CLASSICAL COLUMNS

Classical School's application period for the 2025-2026 school year is in full swing! A completed online application must be submitted by midnight on February 21, 2025. These applications are for any siblings, including incoming kindergarteners, of current K-8 Classical School students. Only those applications for siblings returned by February 21st will receive priority in the lottery for enrollment placement or waiting list order. Applications received after February 21st will not be included in the lottery, and those students will be added to the end of any waiting list for their grade in the order applications are received.

The online application may be accessed here: https://charter.aasd.k12.wi.us/AASDCharterLottery/Default.aspx

Alternatively paper applications are available from the school office.

Please see the school website if you have any questions about the lottery process or contact Sara Schroeder at schroedersara@aasd.k12.wi.us.

Pre-Registration forms and Workbook fees are due to the Classical School office on Friday, February 28, 2025. These forms were sent home in the Pegasus Flyers on January 30, 2025, and are important because they secure your student's spot for the 2025-26 school year.

Just a friendly reminder that school is released for our elementary students at 2:50 pm and our middle school students at 3:00 pm. There is supervision for a very limited period of time, so we ask that you pick up your students as soon as possible. If students stay beyond that time, we ask that you are available to supervise. We also ask that students maintain the expectations for outside activities as they would during the school day (no snowball throwing, play respectfully, etc.) while they wait to be picked up in order to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for all students. Children will be reminded of these after-school expectations as well.

We would like to extend a huge "Thank You!" to all those who volunteered for our Culture Night! It was a wonderful night learning and experiencing other parts of the world right here at Classical!

Go back in time to your favorite decade and join us at Classical for our Decades Dance! This is a family fun event for all ages so come dance the night away with us!

When: Friday, February 7th

Time: 6:00-8:00 PM

$2.00 per person or $5.00 per family

Interested in volunteering? Sign up here! https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/412576152036/false#/invitation

February is Black History Month, and there are two great opportunities available!

The BIPOC Club is thrilled to invite all families to their 2025 Black History Month Celebration at Appleton West on Saturday, February 8th. Mark your calendars for an inspiring afternoon of culture, history, and community.

The theme for Black History Month 2025 is "African Americans and Labor," highlighting the significant contributions of Black Americans to the workforce throughout history.

Save the Date!
📅 When: Saturday, February 22, 2025
⏰ Time: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
📍 Where: Appleton West Auditorium
✨ Free and open to the community!

Johnston's YMCA alongside AASD's Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Coordinators proudly present their Black History & Culture Celebration event on Sunday, February 16th from 12:30-3:30 PM. This is open to all AASD elementary students and families! Raffles, activities, photo booth, free access to facilities, and much more!

For more information on either event, click the attachment below!

The AASD shares local, community opportunities for students. These community opportunities include upcoming events and activities such as art and music camps, youth athletics, cultural events, enrichment programs, and more. We encourage AASD families to regularly review these opportunities for students of all ages. Check out the AASD COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS WEBPAGE for a current list of opportunities for students.

If you have pictures from Classical group events, our yearbook crew would like them! You can send them to Stacey Foley via email (foleystacey@aasd.k12.wi.us) or upload them to Google Drive and share the folder with Stacey.

Thank you in advance!

Parents (only) of fifth graders are invited to join us for a Middle School Overview Night on Monday, February 24th from 6:30-7:30 pm. This meeting is for parents only as students will have an opportunity to meet with Classical middle school teachers at a later date.

Please contact Sara Schroeder with any questions at schroedersara@aasd.k12.wi.us.

The Student Council Wear-it-Wednesday for February is Red & Pink Day! Wear your favorite red and pink outfits on Wednesday, February 26th.

There will be no classes for all students on Monday, February 17th (Professional Development for Staff). Have a great weekend!

Please join us for the upcoming CCSA Board meetings: CCSA Board Compliance meeting and CCSA Board meeting on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Agendas will be sent prior to the meetings.

Did you know middle and high school students with an AASD ID card ride the bus FREE? Download the Valley Transit app: myvalleytransit.com/app. For more information visit http://myvalleytransit.com.

Congratulations to the following middle school students who are on the second quarter honor roll:

6th Grade

Highest Honors: 3.90 – 4.00

Adwoa Adu Gyamfi

Aditi Butala

Alicia Gellings

Virat Grover

Adalie Hanamann

William Loken

Jacob Martonito

Serena Oguntade

Tristan Thompson

With Honors: 3.33 – 3.89

Avrianna Artus

Noelle Belonger

Arianna Bhandari

Jameson Billingsley

Owen Champaign

Avery Chase

Ethan Chen

Michael Cronin

Violet Crownhart

Zainab El Ismali

Kara Freymiller

Olivia Fulk

Harjeet Gill

Ivy Hahn

Mikyla Hunt Sutton

Owen Jacobs

Adelaide Jacobs

Malachi Jacobson

Alessandrea Kinney

Aleksiy Konnov

Ethan Li

Adeline Luu

Flora Marcy

Julius Mink

Gavin Miranpuri

Arya Mueller

Harshita Nagaraja

Eva Nissen

Maxwell Reid

Amish Sharma

Tabitha Siewert

Pearl Tomori

Saatvik Varma Veeravara Thodaraml

Emily Welygan

Sai Saran Yokesh

7th Grade

Highest Honors: 3.90 – 4.00

Riann Abbi

Joel Arun

Sophia Fan

Rachel Johnson

Mandy Liu

Oliver Marks

Owen Meisel

Suzanna Munson

Aryanjith Nanda

Shubham Nayak

Paris Niles

Kendal Shillington

Harper Vermullen

Tanvi Vunnam

Arielle Zenebe

With Honors: 3.33 – 3.89

Alexa Bauman

Andrew Beres

Devin Chen

Lucy Devantier

Evan Gabbey

Nicholas Gerlach

Vaibhav Hanchinmath

Zachary Her

Micah Ihde

Aurora Kemps

Shreenik Rajkumar

Lundon Rayfield

Kendall Running

Madhumathi Sankara Narayanan

Scarlett Saravia

Ronin Stevens

Jayden Thomas

Lucie Wahn

8th Grade

Highest Honors: 3.90 – 4.00

Rayan Belahsen

Jacob Chen

Akram El Ismali

Irene Hoyer

Jerry Hoyer

Camden Huck

Ethan Hunt Sutton

Daniel Jacklin

Steve Jacob

Braelyn Shillington

Naomi Shober

Simarnoor Singh

Senia Wenning

With Honors: 3.33 – 3.89

Himshikha Adhikari

Tiwatope Akinpelu

Alexander Andrekus

Ethan Artz

Sarah Babar

Samuel Dominguez Pereyra

Lila Hahn

Jaiveer Kaleka

Samuel Kren

Xasha Lagunes

Emily Loken

Cooper Long

Roger McPherson

Azim Mirzoev

Edward Murphy

Lucas Norberg

Peter Opsteen

Mia Pellegrini

Adrian Perez

Akshara Repala

Chloe Rhoda

Emma Swan

Israel Tomori

Diya Vijaykumar

Aisha Zaidan

Congratulations to all of our Spelling Bee participants! Shubham Nayak (Grade 7) and Jacob Martonito (Grade 6) were our two finalists! They will move on to the regional competition, which will take place on Wednesday, February 19th at 9:00 a.m. at JR Gerritts Middle School in Kimberly. Champions from this regional Bee advance to the state Spelling Bee. Good luck to Shubham and Jacob!

Elementary School Conferences: Spring Parent-Teacher conferences for K-5 will be held Tuesday, March 4th, 3:30-7:00 pm and Thursday, March 6th, 3:30-6:45 pm.

Starting on February 11, sign ups for conferences will be available by going to this link: https://signup.com/go/WsZHpuk. The online sign up will be locked on February 25. After that date you will need to contact your child's teacher directly to schedule a conference.

Due to time constraints on conference nights, you may sign up with your child's homeroom teacher only. If you would like to speak with your child's reading or math teacher, please email or call that teacher directly.

Please remember to factor in passing time if you are scheduling with multiple teachers. You may choose to schedule a conference with your child's Spanish, music, art, and physical education teacher at https://signup.com/go/WsZHpuk as well.

Middle School Conferences: 6th, 7th & 8th Grade: MS conferences will be by teacher or parent request only on Tuesday, March 4th (3:30-7:00 pm) and Thursday, March 6th (3:30-6:45 pm).

If a teacher would like to request a conference with you, a note will be sent home with your child containing the link to the Signup website.

You may also request a conference with a particular teacher at https://signup.com/go/WsZHpuk. The online sign up will be locked on February 25. After that date you will need to contact your child's teacher directly to schedule a conference. If you do not have a concern, please do not feel obligated to request a conference for your child.

If you have a question regarding conferences, please email teachers directly.

Mrs. Brown: brownjulie@aasd.k12.wi.us (Band)

Sra. Nygard: nygardjennifer@aasd.k12.wi.us (Spanish)

Mrs. Crownhart: crownhartjessi@aasd.k12.wi.us (English 7/8/Lit & Comp 8)

Mrs. Eastman: eastmanjennife@aasd.k12.wi.us (Art)

Mr. Fager: fagermatthew@aasd.k12.wi.us (Geometry, Science 6/8)

Mr. Jorgensen: jorgensendrew@aasd.k12.wi.us (Phy Ed 6-8)

Mr. Granatelli: granatellidavi@aasd.k12.wi.us (Phy Ed 6)

Mrs. Conde: condemegan@aasd.k12.wi.us (Choir)

Mrs. Huck: hucktiffany@aasd.k12.wi.us (Algebra)

Mrs. Malone: malonehannah@aasd.k12.wi.us (Orchestra)

Mrs. Shinners: shinnerssusan@aasd.k12.wi.us (Lit & Comp 6, History 7/8)

Mrs. McDonald: mcdonaldariell@aasd.k12.wi.us (Pre-Algebra, Logic/Comp 7, History 6)

Mr. Strassburg: strassburgandr@aasd.k12.wi.us (English 6, Science 7, Saxon Math 7/6)

In the event that school is cancelled due to inclement weather, important information may be announced on local radio and TV stations. AASD uses the radio and TV stations listed below to inform families of such schedule changes as quickly as possible. Please avoid calling district or school offices during such emergency situations. This seriously disrupts our phone lines and makes it difficult to make vital outgoing calls.

91.5 FM WEMY

1150 AM WHBY

91.9 FM WEMI

1280 AM WNAM

94.7 FM WZOR

1450 AM KFIZ

95.9 FM WKSZ

1490 AM WOSH

96.9 FM WWWX

1570 AM WSCO

96.5 FM WQLH

99.5 FM WPKR

103.9 FM WVBO

104.3 FM WECB

105.7 FM WAPL

107.5 FM WDUZ

WGBA-NBC 26

WBAY-TV Ch2

WFRV-TV Ch 5

WLUK-Fox 11

The following websites also contain school cancellation information: http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us and http://www.postcrescent.com.

Please be sure to send your student with the appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. We will continue to have all recesses outside unless it is raining or the wind chill falls below the safe levels. Students should have coats, gloves, hats, mittens, scarves, boots, and snow pants for recesses.

Each classroom has its own practice for the days that are celebrated. If your child's classroom is participating in a Valentine's Day celebration, we ask parents to observe the following requests:

1. Please be sure to include a card for each student in the classroom to avoid hurt feelings.
2. Students may include one small, inexpensive non-food item per Valentine card such as a pencil, small set of stickers, etc.

Knowledge-A-Thon -- commonly referred to as "KAT" -- is our school's chief fundraiser -- generating upwards of $30,000 to meet the wide-ranging needs of our students and classrooms.

Each student is given a list of 100 questions and answers related to our Core Knowledge curriculum that will be taught -- or has already been taught -- this school year. Students study with their teachers and parents to prepare for KAT Day while collecting pledges from their families/friends. Pledges can be for a straight dollar amount or an amount per question. For instance let's say Aunt Betty offers her niece a per question pledge of 50 cents. Her niece will be asked 100 questions on KAT Day. If her niece gets 95 answers correct, her Aunt Betty will donate $47.50 (.50 X 95) to our school.

Unlike many other potential school fundraisers involving selling products or coupons, KAT is a low-cost-high-profit fundraiser that promotes our curriculum and guarantees that 100% of what students earn goes directly to Classical School.

More information will follow in the Pegasus Flyers, but for now below is the timeline for the 2025 KAT fundraiser:

1. Poster event runs February 20th -- March 7th. Students can pick up poster paper in the office beginning on Thursday, February 20th. The last day to turn in completed posters is Friday, March 7th.
2. KAT Kick Off: Friday, March 14th 8:45-9:15 Students receive their question booklets/pledge sheets.
3. Star Week: March 17th -- March 21st
4. Lottery Lollapalooza: March 31st -- April 4th
5. Classroom Bonanza: April 7th -- April 11th
6. KAT Spirit Week: April 14th -- April 17th
7. KAT Day: April 17th

We are in need of $5 gift cards for KAT Lottery prizes. Anything from Target, Dairy Queen, Cousins, Subs, ITunes, Barnes & Noble to Walmart and anything in between! If you are able to donate a card, please send it to school in an envelope marked "KAT: Attn: Linda Kemps" by March 21st. Thank you!

Appleton Community 4K builds a lifelong love of learning through creativity, curiosity, problem solving, and exploration.

Why 4K? Because their learning journey starts now!

The AASD prides itself on providing our youngest learners with the opportunity to participate in a quality early learning program in a play-based model. Appleton’s 4K develops the whole child by balancing critical early reading, writing, and math skills, with the social and emotional skills necessary to be successful in school and throughout their lives.

Who can enroll?

Appleton Community 4K is open to any student who will turn 4 years old on or before September 1st.

How do we enroll?

Online enrollment begins Monday, February 10, 2025. Watch the AASD and 4K website for more details as they become available: https://4k.aasd.k12.wi.us/our_school/enrollment

How can I learn more about Appleton Community 4K?

• Check out our 4K Partner Sites: https://4k.aasd.k12.wi.us/community_4k_sites
• Review our Frequently Asked Questions: https://4k.aasd.k12.wi.us/our_school/faqs
• Watch our 4K Informational Videos:https://4k.aasd.k12.wi.us/our_school/enrollment
• During the month of January, we welcome you to reach out to the 4K sites you are interested in learning more about. They'd love to talk to you and offer you a visit!
• Call the Appleton Community 4K office at (920)852-5600!
  

Please see the attached document from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services with information pertaining to the Norovirus.

The Girls and Boys Track & Field season is just around the corner! Student athletes MUST have an updated physical or alternate-year physical form and concussion form on file in the Classical School office PRIOR to the first practice. Set up your physical now for your son or daughter, if they need one to participate. Athletes will not be able to practice if their updated physical forms are not turned in to the Classical School office. All athletic forms are available in the office or online.

On Tuesday, March 11th, 8th grade students will be presenting projects in this year’s Classical School Science Fair. Volunteers will be judging the displays from 6:20-7:30 pm. Parents and others are invited to view the projects from 6:00-6:20 pm and 7:30-7:50 pm. The awards will be presented at about 7:50 pm. Due to the nature of the planning, hard work, and perhaps some breakable or valuable displays, children of all ages through sixth grade must remain with their parents for this event.

Interested in being a judge for the Science Fair? Sign up here! https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/1092176068095/false#/invitation

The winter concert for Grades 1-3 will take place on Tuesday, February 4th at 6:00 pm in the Forum. A dress rehearsal will be held that day from 10:00-11:00 AM.

• 1st-3rd grade students should arrive back at school by 5:50 PM Tuesday, February 4th evening and report to their classrooms for attendance (please do not send students to classrooms any earlier than 5:45 however, thank you!).

• Parents should keep/carry students’ coats with them into the forum so that we can dismiss from stage right after the concert.

• Students should dress nicely to show pride in presenting their music to the community; suggested attire is: Khakis/dress pants/skirt/dress, button-down/polo/nice shirt without words or a dress, and dress shoes (if possible)

The Student Council Have-a-Heart Drive will be held February 24th-28th. Please bring in dollar donations that week, which will be collected during the lunch hour. Proceeds go to local homeless shelters for buying hygiene products. The classroom with the most dollars will earn the School Spirit trophy!

Hey 3rd grade families! Check out this months' newsletter!

https://sites.google.com/aasd.k12.wi.us/3rd-grade-newsletter/february

Monday, February 3, 2025 Classical Columns emailed and posted

Monday, February 3, 2025 MS Girls Basketball: Einstein MS @ 3:50 PM & 5:00 PM, Madison MS @ 5:00

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 7/8 Wrestling Match at Kaleidoscope Academy 4:15 PM

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 Grades 1-3 General Music Concert 6:00 PM

Thursday, February 6, 2025 Pegasus Flyers go home

Thursday, February 6, 2025 MS Girls Basketball: Einstein MS @ 4:00 PM & 5:15 PM, Kaleidoscope Academy @ 4:00 PM

Thursday, February 6, 2025 CCSA Board Meeting 6:30 PM

Friday, February 7, 2025 Decades Dance 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

Monday, February 10, 2025 MS Girls Basketball: Einstein MS @ 4:00 PM, Kaleidoscope Academy @ 4:00 PM, & Madison MS @ 5:00 PM

Monday, February 10, 2025 AASD Board of Education Meeting @ 6:00 PM : Leadership Center and/or YouTube Link

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 MS Girls Basketball @ Appleton North 4:00 PM

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 7/8 Wrestling Match at Einstein MS 4:15 PM

Thursday, February 13, 2025 Pegasus Flyers go home

Thursday, February 13, 2025 MS Girls Basketball: Kaleidoscope Academy @ 4:00 PM, Einstein MS @ 3:50 PM & 5:00 PM

Friday, February 14, 2025 6/7/8 Ski Club Nordic Ski Mtn 3:00-11:00 PM

Monday, February 17, 2025 NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 7/8 Wrestling Match at Einstein MS 4:15 PM

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 Regional Spelling Bee 9:00 am at JR Gerrits Middle School

Thursday, February 20, 2025 Kindergarten Field Trip to PAC 12:00-1:50 PM

Thursday, February 20, 2025 Pegasus Flyers go home

Thursday, February 20, 2025 KAT Poster Contest begins

Friday, February 21, 2025 6/7/8 Ski Club Nordic Ski Mtn 3:00-11:00 PM

Friday, February 21, 2025 New Student Enrollment Application Closes

Saturday, February 22, 2025 District Solo & Ensemble for 6-8 Vocal/Piano

Monday, February 24, 2025 AASD Board of Education Meeting @ 6:00 PM : Leadership Center and/or YouTube Link

Monday, February 24, 2025 Middle School Parent Meeting for Current 5th Graders in Forum 6:30-7:30 PM

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 7/8 Wrestling Match Wilson MS 4:15 PM

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 Wear Pink or Red Day

Thursday, February 27, 2025 Pegasus Flyers go home

Friday, February 28, 2025 6/7/8/ Ski Club-Makeup Trip Nordic Ski Mtn 3:00-11:00