Wildcat News

Principal Message

Hello to all Washington families! A few reminders for the week:

~ 1000 Acts of Kindness Challenge is coming along!!! We have 8 more days to complete this challenge. Your encouragement of your kiddos to keep kindness in the forefront of their words and actions really helps, so thank you!!!! I have no doubt we'll achieve this challenge!

~ Culver's Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who came to Culver's last week. The PTO raised over $500!!! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped support this fantastic evening.

~ Winter Gear: HUGE thanks to parents who have outfitted their kiddos with the proper gear. This year has been better than ever! Also, thank you to everyone who has donated snowpants & boots--keep 'em coming, as we continue to need them!

~ Bedtime Story: I'll be reading the second half of my story virtually this Sunday, December 14, 2025 at 7:30pm. This is another way that your kiddo can earn reading minutes. Simply click on this link to watch me read this week's story OR you can watch past recordings here (If you missed the first half of the book, you can watch it before Sunday). Please join--the kiddos who have joined have really enjoyed it!

~ PTO Info: We are still on the hunt for a secretary. Please consider this--it's really not that difficult, we promise! Also, we continue to collect Hy-Vee receipts (just have your child bring them to the office) and BoxTops for Education (just download the app--it's super simple!).

~ No School: We will not have school from December 24 until January 1st. We return on January 2nd. A friendly reminder: we DO have school on December 22 & 23 and January 2.

Thanks for being such awesome Wildcat families! Stay warm!

Ann

Ann Haggerty

Washington Principal

ahagge1@isd77.org

What do the students at Washington call you?

The students either call me Miss Courtney or just Courtney.

What is your job at Washington?

I am a reading tutor with Americorps for grades K-3.

How long have you worked for Mankato Area Public Schools?

This is my third year working with MAPS, and all of those years have been spent here at Washington.

What is one of your favorite things about your job?

I love seeing the kids grow their love of reading. Improving their skills gives them a reason to be excited and confident which is amazing to witness.

What is an interesting fact about you?

I spend most of my free time reading and collecting books. My goal is to have my own library of 1,000+ books. I currently have 180 books in my library, so I have a long way to go!

Tell us about your family.

I am the middle child of a farming family in North Dakota. My parents and two siblings still live close to home, so here in Mankato, my ‘family’ consists of my dog, Summit, and my four roommates, Braydon, Dylan, Mike, and Jake.

Where did you go to elementary school?

I went to a rural K-12 school in North Dakota called Central Valley.

Anything else you would like to share with families?

I have loved getting to know so many of your children over my last few years here at Washington! Whether I have worked with a child directly or just met them passing by, my interactions with the students here have inspired me to pursue a career in schools.

Needed: Silent Auction Items

The Washington Elementary faculty and PTO are hard at work preparing for Family Game Night on February 6, and need YOUR help gathering prizes for the Silent Auction! This was a big hit last year and families really enjoyed winning a wide range of household items, entertainment, and gift certificates. Best of all, the Silent Auction raises funds that directly support Washington's students and teachers!

We are putting out the call to all friends of Washington Elementary (if you're reading this, that means YOU!) to consider donating a pre-assembled gift basket, single item, gift certificate, or service to be auctioned during Family Game Night. If you can't drop off a basket of themed items, we will also gratefully accept individual items and our team of PTO volunteers will assemble the items into a range of fabulous themed packages for bid. Depending on items collected, attendees to Family Night will be able to bid on packages with fun themes like:

Movie Night (popcorn, movie theater certificates, etc.)
Rest and Relaxation
Explore the Outdoors
A character/artist themed basket (Minecraft, Pokemon, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Taylor Swift etc.)
Knowledge and Science
Unleash Your Inner Artist
Puzzles and Games
...and more!

We are so grateful for our supportive community, and would appreciate if folks could bring the items (or better yet, pre-assembled baskets of goodies) to the school Secretary by January 23. See you at Family Game Night!

Thank you to families for making sure kids have the appropriate and needed winter gear. It helps immensely!!!!! A question we get asked frequently is, "When do kids go outside during the winter months?" The answer is: most of the time. I use the wind chill chart below to guide the decision making. While there is nuance to this chart, by and large students are outside when we are in the light blue section of this chart. Thus, it's important that kids have the proper winter gear.

Many things factor into the final decision--wind direction/speed and sunny/cloudy to name a few things. Safety of everyone is of course priority number one. We also know that kids benefit from the fresh air and robust play that can happen in the winter months.

Thank you, in advance, for keeping your children geared up and ready for outdoor Minnesota winters!

Goal #1: Increase consistent student attendance to 92%.

September 2025: 90.34%

October 2025: 89.69%

November 2025: 90.4%

Goal #2: Decrease the number of students who are chronically absent from 45 to 30 or fewer.

September 2025: 32 students chronically absent

October 2025: 32 students chronically absent

November 2025: 24 students chronically absent

Any student who has missed more than 6.1 days by the end of November is included in this count. We are making PROGRESS! Thank you!

Together, we can make this the best school year yet for our students. Every day your child is here, they are building a brighter future for themselves. We are so proud to partner with you and look forward to celebrating our progress throughout the year. Thank you for your commitment to our students and our school.

What should my child wear outside in colder weather? We do follow this chart closely. We use actual temperature, mostly, but factoring in the "feels like" temperature is also quite important, especially for the younger students. YOUR help in following these guidelines really matters, so thank you in advance!