September 27, 2024

 I apologize for how REALLY LATE this week's blog is.  It's been a really rough week for me, but there is no excuse for it.  This one is a bit pared down as well.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 30
• Homecoming week begins! 
• Represent Day - Dress up to show your interests and hobbies.
• Picture Retake Day - Click HERE for a list of students that need to get their pictures taken
• Bus Duty for this week: Klink, Arnes, Westphal, Jenkins (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty this week: 
• Reminder:  Teachers, please help transition 1st and 3rd graders to the lunch room.  Also Teachers should supervise the lunch line at the beginning of the period and then circulate amongst the tables when everyone is through.
• 12:00 - Wagner
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - TCaine

• Tuesday, October 1
• Season/Holiday/Tradition Day - Dress as your favorite Holiday/tradition/season.
• Social Media posts due to Jessica - Klink, Fortmann
• 3rd Grade Data Meeting in Elem. Conf room from 12:05-12:55pm
• Para PD Meeting in the IMC at 3:15pm

• Wednesday, October 2
• Outdoorsy Day - Dress in clothes you wear to explore the outdoors.
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-10am
• 1st Grade Data meeting from 11:35am-12:25pm

• Thursday, October 3
• Beach/Tropical Day - Wear your beach/tropical attire.
• Jenny in a meeting from 8:30-11am in Watertown

• Friday, October 4
• Purple Pride Day
• Face Painting for $1 during lunch recesses from HS Student council.  More details to come.
• September Citizenship grades due in the gradebook
• Early Release at 2:30pm for Homecoming (Pep assembly is at 1:30pm in the HS gym)
• Homecoming Parade is at 4pm through town.

Nitty-Gritty

• Picture Day on Monday
• There will be a staff member (Miss Lexi) that will come to classrooms (or call for older students) when to send them down for their pictures. If you get a message from a parent that they want their child's picture retaken and they are not on the list please let the office know so they are added!

• SAEBRS and ASQ-SE Assessments
• Starting next week, you can begin to work on the SAEBRS assessment for grades 5K-5 and the ASQ-SE for 3K-4K.  Both of the assessments are online and both are asking for you to rate the student's social and emotional skills that they are showing in the school setting.  This is an important dillenation because some students have different behaviors depending on the setting.  Some students cry more easily when at home than school.  Others might have a hard time with a skill at home, but they are doing great at school.  The results of these assessments will be used to communicate with families and also to help us know what instruction or small group needs there are in each grade.  If you are new to this, please check with your mentor or me if you need some help getting into the program.  SAEBRS is on FastBridge.  ASQ-SE is on the asqonline.com site.  These assessment rating scales should be complete by Friday, October 11.

• Zones of Regulation & Everyday Speech 
• Ms. Mosher is going to start the new Zones of Regulation curriculum this week in your classrooms. (5K-5)  The curriculum also has some hand outs and some tools that she will be teaching that she will share with you as well so that you have info about them to use if they are needed.
• Everyday Speech for Grades 2-5 will start in classrooms on Monday, October 7.  (Emotional ABC's will continue in grades 5K-1.). Ms. Mosher will send you an email with directions on which lessons to do each week along with helpful tips on using the site.  Remember, you can do this at a time that works best for you and your classroom.  You do not need to do the last tab, reflect, if you do not want to.  Please do the other 4 tabs though. (warm-up, learn, discuss, review).  Please watch your emails for more information from Ms. Mosher this next week.

• Homecoming Plans
• The Homecoming committee shared the flyer of the dress up days for this year.  Please see Amber's email from Wed, 9/25 for the other details relating to these days.  Please make note that students will be sent home early on Friday (2:30) due to the parade.  Please have your students packed up before you go to the assembly at 1:30pm that afternoon.  It is their intention to dismiss elementary by 2:10pm, but sometimes it runs late and this way they are ready to go if that happens this year.  (4th and 5th grade students should go directly from the commons after lunch to the HS gym.)

TechKnow Tip

Edutopia.org is an amazing professional resource with a plethora of great articles.

The article “Using Edtech Tools to Differentiate Learning”, discusses how edtech tools can be used to provide students with options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. Edtech such as Google Classroom can create more inclusive and engaging learning experiences. The article highlights three key edtech tools: digital audiobook platforms, multimedia presentation tools, and digital annotation tools. These tools can help remove barriers to learning and empower all students to succeed… and that’s really why we are all here, for our students.

Behavior Specialist Information

Hallway/Classroom Safety
As we have responded to some student behaviors this year, it has become evident that our students are unaware of how to respond to keep themselves out of a potentially unsafe situation. Please sign-up here for a time next week for me to come in and do some training with your class.

Recess Information

Bus Duty/Before School

Please remind students that before school the options are playground equipment, tag zone, or hanging out in line. (Or while I haven’t told them before, they could play Switch on the 4 square courts). The student’s should not be getting balls out in the morning. Thanks for your help!

Indoor Recess

Here is the link for indoor recess procedures and coverage for indoor recess. I will always do my best to call recess at least 10 minutes prior to recess via the PA system. My goal is to be outdoors whenever possible, so we may have to pivot at the last minute if it starts raining when we are outside or within that 10 minute window…

Extra Incentive

Ms. Rose donated some really cute Halloween Bags. We are going to use them to help boost our positive communication at recess. If you hear students cheering each other on, being good sports, or otherwise using kind language, please give them a ticket (they will be in your mailbox). Students should put their name and class code (for example Mrs. Bingen would be 5B) on the ticket and I will draw names once a week in October to earn the bags.

Friday Funny

From the files of "Of course this happened to Lexi," is this week's incident. At volleyball warm-ups, Lexi gets hit in the face and her glasses break. At this point, she can not see much at all because the lens wouldn't stay in. So she starts making her way through the hallway. She gets to the elementary wing and one student stops to lead her down the hall to her ride and the other stops to test her on what she can see. Such sweet boys huh? Luckily, she was able to get new frames in the exact style she already had. But, did you see her today? It looked like they were brand new. Her frames faded this much in two years! Let's see what weird thing happens to her next week! Hope it is cheaper for her though! :-)

September 20, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Teachers sharing important and sensitive information to parents to help them understand what's happening at school and problem solve with them as a team.

• Shout Out to Teresa Chambers for organizing Field Day for our school so that students have the opportunity to learn all of the core games for our recesses!

• Students are learning digital citizenship and one 2nd grader has really mastered what is private versus personal information to share online.  Yay!!!

• The interventionists are working hard to get assessments done, beginning to analyze the data and make instructional plans.  Our students are very lucky to benefit from their hard work.  Thank you Sue, Brenda and Andrea!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 23
• Happy Birthday Gabrielle and Blasia!
• Bus Duty for the week: Bingen, Juech, Stampfl, Schuett (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty for the week: 
• 12:00 - Lucht
• 12:30 - Turcotte
• 1:00 - McKay
• Library Lessons start this week!
• Jenny in meeting from 8-10am
• EP Meeting in IMC from 3:15-4:15pm on SLO/PPG
• October Calendar and Info due to Trisha
• School Board Meeting at 6:30pm

• Tuesday, September 24
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-8:45am 
• Flu Clinic from 2-4pm
• 5th Grade Data meeting in El Conference room @ 12:35pm
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Turcotte, Mook, Zastrow

• Wednesday, September 25
• Workout Wednesday
• Early Release for Students at 12:20pm
• Staff meeting for Act 20 Reading training at 12:30 in the IMC, watch for email with more details.
• Watch for the schedule coming soon for students attending Den and the supervisors for that.
• Office staff meeting at 3pm in the IMC

• Thursday, September 26
• Lockdown drill at 1:35pm (Do NOT share with students)
• 4th Grade Data meeting in EL Conference room at 12:35pm

• Friday, September 27
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-8:45am
• 4K Data Meeting at 11:35am
• Rapid Cycle Feedback Planning form due for all certified staff

Nitty-Gritty

• October Calendar/Newsletter
• If you have any information or events that you need put in the newsletter and/or monthly calendar, please get this to Trisha by Monday.  We want to make sure that they have a way to access the important work we do!

• New Face at Dodgeland
• We have a practicum student starting this next week working with Amber Jenkins in the Early Childhood program.  Her name is Crystal Guell and she will be putting her hours in during the Fall semester through UW-Whitewater.  Please help me make her feel welcome here at our school!

• Wednesday's Act 20 Meeting
• For many of us, we will be meeting to continue to work on the Act 20 training and using Cox Campus as our tool for the initial instruction.  If you do not have an account yet, please let me know.  For some of us, the Act 20 training is not required or does not relate to your specific role.  However, there are other PD sessions within Cox Campus that you will be working through that are more closely related to your specific grade level and/or position.  Please watch your email so that you know the specifics of what you will be doing for the staff meeting on Wednesday, Sept 25.

• Classlink
• Have you created your account for Classlink yet?  If so, when you log in, do you see the numerous additions to the home page for your Classlink?  If you see Sam, please express your gratitude for the many hours he has spent on the phone, setting up accounts, etc to get as many of these accounts created and ready as fast as possible!  Thank you Sam!

Recess Information

Field Day is Friday, September 20!

Here is the information for Field Day. Remember we will not be doing popsicles due to the bee issue on our grounds lately. However, we will still end the day with a dance party together.

TechKnow Tip

Have you checked out Novel Effectsyet?! It is a read aloud aide that adds sound effects to the book you’re reading. Some great seasonal

titles you may want to check out first are All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, How I Became a Pirateby Melinda Long, Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen, and The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming. All

these can be checked out from our library or the Sora app and read with your students. They also have a

great activities and learning resources page. Theyprovide activities like printable coloring sheets and games, as well as resources like graphic organizers

and supplemental research information. These can be a great way for students to continue to practice their

literacy skills they are working so hard on with all of you! 

If you used it previously, you will need to re-connect to our school again this year! Click HERE and re-enter our plan id MXKFQN. You can find more information here on our staff resource page.

Friday Funny

I do not like this one bit.  How on earth did I blink and this happened?!  1994 is when I graduated from High School.  

September 13, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Teachers are supporting each other for their celebrations and also with a listening ear for difficult situations.  This is what teamwork looks like.

• 2nd graders are creating addition and subtraction sentences that are related.  They were very proud of their work!

• Paras working together to find ways to help one another with schedule conflicts and providing tips on ideas to try with students to help them be successful.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 16
• Bus Duty this week: CaineT, Huso, Lucht, Braunschweig (3K/4K playground) (reminder to stay on the playground supervising until the buses leave campus, about 3:15)
• Lunch Duty (Remember, please help transition kids from the hallway to the commons - 1st, 2nd or 3rd, 5th)
• 12:00 - Donovan, Stampfl
• 12:30 - Arnes, Mosher
• 1:00 - Schulte, Fortmann
• Yearly Fundraiser Starts
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• EP meeting in IMC at 3:15pm on SLO/PPG

• Tuesday, September 17
• Social Media Posts due: Braunschweig, Westphal, Miller

• Wednesday, September 18
• Happy Birthday Kimi!
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, September 19
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Administrative Hold drill at 2:15pm (Do not share with students)

• Friday, September 20
• Field Day (see details below)
• Pyramid Model meeting 1-2pm in Elem conference rm

Nitty-Gritty

• Homecoming Shirt orders
• Homecoming is coming up in a couple of weeks, September 30-October 4.  The annual pep rally and parade will be on Friday, October 4.  A flyer will be out soon from the committee regarding this year's dress-up days.  Also, please see Mrs. Beaudo's Homecoming T-shirt order forms to order if interested.

• October Family Newsletter
• If you have any articles or events that you want to be a part of the next family Newsletter, please submit them to Trisha by Wed, Sept 25.  This could be field trip information, math or reading tips, articles regarding things that are happening in your class/grade, etc.

• Substitute Teacher Feedback and Reminders
• Jessica met with some of our subs this week to go over the sub handbook and technology updates.  There are some important notes that came from this meeting.  Please see below for important reminders/updates.
• If there is a planned absence, our subs love getting to see plans ahead of time when they're at home. If possible, please add a link to your sub plans into frontline (make sure the share setting is so anyone with the link can view).  It is great that our subs want to know what will be happening so they can be the best sub for your classroom while you're out!
• When scheduling absences for multiple days, please enter as separate days. While it is best for 1 sub to take all 3 days in a row of an absence, the affordable health care act limits the number of hours we can have a sub so if your absence is for several days in a row, subs will not see the absence as one they can take in frontline. 
• When writing your classroom information for subs, please share any student specific details that would be helpful. Due to confidentiality, this doesn't mean identifying students with an IEP, but it DOES include notes like "when we take a test, these students will go to room____" or "if (student name) becomes agitated, quietly tell him that he can go take a break in _____." These are the kinds of things that you know about your students and just do naturally, but to help a sub be successful, they will need to know too. 

TechKnow Tip

Your advertisement here! 

We know you and your students have really enjoyed all the information provided through 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!  

Here’s what we need from you 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 in and the time period in which you’d like it visible. The more information you include, the better an advertisement we can provide. 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).

Recess Information

Field Day

Here is the information for Field Day. Please let me know if you have any questions. 3k, I’ll get you your popsicles.

4k, if you’d rather have your popsicles in your classrooms and skip/host your own dance party, let me know.

Indoor Recess

Here is the linkfor indoor recess procedures and coverage for indoor recess. I will always do my best to call recess at least

10 minutes prior to recess via the PA system. My goal is to be outdoors whenever possible, so we may have

to pivot at the last minute if it starts raining when we are outside or within that 10 minute window…

Documentation/Powerschool 

Please continue to document minor and major behaviors in Powerschool including behaviors displayed by our special education students. Minor reports will automatically be sent to guardians, and majors will be sent by the office, however whoever witnessed the event should be the person to input the information into Powerschool.

Behavior Specialist Information

Check-in/Check-out

Starting Monday we will start our formal check-in/check-out process. Sophie will be available

in the Oasis from 7:50-8:10 and 2:45-3:00. Students should bring their iPad as we will be using

a form to keep data and process with the students. If you have a student that you feel needs a

daily check-in or check-out, please email Sophie and Teresa so we can set it up. If you have a

student that comes in and needs a break, please call Trisha in the office and let her know you

are sending a student to the Oasis. If students are needing a break outside of that time frame

and the classroom calming strategies and sensory path breaks have not worked, please call Trisha

and she will radio pupil services staff to take students on a break.

Friday Funny

We lost one of the Greatest Voices ever this week.  In honor of him, here is a couple of funny videos where he played himself on the Big Bang Theory.  

September 6, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Thank you for letting me come in to your classrooms this week.  It was so great to see all of your students and visit for awhile.

• The interventionists are working together to work on plans for helping with iReady assessments, and also planning for the interventions for the year.

• Shout out to Rose who continues to be a big help for our families with enrollment, registration and transitioning to a new school or school year!  Thank you Rose!

• Teachers modeling, teaching and practicing how to use the sensory paths.  I am very proud of our students that are showing us that they can handle this and use it appropriately!  It's exciting to see what outcomes come from this.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 9
• Happy Birthday Roxanne!
• Fall Assessment Window opens (iReady, FastBridge, etc)
• Bus Duty: Zastrow, CaineB, Schulte, Donovan (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty for the week:
• 12-12:25 - Vertz, Elefson
• 12:30-12:55 - Miller, Westphal
• 1:00-1:25pm - McKay, O'Toole
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• New Teachers Meeting on PowerSchool Gradebook at 3:15-4pm

• Tuesday, September 10
• Social Media posts due to Jessica: Stampfl, Schuett
• Jenny in meeting from 8:15-8:45am
• Paraprofessional meeting from 3:15-3:45pm in IMC
• 5th/6th Gr Football game at Dodgeland @ 6pm

• Wednesday, September 11
• Workout Wednesday
• Staff Meeting 3:10-3:55pm in IMC

• Thursday, September 12
• Tornado Drill @ 8:30am (Do not share with students)

• Friday, September 13
• Locker numbers for each of your students due to Trisha or myself

Nitty-Gritty

• Goose Passes
• Happy Birthday Everyone!  Trisha is putting a Goose pass for everyone in your mailboxes on Friday morning for you to use when you need it as a birthday present from me!  :-)

• Cox Campus
• If you didn't get an email from Cox Campus to make an account, please let me know.  There is nothing that you need to do in the site.  There are a lot of courses in there, but we will work through the things you need to do as we go through the school year.  Do not stress about this.  It will be broken down into small manageable chunks and we will not finish the whole thing this year.  I just want to make sure that you all have your account because you will need it on our first Early Release coming up.

• Google Classroom and the Staff Resource Page
• Google Classroom is a great way for you to get information, links, etc to your students quickly without a lot of hassle and a million questions for how to log in and to keep them on track with the assignments.  Don't forget that there is a LOT of help on our Staff Resource Page including videos and how to documents.  The more comfortable you become the easier it will be!

• Fall Testing Window
• Starting Monday, 9/9/24, the Fall testing window officially opens.  K-2nd grade will be using FastBridge and 3-5th will be using iReady.  Students should access iReady or areading/amath in FastBridge through Class Link to take the assessments.  Please reach out to the special ed dept and interventionists for assistance with giving the assessment in small groups for those that need it.  The goal is to have very minimal number of retakes.  :-)

• XPD's
• It's that time of year when we start to put the XPD catalog together for staff.  Is anyone interested in leading a session this year for your colleagues.  Maybe you want to lead a book study?  It has been a few years, perhaps someone would like to do a session on Playworks in the classroom?  Do you have tips/tricks on a topic related to your instruction, planning or assessment?  Please let Jessica know if you have an idea for an XPD that you would like to lead this year!

• Sensory Path Reminder
• One quick observation from yesterday's fire drill.  When students are in the drills, please tell them that it is not safe to be using the sensory paths at that time.  If we practice it, it will become a habit!
• If students are carrying their iPads with them, they also should not be using the sensory path so that they do not drop, step on, etc their iPad.  (This may not be a common occurrence, but I wanted it to be on your radar.)
• Flu Clinic
• The flu clinic will be at school on September 24 from 2-4pm.  If you and anyone in your family (spouses, children aged 3 and up) are interested in participating, please make sure to let Laura Grossman know so that she can tell Walgreens.  They want to have enough of the flu shot on hand for us.  

• ClassLink and Student/Teacher Accounts
• Any website, app or software that you are using in your classrooms that has individual accounts MUST be through class link to protect our student's data.  This is anything where they log in including IXL, MyView, FastBridge, Happy Numbers, etc.  If your students are entering a login/password to a site outside of ClassLink, please stop and contact the tech department right away. Following this meeting, they will work on getting it set up.  It may take awhile, so it is important that you do this as soon as possible.

• Custodial/Maintenance Needs?
• As you we go through the school year, please use the link below to let the custodial staff know if you need help with anything from them. https://bit.ly/4g936Nm

Friday Funny

Last weekend, my sister sent our family this picture of her kids at a park they stopped off at on their way home from a road trip to Ohio.  My nephew, Johnny, LOVES baseball.  He plays on a traveling league and can tell you any stat you want about the Brewers.  He was pretending to be Christian Yelich as a two year old in his living room even!  So Why is this in the Friday Funny spot, because, they get to the park, run into kids he has never met before and they decide to play a pick-up game of baseball.  No equipment?  No problem, they found a stick to use as a bat and crumbled up a piece of aluminum foil from their picnic lunches to be the ball.  Then, they could "Play Ball!"  I love it!

August 30, 2024

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• You all worked so hard to welcome our families at Open House.  Our families were excited to be here!

• Shout out to the Tech Team, Brad, Sam and Christina, for all the work that they put in for this week to help us learn new tools, new procedures, and tips for success.  They even had to spend a lot of time teaching me about these things which was probably the most annoying part of the process!

• Have you seen the elbow grease and the planning that is going into getting the Sensory path in place for our students.  I know I have publicly thanked Teresa, Leah and Ashley for getting this for us, but I had no idea how much work it was going to be to get it actually on the floor.  THANK YOU Teresa for all the thought, work and leadership for this.  Thank you also to James and team for getting the hallways scrubbed well so we could start.  Thank you to Jen and her family for helping as well as anyone that is going to help again on Friday!  We are lucky to have such dedicated staff members.  (I know there are lots of others that are helping with this, so if I missed you, I sincerely apologize!)

• Finally, thank you for your attention, your feedback and your hard work this week.  I know it has been a lot of meetings to attend and a large amount of information being shared.  Your professionalism, questions, and collaboration do not go unnoticed!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, September 2
• Labor Day - No School

• Tuesday, September 3
• First Day of School - Wear Purple/Dodgeland Apparel and be comfortable
• Happy Birthday Kay Rex
• Social Media posts due to Jessica: Juech
• Bus Duty for this week: Schweitzer, Mosher, O'Toole Vertz (3K/4K playground)
• Lunch Duty for the week: 
• 12:00pm - Braunschweig, Schuett
• 12:30pm - Huso, Juech
• 1:00pm - Klink, BCaine
• Support Staff Duties: 
• 7:35-7:55am - Breakfast in Commons: Lexi, Vicky
• 7:35-7:55am - Circle Drive on 3K/4K playground: Eneida
• 3:00-3:15pm - Circle Drive Parent Pick up: Jessica, Sandi

• Wednesday, September 4
• Workout Wednesday

• Thursday, September 5
• Jenny's in a meeting from 8-10am
• Fire Drill Today

• Friday, September 6
• Bus Evacuation Drill starting at 7:35am by playground drop off (All MS/HS students from bus will need to enter from Elementary playground because of this drill.)
  
  

Nitty-Gritty

• Digital Citizenship
• As we talked in the staff meeting today, please help me know when I can reiterate lessons from the Digital Citizenship curriculum by filling out the Google Sheets document HERE.  Please let me know what parent resource you shared with families so that I can piggy back off of it in upcoming newsletters.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

• Locker Numbers
• Eventually, we need to put the locker numbers of each student into PowerSchool.  By September 13, please submit to Trisha or myself a list of your students and which locker they are using this year.  If you make any changes during the year, please let us know as well.

• KnowBe4 Trainings?
• Did you get them all done?  If not, please take care of this as soon as you are able.

• Schedules
• If you made any modifications or tweaks to your schedule, please let Trisha or myself know so that we can update the Master schedule document.  Please remember though that there are a number of people (Reading Corps, Sp. Ed dept, interventionists, etc) that use these schedules to plan for their own schedules so that it does not overlap with other grade levels and groups.  However, I am open to other ideas if you have something that will work better for your students as long as it doesn't disrupt others.

• Interventionists
• Our interventionists will start to come in to start doing some assessments for some students the first week, but mostly by week 2.  Second, they will not be doing the F&P Benchmark Assessment this year.  If you would like to assess your students, you can certainly get a Benchmark box from them to assess your students if you'd like.
• The interventionists will be using FastBridge to complete the fluency assessment and the Early Reading/Math Assessments.  They will be communicating with you as soon as possible when they are coming in to your classrooms.

Friday Funny

As I was watching short videos on YouTube, it made me laugh!  What do you think of their metaphor?

August 26, 2024

 You would think there would be nothing else to put in a blog before school starts, and yet, here I am, creating another one!  Although, this one is MUCH shorter! The topics for this blog were determined based on things that can be an email to save time in staff meetings.  However, if you have questions about anything, don't be afraid to ask and there will be time to go over questions on Thursday afternoon.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, August 26
• Welcome Back!  Join us for breakfast in the Multipurpose room at 7:30am.
• 9:30am - ALL Elementary Staff meeting
• 2pm - Pyramid Model meeting with 3K/4K staff
• 6:30pm - School Board Meeting

• Tuesday, August 27
• Happy Birthday Holly Blattner!
• 8:00am - Act 20 Training in the Commons for all Elementary Staff (and MS/HS ELA/Sp. Ed staff)
• 10am - Paraprofessional meeting for all paras in District in IMC
• 12pm - All District Staff in Safety meeting in Multipurpose Room
• 2pm - Dodgeland Den staff meeting in Elem. Conf room
• 6pm - Trojan Jr Football - 5th/6th gr - 1st game

• Wednesday, August 28
• Happy Birthday Nicole Lauth!
• Happy Birthday Rose Fobes!
• Work Day starts at 11am!
• 11am - Recess Committee Meeting for all paras and anyone on Recess Committee
• 12:30-2pm - Staff photos - Everyone MUST get their picture taken to get a temporary badge for the first day of school (starting at 2pm, students' and their families can start arriving)
• 3:30- Staff Supper in Multipurpose room
• 5-7pm - Open House (I will have optional parent meetings in the IMC at 5 and 6:30pm)

• Thursday, August 29
• 7:30am - Verbal Deescalation Training in the Multipurpose room
• 12:45-1:30pm - Tech Office Hours on Google Classroom (optional)
• 1:30pm - Elem. Staff Meeting

• Friday, August 30
• 7:30-9:30am - NVCI training for all sp. ed teachers/paras in the multipurpose room
• 8:30-9:15am - Tech Office Hours on PowerSchool (optional)
• 9:15-10am - Tech Office Hours on Classlink (optional)
• 2:15-3pm - Tech Office Hours on Communication (optional)
• KnowBe4 Trainings are due by the end of the day.

Nitty-Gritty

• Flu Clinic at Dodgeland
• Mark your calendars - We will hold a flu shot at Dodgeland on Tuesday, September 24 from 2-4pm.  This will be open to Dodgeland employees and their families.  Watch for more details as it gets closer.

• Lunch/Milk Count Directions
• Click HERE to see the directions on how to fill in the lunch and milk counts for this school year.  Remember, there will be a green shopping cart by all students that are eligible to get milk during snack break by Monday, Sept. 16.  Up until that date, all students are able to get a milk at snack break if they would like.

• Green Nurse Slips
• This school year, we will be returning to using the green nurse slips.  It is easier for Leah and Trisha to have the slips when students walk in to the office and the slips will be filed later to save Leah time with documentation as well.  If you do not have any green nurse slips in your mailbox, please check with Trisha to get some for your rooms.

• Read Aloud to Classrooms
• For any classroom teachers that are interested, please sign up for a time for me to come to your classroom to read to them and welcome them back to school for the year!  I understand if your schedules are full, just offering.  :-). Click HERE to see the available times.
  
  
• Go Kit Bags 
• At some point during this week, please make sure to update your red Go Kit bags for emergencies.  There should be an updated class roster, coloring sheets or activities for your students to do, first aid kit and diabetic emergency kit if necessary, red emergency attendance sheets, and any other items you think you would need if you would be away from your classroom for an extended amount of time.

• Fall Field Day
• Watch for information from Teresa regarding a Field Day on Friday, September 20.  This is part of the surprise that you see on the Elementary Calendar.  Just want you to have this on your calendars.

• Library Information and Lessons (Please read this information from Christina carefully!)
• Library lessons will start the week of September 23rd. Watch for a Google Calendar invite from me - once you accept it, the time will be added to your Google Calendar too. 


• Even though the library won't be ready for students to use on day one, you are welcome to request books! We have some great read aloud books about bucket filling, school routines, and beginning of the school year. You can browse our books using this link or Destiny Discover app (dark blue with an orange lightbulb). You can also check out a digital book on Sora! You may also want to utilize Novel Effects for some great sound effects to accompany your read alouds. Here is their "Back to School" curated list of book titles.


• You'll be busy day one with all those awesome procedures and relationship building, so iPad orientation can begin Wednesday 4th. Remember that just as you go through specific expectations with the hallways, bathrooms, and recess, clear expectations should be addressed with iPads before they are used. Please keep your iPad lockers locked until those expectations are shared with your students. If you haven't signed up for a 30 minute lesson with me yet, you can do that here.


• Lastly, I want to share that there is probably no one who missed school as much as Watson! He is eager to see all his friends again and I'm eager to get throughout the school to interact with our students. Starting Friday 6th, I would love to bring Watson in to see you and your students. I'll be sending out a digital book for you to read with your class before we come and visit which tells you a little about Watson, his job here at school, and expectations for when you see him in the building. After reading the book, we will come in for 15 minutes so your class can practice those skills they read about and we can answer any questions they may have. You can sign up here for that visit!





Questions? 

If you have any questions, or topics you want me to make sure I address in Thursday's staff meeting (or one in the future), please complete this survey HERE.

Friday Funny (on a Monday)

Seriously though.  I hope this is just a poorly placed sign...

August 20, 2024

 The First Dodgeland Download of the YEAR!  

I read this meme and thought of the people I get to work with every year.  I know that you are all working so hard, long before the first day of school, whether it is the things on this list or all the planning you do for instruction, routines, transitions, etc.  I want you to know how much this is appreciated by myself and the hundreds of families that will walk through our doors at Open House.  

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I know this is going to be a VERY long post, but please read it carefully.  It has a lot of details about this upcoming year, including things you will need to sign up for, things to mark your calendars about, and information that will be explained in more detail at staff meetings during Inservice Week.  As always, if you have questions, please let me know!

Jenny's Note:

I have spent quite a bit of time this summer reflecting and thinking about the feedback from staff and the survey results from last spring.  I appreciate so much that so many of you took the time to take the surveys, talk to me in person, debrief during the PD days, and/or send me emails.  I have the same goal as you all, which is to make Dodgeland the best place for our students to thrive and for us to work.  I have always loved being at Dodgeland and it is much more than a place to go to work for me.  I care about the people I get to work with, currently and in the past.  I brag often about the staff and children at Dodgeland.  However, it doesn't mean that everything is perfect and that there aren't ways that we can continue to improve.

One of the things that I heard clearly from elementary staff is relating to student behavior, routines and procedures.  Many of the behaviors can be addressed through proactive measures including thought out procedures, relationship building and focusing on encouraging good attendance.  Many of you brainstormed ideas in the attendance committee last week and it was all brought to me.  You will see in the following section and in next week's staff meetings that I have thought about these things.  I also know that in order to continue to see improvements, we need to work together, communicate often, and share supervision responsibilities so that we are all on the same page for all of our students.  I also spent time making sure that I was cognizant of prep time minutes for staff so that you can do your planning but also what needs we have for our students as well.  I share this with you because you will see some changes in the schedule that is below.  If you have questions, concerns, comments, please be ready to share them on or before Monday, August 26 so they can be addressed at staff meetings.

Nitty-Gritty

• New Faces
• You may have seen this in Jessica's packet as well, but wanted to take this time to welcome our new elementary staff as well.  I know you will, but please help me welcome them to our school!
• Karissa Wagner - While she is not new to staff, she is taking on the teacher role in the 4K classroom she has been in for the past two years.  I'm glad she's here and taking on this role too!
• Eneida Conway - Eneida is a parent that we have been able to work with for a number of years, but now we get to see her everyday in the building.  Last year, she was a long term sub in 4K, and now she will be working with our 4K students full-time.  I am so excited she will be on staff with us!
• Tina Ellefson - Because our 4K student enrollment has been quite high this year, we have opened another 4K section.  Tina comes to us from St. Katharine Drexel with a number of years of experience in 4K and 5K and will be teaching out of Room 120.
• Melissa Uttech - Melissa will be joining our 4K team with Amber Jenkins and Ella.  She worked in the MS special education department last year, but she is joining us to work with our littlest learners.  It'll be a big change, but I know that she will do a fantastic job.  She gets to join the ranks of people that work alongside one of their children!  :-). She is Miss Alexis's mom.
• Kari Westphal - Kari is probably a familiar face and there are probably a number of us who got to be her teacher at one point too!  But, she is now ready to join our team as a colleague and take on teaching 3rd grade.  She will be teaching from Room 124. Help me to welcome her to the Elementary in this role!
• Ashley Heuer - Ashley is joining Bethany N. in the Reading Corps program.  She is also a former student.  She will be starting her training on the reading interventions soon and will be ready to work with our students at the beginning of the school year.  
• Julie Kaiser - She will be in the building periodically in Kathy Miller's room doing clinical hours as she works towards her teaching degree.  So, we will still get to see her too!
• Felicia Harmon - She is a Junior Practicum student from Maranatha that will be completing her hours with Mary Jo in 1st grade this fall.  If you see her around the building, please introduce yourself and make her feel welcome!
• Samantha Keberlein - Another familiar face!  Samantha has been a parent of students in our building for a number of years and she was doing long-term subbing last spring as well.  She is now joining us full-time, splitting her time between Ms. Vertz and Mrs. Caine-Arnes' room.  I'm so glad she is able to join us full-time this year!
• Klair Fortmann - Klair is joining our team as a 5th grade teacher in Room 141.  She spent the last year in Jefferson.  She also has been in the building working on getting her classroom ready and reading through teacher's guides. Please help me welcome her.  We are fortunate that she is joining our team as well!
• Carrie Houk - Carrie is joining us in the music department with Noah.  She gets to teach all of our elementary students, many of our MS students and some HS students as well.  She will be very busy, but I can't wait to see our students continue to enjoy music with her too!

• Google Classroom
• This year I will be using Google Classroom to communicate important resources, information, etc.  In fact, the blog will be posted in Google Classroom each week instead of sending out an email each Friday morning.  The more often we use the platform, the more comfortable we will all become.  When you go into Google Classroom, please enter my code to be a member of my "class."  If you need help let me know, and I can send you an invite as well.  The CODE is: 6qdbanp. Or you can accept the invite through your email from me to join the class.

• Act 20 Reading Training
• The literacy training regarding the Science of Reading that is required for reading specialists and myself was actually pretty interesting and engaging.  We will spend our Early Releases working through the modules this school year.  We will start during the week of inservice.  We will be using an online program called Cox Campus.  If you get an email from them, please create an account so that you can watch the online courses as we go through the year.  More information will be shared at Act 20 training on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 8am.  Although not all of you teach literacy, I do want all certified elementary staff and all paras to attend this meeting on Tuesday.  

• Student Lockers
• As I was watching student enrollments coming in this year, I started to consider that we will need to plan for where students' lockers will be located due to classroom placement and so that there is room for each class.  Please check this doc to find your name and the locker range for your class.  It may be slightly different than past years to fit in the enrollment we have.  Let me know if you have any questions.

• Room Changes in the Elementary
• There are a few changes in where you will find some people and programs this year.  See the list below:
• Dodgeland Den for grades 1-5 will now be in Room 102 near the Gym.  This room will still be able to be used for indoor recess this year as well.
• PLTW Lab will be in room 137.  There is a magnetic lock on the wardrobe closet and all of the lower cabinets in the room.  The magnet is located near the top and side of the tall wardrobe closet.  
• Reading Interventionist/Specialist - They will be sharing a space in Room 139.  Brenda Caine and Andrea Schulte will be in this room, but will also be taking some groups in the MS and also over at St. Johns.  They will both have their own phone and voicemail though.
• Room 120 will now be a 4K classroom.  However, the team has a plan for rest time and the students will be moved to another location for rest time.  This way first graders in that hallway won't have to worry about waking up any students.

• Recess and Lunch Schedule Changes
• The morning recess schedule is between 9-9:45am and the afternoon recesses are between 11:30-1:00pm.  The groups will be consistent between all recesses.  4K students will have recess on the early learning playground outside Door #29.  The other recesses will be on the large playground/blacktop area.  The groups are: 5K/1st grade, 2nd/3rd grade, and 4th/5th grade students.  This was changed to help with supervision, developmental similarities and consistency between recess prior to lunch.

• For the past few years, we have had a number of students that have struggled in the lunch room.  Sometimes it is due to the noise, sometimes it is social conflicts, sometimes it is just an environment that sets off students and carries into their classrooms and learning after lunch.  To address this, Teresa and I talked about an idea that we are hoping will help and keep the office more calm during the lunch period. We have set up a consistent room (room 137) and supervisor for an alternate lunch space for each period.  The goal is to build relationships and have a successful lunch period that includes appropriate conversation, cleaning up after themselves, etc. It is not meant to be a punishment, but rather a proactive way to help students be successful.  We will continue to have lunch detentions for consequences, but this is a separate plan from the alternate lunch room. 

• The lunch period is 25 minutes long this year.  The 5 minutes between the end of lunch and the start of the academic period is built in to be able to transition students from the commons to the classroom and any bathroom runs that are needed. Classroom teachers (or specials teachers if you have a group right after lunch period) should be in the commons to pick up their class at 12:25/12:55 or 1:25 based on when your grade has lunch.

• Duties for this school year
• This school year there are a variety of duties to help with supervision, to be proactive with student behavior, and to provide united, consistent expectations across the entire building.  In addition, this will help us build relationships with our students that also help with student behavior.
• Bus Duty: Before school students will be able to leave their backpacks, etc in their line spots and play until the whistle blows at 7:44am.  Start having them enter the building at 7:45am.  After school, the buses should be at the playground outside as soon as school lets out.  Please stay outside until buses have left campus.  Our MS/HS students are dismissed at 3:05 and will exit through Door #26 (by 4th/5th gr doors) by coming down music hallway. (This year there are about 6 weeks during the school year.)

• Recess Duty: Please be on time to your recess duty.  If necessary, you may have to dismiss your own class one min. early to get outside when the recess starts.  When you enter the building, please call the office if you need someone to cover your class if you need to use the restroom.  While on duty, please constantly circulate through your assigned area to supervise students' behavior and the games they are playing. It is important that we are spread out and remain diligent in our supervision. Remember, any chasing game is called TAG and is not allowed on the equipment, regardless of what students say. (Most of us have 1-2 fifteen minute recesses in the morning and some have recesses during the Noon hour recesses as well.)

• Lunch Duty: This is a new duty for this year. I need your help in the commons so that we can have successful lunch periods.  Each staff member has 5 weeks of lunch duties during the school year, joining the paras that are consistent each week.  I tried to spread the weeks out and I made sure that they do not coincide with data meetings this school year. The first 3 weeks there is an extra person assigned in the commons to help with the transition to procedures and create routines.

• Lunch Detentions: This duty has a sheet for you to sign up for 3 days of lunch detentions during the school year. (Click HERE for the sheet.)  You will get a copy of the referral to use to meet with students regarding their behavior.  You will also have a copy of the reflection sheet that is appropriate to their age.  Teresa or myself will share with you who (if any) has been assigned to a lunch detention with you.  Please use your own classrooms for this detention.  The goal is to ask students to talk through the situation, think about what other choices they could have made, and send a consistent message.

• Event Planning Committee Sign Up
• This year, there are 8 planning committees for the school year.  If all of us sign up for 1 committee, we can share the work for the school year and provide events for our students and their families.  Please check out the Google Doc HERE to sign up for 1 committee. This is for certified staff, but as always, all support staff members are welcome to attend all events!

• Social Media Sign Up
• It is important to continue to tell "our story" to the community.  Please sign up on the Social Media sheet for 4 weeks out of the school year.  The pictures and a short write up should be submitted by Tuesday of that week to Sam Santana this year to be posted at some point during that week.  Sam will schedule the posts during the week.  Also, make sure to check your PowerSchool alerts to see if any of your students have a "No Photo Release" alert on file.

• Open House
• There are a number of details that we would like our families to know about this school year, including how important it is for students to have strong attendance at school.  One suggestion that staff had was for me to have a presentation for families during Open House.  I have scheduled a presentation in the IMC during Open House at 5pm and repeated at 6:30pm. I will share the slides with you when they are completed so that you are in the loop.  Also, please remind families to make sure they stop in the commons to get their child's picture taken.  We have a new company this year, Josten's, and we will have a retake day only during the school year.

• Staying the Same
• Not everything is changing though.  :-)
• Grade Level Data Meetings:  These will continue to occur during the middle of the day.  There are 3 of them this year and are on the meetings tab of the master schedule.  I put multiple ones in a week so that we can meet in a more timely manner to assessment results. (A 4th one is scheduled the week of Thanksgiving.)
• PLTW Goals: Our goal is to complete 2 modules for each grade before the end of the school year.  Please plan ahead for when you will do each module so that you do not run out of time.
• Workout Wednesdays: They will continue each week unless it lands on something special that requires more formal dress.
• Nutrition Lessons with Kimberly Laffler: She will continue to work with our 5K-3rd grade classrooms on nutrition.  She is also working with Natalie on a program called Harvest of the Month and will be supporting the fruit or vegetable of the month that Natalie has chosen!
• Citizenship Grades: We will continue to grade our class with our learning targets in citizenship at the end of each month. 
• Report Cards: Reports cards will continue to be done at semester and will be shared with parents digitally and through PowerSchool.

Technology Updates

• KnowBe4 Training
• You should have all received emails with the link to KnowBe4 to complete the online trainings.  Most of them are mandatory per DPI, and others are to help us remember/gain knowledge to protect our data and privacy from people trying to gain access to all of the data that is on our servers.  Please watch them carefully so that you are able to apply this information to your work.

• DSD Staff Resource Page
• Our Technology Dept is incredible and they keep our DSD Staff Resource page up to date with information for us on tools to use, how-to directions including how to login and passwords and even videos in some cases.  Please bookmark this page so that you can get back to it easily when looking for help.  There is info on Google Classroom as well which we all will want to know!

• iPad Roll-out
• iPads are in the process of being placed in lockers in the classrooms. For grades 5K-3, please use the template, or one of your own to post which number slot is for which student's iPad.  This will help the tech team be able to grab/return an ipad easily if the classroom is empty. Again this year, Christina will be coming to your class to go over iPad expectations with your classrooms.  
• Grade 5K - Connect with Christina when you're ready - absolutely no rush!
• Grades 1-2 - HERE are some resources used in the past.  Please sign up for a time and let Christina know which resources you'd like her to use to present with.
• Grade 3 - HERE are the documents that were used the past couple of years.  Let Christina know if you want anything changed.  Sign up HERE for a time.
• Grades 4-5 - Sign up for a time for Christina to come to your class.  HERE are the documents that were used last year.  If you want anything changed, please let her know.  Also, remember to hold onto the completed document and use it to facilitate conversations with students if issues arise throughout the school year.
• Once Christina has gone through expectations with your class, the ipad lockers will be unlocked for use.

• Lunch and Milk Count
• Heads up this year!!  We will not be using the Google sheets for lunch and milk count this year.  We will be using PowerSchool to send counts to Natalie. There is a spot for lunch and milk count.  Because we need to indicate white milk vs. chocolate milk (and we can not modify the names of the categories), we will use the milk box for chocolate milk and the ala carte box for white milk.  The cooler that is delivered to your room will have the class list in the pocket.  Each teacher should check off each student that takes a carton of milk for snack.  In PowerSchool, there will be a green shopping cart alert by a student's name if they are eligible to receive milk for snack.  All students can have milk for snack break until Friday, September 13.  After that, please be sure the alert is by their name or contact the office if you are not sure before ordering them a milk.

• Digital Citizenship Lessons
• We have taught the digital citizenship lessons from Common Sense Media for a number of years, but wanted to bring attention to the lessons as a quick reminder of our rationale.  The goal is to make sure that each student gets the instruction in these very important topics when it is developmentally appropriate.  Our students are technology natives and it is a critical skill for them to be safe online and using technology appropriately.  We will follow this curriculum (Click HERE) from 5K right through 12th grade and if we continue to review it throughout the school year, it has more of a chance to be second nature to them at school and at home!  Let me or Christina know if you have any questions regarding these lessons.

• FYI: Small Tech Changes This Year
• Students will not have the capability of printing this year.  Students should use Google Classroom or pdf's to submit work to teachers.  If things do need to be printed, it will need to go through adults in the system. Students can share their work with a teacher through Google Drive, Google Classroom, Air Drop, etc. If you need any assistance with printing student work, please submit a help desk ticket and they would be glad to help!
• Subs will be using iPads when they are subbing in the district this year.  They will not have individual emails this year either.  Please make sure that you have everything in the sub folder for them as they will not be able to get an email from you. This also means that if the sub needs to show a video, it needs to be digital with a link in the sub notes. We have a number of resources for this like Discovery Ed, Learn 360, etc.  (A super drive will not work with the iPad.)
• Elementary Student email will have a change this year as well.  All students in Grades 5K-2 will not have access to email.  All students in grades 3-5 will have the ability to email internally with teachers/staff within the district.  They will not have the ability to email to other students though. 

Master Schedule

Below is the link to the Google Sheet that contains the Master Schedule.  It is in View only mode, but you can make a copy to your own Drive if you need to.  However, Trisha and I will be using this document to make any changes if necessary, and to check on your schedules. (i.e. we need to find a student in your class, etc.) If you need or want to make any changes, please communicate with us so we can check that it doesn't conflict with other things and so that we can make the changes on the original Google sheet.

The document has tabs along the bottom for different parts of our master schedule: Grade Level Schedules with specials noted, duties, meetings for the year, recess/lunch times, etc.  If you have questions, please let me know!

Click HERE to see it!

I know what you are thinking.  "FINALLY, it's over!!"