September 26, 2025

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Shout out to the staff in the 3K/EC/4K hallway and their support of one of our new students that started school this week. This includes supporting each other, being flexible, and working together to help each other so that the student can thrive.  Thank you to Harmony and Sam for all your hard work as well!

• Students and Staff are participating in Homecoming Dress up days and having a great time doing it!  Did you see all those wacky hair-do's this week!  :-)

• Shout out to Teresa and her Jr. Coaches that created a very fun Field Day for our students. I know it is a lot of work, but it does help our students learn the expectations of the core games. Thank you for putting in all of this work for them and us!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 29
• Library Lessons start this week
• Morning Duty:
• Blacktop/Playground - Zastrow, Bingen, Miller
• 4K/5K playground - Schuett, CaineB (meet the bus at stop sign)
• Breakfast - Donovan,Vertz
• Lunch duty:
• 12:00 - Wagner
• 12:30 - Westphal
• 1:00 - Neis
• Afternoon Duty:
• Blacktop - Mantei, Lucht
• Circle drive - Huelsman
• CANCELED 5K Data meeting (data is not ready yet)

• Tuesday, September 30
• Social Media Posts Due to Jenny - Klink, Westphal Fortmann
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10:30, 1-3pm
• Data Meeting - 5th gr (12:35-1:00pm) in Elem. Conf. Room
• Playworks Recess Recharge Visit between 11-1pm
• Flu Shot Clinic in DO Conf. Room - 3pm-4:30pm

• Wednesday, October 1
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10:30am
• Data Meeting - 3rd Gr (12:05-12:30)
• Optional AimsWeb training in PLTW room 137 from 3:15-3:45pm

• Thursday, October 2
• Jenny gone at Cesa until 1ish
• Tornado Drill @ 8:30am
• CANCELED 1st Gr Data meeting (data is not ready yet)

• Friday, October 3
• Citizenship Grades due in Gradebook for 5K-5th grade
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• Data Meeting - 4K 11:35-12:00 in Elem. Conf. Rm

Nitty-Gritty

• Homecoming Friday Reminders:
• While the students are dismissed on Friday at 2:30, staff are expected to stay until 3pm, unless you are a pm Dodgeland Den staff member.  Paras that work until 3:15, can leave at 3pm though.  If at all possible, can you assist our custodians that are short staffed for the night?
• Assist our Custodians please!!!
• Can you please tie your garbage bags and place them by your door before you leave.  This will make things easier and faster for them for the night.  Thank you in advance for helping our team!

• Everyday Speech 
• For classrooms in grades 2-5, the SEL weekly lesson from EveryDay Speech will begin the week of Oct 6.  Can you please look to see that you can get into Everyday Speech to see the lessons? If not, please let me know that.  Also, the lesson order is in the document on Google Classroom. Please let me know if you need any help.  (There is a training video linked in Google Classroom as well. I just want you to be prepared!

• Citizenship Grades
• September is almost over which means that we can put in our first Citizenship grades of the school year into the gradebook.  Please make sure that you enter these grades by Friday, October 3. This will help tremendously when we get to the end of the semester.

• EP Documents
• For certified staff, the goal setting plan which includes the info for your SLO and PPG is due by October 15.  If you need help with these forms, please let me know.  For those that are new to the district, you can talk to your mentor about these forms as well.  I do like that they are consolidated, and that there are some parts that have been eliminated and other parts that are more streamlined.
• Alt Comp Forms will be added into Frontline as soon as possible.  It was not my intention to stress you out about this, it is coming.  Sorry I missed the important part of that question, in conjunction with giving a very confusing and unclear message regarding it.  

TechKnow Tip

When you're submitting content for a Facebook post, remember that images are key to grabbing attention and keeping people engaged. We rarely post text-only updates, so please include an image with your submission. To make sure your image looks its best, here are the ideal dimensions for Facebook posts:

• Landscape: 1200 x 630 px or 940 x 788 px

• Portrait: 1080 x 1350 px

• Square: 1080 x 1080 px

In addition to an image, please provide a few lines of text to give context for your post. A little explanation goes a long way in telling a story and helping our community understand the message. If you need a little help, I have a quick cheat sheet from Madgicx that can help.

ML Information

For Quarter 1, these tips will help us all to build foundations and get to know our ELL students: 

• Establish Routines. Create consistent classroom routines and procedures. This provides a predictable and safe environment for EL students, reducing anxiety and allowing them to focus on learning.

• Introduce Key Vocabulary. Before each lesson, explicitly teach and post key vocabulary words with simple definitions and visuals, a practice supported by WIDA Standard 1: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes

Behavior Specialist Information

Fair isn’t Equal Resource
Here is a link to a book called “That’s Not Fair” . It does a nice job explaining why students get “extra fun things”. That’s Not Fair By: Courtney Butorac
The book is about 6 minutes long. Use as you see fit.

Recess Information

Junior Coaching
Junior coaching is in full swing. As always, please let me know if there are any issues coming up that I need to address. I’ve noticed that the students in general are having a harder time engaging in games. Please encourage them to play with the junior coaches and make good recess choices. Thanks!

Playground Evacuation Protocol
If we need to evacuate the playground back into school, HERE is the plan. This was presented at the staff meeting Wednesday night and will be presented for our paraeducators as part of their meeting

Friday Funny

I don't know if you have ever watched any of the videos from the Chats Fam channel, but I find their laugh contagious and some of their stories to be humorous.  When I saw this one awhile back, I thought it was quite humorous.  Enjoy this 2 min. video!

September 19, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Thank you to the Homecoming committee for putting together dress up days for the elementary students. Our students get excited to participate as well.  Thanks for making this happen for them! 

• Shout out to all of you for preparing your students for today's lockdown drill.  It is very important that we do this drill, but it makes me sad that we do have to do it.  But, our students did a great job today and I know that is because of you all. Thank you so much!

• Shout out to Stephanie S, Brittany and Teresa, who are working as a team to problem solve around a student that is struggling in the classroom. This student is very lucky to have a team of caring professionals that are invested on helping them thrive and succeed.

• Shout out to Rob who had a very engaging warm up routine for his 3rd graders. They knew their routine and also couldn't wait to see what the movement die would have them do next. Every one of them was all in!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, September 21
• Happy Birthday Patti!

• Monday, September 22
• PJ Day - Homecoming starts
• Morning Duty:
• Blacktop - Arnes, Chambers, Schulte
• 4K/5K playground - Wagner, O'Toole (meet bus please) 
• Breakfast - Braunschweig, Fortmann
• Lunch Duty:
• 12:00 - Donovan
• 12:30 - Mantei
• 1:00 - Bingen
• Afternoon Duty:
• Blacktop - Juech, Klink
• Circle Drive - Betsy
• Board Meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, September 23
• Happy Birthday Gabrielle and Blasia!
• USA Day - Wear Red, White and Blue
• Social Media Posts due to Jenny: Nobody signed up, but feel free to share with me! 
• Jenny in a meeting from 9-10:30am

• Wednesday, September 24
• Happy Birthday Kay Kromm!
• Wacky Wednesday
• Staff Meeting 3:15-4:00pm in IMC

• Thursday, September 25
• Happy Birthday Danielle Balmer!
• Class Color Day (3K/4K- Blue, 5K- Orange, 1st- Yellow, 2nd- Green, 3rd- Black, 4th- Red, 5th- Neon)

• Friday, September 26
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• Purple Pride Day
• Pep Assembly from 1:30-2:25pm(ish)
• Dismissal at 2:30
• Parade at 4pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Homecoming
• The Dress Up Days have been posted on Dojo and also on FaceBook.  Throughout the week, please remember to take photos of your students if possible. Enjoy the week and remember that the schedule for Friday includes an early dismissal time period. Thank you to the Homecoming committee for putting this toegether.

• Novel Effects App
• Have you checked out Novel Effects yet?! It is a read aloud app that adds sound effects to the book you’re reading. Some great seasonal titles you may want to check out first are All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen, and The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming. All these can be checked out from our library or the Sora app and read with your students. They also have great activities and learning resources. They provide activities like printable coloring sheets and games, as well as resources like graphic organizers and supplemental research information. These materials can be found on the iPad app. 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! 
• All books and materials can be accessed via the Novel Effects app.
• Reauthentication happens every year. Click HERE to get re-connected to Novel Effects for the year! Enter your name, email and our Plan ID MXKFQN
• You can find more information here on our staff resource page.

• Trojan Press
• There are four 4th and 5th grade students that are working with Christina and Ella this year to put together this year's yearbook. The kids are very excited, and they will be working on getting photos and information from staff and students.  Their first "assignment" is to cover the Fall Field Day event.  When they are working on the yearbook, they will have their "press passes" on.  Please watch for more information as the year goes on.

TechKnow Tip

Padlet is a virtual pinboard that allows users to post comments, questions, and resources in one place. This virtual pinboard allows for mind mapping, collaborative group projects, discussions, photo gallery, and an interactive repository for resources to share with your students. There are even new response additions including drawing, talk to me (recorded audio of an AI voice instead of your own voice), and poll.  Here are 20 Ways for Students to Use Padlet in the Classroom. To get started, you can login to Padlet here with your Google account.

ML Information

ELL (English Language Learners) Teacher Tip: For Quarter 1, these tips will help us all to build foundations and get to know our ELL students: 

• Use Visuals. Incorporate visuals like pictures, drawings, and real objects into your lessons. This helps bridge the language gap and makes concepts more accessible.

• Learn More About ML Learners. Take a few minutes to read about ML Learners from WI DPI.

Recess Information

Field day is Friday, September 19th. The times are below:

5k-3rd -  8:30 - 11:00

4th-5th - 1:30 - 2:45 (slight time change)

All school dance party 2:45 - 3:00

Per Teresa's email today, a few reminders:

• An updated Field Day Rotation form will be in your mailbox on colored paper.
• Rotations will be approximately 15 min. long.
• Snack break will be from 9:15-9:30
• Students should bring their water bottles outside with them.
• Jr Coaches will start setting up between 8-8:15am and have snack together in the PLTW lab at 9:15.
• Jr Coaches will still be at the regular lunch recesses.

Friday Funny

I absolutely LOVED these vitamins when I was a kid.  As an adult, Ella bought some for me thinking she was "funny" and I told her how these are great.  BUT, when I ate them, I realized that was a better memory than today's reality.  However, when I saw this meme, I thought, you know, I do take antacid's way more than vitamins these days.  Maybe I just need them to grow with me!  :-)

September 12, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• HUGE Shout out to our Reading Corps Tutors, Bethany and Ashley.  They are the first site to have their assessments done and the tutoring ready to start in the area.  I even got an email from the Reading Corps director praising them!  Way to go guys!  We are so lucky to have you at Dodgeland.

• Unfortunately, we have had a few injuries this week on the playground. Thank you to all of our supervisors and Patti who have taken such good care of our kids, got them what they need, contacted parents and were super loving when they were in pain. This makes a not so great situation better when you know someone cares about you.

• i-Ready testing is going strong in grades 2-5.  Shout out to the teachers and interventionists for getting the groups going so kids can do their best work! 

• Shout out to Ashley Gunderson and Teresa Chambers for jumping in and helping staff create procedures to help with students so they can be successful in the classroom.  This includes working with parents, county workers and communicating clearly with students' teams.  Thank you both for all of your work!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 15
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• Fall Fundraiser begins, send packets home
• Morning Duty
• Blacktop: Neis, Westphal, Stampfl
• 4K/5K Playground: Mook, Ellefson (meet bus)
• Breakfast: Tietz, Houk
• Lunch Duty
• 12:00 - Ellefson
• 12:30 - Juech
• 1:00 - Schulte
• Afternoon Duty
• Blacktop: CaineT, Duhr
• Circle Drive: Jenkins
• Admin Assistant Team meeting at 3:15 in DO Conf. Rm

• Tuesday, September 16
• Social Media Posts due to Jenny:
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10:30

• Wednesday, September 17
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am

• Thursday, September 18
• Happy Birthday Kimi!
• Lockdown Drill at 9am

• Friday, September 19
• Fall Field Day 
• All school Dance party on blacktop from 2:45-3:00
• Pyramid Model Leadership Mtg - CANCELED
• Sub Plans for Paras due

Nitty-Gritty

• Handle with Care

• Students often go through difficult times. While the details of those struggles should remain private, we can all offer a little extra kindness and support. If you see an email with a student's name and the subject line "Handle with Care," please know that they are having a tough day. Our staff is already aware and working to support them. In the meantime, please offer them a little extra grace, patience, and understanding.

• Confidentiality Reminder
• We want to maintain confidentiality for our students. When sending emails, please use the first initial followed by the first three letters of the last name.  For Example:
• J Hue
• J Joh
• T Cha

• Class Dojo
• Most of you already use Class Dojo frequently.  Especially if you have parents that need translated items, please use Class Dojo to communicate with them.  It has a translation tool built in and is easy for both parents and staff to communicate with one another.  In addition, please remember, you can use the events for upcoming activities like field trips, but there are also options for parents to sign up for times/events, and group chats as well.  If you need any help, please let me know!
• Please remember to invite Gabrielle to your class Dojo page so that she can keep up with your class events and communicate with your families too.

• Increased Police Presence
• Per Mr. Greco's email, there will be more police presence on campus starting Monday for the following week.  They are using our track for some training and there is nothing to be alarmed about.  Just in case you see anything you will know what it is about.

• Homecoming Coming Up
• Homecoming week starts the week of September 22.  The committee will be in touch with more details including dress up days.  To plan ahead, school will be dismissed on Friday, September 26 at 2:30 pm.  Staff will still work their normal hours that day however.  Den will still be open, just starting earlier.  Stay tuned for more details.

PD Spotlight

Five minutes to Fluency...Do you have 5 min. for your students to work on math facts this year, each day.  The goal is to help them build fluent skills with strategies, not just memorization.  The Amplify program goes as low as counting and subitizing. I highly recommend that you use one of these iPad tools, or even give your students choice if you like.  Being able to watch progress will be important for both students and staff.  If you want to explore on your own, here is the link: https://fluency.amplify.com/

Login with your Google Password.

TechKnow Tip

In addition to Rally Reader and the resources with MyView for Reading, you will also have access to Reading A-Z.  For those that have Raz-Plus, there is a new section within the program that includes Foundations A-Z that includes resources for phonics, phonemic awareness, etc.  It also has a new section to download decodables for students to read as well.  Watch for future optional sessions to learn about this as well if you are interested.  I have submitted a PO for it, so it should be up and running soon.

Here is a link for a number of Resources that they put together for us, including ways to correlate MyView with resources in Reading A-Z or Raz-Plus.  Have fun exploring! 

Recess Information

Junior coaching will start Monday, September 15th during lunch recesses.

Field day is Friday, September 19th.

5k-3rd -  8:30 - 11:00

4th-5th - 1:30 - 2:45 (slight time change)

All school dance party 2:45 - 3:00

Here is the full schedule: FIELD DAY

Specials teachers, please coordinate with the classroom teachers to cover classes at field day during your

scheduled times.

Shed

A new lock had to be placed on the shed so we could secure it better. Unfortunately, it is no longer a universal key.

There is a key in Teresa’s office (Rm 104), and in the office with Patti.

3k/4k box

The 3k/4k box lock still has a universal key

Behavior Specialist Information

Here are the links to important guiding documents for our building. Instead of doing a mass printing

and putting them in the office, please just print what you need.

Behavior Matrix

Progressive Discipline Matrix

Recess Clothing Recommendations 

Zones of Regulation Folder

SEL instruction

As we talked about during inservice, we will be continuing with SEL instruction in the classroom.

K/1 will be using Emotional ABCs and 2nd-5th will be using Everyday speech. Please plan to start lessons

by the first week in October at the latest (I know you are trying to get Digital Citizenship in too). The

Scope and Sequence is in Google Classroom for each grade.

Teresa will start hosting SEL meetings with individual teachers starting the week of 9/29 and will talk

about how to incorporate Zones of Regulation during those meetings.

New students

If you have any new students that came after the expectations presentation for your class, please email me

the list of names. I will schedule lunch bunches so we can make sure all of our students know our expectations.

ELL/ML Teacher Tips

Hi everyone! I am Gabrielle Zastrow, Dodgeland's New ML Coordinator. For those I haven't met yet, I'll be seeing you at an upcoming meeting soon. I appreciate your patience as I get up to speed in this new role and with all the changes happening in the ML Program. I'm really looking forward to working with you all. I plan to send out a quick tip each week that I hope will offer a new perspective or challenge you to think a bit differently.

For Quarter 1, these tips will help us all to build foundations and get to know our ELL students: 

Week 1: Create a Welcoming Environment. Greet each student at the door and learn to say "hello" in their home language. Display signs and labels in multiple languages if possible, for a culturally responsive environment.

Week 2: Learn Student Names. Take the time to learn the correct pronunciation of each student's name. Practice saying them out loud and ask students to correct you if needed. You may want to video record the student saying their name so you can practice at your own convenience.

Friday Funny

You all know what I will be doing on Sunday.  I really don't care about the Emmy's, but I can't pass up a chance to watch my favorite comedian perform!  :-)

September 5, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I observed so many teachers building relationships with their students this week.  This will definitely pay off during the rest of the year!  Thank you for the hard work you have put in to those plans.

• Great job to everyone for our first successful safety drill of the year!  The kids are following our lead and for some of our students, this was a brand new experience for them. Thank you for making it smooth for them!

• The beginning of the year always has a lot of confusion at pick up with figuring out students' methods of getting home.  Thank you to all of the staff that are helping students and families get home safely each afternoon.  I appreciate it so much!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 8
• Morning Duty:
• Blacktop: BCaine, Miller, Bingen
• 4K/5K Playground: Donovan, Wagner (meet buses first)
• Breakfast: Vertz, Zastrow
• Lunch Duty:
• 12:00 - Braunschweig
• 12:30 - BCaine (or Klink?)
• 1:00 - TCaine
• Afternoon Duty:
• Blacktop: Mantei, Lucht
• Circle Drive: Rollins, Maddy, Brittany (4K/5K area)
• Special Board Meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, September 9
• Picture Day - Please thank Marcia Modaff for helping us out today.  She will be organizing the classes going through the photographers on the stage.  Yay! :-). Staff pictures will start at 7:30am and we will start with 3K/4K/5K students right away in the morning.
• Social Media Pictures due to Jenny: Miller, Stampfl, Schuett
• Happy Birthday Roxanne!
• Para PD meeting in IMC @ 3:15-3:45pm (elem. only)

• Wednesday, September 10
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny at a Dentist appt and arriving around 10:30ish 
• Staff Meeting @ 3:15-4pm in IMC

• Thursday, September 11
• Administrative Hold Drill at 2:15pm

• Friday, September 12

Nitty-Gritty

• Building Security Reminders
• Starting at 3:30 each day, the doors to the hallways of each respective building will be locked.  Please go to escort any people that you want to meet with you in your classrooms after 3:30.  (Dodgeland Den kids and staff will continue to stay within the Elementary wing.

• Classroom Doors: There have been questions about when these should be locked.  During the day, you don't have to lock the door every time you leave.  But, you should shut the door and shut off the light every time you leave your classroom. The exception to this is on non-student contact days. Please lock the door when you leave the building on those days.

• Lights and Displays: Please make sure to shut off lights and the display boards when you leave for the day.  In addition, during the school day, shut off lights and displays when you leave the room and make sure the displays are shut down before you leave for the day.

• District Assessments
• i-Ready window is now open.  Students in grades 2-5 can take the reading and math i-ready diagnostic when you are ready.  Please make sure to coordinate with the interventionists and the special education team to be sure that students' testing accommodations are provided as well.  At this time, the read aloud setting for all students mirrors the settings of the Forward Testing; directions, questions and answer choices are read aloud, but NOT passages in reading.

• AIMSweb Plus is now has my name attached, so we are getting one step closer! The goal is to be ready to train staff as soon as we have everything up and running.  5K and 1st will have numerous subtests for math and reading and Grades 3-5 will be giving the Oral Reading Fluency benchmark tests and a math fact fluency assessment.  The goal is to be able to keep track of the students growth in fluency throughout the school year.  Stay tuned for more details and training dates/times.

• Dismissal Time
• This week I noticed a few days where students were leaving the building and/or showing up at the Dodgeland Den rooms prior to 3:05.  It is very important that we using every minute of instruction that we have.  Please make sure kids are not being dismissed until the bell rings at the end of the day.

TechKnow Tip

The core purpose behind ClassLink is to create a secure, simple, and streamlined way for everyone in our district- from students, to teachers, to administrators- to access the digital tools we need. ClassLink’s philosophy is “one login, endless possibilities”. What this means for you is you get more time for teaching, with less time spent juggling multiple logins. It is also a central hub for everything your students may need to use with your curriculum. Please remember, if you have any site or app your students are signing into, it is best to have them go through ClassLink. If the app or website isn’t already in ClassLink, reach out to Sam who will get it on your student accounts lickity-split.

Friday Funny

My family has a group chat that includes my two sisters, my brother and my parents.  (as do many of us I am sure). However, sometimes the text thread of these people makes me literally laugh out loud, especially when my brother adds his two cents.  I thought you'd like this conversation thread!