October 2, 2026

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Supportive, Encouraging, Positive

• As I walked through the halls with the SRO officer from Lomira today, I couldn't help but be continually impressed by the staff members that supported our students through a necessary but unfortunate drill that we must do. This event has the potential to be very scary for students, but with all situations, they look to their teachers to know that they are okay and will follow your lead!  Thank you for all you did to support them and prepare them for this drill. We got positive feedback from the officers that visited our school today and this is all because of the staff implementation of the safety procedures.

• Shout out to Betsy who is a steady presence in our classrooms and for her willingness to step in and support students and colleagues. Our youngest learners look to you to help them, and your patience with them is off the charts as well!  :-)

• Shout out to Brenda who has been working so hard to assist staff with beginning of the year assessments, working with Tammy to plan for interventions and analyzing data, and work with the private school in town as well.  Your positive outlook helps all of us see the possibilities!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Saturday, October 3
• FFA Fall Fest 10am-2pm

• Monday, October 5
• Fundraiser order forms due - Bring to Ella please
• AM Duties:
• Breakfast - Lucht
• Big Playground - Haan, Greer, Barefield
• 3K/4K Playground - Wagner, Ryan
• Lunch Duties:
• 12:00 - Donovan
• 12:30 - Oestreich
• 1:00 - Bingen
• PM Duties:
• Big Playground - Klink, Neis
• Circle Drive - Chambers
• 5K Collab mtg @ 11:00 (Digital Lit/Tech)
• Medical Emergency Response Team Drill @1:30pm
• PTC meeting @ 7:30pm Link is HERE
• Lunch Detention Duty this week: Stampfl, Jenkins, TCaine
• Social Media Posts due this week: Greer, O'Toole

• Tuesday, October 6
• 5th gr Collab Mtg @ 9:35am (Math)
• Jenny in Mtg from 9-11am
• 2nd gr Collab Mtg @ 12:00 (SEL)

• Wednesday, October 7
• Jenny in Mtg from 8:30-10:30
• 4th gr Collab Mtg @ 11:35 (Math)

• Thursday, October 8
• Coach Maggie from Playworks visits (11am-3pm)
• 4th gr. Walking Field trip from 9:30-11:30am
• 1st Gr Collab Mtg @ 9:35 (Digital Lit/Tech)
• 3rd Gr Collab Mtg @ 2:05 (SEL)
• 5th Gr. Band Sign up night (4:30-5:30pm)

• Friday, October 9
• 4K Collab Mtg @1:15 (Rdg)
• Home Varsity Football game @ 7pm

Nitty-Gritty

• New Face at the Elementary
• This week a new staff member has joined our team. Brittany Haas is working in Ms. Vertz's room from 7:45-2pm daily. The kids call her Miss Brittany (yes, now there are 2 of them in our elementary!). She may look familiar (or her last name sounds familiar!) as she is also a mom of two of our students. Please help me welcome Brittany to our team.

• Staff movement
• In addition to Brittany joining our team, there were a few shifts in locations for some staff as well.  Mrs. Uttech has returned to Room 117 with Shanalyn/team and Miss Carmen has moved to Room 133 with Melissa Caine-Arnes.  This means that they may be in classrooms or around different parts of the building.  Thank you both for your flexibility as we make adjustments for the system and most importantly for our students!

• Playworks Visit
• Coach Maggie's first half day visit is on Thursday this week.  While she is here, she will be working with Jr. Coaches on trainings, observing and modeling games at our lunch recesses, and stopping in classrooms to observe a playworks activity that the teacher leads and model one for you as well.  Eventually she will be in all of our homerooms, but this visit she will be visiting 2nd and 5th grades. The schedule is below. Please do not stress about this.  The goal of using these games is to emphasize SEL skills and build in play so that you can tackle even more curriculum because they are regulated and ready to learn in the green zone.  If you have specific questions for Coach Maggie, please ask!  She is here to support our work and wants to help!
• 1:00-1:20 Miller
• 1:20-1:40 Oestreich (in PE and classroom)
• 1:40-2:00 Vetter
• 2:00-2:20 Bingen
• 2:20-2:40 Fortmann
• 2:40-3:00 Knibbs

• Water Bottle Donations?
• Nurse Katie is looking for clean, gently used water bottles that you may have and be willing to donate to school. If you have any they can be brought to the office!  Thank you in advance!

• Winter Clothing Drive
• In the October Newsletter, I asked parents/community members if they had any gently used winter clothing or boots, to please donate them to the school.  If anyone brings anything in, please bring to the office. If you have any students that you find are in need of supplies as we get closer to winter, please let us know in the office so we can put things aside for them.
• If you didn't get to read the newsletter, it is on our Dodgeland Website!

Behavior Specialist Information

See Something/Say Something
Please remember that campus security requires all of us to be vigilant of our surroundings and to pay attention to anything that may seem out of place both in and outside of our building. If you notice something that seems out of place, please notify the office (not an emergency) or use the Emergency Page procedures (emergency, or requires admin to report immediately) to get support.

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

Playground Talk vs. Reading Talk 
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills vs. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (BICS vs. CALP)

Did You Know? A 2nd grader might speak fluent, effortless English during recess (BICS) but struggle to explain character motivations in the regular education classroom. Recess fluency doesn't mean language support is no longer needed!

Take it to the Next Level: Read Colorín Colorado's breakdown of Social vs. Academic Language in Elementary.

Friday Funny

I'm just saying this seems like a legitimate excuse note, right?  :-). OH WAIT!  We probably don't have enough subs in Frontline to cover this...