We are headed into our favorite time of year: Learning Season. Between now and spring break, there are only 3 "short weeks," which means several back-to-back, action-packed days of learning for our students. We took our iReady winter diagnostic assessment and are so excited about the gains our students are making in reading. Let's keep at it! You can learn more about our school improvement plan and goals on our AASD District Scorecard.

Thanks for making an effort this school year to make sure your student is an attendance HERO (Here, Every day, Ready to learn, On time). Did you know that arriving 15 minutes late, or pulling your student out 15 minutes early every day for a school year would result in 2,670 lost minutes of teaching and learning? That's a total of 44.5 hours, our roughly 7 school days. We are seeing an increase in student attendance this year and are thankful for your support and commitment to student learning.

Yours in Partnership,

Mrs. Werley-Gonzalez

Do you miss your stuff? Your stuff misses you, too! Come and get it. Our Lost and Found will be purged on January 20. Please encourage your student to check the Lost and Found for missing items.

The Appleton Area School District uses the National Weather Service wind chill chart below when determining if students can go outside for recess during cold weather. Please note that temperature is listed across the top. The dark blue area is the danger zone and students will not be sent outside when the temperatures fall into this range. The light blue area is the safe zone when students will be sent outside.

Please be sure to send appropriate outerwear with your child(ren) every day: boots, heavy winter coats, hat, and mittens or gloves.

The Appleton Area School District has a health policy for students! Why? We want to make sure that our schools encourage habits of healthy living for students and families. Kids learn better when they're healthy, and we want to do our part to support kids in developing healthy lifestyles. You can find the full policy linked here, but here are some highlights:

• We won't serve treats/snacks that aren't healthy for birthdays or parties. If students wish to bring something to share for their birthday, we encourage a healthy snack or a swag bag.
• We serve nutritionally appropriate school meals, with plenty of choices for fresh fruit and vegetables.
• We encourage exercise and physical activity through our partnership with Playworks, our physical education program, and our Healthy Kids committee.

Thank you for your support of our wellness policy.

Upcoming events at Badger:

• January 16-- MLK Junior Day. No school.
• February 7 and 9-- parent/teacher conferences. Check email for sign-up genius link to choose a date and time.
• February 13, 6 PM-- PTA meeting
• February 17 and 20-- No school (Conference Compensation Day and Staff Development)
• February 24-- Badger School Musical "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Appleton West