LETTER FROM PRINCIPAL ESTRADA
Madison families,
As May rolls in and I prepare to transition to South Junior High for a new leadership adventure, I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the incredible partnership we've built these past two years.
Together, we've witnessed amazing things. Amazing growth! We've fostered classroom environments where students weren't just absorbing information, but actively participating in their own learning. Your support and engagement in classroom activities and at home learning activities, has been invaluable.
Beyond academics, we've enriched our school with fantastic events and programs. The energy and enthusiasm you brought to school-wide events, conferencing, Family Advisory Committee and our outstanding Choir Concerts and Theater Performances are something I'll always cherish... and we should all be proud of what our students have accomplished!
Looking back, I'm most proud of the collaborative spirit we've nurtured. Your willingness to be part of the solution, your insightful suggestions, and your unwavering dedication to your children's education have been the cornerstone of our success. We couldn't do it without you!
While I may be leaving, the foundation we've built will remain. I know that together, you and the dedicated staff and our incredible new principal Meredith Boucher will continue to foster a nurturing and caring environment for our students to thrive.
Thank you for entrusting me with the privilege of time with your children these past two years.
They are incredible!
I wish you all the very best,
Principal Estrada 💙
Madison Online School Store!!
Madison School Spiritwear - Purchase your custom school spirit wear apparel and Spiritwear Direct. All purchases will ship right to your door.
When? All year long!
Why? Every purchase helps fund school programs!
Important information: All orders will be shipped directly to your homes! Click the ‘Weekly Specials’ icon on the website to see which items are on sale each week. Please click the link to order.
Happy Shopping Mustangs! 😊
KINDERGARTEN
Our wonderful Kindergarteners are so close to moving up and their brains are showing it! First, we want to thank you for coming to share in your child’s first music concert. It is always so fun to see them up there shining bright. They have learned so much over the year, and it has been our pleasure to grow with them. Thank you for being part of our team as the students learned their letters, sounds, and how to make them become words. They have become such smart mathematicians and scientists as well. During our last month we will continue to refine the above mentioned skills, as well as our friendship skills through lessons and fun activities like our ABC Countdown Calendar. We are also pumped that we get to go to Saint John’s Arboretum on a field trip this month. Although Madison Elementary does NOT have a graduation with parents, we will be celebrating all the hard work your children have accomplished this year as a class.
As always, enjoy your time with your special kiddo. If you have questions, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
The Kindergarten Team
1ST GRADE
Hello Families,
For 1st grade this month:
- We will be finishing our measuring unit. Then we will be ending the year talking about shapes.
- We will be learning a variety of sounds.
- In reading we will be wrapping up our discussion on, “What inventions do you know about?” Then we will end the school year discussing, “What sounds can you hear? How are they made?” and “How do things get built?”
- We will also be starting a “How To” writing.
- Students will continue learning about an insect’s lifecycle. We are observing caterpillars in our classroom, so we can watch them turn into butterflies!
Reminders:
- As we are nearing the end of the school year, we ask that you check your homes for any library/PAKRAT books that were left at home.
- We have our field trip on May 22nd. We will be going to the Quarries for a nature hike, learning stations, and a picnic.
- We have our first grade concert on May 24th at 12:30. We hope to see you all there!
- As we are nearing the end of the school year, we will be assessing often to see the progress your student has made! We ask that you make sure your student is at school and well rested every day!
2nd GRADE
Good-bye April, Hello May!
24 days left of the 2023-2024 school year! But, who's counting?!? The rain is upon us which has students and teachers having some extra ‘inside’ time. Our literacy time is spent exploring Realistic Fiction, citizenship, and biographies. We practiced identifying what features we can find within Realistic Fiction and the differences between Realistic Fiction and biographies. Students also had opportunities to write biographies on influential people from the past and the present. Our second graders have been reading about where people were born, their birthdays, family dynamics, resources, and how people live much differently from one another. A popular person chosen by our students was a young girl who invented skin-colored crayons. The students could really relate to and understand how those items come to life and end up in their school. This week we are reading a Realistic Fiction story about elections and class presidents.
We’re into our third trimester of math. We have been doing a lot of measuring with different tools and items. Students are learning inches and centimeters while using rulers and calculating which is longer or shorter. Along with measuring, students practiced the method of addition and subtraction using two digit numbers.
Our next enrichment day is coming up on Wednesday, May 1st. Students will get to learn about plants and the life cycle of plants. They will even experience planting a plant of their own that will eventually get to come home. May 1st will be a two-hour early release day for students.
Thank you for supporting your second-grader in these last few weeks of their second grade educational career!
Best wishes,
The Second-grade team
3RD GRADE
Hello Third Grade Families!
We can’t believe it is May already! This month is filled with many activities as we get ready to send the students to 4th grade.
During the first week of May, each classroom will be receiving live crayfish to observe during science. This is a fun way to learn about life cycles and structures of crayfish.
We have finished our MCA’s, so we will be reviewing content for the remainder of the year.
In math, we will be focusing on geometry (shapes and angles). In reading, we are finishing up fairytales and moving onto argumentative texts.
We have a field trip coming to us! Third grade will be visited by the Raptor Center on May 15th. There will be a newsletter coming to you about this soon.
Also be looking out for information about the 3rd grade concert!
As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to your student’s teacher!
Thank you,
Ms. Ortloff
Ms. Hartwig
Ms. Hausmann
Ms. Deters
Ms. Zheng
4TH GRADE
Hello parents and guardians!
As we enter our last month of school, we will be continuing to work on our curriculum, have our final assessments, as well as focusing on reteaching essential skills for success in the fifth grade. We are very proud of how hard the fourth-grade students worked on their MCAs.
Math:
We are just finishing up our last round of geometry, classifying 2-dimensional shapes and identifying lines of symmetry in those shapes. Teachers will be going back and reviewing essential skills for their students. Some of these skills will be classroom specific, and even those will be broken down further into small group specific needs. One thing that our grade will be relooking at will be multiplication and division.
Literacy:
We are moving forward into breaking apart the author's writing in fictional texts using sensory details. Students are exploring this through Minnesota Native American stories and studies. As we move into May, our focus will shift to Ancient Greek Mythology, focusing specifically on the genre of mythology, and how and why myths were invented and used. Students will be finishing this unit by preforming a reader's theater play about a Greek Myth.
Writing:
Students will be doing a lot of reflective writing on their past year, as well as continuing to focus on grammar specifics.
Science/Social Studies:
Mr. Moline = Life Science
Mr. Maas = Social Studies
Ms. Jacobson = Social Studies
Ms. Yeh = Social Studies
5TH GRADE
WOW, this year has flown by! Thank you for sharing your soon to be middle schoolers with us and partnering in their growth. 5th grade students excelled on the MCA’s! The students showed a brilliant amount of determination and effort; they should feel proud.
Though we are wrapping up the year, we continue with academic standards for our students' continued success. For Science and Social Studies we will be wrapping up. In Math we are continuing to explore 2-D and 3-D Shapes, their properties and continuing to multiply fractions. Lastly, for Reading/Language Arts we will be continuing to explore expository texts and ending with writing a research paper.
Dates to remember:
May 7th-May May 9th: MCA Science test
May 10th: Planetarium
May 14th: Family Night and Culture Fair at North Junior High 4:30pm-6:30pm
May 16th: Track and Field day at Apollo
May 17th: Health Conversation (subject to change)
May 31st :Last Day of School
Graduation: May 31st time to be announced. Children will then go home with their parents after graduation!
As we journey through the last few weeks of school, keep in mind that the transition to middle school can cause emotions to be varied. Making a special moment to sit with your child and really connect can make them feel seen and heard.
SEL NEWS:
In May, Kindergarten classrooms will have Safe and Strong Child lessons. The Safe and Strong Child program teaches children and educators the information and skills they need to prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse. Students will have the opportunity to learn the basics of personal body safety in a positive and age-appropriate way.
During the presentations, we will discuss the following:
* How to identify safe, unsafe and confusing touches
* What steps to take if an unsafe touch occurs
* Trusted grownups children can go to for help with unsafe or confusing touches
* Receiving of an unsafe touch is never a child’s fault
If you have questions about the Safe and Strong Child program, please contact our School Counselor, Jennifer.Nistler@isd742.org.
FROM OUR MADISON NURSES OFFICE:
Parents with children who have medications, inhalers, epi-pens, etc. at the health office will be receiving a letter shortly about medication pick up. Please plan to pick up your child's medication on the second to the last day of school, Thursday, May 30th or by 1:00 p.m. on Friday, May 31st (the last day of school). If your student will be in a summer program in ISD 742, please notify the nurse so the medication can be moved to the correct location for the summer session.
Reporting Absences Protocol:
If your child will be absent from school, please call the attendance line at 320-370-6502. When calling into the attendance line, you will only reach voicemail. Please leave a message with your child's first and last name and the reason for the absence. Please note this is a trusted way to report your child's absence as we check this voicemail everyday.
If you prefer to digitally inform us about an absence, you are also welcome to use your Family Skyward Access and submit attendance in this format.
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH MENU
We will also attach our Breakfast and Lunch Menus at the bottom of our family newsletters each month.
