Friday Focus - October 1, 2021

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Last Friday came with a surprise in the high school. Our senior football players made it "My Jersey, your impact" day. Each of them selected a staff member who has had an impact on them and asked them to wear their jersey for the day. What an honor!! 

*In a class lesson on types of narrators, the teacher read parts of text, gave small groups a minute to discuss, then asked for one group to share and had the whole class share thumbs up/down to see if they agree before the teacher gave the answer. The class did this for several examples before giving students time to work independently on identify different types of narrators in the self-selected book they were reading. 

*When checking in with a parent of a new student. One of the things she shared is that her child mentioned that when he comes into school each day there's a teacher that greets him every morning. He said he doesn't have class with her so the teacher doesn't know his name, but he feels so welcome at our school because this teacher says Good morning or Hello to him every day.  It's the small things that make a big difference!

*Our students showed incredible school spirit at the Volleyball game Tuesday night--both high school students with their own dress-up night and our middle school volleyball players cheering on the varsity. And have you heard about our new mascot? There's a different student underneath Troy the Trojan and our high schoolers were trying everything they could at the volleyball game to figure out who it was (some even waited in the parking lot for him/her to come outside, but Mrs. Modaff snuck them out the backdoor!) I can't believe how many high school students keep coming to me asking for clues!

*Students in Study Hall reading for the first 10 minutes...then were given 2 minutes to turn and talk with a neighbor to share what they're reading before they had to go back to silent independent work time. What a great way for students to get book ideas from others!

*Teamwork to cover for missing faculty for all sorts of different reasons. Thank you for your flexibility and creative coverage!

Upcoming Events: Homecoming Week!!! 

HERE are the Homecoming details for HS Faculty

Monday - Mad Monday (crazy day)

Tuesday - Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Twin Day)

Wednesday - Creatures of Wonderland (Animal Day)
3:15 MS/HS Faculty meeting in the IMC Learning Commons. Please bring your Grading for Impact book.

Thursday - It was all a Dream (Throwback dress...does anyone know my favorite decade? I'm getting my prized gold scrunci ready. I love this day!)

Friday - Welcome Back Home - Dodgleand Purple Pride

The spirit rally starts at 1:30. Early dismissal at 2:30 for bussers, all others at 2:35.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Please remember that Homecoming activities take place during aspire and should not be taking up class time. 

*Our custodial crew has been working extremely hard for months in spite of staff shortages and a number of additional tasks on their daily lists.  To support their work, please help (and/or have your students assist) each day with these tasks:

• Please place your garbage and recycling cans in the hallway before you leave. All trash bins will be placed inside the door each day for you to return to the places you prefer them in your room. 
• Please have students spray/wipe each desk at the end of the day and place the chair on top of the desk. This will allow them easier access to sweeping the floor. 

From Mrs. Rollins...

Our library is open!

Starting Monday, October 4th, the IMC is fully functional! There is no way we could have gotten this huge task organized and ready without the amazing work of Holly Blattner and Bethany Nummerdor (library TA) so please thank them when you see them. Whenever sending students to the IMC, have them complete the digital hall pass Google form. A clear purpose for coming to the IMC will allow students to be successful while in our space. Appropriate purposes could include checking out a book, asking for help when using a specific app, utilizing the green screen, looking for a quiet place to read independently, or checking out equipment such as a keyboard. As staff, feel free to check out the learning commons to bring your whole class down for an activity. To check out the learning commons, please stop in to talk with Ms. Rollins or send an email.

Book fair is back!

Scholastic Book Fair is finally back! It will be open to our families Thursday, Oct. 14th and Friday, Oct. 15th from 4:00-7:30. In addition, I will have the book fair open for staff to shop Wednesday after school until 4:30. We will have books from birth - young adult. This is a great way to get a head start on holiday shopping or just to make someone smile because who doesn't like a surprise book?! You can also enjoy shopping online starting Oct. 11th with free shipping to your house. Get all your book fair information HERE

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:

*A reminder for those tough moments with students

Friday Focus - September 24, 2021

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Several collaborative problem-solving conversations amongst faculty -- to tweak the middle school VIP card system, to plan for aspire/IEB, to help support a struggling student, to plan for the juniors/seniors UW-O trip.  Together - we are amazing!!

*Reviewing the details of the project students are working on to check in on what is remaining for completion while also reviewing the proficiency rubric so students can use it to self check as they are completing their work to demonstrate their learning. 

*I checked in with the parent of a new student who had been very nervous about transitioning to school much bigger than his last school. She shared that the transition has been much smoother than she thought and that he loves his new school and is thankful for such great teachers. 

*High school students practicing an AP test item with a timer and reminder of gauging their pacing. After the practice session the class reviewed for the correct answers, the content and the test taking skills to tackle an item like that. 

*The Coffee Shop is Open!! Need I say more? Ok, I still will. I am SO impressed with the customer service and conversation happening with our students running the coffee shop. They are practicing great social and job skills while keeping us well caffeinated! :)

Events Next Week:
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday 

Thursday - Juniors/Seniors trip to UW Oshkosh

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• With the printer capability turned on for students now, just a reminder that if you have something that you want all students to have, YOU should be the one printing and preparing it for your class (plus that saves instructional/student work time). 
• Please make sure as we get ready for Homecoming the week of October 4th that the poster creations and other fun student planning do not take up student class/learning time.  Additionally (this is specific to high school) and poster painting should not be happening in the collaboration space where paint/glitter could wreck our beautiful new carpet. Thank you for helping to keep these new spaces amazing!
• I will have a screencast out to you by Monday with the "how to" for the new Rapid Cycle Feedback form in frontline. For teachers in evaluative year I need to do 6 observations...my math of all of those is estimated to be a gazillion, so the sooner you have your standard you would like me to focus my feedback on, the sooner I can start doing so. :)

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*What Teachers Should be Thinking about on Friday. I love this list: tying up loose ends, reminding yourself what went well, putting your subconscious to work, and let the weekend begin!

Friday Focus - September 17, 2021

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Starting Monday's classes with a Monday Check In Google form for the teacher if there are any unanswered questions yet from last week, to hear what went well, what didn't and if the teacher could help. Also to find out if there's anything going on in their lives this week that may affect them, such as something outside of school or a big project/test in another class. 
• Class Kahoot to review the classroom procedures and expectations. 
• Schedule on the board along with 3 student names for each hour to identify the desk sanitizers for the week. 
• Students using the collaborative spaces appropriately for work at both building levels (I have to admit, I think it's my new favorite office space!)
• Brain breaks in class when they seem like they have been sitting to long and are losing attention. 
• Starting the lesson with the learning targets to set the purpose and refer back to for grading. 
• High school classroom with numbered desks to identify the numbered pockets for the phone chart. 
• 7th graders collecting vital signs of one another to create a data table of their results. 

Upcoming Events:

Monday - Packer attire Monday (and jeans!)

 EP Training 3:15 in IMC Learning Commons - this training will be for the SLO/PPG/Surveys. All new teachers (up to 3 years) should attend and I highly recommend all others on evaluation this year attend. Not sure if you are? Login to frontline and if you have PPG/Surveys, you're up. :)

*Please submit behavior grades for your students for Work Habits and Middle School and Employability Skills for High School this week!

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday

3:15 HS Faculty Meeting (we will need to use Mr. Quale's room again). 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Reminder to MS faculty - students turn in VIP cards at Friday Aspire (Fun Friday activity) and should be given their new cards 5th hour on Friday (yes, for the following week!)
• HS faculty - No IEB yet. We don't have the document ready yet and will use Wednesday's faculty meeting to make sure we're good to go with a solid plan. If you do need to pull a student for any reteaching/reassessment, just give the student a pass and email their advisor.  Tap into your grade level advisory leader for any assistance needed. :)
• We are returning to keeping our staff lounge doors closed. 
• Just a reminder that we did change announcements being read to 3rd period this year, that is why there are 3 extra minutes for that class period. 
• Have you had students use the QR Code hall pass? Please let me know. I was going to share the responses spreadsheet with you all, but just found it completely blank. Which means no one is using it or somehow I broke my google form!
• Some of you have asked for access to the spreadsheet of student hall passes.  The spreadsheet of student responses are in the DMS DHS Shared drive, in the 2021-2022 folder, or HERE. 
• If you think of something that should be added to the parent newsletter that I send out to via email (through BrightArrow in PowerSchool) please share!

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

*Maintaining First Day of School Excitement

Friday Focus - September 10, 2021

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• On the first day of school, I noticed several upperclassmen helping freshmen with their lockers and finding classes!
• Lunch was on schedule at both middle and high school every day this week, even the first day!! (Has that ever happened??!)
• A getting to know you in numbers activity in math - with each question, students chose their number answer to move around the room (i.e. How many hours a day would you choose to be on social media or video games? How many hours of sleep do you get a night?) This gave the teacher some valuable information about students and gave them some conversation opportunities. 
• Getting to know you Jenga in small groups - each brick had a number so students would refer to the question list (this game easily transitions to questions for content review to play later!).
• High School PE classes had a blast playing PlayWorks games (Is there a Chicken in your house? is my personal fave!). They were having a blast and had no idea this training was for middle school.
• It is so great to not see kids staring at cell phones in high school classes! :)
• I've seen so many staff members not just "on duty" before school or at lunch, but using it as a time to engage and connect with students! Thank you!
• A new student told me she loves Dodgeland so far, that she feels like she just belongs here! This is because of how awesome YOU are!
• This felt like the smoothest start to the school year once the kids got here. Thank you for all of the incredible things you did in your classrooms and teams for such a successful start to the year!

Upcoming Events:

Monday - Mentors/Mentees meeting 3:15 IMC

Tuesday - Picture Day (We will be starting with elementary kids then calling grade levels down)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Students should have their routine down by now, so please mark them tardy if they are indeed tardy to your class.

*Reminder to sign up for Social Media posts if you haven't done so already (and then send your pics/info to Mr. Kjornes when it's your turn): Social Media Sign Up

*Please plan to get Employability Skills/Work Habits grades in for students after this week (either Friday or the following Monday). Please let me know if you don't see these standards in your grade book yet.

*Make sure to get your Guest Teacher binder ready for your classroom in case you are unable to make lesson plans at the last moment. Make sure to include: 

1. Your daily schedule

2. Emergency lesson plan

3. Seating charts for each period

4. Class list for each period

5. Any special instructions needed regarding student "need to knows" (i.e. medical alert, student that might need to leave to a special education room, helpful go-to studnet) and to complete tasks/assignments.

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

*Leading with Empathy

Friday Focus - September 3, 2021 HERE WE GO!!!

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• SO much fun and laughter - in Jumanji challenges, staff meeting activities and MS faculty playing in Playworks!
• Great collaboration and teamwork in planning for advisory together at the high school (ms you're up next for that!)
• Our amazing paras were fantastic as always last night to greet our students and show our new students around. 
• I saw SO much excitement from our students to be back in the building and get back to school. Yes, they want to be here!
• I've had many meetings this week with new families and have enjoyed each of the conversations getting to know them. In several conversations the parents said they chose to bring their child to Dodgeland because of the good things they have heard about our school (caring staff, knows their child will be taken care of, small school feel with lots of options). Thank YOU for what you do to make Dodgeland the place people want to come to!
• One of our Link Crew students led a meeting last night with our new to Dodgeland 7-12th graders to go over some basic procedural things to know about Dodgeland and to show some of our iPad basics. It was interesting to learn that all students there had or used a device at their previous school, but none of them used iPads. 

NEXT WEEK:

Tuesday - 1st Day! Check your mailbox! Students start in Aspire for one hour delay schedule Tuesday and Wednesday. Please wear your new Dodgeland shirt, jeans and the comfiest shoes you own!
Here are the HS iPad slides to go through in aspire: DHS Getting started with your iPad (this is in the DMS DHS Shared drive, in the 2021-2022 folder)

Here are the MS iPad slides to go through in aspire: DMS Getting started with your iPad (this is in the DMS DHS Shared drive, in the 2021-2022 folder)

3:15 MS faculty meeting

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
3:15 HS faculty meeting

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
Rest up this weekend!! :)

*Thank you for your patience and understanding with the fact that it's not all done (by it, I mean, like everything on my to-do list!). But, we're somehow always ready for kids when they return! This weekend I will be sending emails with: 

• New student info (your students are likely all new to you this year, but it's also helpful to know who is new to Dodgeland so we can all help make sure they make connections and feel welcome!)
• Any details you should know about individual students that I learned from my meetings with them.
• Anything else I realize over the weekend that you should know. 
• Can you think of something I'm forgetting?
  

*On Tuesday make sure to check your mailbox before school. I will have a stack of student schedules in your mailbox for your aspire group (because I will still be working on schedule changes this weekend).

*Please sign up for your 4 social media slots: Social Media Submission Calendar

*We are still in a pandemic, so my rule about every Wednesday being Workout Wednesday in a pandemic applies to this school year. :)

*Safety notes - a new safety map has been placed on the wall in your classroom.  Look to see where your tornado safe space is and where the highlighted part of your classroom is to go to for a lockdown. 

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

*15+ Ways to Use Flipgrid in your Classroom