WMS - Weekly Wauna Know

November 10 - Veteran's Day Celebration 10:30am

November 14 - Genius Hour PD - LMTC 3:30pm-4:45pm

November 16 - Staff Meeting 7:30am-8am

November 20-21 - No School - Staff Development

November 22-24 - No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

On Tuesday, October 31st, students may choose to come to school in costume to celebrate Halloween. If they choose to dress up, they must follow the guidelines below, and will also need to have regular clothes available to be sure they can fully participate in all their daily classes. Administration reserves the right to confiscate any items or parts of a costume they deem inappropriate, or ask a student to remove all or part of their costume if they feel it violates the guidelines below. Students and/or staff choosing not to wear costumes can wear their regular clothes for the day or may choose to wear fall colors to celebrate the day before fall break.

MS - Halloween (Costumes Expectations)

• Wearing a costume is not expected and will be entirely optional.

• Costumes must be appropriate for school.

• Student costumes must comply with our dress code

• We MUST be able to still identify students

• No face paint/makeup is allowed

• No masks are allowed

• No Latex in costumes, masks or accessories.

• Nothing that promotes or resembles violence, or harm to others, (no paraphernalia, objects, toys, look-alikes, etc.)

• No put-downs (anything that offends) or costumes that disrespect someone’s culture, gender, or identity will be allowed.

In observation of Homelessness Awareness Month we are asking all staff to wear a purple shirt and to meet in the gym at 7:40am for a staff picture.

An outside force that continues to plague us is the proverbial clock. How many times do we hear ourselves say, “I don’t have time,” “I ran out of time,” or “If I only had more time?” As educators, we wonder if it's possible ever to have enough time. So what do we do with the time we do have? We could unpack that question for literally hours, but let’s focus on the last few minutes of class.

Those last few minutes of class are priceless in that they can provide valuable insights into how our students are processing the learning. Brain research shows that learning increases when given time to reflect. When we close a lesson with intention, this helps the brain organize and remember the point of instruction. Try planning a lesson, making a goal of closure, and seeing what happens. This can also be used as a quick formative assessment. Some options of questions for closure are found below:

• How would you explain what you learned today to someone else?

• What is one thing that surprised you?

• What was most challenging for you today? Why?

• Summarize in 2-3 sentences what you learned today.

• What was one thing you were unsure of today?

• Share an “aha” you had and how it connects to today’s learning target.

• What is a simile or metaphor that represents what you learned today?

• What is your rose from today’s learning? What is your thorn?

• What is one thing you need more practice on?

• What do you know more about today than yesterday?

Waunakee Middle has an incredible scheduling advantage for intervention and enrichment in the form of our WYN time. In order to help our students grow, and for us to become better teachers, we need to dig into this time and make it very effective.

Maintaining the status quo of how we have done WYN in the past will not work. Adding another day of the same will not work. If you find yourself resistant to change, examine where this is coming from. Talk to a forward thinking colleague. Research how to improve outcomes for students. If you do, you will find many tenets of highly effective WYN time we could adopt. Here are an important few:

• Great teachers know exactly what skill gaps their students have

1. Teachers have identified the skill or content to learn, and have measured through formative assessments, on a consistent basis, who is progressing toward those skills.

• Interventions are early and timely

1. Teachers respond to student needs with a sense of urgency

• Intervention is not optional but directed (teacher assigned)

As we get back to a few normal weeks of school before Thanksgiving break, use this WYN time wisely. In an effort to close educational gaps and have a sense of pride in how we operate, we need everybody on board. Can one teacher per team take more students for a WYN so that others can run interventions? Can you work with your content teams to develop common formative assessments? What information can you glean from a chat about student responses to these assessments? What skill gaps need to be addressed tomorrow in WYN?

Staff and students alike benefit from highly effective WYNs. We have the time. We have the talent. It is time to put it together.

Withrow ---- AM**Flagpole - Direct students to the playground

Anich ----AM**Bus Loop - Direct students to go to the back of the school to enter

Jeschke ---- AM**West Door #7 OR Entryway outside Gym (inclement or cold weather days)

Puntney----AM **West Door #7 OR Entryway outside Gym (inclement or cold weather days)

Kinney ---AM**West Door #6 OR Cafe (inclement or cold weather days)

Schauf---AM**West Door #6 OR Cafe (inclement or cold weather days)

Marsh ---- PM**Bike Racks

Zarzyski ----- PM**Bus Loop (near where the second to last bus lines up)

Smith---PM**Bus Loop (near the fire hydrant)

Piotrowski ---- PM**Flagpole (outside the main entrance)

Waunakee Community Middle School 2023-2024 Building Goals

At Waunakee Community Middle School, we are committed to helping each student reach their full potential. To guide our efforts, our school improvement team meets annually during an activity we call our School Improvement Institute, or SII. During the summer of 2023, a team of teachers, administrators, and other school staff from Waunakee Community Middle School gathered together at SII to review data and create our School Improvement Plan for the 2023-2024 school year. Operating under the umbrella of our Waunakee Community School District’s strategic priorities, we developed two goals for continuous improvement for the 2023-2024 school year.

• By June of 2024, we will improve our student growth in reading and literacy by having 80% of our students meet their yearly literacy growth goal as measured by our i-Ready data.

• By June of 2024, 75% of all Waunakee Community Middle School staff will report that there has been improvement in building climate so that it reflects movement towards the desired state for our professional building culture.
  
  

We believe these two goals will help create an environment where all students can thrive academically and develop as independent learners. To achieve this, we value the support and involvement of parents. Please reach out to your child's teachers to learn more about how you can support learning at home. Please visit the district website for additional information and resources related to our school improvement efforts this year.

With our dedicated staff and engaged families working together, we know we can make great progress to support each student's growth and success this school year!

Stay up-to-date on the design and construction updates for the new Heritage Elementary School and the new Waunakee Community Middle School. Click here to view Volume 6. Visit our website for additional pictures and updates from our 2022 fall referendum!

Attention Teachers,

If you are taking pictures of students in your classroom or attending school events and have a great picture, please use this QR Code to submit them to us for review and possibly use in our yearbook! We'd greatly appreciate it! The QR code should allow up to 10 photo uploads, and you can submit multiple times.

Each week you will receive 2 numbers. When you get a regular bingo (across, down, or diagonal) bring your card to the office for a prize. Look for your card in your mailbox. Good Luck.

This week's numbers:

G 46

B 11

Cinthia Aparicio Banegas 10/30

Jack Haggard 11/1

Emily Lawler 11/1

Sebastian Reno 11/1

Everleigh Drake 11/1

Eden Jensen 11/1

Rowan Roberts 11/1

Owen Berryhill 11/2

Mia McCormick 11/2

Jackson Sheahan 11/3

Annika Evans 11/3

Inthira Arunphrom 11/4

Michael Lamberty 11/4

Natalie Pothof 11/4

Sophia Zamansky 11/5

Mitchell Meinholz 11/5

Brayden Murphy 11/5

October

Eric Noah - 10/31

November

Missy Candell 11/2

Ethan Edwards 11/6

Cathy Keenan 11/7

Jeff Kenas 11/12

Jeff Breunig 11/15

Diana Rayburn 11/15

Paul Nesbitt 11/25

Monica Dogru 11/29

Please fill out this form each time you visit a colleagues classroom! Thanks for taking part in promoting a culture of learning for staff and students!

September 4, 2023

September 11, 2023

September 18, 2023

September 25, 2023

October 9, 2023

October 16, 2023

October 23, 2023