#PointerNation News

A big thanks to Mr. Todd Schmitz (Transportation Director) and Mrs. Denise Enright (Dispatch) from the First Student Bus Barn who came to talk about bus safety last week! Even if a child doesn't ride the bus every day, they should always know the rules and what to do in case of an emergency as they will be on the bus for field trips and other special events. Thanks again!

Congrats to our vocalists who will be participating in the UW-Platteville Choral Festival Tuesday! The event will culminate with a concert at 6:30 pm at the Center for the Arts -- all are welcome!

-- Emilee Birchall, Miley Coniber, Lily Fox, Shayna Sigg, Milena Straka, and Suttyn Weinbrenner.

Mrs. Courtney Steffes' 3rd Graders read “Kindness is my Superpower," talked about spreading kindness, and then got to learn from her about flowers -- cutting, seed harvesting, and putting their own bouquet together to spread some kindness!

It's apple season! 4K students made apple name puzzles. They cut the apple out, cut out each letter in their name, and then glued the letters back together in the correct order. The children were persistent and worked hard on all of these steps!

It was Worm Week in 1st Grade! Since they've been learning about life cycles, and have a worm composting bin for their garden, students thought they'd bring the worms in to explore!

2nd Graders had a wonderful visit to the Mineral Point Public Library last week! Miss Kayla shared a couple of stories and Miss Diane helped get books checked out. They are looking forward to their visit again next month!

September is Suicide Prevention Month: To wrap up the month, High School Sources of Strength and the Environmental Wellness Club (EWC) partnered to plant yellow tulips around our school thanks to a generous grant from the Mineral Point Excellence in Education Endowment Fund!

The Yellow Tulip Project: This project is about planting seeds of hope, resilience, and connection. Yellow tulips symbolize perseverance and the renewal of spring after a long winter, reminding us that brighter days are ahead.

Hope Gardens are a way for communities to come together to smash the stigma around mental illness and suicide. By planting tulips, we are planting hope, starting conversations, and reminding ourselves and others that reaching out for help is a sign of strength.

We invite our community to join us in planting Yellow Tulip Bulbs. If you would like some tulip bulbs to plant around the community to show your support, please reach out to Mrs. Dani Robb, School Social Worker, at dani.robb@mp.k12.wi.us or (608) 987-0725.

These 1st Grade explorers learned how to use maps and map keys! Students had maps of the oak savanna with all of the trees labeled. They also found oak leaves for their worms to munch on and acorns that can turn into those mighty oaks!

We're all smiles! New school year, new lost tooth. Congrats, Ada!

We're crazy about being Pointers!

EC enjoyed their most recent science experiment!

It's always an extra special day when Kindergarten gets to meet their 3rd Grade buddies! It’s so fun watching these relationships evolve over the year. The littles sure look up to their big buddies!

We love the Birthday Book Cart! It's so great that students can choose a new read to keep in honor of their special day. (Students with summer birthdays celebrate on their half birthday.)

Flashlight Friday is always a wonderful way to end the week!

Our elementary school was bursting with superpowers as students flew through the halls dressed as their favorite heroes! From caped crusaders to hometown heroes, we saw it all -- Spider Man, Wonder Woman, firefighters, doctors, teachers, you name it!

Our Dodge-Point Boys and Girls Cross Country teams are quickly approaching the postseason! The Conference Meet is coming up Thursday, October 16 at Platteville. Check out some photos from the season at this link.

(Thanks to Bret Peterson for the pictures)

A special thank you to Farmers Savings Bank for hosting a Homecoming Cookout for their customers! They were able to donate $623 to our #PointerNation Athletics. "We hope our donation will help the young men and women of our community learn the best lessons of sports -- teams that work together win together."

Mineral Point Middle School is searching for a 7th Grade Girls Basketball Coach. Come join the great place that is #PointerNation!

The season begins after the New Year and runs through February 12.

Interested candidates should contact Athletic Director Mr. Tom Ingwell by November 1 at tom.ingwell@mp.k12.wi.us

Please plan to support our Mineral Point FFA Chapter Donation Auction at the Fairgrounds this Sunday, October 12! The auction will begin at 9:30 am. Many wonderful products have been donated by generous businesses and individuals. Thanks for your support!

A reminder photo retake day is set for Tuesday, October 14. Retakes are for all interested, or those who missed the first day.

If your student had photos taken September 18, you should have received an email from Empire Photography with the link to order school pictures. If you did not receive one, please check all emails, as well as your spam folder.

If you have any questions you can direct them to customerservice@empirephotos.com. Bring your smiles!

Make plans to join us Monday, October 20 for the Middle/High School Fall Choir Concert in the gym at 7 pm! Students are excited to perform for you.

Middle/High School Family/Teacher Conferences will be held Wednesday, October 22 from 4-7:30 pm. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss your child's progress.

Got old electronics gathering dust? Give them a new life! Join us for a community-wide electronics recycling event Saturday, October 25 from 8 am-12:30 pm at MPHS.

Hosted by Mineral Point High School Environmental Wellness Club & COM2 Recycling Solutions

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COM2 Recycling Solutions will be accepting a wide range of electronics, including: TVs (CRT, LCD, projection, wood console), computers (desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, tablets), accessories (keyboards, mice, speakers, hard drives, flash drives), phones (cell phones, landlines, navigation devices), gaming consoles and DVD/Blu-ray/VHS players, printers, scanners, fax machines, routers, modems, small servers, cameras, calculators, typewriters, home electronics (microwaves, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, dehumidifiers, box fans, sound bars, stereo systems), power cords, radios, CB radios, clock/radio combos

Please note, we cannot accept: refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, or other large appliances, batteries, paint, medical waste, or radioactive materials, smoke detectors, fluorescent bulbs, or blenders.

Join us for the annual Mineral Point Kiwanis /MPHS Key Club/ Mineral Point Historical Society annual Halloween Costume Party/Contest at Orchard Lawn Saturday, October 25 at 10 am sharp!

Again this year will be lots of fun games put together by our High School Key Club (suggested donation per child to play the games). All ages are welcome to participate in the free costume contest. Prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Come join the fun!

Elementary School Family/Teacher Conferences will be held Wednesday, October 29 from 2:30-7:30 pm. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss your child's progress.

Plan ahead for the District Free Book Fair! Do you have gently used children's books that need a new reader? Are you looking for new books for your home? We are hosting a book exchange/free book fair October 29! Start digging through your libraries now and be prepared to donate beginning October 20.

A reminder there will be no classes in #PointerNation Friday, October 31 as it is a Teacher Work Day. Enjoy the long weekend!

We’re excited to invite local businesses, organizations, colleges, and professionals to participate in our annual Mineral Point Career Fair on Wednesday, November 5 from 9 am - 2 pm at Mineral Point Middle/High School.

This event brings together nearly 70 exhibitors each year to help our students explore future career pathways—and we’d love for you to be part of it!

Host a Booth:
Showcase your profession, organization, or industry to our students and inspire the next generation. Lunch will be provided for all participants.

Entrepreneur Panel Opportunity:
If you’ve started your own business and would like to share your journey, we’d love to include you on our Entrepreneur Panel.

Interested in participating?
Please RSVP to Erika Brunson, Middle/High School Counselor
Email: erika.brunson@mp.k12.wi.us
Phone: 608-987-0732

Thank you for supporting our students’ futures. We look forward to another great Career Fair!

It’s that time of year again–please consider nominating Mineral Point educators for the following Herb Kohl Awards. They are some of the most prestigious honors that can be earned in the state. #PointerNation has had at least one winner seven of the last nine years, which is incredible — it all starts with a nomination!

The deadline for nomination is Friday, October 3 for principal awards and Tuesday, November 11 for teacher awards. Read more at this link.

Special people are lucky to call themselves Pointer Alumni! An extra special group of those folks came together Homecoming Friday at lunch for the annual Fabulous 50s pasty luncheon at the UCC Church, a gathering for graduates of MPHS 50 or more years ago. Always a wonderful trip down memory lane!

The featured class was 1975 this year. As they celebrated their 50 year class reunion during the beautiful weekend, they were challenged to beat the Class of 1974 in their donation last year to the Mineral Point Excellence in Education Foundation.

The Class of 1975 was so inspired to give back to Mineral Point Schools in such a meaningful way that they raised $1,200 -- nearly double the amount from last year! Thank you to the generous donations; it truly makes a difference in the lives of many students.

They now pass on this challenge to the Class of 1976 to beat their donation next year at their 50 year reunion -- thank you, Class of 1975!

#PointerNation events coming up this week -- join us! (Please note these schedules are always subject to change)

Monday, October 6

-- JV Football at Southwestern/East Dubuque (game in ED) 5 pm. Livestream: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/il/east-dubuque/organization/124078/east-dubuquesc-high-school

Tuesday, October 7

-- Varsity Boys Soccer vs. Prairie du Chien/River Ridge/Seneca 7 pm. Livestream: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/wi/dodgeville/organization/20161/dodgeville-high-school

-- CANCELED: JV2 Volleyball vs. Belmont 5:30 pm

-- MS Football vs. Prairie du Chien 5 pm

-- UW-Platteville Choral Festival concert 6:30 pm

Wednesday, October 8

-- Early Release 2 pm (Every Wednesday)

Thursday, October 9

-- Volleyball vs. Iowa-Grant (JV & JV2 5:45 pm, Varsity to follow). Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/@mptvpointers

-- MS Volleyball vs. Dodgeville 4 pm

Friday, October 10

-- Varsity Football at Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg (game is in Shulls) 7 pm. Possible livestreams: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/wi/shullsburg/organization/19360/shullsburg-high-school or https://www.youtube.com/@shullsburgschooldistrict9888

Saturday, October 11

-- MS Cross Country at Albany 11:25 am

-- MS Football at Cuba City 9 am

Sunday, October 12

-- FFA Auction at Fairgrounds 9:30 am

Please be aware of other companies claiming to livestream our games, especially if there are links different than posted above and ask for credit card and personal information -- these are scams. We will update this pinned post as available livestream information is relayed to us.

"Grounded by our history as one of the oldest publicly supported schools in Wisconsin, Mineral Point Unified School District is the heart of a small community that educates and inspires our students for a bright future in a big world."

Email: joelle.doye@mp.k12.wi.us
Website: mineralpointschools.org
Location: 705 Ross Street, Mineral Point, WI, USA
Phone: (608) 987-0740
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MineralPointSchoolDistrict