Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter
December 8th
Dear Muskego Lakes Families,
We are committed to listening and responding to your experiences and continuously work to improve our service to you. So, if you haven't done so yet, please consider taking a few minutes to provide feedback. Our partners at Studer Education are providing an opportunity for you to provide feedback anonymously by clicking this link: Muskego Lakes Experience Survey.
So far this year, we've had 187 families complete the survey, and last year we had 361 participants. Huge thanks to everyone who has already completed the survey, but we have a ways to go!
We use the results to make sure we are best meeting your needs and the needs of your children. And we use your ideas and feedback to make the school community even better.
We have heard that the survey is much easier to navigate from a laptop or desktop computer but you are able to complete the survey from a mobile device as well.
The survey will remain open until Wednesday, December 13, 2023.
In partnership,
Rachel and Nancy
Muskego Lakes Principals
Important Dates Ahead
- 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
- January 12: No School Professional Day
Math iReady and Testing Results
Our students started mid-year iReady diagnostic testing this week in literacy. Next week, students will continue with math testing beginning Monday. Please remind your child(ren) to bring their headphones, ensure their Chromebooks are charged, and get a good night's sleep.
After students go over their results with their teacher, we will be sending home printed iReady diagnostic reports in our Musky folders with your students. This report will allow you to review your child's mid-year progress since the beginning of the school year.
After seeing your child's mid-year iReady diagnostic report, please reach out to your child's literacy and/or math teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Are you planning to attend the 6th Grade Science Fair?
The 6th-grade science fair is on Friday, December 15th, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. We ask that if you are planning to attend you RSVP using your student's classroom teacher's link for our planning purposes:
- Team Wonder (Vlasaty-Smith, Geers, Staniszewski): Sign-up HERE
- Team Ohana (Dwyer and Bloczynski): Sign-up HERE
- Team Rock (Kloc and Roman): Sign-up HERE
If you or your family members attending have not had their driver's license run through our security yet upon entering the school, we highly recommend you come any day prior to the event, between the hours of 8-2:30, to do that so that their check-in process will be faster the day of the event. If you cannot stop in before the event, please know you might have to wait a bit longer before being admitted into the building. We thank you for your cooperation in helping keep our building safe and secure.
Notice for 7 & 8th Graders Attending MHS
On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, all middle school students who have classes 1st & 2nd Hour at MHS will report to their Middle Schools and not to Muskego High School - due to the Career Fair at MHS.
8th Grade Career & Community Fair Ahead at Muskego Lakes
As part of our comprehensive Academic and Career Planning at the middle level, we are hosting a Career & Community Fair for our 8th graders on the morning of February 23rd.
We are looking for a wide range of speakers in order to ensure we have representation across the U.S. Department of Education's 16 clusters:
- Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
- Architecture & Construction
- Arts, Audio/Video Technology & Communications
- Business, Management & Administration
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Government & Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing, Sales & Service
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
If you or someone you know might be interested, please reach out to Rachel Rydzewski, Principal, who can provide more information. Thank you for considering!
Executive Function Series: What is Response Inhibition?
As we shared last week, executive functions can fit into one of two overall categories - “thinking” or “doing”. This week, we will expand on Response Inhibition (impulse control).
Response Inhibition is the ability to think before we act. It helps with self-control and is what helps you mentally hit ‘pause’ when needed. This allows us to avoid unwanted consequences.
In real life, this may look like completing a sentence even though you may have already known or thought that it wouldn’t be helpful to the situation. It also makes it hard to accomplish tasks because the brain is not filtering things out and is automatically responding to things that aren’t as important to the task/goal.
Ways you can help your teen:
- Assume that your teen will have reduced impulse control in the presence of peers.
- Establish clear expectations, limits, and consequences (know who they will be with, where, when, and how they will be returning home)
- Have a procedure for how they will let you know of any changes in plans.
- Right before they leave for the event or situation, review the specific rules again.
- Expect your teen to choose fun activities over challenging ones
- Use a first, then schedule (“first do your homework, then you can play the video game”)
- Have your teen earn some of the things they want (ie., save money or do tasks around the house to earn the phone). This will foster a key skill, that is the ability to delay gratification or be able to wait to get something you want.
- For tasks that are challenging or not as pleasant for them, you may want to break it down into smaller steps and check in on progress along the way. For example, “clean your room” may be too daunting and make avoiding other distractions difficult. Instead, try breaking it down - “pick your clothes up, then I will check”. (adapted from Peg Dawson)
Look for more information next week on Working Memory.
With the arrival of winter upon us, we're excited to ensure that our students are ready for both outdoor and indoor recess activities. Next week, our PBIS lesson will cover what students can anticipate during recess, whether they're playing indoors or outdoors, and the various options available to them.
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!
Anything left on December 21st will be donated, so please encourage your child to stop by and look for their missing items.
You can check out the items that are currently in our lost and found this week:
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