Madison Memo: Staff Edition

February 6, 2026

Celeste~ Thank you for being creative in making material for our students, so they can be part of One District One Book!~Katie
Maria M.~Thank you for showing up at just the right time for a few of our friends this week!~Jean V.
Rebecca~ Thank you for teaming with Ericka to help me with CAPTI. You're awesome.~Dave
Katie S.~Thank you for all you did to make our learning lunch amazing!~Jean Voigt
Ms. Olson~ Thank you for being so kind towards staff and students.~Andie
Stephen~Thank you for always being willing to help others!~Andie
Sarah Shelstad~ Thank you for going above and beyond in finding material for Literacy Night and for the amazing decorating that you do.~Katie S.
Summer, Vickim Yun, Tingting, Lijuan, and YungChing~Thank you for the extra time you are taking to plan the Lunar New Year celebration!~Jean V.
Nora~ Thank you for being so lovely to work with in the morning. I love starting my day in the cafeteria.~Katie S.
Kate V.~Thank you for being a great addition to our office team. Your positive attitude and hard work are much appreciated!~Jean V.
Katie S. ~ Thank you for supporting our team on Empower Hour! Thank you so much!~Steven Moline
Andie~ Thank you for making sure your student that you work with is safe. I see you run.~Katie S.
Callie Ann, Xiao, and Cherie~Thank you for providing a calm space with strong routines for our students each day, and for supporting them as they grow.~Jean V.

February:

10: Family Conferences

14-20 Kindness Week and Underground Dress-Up Week (See plan below)

16: No School President's Day

17: Chinese New Year

17: Voigt Will Deliver Class Sets of Lantern Templates

18: LETRS

19: Each Class Decorates and Cuts Out Lanterns

20: Lanterns Are Hung In Hallways

20: Student of the Month Celebration

20: Chinese New Year Celebration

25: Staff Meeting

27: End of Trimester

This week there were quite a few recess/playground injuries related to rough play, carelessness, etc. Some of the injuries seemed to be more emotional wounds instead of actual physical injuries. Either way the kids are being rough and are not being kind with their words. Maybe reminders are needed.

Tell 'em Nurse Lisa gets upset when kids aren't being safe! 🙂

Red Lantern Chinese Cultural Meaning:

Good Fortune & Prosperity:

Red signifies wealth, fame, and success, attracting blessings and lighting a prosperous path.

Family & Reunion:The circular shape represents unity, especially during festivals like the Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, symbolizing family coming together.

New Beginnings:They symbolize hope, enlightenment, and the start of a new year or phase in life.

We are excited to see the creativity of our staff and students as we begin to decorate for the upcoming Lunar New Year! Please consider encouraging students to decorate their lanterns in shades of red, as that is a celebratory color.

Calling all Wonders vocabulary cards! Our amazing EL team is looking to collect Wonders vocabulary cards that are no longer being used this school year. These cards provide important visuals to support language apprehension. Please place any cards you are willing to share in Ann Thiesen's mailbox, preferably before February 6th.

Staff Trivia:

Last week's question: Who once was a runner up in a catch the greased pig contest?

Last week's answer: Tim Bengtson

This week's question: Who on our staff has half a tongue?

The Chinese New Year is around the corner on Tuesday, February 17th. Below are some activities that you can use with your classroom to be part of the celebration. Katie Schnider will release an Empower Hour Chinese New Year theme lesson for each grade level the evening of the 10th. We ask that the grade level lesson is taught either the 11th-13th or 17th-20th. Jean Voigt will have copies of the lanterns in your mailbox on February 17th to have done and displayed for the Madison Chinese New Year Celebration on the 20th. All families and staff are invited to this event.

2/6/2025 “Empowered to Teach and Learn”- Dr. Staci Bain

Step 3: Phonemic Sensitivity, Syllabication, and Morphology (K-5)

Step 3 looks different from grade to grade.
To help build understanding of the morphophonemic nature of English, the way sounds, letters, and meaning work together, and to use that knowledge flexibly as they read, spell, and build vocabulary.
The content for this step comes straight from what the students will be reading in Step 6.

Step 3 in Grades 2-3 and Semester 1 of Grade 4 Syllabication
This step is to explicitly teach how to break multisyllabic words into manageable chunks and read them accurately.

The I Do, We Do, You Do Model
Examples of the words come straight from the text in Step 6.
This explicit focus on chunking words helps prevent guessing and strengthens accurate, efficient decoding and encoding, skills essential for reading comprehension and writing composition (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004;; National Reading Panel, 2000).

Step 3 in Grade 4 (Semester 2) and Grade 5 Morphological Awareness
Teaching how prefixes, suffixes, and roots combine to create meaning.
Instruction continues with gradual release.
Introduce a morpheme- analyze it, use it in words, and guide students to build, sort, and record new words.
The morphemes come from the words that are in the text from Step 6.
Morphological awareness supports decoding and spelling and deepens vocabulary and reading comprehension (Apel & Lawrence, 2011; Carlisle, 2010; Bowers & Kirby, 2010).

Chinese New Year Presentation (overview of the holiday)

Story of the Lunar New Year (video link)

Red Envelope printable activity

Zodiac wheel

Chinese New Year Activity Mat

Chinese New Year Greetings Card

Horse Lantern Directions