Steffen News

Greetings Steffen Families,

Did you know that our building schedule provides teachers with dedicated time each day to collaborate and plan together? On four days of the week, content-area teams (social studies, ELA, math, and science) meet to plan for the week ahead with a focus on "entry points" and data-informed instruction.

Entry points are practices that teachers use to ensure that all students can access the grade-level curriculum, such as graphic organizers or leveled-texts. These can also include enrichment and extension opportunities or support for multilingual students. Data-informed instructional practices typically involve using school assessment data (such as MAP) or classroom data (such as exit tickets, quizzes, or tests) to differentiate instruction for small or whole-groups of students.

Then, on the fifth day, grade-level teams meet to discuss specific student needs as well as plan for grade-level activities and collaborate around larger projects and initiatives. Each of these meetings are supported by one of our instructional specialists and follows a school-wide agenda template to keep the meetings on track and effective.

There really is a lot that goes into a day of teaching at Steffen!

Thank you,

Sam Nadolsky

• September 20th - 3rd Friday Count Day and MAP Testing completed. Also, Popsicle Day!

• Friday, September 27th: Kindness Rocks School Event

• Tuesday, October 1st, 7:00pm: SteffenENGAGE PTO General Meeting at Steffen (Multi-Purpose Room)

• Thursday, October 3rd: NO SCHOOL - Rosh Hashanah

• Thursday, October 10th, 6:30-7:30pm - 7th Grade Washington DC Trip Parent Information Session (Multi-Purpose Room)

• Friday, October 18th: Picture Retake Day

• Wednesday, October 23rd - Thursday, October 24th: Fall Parent Teacher Conferences

The first informational meeting for the upcoming 7th Grade Washington DC trip is Thursday, October 10th at 6:30pm in the Steffen Multi-Purpose Room (SW corner of building). All 7th grade families are invited to attend to learn more about the dates, cost, and other important details about this great opportunity. More information will be shared directly with 7th grade families next week.

The annual Kindness Rocks event, which is hosted by our fabulous SteffenENGAGE PTO, is next Friday, September 27th. This event features multiple stations including bounce houses, obstacle courses, and kindness-related events through which each grade-level rotates at different times of the day. This event is intended to provide an early community-building opportunity for our students to have a little fun after the first few weeks of school. More information, such as how to volunteer to support this program, is below in the SteffenENGAGE section of the newsletter.

Now that we're on week three of school, all teachers are implementing our school tardy procedures. Any student who is late to class will be marked as tardy. After three tardies, a student will receive a "minor" referral, and after three minor referrals for tardiness, a student will receive a detention.

Any time a student is marked, their parent/guardian can expect an automated message, typically by the end of the work day. Students have three minutes to transition between classes, so some planning ahead on when to stop at their lockers is necessary. Students typically report to class for attendance and then ask to go to the bathroom or their locker in order to avoid being marked tardy.

Students use their school-assigned planners for passes to use the restroom. Students also need passes from their teachers to come to the office or see the school nurse. Parents can look at their student's planner to see their pass utilization during the week.

At Steffen we are partnering with Family Sharing of Ozaukee to offer another year of Bags in Backpacks for students and families. This program provides a weekend supply of nutritious food for a child when school breakfast and lunch are unavailable on weekends. Each week, a food bag is provided to the child who is opted in, and contains a variety of food. This can include yogurt, cheese sticks, sandwiches, and fruit. All food is provided to children free of charge and it is our hope that these resources will support healthy eating habits for the students who need this program.

Bags in Backpacks is confidential, with only the building Principal, Social Emotional Coach, and Office Staff being aware of who chooses to opt into the program. If you are interested in participating, all you need to do is contact Ms. Schmidt at aschmidt@mtsd.k12.wi.us. Your child will be instructed to pick up the bag each Friday afternoon before dismissal from the office.

If you sign up initially but later decide that you want to opt-out, please reach back out and your student's name can be removed from the list. Last year, we had over a dozen Steffen families take advantage of this program and we look forward to another year of partnership!

Main phone line: 262-238-4700 Attendance line: 262-238-4700 x1

Sam Nadolsky, Principal: snadolsky@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Joel Sinden, School Counselor: jsinden@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Amber Schmidt, Social Emotional Coach: aschmidt@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Katherine Smith, School Psychologist: ksmith1@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Mary Kasten, Administrative Assistant: mkasten@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Jamie Love, Office Secretary: jlove@mtsd.k12.wi.us and: SteffenAttendance@mtsd.k12.wi.us

Please report your student's absence from school by 8:30 a.m. This includes late arrivals or early dismissals.

There are three ways to report your child's absence:

• Preferred: Directly through Infinite Campus parent portal. Directions for Submitting Absence Requests on Infinite Campus
• Email SteffenAttendance@mtsd.k12.wi.us
  
• Call the office at 262-238-4700 x1

For early pick-up, parents need to come into the office to sign their student out. For late drop-off, you do not need to sign your student in. Please send in all doctors notes to have attendance updated correctly.

District Attendance Policy

At MTSD, we have developed our attendance policy and procedures to follow Wisconsin State Law and to prioritize regular attendance. Click HERE to read all about it.

Your child’s bus stop details can be found in your Infinite Campus account. To view these please follow the steps below:

• Login to your Infinite Campus account

• Click on ‘More’

• Click ‘Transportation’

Note that these times are approximate and may be updated during the school year as changes in student registration occur. If you elected to opt-out of transportation, you will not see route information. If you have any concerns regarding your bus information, please contact Go Riteway at 262-512-1044.

For real-time information on the location of your child’s bus, please download Here Comes the Bus! More information can be found on our website. If you have questions about the app, please contact Go Riteway at 262-512-1044: Here Comes the Bus

Cross Country begins on September 5th and Girls Basketball begins on September 9th! All forms must be completed in order to guarantee your student’s participation, including a WIAA form which may need to be signed by a doctor. Instructions can be found here on the Athletics website, as well as a google calendar schedule of all the practices.

As a reminder, the four things you need to register are:

1. Online Registration: Make sure to register under "Steffen Athletics Registration 2024-2025 (NEW) and NOT Homestead Athletics. Registration includes the $75 registration fee (fee should NOT be $135)

2. A Completed WIAA Form or Alternate Card, signed by a doctor: The form can be picked up in office or found on the registration site. If your physical was before April 1st, 2023, you will need an Alternate Card, and if it's before April 1st, 2022, you will need a new physical. Please email or call the office if you need to know which form you need. Forms are REQUIRED to participate in tryouts and practice

3. Memorandum of Understanding for Student Transportation (Separate MOU required for each activity): This document is to acknowledge that Steffen will not be providing transportation to and from athletic events.

4. Student Contract: The contract be picked up in office or found in the registration form

Please call 262-238-4704 or email steffen@mtsd.k12.wi.us with any questions about registration or forms. Any other questions may be directed to Ben Hagenbach, the Steffen Athletic Director, at bhagenbach@mtsd.k12.wi.us.

Check Out Our Steffen Spirit Wear!

The Steffen Spirit Wear store is OPEN THROUGH MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd and offers TWO designs for you to choose from! Click on the link below to access our online store:

Steffen Spirit Wear Store

All orders will be delivered to Steffen this fall; additional delivery details will be shared once known from the vendor. Please reach out to Laura McDowell with any questions.

Join our Students and SteffenENGAGE PTO for Kindness Rocks!

Our third annual Kindness Rocks community-building event is coming up! Scheduled for Friday, September 27th (rain date is October 4th), Kindness Rocks is oriented towards kindness and community within our school. It has some elements of a field day event and a team building event. The 'rocks' theme has been incorporated in a few ways over the years - we've had a rock climbing wall, for example. It is a good way to start the school year with some community and group activity.

This event requires a substantial number of volunteers to run smoothly. Each grade participates as a single grade-level group and rotates through stations; time slots for each grade are noted in the signup linked below. Please review the signup and consider participating! Your contribution of a couple of hours of your time will help to create a meaningful experience for our students.
Kindness Rocks - Volunteer Signup

Please reach out to ptosteffen@gmail.com with any questions. THANK YOU!

Membership Toolkit - our SteffenENGAGE website. Please take time to confirm that your contact information is updated in the directory to ensure that you receive all communications!

PTOsteffen@gmail.com - our SteffenENGAGE email address. Reach out to us with any questions, ideas, or volunteer opportunities!

Email: steffen@mtsd.k12k.wi.us
Website: mtsd.k12.wi.us/steffen
Location: 6633 W. Steffen Dr., Mequon, WI 53092
Phone: 262-238-4700
Facebook: @SteffenPRIDE