October Newsletter

Principal Thoughts

Hello Everyone!

Yes this is the really LATE version of the October Newsletter.  I apologize for the delay but as they say "Better late than never."

Our school year is off and running and we are approaching conferences in a few weeks.  The staff here at Park Community have done a great job of building a new school family in their classrooms and routines are well established already in classes.  We are so happy to have our new Kindergarten students with us and we are all learning their names and celebrating their personalities each day.

Please take the time to look through this newsletter to see many new things that we are working on in school this year.  If you have questions please let me know by email at kortensk@kaukaunasd.org or by phone at 766-6129.  It is an honor to work with your children and I look forward to another great year at Park Community Charter School.

Wishing You Well!
Ken Kortens
Principal

Fundraisers, Why Do We Need Them?

I am often asked that question by parents and even other educators in Kaukauna.  As a public school that is part of the Kaukauna Area School District we do recieve funds from the district each year.  Our staff salaries, building maintenance and utilities are all paid for by KASD.  We also recieve a per pupil allotment of funds for curriculum rescources and technology.  Without these funds we could not afford to opperate on our own and would need to close our doors.

However, anything that we choose to do that is different than the other elementary schools in KASD or if we choose to spend above and beyond the allotment from the district we need to fundraiser for.  Here are some key examples from this school year:

• Conscious Discipline - Park Community is the only school in our district doing this behavior program and one of only a few schools in Wisconsin doing it school wide.  This year we will be bringing in a trainer from Conscious Discipline to work with students and staff on December 11th and 12th.  The cost of doing this training is over $7,000 and is not financially supported by the district as it is different from PBIS which is done in other Kaukauna schools.
• BenQ Interactive Technology - This past summer the governance board of Park Community authorized the purchase of 11 BenQ Interactive Boards.  These boards are in every homeroom in our school and in our special education and library classrooms.  We were able to use district funds to pay for some of the $33,000.00 price tag but covered the majority out of money raised at various fundraisers during the year.  Park Community is the ONLY school in Kaukauna to have this technology in every homeroom this year and we would not have been able to do this without fundraiser money.
• Chromebooks in Every Classroom 1-4 - Park Community has had sets of 8 Chromebooks in each classroom grades 1-4 for the past two years.  Other schools in Kaukauna have been working through a roll out plan starting in 1st grade.  Our governance board supported the purchase of 90 Chromebooks to make this happen ahead of schedule.
• Mentor Texts Linking to our Community Partners - Through fundraiser money we have been purchasing books that link to Science and Social Studies standards.  We have been working on this for the past two years while other elementary schools are only now beginning the process of addressing new science and social studies standards through quality literature.

Our Governance Board has made a commitment to limiting the number of fundraisers and focusing on three large ones moving forward.  The Golf Outing, our Lambeau Field Booth and The Kaukauna Strong Challenge in spring.  Here is an update on each of these important events.

The 4th Annual Park Community Golf Outing

Our outing was held October 7th and was a success.  We raised just over $3,200.00 which was slightly more than the amount we raised in 2016.  This amount will pay for half of our upcoming The outing was a success because of the hard work of my planning partners Jon Gillis, Jesse Mikalski and Andy Benson.  We also had a nice group of staff and parents who helped with the event on the 7th.

This event takes place each fall and we are always looking for new golfers and sponsors.  Plan now to play in our outing next fall we plan to hold our event the weekend prior or after October Fest in Appleton.

Lambeau Field Booth

Our booth has been up and running since the Billy Joel concert June 17th.  Our booth needs 12 workers each time to function at it's most efficient level.  Vicki Kerry has done an amazing job of organizing the booth, coordinating the volunteers and working every event along with Travis Schaefer who organizes the cooking area.  I have worked my first game recently and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  We were super busy but the time flew by.  The booth has the potential to be a HUGE fundraiser for our school but will only be successful if we have adults to staff each game.  If each family did one game we would have plenty of people to keep our booth fully staffed.

We don't need your money at all for this event just your time.  We still need workers for upcoming games.  HERE is the link to the sign up genius to help us out.

The Kaukauna Strong Challenge

Each Spring we sponsor the Kaukauna Strong Challenge.  This healthy family event will be held on Sunday May 6th.  This event raised just under $3,000 dollars last year and we are looking to see continued growth.  The event includes three separate activities, a 5K family walk, a 5K run and a 20 mile bike ride.  Stay tuned for this event as it approaches.

Video Anouncements with Mr. Kortens

This year we started doing daily announcements recoreded and played during classroom Brain Smart Starts in each classroom over the BenQ interactive boards.  Two students from each class voluteer to give up their recess each day to record announcements with Mr. Kortens.  Each group serves for a 6 days and we record each day to be played the next day.

If you would like to watch the daily announcements please follow these steps:

You will need to sign in as a student and connect your email accounts to the class in SeeSaw by typing in this code one time:  EINZ BZYJ

For security, this code is valid until October 17, 2017.

After 7 days, you can get a new code by emailing kortensk@kaukaunasd.org

1. Open the Seesaw app or website at app.seesaw.me
2. Choose "I'm a Student"
3. Choose Email/Google Account
4. Create a new account, or sign in to an existing account
5. Type in the code above

Here is an example of what you will see each day.

Counselor Corner with Mr. Zamost 

October Classroom Lesson

During the month of October, I will be visiting all of the K-4 classrooms and talking with students about Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Awareness (ATODA)! In each grade level we will discuss Red Ribbon Week and celebrate living a healthy and drug free life.  First and second grade students will brainstorm healthy habits and learn that drugs and alcohol can have harmful effects.  They will also learn medicine safety. Third and fourth grade students will learn about the different types of drugs and alcohol and discuss peer pressure refusal skills along with the negative effects that addictions can have on people’s lives.  All classes will be focusing on the benefits of living a healthy and drug free life!  As always, feel free to call me at 766-6100 ext. 3164 with any questions or concerns.  

Red Ribbon Week

During the week of October 23rd to October 25th, we will celebrate RED RIBBON WEEK…a week dedicated to celebrating a healthy and drug free life!

All Kaukauna schools will be participating in various activities that promote drug free living.  Students will participate in several dress-up days to raise awareness of the importance of living a drug free life!  The elementary dress-up days are as follows:  

Monday, October 23rd

“Teaming Up Against Drugs is NO SWEAT!”

 Wear your favorite Sweats and/or Team Apparel!

Tuesday, October 24th

“My Future is BRIGHT DRUG FREE!”  

Wear BRIGHT or NEON colors!

Wednesday, October 25th

“Red Day!” “Be United Against Drugs!”

 Deck yourself out in Red apparel!

Elementary students will also be invited to participate in a Piggly Wiggly grocery bag decorating or poster making activity promoting a healthy and drug free life!

Small Group Opportunities

Throughout October we will be starting a variety of small group counseling experiences. Some of the group offerings include:  Fun with Friends (Social Skills), Fun with Feelings (Feelings Management), Family Change, Kids for Character, etc.   Students can be self referred, teacher referred or parent referred.  If your child is invited to participate, they will bring home a letter describing the group and the details of the lessons.  For questions, concerns or referrals call 766-6100 ext. 3164 or email zamostd@kaukaunasd.org

Library News with Mrs. Lemke

The library welcomed students with some fun changes to the library.  With the renovations and a new librarian, the library has some fun book letters, decorations, and new book characters to our beautiful room.  September was a month filled with review on proper book care and library rules. See below for your child’s activities.

Kindergarten discovered where to find books that are just right for them.  Then, we reviewed rules and book care with some of our favorite book characters, like Pigeon.

First grade became book care ninja’s and reviewed how to take care of our books and be good ninja’s while using the library.  They remembered library rules really well from last year.

Second grade learned the ABC’s of the library. The Shelf Elf explained our library Golden Rules and book instructions.  He explained that he’ll be in the library until Christmas to remind us about proper behavior.

Third grade went on a scavenger hunt to remind them how the library is setup and what the guidelines are.  They also practiced logging in and accessing the library card catalog to find books they want to read.  Don’t be afraid to ask your child the steps to find a book starting at the KASD website!

Fourth grade hunted for clues that reminded them about library processes and guidelines.  They also practiced logging in to Chromebooks and accessing the library card catalog to find books to read using all the different search topics.  Please ask your child the steps to the card catalog starting at KASD main website!

Note: Please watch for  this parent resource coming home.  October topics include Internet Safety and Cyberbullying, along with some steps and passwords for resources students love to use at school.

Art Corner with Mr. Theder

Kindergarten - Artists worked on their shape person, and then created an accurate representation of Mondrian's Composition II. They learned how to cut safely with a scissors, glue, and their primary colors. 

First Grade - Artists worked on their shape person, and finished it up with fine details. They got to look and talk about abstraction and Kandinsky circles. They reviewed their primary colors and learned their secondary colors. 

Second Grade - Artists started the year making a sketch book. They learned their five basic lines, and their warm/cool colors by making a sun and moon drawing. They also learned about the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci and his cool creations. The second graders are currently working on their own Da Vinci Robots.

Third Grade - Artists started the year making a sketch book. They reviewed their warm/cool colors and learned their neutral colors by drawing a sea turtle. They were challenged to draw complex shapes like hexagons within the shell of their turtle. Then got to blend oil pastel for the turtle's shell, arms, and head. Third grade then finished it up by using water colors for the background. 

Fourth Grade - Artists started the year by making a sketch book also. We reviewed most of the color families. They learned two new color families by drawing an optical illusion. They learned and got to experiment with complementary and tertiary colors. 

Music Notes from Mrs. Nimmer

Each month, the 1st-4th graders celebrate the birthday of a famous composer.  We learn facts about the composer's life, and we listen to music written by that composer.  For the month of September, our birthday composer was George Gershwin.  We learned about his life, and how he often partnered with his brother Ira to compose songs.  George would write the music, and Ira would write the lyrics.  We learned to sing the song I Got Rhythm  written by George and Ira Gershwin.  We also listened to and compared several different recordings of the song, including recordings by Judy Garland, Sara Vaughn, and even a Barbershop Quartet!

Kindergarten - In kindergarten we spend time in the beginning of the year working on “finding” our singing voices.  We talk about the difference between a singing voice and a speaking voice.  We learned several speaking pieces this month, including Going on a Bear Hunt, The Apple Poem, and Herman the Worm.  We also talked about the difference between soft and loud, and learned to play the Grizzly Bear game to practice soft and loud.  We sang several songs that we use as our gathering songs when we begin music class, including Hello There and Going Over the Sea.  One of our favorite singing books this month was The Animal Boogie.

1st Grade - In 1st grade we learned the song The Corner Grocery Store.  We added rhythm sticks to the song and also composed a few of our own rhyming verses.  We reviewed quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests and practiced patterns using those 3 notes.  We practiced pitch-matching with two new games this month, My Elephant Pat and Alphabet Soup.  We had fun clapping and singing with our friends in the circle game Bow Wow Wow.

2nd Grade - In 2nd grade we learned about piano and forte, and used these concepts to play a circle game called "Rig a Jig."  We also learned how to play the piano/forte hiding game.  We learned how to read verses in written music in our song Bill Grogan's Goat, and compared the song's story to the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The students learned Shake My Sillies Out, Everybody's Got to Grow, and Joy of Music to work on our pitch-matching skills.  We had fun playing the "Red Shirt" game to practice our quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests.


3rd Grade - In 3rd grade, we learned to sing Jambo.  We get to sing in Swahili, Spanish, and Japanese!  Jambo means "hello" in Swahili.  We also listened to a piece from Africa called Kwaheri, which means "goodbye" in Swahili.  We added drums, maracas, and tambourines to the piece, following a rhythmic read-along chart using quarter notes, eighth notes, and eighth rests.  We learned two folk songs this month.  The first, Old Joe Clark, tells a funny story!  We learned about the guitar, and got to sing with the guitar for this piece.  We also reviewed the concepts of verse/refrain in this song.  Playing a circle partner game to the song John Kanakanaka was a class favorite!  We will be studying the string family this year, and the students watched an overview video of the String Family of instruments to preview some of the orchestral and non-orchestral string instruments we will be learning about this year.  We will be partnering with the Fox Valley Symphony and our 3rd grade classroom teachers to participate in the Artistic Adventures program this year, which will include a trip to the Trout Museum this fall to hear a string quartet, as well as a trip to the PAC in spring to hear the Fox Valley Youth Symphony.  We are very excited for this great opportunity and partnership for our students!

4th Grade - In 4th grade, we learned a piece in a jazz style called Dancing on the Rooftop.  We even got to try out some of our own jazz dance moves while singing the piece, and got to try some scat-singing.  We watched a video demonstration of jazz singing and scat-singing.  We learned our state song in September, On Wisconsin.  We then segued into the National Anthem.  We learned about the War of 1812, and how Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics for The Star Spangled Banner after witnessing one of the battles.  We discussed the meaning of several of the words, including dawn, twilight, gallantly, ramparts, and o'er.  Understanding the words we are singing is so important when singing our country's song!  We have been reviewing music staff vocabulary this month, in preparation for learning to play the recorder later this fall.  We can't wait to put our music-reading skills to good use!  The 4th graders will be studying brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments this year.  We will be starting with the brass family.  We watched an overview video about brass instruments and how they produce sound.  The students will get to see live demonstrations of many of the instruments they can choose to play at Riverview next year!

Reading Time with Mrs. Keehan

Park Community Charter School Staff believe reading to be the cornerstone of learning and the key to school success. We are committed to the goal of all students reading at or above grade level by the end of each grade. We have created a literacy plan to reach this high goal.

Our goal is as follows:

Park Community students will be reading at grade level by the end of each year. Reading proficiency is being able to read grade level material fluently with high levels of comprehension.

The success of the above goal will be measured by pre and post test data as measured by MAP testing.  Our school beginning of the year 2017 proficiency levels are as follows:

MAP:

2= 45% at grade level (down 11% compared to last year)

3= 64% at grade level (up 4% compared to last year)

4= 76% at grade level (same as last year)

Park Community’s literacy program uses a balanced literacy model (Partnership in Comprehensive Literacy) that includes instruction in phonics, fluency, vocabulary, word study, and comprehension. What makes our charter special is that our reading and writing instruction integrates our science and social studies curriculum from our place-based learning platforms into our informational text units of study. This helps our students to see a real world application of all that they are learning at school.

News from the We Care Center with Mrs. Sundelius

Is my child too sick to go to school?  Often parents have a hard time deciding if their child is well enough to go to school.  Ask yourself the following question - Is my child feeling up to participating in regular school activities; including recess? Having a sore throat, cough, or mild congestion does not necessarily mean a child can't be active and participate in school activities, however if they are lethargic, clingy, complaining of pain or just not acting like themselves perhaps a sick day is in order.

Of course, never send a child to school who has a fever (even when their temperature is normal with fever reducing medication), is nauseated, vomiting, or has diarrhea. If your child is experiencing any one of these symptoms they need to stay home for 24 hours after the symptoms subside.

If you do bring your child into the doctor, remember to get a doctor’s excuse for school so your child’s attendance can be coded as a medical excuse.  Thank you in advance for helping all students and staff stay healthy.

District Office Update - Click Here for info on these topics

Boys Hoops Club - Grades 2 - 4
The Great Pumpkin Train Grades 4K - 4
Girl Scout Flyer - Grades K - 4
Chartwell's October Calendar and Information
Kaukauna Dance Team Clinic Grades 4K - 4
Kaukauna Dance Team Registration

In Other News!

PAC Still Needs You!

After a successful first meeting in September our PAC is again struggling with membership.  Our meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 5:30.  We do our best to keep the meetings to an hour in length and we also offer the opportunity to participate through social media by joining our Google PAC Live found HERE.  

This year PAC is refocusing on activities for families and students and we need your help to volunteer to lead an event.  You do NOT need to be a regular PAC parent just someone committed to seeing an event through from start to finish.  There are PAC members current and former who will help you with details around each event.  

Here are the events that we need help with:

• Turkey Chase - Kelly Kelderman, Kari Pagel
• Birthday Books - Stacy Sniegowski, Tanya Pahl
• Social Events - Book the date, promote (school will print), be at event.
• Skate City
• Pizza Hut Night
• McDonald’s Night
• Movie Night - Gym or Outdoor - Pick the date, promote (school will print), be at event.
• Spirit Days - Plan the days (school office has final approval), promote (school will print)
• Conference Meals for Staff - Crystal Janousek
• Teacher Appreciation Week - Plan daily theme, coordinate activities, set up if needed each day
• Spirit Wear - Coordinate with printing company orders for students, staff and families.
• Penny War - Coordinate event dates with school admin, count money each day at school.

Click HERE to learn more about each event and sign up to coordinate or help.

Lunch Program Calendar - Click Here

Veteran's Day Celebration

Typically Park Community second graders help our city celebrate our veterans.  However when it falls on a weekend it is just too hard to organize our students in numbers that will be meaningful at the ceremony.  Park Community will still celebrate veterans during the week leading up to the date but will not be participating in the ceremony this year.

Please Update Your Contact Information

If anything has changed with your address or phone numbers it is very important that that information is updated in Infinite Campus.  Please contact Ellen Tennessen with any changes by phone or at tennessene@kaukaunasd.org

Holiday Light Collection

Once again Ellen Tennessen is leading the way by collectinig holiday lights that are not working anymore.  The lights will be scrapped at Goldin Iron and Metal Recycling in Kaukauna and proceeds from this collection will be donated to our learning partner the Grignon Mansion.  Please drop off any non working lights in the office.

Changing Traffic Lights In Downtown Kaukauna

The lights on Crooks Street changed back to 2nd and Crooks from 3rd and Crooks this week.  If your child walks this way please review how to safely cross streets here or anywhere else.

Attendance Letters

Letters will be sent out  monitoring attendance concerns.  Please understand that family vacations, surgeries or a longer illness may have very legitimate impacts on your child’s attendance.  However, the letters are sent out as part of our regular communication to families for  any student who has 5 or more absences  for the quarter.

Behavior Letters

Behavior letters are sent home weekly on Monday or Tuesday.  If you child had a behavior incident the week prior this letter is documentation of the event.  If you have any questions feel free to contact Mr. Kortens.

Picking Up Students Prior to Dismissal

Just a reminder when picking up a child early from school (for an appointment or other reasons), please send a note or email to your child’s teacher or call the office in the morning.  Once you arrive, the office will call the classroom and have your child sent to the office.  This eliminates children from waiting in the office in case you are delayed and allows them to participate in the classroom instruction until you arrive. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

Weather Watch!

This is an unpredictable time of year weather-wise.  Please be sure to send your child prepared for the worst Mother Nature has to offer.  It is very important that the children go outside to play at recess; however, they need to be dressed for the weather.  We do want to keep your child healthy.  When the snow falls ALL students must have boots, in addition to snow pants if they play in the snow.  If you have difficulty providing winter wear, please contact the office as we have donated items to share.  It is also recommended that students keep a dry pair of socks and pants in their backpack in case clothing gets wet. 

Please Sign up for Parent Portal in Infinite Campus

Infinite Campus has the ability to make emergency contacts with parents regarding school closing or other information during the school day.  If the superintendent would determine that district schools would be closing early for some reason parents will receive an automated message giving them details.

It is very important that your contact information in Infinite Campus is up to date.  If you have questions regarding your contact information please call our school secretary Mrs. Tennessen to check.  CLICK HERE to sign up for an account.