West Middleton Update
~Building a Compassionate, Collaborative Community For All~
A few quick updates from Mrs. Krych for January
I hope you all had a restful and rejuvenating winter break. The kids came back and were able to jump right back into school. We have been reviewing our Wolverine Way expectations for the past week and a half and students are showing us what it looks like, sounds like and feels like in all of our school environments (hallways, cubbies, lunchroom, playground, bus, cafeteria, bathroom and classrooms). It's always good to review and practice expectations, even when we think students should know them.
Classroom teachers have started their winter assessments with students. We are using several different measures to assess students' reading and math progress since the beginning of the year. It's a great time see how much progress has been made and then create goals for the remainder of the school year. This information will help to guide our instruction as we move forward, as well as inform future report cards.
Finally, we will be having our first "official" family night of the year on Thursday night. Please join us for our West Middleton Family Reading night on January 11th from 6:00 - 7:30 at the Elver Park Neighborhood Center (1201 McKenna Blvd, Madison). Wear your PJs and bring a stuffed animal for a cozy night of reading and pizza with your family, friends and West Middleton teachers. (Flyers are linked below.) We are planning 2-3 additional family nights at West Middleton for the remainder of the year. We will have a math night in February, a Cultural Family Night in April and a Get Ready for Summer Ice Cream Social in May/June. Keep your eyes out for more details.
Enjoy the warmer weather and don't hate me for saying this, but I'm hoping for snow! If we're going to live in WI where it's this cold, I at least want to be able to play outside with my kids and make snowmen & go sledding. Don't forget that we do not have school on Monday, January 16th and Friday, January 26th.
Take Care,
Mrs. Krych
West Middleton is on Social Media!!
Updates from the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Team
With the beginning of the new year and having had a break, it is important to reteach our school-wide PBIS expectations of: Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful, and Be a Learner! This is an important step in reinforcing our expectations and reminding students what our expectations are at West Middleton. Our PBIS team has created lesson plans for teachers to use to ensure that all students are hearing the same language of each areas expectations! This year we will be teaching all of the expectations in the specific area of the building. Each day teachers will be going to one area in the building and using the lesson plan to teach what the Wolverine Way looks like and sounds like. We will be reteaching for the first two weeks.
We have had two PBIS assemblies thus far this year! Each month we have an assembly where we celebrate our learning of the Wolverine Way in a specific area in the building. We focus on one expectation to really work on also! In December our focus was Be Responsible in the Cafeteria. The month of January, our focus is Be Safe with snow gear and play in the hallways and on the playground! At our January assembly students will watch a video to understand what that looks like and sounds like that is created by our very own West Middleton students!
As part of our assemblies and focus on a specific expectation in a specific area we have also begun to identify a student and staff of the month! The student is nominated by a teacher who is outstanding with modeling the Wolverine Way focus. All students that are nominated are placed in a jar and Mrs. Hellenbrand draws out one name from the nominations! This same processed is used for staff too!
We are truly excited to be back from a nice winter break and look forward to continuing to focus on what it looks like and sounds like to be a West Middleton Wolverine!
Announcing Before School Clubs - Enrichment Opportunities for All
Kindergarten Mondays: Coloring in the LMC
First and Second Grade Tuesdays: Coloring in the LMC
Third Grade Wednesdays: Mindful Movement in the Gym and Coloring in the LMC
Fourth Grade Thursdays: Mindful Movement in the Gym and Coloring in the LMC and Building Explorations with Mrs. Schelizche
SPARK meeting in January set
The guest speakers will be Betsy Delzer and Kimi Helton. Delzer has been an educator in the District since 2001 and currently services as the mindful practices specialist, offering staff and students support with stress reduction, resilience, self-care and mindful practices. Helton is a teacher in the Art of Living Foundation, which operates in 155 countries and offers programs to eliminate stress and foster deep and profound inner peace, happiness, and well-being for all individuals through breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, and practical wisdom for daily living.
Visit the SPARK website (www.SPARKMiddletonWI.com) to learn more.