MacArthur Messenger

Dear MacArthur Family,

As the holiday season approaches, I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and your families. As a fellow parent of young children, I understand just how busy this time of year can be with meetings, activities, errands, and everything else that fills our day. I appreciate all you do to balance your family’s schedule while supporting your children in learning, growing, and discovering new experiences. I also want to express my gratitude for all of the support around the food drive Mrs. Besonen’s bunch organized. We had an overwhelming amount of donations and it is a wonderful thing to be part of a community that cares to help others. Your partnership makes a tremendous difference in creating a positive and enriching environment for our students to learn and grow.

This time of year is an excellent opportunity to reflect on our many gifts, spend quality time with loved ones, and share in the spirit of giving and gratitude. At MacArthur, we are excited to celebrate the season with various activities, including a 5th-grade concert at the PAC, a 3rd-5th grade Spelling Bee, a fun Spirit Week, Running Reindeer (a fun activity that involves classrooms getting many teachers visiting in short spurts to do a shared reading), and a visit from the GHS Carolers. These moments are unique ways for our students to come together and build community.

This week, we also had an Empathy Assembly. During our assembly, we discussed teaching our children to understand and share the feelings of others, which helps foster kindness, respect, and stronger relationships. We also discussed how small acts of kindness and thoughtful words can make a big difference.

On behalf of our staff, I wish you a joyful and restful holiday season. I hope you find moments to slow down, connect, and truly enjoy each other’s company. May it be filled with happiness, health, and cherished memories.

See you next year!

Mr. Gonzalez

Monday 12/9: Spelling Bee during school day

Tuesday 12/10: PTA Chick-fil-A Restaurant Fundraiser, 4pm-8pm

Thursday 12/12: 5th Grade Concert, 6:30, at PAC (students should arrive between 6 and 6:20pm)

Friday 12/13: Festive Friday Spirit Day!

Monday 12/16 - Friday 12/20: Winter Spirit Week (see below!)

Friday 12/20: GHS Carolers visit MacArthur! (during school day)

Monday 12/23 - Wednesday 1/1: No School/Winter Break

Thursday 1/2: School Resumes

Thursday 1/9: PTA Meeting, 7pm

Monday 1/20: No School

Thursday 1/23: 2nd Grade Concert, 6:30pm

Friday 1/24: No School

Monday 1/27: MAC Celebrates General MacArthur's Birthday at school (courtesy of our wonderful PTA!)

We are approaching the end of the calendar year and have a lot to celebrate! We had a wonderful time at the Fall Festival, pizza party and Bingo Night. Our Fall Book Fair went amazingly! With all that the end of the year brings, we have a few things that are still happening before the end of the year:

Our students are preparing for our school Spelling Bee on Monday, December 9th. If you will be coming in to cheer them on, please be sure to bring your driver's license so you can enter the school.

Our restaurant fundraiser at Chick-Fil-A is on Tuesday, December 10th. You have to use their electronic ordering to ensure your order counts towards our fundraising efforts. Please order via the included instructions, enjoy your delicious chicken and help our school!

We are going to clean out the PTA closet. It is time to purge old items and ensure the PTA does our part to help the school look its finest. If you want to channel your inner Marie Kondo and help us organize, we will be doing so on Friday, December 27th and Monday, December 30th from 9AM-3PM. We will have child care available.

Finally, we all know that our children would not be successful without our teachers. Every person who works at the school helps to ensure our students have an amazing experience in their educational paths. Please take the time to look at these favorite things lists from the wonderful MacArthur staff who do so much for our children like teaching them, ensuring their school functions well, feeding them, taking care of their physical and mental needs and making all of our lives easier.

As we rest and celebrate with our families at the close of 2024, get excited for what we have in 2025. In January alone, we have our Chipotle restaurant fundraiser, the 2nd grade music concert and General MacArthur’s Birthday celebration. Next semester will also have our annual MacCarnival and Silent Auction. We have already listed over 60 items on our auction site and many more will be added over the next two months. Check in to this website often and keep abreast of what we have for auction. Next semester also brings our Golden Guest lunches (let your families know), Spring Book Fair, Spring Dance and Fun Run! We will have fundraisers at other restaurants like Smart Cow as well as ticket fundraisers to things like the Bucks and Admirals. You can follow all of ourschool and PTA events on our Google calendar here.

If you would like access to the PTA Google calendar, it can be accessed here. All of our finalized events for the rest of the year are on the calendar.

Thank you for a wonderful semester and we look forward to all the fun in 2025!

Your PTA Representatives:

Robert Sanchez: President - robkiana@gmail.com - 858-663-8819

Lauren Beverung: VP - lauren4phd@gmail.com - 614-312-4890

Coral Kline: Secretary - coralrae.kline@gmail.com - 608-658-0475

Jackie Jubert: Treasurer - jackiejubert@gmail.com - 414-659-8631

Please make sure your children are dressed to go out to recess. Unless it is raining, or the temperature/wind chill is too cold (below zero), the students will go out every day for two recesses. Please be sure to write your student's last name on a tag in their outerwear (hats, gloves, boots, snowpants, coats), so we can find the owner when things end up in our lost and found. If your scholar does not have snow pants AND boots, they will not be able to play off the blacktop when there is snow on the ground.

Related to the above note, we are starting to experience wet recesses. When it is especially wet, your child may come inside with wet pants or socks. No matter the age, please remember to send an extra set of clothes to school with your child. The health room does not have enough extra clothes for wet days.

• Please remember to always include the lunch choice your scholar would like to have (if they are coming in late, and would like to order a lunch) when completing an eagle note or calling your child in late for the day. If you do not include a lunch choice, and it is after 9:30am when your child arrives, they will be automatically given the "Option 2" choice.

• Families can find answers to many Food and Nutrition questions by looking at our Germantown School District webpage, by clicking on INFORMATION, then under DEPARTMENTS (in the center of the page), you will see Food and Nutrition.

Our Lost and Found is overflowing! If you are missing something, please remind your scholar to visit the Lost and Found to retrieve their items. See below for some pictures. Unclaimed items will be donated in January.

Please send an eagle note in when your child has an after school activity. If your student has DI practice, Girl Scouts, Lego club, Girls on the Run, or any other activity, please note that the teacher needs to know they can release your child to that activity. They are unable to attend without a note from a guardian.

If your student rides the bus, please check the below link for the most updated routing information. The username is your scholar's student ID, and the password is the primary number on your Skyward Family Account (no dashes or spaces).

As a reminder, all medications (prescription or over-the-counter) need to be brought to the front office by a guardian. Please do not send them to school with your child in their backpack. This includes cough drops.

As a reminder, if your child has a fever of 100 degrees or above, has diarrhea, or is vomiting, they need to be out of school until they are symptom-free for 24 hours.

If your child has chapped/cracked lips, please know they are welcome to bring chapstick to keep with them during the day for their use!

Ms. Kinkade is getting ready for the 2025 Battle of the Books reading competition! This fun competition is for any interested 4th and 5th grade scholars. Click below for more information!

We apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment the cancelation of movie night that was planned for 12/6 caused. We do plan on having another go at it on February 14th, but we need help! We are looking parent volunteers and high schools kids from 5 pm until 9 pm that would be willing to donate time. The money earned from the fundraiser will go directly to our MAC DI teams, so any help would be greatly appreciated. We are looking for food servers, people that can do face painting, supervise art/crafts tables, general supervision while the movie is playing and site clean-up from 8:30- 9pm. Those interested can contact Mary Bykowski (Germantown Schools DI Coordinator) at mbykowski@gsdwi.org.

Our Kids' Closet is a non-profit, all-volunteer, community-based agency providing gently used clothing at no cost to low-income, foster families and emergency visits for families in need.

The Germantown Park and Rec. Department’s Recreation Brochures can be viewed online here.

Upcoming Programs to register for include:

Pom Pons

Afterschool Legos Classes

Indoor Tennis Instructions

Schools Out – Stream Sampler

Crochet Classes (New crochet and animal)

Tae Kwon Do

Learn Magic

Babysitters Classes

Art Classes

Check out this link for program specifics:

Please complete the DISTRICT VOLUNTEER APPLICATION using the button above if you are interested in volunteering at school or chaperoning a field trip with MacArthur. This form MUST be filled out and the background check needs to be cleared (it can take up to two weeks to clear) if you would like to help. The background checks are good for 3 years, after which they must be renewed.

If you are visiting the school and have an appointment, please bring your I.D. with you so you are able to get a visitor's badge to enter the school.

We plan to post many updates and school happenings on Facebook. Please be sure to follow us so that you can celebrate the student learning and school happenings with us!

Website: gsdwi.org/o/macarthur
Location: W154N11492 Fond Du Lac Ave, Germantown, WI, USA
Phone: 262-253-3468
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MacArthurGSDWI