Wildcat News

Principal Message

Hello to all Washington families. I hope everyone is staying warm! A few reminders for the week:

~ Kindergarten Connection: IF you have an incoming Kindegarten student for the 2026-27 school year, please join us for Kindergarten Connection from 4:30-6:00 on Monday, February 23, 2026. This is an Open House style event, with a short informational session for parents at about 5:15pm. If you have any questions, please call Diane in the Washington office at 507-345-3059.

~ PTO Family Game Night will be held from 6:30-8:00pm on Friday, February 6 (flyer below). The PTO needs volunteers--please use this Sign-Up Genius link to help! We need YOU!

~ Progress Reports: Your child's progress report will be available to view tomorrow. Please look for an email from Washington detailing how to access this information.

~ Jersey Mike's Fundraiser: All day on both days, January 24 & 25! Just mention the flyer, and Washington PTO earns funds. Valid at both Mankato locations. Flyer/info below.

~ 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 1800 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: This has launched!!!! For those of you who are new, the OKAY Campaign reinforces with students the importance of being a first-time listener! Hopefully you are encouraging your child at home by filling up the OKAY chart at home! We've already had some rocking Wildcats do this!!

Thanks for always being so supportive of our work!

Ann

Ann Haggerty

Washington Principal

ahagge1@isd77.org

Staff Spotlight - Amy Cain

What do the students at Washington call you?

Mrs. Cain

What is your job at Washington?

Intervention Teacher and Title One Coordinator

How long have you worked for Mankato Area Public Schools?

I have worked for ISD #77 since 2009.

I have taught Grade 4 at Washington and Rosa Parks.

I began the intervention position in 2018.

What is one of your favorite things about your job?

I love when my students call my name down the hall and share with me about how they did on a math or reading assignment or test. It is such a joy to watch a struggling student master a skill.

I love the Washington Wildcat Community.

Families, Students and Staff make our school amazing! It is so great work in such a caring and positive environment

What is an interesting fact about you?

My family visited Banff this past summer. It has always been a childhood dream of mine to be able to walk on a glacier. We walked on the Athabasca Glacier. It was a trip of a lifetime and the views were incredible.

Tell us about your family.

My husband Chris and I have one daughter, Alexus. She is in the 7th Grade at Dakota Meadows Middle School.

We have Bella, our dog who is 3 ½ years old.

Where did you go to elementary school?

I attended Walker-Hackensack-Akeley School in Walker, MN.

I grew up on Leech Lake. It was a beautiful place to grow up.

Anything else you would like to share with families?

I love to read! I am in three book clubs and read over 100 books last year.

I love Minnesota authors. If you have any suggestions for me to read please share with me!

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

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!

Parents and Guardians,

Every year in February, Mankato Area Public Schools gives the Cognitive Abilities Screening Form (CogAT) to students in grade 2 and to students new to the district in grades 3-5 without a CogAT score.

The CogAT is a group-administered assessment which measures students’ developmental thinking and learned reasoning abilities. As an ability assessment, the CogAT provides insight into students’ current potential. The CogAT gives a significantly different type of score than other types of standardized assessment scores that your student has received because they are achievement-based, not ability-based.

Understanding the difference between ability and achievement assessments is important. The CogAT measures the development of a student’s thinking and reasoning abilities rather than a student’s academic achievement, which is measured by assessments like NWEA, MCA, and DIBELs. The CogAT score should be seen as only one piece of information about a student’s current thinking and reasoning abilities, which will continue to grow and develop over time.

The CogAT Screening Form is meant to be used as an overall snapshot of ability rather than an indicator of performance or strength in each of the three categories, which is why Mankato Area Public Schools only uses and shares the composite scores.

Your student’s CogAT score is based on a local percentile rank or a local norm rather than a national percentile norm or national norm. The “Local Percentile Rank” that you see on your student’s profile and is calculated based on how your student did in relation to other students of the same grade throughout Mankato Area Public Schools.

The Local Percentile Rank will be used as one of several sources of information to help the district identify elementary students who would most likely benefit from Talent Development Services. Because the CogAT is used with NWEA scores over time, there is not a clear cut-off score for consideration for Talent Development Services. Families are notified about placement in Talent Development Services prior to the start of the next school year.

For more information about the CogAT or the district’s Talent Development identification process, go to the Talent Development website for Mankato Area Public Schools. Search for Talent Development at Mankato Area Public Schools. Any additional questions, please contact your child’s principal.

Thank you,

Ann Haggerty, Principal

Washington Elementary

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