April 25, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The Project Energy performers stated that they had fun with our students and LOVED their energy.  Thank you for giving up your precious time on Wednesday.

• Shout out to the Sunshine Committee for organizing our celebrations to show love to our fellow colleagues.  Thank you all for contributing as well!

• Our students were excited to be back to school this week.  I love to hear about how much they missed us!

• Thank you to everyone that has stepped in throughout the week when we were short staffed.  I truly appreciate your time and help.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, April 28
• Bus Duty: Mosher, O'Toole, PE Teacher, Ellefson (meet buses by the stop sign please)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Braunschweig
• 12:30 - Miller
• 1:00 - Klink
• Track meet at Dodgeland - will affect the parking lots
• School Board meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, April 29
• Happy Birthday Taylor!
• Jenny and Teresa in meeting from 8:15-10am
• Jenny in meeting from 10-11:30am
• 5th gr. Data Meeting (SEL only) from 12:35-1:25
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Wagner, Huso
• Lunch Detention Supervisor:
• T.Caine - 1:00

• Wednesday, April 30
• Workout Wednesday
• Petting Zoo (All day) Schedule is HERE
• Jr. Coach Field Trip from 8:45-3pm (Teresa and Blasia are gone for the day)
• 4th Grade Farm/City Field Trip from 8:40-11:45am
• 1st Gr. Data Meeting (SEL only) from 11:40-12:25pm

• Thursday, May 1
• 3rd Gr Data Mtg (SEL only) from 12:05-12:55pm
• Special 3rd Gr. activity in the IMC from 2:30-2:55pm

• Friday, May 2
• Jenny in meeting until 10am

• Saturday, May 3
• Happy Birthday Eneida!

Nitty-Gritty

• SETT program from UW-Eau Claire
• If you or someone you know is interested in the SETT program, the flyer of information is HERE.  The program is designed for working adults to take courses to transition to a teaching career. Just sharing if you are interested.

• Class Creator
• If you are a homeroom teacher you should have received an email from Class Creator that allows you to do the survey related to your students academic, behavior and special supports data for class list creation. The meetings for this task will not be until June 5, but please complete the surveys before May 30 so that I can have this ready by June 5. If you need any help, please let me know. For new teachers, you can check with your mentor/team as well.

• Spring Testing Windows
• The Aimsweb and FastBridge window for spring testing will open on Monday, May 5.  The intervention team will be coming to assess students starting that day.  Julie and Vanessa will also be in this month to do assessments with our students as well. On Monday, May 12, the i-Ready window will open for students as well. Please plan with interventionists if you need assistance for proctoring the tests. As we did in the winter, there will be no retakes. It is important that students do their best work the first time, as we do not have enough time for students to be given the test multiple times. 

• SRO joins our Staff
• As most of you know, the SRO position has been in the works for a long time and was first announced in October of this school year and now has come to fruition! The SRO is a Juneau Police Department officer that is in our school Mon-Fri and we share the cost of this position with the city of Juneau and is from the district's Community Programs and Services fund which is separate from our general fund that pays for staffing, instruction and operations. Officer Jake Borchardt (the 'ch' sounds like a k in his name) officially joined our school on Monday, April 21. He is looking forward to getting to know our students. To help with this, he would like to come into our classrooms in the next few weeks to read to your class and meet you all.  Watch for a sign in sheet email for him to come to your classrooms.  Help me welcome Officer Jake!

• Future Planning
• I know this past week was very difficult. The budget situation that we are in means that there are very difficult decisions to be made. It is painful to know that the positions that are affected will affect us all and especially our students. There have been many long hours put in studying this situation and discussing next steps. None of the plans were made hastily or without long thought. At this point, any elimination or reduction or modification in a position has been communicated with affected staff members.  The board meeting on Monday night will finalize the budgetary cuts and more details will be shared as soon as I am able.  In the meantime, please know that if you want to talk, share ideas with me, need something from me, etc, I am always here.  I can't promise anything, but know that I always want what is best for our students and staff within the parameters that I am able. 

TechKnow Tip

Looking for something to strengthen cooperative learning, problem solving, encourages persistence, and an outstanding alternative to movies?! Look no further than BreakoutEDU!! BreakoutEDU is an immersive learning game platform with both physical and digital puzzle elements to solve. A physical BreakoutEDU “room” can be time consuming to set up, so that’s where a digital BreakoutEDU “room” can come in handy. BreakoutEDU is provided to all classroom teachers through the IMC- that means you can use the pre-created materials from the site, you can create digital breakout “rooms” specific to your content, and you can create classes of students to view progress and statistics of any of the BreakoutEDU puzzles. Digital BreakoutEDU puzzles can be shared with students via link or QR code- what a fun way to keep them thinking at this time of year. Get logged into BreakoutEDU through Classlink. Try this BreakoutEDU - send Ms. Rollins a screenshot of a completed room (5 puzzles) for a fun prize!

Friday Funny

Living with 3 GoldenDoodles is quite the adventure. We have 1 ten year old doodle and 2 almost three year old doodles from the same litter in my house now. Usually we have spurts of just lots of noise and activity and then the laziest dogs ever. In fact, just yesterday, Mabel barked at a sound, but didn't even raise her head off of the couch to do it. Seriously?! But the picture below perfectly captures Molly's personality. I have no idea how she gets herself into these kinds of predicaments!

April 11, 2025

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Shout out to the Talent Show Committee and especially Sue!  Our kids looked so great, there were SOOO many people in the audience and the staff talent was wicked good!

• The PPS team was hopping this week.  Thank you to Ashley, Ashley, Sophie and Teresa for all the ways they support our students.  Your work is often behind the scenes, but it is definitely noticed and appreciated!

• The Forward Test is DONE for the year!  Thank you to all of you that supported our students to do their best.  This is everything from proctoring a group, helping with make-up tests, directing students to be quiet near testing rooms, organizing supplies and so much more.  Thank you all so much!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Spring Break from April 14-18

• Monday, April 14
• Happy Birthday Mary Jo!
• Special School Board Mtg @ 7pm

• Tuesday, April 15
• Happy Birthday Bethany D!
• Tax Day

• Thursday, April 17
• Happy Birthday Lexi!

• Sunday, April 20
• Happy Birthday Karissa!

• Monday, April 21
• Happy Birthday Jessica B!
• Bus Duty: Fortmann, Miller, Westphal, Jenkins (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Wagner
• 12:30 - Turcotte
• 1:00 - O'Toole
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Mentor/Mentee meeting in the IMC @ 3:15pm

• Tuesday, April 22
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Klink, Juech, Fortmann
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - Westphal
• 12:30 - Westphal
• 1:00 - TCaine
• HS Track Meet and Softball game at Dodgeland (this will affect the parking lot)

• Wednesday, April 23
• Early Release
• Workout Wednesday
• Administrative Assistant Day!  (Let's celebrate Patti, Trisha, Kimi, Holly, & Danielle)
• Project Energy Assembly (4K-2) @ 9am in Elem. gym
• Project Energy Assembly (3-5, St. Johns students) @ 9:45am in Elem. gym
• NO STAFF meeting for Act 20 - work time only for Lessons 3-4 in Read Aloud Module
• Summer School Training for Math program in Elem. Conf. Rm from 1:15-3:15pm 

• Thursday, April 24
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - Westphal
• 12:30 - O'Toole
• 1st Grade Assembly @2:15 in IMC for Community Banking Month

• Friday, April 25
• Baby Shower to celebrate Hailey and Taylor and their upcoming additions
• Here is the sign up if you want to contribute
• Pyramid Model Leadership meeting 1-2pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Career Week Celebration
• A reminder that Friday afternoon is the career day parade and dance party.  We will use the stage to walk across and loop back down the stairs so that the whole school can see all of the careers that our kids are interested in.  The last 10 minutes will be the dance party, with dismissal at 2:55pm.  Thank you again for the committee for providing a great week of activities for our students!

• Fridge/Room Check
• Before you leave for spring break, please be sure to clean out the fridge in the lounge (or in your classroom) of anything that will not be good when we return. In addition, wash up any dishes in the sinks as well.  Finally, be sure that there are not food items left out and that students have cleaned out their lockers as well.  It would be great if we can keep any extra visitors from coming in while we are gone!

• Sheriff's training next week
• Please see Sam/Brad's emails regarding next week's training in our building during the week.  The Sheriff's department is still looking for volunteers to help out.  In addition, it is very important that you are not in the areas of the building that the training will take place between April 14-17 between the hours of 6am and 5pm.  See their emails for more details.

• Sub request for Frontline
• One of our guest teachers had some feedback for us that I think is good for us to know. When you put in for a sub in Frontline, there is a spot to leave notes for the substitute.  In this section, please leave notes there if there is a bus duty, lunch duty or recess duty for that day. This will help them plan for the day with outerwear and for more accurate ending times for their day. Thank you in advance for this!

• Recess Reboot
• When we return from break, Teresa will be coming to your classrooms to do a recess reboot to remind our students of the expectations for the playground.  If you haven't signed up for a time slot yet, please do so as soon as you can! 

TechKnow Tip

Don't forget over break to take a true break.  There will be minimal emails etc from me.  If I do send anything, you do not need to worry about responding until you return on 4/21/25!  In fact, even better, shut your laptop and iPad down at 3pm on Friday afternoon and walk out the door ready to relax!  :-)

Friday Funny

One of the best things about working in an elementary school is the joy that comes from such little things.  As I take the Trojan Cart to classrooms, I find it so heartwarming to see the smiles and joy from kids over the smallest of things.  When I saw the video below, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to be cheered on like this at work?!"  Let me know if you want me to come cheer for you as your grading papers, using your Viewsonic, completing your attendance, or really any of the things you do each day!  :-)

April 4, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Shout out to Sandi and Jessica B for putting an authentic activity in place for students in their program as well as the rest of the school!  It was fun to listen to kids estimate the number of markers in the container! Thank you!

• Students were working hard on the state testing and just about everyone in the building is completely done with the tests!  Yippee!  Thank you all for your support on encouraging students to do their best, getting students prepared for the test, helping younger students understand how to respect their work, giving up time for make up testing (or proctoring them too).  Thank you for the teamwork!

• Shout out to Mandy for putting so much extra work into providing an experience for her 5K students, but also for her former students that missed it when they were in 5K. Part of learning at school includes the experiences we provide them as well.

• In addition to the tea party on Friday, Bethany T arranged for her 3K students to have an exciting day with special visitors from Animart.  This is their "field trip" for the year and it is a pretty awesome experience for them as well!  Nicely done 3K team!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, April 7
• Start of Career/College Week! Wear your favorite Super Hero shirt!
• Bus Duty: Klink, Caine-Arnes, Chambers, Wagner (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Ellefson
• 12:30 - Juech
• 1:00 - CaineB
• Jenny in a meeting from 1-2:30pm
• Talent Show practice 3:15-5pm on the stage

• Tuesday, April 8
• Wear a Work Hat Day!
• Lunch Detention Supervisors: Huso and CaineT
• Talent show in Elem. gym from 6:30-8pm

• Wednesday, April 9
• Wear a College shirt or Dodgeland Attire Day (Workout Wednesday too)
• Staff Meeting in IMC @ 3:10pm

• Thursday, April 10
• Wear your favorite sunglasses for your Bright Future!
• Run for State at 8:30am
• Jenny at Cesa until 1:15pm

• Friday, April 11
• Wear what you want to be when you grow up!
• Happy Birthday Melissa C-A!

• Saturday, April 12
• It's true...Spring Break is FINALLY here!  :-)
• Wheelchair basketball event in HS gym from 9am-1pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Building Use Form
• Friendly reminder: If you need to use any part of the building for an event, practice, activity during or after school hours, please fill out a building use form. They are located by Kimi and can be handed directly to her.  This is important because there are many groups vying for the same spaces within the building especially this time of year with the unpredictability of the weather. Thank you in advance for the communication and teamwork!

• PE classes on Thursday, April 10
• This week, Mr. McKay, will be using the elementary gym for rehearsals on the stage.  This means that there may be some PE classes that will be moved for the day.  Please watch for communication from Lexi regarding your class.

• College and Career Readiness Week
• There are a number of activities that are planned for the week for our students. The green screen will be set up in the gathering area outside of the gym if you want to use it.  There are dress up days set for the week and the committee has shared with you the Game of Life Game Board (along with the resource links for your level) and ways for families to share their careers with students as well.  Thank you to the committee for their hard work on this!

• Attendance Activity outside the office
• Please continue to add to your class's word until it is full.  When your class fills it, please let me know and I will bring the Trojan Cart to your classroom.  The goal is for you all to get a visit.  At the end of the week, I will be coming with more attendance awards for students.  If you already filled it, but haven't had a Trojan Cart visit yet, please let me know.

• Survey
• Please see Jessica's survey email from this weekend and complete this as soon as possible. It is an opportunity to share your thoughts.  Thank you in advance.  https://forms.gle/EQe7iNDKsQyPE6AKA

• Calendaring
• I know I sound like a broken record, but the school year is flying by. If you are planning field trips, special events (especially that includes families), please be sure to get those forms or dates to me as soon as possible. Below are the ones I know about at this time. (Please let me know if I missed anything.)
• April 23 - Early Release
• April 23 - Assembly on energy, 4K-2 @ 9am
• April 23 - Assembly on energy, 3-5 @9:45am
• April 29 - Data meetings start 
• April 30 - Jr. Coach Field trip (all day)
• April 30 - 4th gr. field trip (half day/morning)
• May 5 - Seals on Wheels starts for sealants (will be with us in the elem. conf room until May14)
• May 8 - 4K Concert at 2:30pm
• May 14 - 4th/5th gr field trip (all day)
• May 15 - 4K Field Trip
• May 19 - Art Show and Spring Concert (5K-2)
• May 20 - Art Show and Spring Concert (3-5)
• May 22 - Book Fair starts
• May 29 - 5K Graduation at 6pm
• May 30 - 5th grade field trip (all day)
• June 3 - Field Day (all day)
• June 4 - Last Day of School

TechKnow Tip

What’s that cool, new icon on the top menu bar of your laptop?! The open book and wrench icon is a new information shortcut to essential information on your laptop. You will find information such as when your last restart was, if you are required to update your software, and when your password will expire. You will notice red or orange notification dots on anything that needs your immediate attention. At the bottom you will also find a shortcut to our tech ticket system, self service, and our staff resource site. To get started, click on the new tool in the menu bar (open book and wrench) and select continue.

Recess Information

Recess Reboot

Please sign up for a time for Mrs. Chambers to come in to talk about recess and school expectations.

Shed/recess equipment

When you are on bus duty, please open the shed when you blow the whistle for students to line up so the JCs can set up recess.

Friday Funny (Or whatever day it is...)

Here is a comedian that I like to listen to as well. Enjoy!

March 28, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Students and staff supported our students testing the last two weeks.  We have 1 testing day left, April 1.  Thank you for keeping students quiet in the hallways and for being flexible with the schedules.  It is much appreciated.

• Shout out to Natalie and her staff that provide a consistent breakfast for our students.  This week I witnessed a student get out of their car at the curb and start running to the school yelling, "Breakfast Pizza today!"  Now there was a student that was starting his day very happy!

• Shout out to Alexis, Reilly, Lexi, Ella, Kari and Gabrielle for being flexible with moving Dodgeland Den for 2 days to accommodate our 3K/4K screening.  I know that it is a lot of work to help kids and families with a new routine, but it was very helpful.  Thank you so much!

• So many of you helped provide feedback and information on the summer school booklet and letter.  Thank you so much for your attention to detail and sharing it with me.  While I do reread what feels like a thousand times, I miss things. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, March 30
• Happy Birthday Brad!

• Monday, March 31
• Bus Duty: Bingen, Juech, Stampfl, Schuett (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Lucht
• 12:30 - Huso
• 1:00 - Schulte
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Lance's LAST day!

• Tuesday, April 1
• Election Day
• Forward Testing for 4th grade from 8:15-9:45 and from 10-11am
• Recess for 4th/5th grade is from 9:45-10am
• Normal Specials Schedule for all grades
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• 12:00 - O'Toole
• 12:30 - O'Toole
• 1:00 - Open
• Paraprofessional Meeting in the IMC from 3:15-3:45pm

• Wednesday, April 2
• Workout Wednesday
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am and 12-1pm

• Thursday, April 3

• Friday, April 4
• Harvest Lessons for grades 4-5 from 10-12
• 4K Data meeting from 11:35-12:25 in Elem. Conf room

• Saturday, April 5
• Happy Birthday Mandy!

Nitty-Gritty

• Summer Position??
• Future All-Stars Academy will once again be running their summer camp within our elementary school.  They have openings for staff to work with school aged students so that they can offer a fun and safe place for children to be this summer. If you are interested in working in the summer camp this summer, please contact Tricia Peterson at the center at (920) 386-4700.

• Trojan Tickets
• Don't forget to give out tickets to our students for a chance for you to win a prize too!  Thank you to Teresa for organizing this for us all!

• Field Trips
• If your grade is planning a field trip for this spring, please make sure to get the forms in as soon as you can. I want to make sure that the bus company has enough drivers to accommodate the groups that are traveling and providing learning experiences out of the building for our students. 

• Planning Ahead
• Please make sure that you are planning out projects, units, etc so that you can cover the material that is necessary for your class/grade.  While we still have 2 months of school left, it will go fast. I would hate for you to run out of time for something important. What units are left in MyView, Bridges? Did you complete your PLTW modules yet? What projects do you need students to complete? 

• Observations
• I will be continuing to complete observations for the Effectiveness Project.  If I haven't been in your room lately and there is something you want my feedback on or something you want me to see, please let me know the time and I will do my best to be there. If you have any unfinished EP documents, please complete them at your earliest convenience.

TechKnow Tip

Looking to connect your students outside their known world and celebrate the amazing planet we live on? Try any of these 12 Websites for Virtual Field Trips. One highlight on the list is “The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks” where you go on an interactive tour (including videos, audio recording, activities, and 360* views) with a park ranger at one of our beautiful U.S. National Parks. Another favorite from the list is Explore.org Live Nature Cams which has an endless variety of staffed nature cameras including a kitten rescue sanctuary in California, an osprey nest in Montana, a puppy nursery in Maryland, or inside a honeybee hive in Germany. Many of these relaxing live cams have soothing music accompaniments, making them great to use at the start of the day, during work time, or a way to calm down in preparation of quality learning.

Behavior Specialist Information

Trojan Tickets

Please continue to hand out tickets daily for our students that are following expectations. Here is the document if you need a refresher.

Recess Information

Worth a Repeat

I know this time of year we are all hanging on by a thread, but please do your very best to get to recess duty on time. When people are late it often impacts the system as then other adults are late for their next assignment. 

Please also do your best to be in our recess coverage zones:

5k-5th

*near home plate/far side of the playground

*sidewalk near the near side of the playground/grass area

*by the gaga/four square games

4k

*near the playground equipment

*near the merry go round/house

Thanks in advance for being proactive and holding our kids accountable to the expectations to prevent injury and/or major behavior issues.

PD Spotlight

Friday Funny

My friend's parents have a car that still needs two keys.  When she told me about it, I honestly could barely remember this.  And Now... I rarely even see my car key because I just push a button and hope the key is still in the car somewhere!  Thank goodness for technology!

March 21, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Staff provided a memorable St. Patrick's Day for many of our students this week. I know this is a lot of planning, but your students will remember that for a long time!

• The team that put together the Screening event for our new students worked SOOO hard!  It was organized and they did a great job of welcoming our students and their parents to our school.  I can not thank you all enough!

• Shout out to Noah McKay that put together his instrument petting zoo to get kids excited for learning an instrument and joining band.  One student was so excited to tell me that he was going to play the trumpet!  I love to hear their excitement!

• Shout out to Carrie, Noah, Brad, and so many others that helped our first co-op musical with Hustisford be successful.  It was a fun show with beautiful singing, set and costumes.  Way to go everyone!

• Our first Attendance Super HERO class received their prize this week.  Congratulations to Mrs. Schuett's 4K class!  I hope that I will get to come to all of your classrooms yet this year!  (Hopefully before spring break???)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 24
• Bus Duty: CaineT, Huso, Lucht, Braunschweig (meet buses at end of sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Stampfl
• 12:30 - Arnes
• 1:00 - Bingen
• Jenny in Meeting from 8:30-10am
• School Board Mtg @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, March 25
• Happy Birthday Watson!
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica: Schuett
• Forward Testing from 8:15-11:30 for grades 3-5
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5
• 3K/4K Screening from 3:30-6:30
• Dodgeland Den is moved to Zastrow/Westphal's room again

• Wednesday, March 26
• Workout Wednesday
• Forward Testing from 8:15-11:30 for grades 3-5
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5
• HS is testing for Pre-ACT - NO TA's for us today!
• Staff Meeting @3:10-3:55pm

• Thursday, March 27
• Happy Birthday Shanalyn!
• Forward Testing for Grade 4 from 8:15-9:45
• Morning recess moved to 9:45am for grades 4-5

• Friday, March 28
• Citizenship Grades due in gradebooks for March
• Wheelchair Basketball Assembly for Elementary from 1:30-2:10pm in HS gym

Nitty-Gritty

• Gallup Poll Reminder
• On Monday, you will receive an email from Gallup for the spring engagement survey.  Please take the time to complete this survey next week.  It is very helpful for me and the district to see areas for me to focus my work on.  Thank you in advance for your attention to this task!

• Wheelchair Basketball Assembly
• A few years ago, we had this assembly for our elementary students to learn more about the sport of wheelchair basketball.  They are returning this week to speak to our students again. Please mark your calendars for this on Friday, March 28. The elementary students' assembly time is 1:30 (right after the 4th/5th gr lunch) in the HS gym.  The assembly ends at 2:10 so that the HS students can enter at 2:15.

• Hillsboro School District Email
• Today I received an email from a principal in Hillsboro asking me if there are any teachers that would be willing to speak to some of their teachers about your experience teaching with MyView.  They are possibly interested in visiting us as well.  Please let me know if you are interested in collaborating and sharing your thoughts with colleagues from this school system.

• Summer School Registration
• The summer school booklet will be coming out digitally next week Tuesday.  Registration for this year will start on Wednesday, April 2 at 4pm. To prepare for this, please consider recommending remedial courses for students that would benefit from summer school.  The form is HERE that you can print and send home with students. The booklet is HERE, but it can not be shared outside the building until it is approved by the school board.  Finally, please let me know HERE any students that you are recommending for a course for summer school.

TechKnow Tip

Thank you to those who have already shared their valuable insights into how you utilize your devices, how often you use them, and how they contribute to your job functions. We believe that understanding your experiences with these tools is crucial for optimizing our digital resources and empowering you to deliver the best possible learning experiences for our students.

If you haven’t already, please take time to complete the survey below. We value your honest feedback and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. We appreciate your commitment to our students and your willingness to contribute to our ongoing efforts to enhance our educational practices. 

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtWeXcku4DAYmg2amG0RnBMxGmdYaTxmZtom6tM3Y_qQtfUA/viewform?usp=header

The survey will close Monday, March 24th.

PD Spotlight

The Power of Yet!  This is so powerful for not only our students, but for us as well! It's so awesome to see it enter our students' vocabulary without prompting, but it comes from our modeling and prompting first.  This is a great reminder!

Friday Funny

So, this might be true, but the way Janice said it, was iconic.  I believe that has been repeated more than 1000 times by just me!  And that is mostly because I can say what I am thinking/feeling in my tone instead! :-)

March 14, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 4th graders using math talk with great vocabulary as they review geometric shapes and practice the concept of symmetry.  Shout out to Trisha Caine for the system she has put in place to engage them in this work!

• Shout out to Melissa Arnes and Shanalyn Vertz and their teams for stepping in and covering for our colleagues when they are pulled in different directions to make sure their students get the best support they can get.  Thank you all!

• The 3K and 4K team have been working so hard to get all the supplies and routines ready for our events coming up.  It is always fun to meet our new and youngest learners.  Their hard work helps make the event run smoothly and also helps ease anxious parents' minds too.  Thank you all so much!

• Shout out to Brent who is so flexible and is willing to help wherever needed in the building, even if it is last minute in the morning.  Thank you so much Brent for choosing us to spend your time!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 17
• St. Patrick's Day
• Bus Duty: Zastrow, CaineB, Schulte, Donovan (please meet buses at the end of the sidewalk)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Vertz
• 12:30 - Mosher
• 1:00 - Fortmann
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• EP Mtg - Documentation Log in IMC at 3:15pm

• Tuesday, March 18
• Social Media Posts due to Jessica - Donovan, Mook, O'Toole
• Forward Testing starts for grades 3-5, Please help keep hallways quiet! (8-11:30)
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day

• Wednesday, March 19
• Workout Wednesday
• Happy Birthday Chris V!
• Forward Testing from 8-11:30
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day
• Jenny in meetings from 8:30-10:30am
• 3K/4K screening takes place from 3:30-6:30 in the Elementary (in the 3K/4K hallway, please exit door #2 or door #28 between Zastrow and Stampfl's room)
• Dodgeland Den is moved to rooms 123 & 124 for the night.
• Instrument Petting Zoo from 4:30-7pm in the Band room for 4th-5th graders

• Thursday, March 20
• Forward Testing from 8-11:30
• 4th-5th gr morning recess moved to 9:45 for the day

• Friday, March 21
• Happy Birthday Brittany!
• Jenny at dr appt, be in by 9:30 am
• Pyramid Model Leadership mtg @ 1pm in Elem. conf. room

Nitty-Gritty

• Email labeled External
• Reminder from Brad's email that if you receive an email from outside of Dodgeland it will be labeled [External].  This is another clue to help you apply your training on cyber security before opening any links, attachments, etc.  In addition, if it looks suspicious, please use the phish alert button on the web version of Gmail to report it.

• Forward Testing
• This is definitely not one of my favorite events of the year, but it is important yet taxing on many of our children.  Please help support our students and staff that are proctoring these assessments for our students.  Encourage our kids to do their best work, help our younger students stay quiet and avoid testing rooms whenever possible, and model flexibility during the weeks to help our students with any changes to routines.
• As I shared earlier this week, the specials may have changed for your class.  Please look at the schedule carefully to determine what your schedule might have for next week's planning.  I know that this is difficult, but I wanted to be sure that our 3-4-5 students had these courses in their week to help them.

• Our Celebrities
• Did you see our celebrity and supporting cast in the paper?  On the front page of the Daily Citizen is one of our very own classes!  Click HERE if you haven't read the article yet.  The picture draws you in and the article shares some great information for all.  Share with anyone you think may be interested!

• Homeless Liaison
• Ashley Neis is our district's homeless liaison and she sent out some important information for us regarding this.  HERE is the pdf of information to help us identify what it is and how we might determine if a student qualifies or needs resources.  If you have questions, please contact Ashley. 

• It's Spring!
• With spring, comes an increase of biking to school.  We have already had a few of our students that are cutting through the parking lot to get to school.  I have talked to the ones that I know about and have contacted home as well.  In addition, there are a number of students that are coming to the playground after school.  Due to the Dodgeland Den programming, the playground area is closed to the community until 5:30 when that program ends.  This will be in the next newsletter and signs will be posted as well.  If you see any students that are making unsafe choices, please remind them of these expectations and/or let me know the situation and I will address it as well.

TechKnow Tip

Brad's email for us is below.  Please fill this survey out as soon as possible!

We are committed to continuously improving our educational environment and ensuring you have the tools you need to succeed. To better understand how laptops and iPads support your daily work, we are launching a brief survey on technology usage.

This survey aims to gather valuable insights into how you utilize these devices, how often you use them, and how they contribute to your job functions. We believe that understanding your experiences with these tools is crucial for optimizing our digital resources and empowering you to deliver the best possible learning experiences for our students.

The survey will ask questions about:

• How often you use laptops and iPads?
• The specific ways you utilize them in your daily tasks.
• How your work would be impacted without these devices?

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtWeXcku4DAYmg2amG0RnBMxGmdYaTxmZtom6tM3Y_qQtfUA/viewform?usp=header

We value your honest feedback and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. We appreciate your commitment to our students and your willingness to contribute to our ongoing efforts to enhance our educational practices. 

PD Spotlight

We are on "X" already!  When we model our flexible thinking and mindset, we are influencing our students and peers.  And, we get to grow as people and professionals too.  Win-Win!

Recess Information

Please, Please, Please make sure that you are at your recess duty on time and that you are covering the zones on the playground.  I know it is tempting to chat with our colleagues or some of our students that want all of our attention, but we must be diligent during recess to be sure that we can head off injuries or behaviors that should not happen.  Thank you in advance for your help with this.

Friday Funny

The meme below was shown at a staff meeting a few weeks ago.  And when I was talking about the song that goes with it I remember saying, "When I sang it she asked her mother for fifteen cents."  Then many of you told me that it was FIFTY cents.  Now I am wondering if it was always fifty cents but my horrible hearing heard fifteen cents and I was the only one!  So what I thought was an inflationary change was really just me making my own lyrics I guess!  :-)

(I have been known to do this with other songs as well!  I just realized a few years ago that during the song "Drift Away", one of the lines is "Give me the beat boys, and free my soul..."  I ALWAYS sang this song with the words, "Give me the Beach Boys, and free my soul..." It made total sense to me because the Beach Boys were one of my parents' favorite groups and I listened to a LOT of their songs as a kid.  It's embarrassing that I was in my 30's before I realized that those were not the right words! sigh.)

March 7, 2025

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The Reading and Math Family Night was so much fun!  Thank you to the committee for putting such a great event together for our families.  Shout out to Tina, Andrea, Sue, Brenda and Christina for welcoming and showing our families how fun learning is!

• Noah put on a presentation with his HS students to show our 4th/5th grade students the band instruments that are open to them to learn. Thank you for organizing this Noah!

• Shout out to Melisssa A and Ashley G. who did such a great job of explaining the complex process of a re-evaluation to a parent as well as celebrating the tremendous growth that her child has made in the past year.  Such great work!

• Kathy's morning meeting one day this week talked about perseverance.  I love how she used recent experiences that her class had during PLTW to help them understand this idea. The way she tied the experience in to the new word, the feeling they had during PLTW work and finally with the read aloud was so well done!  Kudos!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Sunday, March 9
• Happy Birthday Hailey!

• Monday, March 10
• Happy Birthday Jen!
• Happy Americorps Week! Let's celebrate Bethany and Ashley!
• Bus Duty: Lexi, Mosher, O'Toole, Ellefson (please meet the buses by the corner)
• Lunch Supervisors:
• 12:00 - Schuett
• 12:30 - Zastrow
• 1:00 - CaineT
• Jenny in meeting from 8:30-10am
• Community Referendum Information meeting at Clyman Village Hall @ 6pm

• Tuesday, March 11
• Wear Black/Red to support our Reading Corps Tutors!
• Social Media posts due to Jessica: No one signed up, but feel free to send one anyway!
• Community Referendum Information meeting at Reeseville Community Center @ 6pm

• Wednesday, March 12
• Early Release, Dodgeland Den opens at 12:20
• Workout Wednesday
• Lance's Retirement Celebration at 11am-12:30pm
• Act 20 Staff meeting @ 12:30pm in the IMC
• 3K/4K Screening team mtg in Elem. Conf. rm @ 1:45pm

• Thursday, March 13
• Community Referendum Information meeting in IMC @ 6pm

• Friday, March 14
• Pi Day!  :-)
• Harvest of the Month lessons for Grades 4-5 from 10-12
• Jenny at dr appt from 10-11:15am
• HS Musical performance of Cinderella @ 7pm

• Saturday, March 15
• HS Musical performance of Cinderella @ 7pm

Nitty-Gritty

• School Nurse Update
• We are currently working on securing contracted nursing services with an outside agency. However, we will not know until after the April 1st referendum election whether we will be posting to hire a full-time school nurse or if we will need to move forward with a part-time or contracted part-time position.  It is not uncommon in districts our size to have either a part-time nurse or a contracted part-time nurse (some of you may recall in the days before COVID we only had a nurse 4 hours a day). In the meantime, staff in the office will continue to triage students with minor issues/injuries and we will continue to have ice and bandaids on hands. (For most of our students, these two things work wonders! :-)) In addition, we will continue to address what we can, or call home or for emergency help if necessary.
• Field trip season is coming up soon too, so, please make sure that you connect with Patti or Ella to get the materials ready for the trip in advance.

• PE teacher update
• I have been looking and talking to many people about the next steps for the PE teacher vacancy.  I wanted someone that would be dependable, patient, and understood that there has been some inconsistency in PE instruction delivery for more than a month.  However, I was finding that to be quite challenging and the teacher I thought I had decided not to take the position.  So, that means I am going to put in place a long-term substitute plan. This is the plan that I am going to use for the remainder of the year based on availability of people, and also so that our students have some consistency for awhile.
• Lexi is going to be the sub for PE classes four days a week while Anna Volkova subs for her job in the Special Edcuation Dept.  Every Thursday, Bekah Mountin will be subbing for PE while Lexi is in her regular job and Anna is off.  In order to help with this transition, Lexi has met with Sue Kuhn (Bless this lady for helping me out this month with ideas and coming in to help. If anyone sees her, please help me thank her!) and talked with Marcia.  Lexi has taken these tips/ideas and has begun to plan for procedures to create a system that hopefully will create a structure again for the kids coming to PE.  
• I want to personally thank Teresa, Brent, Lexi, Jessica and all the other people that have stepped in to sub in the last 4+ weeks for a PE class/day.  I also want to thank Melissa and Shanalyn for their flexibility as I am shuffling people in their programs to help the system.

• Early Release
• The schedule will be out soon for this, but we will be returning to some Act 20 training that day starting at 12:30 in the IMC. Please bring a device to the training.  In addition, we will also be meeting for final planning for the 3K/4K screening days.  Finally, if you have not met with me regarding Forward testing, that will be that afternoon as well so that we are ready for the testing the following week.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

• Forward Testing
• Please watch your emails as I may need to move some schedules around for those few short days due to the testing and the adults that are proctoring the test and unavailable for students' intervention times.  Every effort will be made to be as consistent as possible during testing so that our students continue to have access to the instruction they need though.

• Google Survey Results
• Thank you to those that were able to complete the survey regarding feedback on end of the year and last day of school activities.  It was pretty split between end of the year picnic vs. a beginning of the year carnival.  I also talked over this with Brad as our Safety Coordinator as well.  Given all of that information, I think we will use some of the time on the last day to enjoy each other as a school community during the last hour/90 min. of the school day.  We will not be inviting parents in during that time though due to host of logistical details and considerations.  I will however be asking the end of the year picnic committee to look over the feedback we received from staff to help come up with a more definitive plan going forward.  If you are on that committee, please watch for an email from me.

• Summer School
• One more plea...Do you (or know someone) who would be willing to teach summer school for those 5 weeks?  Or share a position with someone?  I had a teacher drop out that has been teaching for many summers and without her classes, it will make the remaining sections have higher numbers than usual.  I can assist with planning and idea generation.  Just let me know!

PD Spotlight

This week we are on the letter "W." It is a great reminder that the behavior of our children and really all of us is communication!  When we genuinely wonder what our students are trying to tell us through their behavior, we have a much better chance of helping them to grow, learn and solve any problems they might be struggling with.

TechKnow Tip

Have you checked out Padlet lately?! Padlet is a powerful tool for brainstorming, collaborative projects, visual learning, and so much more! It is no longer just a virtual bulletin board- the choice and creativity are even more with their recent updates. 

• A new gallery of project ideas with examples. It is searchable by grades or subjects.

• A new AI “recipes” like AI art studio, brochures, and bookshelves 

• New tools like Venn diagrams and a “sandbox” to draw, create, and collaborate in real-time

Click here if this is your first time exploring Padlet.

Click here if you have used it before.

Recess Information

Pretty Please
I know this time of year we are all hanging on by a thread, but please do your very best to get to recess duty on time. When people are late it often impacts the system as then other adults are late for their next assignment. 

Please also do your best to be in our recess coverage zones:
*near home plate/far side of the playground
*sidewalk near the near side of the playground/grass area
*by the gaga/four square games

Thanks in advance for being proactive and holding our kids accountable to the expectations to prevent injury and/or major behavior issues.

Friday Funny

This past weekend were the Oscars.  I always like to see what kind of clothes the celebrities are wearing and watch the opening monologues.  Every once in a while I find something humorous or moving in a speech.  This clip is not from the Oscars but it did make me smile and made me think of our kids and what they may do some day.  I have been fortunate to have been in the district for almost a quarter century and know multiple generations of families.  It is a pleasure to see former students become happy adults too. I wonder what this actor's former teachers think when they see him perform and talk. Enjoy this clip!