Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

As we prepare for Thanksgiving break starting next Wednesday, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible Muskego Lakes community. Our school would not be the remarkable place it is without the steadfast support of our families and caregivers. Thank you for partnering with us to create an environment where every student feels valued and supported.

At Muskego Lakes, we see our community as more than just students, parents, and educators—it’s a family. Over the past few days, we’ve reflected on what makes our school special, and it’s clear from what we see and hear from our students that MLMS is a welcoming and empowering place to grow, learn, and connect. Whether it’s the kindness of teachers and peers, the friendships students build and invest in, or the opportunities to explore their passions, both students and staff recognize and appreciate the unique atmosphere we’ve all worked to create.

While this season is a time of joy and gratitude, we understand it can also be challenging for some. If this time of year feels difficult for your family, please know that we are here for you. Whether you need a listening ear, resources, or additional support, our doors are always open. Muskego Lakes is not just a place of learning; it’s a community that genuinely cares.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, relaxing, and joyful Thanksgiving. Thank you for being an essential part of what makes Muskego Lakes so special.

In partnership,

Rachel Rydzewski and Nancy Pasch

MLMS Principals

• 11/27-11/29: No School - Happy Thanksgiving

• 12/2: No School - Professional Day

• 12/3-12/5: Literacy iReady Testing

• 12/5: Winter Band Concert

• 12/9-12/11: Math iReady Testing

• 12/12: Winter Choir Concert

• 12/13: 6th Grade Science Fair

We are very proud of our state report card! Once again, we have been rankes as significantlly exceeding expectations and have a lot to celebrate. For those interested you can check out the full report card HERE.

We are working with our MLMS PTO to look for different ways to add some fun activities during the school day for our students since they work so hard! The idea we are going to try is hosting some pop-up clubs during lunches. We believe this will help students connect and make friends with similar interests. That way, they can get to know others while trying out different interests or exploring things they may not otherwise.Members of our staff are going to be hosting some, but we wanted to extend the offer to see if their were any parent/guardians interested in hosting one for a lunch period or all lunch periods. A pop-up club could be based on a hobby or interest you or your child have.

Are you interested?

We ask that if you are interested you please fill out the MNSD Volunteer Application HER and email Nancy Pasch, Associate Principal, at nancy.pasch@muskegonorway.org indicating your interest and idea for the club. We will then be in touch once your volunteer application is approved to schedule the club with you!

Students will be taking the Literacy iReady test starting on December 3rd. As we shared in the beginning of the year, the iReady Assessment is designed to provide a clear picture of students' current knowledge and areas they can focus on for improvement. This is the second of three times during the year that students will take this test.

Please have a conversation with your child about giving their best effort and not becoming stressed by any incorrect answers. We ask that you please help students to ensure that their Chromebook is fully charged and that they have a pair of wired headphones ready. A good night's sleep and a nutritious breakfast on test days will also contribute to their success.

Thank you for your support in helping our students excel during this assessment period. If you have any questions or need further information, feel free to reach out.

Thanks to the suggestion from a parent here at Muskego Lakes, we added additional signage in the cafeteria to help students build their financial literacy & self-management skills when it comes to their lunch accounts. Students now have these signs shown below to help them make informed choices at lunch.

In addition, did you know that you can set a daily spending limit for your child? If you are interested in doing so, all you need to do is email julie.monigold@muskegonorway.org and she can assist you.

Lake Denoon will be hosting a dance/open gym night on Friday, December 13th from 5:00-7:00 pm. The event will be open to all 5-8 students from both Lake Denoon and Muskego Lakes and will include a DJ/dancing, open gym, and raffle prizes! A concession stand will also be available. Admission is $5 and sign-up is required ahead of time so that we can plan for staffing. If you have any questions about the event, please contact Nikki Kamperschroer at nicole.kamperschroer@muskegonorway.org or Jack Thompson at jack.thompson@muskegonorway.org.

We will also be looking for some parent volunteers to help out at this event! If you are interested in volunteering, you can sign up here. Thanks for considering helping us out!

Winter Wonderland Sign-Up Form (sign-up closes Wednesday, December 11th)

The first ski and snowboard date is coming soon on Tuesday, December 3rd. If your child is part of this club, we ask that you drop them off in the morning behind the school with their equipment as this will allow them time and space to unload their equipment safely.

Students will enter through the library. We kindly ask you to remind your child to stay on the blacktop and sidewalks as they enter to reduce outside elements being brought into the building. Students will place their equipment in the designated areas downstairs until they are dismissed at the end of the day. Ski/snowboard club members should only use this drop-off and not the front of the school to help keep traffic flowing. After dropping off behind the school parents will merge up to the top lot (same as we do at the end of the day) and exit out the main drive.

It's that time of the year again when we start planning the 8th-grade promotion celebrations! We're looking for a parent chairperson (or two) who would love to join us in planning the magic of the 8th-grade promotion festivities. If you're as excited about making these moments unforgettable for our students as we are, we'd love to have you on board!

The parent committee will be critical in helping us create lasting memories for our 8th graders. If interested, please get in touch with Rachel Rydzewski, principal, at rachel.rydzewski@muskegonorway.org. Your involvement means the world to us and, more importantly, to our students! Let's make this 8th-grade send-off the best one yet! Rachel will be in touch after Thanksgiving Break.

As a reminder students can only be excused by parents each year up to 10 days. Any absence(part or whole day) after 10 days needs a doctor's excuse. With that being said, any day a student misses counts towards their total days of school missed for the year (doctor excused or not) and results in them missing out on the learning at school.

Did you know that if your child has missed...

• 3 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 94.8%
• 4 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 93%
• 5 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 91%
• 6 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 89.6%
• 7 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 89.4%
• 8 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 86.2%
• 9 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 84.4%
• 10 days so far this year their attendance rate at this point in the year is 82.7%

Remember that the goal is for your child to have the highest attendance rate possible and ideally over 90%. There is still time to help your child improve their overall attendance rate this year and set goals to minimize time out of class. Our goal is to have your student in school everyday! While we know that sometimes their absences can't be helped (i.e. sick, funeral leave, etc.), you can help keep students total days out of school low by:

• Scheduling appointments for after school hours or on breaks.
• Scheduling vacations or trips when possible over school breaks.
• Bringing students to school before/after an appointment when it falls on a school day.
• Talk about the importance of showing up everyday with your child.
• Help your child maintain daily routines.

In order to keep you updated about your child's attendance, we do mail out biweekly letters for any students who hit 5, 7, or 10 days out. The purpose of the letter is to serve as a reminder that we are here to support and partner with you. In addition, it is a reminder of the Compulsary Student Attendance requirements.

We know that unexpected situations sometimes arise and that you might need a partner in supporting your child being at school. So, If you are worried about your child's attendance, have a unique situation or want to partner together, reach out to Stacy Pawlak, School Social Worker at stacy.pawlak@muskegonorway.org.

Our goal is to help you and your child reunite with items they have lost or misplaced. This means that our staff checks items turned into Lost and Found for names, and when possible call students down to reunite them with their belongings. One way that would help us do this, is to ensure that you label items as much as possible with first and last names.

Common items we find are:

• water bottles
• school supplies
• assignment notebooks
• lunch bags
• sweatshirts

Please encourage your child if they are missing sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, pencil cases, hats, headbands, etc. to stop by student services to check for their missing items.We will continue to update our photos weekly, but any items remaining on November 26th will be donated.

Shown below are the upcoming co-curricular events at Muskego Lakes.

If a change occurs from the date of this newsletter, we post on Infinite Campus in the announcement section. We commit to letting students/families know about changes and updating Infinite Campus announcements as soon as possible once we've been notified of a change.

For more detailed information about MLMS events, click here.

Would you like to Skip the LINE and enjoy FOUR reserved seats at the event of your choice? If so, you can purchase raffle tickets to enter one of two chances to win a set of four tickets to your selected event:

• Winter Band Concert- 6th Grade
• Winter Band Concert-7/8th Grade
• Winter Choir Concert
• Spring Musical (You pick the show!)

A reminder that tickets must be completed, cut out, and sent to school in an envelope labeled “Seat Raffle” with your child’s name and the event you want to win even if paying via Venmo.

Students should have brought home a hard copy of this raffle sheets in their Musky Folders. Additional raffle copies can be found HERE. All entries must be received by 8am November 25th. Raffle winners will be drawn and notified November 25th.

Did you know that shopping at Walmart can help our MLMS PTO earn money? Right now, there's a special offer: link your accounts, and the PTO earns $5 for each new connection! For more details, see the information below.

The MLMS PTO is looking to continue the traditon to have snacks for staff each Wednesday. We need your help though by signing up to donate snacks each week. This greatly helps them make it through the week. You can donate snacks or a group of families can donate. We have roughly 100 staff members. Snacks can be anything you'd like.

Please sign up HERE for a date below if you can. Drop off will be in the front office by 8am on the Wednesday you sign up.

Please consider joining the Muskego Lakes PTO. We meet monthly in the MLMS library at 6:30pm. We always welcome new faces and would love to hear your ideas on how we can make this an amazing school year ahead!!

Our last meeting Dates for the 24-25 School Year are:

• January 6
• February 3
• March 3
• April 7
• April 28

In an effort to ensure students can move through the lunch lines efficently, we ask that you remind your student to ensure that they bring their school ID card with them to lunch daily or ensure that they have gotten their finger scanned.

For you ease, we have linked the September menu below with other helpful resources. You can always find the link to updated lunch menus, at the end of this newsletter.

• Lunch Menu
• Guide to Making a Complete Meal
• Top Ten Reasons For School Meals

2024-25 Lunch Prices:

• Elementary School $2.55
• MS Diner meal $2.95
• MS Pizza meal $3.50
• MS Grab n Go $3.50
• MS Creation meal $3.90
• Adult $4.65
• Milk Carton $0.50
  
  

Questions related to the food service program can be directed to Benny D’Epiro, Food Service Director at 262-971-1790 x4522.

We are proud to continue to partner with Clinical Psychology Associates (CPA) to offer on-site counseling services for students enrolled in Lakeview Elementary, Mill Valley Elementary, Bay Lane Elementary, Lake Denoon Middle, Muskego Lakes Middle, and Muskego High School. For information about CPA’s services and therapists or to get started with an appointment, please visit our website.

Please make note of days off and important events on the 24-25 calendar. It is ideal to make dentist and doctor appointments on days we do not have school whenever possible.

We encourage you to follow us on Facebook.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muskegolakesmuskies

To view current support staff job vacancies, click HERE