Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

It’s hard to believe November is here, and students have already wrapped up the first quarter of the school year! Although it’s only been one quarter, we’re incredibly proud of our students for the growth and accomplishments they’ve achieved so far.

Every student who walks through our doors brings unique strengths, and each has already found success in different ways this year—whether by making a new friend, joining a new sport or club for the first time, deepening their understanding of a subject, or developing their own system for staying organized. Our hope is that each student knows that every step they take, big or small, is a success worth celebrating.

We understand that success looks different for each student, and we want you to know we’re here to support and cheer them on as they discover their own paths. Whether your child is focused on academic goals, building social connections, or exploring new interests, we’re committed to helping them thrive here at Muskego Lakes.

Please remember you can always reach out to us or to Student Services if you have concerns or would like a partner in supporting your child!

In partnership,

Rachel Rydzewski and Nancy Pasch

MLMS Principals

• 11/21: Choralfest

• 11/27-11/29: No School

• 12/2: No School

• 12/3-12/5: Literacy iReady Testing

• 12/5: Winter Band Concert

• 12/9-12/11: Math iReady Testing

• 12/12: Winter Choir Concert

• 12/13: 6th Grade Science Fair

With Quarter 1 ending earlier this week, we wanted you to be aware that we will be sending home report cards next week with your child. Please be on the look out for your child's report card in their Musky Folder on Thursday, November 14th.

We strongly encourage you to review your child's scores and the personalized comments teachers made regarding how well your child is learning. Next week's newsletter will have more information on how to access the report card within IC.

Ensuring that your child has support in their learning is important to us. We are proud to share that we offer two different opportunities for students to get assistance!

Homework Center

What is the Homework Center?

A quiet space where students can access during their lunch hour to accomplish any task from a class. In addition, there will be a staff member present who can help answer student questions about work that they are stuck on.

Reasons Students Might Visit the Homework Center:

• The student is struggling with an assignment or studying for an upcoming assessment and would like some extra help.
• The student wants a quiet, focused space to work or read.
• The student cannot stay after school to attend our afterschool Homework Club or have extra-curricular activities after school.
• Homeroom isn't quite enough time to finish your work.
• The student is looking for someone to give them a little more guidance on a specific task.
• A teacher has asked the student to go to get caught up on work

Homework Club

If you child is looking to stay after and get assistance, encourage them to stop by homework club. Homework club meets weekly from 3:05 to 4:05 pm in Room 24 (Ms. Rodriguez) room every Wednesday. Students can attend weekly or as needed; they need to sign in when they arrive and need a ride home. Homework club is a chance for students to have a quiet and support time to complete homework or get assistance as needed.

Middle school can be such a hard time because every student is unique developmentally. Some young people in middle school spend most time outside of school with their family, while some spend time with peers outside of school. You can best support your child by:

• Having regular conversations about what qualities they look for in friends

• Encourage them to be themselves, keeping an eye on when you notice a shift in personality, disposition or attitude around particular peers

• Focus on the importance of quality versus quantity when it comes to trustworthy friends

• Encourage your child to join a co-curricular to help meet other students with common interests

• Challenge your child to think about what kinds of choices they make around different peers or peer groups

• If you are concerned about your child not having a friend or two at school, please reach out to our school counselors (Ms.Leigh Grall or Mr. Jim Brickweg) who can help partner with your child to foster relationship building aligned to common interests.

As the holiday season is quickly approaching, we understand that many families look forward to celebrating special traditions and spending quality time together. While these moments are important, we also want to stress the value of regular school attendance, even during the busy season.

Consistent attendance is key to academic success and strengthening peer relationships. Each day, our students participate in interactive lessons, hands-on activities, and group discussions that can’t be easily recreated outside the classroom. Missing just a few days can make it harder for students to keep up with assignments and stay engaged in their learning. So thank you for trying whenver possible to schedule appointments, vacations, etc, outside of the school day whenever possible.

If you or your student have concerns, please reach out to Stacy Pawlak (stacy.pawlak@muskegonorway.org); we’re here to work together.

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 committee 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!

If your son is hoping to play basketball for Muskego Lakes this year, tryouts will be on November 12th and 13th. Students should plan to stay after school until 4:30pm. If you have questions, please reach out to either:

• Mitch Hendrix (mitch.hendrix@muskegonorway.org)
• Jack Thompson (jack.thompson@muskegonorway.org).

Money can be tight, especially around the holidays. If you are looking for assistance this season please consider reaching out to the Christmas Clearing Council for financial Christmas gift assistance.

The 2024 Client Application for Christmas assistance is now available. Applications are due by November 15th, at 11:59 PM.
The application is linked here.

To qualify a family must:
-Live in Waukesha County
-Have custody of the children (ages 0-18) they are applying for
-Provide proof of financial hardship (such as qualifying for free and reduced lunch)

Reach out to Stacy Pawlak, School Social Worker, if you have questions or are interested in additional community supports: (262) 971 1810 ext 6282 (Bay Lane), ext 5403 (Muskego Lakes), or stacy.pawlak@muskegonorway.org

Our goal is to help you and your child reunite with items they have lost or misplaced. This means that our staff checks items turned into Lost and Found for names, and when possible call students down to reunite them with their belongings. One way that would help us do this, is to ensure that you label items as much as possible with first and last names.

Common items we find are:

• water bottles
• school supplies
• assignment notebooks
• lunch bags
• sweatshirts

Please encourage your child if they are missing sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, pencil cases, hats, headbands, etc. to stop by student services to check for their missing items. We will continue to update our photos weekly.

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.

Would you like to Skip the LINE and enjoy FOUR reserved seats at the event of your choice? If so, you can purchase raffle tickets to enter one of two chances to win a set of four tickets to your selected event:

• Winter Band Concert- 6th Grade
• Winter Band Concert-7/8th Grade
• Winter Choir Concert
• Spring Musical (You pick the show!)

A reminder that tickets must be completed, cut out, and sent to school in an envelope labeled “Seat Raffle” with your child’s name and the event you want to win even if paying via Venmo.

Students should have brought home a hard copy of this raffle sheets in their Musky Folders. Additional raffle copies can be found HERE. All entries must be received by 8am November 25th. Raffle winners will be drawn and notified November 25th.

Did you know that shopping at Walmart can help our MLMS PTO earn money? Right now, there's a special offer: link your accounts, and the PTO earns $5 for each new connection! For more details, see the information below.

Interested in getting some new spirit wear and support the MLMS PTO? You can shop now HERE until Sunday, November 10th. Plenty of options for all.

The MLMS PTO is looking to continue the traditon to have snacks for staff each Wednesday. We need your help though by signing up to donate snacks each week. This greatly helps them make it through the week. 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 HERE for a date below if you can. Drop off will be in the front office by 8am on the Wednesday you sign up.

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!!

Our last meeting Dates for the 24-25 School Year are:

• November 4
• January 6
• February 3
• March 3
• April 7
• April 28

In an effort to ensure students can move through the lunch lines efficently, 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 you ease, we have linked the September menu below with other helpful resources. You can always find the link to updated lunch menus, at the end of this newsletter.

• October Lunch Menu
• Guide to Making a Complete Meal
• Top Ten Reasons For School Meals

2024-25 Lunch Prices:

• Elementary School $2.55
• MS Diner meal $2.95
• MS Pizza meal $3.50
• MS Grab n Go $3.50
• MS Creation meal $3.90
• Adult $4.65
• Milk Carton $0.50
  
  

Questions related to the food service program can be directed to Benny D’Epiro, Food Service Director at 262-971-1790 x4522.

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.

Please make note of days off and important events on the 24-25 calendar. It is ideal to make dentist and doctor appointments on days we do not have school whenever possible.

We encourage you to follow us on Facebook.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muskegolakesmuskies

To view current support staff job vacancies, click HERE