Kegonsa Family Newsletter

2024 - 2025

January 5, 2025

Warm greetings, Kegonsa Families 🎄

I hope you all had an amazing holiday break and are feeling refreshed for the new year! We can’t wait to welcome everyone back tomorrow, Monday, January 6. Be sure to bundle up your student in warm clothes—it’s going to be a great start to 2025! 💙

Pictured: Don Marsh jumping into 2025

2025-2026 SASD School Calendar

The 2025-26 school calendar has been approved by the school board. Please note the following:

School starts September 2nd.
School ends on June 9th.
Graduation will be June 7th (the 2nd Sunday in June).
Good Friday will no longer be observed as a separate holiday by the district. Families may refer to our policy regarding the observance of religious holidays.
Professional Learning days have been reformatted slightly. This is to ensure very specific and focused learning days for our staff.

Dressing for Winter

With cold temperatures projected, it is important that students dress for the weather. Multiple layers of clothing, hats, scarves, gloves, boots, and wind resistant coats will help keep students warm as the temperature drops. We have outdoor recess if the real-feel temperature is above -5.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills Survey

Our district is committed to our vision to “promote a positive, inclusive culture with equity, respect, and dignity” and our goal to “create conditions today for every student to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally for unlimited opportunities.” To support our vision and goal, we are working towards improving our students’ experiences, which is why we are inviting all 3rd-12th grade students to participate in a Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills survey. We will be administering the survey during the week of January 9 - 17, 2025. Please learn more about this in the attached letter.

Hitting the Right Notes: Your Latest Music Update

Your students have probably mentioned to you that in December, all K-5 students have been doing an instrument unit we like to call the Instrument Petting Zoo. In this unit, students get to try playing instruments from the woodwind, brass, and string families. We tried flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, horn, trombone, violin, viola, and cello.

We were so thankful to have awesome parent volunteers and demonstrators helping us, and grateful for the generous rental donation from Ward Brodt Music!

Want to know more about these instruments or access extension activities at home related to instruments? Have your child login to Quaver using their school login information and go to the A+ tab. Look for assignments with “instrument” in the title. You will find everything from interactive instrument diagrams to videos, audio recordings, and games! Please contact me in Seesaw if you have any questions about logging in at home.

3rd-5th grade will play recorders again after break. If your child brings it home, please make sure to send it back in January!

Spring is concert season, and we’d love for you to attend if you can. Click the link to see our concert schedule.

Sounds n' Visions: Music Day Camp for K-5 students

UW Whitewater faculty and students are excited to invite K-5 students and their families to our annual music day camp, Sounds n' Visions, themed "Going to the Zoo!" This year, the camp will be held at two locations:

Session #1: Sunday, February 9th, 10 am - 2 pm @ UW-Rock County, Janesville
Session #2: Saturday, February 15th, 10 am - 2 pm @ UW-W Main Campus, Whitewater

Students will engage in fun activities to explore general music concepts and experience wind, string, and percussion instruments. Registration is open now through February 6th and February 26th for each session, respectively, at a cost of $30/student. For more information, visit Sounds n' Visions Registration.

This camp is organized by UW-W music education students and has been a cherished tradition for nearly 20 years. We look forward to welcoming both new and returning campers!

Shining Gilly Award Winners!

What is the Shining Gilly Award?

The Shining Gilly Award recognizes students who go above and beyond to show exceptional care for others or our school. These students exemplify the qualities we strive to nurture in all of our little citizens—kindness, responsibility, and a positive impact on their community. Whether it's an individual or a group of students, those who receive this award truly reflect the values we hold dear at our school.

Congratulations to Cooper (2nd) and Sam (3rd)! 🥳