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!  :-)