Todd March 10 - March 14

Translation is available in other languages - click on the word Translate above

Good morning Timberwolves Nation!

This week's "The Packs Post" has a lot of information again on the upcoming referendum, clickable buttons with links, highlights, mental health information, and upcoming events. Please be sure to read thoroughly through this week's newsletter so you can stay engaged, educated, and empowered as we continue to get "Wild About Learning!"

We hope everyone remembered to set their clocks an hour ahead for daylights savings. This past week was filled with lots of learning both on campus as well as off campus for some of our students who had field trips. Our students did a great job of representing Todd in Madison for the Math 24 competition, while our third graders began their excursions to the Welty Environment Learning Center. 5th graders had two treats this week by experiencing both BIFF (Beloit International Film Festival), as well as the Coronado Theatre in Rockford where they got to see the symphony perform. We wanted to give a huge shout out to Girl Scout troop 7632 for attending the board meeting on Tuesday to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, they did a great job! We also wanted to thank all of our families who came out to the first ever district-wide PTO and family group meeting. We will plan to host a meeting quarterly as our families shared it would be great to connect with other families from around the district.

This upcoming week the weather should be warmer, and our 3rd - 5th graders will begin preparing for the upcoming Forward State Exams. Our K-3rd graders will also be getting ready for their next round of Act 20 screeners in the coming weeks as well. We know there are a lot of assessments that are coming up, which also add stressors for our students, so it will be important that your child is getting the right amount of sleep each week. You will also find some infographics below under the student services corner, and we highly encourage you to read those over and check in with your child(ren).

We will plan to have a fire drill for the month of March, and most likely it will be some time this upcoming week given the warmer weather. Remember we practice our safety drills so in the event we ever have a true emergency we are prepared to follow the safety guidelines. We also have more field trips on the calendar for our 3rd graders to the Welty Environmental Learning Center. Please save the date, and RSVP with the purple button below for our Family E3 potluck as we get ready to begin a support group for our families.

If you have not done so already, please also take time to give our Social Worker, Ms. K. a shout out on our facebook as we celebrated her for our National School Social Worker week. We appreciate all she does for our students, staff, families, and the community! Speaking of celebrations, we are celebrating a big birthday for our school secretary, also known as a ninja, Ms. Mary. Please join us in wishing her a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY, which is on Tuesday if you want to send her a special message or treat on this day.

Lastly there is information below for better understanding the levy in relation to our referendum. We have also linked a tool for families to estimate their potential tax impact. We have added some fliers as well for an upcoming informational session on March 12th, so please find those details below. We hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend. Please take time to read through all of the important information in this week's newsletter, and reach out if you have any questions. skarns@sdb.k12.wi.us, or call/text at 608-207-2301

Thanks,

Samuel Karns

Principal

A Special Thanks to Ms. K During National School Social Work Week!

This past week, we celebrated National School Social Work Week, which is a time to recognize and appreciate the profound impact our school social worker, Ms. K., has on our school community. Ms. K tirelessly provides emotional support, guidance, and resources that enhance our students’ academic and personal growth. Whether it’s leading group sessions, one-on-one counseling, or developing strategies for overall student well-being, Ms. K is always there with a compassionate heart and expert advice. Please join us in expressing our deepest gratitude for Ms. K's dedication and commitment. It’s through her efforts that we see the true spirit of Todd Elementary shine—supportive, inclusive, and always striving for the best in each student. Thank you, Ms. K, for being an essential part of our school family and for all the incredible work you do each and every day!

• March 1st - 31st: National Women's Month
• March 9th: 3rd Grade to Welty Center (Schimke's class)
• March 17th: No School for students- staff professional learning day
• March 19th: Informational Referendum Meeting @4:15 - 4:45 pm
• March 20th: Family Math Night @5:15 - 6:15p,
• March 25th: 1st Grade to Welty Center (Vandenlangenberg's class)
• March 26th: 1st Grade to Welty Center (Mendoza's class)
• March 27th: 1st Grade to Welty Center (M. Rohrbeck's class)
• March 27th: 5th Grade Band Concert @ Barkin Arena @ 6:00 pm
• March 28th: Spring Picture Day
• March 31st - April 5th Spring Break

Early Childhood

• EC students have been working on identifying colors, and many of us are now independently doing this using the AAC devices! We will continue our color identification work this week with some art, songs, and the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear. As many of us are developing our social skills, we will also review our classroom agreements that we set in the fall so that we can work on social interactions that are safe and positive for all.

4K

• This week we are beginning a new them in our classroom, “Amazing Critters”. Children will learn about insects that crawl. They will learn interesting facts about these crawling creatures, including that some are pests and some are very hard workers. They will also learn how to determine if a creature is indeed an insect. Please see the dojo/email from your child's teacher for the weekly virtual book and the Family Connections page.

• This week, we finished our Arc Unit 3 about Ecosystems. We are experts on the savanna, forest, ocean, desert and rainforest ecosystems. We are reading more and more and have started partner reading daily. In math, we are getting better at number bonds and have been practicing adding number sentences. We will be sending home a permission slip for our next field trip soon!

1st Grade

• This week we continued reading family stories. We compared and contrasted characters in these books. In math we continued our measuring unit. We used 10-centimeter sticks and centimeter cubes to measure larger things. We also learned about cooperation for Social-Emotional Learning. Mrs. Rohrbeck and Ms. Mendoza's classes learned about fruits in Nutrition with Ms. Maria from UW-Extension. Mrs. Van Den Langenberg's class continued their Geography unit using atlases.

2nd Grade

• This week in math, second graders used place value drawings and the vertical strategy to illustrate addition and connect those representations to written forms. We also practiced compensation techniques for adding numbers up to 1,000. In literacy, we explored comparing and contrasting elements in animal stories and composed opinion pieces based on these comparisons. In Social Studies, we focused on concepts like budgeting, income, saving, and distinguishing between wants and needs, as well as understanding goods and services. Additionally, we continued to enhance our cooperation skills during SEB by collaborating to design our ideal playground.

3rd Grade

• Third Graders are ready to become authors and will start writing their own fairy tale. Each student chose a favorite fairy tale and will "twist" the story with their own characters, setting, plot, and theme. In Math, we continue to investigate the formula for Area and we are now decomposing several rectangles to determine the area of all. For Social Studies, we are still in the unit of Colonization and learning about the motives for European exploration. We are studying a new character trait for the month of March in SEB and it is COOPERATION.

4th Grade

• Fourth graders are busy learning all about fractions in math. This week was spend learning to compare fractions using many different strategies. In Social Studies this week we learned how the logging and mining industries helped shaped Wisconsin's early economy. We also learned how WI entered the union as a free state and helped abolitionists further the rights of all people. We are working hard at revising and editing our American historical fiction stories in ELA. AS we learned about cooperation in SEB we were excited to work together to solve out cup stacking problem.

5th graders

• This week 5th graders finished up their Adventure Stories. Next week we will start our Space unit. We have some developing authors, everyone should be very proud of the work they put in to their adventures. During Social Studies we are learning about how the Progressive Era helped to shape our country and our state. During math we finished up our unit on decimals. Next week we will start learning how to find volume. During our Social Emotional time we are discussing cooperation. 5th graders specifically discuss how cooperation is one of the important leadership qualities.

Band

• Congratulations to the following students on their achievements in Band Karate:
• Mikeyla Ortiz for earning her Yellow Belt.
• Denisse Reyes, Wesley Baumeister, Sarai Giles and Lily Roettger for earning their Green Belts.
• Roman Ruffini for earning his Black Belt!

No Updates This Week

Literacy:

• Todd Elementary School has decided to hold a Read-A-Thon again this year! Read-A-Thons actually get your reader excited about reading and it gives friends and family the opportunity to encourage your child to read even more. Our Read-A-Thon starts Thursday March 27, 2025. About one week before our Read-A-Thon starts we will send home instructions on how to activate your reader's personal page. This is where you will be able to view and record their progress.We encourage you to activate your reader’s account today by clicking on https://www.read-a-thon.com/readers/r/uEePIf/1 and following the simple instructions. We've chosen Read-A-Thon because it will not take much of your time, gives your child a reason to read and helps in the development of stronger reading skills.We hope EVERYONE participates. Thanks so much,Todd Elementary School

SEB:

• Cooperation is our Character Trait for the month of March.
• Click on the purple button "SEB Family Newsletters" below to download the family newsletter for your child's grade level.
  

The school district follows the WI department of communicable disease guidelines and recommendations from the Rock County Health Department (RCHD).

• If your child(ren) has a health condition or takes medication, please speak to the health office so we can take care of your child while under our care.
• Please contact the health office for any health related protocols and what steps you need to take as the guardian to ensure they are safe to return to school. The contact information is below.
• Any student with a rectal, ear or temporal artery temperature of at least 100.4 degrees or an oral temperature of at least 100 degrees (not due to activity or non-illness) may not return to school until they are fever free for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medication.
• Any student with an unknown cause of diarrhea may not attend school, and must stay home until they have been diarrhea free for 48 hours.

Please provide an extra set of clothes in your child's book bag for grades 4k-5th accidents.

Please contact them for more information.




Stepfanie Janisch: School Nurse- 608-361-4217

SJanisch@sdb.k12.wi.us

Please click the button below titled "Breakfast and Lunch Menu" so this way you can check out what is for breakfast and lunch to determine if you would like to pack a lunch for your child(ren).