Brent, Lexi, Jessica and all the other people that have stepped in to sub in the last 4+ weeks for a PE class/day.  I also want to thank Melissa and Shanalyn for their flexibility as I am shuffling people in their programs to help the system.

• Early Release
• The schedule will be out soon for this, but we will be returning to some Act 20 training that day starting at 12:30 in the IMC. Please bring a device to the training.  In addition, we will also be meeting for final planning for the 3K/4K screening days.  Finally, if you have not met with me regarding Forward testing, that will be that afternoon as well so that we are ready for the testing the following week.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

• Forward Testing
• Please watch your emails as I may need to move some schedules around for those few short days due to the testing and the adults that are proctoring the test and unavailable for students' intervention times.  Every effort will be made to be as consistent as possible during testing so that our students continue to have access to the instruction they need though.

• Google Survey Results
• Thank you to those that were able to complete the survey regarding feedback on end of the year and last day of school activities.  It was pretty split between end of the year picnic vs. a beginning of the year carnival.  I also talked over this with Brad as our Safety Coordinator as well.  Given all of that information, I think we will use some of the time on the last day to enjoy each other as a school community during the last hour/90 min. of the school day.  We will not be inviting parents in during that time though due to host of logistical details and considerations.  I will however be asking the end of the year picnic committee to look over the feedback we received from staff to help come up with a more definitive plan going forward.  If you are on that committee, please watch for an email from me.

• Summer School
• One more plea...Do you (or know someone) who would be willing to teach summer school for those 5 weeks?  Or share a position with someone?  I had a teacher drop out that has been teaching for many summers and without her classes, it will make the remaining sections have higher numbers than usual.  I can assist with planning and idea generation.  Just let me know!

PD Spotlight

This week we are on the letter "W." It is a great reminder that the behavior of our children and really all of us is communication!  When we genuinely wonder what our students are trying to tell us through their behavior, we have a much better chance of helping them to grow, learn and solve any problems they might be struggling with.

TechKnow Tip

Have you checked out Padlet lately?! Padlet is a powerful tool for brainstorming, collaborative projects, visual learning, and so much more! It is no longer just a virtual bulletin board- the choice and creativity are even more with their recent updates. 

• A new gallery of project ideas with examples. It is searchable by grades or subjects.

• A new AI “recipes” like AI art studio, brochures, and bookshelves 

• New tools like Venn diagrams and a “sandbox” to draw, create, and collaborate in real-time

Click here if this is your first time exploring Padlet.

Click here if you have used it before.

Recess Information

Pretty Please
I know this time of year we are all hanging on by a thread, but please do your very best to get to recess duty on time. When people are late it often impacts the system as then other adults are late for their next assignment. 

Please also do your best to be in our recess coverage zones:
*near home plate/far side of the playground
*sidewalk near the near side of the playground/grass area
*by the gaga/four square games

Thanks in advance for being proactive and holding our kids accountable to the expectations to prevent injury and/or major behavior issues.

Friday Funny

This past weekend were the Oscars.  I always like to see what kind of clothes the celebrities are wearing and watch the opening monologues.  Every once in a while I find something humorous or moving in a speech.  This clip is not from the Oscars but it did make me smile and made me think of our kids and what they may do some day.  I have been fortunate to have been in the district for almost a quarter century and know multiple generations of families.  It is a pleasure to see former students become happy adults too. I wonder what this actor's former teachers think when they see him perform and talk. Enjoy this clip!