Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter
December 15th, 2023
Dear Muskego Lakes Families,
We truly appreciate everyone who took the time to share your thoughts and feedback in this year's Muskego Lakes Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey! Your input means a lot to us, and it plays a crucial role in making our services even better for your students and all our families in the future. Once we get the survey results, we're eager to share them with you and discuss the exciting next steps based on your valuable input. As learning leaders, we're always eager to hear how we can improve things for you!
As we continue to celebrate this holiday season, we want to express how much we cherish and appreciate all you do for our school. We are as successful as we are because of our families' outstanding partnership and support. Whether you've volunteered in classrooms, sent snacks for teachers, volunteered for PTO events and projects, shared your experience/expertise as guest speakers, helped your child study for a test/quiz, or been present for grade-level events and concerts, your support and care mean the world to our school community. Thank you for making our school a special place!
Looking ahead, please note that students will only have school from Monday, December 18th to Thursday, December 21st next week. We are excited about the planned activities for those days before the holidays and will surely miss the students over winter break! When students return from winter break, only two weeks are left in quarter two, so we recommend checking in with your child about their classwork and reviewing Infinite Campus together.
Wishing you all a safe and relaxing weekend!
In partnership,
Rachel and Nancy
Muskego Lakes Principals
Important Dates Ahead
- December 18-21: Winter Spirit Week
- December 22- Jan 1: No School Winter Break
- January 10: MLMS PTO Meeting 6:30pm
- January 12: No School Professional Day
- January 16: Co-Curricular Photo Day
- February 15: Family Conference Night 4-8pm
- February 23: 8th Grade Career Fair
iReady Testing Results Coming Home
A reminder that after students go over their results with their teacher, we will be sending home printed iReady diagnostic reports in our Musky folders with your students. This report will allow you to review your child's mid-year progress since the beginning of the school year.
After seeing your child's mid-year iReady diagnostic report, please reach out to your child's literacy and/or math teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
MLMS PTO Holiday Staff Celebration Help Needed
On Wednesday, December 20th the PTO will be treating the entire staff to lunch for the holiday season. and they are looking for your support to make it happen.
The PTO is taking care of the main courses for lunch from Cafe Zupa's. They are hoping that the wonderful Muskego Lakes Family could help us with drinks and cookies. If you are able and willing please sign up HERE if you can help. Or you can make a money donation via Venmo @muskegolakesPTO.
You can drop off all items at the front desk on or before 12/19.
Save the Date! 7-8th Grade Volleyball Tryouts!
Is your student interested in trying out for volleyball? 7-8th grade volleyball try-outs will be held after school on January 22nd until 4:30pm.
8th Grade Career & Community Fair Ahead at Muskego Lakes
As part of our comprehensive Academic and Career Planning at the middle level, we are hosting a Career & Community Fair for our 8th graders on the morning of February 23rd.
We are looking for a wide range of speakers in order to ensure we have representation across the U.S. Department of Education's 16 clusters:
- Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
- Architecture & Construction
- Arts, Audio/Video Technology & Communications
- Business, Management & Administration
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Government & Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing, Sales & Service
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
If you or someone you know might be interested, please reach out to Rachel Rydzewski, Principal, who can provide more information. Thank you for considering!
Executive Function Series: What is Working Memory?
Kids who have a hard time “staying on track” might have problems with something called working memory. Working memory is an executive function that plays a big role in how we process, use and remember information on a daily basis. Remembering a phone number, recalling directions, or writing an essay are all tasks that use working memory.
Kids who have trouble with working memory often make mistakes. They might struggle to follow directions. Or forget to finish homework assignments and chores.
Here are some strategies to help:
Go back to ‘low-tech’. Help them make paper lists and reminders on post-its.
Check in on their use of a planner (writing down upcoming assignments, important dates, events).
Use imagery. Help your student make mental pictures of things they need to remember.
Simplify your teen’s work space to minimize visual cues and distractions.
Ask your teen to remember a few items when you grocery shop or to tell you where to turn when you’re driving somewhere (practice in authentic situations)
Make eye contact with your teen before telling them something you want them to hear and remember.
If you are sure they heard you, have them paraphrase back.
Consider the timing of important information. Telling them right when they walk in the door from school or right before bed are times that are not ideal. These are times when they probably already have a lot on their minds so their ‘mental sketchpad’ is already full. Source: Child Mind Institute and Peg Dawson
Helping to Make Attendance a Priority
A student who is 10 minutes late every day will miss over 30 hours of instruction during the year. While children can copy notes or make-up an assignment, but they can never get back what’s most important: the discussions, the questions, the explanations by the teacher, the feedback from peers and teachers, and the thinking that makes learning come alive.
Research shows that children who are in school most of the time do better academically and socially in comparison to those who are absent more. Your child’s success in school depends on having a solid educational background, one that can only be gained through regular school attendance. You want this year to be your child's best year in school—but how do you help?
While we know absences will happen and that sometimes life gets in the way with sickness, family emergencies, once-in-a-lifetime family trips, etc. However, many kids miss school for other reasons. Here are some of the top reasons for school absences—and how you can help your child avoid them:
- Medical appointments- Schedule routine visits to the doctor and dentist after school or during school vacations. Bring your child before and after appointments to maximize the time in class.
- Oversleeping -If your child has trouble waking up in the morning, consider talking to your child about their bedtime routine/time. Also, ensure students are not staying up late using technology (computers, tablets, or phones).
- Disorganization - If looking for homework papers, getting ready, etc., in the morning causes your child to be late, consider creating a new routine to prepare school items before bed. This will ensure they have everything they need already. If you have concerns about your child's organizational skills, reach out to one of our school counselors so that we can partner with your child.
- School refusal -If your child doesn't want to go to school, please get in touch with Stacy Pawlak, school social worker, to set up a meeting. Working together and reaching out soon will help us resolve problems that make your child reluctant to attend.
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.
Did your child misplace something? Check out the Muskego Lakes Lost & Found!
Anything left on December 21st will be donated, so please encourage your child to stop by and look for their missing items.
You can check out the items that are currently in our lost and found this week:
SIgn Up Today for Mid-Week Munchies
Every Wednesday the Muskego Lakes PTO is looking for volunteers to donate snacks to our teachers and staff. This greatly helps them make it through the week and brighten their day. 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 for a date HERE if you can. Drop off will be in the front office by 8am on the Wednesday you sign up.
Thank you in advanced for helping spoil our staff.
Get Involved By Joining The Muskego Lakes PTO!
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!!
Meeting Dates for the 23-24 School Year
- January 10
- February 14
- March 13
- April 10
- May 8
Reminders for the Lunchroom
In an effort to ensure students can move through the lunch lines efficiently, 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 your convenience, we have linked helpful resources. You can always find the link to updated lunch menus, at the end of this newsletter.
2023-24 Lunch Prices:
- Elementary Lunch: $2.55
- MS Lunch 1: $2.95
- MS Lunch 2: $3.50
- MS Creation Station: $3.90
- Milk Carton: $.50
- MHS Ala carte meal rates as noted on the monthly menu will apply.
Questions related to the food service program can be directed to Benny D’Epiro, Food Service Director at 262-971-1790 x4522.
Clinical Psychology Associates Services
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.
Muskego Norway School District Calendar
Please make note of days off and important events on the 23-24 calendar. It is ideal to make dentist and doctor appointments on days we do not have school whenever possible.
Thank you!
Muskego Lakes Middle School
Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Twitter: @MLMSmuskies