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The Madison Mustang

December Newsletter

Dear Madison Families,

December is here! Cooler temperatures… disappearing daylight. The upcoming weeks can become quite busy as families prepare for family gatherings, special travels, and perhaps some shopping outings in preparation for special traditions. Winter break will begin December 24-January 1 for our students. School will resume on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

Parent/Teacher Conferences last month we had a very good turn-out. Thank you to all those families that attended. If you did not attend conferences, then please feel free to contact your child’s teacher now. Our teachers want to talk with you. Report cards will be coming home with students on Wednesday, December 12^th.

Attendance/Tardy Policy: This is the time of year when I like to also chat about attendance and tardiness. As you know we have an attendance and tardiness policies. Our school day begins promptly at 7:30, but I am asking parent/guardians to drop their child(ren) off at 7:20 a.m. Doors open at 7:20 a.m. Students coming in after 7:30 are being marked tardy.

We have noticed an increase in absences and tardies in our data in recent weeks. We know there is a powerful link between successful learning and regular school attendance. “It’s only one day! Why is attendance all that important?” Learning builds day by day, and if your child is not in school, he/she can’t learn. When students return from being absent they have to work harder to catch up on class discussions, and to make up missing assignments. Having good attendance matters.

Getting to school on time is also important for the success of your child(ren). Transitioning from home to school early in the morning is difficult for many children. Being tardy causes your child to miss important directions and social learning during morning meeting. Make your New Year’s resolution this year be that your child(ren) will be in attendance and on time everyday, so that they can have a successful year of learning.

I hope you and yours will have a wonderful and joyful winter break, and a happy New Year!

Kate Flynn, Principal

Upcoming Events

December 6: School Wide Day of Coding
December 7: Mustang Model Assembly:
8:00 AM Grades 4-5
11:00 AM Kindergarten
11:50 AM Grades 2-3
12:40 PM Grade 1
December 13: 5:30 PM PTA Family Movie Night
December 21: School Wide Bingo
December 24- January 1: Winter Break No School

School Lunch Menus

Here is a link to the school lunch menu for November, this link includes color pictures of lunch for each day. On the menu you may see that each day there are two options for the main item. After the December break we will be moving to students having options, until then Madison will be serving option one.

https://isd742.nutrislice.com/menu/madison/lunch/2018-12-19

WISH LIST ITEMS
The season of cold weather and colds is upon us, Madison staff would greatly appreciate donations of:
*Kleenex
*Disinfecting wipes
*Winter Mittens
*Boys and girls pants (especially sweat pants) sizes 5-8

Donations can be dropped off at the Madison Office.

Music News

Congratulations goes out to Karen Kruse, Madison Music Teacher. Ms. Kruse has been choosen as the Minnesota Music Educator of the year. Karen will be honored at a dinner in Minneapolis in February.

First Grade News

In first grade we have been working very hard on the "geos"- geography and geometry.

In social studies we worked on learning about, exploring, and creating maps of our places in the world. We made maps of our bedrooms, St. Cloud, and we even learned about Minnesota, the United States, and North America.

In mathematics we learned all about 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes. We identified the different features of 2D and 3D shapes. We also got to create patterns and new composite shapes out of them.

To combine these 2 concepts into a cross curricular project, we created 3D maps of St. Cloud. The students had the opportunity to navigate robots around the city using code! The students LOVED bossing around the robots as they created stories of their comings and goings.

Hour Of Code

Madison would like to invite parents to join their child for an Hour of Code on December 6^th. Feel free to reach out to your child's teacher for more information.

Art News

Art Room News:

Our school is creating online student art portfolios on Artsonia.com. Artsonia manages student art portfolios in a safe and educational manner, developing students' pride and self-esteem while involving parents and relatives in arts education. We need your permission to create a digital portfolio of your child's artwork. Each student will receive a unique screen name that will be made up of the first name and some numbers. This screen name and a unique parent code can be used to grant permission online. On Artsonia, you will be able add family/friends to your child's fan club, review website comments, and support the school arts program. Take some time to look around the website to see what other schools have already been doing. www.artsonia.com

Be looking for an email coming from Artsonia that will allow you to grant permission online.

Forward

Copyright © 2018, ISD 742 All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Madison Elementary School
2805 N. Ninth St.
St. Cloud, MN 56303

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ISD 742 · 2805 9th St N · Saint Cloud, MN 56303-2301 · USA