Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter
December 1st
Dear Muskego Lakes Families,
We hope you were able to enjoy some good food, time with family, and rest over Thanksgiving.
Every year, when I reflect on what I'm grateful for, this community comes to mind.
As the principal, it’s an incredible responsibility to know that 700+ children are in our care here at school every day. And yet, getting to partner with you all reminds me that I'm not alone. I rely on your partnership, your insights, and your vantage point in order to best support students here at school.
At Muskego Lakes, we hold our students to high expectations as learners. We believe they are wildly capable, and so we work really hard to ensure each student is progressing academically. That being said, our school vision is to connect hearts and minds in all we do. So while student learning is important, just as important to us is our students’ safety, their sense of belonging, their personal autonomy, their connectedness to one another, their self-confidence, their social-emotional needs, and their ability to handle hard things.
As a staff, we wake up every day with your kids on our minds. And we continue to build in resources, systems, and layers of support to honor the whole child. here at school.
In order to set our students up for academic success here at school, they:
- Set ongoing goals throughout the year to monitor their academic progress
- Reflect after assessments to determine their next steps as a learner
- Monitor their progress on standards on their personal SOF trackers
- Rely on Google classroom and online Homework boards to stay on track with due dates and deadlines
- Access their teachers daily during homeroom for extra help
- Sign up for skill groups during classes for additional instruction &/or practice on any given skill
- Get extra practice and feedback after an assessment in order to demonstrate proficiency
- Access the Infinite Campus app 24/7 so they know how they are doing in their classes at any given time
- Get extra practice above and beyond what is assigned for any students interested (ie online learning platforms)
- Attend homework center daily over lunches for support on any assignments, projects, &/or preparing for upcoming assessments
- Attend Homework Club after school anytime they need a quiet place to work and/or support from an adult on their learning
- Receive additional support in reading &/or math in place of an encore class
In order to honor students’ overall wellbeing here at school, we:
- Build in opportunities for students to have fun together over lunches ie cafeteria karaoke, BINGO, option to go outside or stay inside, coloring pages, UNO, etc.
- Have positive and uplifting messaging around school to let students know we believe in them
- Design weekly lessons on life skills
- Foster collaborative problem solving alongside students so they have a voice and are empowered to navigate challenges
- Recognize students for character, work ethic, etc. through positive notes home, quarter awards, etc.
- Coordinate community days to provide opportunities for students to take safe and positive risks across social circles
- Teach self-management strategies through physical education classes (ie strategies to regulate)
- Preplan partnerships and groups strategically anytime there are class projects (vs students navigating that)
- Conduct restorative circles to help students resolve conflict with one another
- Provide regular check-ins with school counselors to support organization, self-regulation, stress, etc.
- Offer social groups over lunches to connect with peers going through similar hard things ie trouble making friends, grief, anxiety, divorce, etc.
- On-site mental health counseling for students with a trained professional through contracted services
- Amazing student services team for students to access anytime, as needed, for on-demand support for anything heavy on their hearts or minds
- Facilitate 35+ co-curriculars to explore & connect with others with similar interests (with new clubs every year tailored to students who are not yet connected)
- Consider individual students’ needs when creating their academic schedules ie personalities, placement with peers, etc,
- Ensure staff are equipped with trauma-informed care, de-escalation strategies, and ongoing professional development to support the wide range of needs of students
- Tell our students we love them daily in our morning announcements (because we do)
We are proud of all we have put in place at Muskego Lakes so that our students have the opportunity to succeed here. And we will continue to study best practices, stay on top of research, and pilot new ways of providing support in order to remain responsive to the needs of our students (and their families).
If you think your child might benefit from any of the supports above, please reach out so we can help ensure they get connected to what they need. And if you have any ideas that we may not have considered, please reach out and share with us! We rely on your strengths, perspectives, and expertise to help make Muskego Lakes a school you are proud to send your children to each day.
In partnership,
Rachel and Nancy
Muskego Lakes Principals
Important Dates Ahead
- December 5-7: Literacy iReady Testing
- December 11-13: Math iReady Testing
- December 14: Choir Concert 7pm at PAC
- December 15: 6th Grade Science Fair
- December 22- Jan 1: No School Winter Break
Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey
The Muskego-Norway School District is dedicated to creating a positive experience for our students, staff, parents, and community. We are committed to listening and responding to your experiences and continuously work to improve our service to you. Our partners at Studer Education are providing an opportunity for you to provide feedback anonymously, at the link below.
Please take a few minutes to complete the Muskego Lakes Parent / Caregiver Experience Survey at this link: Muskego Lakes Experience Survey
The survey will remain open until Wednesday, December 13, 2023. Your feedback will be used to celebrate our successes and to create action plans for improvement. Your input is valuable; please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Thank you for your commitment to our success!
Literacy iReady Testing Next Week
Next week, students will be taking the Literacy iReady test starting on December 5th. 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.
Ski/Snowboard Equipment Drop-Off
The first ski and snowboard date is this coming Tuesday, December 5th. If your child is part of this club, we ask that you drop them off in the morning behind the school with their equipment. Students will enter through the library. 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 end of the day) and exit out the main drive.
Executive Function Series: Thinking vs Doing
Executive functions can be thought of as fitting into one of two overall categories - “thinking” or “doing”.
Both dimensions are important, especially for teenagers, who are starting to set more long-term goals for themselves. The cognitive skills help teens create a picture of a goal and a path. They also give them the resources they need to access along the way to achieve their goals. The behavior skills enable them to put these cognitive skills into action.
Activating executive skills takes more conscious effort for children and teens than it does for adults. Partly because as adults, we’ve had time and practice (which developed faster neural connections). This is why when a risky situation is presented to adults, we are more quickly able to see the risk and act (or not act) accordingly. Risk is not as evident to adolescents and takes more effort to not only recognize potential consequences, but control the urge to act on them.
An article from Parade magazine compared the teenage brain to a Ferrari - it is fast, shiny, sleek, but has lousy brakes. The good news is that adolescence is another time of a huge brain wiring surge. Connections grow stronger when used and practiced. Stay tuned in future parent newsletters for more specifics on each executive function and ways to support them in the teenage years.
Last week, in a PBIS Cool Tool, students learned about the definition of retaliation. They also learned about what physical, verbal, and social retaliation can look like. As a part of this lesson, students reflected on their own experiences with retaliation.
This upcoming week, students will further learn about why people retaliate as well as how retaliation impacts the culture of respect we have here at MLMS.
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!
You can check out the items that are currently in our lost and found this week:
Don't Forget to Sign-Up for the Winter Wonderland Dance
Lake Denoon will be hosting a dance/open gym night on Friday, December 8th 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. 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!
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.
Winter Wonderland Sign-Up Form (sign-up closes Wednesday, December 6th)
8th Grade Promotion Committee Chair Needed!
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 committe 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!
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.
Help Support Building an Indoor Recess Cart
The Muskego Lakes PTO is looking to assemble a rainy-day activity cart for students to access for indoor recess. The hope is that when students have indoor recess, they will be able to choose from different options to occupy their time and make memories with one another. If you are willing and able to help, please check out our Muskego Lakes Amazon Wishlist HERE.
On behalf of the Muskego Lakes PTO, they thank you for considering supporting this endeavor, and want you to know that if you have ideas or would like to donate something not on the wishlist to please reach out to them at muskegolakespto@gmail.com.
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
Curriculum and Library Information
To learn more about our curriculum visit our Curriculum Hub. Please contact your classroom teacher if you have additional needs or questions regarding the classroom materials your student accesses. To learn more about the Library and the resources available, please visit the library website HERE.
You are able to see what your student has checked out from Destiny (physical collection) or Sora (ebooks and audiobooks). Linked are the directions for accessing the two accounts; you will need to be able to login as your student. It is the goal of the library to provide the right material for the right student; please use Novelist K-8 (provided by Badgerlink) to see professional and varied reviews. If you have additional needs or questions regarding the library materials your student accesses, please contact 4K-8th Grade School Librarian, Toni Heinowski.
Destiny Physical Collection Access - will need to utilize your student log-in
Sora eBook and Audiobook Access - will need to utilize your student log-in
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