October 1 - 3 - Third Grade Walking Tours

October 2 - Homecoming Parade 6:30 PM and Pep Rally at 7:00 PM at MHS

October 3 - 4K Fall into Fun Family Night, 6:00-7:00 PM at CEPS

October 3 - PTO Advisory Committee, McFarland House Cafe

October 4 - Homecoming Football Game, 7:00 PM at MHS

October 7 - 11 - Fire Prevention Week, Kindergarten Fire Station Field Trips

October 11 - 4th Grade Taste of Wisconsin - 1:30 PM

October 16 - PTO Meeting - 6:30 PM at CEPS Library

October 17 - Kindergarten Schuster's Farm Field Trip - 8:10-10:45 AM (Doll, Gray, Heim, and Mosso)

October 18 - Kindergarten Schuster's Farm Field Trip - 8:10 - 10:45 AM (Cook, Dettlaff, Kuehl, Marking, and Paugel)

October 21 - Third Grade Open House - 6:00 PM

October 22 - CEPS Open House - 5:30 PM - 6:30PM

October 23 - 4th Grade Field Trip to Old World Wisconsin

October 24 - NO SCHOOL - Professional Development

October 25 - NO SCHOOL - Conference Release Day

October 28 - November 1 - 3rd Grade Swim Unit

October 31 - Wear Orange and Black Day at CEPS

Upcoming Dates in November

November 4 - 8 - Conference week at WIS

November 4 - 7 and 19 - 4th Grade Swim Unit

November 7 - Related Arts Conference Night at WIS

November 8 - NO SCHOOL - Professional Development

November 11 - 15 - CEPS Conference Week and Scholastic Book Fair

November 11, 13-15, and 18 - 5th Grade Swim Unit

November 12 - 5th Grade Field Trip to UW-Whitewater - Dr. Kaboom

November 28 - 29 - NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break

We love having our students' families visit our school! Please remember these new guidelines in place this year at both CEPS and WIS so that you can plan accordingly and help us to make visits go as smoothly as possible:

• Non-parent/guardian adults may only visit for lunch or pick students up during the day with prior parent/guardian permission. The student's parent/guardian must call or email the main office on the morning of the visit/early pick up. The parent/guardian is also responsible for making sure the visitor knows that a photo ID will be required.
• If a visitor arrives without prior parent/guardian permission, he/she will be directed by our office staff to contact the parent/guardian who must then call the office before before being allowed to visit for lunch or pick up the child.

Thank you for working together with us to keep all students safe!

We are excited to have our Kindergarten through 8th grade students come and cheer on our football team at home this Friday! Our goal with this reminder is to ensure that we support the athletes, musicians, and dancers that are part of the game, while also being safe and having fun. We want our students to view the game as a sporting event and not a recess. To help us with this, please review these reminders with your child if they plan to attend:

• Students must attend with a responsible adult in order to enter the game.

• Students in grades K-5 are expected to sit with parents. Middle school students may sit with their parents or in the middle school section in the bleachers.

• Middle school students should bring their school ID to all home high school events. Their ID helps us to verify that they can sit in the middle school section and to identify them should any behavior issues arise.

• Students should sit in the stands when the football game is in play. Students who use the bathroom or purchase concessions should return directly to their seats. The playground area and the middle school are off limits at all times.

• Students may not carry anything in including bags, backpacks, or recess type equipment such as footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, etc.

• Please remind your child that while attending the game they need to watch the game and cheer on the Spartans. Of course, they are also expected to behave respectfully, responsibly, and with empathy as it is a school event on school grounds. We want our students to think of it as a professional or college sporting event where you cheer instead of roughhousing, running, playing tag, etc.

Keeping these guidelines in mind will help us all have a great time at the game!

GO SPARTANS!

Please Join Us for PTO's upcoming meetings:

• Thursday, October 3rd - Advisory Committee, McFarland House Cafe
• Wednesday, October 16th - PTO meeting, CEPS
• Thursday, November 7th - Advisory Committee, McFarland House Cafe

We have received the list of parents who expressed interest during registration in helping with PTO and we will be reaching out this fall, but in the meantime feel free to attend the meetings listed above and please "like" and follow McFarland EC-8 PTO on Facebook for more information, fall event updates, and opportunities for getting involved with PTO. You can also email Michaela at mcfarlandptoprez@gmail.com and Jessica at mcfarlandptosec@gmail.com.

Box Tops for Education Fundraiser:

Box Tops will be going digital! Stay tuned for more information. You can turn in remaining physical Box Tops that you have collected at the school offices or the collection box at the McFarland Municipal Building. Thank you for your support!

If your student has a fever over 100, or is vomiting, or has diarrhea, all symptoms have to be resolved WITHOUT MEDICATION for 24 hours. This means 24 hours after the last dose of medication, if there have been no other symptoms, they may return to school.

Discourage sharing water bottles, and encourage lots of handwashing, use of hand sanitizer (there are many inexpensive small bottles that can attach to a belt loop or backpack), and covering coughs and sneezes with an elbow or shoulder rather than hands.

Hello Spartan Star Families,

Fall is in the air! Although we will miss the summer, we get to look forward to the beautiful Wisconsin scenery that comes with the season. When the temperature outside turns chilly, don’t you want to just cozy up on the couch with a mug of cocoa or cider and a good storybook? Fittingly, your child might bring home a book from our library about pumpkins, pie, football, or colorful leaves.

We want to send some appreciations in this note. We appreciate the students here at Conrad Elvehjem Primary School (CEPS) for their ability to quickly get into “school mode.” Having mastered the routines and procedures in September, they are now diving into academic learning. We use the developmentally-appropriate Bridges to Mathematics and Units of Study in Reading, Writing, and Phonics for our math and language arts curriculum. We also want to thank the CEPS staff for the careful planning and attention they pay at the beginning of the year; they have been teaching and reinforcing academic and behavioral skills, connecting with families and colleagues to support our learners, making hundreds (and thousands) of decisions each day in the best interests of our students, and giving their hearts to build our community of learners. Finally, we appreciate you...the families! Thank you for your partnership with us here. One of the reasons staff enjoy working in McFarland is the community support; thanks for that!

We all know the importance of communication. Specifically, we want you to be aware of the schedule our school follows for communicating your child’s progress in their education. In the first quarter of the school year, your child’s teacher will be reaching out to set up a time for you to come to school and conference face to face. At the end of the second quarter, you will receive the mid-year report card in your child’s Infinite Campus (IC) portal. In the third quarter will be another opportunity to meet for a parent-teacher conference, and the end-of-year report card goes live on IC the week after our last day of school.

You may recall that early in September, our students and staff evacuated the building to the back of our playground as a precautionary measure when a minor gas leak occurred during road construction near the building. Even though it ended up not being an emergency, and we were able to safely re-enter the building after only a short period of time, it showed the importance of our monthly safety drills. If you were an observer during the event, you would have seen staff and students remaining calm and following the procedures. Each month, our students practice what to do for different safety incidents, and you will be getting a note from our superintendent, Dr. Andrew Briddell, and our district’s School Resource Officer, John Miller, that will give you an overview of our district safety procedures. At CEPS, we practice monthly drills in a low-key manner that is framed for students in a way where they learn it is just one thing we do to practice being safe. We want our students to feel comfortable, not scared, during these drills. Teachers are able to debrief and answer any questions students may have after each drill is completed.

In closing, we would like to share our continued excitement to be on this journey with you. Greg was the Interim Principal from October through June of the 2018-2019 school year, and Brooke was the Interim Associate Principal from January through June of last year. We began our permanent administrative roles in July and cannot be more honored, enthusiastic, and optimistic to be able to work with the students, staff, and families of CEPS. In only year two of its existence, we see a bright future ahead for CEPS!

Sincerely,

Greg Nelson Brooke Hauser

Principal Associate Principal

Mrs. Hauser comes to her role as Associate Principal at CEPS from 10 years in elementary and middle school classrooms in Madison, Blue Springs, MO and Mt. Horeb, WI. She taught technology and coordinated technology integration at Waubesa Intermediate School here in McFarland for nine years and an additional year and a half at CEPS before becoming our interim Associate Principal in January. She is thrilled to continue serving students and staff in this capacity.

Mrs. Hauser is married and has two children. Annika (16) open enrolls to McFarland High School and Thomas (19) is in the culinary and hospitality program at UW-Stout. Her two beagles Darcy and Sassy B. also keep her busy. After school hours, Mrs. Hauser is co-director of McFarland High School's fall musicals and spring plays. She is excited to be working on Mamma Mia! this year in the brand new Performing Arts Center!

Mrs. Hauser would like to thank the community for its strong support of the arts and education. It's the relationships we all build that make the difference!

Hello Waubesa Families,

The fall season is already upon us and that means soon we’ll have colder weather. Please support your child in coming prepared with appropriate clothing and outdoor gear. Encourage independence by having your child check the weather and help them strategize the most appropriate clothing.

The end of the month also means Halloween which is traditionally celebrated in the village of McFarland on October 31. Waubesa Intermediate School asks that students do not come to school with Halloween costumes. We appreciate your support!

As we move through the school year, some ways to stay connected with our school are through your student’s daily folder (3rd and 4th graders) or the assignment notebook (5th graders). Please check in with your child and don’t hesitate to ask their teacher if you have questions. Also, please talk with your child about what they are reading or writing about and help reinforce the importance of literacy. The research on the correlation between minutes reading and school success is very clear. If your child is reluctant, read with or even to them!

Additionally, we’re working to develop passion and excitement for writing. We ask that you develop a positive opportunity at home for your child to write, even if it’s just 10-15 minutes. There’s no need to critique or “grade” the writing. Writing topics or ideas include: free write to express their feelings; summarize their favorite part of the day; write a letter to a favorite person; identify something they’re looking forward to tomorrow; “I wish…”; “I really like it when you…” It’s important to allow your child to use their imagination without judgement of their skills. Have fun writing!

Thank you for your continued partnership. We are honored and grateful we get to serve this great community.

Sincerely,

Corey Shefchik - Principal

Al Northouse - Associate Principal

Bridges: Bridges Family Support is an additional resource to provide guidance to support your student's learning in math. This link provides Unit Overviews for families that include the concepts that students will learn in each unit, example problems and explanations, and frequently asked questions/answers for each unit. To access these overviews, use this link and select your student's grade level.- Link to Family Support

You can also access this math information on our WIS Website under Parent Resources.

Looking for a challenging math game for your child? Consider the 24 Game! Students use their math facts as train their brain to see number patterns. Mathematicians in third grade use the Single Digit Deck, fourth graders work with the Double Digit Deck and fifth graders tackle the Variable deck. Waubesa fourth and fifth graders can choose to be part of our Waubesa Math 24 Building Tournament (during spotlight time in early February, dates tbd). This game can be purchased on Amazon or at teacher stores. There is also a 24 Game app families can install for additional practice.

If you have questions, contact Lisa Sheil at SheilL@mcfsd.org.

• 3rd Grade - October 28 - November 1
• 4th Grade - November 4 - 7 and 9
• 5th Grade - November 11, 13-15, and 18

SPANISH CLUB STARTS OCTOBER 14th - Don’t miss out!

It isn't too late to sign up for Spanish at Waubesa Intermediate and Conrad Elvehjem. “Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children.” Here at Futura our mission is to create life-long language learners who embrace cultural awareness and who establish a sense of community within language learning. Enroll your child today to allow for them to start their language journey – Spanish is more than an investment, it is a life skill!

Limited space remains on the roster! Register: https://futuraadventures.com/wisconsin-region/