Wildcat News

Principal Message

Hello to all Washington families and Happy 2026!!! A few reminders for the week:

~ At-Home Reading Minutes: Reading at home continues to be a very important priority at Washington. Each day, students should be bringing books home to read (many come home in the blue pouch) as well as the Home Reading Log. Students should be reading 20 minutes/day, 5 times/week. Thus, if you have a busy weekday, you can find some "make-up time" on the weekends. Parents should initial daily for each 10 minutes that a student reads. And, yes, a parent or sibling reading to a child "counts" for reading minutes. Your child should be at or beyond 1600 reading minutes. IF your child is not close to that number, PLEASE spend some time reading with him or her or encouraging this important task. At-home reading really matters, and your help, support, encouragement, and modeling of this are key to building successful readers. If you'd like your child to hear some stories from me, I've read a couple this fall, and this would be one fun way to add some reading minutes (probably at least 50 minutes!). Check them out here.

~ Frequently Asked Questions for Winter Weather: IF we have a late start or an early out due to weather, it can be confusing for some families. Here's a document that answers some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs). Take a look!!!

~ OKAY Campaign: We will be launching this next week, so be on the lookout for information to be coming home about this. For those of you who are new, the OKAY Campaign reinforces with students the importance of being a first-time listener! There will again be a school as well as an at-home component!

~ 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!). Our January PTO meeting is Monday, January 12, 2026 at 6:00pm in the Washington Media Center. Please join our wonderful group; you can even join virtually if that makes it easier. Here is the link.

~ January Title I Info: Title I is a federally funded program included under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It is a source of funds to assist schools in providing additional instruction for students. Title I funds are targeted to public schools with the greatest economic need; public schools whose average population of students who qualify for Nutrition Benefits is greater than 35% K-5 or 75% K-12.

~ Our next Early Release will be Wednesday, January 14. Please complete this Google Form to indicate what your child's plans are for when school releases at 12:30 that day. Thank you for your cooperation.

~ NO SCHOOL: There is no school on Monday, January 19 due to the MLK Jr. Holiday. There is also no school on Tuesday, January 20, as this is a day that teachers prepare progress reports for families.

Here's hoping everyone had a Happy New Year!

Ann

Ann Haggerty

Washington Principal

ahagge1@isd77.org

Staff Spotlight - Natalie Foley, Reading Corps

What do the students at Washington call you?

Ms. Natalie

What is your job at Washington?

Reading Tutor

How long have you worked for Mankato Area Public Schools?

This is my second year

What is one of your favorite things about your job?

Getting to help kids grow and learn how to read!

What is an interesting fact about you?

I love to read!

Please mention Washington Wildcats when you order or use the promo code: JMGIVES if ordering online.

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

September 2025: 90.34%

October 2025: 89.69%

November 2025: 90.4%

December 2025: 90.73%

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

December 2025: 32 students chronically absent

Any student who has missed more than 7.7 days by the end of December is included in this count. Please continue to help us reach our goals!!!

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.

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!

Subject: NWEA Results Available

Dear Parents and Guardians,

You will find your child’s NWEA RIT Score and Overall Percentile score live in Infinite Campus under the Student Test Detail Tab. These scores help summarize how your child is performing academically, as measured by the most recent NWEA Growth test your child has taken. These tests and scores help teachers check student performance by measuring achievement and growth. Teachers use results to tailor classroom lessons and set goals for students.

NWEA Growth tests are unique and adapt to your child’s responses to measure your child’s knowledge. If your child answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier. The results provide a more complete picture of where your child is on their learning journey.

NWEA Growth scores provide accurate information about your child’s learning and help teachers to identify students with similar scores in similar skills and topics and then plan instruction accordingly.

Your child’s NWEA Growth results are represented as RIT scores. RIT scores have the same meaning across grade levels. This stable scale allows teachers to accurately measure each student’s academic growth throughout the school year and over time.

If you have questions, please contact me at Washington Elementary.

For more information about NWEA Growth, visit NWEA.org/familytoolkit.

Here are the directions to access the results in Infinite Campus.

Sincerely,

Ann Haggerty, Principal

Washington Elementary