WIS Express
--------------October 2020------------
Waubesa Intermediate School Information
School Principal:
Corey Shefchik
Associate Principal:
Al Northouse
Building Administrative Assistant:
Arlene Bast (608) 838-7667
Email: shefchc@mcfsd.org
Website: http://www.mcfarland.k12.wi.us/schools/intermediate/
Phone: 608-838-7667
A Note From Our Principals
Hello Waubesa Families,
We’re so proud of your kids for all they’re doing to show their best effort and taking ownership during these unique times; please share with them our appreciation. Last month, we shared with you information regarding the concept of Growth Mindset and the power of “Yet.” We appreciate all you’re doing to support your child through these unique times. Please continue to reach out to your child’s teacher, or us if you have questions.
We’re so excited to report that we had a very successful first ever Virtual All School Assembly on Wednesday, September 30 at 11:00 a.m. Stay tuned. We continue to teach and reinforce our school theme of “Show your Star POWER” with POWER as the guiding word for who we are and how we conduct ourselves. This is our foundation that unites us as a school community. It would be great if you could find ways to use these same POWER words in your conversations with your child.
Pride - I do my best work
Ownership - I am responsible for my choices
We work together - I work well with others
Empathy - I try to understand others’ feelings
Responsibility - I do the right thing to help our school be a better place
Schedule Update: Based on feedback from families and reflective conversations with staff, it has been decided that we will increase the number of synchronous (live) writing sessions each week. Teachers will be able to be more responsive to student needs and progress with this additional synchronous Writing session. Students will now have 2 synchronous (Tues & Thurs) and 1 asynchronous (Mon) lessons in Writing. With this switch students will now have an asynchronous (recorded) phonics/word study lesson on Thursdays. The session times will remain the same. See below for the detailed schedule of your child’s grade level.
In this edition of the WIS-Express, we’re excited to share with you the following:
Waubesa Virtual Learning Important Updates and Schedule Details
iPad/Tech Support Basics and District Technology Support
Attendance Information and Policies
Supply Swap Reminder
A Note from the PTO
Student assessment update
Student Supply Lists
A Note from Student Services
5th grade music update
Parent Resources Corner
School Calendar Updates
Community Events/Activities
Thanks for all you’re doing to work with us to support your child.
Waubesa Pride,
Corey Shefchik - Principal
Al Northouse - Associate Principal
Waubesa Virtual Learning Schedules Updates and Details
Below you'll find a link to each grade levels schedule that includes the writing update we mentioned in our letter:
For more information regarding scheduling, please visit our Waubesa website.
iPad/Tech Support Basics and District Technology Support
By this time all the students have had the opportunity to use their iPads. Some basics to try if you are having any iPad or Zoom issues are:
1. Check your iPad's internet connection
2. Restart your iPad
3. Press the iPad's Home Button Twice and close all the open apps by swiping them toward the top of the iPad
4. Visit the Self-Service App (Pictured) and "install" the impacted app.
If you have further technical issues, please visit the district website and submit a technology support request and our dedicated technology team will be able to assist you.
Attendance Information and Policies: Kindergarten-5th Grade
Daily school attendance is vital to your child’s success. We hope you can support us by making attendance a priority and helping your child understand that establishing good attendance habits now is important for success in school and beyond! Below are highlights from our School District’s Attendance Policy:
Please call your student’s school office to report an absence or tardy. If we do not hear from you regarding your child’s attendance, we will call you to verify your child’s absence. If we are unable to reach you to verify your child’s whereabouts, a member of the student services team may make a homevisit to ensure the student is safe and accounted for.
Attendance: Excused Absences
Students may be excused from school for the following reasons:
1. A parent or guardian may excuse a student before the absence for any or no reason. A student may not be excused for more than ten (10) days per school year and must complete any course work missed during the absence. Reasons in the category include, but are not limited to, the following:
Any professional and other necessary appointments that cannot be scheduled outside of the school day.
A death in the immediate family or a funeral for relatives.
Legal proceedings that require the student’s presence.
Family trips that can only be taken during the normal school term. Please notify a building administrator about the trip at least one week before leaving.
2. Evidence that the student is not in proper physical or mental condition to attend school.
3. Obtaining religious instruction or observing religious holidays
Please be advised that after a student has been absent ten (10) days in a school year, a conference may be requested to discuss measures related to attendance and how we can help improve the student’s attendance. If a doctor’s note or appointment card is presented as proof of appointments, they will allow the absence to be medically excused and not count towards the 10 days. In addition, students who have tested positive for COVID-19, were exposed to a positive case of COVID-19, or are experiencing COVID-like symptoms should work with the health office, our District Nurse and school administration to determine next steps (i.e. quarantine, access to instruction, etc.) and if the absence should be medically excused and not count toward their 10 days.
If a student is kept home, or sent home, for COVID-like symptoms, they must be evaluated by a provider before coming back to school. This may be by a virtual or actual visit to the healthcare provider. If the student is ruled out for COVID-19, they may return to school 24 hours after their symptoms are gone without medicines. You must provide documentation from the provider stating the student was ruled out for COVID-19. If the student is tested for COVID-19, they must be out until their results are received, and as indicated by the District's COVID-19 policy.
Attendance: Unexcused Absences
Truancy means any absence of part or all of one or more days from school, for which the school was not notified of the absence by the parent/guardian of the absent student. A habitual truant is a student who is absent from school without an acceptable excuse for all or part of five or more days during a school semester.
If a student is truant, a parent meeting may be requested. If efforts to reduce truancy are not effective and the student is considered a habitual truant, the student will be referred to the McFarland Police Department and a citation may be issued.
If a student is open enrolled into the District, and is habitually truant from the District, the Board may prohibit the student from attending in the succeeding semester or school year.
Tardiness:
Students must be in their classrooms at the established starting time for the school day (see above table). Students who arrive late should report to the office for a pass.
At any time, if chronic tardies or truancy are issues that you would like assistance from school staff to address, please do not hesitate to contact Lily Hlavacek, School Social Worker K-5 (608)-838-4610, Al Northouse, Associate Principal at Waubesa Intermediate School 608-838-4609, or Brooke Hauser Associate Principal at Conrad Elvehjem Primary School 608-838-4595.
Attendance - Link to Family Handbook pages 36-37 outline attendance procedures.
The Waubesa Office team is hard at work reaching out to families who may be struggling connecting to the live learning sessions. If a teacher marks a child absent, the office will call to check on a student and support them logging into the session.
Supply Swap Thursdays from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Supply Swaps will happen every Thursday from 4pm-6pm in the Waubesa Parking lot. Please have your students' name and homeroom teacher displayed on a piece of paper in your car window. Books will be placed in the trunk. Please see the map for parking lot directions.
Our Supply Swap will be responsive to student learning and their needs. Students will receive supplies from their homeroom teacher, RA teacher, library requests, or other instructional services staff. Families will receive notification (email on Wednesday afternoons) only if they have supplies that need to be picked up.
Please return completed books as soon as possible so we can redistribute items to other students.
Student Meals Update
Good news McFarland Families -
USDA has approved free meals again! This means that ALL BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL McFarland children, 18 and under, AT NO COST.
Placing an order is now done on Nutrislice. You can access the menus here: https://mcfarland.nutrislice.com/menu/. Every child will receive a lunch for that day and a breakfast for the following day. IF YOU DO NOT PICK UP AN ORDERED MEAL, WE WILL CHARGE YOUR ACCOUNT $3.15 TO COVER OUR COSTS.
Meal pick up will be available daily at Waubesa Intermediate School from 11:00-12:00 and McFarland High School from 11:30 -12:45. PLEASE POP YOUR TRUNK WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE PICK UP SITE AND HOLD UP A SIGN WITH YOUR (STUDENT'S PARENT) NAME ON IT.
All lunches include an entrée, ½ cup fruit, ½ cup vegetable and 8 oz. milk carton. Breakfasts include an entrée, ½ cup juice, ½ cup fruit, and 8 oz. milk.
Message from the PTO
The McFarland EC-8 PTO has been busy planning ways to adapt and support our community
and educators. The PTO recently donated water bottles and reusable masks to CEPS for
students in need. The PTO was able to purchase these items through the generous donation of
$424.00 from the McFarland Drive Thru Taproom event held in August.
On October 20, 2020 at 6:30pm via Zoom, The McFarland EC-8 PTO will hold its first at large
meeting of the 2020-2021 school year. We will hear both principal and PTO updates and the
guest speaker is Erin Sadler from the Rooted Family. Erin is a certified brain coach, life and
wellness coach, has a master’s degree in education and is a mom to three. She will share
how we can help guide our children during the current pandemic and help wire their brains
for a lifetime of success, peace, and empowered confidence.
The Zoom link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9936647080?pwd=cE5ISWV6SjlYRmJrbzU2a2l3bldrdz09
Meeting ID: 993 664 7080
Passcode: MCFPTO
Please mark your calendar for other PTO Events:
October 31, 2020 Afternoon (time to be determined) The PTO is organizing a socially
distanced Scavenger Hunt or Trunk or Treat. More information to come. If your family is
interested in hosting a Trunk please email PTO president, Michaela Voeck at
November 18 & 19, 2020 Spartan Pizza Fundraiser. Take a night off from making dinner,
support a local business, and the McFarland EC-8 PTO. A portion of all the proceeds will be
donated to the PTO.
You can see all of our updates by following our Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/McFarlandPTO or visiting our website www.mcfarlandpto.org
Student Assessment Update
As a district, the decision was made to pause on the MAP assessment in both reading and math, however, we recognized the need to collect some universal data.
Supply Lists 2020-2021
Link to Supply List
The full supply list will not be needed until we move into Step 3 (Hybrid), when students are in the building half-days.
A Note From Student Services
Hello families!
This year at Waubesa we have increased our dedicated time to Social and Emotional Learning (or SEL). Students have always received social and emotional learning in their classrooms and in Lifeskills class. Fortunately we started planning for increased SEL time during last school year, because we know how important it is for our students in our current situation.
Your student(s) have been receiving a Lifeskills lesson video every other week with additional activities during their homeroom time and Related Arts classes. There are some additional resources called Home Links for you to review at home. Home Links are simple, fun activities for you and your child to complete together. They are a great way for you to understand what your child is learning and for your child to show you what he or she knows.
If you have any questions about the Second Step program, please do not hesitate to contact me for more information. Thank you for supporting your child in learning the skills that lead to success in school and in life.
Ms. Ruhland
School Counselor
Casey Ruhland
608-838-4500 ext 5448
5th Grade Music
Hello 5th Grade Parents/Guardians!
I'm excited to announce the start of our 5th Grade Recorder Unit! It is a right of passage for ALL 5th Grade students to play this wonderful instrument; which serves as a tool in music literacy and as an introduction to band instruments.
Because recorders are purchased in large quantities, we receive a discount:
- Each 5th Grader will need a recorder book ("Recorder Karate: Book 1") and a Yamaha Recorder. The recorder & book package is $8.
- If you already have a book but need only the recorder, the price of the recorder only (includes carrying case) is $5.
- If you already have a recorder but need the book only, it is $3.
It's OK to use a recorder from an older sibling!
You may have noticed a recent communication in IC about new fees for the school year. Two of these fees are for a soprano recorder ($5) and for our Recorder Karate book ($3). Pay only for what your student needs. ALSO, please fill out the following survey to indicate your needs (and recorder color!): 5th Grade Recorder Order Survey.
Thanks for supporting your music student!
Mr. Otteson
Parent Resource Corner
Support Reluctant Writers
Have a writer who is reluctant to get started or gets stuck and isn’t sure what to do? Here are some tips to help support the love of writing in your child! Please click on the link below to watch two short videos to help coach your writer at home.
For additional resources to support your child with at home learning please visit the “Family Resources” page on our school’s website.
Parent Tips and Tricks during Virtual Learning
Wanted to share this great article from Commons Sense Media website. It provides some practical tips for supporting your child to be successful both academically and social emotionally during virtual learning.
October Calendar Updates
October 1 - Supply Swap (4pm-6pm)
October 8 - Supply Swap (4pm-6pm)
October 15 - Supply Swap (4pm-6pm)
October 22 - No School (Staff Development Day)
October 23 - No School (Conference Release Day)
October 29 - Supply Swap (4pm-6pm)
Live Interactive Spanish in a Virtual Setting!
Time is ticking... don't miss out on enrolling in Futura's LIVE Virtual Spanish classes!
E-learning is more than electronic here at Futura, it is also effective and engaging! Virtual in real time LIVE Spanish instruction starts this October. Our virtual platform includes two course options – ‘Vamos a viajar’ is a theme-based class where students will “travel” all in Spanish. ‘Essential Spanish’ will include all the basics to create an amazing language foundation for years to come. Various times and days to choose from to fit your family’s needs for language learning. Please check our website for course details and offerings. https://futuraadventures.com/virtual-learning-registration/ Enroll today, space is limited. We look forward to seeing your student in class...virtually!
Girl Scouts - Fall Registration is now Open
We have so many amazing virtual events happening this Fall! From our newest council patch program the Sloth-Shuffle, to Full STEAM Ahead, to our Let's Go volunteer program series, there's something for every Girl Scout at Badgerland. Please open this link http://www.gsbadgerland.org/ to view information.
UW Caregiver Information Group
The University of Wisconsin-Madison School Psychology Training Clinic is excited to offer a virtual two-part informational group to parents addressing topics related to parenting children age 8-13 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents will meet twice over a two-week period of time to learn strategies to improve behavior management in the home, address sleep difficulties, incorporate social emotional development activities, increase physical activity, and create an environment conducive to remote schooling. Parents will receive information, practice strategies, and have the opportunity to pose questions. For more information contact 608-262-3848. Group meetings will be held on October 7th and October 14th 2020 from 6:30-8:30pm.
Caregivers can register using this link: https://uwmadison.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cJce8iApiCgtXYF. There is no cost for the sessions but a donation of $10 is suggested.