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!