March 31, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Math Counselors were awesome ambassadors for our math classrooms at math night on Tuesday.  It was exciting and so impressive to see your students leading others through the math strategies and work places.

• Shout out to Mandy and Sue (and everyone else assisting with the planning and set-up) for providing a really well designed Bridges Math night!  I think we should do this again in the fall!

• 4th grade teachers coming together to plan ways to encourage students to do their best and be in school each day for the Forward Test!  I love being a part of your brainstorming discussions.

• 1st graders are learning about how to use their "pause" button before they react.  Is this a small or big problem?  What should their reaction be? I like the simplicity and tone that pause has versus the word stop.  I am going to use this when interacting with students too!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

April 3-April 7:Spring Break!  Enjoy the week. I hope you get to spend time doing what makes you happy and relaxed!

• Monday, April 10
• 1st Gr SEL data meeting - 12:05-12:55pm
• EP meeting in the IMC - 3:15-4:15pm
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Juech, Vertz

• Tuesday, April 11
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Juech, Schuett
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-10am
• 5K SEL data meeting - 12:05-12:55pm
• Paraprofessional meeting at 3:15-3:45pm 
• Please bring the article from last month with your thoughts about what stuck out to you.  Also, we will do proctor training for the Forward as well.
• Talent Show Participation Forms Due

• Wednesday, April 12
• Workout Wednesday
• Student Nurses visiting (8:30-2pm) - Schedule is HERE
• 3rd Grade Academic Data meeting - 12:05-12:55pm - Can we meet in a 3rd gr room?
• Staff meeting in IMC at 3:10-3:55pm

• Thursday, April 13
• Brewers Day - Wear your Brewers attire
• Student Nurses visiting (8:30-2pm) - Schedule is HERE
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-9:30am - District office?
• State send off for FBLA/VAC @ 2:15pm

• Friday, April 14
• "The Bully" Assembly 10-12pm
• Academic Interventionist Meeting @ 2:15pm

Nitty-Gritty

• XPD - Apple badges
• If you need items for your alt comp form, please see Jessica's email from March 30 about Apple Badges. To get started click HERE.  Once you have completed the badge(s), download a pdf of the progress report and submit it to me with the alt. comp form.  If you have questions, please refer to the email or check in with the tech department if needed.

• EP Meeting
• On Monday, April 10, there will be an Effectiveness Project meeting to discuss the documentation log and end of the year SLO.  For staff in the first three years, you are encouraged to attend with your mentors if possible.  You may have time to begin working on these items or planning for them. 

• "The Bully"Assembly
• The assembly is called The Bully and includes some magic tricks along with it.  After communicating with the performer, I need to plan this assembly for the morning.  The 4K-2nd graders will attend the assembly from 10-11am and the 3rd-5th graders will attend from 11am-12pm.  Watch for a schedule of specials for that day that may include some rearrangements and/or cancellations of some specials.

• Math Site
• Did you check out the site that Mrs. O'Toole sent us with your classes yet?  The site is 99math.com and includes some engaging ways to practice math skills and facts. It goes all the way through 12th grade so could be used for remediation, but also for enrichment!  I'd love to hear what you think too!

• Personnel Update
• Please make sure to let Josh know how much you have appreciated his hard work in the tech department.  His last day is during our break, so Friday is our last day to work with him! I am happy for him and his new adventure.  Come back and visit us anytime Josh!

• Summer School Registration
• Summer School registration will remain open for a number of weeks.  I continue to keep track of how many students are signing up for each course so I can close them when they are full.  Please let me know if you get any questions from parents that you need help answering.

• Looking ahead
• On Friday, April 21, at 1:30pm, there is an all school assembly (K-12) on wheelchair basketball that will be held in the HS gym.  The presenters will be describing the sport and some older students will have a chance to experience this sport as well.  On Saturday, there is a fundraiser follow-up activity for the community as well.  The assembly will probably last until the end of the school day.

TechKnow Tip

Do you know the benefits of signing into our Dodgeland Help Desk system? 

You can access the help desk system through the app on your iPad, the link on our staff resource page, or through the link on Self Service. 

Once opened, select “Log in to check your tickets” in the upper right hand side. Select “Login with Google” and enter your school information in. 

 

Once in, you can save time when creating a new ticket by not having to enter in your full name and email. You can check on the status of your tickets (via dropdown arrow next to your initials in the top right corner) and view any comments posted from the tech department. You can add a response to your ticket letting the department know about any updates with the issue. You can also close the ticket when the issue gets resolved!

Friday Funny

Didn't it seem like this was the looooongest week of the year???

March 24, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• One of our 5th graders is helping out a 1st grader by taking his time each day to let her read to him to give her extra practice.  I love when we can see this leadership in action!

• Staff giving lots of great ideas for ways to prepare and help our students do their best work on the Forward next month.  I love working with such intelligent and creative professionals.

• Shout out to the tech team for helping me work on the registration link for summer school.  I can not imagine how hard this task would have been without them!

• Watching staff members that stepped in to help with the musical this week (especially today!). AND an extra special shoutout to Paris R. who stepped right in and helped the final rehearsal run smoothly.  Ben has directed a great show for us to enjoy this weekend.

• Also, special shout out to Lexi who has volunteered her time to help supervise the rehearsals for the past month or so and has helped out in a variety of ways including getting the programs ready as well.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 27
• Bus Duty: Chambers, Schweitzer, Johnson
• Wear Neon/Bright Colors
• Jenny in meeting from 8-9:30am
• School Board meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, March 28
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Jenkins, Schwoerer
• Jenny gone to Cesa 6 for the day
• Wear what you want to be when you grow up (Don't forget to have the kids use the Green Screen!)
• 1st Grade SEL data meeting 12:05-12:55pm
• Elementary Math Night 6-7pm

• Wednesday, March 29
• Workout Wednesday
• Wear any College Clothing
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• 4th gr Academic data meeting 12:35-1:25pm

• Thursday, March 30
• Jenny will at a conference all day.
• Wear Medals/Something you are Proud of or Fancy Clothes

• Friday, March 31
• Remind students to check lockers for food before the end of the day.
• World Autism Awareness Day for us:  Wear an autism or blue shirt. OR Wear Purple to celebrate Dodgeland's Hard Work

Nitty-Gritty

• Musical Performance on Friday, 3/24
• Please start arriving in the gym at 2:05 on Friday so that Mr. Schweitzer can have as much of his PE class as possible.  The performance will start at 2:15pm and will last about 35-40 min. Students performing in the musical should report to Mr. Johnson's room at 1:15pm. (for grades 4/5 - Students should eat their lunch first and then report to the music room.). Students will change into their costumes right away in the bathrooms and then those needing mics will meet Mr. Modaff in the gym, while the rest wait in the music room.  If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Johnson.

• Career and College Week
• The committee worked hard at planning a week to help our students think about their future and what they would like to do when they are done with high school.  It is important for kids to begin thinking and talking about their future.  This helps them think about all the possibilities that are available to them.  Thank you for being their "Dream Managers" to quote Dr. Thompson!

• MyView Curriculum
• We are now at the end of March and it is time to make a final decision on the MyView Curriculum.  In order to make this final decision, I am looking for your feedback from those that have been piloting.  In addition, I would like to hear from those that are supporting students through it or others that may have questions.  It is an important decision that will affect student achievement and all of our teaching and planning.  Please click HERE to fill out the survey with a few short questions.

• Forward Exam in April
• If you missed this week's staff meeting and you will be proctoring the Forward, please see me.  I need to go over a few things so that you are officially trained to be a proctor for the test.  For all paras, we will go over this after spring break at our para meeting on Tuesday, April 11.

TechKnow Tip

If you use the i-Ready lessons, there is one thing that might happen to students that are completing the work.  If a student fails an assessment on a lesson twice in a row, it locks it from the student so that teachers can go over those skills with students and then unlock it for them.  You find this by going into the i-Ready site.  Click on the assess and teach tab and then click on instruction on the left hand side.  From there, choose to see class progress.  Any student that needs to go over a lesson will be marked with a red x next to their name.  In order to reset it, click on their name to get the list of lessons, click on the lesson they failed and turn the domain back on.  If you need help with this, please let me know.

Friday Funny

Is it any wonder that learning to read and spell can be so complicated for our students?!  :-)

March 17, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4K teachers created a very memorable St. Patrick's Day for their class.  In fact, there may have been leprechauns in the copy machine making green coloring sheets for the Dodgeland Den kids!  :-)

• I had the opportunity to sit in on quite a few IEP meetings lately.  I am always in awe when I get to listen to our special education teachers explain to parents and staff the present level of performance and goals for the next year.  They make it so easy to understand, even difficult to hear information.

• Staff members coming together to problem solve struggling students.  I am so proud to work with such professionals that work hard at trying to create structures that help students thrive at school.

• Staff coming to me to share questions, concerns and comments.  I always want to hear from you and discuss any things that are on your mind.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 20
• Bus Duty: Miller, Schwoerer, Klis

• Tuesday, March 21
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: Donovan
• SEL meeting for 2nd gr: 12:05-12:55pm
• Jenny leaving for Dr. appt at 2:15pm

• Wednesday, March 22
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic meeting for 5th gr: 12:35-1:25pm
• John Schlender is in the building today
• Staff Meeting in IMC @ 3:10pm

• Thursday, March 23
• Jenny in meeting from 8-9am

• Friday, March 24
• Run for State - 8:30am
• Jenny in meeting from 9-10am
• Willy Wonka kids for Elementary students show 2:15pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Elementary Musical
• Next week is the Elementary Musical performances.  The group will be performing for students and staff on Friday afternoon.  Please be in the gym and fully seated by 2:15. The show is approximately 35-40 min. long.  You may want to have students packed up before they come to the gym for the show.  If you are looking for something to do this weekend, they will be performing for the public on Friday and Saturday (3/24-3/25) at 6:30pm.

• Technology Spring Cleaning
• It's just about spring.  It's a good habit to do a little technology spring cleaning, just like people do in their homes!  Are there photos, emails, files, etc that need to be cleaned up, deleted, or organized?  How about your students' devices?  Do they need to be wiped down as well?  I know I tend to hang on to things way too long and then I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of items at the end of the year.  Taking time to do a little at a time might alleviate this stress later this year.

• Summer School
• Next Monday, a teacher recommendation form will be ready for you to use to recommend students for academic classes for summer school.  In addition, there will be a recommendation for the Jumpstart session that is at the end of July.  (If you would like to teach during those two weeks (10 days total), please let me know.  It will be a great way to get those that really need it a jumpstart to the new school year.  Registration will officially start on Tuesday, March 28.

• Staff Meeting
• Next week's staff meeting is going to be centered on planning for the Forward exam. Although, not all of us are a part of proctoring, all of us are a part of providing the structure and environment for our students to do their best.  By working together, we can help alleviate as much stress as possible from the process for each other and our students.  Come prepared with your questions and ideas.

TechKnow Tip

Khan Academy just launched an “AI for education” course on their Life Skills section. This self-paced course shares information on artificial intelligence (AI) which has become more common in our daily lives with tools like ChatGPT. What is it exactly? How does it work? What benefits and challenges does it present for students, teachers, and parents? This quick course (about 20 minutes) discusses these questions as well as how to talk to students about AI and help them use it appropriately and responsibly. This course even has some great ideas on how teachers can use it too!

Friday Funny

March 10, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• A 4th grader described for me how she decomposed numbers in order to find the perimeter of a shape.  She was so confident and kept so many things in her head while she was solving it was impressive!

• 4K students were retelling a story that they had previously done as a shared reading using the illustrations and clues from the teacher.

• 5K students noticing patterns and keeping a rhythm in music.  Perhaps they are future percussionists!  :-)

• Our 5th graders got to perform as a band for the first time this week!  I always find it so amazing how far they can come in such a short time!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 13
• Bus Duty: Donovan, Lucht, Palen
• Jenny in by 9am due to Dr. appt
• Jenny at meeting in Watertown from 1-3:30pm
• EP Meeting in IMC from 3:15-4:15pm

• Tuesday, March 14
• 3rd Gr SEL data meeting 12:05-12:55pm
• Social Media Posts due to Josh: O'Toole, Turcotte, Johnson
• Staff Wear Red to Celebrate Reading Corps Week!
• PI Day!

• Wednesday, March 15
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in mtg from 8:30-10am
• 5K Academic data meeting 12:05-12:55pm

• Thursday, March 16
• Jenny in mtg from 8:30-9:30

• Friday, March 17
• Wear Green Today!
• State Send off for MS Forensics @ 8:30am

Nitty-Gritty

• March Madness Book Battle
• The Book Battle has begun.  The bracket is in the hallway and the links will be in the announcements for you to use to listen to the books and to vote.  Everyone can participate, even if you do not have a homeroom to vote with.  Thank you to Christina for putting together another way to continue to enjoy and celebrate reading and books.

• Lounge
• I would like to publicly thank Mandy and Jahra for all the work in creating a space for our staff that is inviting and comfortable for all.  Your extra time and hard work is very much appreciated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

• EP Meeting
• On Monday, March 13, an EP meeting will be held in the IMC at 3:15 where the topic is the documentation log.  Jessica will be on hand to help you get started and provide just in time answers to your questions while you start creating your documentation log.

• Pupil Service Roles
• Earlier this year, the Pupil Service team shared a document that describes their individual roles.  With Ashley back from maternity leave, they shared this with us again as a good reminder in case you are in need of support from that team.  Please use this to help you determine who to contact and what ways they are able to support our students and classrooms.
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TechKnow Tip

Micro-learning experiences (typically under 4 minutes) can involve a combination of resources, including video, audio, and text content. You can find premade content you can adapt to a micro-learning experience or create your own. Below are some quality resources for digital content to explore. 

Learn360: There is an extensive audio library including audio books, audio speeches, learning songs, and even music tracks and sound effects!

Discovery Education: Downloadable content that you can edit and upload to Schoology or into your Google slide deck. Students can also log into this tool through the Clever app to advance their research with things like videos.

YouTube: While on content-specific pages, use the filter tool to filter the video duration to under 4 minutes. You can also attach a video into your Google slide deck and add a start and stop time to view just a portion of a longer video.

PD Spotlight

I am sharing this Ted Talk video from Jessica McCabe.  She runs a YouTube channel called "How to ADHD". Earlier this week, I showed this video during the para meeting.  It is an enlightening view from someone that was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and later as an adult, she spent a lot of time reading, learning and researching it to share with others.  I found it very interesting and helpful as I think about some of our students at Dodgeland.  I decided to share it with all of you as well for this same reason.  Enjoy!

Friday Funny

Ella showed me this video earlier this week.  After she did some research and assured me that Archibald is fine, I decided to share it with you.  I don't know if it is so much funny, as it is shocking.  Or maybe it is because the Huelsman gene is full of clumsy moves and so we just connect to it differently than "normal" people.  I'd love to hear what you think!  (Again, I reiterate, Archibald was saved in the follow-up video after much work.  Dad saved the day!)

March 3, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The Read Across America committee put together a fantastic week of celebrating literacy.  Thank you for your hard work!

• I had the opportunity to sit in on an IEP meeting this week that was so positive and had much to celebrate.  The parents were proud of their child and the teachers did such a great job of explaining skills and challenges in easy to understand ways.  Way to Go!

• The 5th grade team worked together in this week's SEL meeting to identify and make a plan for how to address their universal SEL needs in the classroom.  I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 6
• Bus Duty: Crane, Mosher, Murphy
• PE continues to be in the MS gym this week

• Tuesday, March 7
• 4th gr. SEL meeting @ 12:35-1:25pm
• Paraprofessional meeting @ 3:10 in the Elem. conf. room
• Band Concert (our 5th graders first performance!) @ 7pm

• Wednesday, March 8
• Workout Wednesday
• 1st Gr. Academic data meeting 12:05-12:55pm
• Staff Meeting @ 3:10pm in IMC

• Thursday, March 9
• Jenny out of the building from 7:30-8:30am and 2:30-3:45pm
• Wear Bucks Apparel today!

• Friday, March 10
• Interventionist meeting @ 2:15 in Elem. Conf. Room

Nitty-Gritty

• PLTW Distinguished School
• Susan is completing the application for the PLTW Distinguished schools and needs our help.  For all homeroom teachers from the 2021-22 school year, she needs the modules and number of students that participated in the PLTW modules.  Please make sure to account for any that would have missed the units due to RISE or other reasons.  The spreadsheet is HERE. If you have any questions, please reach out to Susan O'Toole.

• Research Survey
• Please complete this survey to assist a doctoral student that is compiling data to help her write her dissertation.  Of course it is optional, but I am sure that she would appreciate your time.  The introduction describes her project and what information the survey is looking for.

• Personnel Update
• Ryan Prod, who had been the long-term sub for Sabrina, will be joining our staff in another capacity starting next week Thursday.  He will be working with Teresa and Blasia in the special education department.  In April, he will be the long-term sub for Taylor's classroom until the end of the school year.  Next year, he will return to the special education position with Teresa and Blasia again.  Welcome, or I should say, we are glad to keep you around as part of our staff full-time!  :-)

TechKnow Tip

Have you noticed that red notification bubble looming on your settings app? As with your laptop, this year you need to log in more frequently to your accounts for security measures. Be sure to log into your Apple ID on your iPad whenever you see the notification or you get a pop-up notification. Being logged into your Apple ID ensures proper iPad backup of your files, photos, and apps. This is the same for students too, so feel free to encourage them to stop tapping “Later” and log in to ensure their priceless work is saved.

Friday Funny

I love pictures like this!