PAW PRINTS
September 6, 2024
A Message from our Principal
Happy Friday!
It has been an amazing first week at Elmwood with the return of our lion cubs. I can’t thank you enough for your preparations in getting your child(ren) ready for these first days of school. I have seen many joyful faces and also tired ones at the end of the day!
We continue to welcome our new security staff to the building. We have had a chance to start visiting classrooms to introduce them and their role at Elmwood. Here is a little about them:
Chris DeMotto has worked for Secure Resources Unlimited for about three and half years. He started in law enforcement in 1995 and is currently an assistant chief for a Waukesha county police department. He served 8 years in the US Air Force Reserves, as a security police officer. He has a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice Administration and recently graduated from Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. Married in 2002, he has two children in high school. He has been a coach for his kids in many different sports and has been a soccer coach, for boys and co-ed teams, for over seven years.
Jay Johnston served 25 years as a FBI special agent, before retiring last year. Mr.Johnston also served as a deputy sheriff for 8 years. Some of the relevant highlights of Mr. Johnston's 33 years in law enforcement include his service as a FBI supervisory special agent in the Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit, at FBIHQ, as well as a sergeant, school liaison officer, and defensive tactics instructor, while at the sheriff's department. Mr. Johnston has a Master's Degree in Business Administration, and has taught a number of courses at the collegiate level.
Mr. Samz and I have been having so much fun visiting classrooms and reading the “Trying” book that we shared with staff in August. Our teachers are truly the dreamers, doers and creators for our students. We are looking forward to a year filled with learning and growing!
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Elmwood Spirit Wear Store is OPEN!!!
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*** Updated September 7 - we realize there is an error on the store site. Mrs Rado, Ms Ludwig and Mrs Sobotta's name were omitted in error from the dropdown list of classroom teachers. This will be corrected on Monday September 9. Thanks everyone!! ***
Store is open until 9/16/24, don't delay!
Click on Elmwood Spirt Wear store link. Order your spirit wear online, select your student's classroom teacher at checkout, and purchases will be delivered to your child's classroom by mid-October.
https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/dLhaE53tVj
Store Access Code: dLhaE53tVj
Volunteers Needed - Elmwood Library
Do you color code your pantry? Do you find yourself refolding the sweaters at Target? Do you alphabetize... well, everything? Your talents are needed in the Elmwood Library!
Due to the volume of books coming through our school library, assistance is needed in reshelving books. The commitment is just 1-2 hours at a regularly scheduled time each week. We are looking for an organizational dynamo who loves books to come in on either Tuesday or Wednesday after 10 am. No library experience is necessary, but you must not fear Dewey Decimals. Email Mrs. Thomas at loralie.thomas@nbexcellence.org today and help support our students' love of literature!
Picture Day in September, and message from the Photographer
For any student that missed pictures in August, we have another date scheduled for September 23rd. We will pull students from their classrooms from 8:30 to approx 10:30 for pictures.
Parents were asked for their emails at the time of photos. Once the images are ready (usually about 2 weeks after picture day), School and Sport Pics will email you a link to the photos. Since each student has a unique code that is needed to view / order the photos, they can also request the codes here:
https://codereturn.me/find/1710431618605x392906087214612500
If you need help with ordering, please email School and Sport Pics directly at customerservice@schoolandsportpics.com
AFTER SCHOOL THEATER CLASSES
Come explore the wonderful world of theater with Character Kids! This fun-filled after school class takes place at Elmwood on Tuesdays, 3:15-4:15 pm, September 17 - December 3 (11 weeks, no class 10/22). Students will play theater games, learn stage skills and explore popular Broadway musicals while developing imagination, social skills and confidence. Parents are invited to a special performance on the last day of class! Visit our website for more info or to register.
Discounted China Lights tickets available from former Elmwood student Sylvia Li
YLA and the MCCC (Youth Leadership Association and Milwaukee Chinese Community Center) receives paper tickets that are the same price as last year: $23 (General) and $15 (Children; up to 11 years old). Again, these prices are a few dollars cheaper compared to those online for both weekdays and weekends.
Here are the official websites for the China Lights for your reference. https://www.chinalights.org/
Contact Information:
Sylvia Li
262-420-0565
Looking for a Part-Time job with Weekends, Holidays and Summers Off? Want to work only when the kids are in School?
HELP NEEDED: SCHOOL NUTRITION SERVICES
Elmwood and Poplar Creek have openings for Kitchen/Cafeteria Staff. Positions are for four
hours per day, approximately 9:30 am - 1:30 pm., five days per week following the school day
calendar. Job shares will be considered.
If interested, please contact department director, Cindy Jensen at: cindy.jensen@nbexcellence.org or call 262-789-6209.
HOME AND SCHOOL NEWS
WELCOME FROM THE BOARD
Welcome back Lion Cub families! The Home and School Board hope that everyone had a wonderful summer and a great start to the school year. We know that this is going to be a fabulous year! We kicked off the school year with our Matty’s Back to School Bash where we were able to raffle off some amazing prizes and mingle with Elmwood Families and Staff. We were able to utilize the new indoor event space and we also got to enjoy the weather because the rain stopped!
For those of you that are new to Elmwood this year, the Home and School is Elmwoods version of the PTA. We hold 5 meetings a year in the Elmwood Library and we are fortunate enough to have members of the NB Eisenhower National Honor Society provide childcare in case it is needed for you to attend a meeting. Our Home and School is an amazing group of people, and we all volunteer our time to make sure your children have the best we can offer. We cannot hold functions or provide the amazing things we do without volunteers and we are always looking. We have volunteer opportunities from selling popcorn at a Spring Dance, to scanning books for the Book Fair, and there are even opportunities to volunteer behind the scenes. We are looking forward to seeing familiar and new faces at our first meeting of the year Tuesday, September 24th at 6:30pm in the Elmwood Library.
Below is a list of the programs and events that we were able to help with or fund at Elmwood last school year. We are looking forward to repeating these and hopefully adding more fun!
Fall Family Event (Booth or Treat)
Playworks
All School Read
Staff Appreciation
Kindergarten Orientation Bags
A Pawwzz Program
School Musical
6th Grade Completion
Co-Curriculars
Elmwood Raffle
Spring Dance
High Interest Day
All School Field Trip
On behalf of Lauren Hinrichs, Co-President, Lauren Keith, Treasurer, Jessica Cross, Secretary, and myself, we look forward to a great year with you all!
Roaring into Excellence,
Danielle Sciano
Co-President
CULVERS EAT 'N EARN
Our 1st Eat N Earn of the year will be at Culvers New Berlin on National Avenue, Monday September 16th from 4-7pm. Culvers is always a huge hit for our families and they are so generous to give back 25% of all proceeds during that time frame back to the Home and School. Last year we raised almost $900! Lets beat that record this year!
We are looking for some volunteers that night to help run food. Jaime Veal and Ryan Samz as well as some other staff members will be there running food as well, It’s always fun to see your principals and teachers outside of the school.
If you can help please sign up for a shift at this signup link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4FADA62CABF58-51162192-culvers
Box Tops for Education
My name is Jen Standish and I'm our school's Box Tops for Education Coordinator. Box Tops for Education is a program that gives money to schools for their family’s participation just by purchasing products and scanning the receipt in the Box Tops App. Box Tops earnings is used to fund Elmwood programming.
Last year we earned $86.30; Our 2024-2025 goal is $300.00
See flyer for way to earn and how you can help.
“BOO”TH OR TREAT
Save the date for Elmwood’s 3rd annual “Boo”th or Treat, Friday October 25th from 6 pm to 8 pm! More information to come, including a candy collection contest and how to host a booth!
Receiving texts for important notifications
Elmwood and the School District of New Berlin needs your help to be able to reach you via text.
All SDNB families who wish to receive text messages from the district must “opt-in” to our SchoolMessenger text messaging service. This can be done by simply texting “Y” or “Yes” to 67587, after you make sure your contact information is up to date in Infinite Campus! If you are not sure you have done this already, text "Y" to 67587 anyway.
The ability to text our families is important to us. We can notify families quickly in the event of a school closing, late bus or other safety alerts. These are the only reasons our school/district will be texting you.
How do I add money to my child(ren)’s lunch account?
The directions can be found on the SDNB Nutrition website found here. Link on the right side of the page
Nicole Cooke - School Administrative Assistant
Email: Nicole.Cooke@nbexcellence.org
Website: https://www.nbexcellence.org/schools/elm/
Location: 5900 South Sunny Slope Road, New Berlin, WI, USA
Phone: 262-789-6581
Carrie Hansen - Office Assistant
Email: Carrie.Hansen@nbexcellence.org
Phone: 262-789-6581
Jaime Veal - Principal
Email: Jaime.Veal@nbexcellence.org
Phone: 262-789-6580
Ryan Samz - Associate Principal
Email: Ryan.Samz@nbexcellence.org
Phone: (262) 789-6584