Meadowbrook will be undergoing renovations this year! This process will begin over Spring Break, with the bulk of the work being done during the summer. Our classrooms will get new flexible furniture, updated coat rooms and flooring. We are also very excited about the update to our Media Center which will be renamed the Leadership Commons and Tinkerlab. The initial renovations to the existing Media Center will begin on April 27. Therefore, we will be closing our library early this year. All library books are due by Spring Break. At that time, Mrs. Kearney will get books in order before packing them. After the last week of April, our library and lab will be unavailable for classes, and media will take place in the classrooms.

This is an exciting time for our staff and students, and we can't wait to see the changes that take shape over the course of the summer. It's a great day to be a Meadowbrook Mustang!

Cheers,

Mrs. VanWagnen

#everychildeveryday #mustangproud

March

*March is Reading Month

3/6-3/10: National School Breakfast Week

3/7: Schoolwide Assembly @ 3 PM: iReady Celebration

3/8: Mrs. VanWagnen will be Serving Breakfast with Mrs. Braithwaite

3/9: Board of Education Meeting

3/10: End of 2nd Trimester

3/10: Happiest of Birthdays to Heather Fox!

3/12: Daylight Savings Time Ends: Spring Ahead One Hour

3/12: Happiest of Birthdays to Cindy Kauth!

3/13: Kindergarten Orientation @ 6 PM in Media Center

3/14: Half Day for Students, Staff Professional Development

3/15: March is Reading Month Author Visit!

3/17-3/24: Book Fair

3/17: Happiest of Birthdays to Tiffany Pardo!

3/17: Happiest of Birthdays to Shayla Price!

3/17: Happiest of Birthdays to Jerioth Snyder!

3/20: PTSA Reflections Celebration, WLW @ 7 PM

3/20: Happiest of Birthdays to Steven Canner!

3/22: Beginning of Ramadan

3/22: Statewide Tornado Drill @ 1 PM

3/23: Book Club FInal Meeting @ 9:30 AM: Raising Good Humans

3/23: PTA Book Bingo

3/23: Happiest of Birthdays to Mike Swisher!

3/23: Report Cards Viewable in Skyward

3/24: Registration for Math Course Skipping Closes

3/27-3/31: Spring Break

This is an important reminder that Tuesday, March 14th is a half day of school with a dismissal at 12:25 PM.

Please refer to our tiered dismissal times below:

12:10- Saddle Up Pick-Up Begins

12:18: Prime Time Care Dismissed

12:20 13 Mile Walkers

12:21- Begin loading busses

12:23- Meadowbrook Walkers

12:25-Official Dismissal

12:30-12:32 – Departure

Given that staff must attend required professional development following the school day, it is important that parents arrive promptly for pick-up. Thank you for your support!

Once again this year, Mrs. VanWagnen is giving our Meadowbrook Mustangs a March is Reading Month Reading Challenge. If our students read a total of 450,000 minutes at home during the month of March, Mrs. V is going to spend an entire day on the roof of the school this spring. The students will get to spend some time outside that day waving to Mrs. V and sending her notes using a bucket and pulley system. The students will also get to eat lunch outside that day, so everyone can enjoy the event.

Last March our Meadowbrook students read over 400,000 minutes, so Mrs. V has decided to really challenge our students by asking them to read 450,000 minutes this year and we know they can do it! The students are excited to get started on their reading to meet the challenge.

Here’s what parents and guardians can do to help their child be successful in our “Raise the Roof with Reading” March is Reading Month Challenge.

• Set aside a time for your child to read at home every day during the month of March.

• Students in junior kindergarten, kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade should read at least 20 minutes per day at home.

• Students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade should read at least 30 minutes per day at home.

• Adults may read aloud to their child, a child may read aloud to their parents or other family members, or a child may read silently to themselves.

• Some families enjoy reading aloud together by having the child read one page, then the adult reads the next page, and so on.

• Some of the time parents may wish to read aloud to their child from a book that is above their child’s reading level. This is a great way to build your child’s listening comprehension and vocabulary.

• Each day you will enter the number of minutes that your child spent reading on the “Raise the Roof with Reading” Reading Log (attached). At the end of each week, please fill in the total number of minutes read for the week and initial the total.

• Send your child’s “Raise the Roof with Reading” Reading Log to school each Monday in March so your child’s teacher can add it to the school total. We will record the minutes read and send the log right back to you. We will keep track of the total number of minutes read on the front bulletin board at school.

We hope you encourage your child to do lots of at-home reading during the month of March. With everyone’s participation, we will Raise the Roof with Reading and send Mrs. V to the Roof for a day!

Save the Date: Fifth Grade Celebration, June 13 at 10:00 a.m.

Geisler Parent Night: March 15

Please review on the item below to learn more about the upcoming Geisler Parent Meeting from 6:30-7:30 in the cafeteria this week!

Girls on the Run uses running and other physical activities as a platform for teaching life skills and promoting holistic health outcomes for girls in grades 3-8 grade. The intentional curriculum is designed to enhance girls’ social, emotional and physical skills and behaviors to successfully navigate life experiences.

During this 10 week program, students are empowered with greater self-awareness, a sense of achievement and a foundation in team building. Each session is led by trained volunteer coaches that teach specific life lessons such as dealing with body image and media, resisting peer pressure, making healthy decisions, and contributing to the community. Along the way, the girls and boys train to run a "culminating fun-run 5K" together (the event is in May).

We are so grateful that Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Pardo and First Grade Teacher, Mrs. Temple, have volunteered to lead this program at our school. We could not be more excited to get started!

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Mrs. Pardo, Mrs, Temple or Mrs. VanWagnen with questions or scholarship application assistance.

Cheers!

Since the 2019-2020 school year, we have shared information about district-wide efforts to improve our emergency responses. Walled Lake Consolidated Schools has adopted ALICE, a research-based training program to ensure schools are prepared to respond to potential intruder events. ALICE is about empowering individuals and providing options or strategies beyond the traditional lockdown methods. This past fall, District staff partnered with local law enforcement agencies to train in ALICE protocols. Shortly thereafter, students participated in ALICE based safety lessons and drills. We will continue with this work in the coming months as listed below:

Week of February 6

Students will review ALICE options in each of the following areas that they visit during the school week:

• Art room

• Gymnasium

• Music room

• Learning Commons (Media Center)

• Non-load bearing classrooms

Week of February 27

Students will review ALICE options in each of the following areas that they visit during the school day:

• Lunchroom

• Playground

• Hallways/Bathrooms

Week of April 24

The entire school will participate in a drill, at the same date and time, in which each class will choose an option based on their location in the building. The scenario presented will NOT include a specific threat, but rather read, “if there was something dangerous happening in the (a specific location in the school.)”

Although possible in a real emergency, at no time during the drill will any student(s) evacuate through a window, nor will they travel off of school property.

The book, “I’m not scared, I’m prepared,” by Julia Cook, read in classrooms this fall, comparisons to stranger danger, and additional resources linked below may be helpful for families that discuss the drills at home with their children.

Lesson teaching points that may assist families with at-home discussions include:

• We practice so we know what to do in an emergency. We’re not scared, we’re prepared!

• Our job is to keep you safe. Your job is to listen and follow the adults’ directions.

• Evacuation means to leave the building. Your teacher or a trusted adult may tell you to leave the building and go to a safe place.

• If an adult tells you to leave the building. Listen, quickly go to a safe place, and then wait for helpers (police officers, firefighters, trusted adults, etc.)

Student safety continues to be our first priority. We will continue to collaborate with local law enforcement and families to ensure a safe learning environment for our children.

Helpful Links:

Talking to your Child about Safety - K-2

Talking to your Child about Safety - 3-5

Talking to Children about Violence - Tips for Parents and Teachers

Is My School Safe: How to Ease Your Child’s Anxiety

We are currently looking for a volunteer to assist with Block Recess from 2-3 PM each day of the week, and especially on Mondays during Kindergarten Recess. Students will spend 30-minutes outdoors followed by 30 inside. Please click on the Sign-Up Genius below if you can help!

Unfortunately, we are still short staffed on the playground. This position has been posted for quite some time, and we still do not have any applicants. Luckily, a playground substitute will be helping us until further notice. In addition, we have created a Sign-Up Genius to offer parents and community members the opportunity to help out should they be available. All volunteers will be entered into a bi-weekly random drawing to win a $25 Amazon gift card. A huge THANK YOU to those who have already served.

Checkout the signup to see if you are able to help in any way. Even filling one spot makes a big difference.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4aaaa928a6f8c61-playground#/

Yearbooks are no longer provided through the school picture program. Yearbooks will need to be purchased separately. Yearbooks costs $7.00 and must be ordered by April 10th. Information will be sent home with students soon.

Outdoor play is an important of every child's day. Students will go outside when the temperature is zero degrees and above, with the wind-chill factored in. We continue to see students not prepared for outdoor recess. Please take a look at the guideline graphic below to make sure your student(s) is dressed appropriately. It's always better to send your student "overdressed" than "underdressed" for recess. Even if there's no snow on the ground, it can be wet and muddy and snow pants help keep clothes dry. Please make sure your child has the following items for recess and refer to the infographic below for further information:

Winter Coat

Snow pants

Snow boots

Hat/Earmuffs

Mittens/Gloves

Please label all of these items and place them in a bag. Students will remain on the blacktop if they do not have the appropriate outdoor gear. If you need help providing winter wear for your child, please reach out to us! We want all of our Mustangs to have the items they need!

Donations will gladly be accepted and can be dropped off to the Meadowbrook office anytime between 9am-4pm. Thank you for your support!

New for the 2022-2023, families can only access iReady lessons at home through the Classlink website. If connecting with iReady has been a challenge, please check out the one minute video tutorial below.

i-Ready is an online program for reading and mathematics that diagnoses the just right next steps for students. It is one tool that your student’s teacher will use to guide class and small group instruction. iReady lessons support classroom instruction and are designed to meet your student’s specific needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. It is a great tool to fill gaps and support classroom learning.

Your child's teacher can provide his/her login information if your child chooses to practice iReady at home.

Kindergarten Orientation is right around the corner! All families who will have an incoming Kindergarten student for the 2023-2024 school year are invited to attend Kindergarten Orientation at (insert school name) on March 13th at 6pm. Please click HERE for a Kindergarten newsletter full of valuable Kindergarten information.

It’s important that you watch the Kindergarten Orientation Video (Step 1 in the newsletter) and that you complete the Kindergarten Orientation Questionnaire (Step 2 in the newsletter) prior to attending the informational meeting on March 13th.

We look forward to seeing you at Meadowbrook Elementary on Monday, March 13th at 6pm.

In an effort to find additional ways to celebrate our staff, the WLCSD Community Relations department requests that families fill out the information below for staff who are rock stars in their classrooms and school communities. Please complete the form below and contact Dan Durkin (danieldurkin@wlcsd.org) with any questions you may have.

A sample of what these shout outs will look like on social media and in our District newsletters can be found below.

Not receiving district and/or building communications?

If you are not receiving emails from Mrs. VanWagnen, including the Mustang Express, District Weekly Updates, please use the link below to double-check your preferences are correct.

Signing Up for SMS Messages via Skylert

In addition to receiving phone calls and email notifications from the school district in the event of a school closing or emergency, parents can also sign up to receive SMS Text messages.

Please find the helpful step-by-step instructions linked below as well as the video tutorial on signing up for SMS messages.

• Signing Up for SMS Messages via Skylert

Principal: jennifervanwagnen@wlcsd.org

Kellan Watkins

Principal's Secretary: kellanwatkins@wlcsd.org

Jennifer Schloegl

Building Secretary: jenniferschloegl@wlcsd.org

Important Phone Numbers:

Main Line: 248-956-2700

Attendance: 248-956-2790

It is very important that you take time to review the Meadowbrook Handbook which is filled with important information, policies and procedures.