IMMS Family Flier

Jamie Thomas, Principal

Brett Jondle, Associate Principal

Daily Schedule

Daily Announcements

Day A/Day B Schedule

Student Services Support Contacts

McFarland School District Website

McFarland School District App

McFarland Youth Center Website

McFarland RADAR (Relevant Alcohol & Drug Awareness Resources) Coalition Newsletter

IMMS Athletics Calendar

Family information on IMMS Expectations

IMMS Sports and Clubs Eligibility Criteria

• October 7-8: Timber-lee 6th grade field trip
• October 9: 6th Grade No School
• October 9: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony @ WIS 3:15 pm
• October 10: Referendum Information Session - 3 p.m. Municipal Center Community Room
• October 16: 6:30-8:30 PTO All Parent Meeting (topic: referendum) at the Waubesa MPR
• October 23: Family Teacher Conferences
• October 24: No School and Family Teacher Conferences
• October 25: No School
• October 27: Referendum Information Session - 6 p.m. MHS Performing Arts Center
  

All,

On September 30, IMMS had it's first safety drill of the school year! To read more about the drill, click here!

The Optimist Monthly Celebration Assembly, formerly Optimist Student of the Month Assembly, was held on Friday, October 4th. The students were recognized for exemplifying responsibility, one of the four tenets of our A.R.R.E code (achievement, responsibility, respect & empathy).

Students recognized are:

6th Grade - Piper Acker, Bennett Hancock, Awaan Hamid, Mia Marino, Kian Rivera and Dash Caradine.

7th Grade - Teagan Bartman, Sean Nagamachi, Emily Bubla, AJ Jones (not pictured), Aaron Chandre, Lucy Ortman and MYC winner Aoife Wallock.

8th Grade - Izzy Voss, Ella Lord, Liam Albridge, Miley Torres, Braydon Freund, Cole Renvick and

Zach Kuehl.

Link

Dear IMMS Families,

Fall conferences are coming soon! Below is important information about scheduling a conference with your scholar’s teacher(s). Thank you for your ongoing involvement. A strong home-school partnership has always been critical to student success.

Conferences will be held on October 23 after school 3:30-7:00 (in-person) and on October 24th 2:30-6:30, with virtual (Google Meet) and in-person options. Please email the teacher if these times/days do not work for you.

6th Grade Families: For conferences, you will meet with your scholar’s “cored pair” (the two teachers that teach science/math and social studies/English language arts).

7th and 8th Grade Families: To streamline and simplify the middle school conference experience, each family who signs up for conferences will meet with their scholar’s core 2 teacher. The core 2 teacher will share information about academic progress in all core classes. If you feel it is important to meet with a teacher other than your scholar’s core 2 teacher, please email the teacher you wish to meet with directly

Related Arts & other specialists: Teachers will be available for drop-in conferences (no appointments required) on October 23rd after school 3:30-7:00 (in-person) and on October 24th 2:30-6:30, If you prefer to schedule a conference with a Related Arts teacher rather than dropping in, please email them to schedule a time. Here are the emails for Related Arts Staff.

We hope that ALL families can join us for Fall conferences. To help make the conference efficient and effective, please communicate any questions and/or concerns to teachers before the conference. Sending this information in advance allows teachers to be better prepared to provide answers and/or strategies during the conference.

How to sign-up: You will receive an email from either your child’s cored pair (6th grade) or your child’s Core 2 teacher on October 14th. There will be various times (both virtual and in-person) for you to choose from. The sign-up platform will be Google Appointments.

If you have signed up for a conference and something comes up within 24 hours of the scheduled time/day and cannot attend, please contact the teacher directly.

As a reminder, we have many opportunities to communicate student progress with families throughout the year.

• Two family conferences. One is in the Fall, and the other is in the Spring. Families are encouraged to communicate with teachers beyond these scheduled conferences.
  
  

• Report cards are available on Infinite Campus after each semester (or quarterly for Related Arts classes)..
  
  

• Infinite Campus is available for families to check on student progress

• Here are Infinite Campus “How to” videos and screenshots that may be useful:

• How to log in to Infinite Campus (38-second video) or HelpDoc

• How to check your scholar’s missing assignments (2 min. video) or HelpDoc

• What are Conduct and Effort Scores? (2.5 min. video)

• How to check your scholar’s Conduct and Effort Scores (3 min. video) or HelpDoc

Opportunities to Donate Supplies to IMMS Here is a link to the Sign Up Genius. Thank you in advance.

Parents will often ask for ways to support the staff and students here at IMMS. If you are someone wishing to do just that, we have a few suggestions for you. Please consider signing up to provide ground coffee or K-cups for our staff, feminine hygiene products to make available in our Girls’ bathrooms, or healthy snacks for students in need.

Here is a link to the Sign Up Genius. Thank you in advance.

McFarland Families,

McFarland students in grades 4K-8 have recently completed assessments via FastBridge and students in grades 4K-3 have completed literacy assessments via AimswebPlus. Those results are available for families to view in Infinite Campus. Directions on how to access that information are provided below.

FastBridge and AimswebPlus assessments provide a snapshot about what our students know and are able to do in the core academic areas of English Language Arts and Math. While these scores are only a single indicator at a single point in time, the scores do provide district and school staff with an opportunity for reflection about the quality of our educational programming as well as for conversation about how well we are preparing students to meet the requirements of the State standards across content areas.

For more information about AimswebPlus, please see this Act 20 information that was shared with 4K-3 families earlier this year.

If you have questions about these results, please reach out to your child’s principal for more information.

Sincerely,

Melissa Pfohl

Director of Teaching and Learning

To access Aimsweb Plus and FastBridge information via Infinite Campus:

• Login to the parent portal.

• In the menu on the left side, click “More” and then “Assessments.”

• All of your child’s historical FastBridge scores will be displayed. The number under “Score” is a raw score and the number under “Result” is the national percentile rank of that score for your child’s grade level. A percentile shows the percentage of students nationally who scored at or below your child’s score. The lowest value is 1 and the highest is 99.

• If you have more than one child in the District, you can click in the upper right to change which child’s scores you are viewing.

If you would like additional information about your child’s AimswebPlus or FastBridge scores, you can reach out to your child’s principal and request a FastBridge Family Report that includes more detailed information.

Below you will find "Hubs" (aka Task-List) for each grade level and Related Arts. You can click on the "Hub" to get information on what your scholar is doing in class, assignments, and assessments.

Discord has been around for many years. Recently, we have found that middle school students have started to explore discord and use it to connect with others around shared topics of interest. Unfortunately, there are many safety concerns with allowing younger adults to use this platform. We found THIS article from Bark (a website specializing in parental controls to help keep your kids safe online). You can read the full article for details. The summary of the article is below.

Discord Overview

• Discord is a messaging app similar to Slack or GroupMe, where users can join "servers" or themed chat rooms with text, voice, and video chat
• Potential for inappropriate content is very high, as there are over 19 million servers with NSFW, violent, and conspiracy theory content
• Predation risk is also a concern, as over 190 million people of all ages use Discord, and children may be targeted by adults pretending to be kids
• However, Discord can helpful for adults; allowing users to stay connected with friends, participate in study groups, and engage others who have similar interests
• Discord has recently released parental controls (Family Center) to monitor teen activity, but these can be turned off by teens and are not fully secure
• Overall, Discord is likely not recommended for kids under 15-16 years old due to the high risk of harmful content and predation

We highly recommend you have ongoing conversations with your child about what they are viewing online, how they are using social media, and what the risk factors are for all children. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to someone in student services anytime.

Fred Bartman - Grade 8 - 838-4642

Lauren Noriega - Grade 7 - 838-4578

Caleb Holzman - Grade 6 - 838-4577

IMMS is partnering with Agrace to offer a grief and loss support group for students who have lost a parent or guardian. The group will meet weekly for 6 weeks, with each session lasting 30-45 minutes. Agrace’s Grief Support Center provides individual and group programs to help people of all ages find hope and healing during their grieving process. If you’re interested, please fill out this form. If there is enough interest, we will provide more details soon.

• MHS DECA and MHS Volleyball White Out to Wipe Out Volleyball Game - October 8

• Stoughton Health Safe@Home Program for Grades 4-6 - October 11

• Stoughton Health Safe Sitter Program for Grades 6-8 - October 12

• E.D. Locke Library Pick Up - WI Science Festival Science in a Bag Kits - October 14-20

• MadHatters A Cappella Performance at the McFarland Performing Arts Center - October 18

• McFarland EC-8 PTO Trunk or Treat - October 19

• School’s Out Days - Lussier Family Heritage Center - October 24-25

• Badger Bots School Day Off Camps - October 24-December 31

• McFarland High School Presents: Elsewhere - November 1-3

• CEPS Food Drive - November 1-7

• E.D. Locke Library Grades K-2 Magic Tree House Book Club - September-May

• Free Triple P Positive Parenting Online Program for WI Families

We will gladly accept donations of snacks that we can give to students who may not be able to provide their own. We are specifically looking for nut-free, nonperishable, healthy snacks. You can drop off donations at the IMMS Student Services office. Thank you.

Our 6th grade students will be attending an outdoor education experience at Camp Timber-lee on October 7 and 8. We will be spending one night at Camp Timber-lee! We will leave school on the morning of Monday, October 7th, and return to school in the evening on Tuesday, October 8th.

Attention 6th Grade Families! We are finalizing our Timber-lee planning so as a final reminder: any medication that your child currently receives at school during the day will be brought from school and given during the trip. If your student needs to take medication that will be given outside of the school day, a medication consent form must be completed (all sections for prescription medicines and sections 1 and 3 for non-prescription medicines). If we have not received a medication form for your student with a parent/guardian signature and/or Physician signature, we cannot administer medication during the trip. Please review the Medication Consent Form Directions for more details and contact the IMMS Health Office with questions.

Every school in Wisconsin is required by law to report their student’s vaccination status to the local health department 30 days after the start of school. See WI Student Immunization Law by Age/Grade Requirements. Your student’s health assistant have sent out legal notices at that time if the school has no record or if your student’s immunization status is “behind schedule”. If you are not sure if your student is up to date with immunizations, you can contact your doctor's office/My chart or you can look them up on the Wisconsin Immunization Registry using your child's social security number and/or Medical ID. If you need access to a waiver (for personal, religious or health reasons) for any vaccination, please utilize the student immunization record (English, Spanish) see step 4 and return it to your student’s health office.

‼️ Please review DHS update regarding increased Pertussis cases in Wisconsin‼️

Vaccine Clinics: Public Health Madison & Dane County is partnering with surrounding school districts and SSM Health in a few weeks to offer more school vaccine clinics to get students up to date on their school vaccines in time for the 2024-25 school year. These clinics will take place at multiple locations and dates. Find more information and to schedule an appointment see the attached flyer (English, Spanish), or via publichealthmdc.com/schoolclinics.

COMING UP:

The next School District of McFarland School Board meeting is scheduled for October 7, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

Click HERE for a link to the McFarland School Board agendas and minutes.

Click HERE for a link to the McFarland School Board meeting recordings and upcoming YouTube live streams.

October is...

• Bullying Prevention Month
• LGBTAIQ+ History Month
• Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 - National Hispanic Heritage Month
• National Physical Therapy Month

October 6th - Coaches Day

October 6th to 12th - Wisconsin School Board Week

October 9th - Leif Erikson Day

October 10th - World Mental Health Day

October 11th - National Coming Out Day