February 27, 2026

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I was able to catch some Olympic Winter events in room 107/108 this week.  The bobsleigh and skating events were tight races!  Good job 4K team creating a fun way to learn and experience the Olympics!

• I have had the opportunity to listen to so many caring professionals in SIT meetings, IEP meetings, evals, etc and every time I can't help but think about how hard all of you work to help our students thrive and grow.  The way that you describe their skills is positive (even when you have to discuss deficit areas) and always with a plan for the next steps. Shout out to all of you that give tirelessly of yourself and your talents to make a difference in our students' lives.  It is definitely noticed!

• Shout out to Christina who gets to "show off" this next week at the WEMTA conference where she and Watson will be presenting about the "Paw-sitive" effect they have on our district!  Way to go Christina!  

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 2
• Read Across America Week starts!  PJ Day!
• Morning Duties:
• Blacktop/Playground - Westphal, Stampfl, Tietz
• 3K/4K playground - Mook, Ellefson
• Breakfast - Houk, Neis
• Lunch Duties:
• 12:00 - Ellefson
• 12:30 - Juech
• 1:00 - Neis
• Afternoon Duties:
• Blacktop/Playground - CaineT, Juech
• Circle Drive - Betsy
• Reading/Math Family Night from 6-7pm
• SuperHero Attendance Challenge starts
• Jenny in mtg from 1:15-2:30pm

• Tuesday, March 3
• Color Day: Staff=Black
• Social Media Posts due to Jenny: Mook, Brenda Caine
• Lunch Detention Duty this week: Braunschweig, CaineB, Fortmann
• Jenny in mtg from 9-11am
• Para Pd meeting from 3:15-3:45pm - Forward Test Training (anyone that missed this on 2/16 should plan to attend this meeting as well.)

• Wednesday, March 4
• Anything but a Water Bottle Day!
• Workout Wednesday
• Buddy Reading Day - Plan a day for your Read Across America Reading Team to read together
• Jenny in mtg from 8:30-10:30am

• Thursday, March 5
• Decorate an Apron Day!

• Friday, March 6
• Vocabulary/Book Character Day!
• Vocabulary Parade starts at 8:15am

Nitty-Gritty

• Attendance plan for March
• To continue to encourage students to be at school and on time, we will have an attendance challenge for March.  In your mailbox will be a SuperHero sheet to hang in your classroom.  Every day that your class is all present, please color in or draw a start in one space.  When the sheet is filled, please turn it in to my mailbox and I will bring the Trojan cart to your classroom!

• Read Across America
• Read Across America starts on Monday!  The committee has worked hard on special events for our students.  Click HERE for the details for the week.

• Looking Ahead - Mark your Calendar
• A preview of the HS musical will be performed for the elementary students on Thursday, March 12 from 1:30-3:00pm in the multipurpose room. This year's musical is "The Little Mermaid."

• Young American Poetry Contest
• Click HERE for information regarding a contest for students writing poetry. The contest ends on March 27th. This is a completely optional activity. 

• School Supply lists
• In order to get the supply lists ready for next school year, I need each grade level to go through the supply lists that are on the site.  When you are finished with it, please let me know so that I can approve them and make sure the company has it ready to go! Click HERE for the lists.

• Forward Testing Details
• The Forward test is coming up in a couple of weeks. The testing times are Tues-Thurs from 8-11:30. While our students are testing, please help remind students to be very quiet in the hallways so that students can do their best work. Schedules may be affected for specials, recess, etc.  Thank you in advance for being flexible and avoiding the testing areas as much as possible.  Dom has created a resource page for us that includes the links that many will need in order to prepare for the test, see the assigned rooms/groups, etc. If you have any questions, please let me know.
• Sunshine Committee
• Please remember that the Sunshine Committee would love to help celebrate events with our EL staff.  Please keep them in the loops for any upcoming weddings, baby news and retirements!

• Alt Lunch/Lunch Detentions
• In an effort to assist our custodians and also each other, please help make sure that our students are cleaning up after themselves, the table and the floor from lunch detentions and alt. lunch periods.  Food that sits on tables, chairs or the floor for hours before the room is scheduled to be clean after school becomes very hard to remove. Garbage is removed daily, but students should be wiping them down with the cloths after you spray the tables/chairs.  Thank you in advance for your help!

• College and Career Week
• Due to such a busy month of March, the college and career week events will be moved to the week after spring break. Watch for information from the committee for the events planned for the week of April 6.

TechKnow Tip

Common Sense Media’s Two Truths & AI is a fast-paced, "low-lift" digital literacy game designed to help students sharpen their "AI detective" skills. Inspired by the classic icebreaker, it challenges students to look at three movie posters—two are authentic, and one has been generated or altered by AI.

The game is entirely web-based (no logins or setup required) and features two versions tailored to different age groups: Grades K–6 (using G and PG posters) and Grades 7–12 (using G, PG, and PG-13 posters). It’s an excellent way to transition from "is this cool?" to "is this real?" without the need for a heavy lecture.

You could play the game in ‘timed mode’ as a high-energy bellringer or use the ‘untimed mode’ to slow down and analyze each poster. The game provides explanations for why certain images are fake, creating great teachable moments.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

IMC Newsletter

Behavior Specialist Information

Brainbreaks!

As we get into that tough part of the year, brainbreaks, especially cooperative and/or game based breaks can help keep relationships strong. Here is the Playworks Game Library if you need some fresh ideas.

Recess Information

Snow Gear

It seems that the weather is starting to get nicer and we don’t have any notable snow in the forecast so starting next week, March 2nd, snow gear will be optional on the playground. Especially for our younger students, it may still be worth encouraging them to wear all of their gear for warmth and to stay dry. 

Playground Evacuation

Please review the procedures in the event we need to evacuate the playground. There is no drill currently planned, but it is always good to review periodically.

Friday Funny

In honor of the first spring training game of the Brewers last weekend, today's Friday Funny is an compilation of short videos of funny moments in the MLB.  I LOVE this kind of stuff and can't wait for baseball to start up again!  Below it is the opposite end of the spectrum, but still just as funny!