This was me on Thursday evening...Thus the late weekly blog. Thank you for your patience with this week's blog.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Supportive, Encouraging, Positive
- Shout out to Tammy who has been working diligently on getting AIMSweb to cooperate and set up for us to use. Thank you for supporting us and staying positive throughout. I'll admit, I have lost a lot of my positivity for AimsWeb over the years! :-)
- Shout out to Sue O'Toole for sharing her expertise at Collab meetings and always ready to provide resources to teachers to help them with instructional planning and teaching. We are all so lucky to get to learn from you, but especially feel supported by all your hard work and encouragement for us to help our students become strong mathematicians!
- Shout out to Taylor Huso who stepped in this week to help the team translate important information to the family so they could be an active part of the meeting and also leave feeling good about the plan that we have in place for her son. Thank you so much!
What's Happening at Dodgeland?
- Monday, September 28
- Jenny is out until 11am
- Library Lessons start this week!
- AM Duties:
- Breakfast: Mook
- 3K/4K Playground: Donovan, Schulz
- Blacktop/Playground: CaineB, Bingen, Tietz
- Lunch Duties:
- 12:00 - Braunschweig
- 12:30 - Huso
- 1:00 - Fortmann
- PM Duties:
- Blacktop/Playground - Juech, Knibbs
- Circle Drive (in front)- Grebel
- Lunch Detention Duties Start this week (You will be notified if there are any assigned to you that week. Remember, only 1 day will be assigned to you, not the entire week.)
- Lucht, O'Toole, Klink
- 5K Collab Mtg on Rdg @ 11am
- School Board meeting at 6:30pm
- Tuesday, September 29
- Social Media Posts due to Jenny: Braunschweig, Jenkins, Neis
- Picture Retake Day
- 5th Gr Collab Mtg on SEL @ 8:30am
- Jenny in meeting from 9-11am
- 2nd Gr Collab Mtg on Dig Lit/Tech @ 12:00
- Jenny in a webinar at 2pm
- Wednesday, September 30
- 4th gr Collab Mtg on SEL @ 11:35am
- Thursday, October 1
- Support Duties Change for October:
- Breakfast: Samantha, Brittany
- AM - Meet Bus at Stop Sign: Eneida
- AM - Meet Bus #11 to help kids off: Betsy, Melissa U
- PM - Parent P/U by Bike Rack: Melissa
- PM - Parent P/U Circle Dr. Front - Carmen
- LockDown Drill @ 9:15am
- 1st Gr Collab mtg on Rdg - 9:35am
- 3rd Gr Collab mtg on Dig Lit/Tech @ 2:05pm
- Friday, October 2
- No School for Students - PD for staff - Den is open from 6:30am-5:30pm
- PD Schedule will be out soon!
- Saturday, October 3
- FFA Fall Fest from 10am-2pm at Dodgeland
Nitty-Gritty
- ST Math Fluency
- Did you catch Sue's message about the math fact fluency practice on ST Math? Just making sure no one missed it! Her message says that it is under All Learning Objectives, choose the grade level and go ALL the way to the bottom under OPTIONAL. If you need help, please reach out to Sue or a colleague!
- Admin Hold
- Reminder: Any time an admin. hold is called, please lock your classroom/office doors from the inside. When it is called off, doors can be unlocked again. By making this a habit, it will help us for some of the situations that necessitate admin holds.
- Newsletter
- The October newsletter will be coming out on Monday. If you have any information that you want in it, please get it to Ella ASAP.
- Amazon Purchases
- When you order from Amazon, please use your Dodgeland Business account to check out. If you don't have one, please see Molli to get the email invitation. When you check out, please make sure to write the purchase req number on the line and also put your name the sender's space to be sure it gets to you!
Behavior Specialist Information
Student Specific Supports
We have several students that have supports or modifications from the general procedures to be proactive in preventing issues. Those supports can be found HERE. If you feel a student needs a support, please talk with Mrs. Chambers so we can formally put a plan in place.
Office Door
Many of our students working on regulation, are using the office as a location to calm, and are very good escape artists. When entering or leaving the office, please be aware of what is happening in the office and avoid holding the door open/be quick in and out. TIA!
Incentive plan coming
We will be starting a whole school incentive plan. More to come on 10/2 :).
Elastipass - 4th and 5th grade
We have set up Elastipass again this year for 4th and 5th grade. Students MUST fill out a pass if they need to leave class for any reason. IPads are to be left outside of the bathroom doors when they are using a bathroom pass.
Student work/iPads
Thank you for sending work along to the office/bringing it/sending it down when a student needs some time in the office to work. We will put the finished work/materials back in your mailbox if the student is unable to bring them back to you after their time is finished.
Recess Information
4th and 5th grade 4 square update
After doing some problem solving with Coach Maggie, we have decided to allow spiking in 4 Square on the two courts closest to the grass. The third court closest to the Gaga pit will still be under hand only to allow those students that don’t want to play competitively a space for that.
Kickball
Junior coaches or adults should be the pitcher for kickball.
2nd and 3rd grade transition and lunch
To try to alleviate some congestion at recess transition, we are going to try 2nd and 3rd grade transitioning down the 4th and 5th grade hall to recess (except Kari’s class, they will use the same door they are used to using). They have been reminded that 4th and 5th are learning and the voice expectation is 0.
2nd and 3rd will also be sitting closest to the library/DO in the Commons for lunch.
Lockdown snack/recess
Due to the Lockdown Drill, we need to move recess on 10/1. Here is the plan:
2nd/3rd - 10:45-11:00
4th/5th - 11:00-11:15
5k/1 - 1:30/1:45
4k - 8:40-8:55
3k - once drill is over
Snack milk will be delivered around 8:30. PLEASE get your milk count in ASAP so that hopefully you can get snack in before the drill. (4K, grab your milk from the hall and have snack when you are released to Admin Hold).
Junior Coaches
Junior coaching should be in full swing. Please continue to support them and help them with inviting kids to play. When the whistle blows, they should be helping with calming the lines and can walk the classes to lunch and then return to class. In the event of an evacuation, they should be joining a class they are junior coaching for.
ML Information
Quarter 1 Focus: The PreK-5 WIDA Framework & Mindset
💡 Understanding Equity in the Primary Classroom
Did You Know?
In a WIDA-aligned classroom, equity is about access, not uniformity. Traditional instruction often defaults to giving Multilingual Learners (MLs) simplified texts or lower-grade worksheets. True equity means holding high expectations and keeping MLs anchored in grade-level science and social studies concepts by changing how the content is accessed, not what content is taught.
🛠️ Classroom Strategies by Grade Band
🎒 PreK-3 to Kindergarten: Experiential & Multisensory Equity
Young MLs are developing foundational language alongside conceptual knowledge. Equity at this stage means leveraging their natural curiosity through hands-on exploration.
Visual & Physical Scaffolds: Use real objects (realia), physical gestures (Total Physical Response), and interactive word walls with photos.
In Practice (Science): When teaching a unit on Weather, do not skip the concept of "precipitation" for MLs. Instead, have students touch water, ice, and mist. Pair the word "precipitation" with a dramatic rain gesture and a visual chart showing rain, snow, and hail.
Asset-Based Approach: Allow children to demonstrate understanding by pointing, acting out concepts, or using their home language.
🏫 1st Grade to 3rd Grade: Structured Language & Collaboration
As students transition to more formal reading and writing, equity means providing the linguistic bridges they need to express complex thoughts.
Linguistic Scaffolds: Utilize interactive sentence frames and sentence starters that provide the grammar structure while leaving room for the student's ideas.
In Practice (Social Studies): When studying Community Helpers, instead of giving an ML a simple coloring page, give them the same grade-level map and text as their peers. Provide a sentence frame like: "The fire station is next to the park. The firefighter helps the community by putting out fires."
Graphic Organizers: Use Venn diagrams, T-charts, and sequencing chains heavily paired with icons to help students organize their thoughts before speaking or writing.
📐 4th Grade to 5th Grade: Deconstructing Academic Discourse
Upper elementary MLs face an explosion of abstract academic language. Equity here means explicitly teaching the "hidden rules" of academic text and discussion.
Multimodal Scaffolds: Provide graphic graphic organizers, annotated texts with embedded glossaries, and multimedia anchors (like short video clips) before reading.
In Practice (Science): When learning about Ecosystems, do not give MLs a simplified article about animals. Give them the grade-level text, but highlight key tier-2 and tier-3 vocabulary. Provide a visual diagram mapping out the producer, consumer, and decomposer pathways, and use strategic partner structures (like Think-Pair-Share) so they can practice the language with a peer before writing.
Functional Language: Teach students how to agree, disagree, or add on to a peer's comment using academic language prompts during group work.
🚀 Taking it to the Next Level: The Four Big Ideas
WIDA’s framework is anchored in four foundational pillars. Here is how the "Equity" Big Idea intersects with the other three to guide your Quarter 1 mindset:
Equity as a Catalyst: By ensuring access to rich content, you honor the Systemic Support big idea—recognizing that school leadership and resources must wrap around the ML.
Integration of Content and Language: You aren't teaching language in isolation. You are teaching the language of science and the language of social studies simultaneously.
TechKnow Tip
Don’t forget to share your creations!
We know you and your students are really great at taping up posters in the halls- why not expand that to our digital signage?! Digital signage is found in the halls, on classroom boards, and even as screensavers. The goal of our digital signage is to inform students and staff of all the amazing things happening here at Dodgeland. Digital signage is great for organization announcements, upcoming fundraisers, and building dress-up days (like homecoming)!
Here’s what we need from you and/or your students: any and all information about clubs, organizations, sports, celebrations, and upcoming events you’d like to advertise. Information shared should include a JPG digital poster (Canva is a great tool), pictures, and specific information such as dates, time, and visibility, can be shared to Sam Santana via email. Be sure to include what school areas you want it advertised and the time period in which you’d like it visible. The more information you include, the better! If you are creating your own or using Canva, please share as a PNG or JPG format and use dimensions 1024x576 px (landscape) or 835x1080 px (portrait).
Friday Funny
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