• Thank you for your patience.  Bob from the Milwaukee Public Museum got back to me today.  Their museum is offering us acccess, at a steep discount, to their show Spooky Space.

• Wednesday-Friday this week.

• Youtube Trailer

  • Looking for cosmic fun this Halloween season? Would you like to meet the stars -- the stars of Halloween? Monsters, zombies, and ghosts -- and their far more terrible counterparts in space? Oh yes, space has its monsters: Black holes,   zombie stars, and   spectacular ghostly nebulae!

  • I don't really know what to expect.  Your kids may last the entire time, they may need to leave early.   Here is a full preview.  It says 6-7 and up and the preview seemed fine as far as "scary".

• Signup Schedule

• Starlab Info

  • Cover expectations prior to coming.  You may need to adjust these directions for your age level.

Curricular Connections:

The Spooky Space show from the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium at the Milwaukee Public Museum offers an engaging way to blend storytelling with astronomy, which can complement several areas of our K-2 curriculum.

This 23-minute fulldome program uses Halloween-themed metaphors—such as comparing ghosts to nebulae, vampires to black holes, and the invisible man to the unseen universe—to introduce young learners to space concepts in a fun and accessible way. This approach aligns well with the narrative structure used in Wit and Wisdom, which emphasizes storytelling and creative engagement in building literacy skills.

The program also supports STEM concepts, making it a natural fit with Mystery Science and STEMscopes, as it introduces foundational astronomy topics like stellar evolution and black holes through relatable imagery. This thematic and visual learning experience can foster curiosity and inquiry, key components in science education frameworks used in our school​.

• Staff Meeting

  • No staff meeting today.  Upstairs staff and a few others have the evac chair training and I have a meeting at the Admin building.

• Halloween

  • Reminders: https://www.tinyurl.com/WestHalloween22

  • Please communicate directly to Geraldene in the office if you have any plans for that day.  We need to know times and plans and we need to know if we should expect any additional volunteers coming in.  We will get this onto the staff calendar to organize the day.

• Calendars

  • The calendar tab was added back to this site.  Sorry about that.  It got hidden a while back.  It is under the "UPDATES" drop down menu above.

• Media Center

  • When returning books.  Please use only the bins outside of the media center.  We have a lot of cleaning and shelving to do.  If books are brought back in, we may mix them up with other piles.

  • I'll be in again this Sunday (11/27) afternoon at 2:00 for anyone that's interested in helping to organize and label books.

• Annual Goal Setting (all teaching staff)

  • Staff Meeting (Annual Goal Setting) Thursday, November 21⋅3:15 – 3:30pm.

  • We will go over Google Classroom and cover expectations together.  We will work as teams on this.

• Summative Evals (8 teachers this year, an email was already sent to that group this morning).

• The Bookfair Signup is below.  Student flyers will go home the week prior on 11/5/24.

• October Starlab Signup: I'm waiting on a call back from two different museums to see if we can license and watch their content.  I'll post an update when I hear back.

• October Student of the Month nominations.

• Classrooms wanting to start checking out books:

  • If you haven't already, take a look at the Media Center portion of this website.  I'd like to get classes checking out books as soon as we come back from break.  Please note that website and two items on it specifically:

    1. Library Manners Video at the top.

    2. Library Marker: the colored stick they should use when removing a book from the shelf so they know where to put that book back if they aren't using it.

• The Bookfair Signup is below.

Recently I sent an email reminder staff to log in to the EMS app if they haven't.  The email came directly from that system.  May have looked like junk, it was legitimate.

More info on that app and website can be found on the 9/12 Staff Meeting section below. 

Today I added a digital version of the red safety and crisis binders to the app, in the "Flipcharts" section.

If you still do not have access to this site, meet with me directly and we will get you setup.

• West Rapids Student of the Month for September 2024

  • Nomination form: https://forms.gle/FZQY4pidfUtaghq9A

• The office will be scheduling subs for Wit and Wisdom Module 2 work time, a 1/2 day).

  • Tentative Dates:

    • November 20th (West K-1)

    • November 21st (West 2nd)

• General Feedback so far from OG Three Part Drill Walkthroughs:

  • Reviewing Concepts for Mastery (short, excellent page including a video example.)

  • AUDITORY portion of the three part drill 

    • Why "Thumbs up/down"? In the Orton-Gillingham approach, giving a “thumbs up” for real words serves as a simple, visual way to reinforce the student’s ability to recognize and differentiate real words from nonsense words. This positive reinforcement helps students strengthen their decoding skills by ensuring they can identify words that make sense within their vocabulary and language structure. It’s a quick way to affirm that the student has correctly recognized and processed a word that follows the phonetic rules being taught, encouraging accuracy and confidence in reading.

    • Why "using the sand or any other medium"?  In the Orton-Gillingham approach, using sand or another tactile medium to write letters is based on the principle of multisensory learning. This method engages multiple senses—touch, sight, and movement (kinesthetic)—to reinforce letter formation and sound-symbol relationships. When students trace letters in sand, they physically feel the shape of the letter, which helps them internalize its form and connect it to its corresponding sound. This multisensory technique is particularly helpful for students with dyslexia or other learning difficulties because it strengthens neural pathways involved in reading and writing through the combined input of touch, sight, and motion.

      • Sand alternatives: 

        • Rice or Salt Trays: Similar to sand, rice or salt can be used for tactile writing but is typically cleaner and easier to clean up.

        • Finger Paint in a Sealed Bag: Place finger paint in a resealable plastic bag and have students trace letters on the outside of the bag. It provides the same tactile feedback without the mess.

        • Felt Boards: Students can trace letters with their fingers on textured felt boards, providing tactile feedback without any loose material.

        • Playdough or Clay: Rolling out playdough or clay and shaping letters offers hands-on interaction and strengthens fine motor skills.

        • Textured Surfaces: Use textured surfaces like bumpy plastic mats or sandpaper for students to trace letters with their fingers. This still engages touch but without any loose material.

        • Dry Erase Boards or Chalkboards: Although not as tactile, writing with dry-erase markers or chalk provides kinesthetic engagement and can be quickly erased and reused.

        • Gel Pads or Gel Boards: These reusable pads contain gel, allowing students to press and trace letters, which gives a tactile response without a mess.