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Hello Leopold Families. I've got some catching up to do since I missed last week's email...
Box Tops Our next BoxTop contest deadline is February 18. Forms were sent home some time back, but are available online here. If you can group the boxtops in sets of 25 on the sheets or in baggies, it's helpful, but we'll take whatever you can turn in to teachers by February 18. Let's keep filling the MineCraft creeper in the lobby! Cancellations The PFO Family Conversation / Meeting scheduled for this Tuesday, February 11, has been cancelled. Our next meeting will be March 11, where we'll cover the Timber Wolf Trample and other great stuff. Tuesday, February 17th Culver's Night has also been cancelled. We look forward to scheduling his for another time. Mark your calendars for Qdoba Night on March 18. Crock Pot Cooking Classes Leopold will be hosting a crock pot cooking class on Tuesdays during Open Schoolhouse beginning March 11 and ending April 8. This five-week course, offered in both English and Spanish, will show families how to prepare several nutritious meals for $10 or less. Each family that participates will receive a free crock pot and recipes, as well as the ingredients for each meal. A yellow form was sent home with students to register, but you can also register by contacting Kao Yong Thao at 204-4334 or[email protected]. A $5 deposit is required to hold your spot, but will be returned to you at the end of the session. School Day Changes Due to school closings during the extremely cold weather over the past couple of months, adjustments are being made to the school day schedule. All elementary schools in Madison will add six minutes to the end of each school day beginning Monday, February 3. Dismissal time at Leopold will be at 2:38 pm. In addition, the last day of school, June 12, will also be a full day. Park Commission Meeting Announcement Fitchburg staff have developed a preferred park master plan alternative for the Nine Springs Golf Course property. It will be presented to the Park Commission and public on February 6. We encourage you to attend the meeting to learn about the planning process and provide your feedback on the plan. You can get more details about the meeting and preferred alternative by visiting http://bit.ly/LO7WkN (you may have to open the link in Internet Explorer or Google Chrome). More Information: http://bit.ly/NineSpringsMP We hope to get your input as we move along with this community project. MMSD Summer School Enrichment 2014 Course offerings include: art classes, book club, photography, science classes, Lego classes, math classes, cultural studies and more! Watch for registration information to arrive in the US mail the week of March 10th, 2014
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Hello Leopold Families. Sorry for the late weekly email, the time got away from me! Here's what's going on at Leopold:
Leopold Book Fair The Leopold Book Fair is coming up. The book fair will be held in our school library. All students will get a chance to visit the book fair with their class, and bring home a list of books they are interested in. They can bring money back to school to purchase the books, or families can visit the book fair together. The book fair will be held: January 27 from 8 am to 1 pm January 28 from 8 am to 7 pm January 29 from 8 am to 7 pm January 30 from 10:30 am to 12 pm Please keep an eye on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LeopoldPFO) for changes or cancelations to due weather. As part of the book fair, volunteers are needed to help students select books and check out. Mrs. Conner will show you what to do if you are new to the book fair. This is a fun way to help out at Leopold! Please see the online sign up here to find a time that works for you to volunteer: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-book1 Restaurant Night Fundraisers Thank you go everyone who has attended any of our restaurant night fundraisers. Most recently, we made $103 from our Qdoba fundraiser and $101 from our Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser. Our next restaurant fundraiser will be at Culver's on February 17, from 5-7 pm. We will need five volunteers to help run food to tables. Fourth of fifth graders would be great for this job, as would middle school Leopold alums, particularly those would like to perform, or are in need of community service hours for various groups. If you know someone interested, you can email me. Thank you to those of you who shopped at amazon.com by entering through the Leopold link. We made $41.40 in October, $75.95 in November and $88.35 in December. You can continue to use this link at any time during the year, as the PFO will receive a portion of all purchases through amazon.com, including Prime movies and more! You can find the link here. Box Tops Our next BoxTop contest deadline is February 18. An ice cream party and free passes to Pump It Up with go to the winning class! Forms were sent home some time back, but feel free to send them in a baggie if you don't have a form. If you'd like to print a new form, it can be found here. Be sure to label them with your student's classroom teacher so their class can get credit. We have amazing participation in BoxTop collection, so keep up the great work and let's work toward our goal of filling in the MineCraft creeper in the lobby! Open School House Schedule High Five Night Date Change PBS team has decided to postpone High Five Night to Feb. 4th instead of tonight. MLK, Jr. Celebration Leopold will be holding an Open Schoolhouse event to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on January 21st from 6-8 pm. The evening will consist of poetry, dance, and music performances by students and parents, followed by a family art activity inspired by Dr. Kings, "I Have a Dream" speech. Food will also be provided. Please RSVP by filling out and returning the yellow flyer that was sent home or by contacting Delia Watkins at 608-204-4336 or [email protected]. January 22 and 23rd, 6:30-7:15 - How to Build Your Student's Self Esteem January 28, 6:00 - Math Night 4K Family Night Since we didn't cover our 4K families in our original round of Get to Know Each Other Nights (sorry - we didn't know there would be 4K at Leopold when we planned these events), we will be holding a 4K Family Night, with dinner provided by the PFO, on Tuesday, February 18, from 6-7 pm in the school cafeteria. Flyers will be sent home to 4K families. Kindergarten Registration Kindergarten registration for families with students who will be entering kindergarten next fall, and who do not currently participate in MMSD 4K, need to attend kindergarten registration on Monday, February 3 from 1-6 pm at Leopold or your neighborhood elementary school. For more information, visit mmsd.org/kinder All children who are four years old on or before September 2, 2014 and live in the MMSD are eligible to participate in 4K. 4K is not required and is tuition free. Registration for this program is also February 3 from 1-6 pm at Leopold or your neighborhood elementary school. For more information, visit mmsd.org/4K ExxonMobil Educational Grant Through the efforts of a local Kelley Williamson Company Station, Leopold School has been awarded a $500 ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grant. The money will be used to provide materials and supplies for student use. Funded by the ExxonMobil Corporation, the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program is designed to provide local Exxon and Mobil dealers with an opportunity to invest in the future of their community through educational grants to neighborhood schools. We appreciate this generous support of our school community! NO SCHOOL January 20 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There is no PFO meeting in January. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 11 at 7 pm. We are still looking for volunteers for the following fun positions at our school:
Saris Poster Contest The Wisconsin Department of Transportation posted this announcement in the WisDOT’s Safe Routes To School Newsletter. The poster contest is open to 5th graders and first prize is a new bike! http://www.sarisparking.com/why-saris-parking/advocacy-efforts/poster-contest/ Thanks everyone. Have a great week! Hello Leopold Families! Fall is in the air and we are excited to kick off some fun fall events for Leopold!
An Apple Affair Tomorrow night (Monday, October 7), the PFO will host An Apple Affair - an event to raise money for iPads and technology at Leopold, at Lilliana's restaurant (2951 Triverton Park Drive in Fitchburg) from 6-8 pm. This adults-only event will feature apple-themed appetizers that Chef Dave has prepared especially for this evening, as well as several exciting raffle baskets including UW Football tickets, Nutcracker tickets, a golf package, spa packages, hand-made pottery and art, fitness packages and much more! Tickets are $30 per person and can still be purchased online here: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/an-apple-affair.html, or by sending a check to school tomorrow marked "PFO An Apple Affair". You can also reply to this email to let me know if you are planning on coming and pay at the door. We have had a great response to this event! If you are unable to attend, we would encourage you to consider a donation. All donations made for this event will go directly toward the purchase of technology at our school. Donations can be made here: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/an-apple-affair.html. Leopold is a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization and your donation is tax deductible. Open House Tuesday, October 8, from 6-7 pm is the annual Leopold all-school open house. Families of students in all grades, including 4K, are encouraged to attend. Open House is a chance for students to show parents and family members where and how they work and learn each day. The PFO will serve ice cream in the cafeteria at Open House! Get to Know Each Other Nights will continue next week with 4th Grade on October 15 and 5th grade on October 22. Harvest Fest We are very excited for our first-ever Harvest Fest! Harvest Fest will be held on October 19, from 1-4 pm. Come to Leopold for this fun fall event featuring face painting, cake walk, live music, hay wagon rides, pumpkin launch, gunny sack races, dunk tank, prize drawings, demonstrations in salsa dancing, rainbow loom, The Cups Song, and much, much more! A wrist band will be required for everyone over 2 years old to come to Harvest Fest! Order forms should come home Monday for wrist bands, as well as information about donations for the cake walk and grade level prize baskets. We need many volunteers to make this a successful event. Please visit our online volunteer signup here and sign up for one or more activities. Middle and high schoolers are welcome to sign up for volunteer shifts. We encourage every Leopold family to take at least one shift for this big event. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-harvest Additional PFO Volunteer Opportunities Lori Zink, our school nurse, needs volunteers to help with vision screening on October 17 and October 29. This is an easy and fun way to help out at school. Just a few volunteers are needed for each shift. An online sign is available here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-vision And last but not least, there is one more volunteer spot to fill for picture retake day, which will be held on November 8. That sign up can be found here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-picture2. Thanks to those of you who came out to volunteer for picture day last week! Box Top Collection Remember our ongoing Box Top collection contest! The deadline for our first contest is November 15. The class that collects the most Box Tops (prorated for class size) will receive a pizza party! The class that collects the most BoxTops throughout the year will receive a class party at Pump It Up. So, get cutting and turn those Box Tops in to your students teacher by November 15. Box Top collection forms were sent home this year at registration so you could get an early start on collection! If you did not get a Box Top collection sheet, please visit our blog here http://www.leopoldpfo.org/leopold-pfo-blog.html where one is posted. Leopold gets 10cents for every Box Top collected, so be sure to ask friends and family to save them too! You can also shop through the eBox Tops marketplace to earn additional Box Tops for our school. https://www.boxtops4education.com/marketplace Lunch Buddies If you are interested in really making a different in the life of a Leopold student, we have a number of students who are in need of lunch buddies. The lunch buddies program, run by Social Worker, Sandra Rivera and Vista volunteer, Adam Emmert, helps pair kids who might benefit from some one-on-one adult interaction and positive conversation. Volunteers would spend lunch and the lunch recess with a student, both eating and then doing an activity of mutual agreement such as an indoor or outdoor game, etc. Lunch and recess times vary for different grades, but placements can be made from 11-1. Volunteers can choose to spend 30 minutes (with one student) to an hour (with two students back to back) one or more days a week. If anyone is interested or knows someone who might be interested, please let Adam Emmart know. There is an application and disclosure to fill out to be a lunch buddy. Please contact Adam at [email protected] if you are interested in helping a student in this way! Early Childhood Resource Fair The Madison Early Childhood Council will host an Early Childhood Resource Fair on Tuesday, October 29 from 6-8 pm at Leopold. There will be activities including screening and resources as well as face painting, pizza and prizes. Thanks everyone! Hope to see you tomorrow night at Lilliana's! Have a great week. Hi Leopold Families. Sorry fro the delay in my weekly email. Here's an update on things going on at Leopold:
Get to Know Our Get to Know Each Other Nights continue next week with Grade 3. We have had a great turnout for these events and we look forward to meeting even more of you in the upcoming weeks. If you have not already RSVPd through the handout or email, please let me know if your family will be attending any of the following: October 1 - Third Grade October 8 - no Get to Know night - come to all-school open house and stop by the cafeteria for ice cream from the PFO! October 15 - Fourth Grade October 22 - Fifth Grade An Apple Affair Flyers have been sent home with all students this week for an exciting upcoming event. The Leopold PFO will hold An Apple Affair - an event to raise money to purchase iPads for Leopold, at Lilliana's restaurant on Monday October 7, from 6-8 pm. This is adults-only event for Leopold families and anyone in our community who would like to enjoy socializing, great food and drink, and exciting raffle prizes. You do need to purchase tickets for An Apple Affair. You can visit the PFO webpage for the event here: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/an-apple-affair.html Harvest Fest Excitement for our first-even Harvest Fest is growing. We are looking forward to many interactive experiences for our families. Classes will participate in pumpkin decorating ahead of the event and Harvest Fest activities will include a pumpkin launch, hay rides, cake walk, face painting, prize drawings, dunk tank, live music, food booths and more. Flyers with more details will be coming home soon, including information on how to purchase wrist bands and donate for the cake walk and grade-level prize baskets. Picture Day School picture day is next Thursday, October 3. Order forms are going home now if you would like to purchase pictures of your child. We need some parent volunteers to help get kids in line and ready for their pictures. This is a fun and easy way to volunteer at Leopold. The online sign up for volunteering can be found here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-picture1/1062747 Upper Grade Academic Events and Celebrations Dates for this year’s important academic events and celebrations have been set. Our Geography Bee is scheduled forDecember 20, at 1:15PM in our cafeteria and will include the top four finishers of each fifth grade classroom competition. Our Spelling Bee will be held on January 16, at 1PM also in our school cafeteria and will include the top four students from each classroom spelling bee competitions in grade five. Fourth and fifth grade student teams for the annual Book Bowl will begin forming just prior to winter break. Students will be responsible for indicating interest in participating on a team. The school Book Bowl events are schedule to take place in mid-March. Our fifth grade Science Fair is scheduled for May 23 at 1:00PM and our fifth grade culmination ceremony will be on June 10 at 1:00PM in our cafeteria. Pick Up, Drop Off, and Parking at Leopold I've had some questions regarding parking and pick up at Leopold. Here is a brochure from the school that explains things. The brochure is posted on our website. http://www.leopoldpfo.org/uploads/1/2/5/5/12555908/leopoldtrafficsafetyplanbrochure20112012.pdf Ongoing Fundraising Efforts Remember all the easy and helpful ways to raise money for Leopold: Target RedCard BoxTops for Education Campbell's Labels for Education Mabel's Labels My Coke Rewards Amazon.com You can find details on these programs here: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/activities-and-fundraisers.html Hello Leopold Families. I can hardly believe it's the final week of school. I know that those of us with 5th graders feel like just yesterday was the first day of kindergarten for our kids.
Last Day of School If you did not already mark your calendars, please note that the last day of school, Thursday, June 13, is a FULL DAY. Originally scheduled as an early release, this is make up time for winter snow days and kids will not get out until 2:32. PBS Recognition I am please to share with our families that the Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction has again selected Leopold as a Wisconsin PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) School of Distinction. Leopold was one of 87 schools statewide to be recognized as a School of Distinction for the 2012‐13 school year. Congratulations to our staff for their hard work on this initiative. Summer Garden Help Jennifer Compton, Leopold VISTA, is looking for families to adopt the garden this summer! Ten volunteers are needed to adopt the garden for a week at a time. It can be as little work as watering it a few times during your week and as much fun as taking your family out every day for picnics, weeding, watering, etc. The dates are: 6/17-6/23, 6/24-6/30, 7/1-7/7, 7/8-7/14, 7/15-7/21, 7/22-7/28, 7/29-8/4, 8/5-8/11, 8/12-8/18, 8/19-8/25, 8/26-9/1, 9/1-9/8 (or every week Mon-Sun. starting June 17 and ending Sept. 8.) Jennifer will send a reminder e-mail to families the day before their week starts with a full set of instructions/information. Please contact Jennifer at (608) 204-4334 (o) or [email protected] to sign up! Bake Sale Leopold's UNITY Group will be holding a bake sale on Tuesday, June 11 from 7:20-8:30 am and 12:15-2:45 pm in the Leopold lobby. If you would like to make a donation or volunteer for the bake sale, please contact Billie Johnson at 658-4196 or Myra McNair at 204-4336. Mallards Game If you want to join Leopold families at the Pepsi Tailgate party at the Madison Mallards game on August 10, you can still order tickets. Please fill out the order form and return to school this week or mail with payment to: Leopold PFO Attn: Kris Aman / Madison Mallards 2602 Post Road Madison, WI 53713 If you need a form, please email me and I will send you one. Fundraising Please continue to support our school over the summer months! Remember:
You can find more details on all of these programs here. Summer Communication I do not have plans to send regular communications over the summer. I'm sure you're all ready for a break from me! I will drop those families from our mail list that have only a 5th grader at Leopold, but if you no longer have a student at Leopold and continue to receive my emails, please email me to let me know and I'll remove your address from my list. If you know of any incoming kindergarten families, please send them my way, I'd love to get names added as we can and welcome those new families to Leopold. PFO Board The PFO would like to welcome Sara Dawkins to the Board! Sara will work with Jill in transitioning into the Vice President role. We are so excited to have Sara join us. We are working on transitioning our treasurer position as well, and we will let you know when that is finalized. Our PFO Board has worked very hard this year to do great things for our school. We hope that both families and staff find our efforts beneficial. Just last week we added some new furniture to the school lobby to give it a warmer and more welcoming feel. We welcome any feedback you have and we look forward to another fun year ahead. Thank you! Kris Hello Leopold families. I hope everyone was able to enjoy some sunshine this weekend. Too bad our weather wasn't quite that nice for the Timber Wolf Trample, but we had an amazing, fun and successful event anyway! Here's some info:
We are so thankful for the kids who participated with amazing effort, raised money, and supported their school; the volunteers who helped at the run, before the run and after the run; staff who encouraged kids to participate and those who volunteered at the event; and our community partners who supported us in many, many ways. This is a fun, community-building event that we are proud to continue at Leopold. If you have feedback, please feel free to let me know. If anyone would still like an event t-shirts, we have a limited number available for $15. You can reply to this email with the size you'd like and we'll get it make arrangements. If you contributed to this year's Trample, either through a business sponsorship or by donating to your own choice, Leopold's Tax ID # is 39-1583370. This was wrong on some of our material, so please note the correction. We are excited to use these funds to support our school and our staff. The main focus of the PFO right now is on technology for our school. We will solidify some ideas over the coming weeks and we look forward to share those with you and getting feedback! We also had a student-led assembly on fitness and a really fun Spirit Week leading up to Trample. If you haven't seen pictures of these things, please check them out on our Facebook page. Leopold Night at Dairy Queen Tomorrow night, Tuesday, May 21, is Leopold Night at DQ on Fish Hatchery Road! Come in between 4-10 pm for dinner or a treat (or both!). 20% of the sales will be donated to Leopold!! We normally do not have to bring a flyer along for Dairy Queen, but if you've got it, it never hurts to bring it and be extra sure Leopold gets credit!! Leopold Spirit Wear There are a few remaining Leopold Spirit Wear Items for sale: (1) Lg Red Leopold Timber Wolves t-shirt -- $10 (2) Adult Size Medium sweatshirts (these run pretty big) -- $33 each If you would like to purchase one of these items, please reply to this email to let me know. You can send payment in with your child and I can send the item home with your child. Final Box Top Contest Winner Congratulations to Mrs. Sanders' second grade class, this session's Box Top contest winner! The class won a pizza and bounce party at Pump it Up, Mrs. Sanders gets a membership to Princeton Club courtesy of Pump it Up, one student from the class will receive a personalized since sac from Thirty-One Gifts and Mrs. Sanders will receive a lunch tote from Thirty-One Gifts. Thans to Michelle Barfield for coordinating the Box Top parties and donating the fabulous Thirty-One gifts! Leopold Night at the Madison Mallards Duck Pond Flyers went home last week for Leopold Night at the Madison Mallards Duck Pond on August 10. Reconnect with Leopold friends before school starts again at this fun outing. Tickets are $16 each and include an all-you-can-eat tailgate party before the game. The order form for tickets needs to be returned to school by May 31. 5th Grade Graduation and Class Picnic 5th grade graduation will be held on Tuesday, June 11, at 1:15 in the school cafeteria. The ceremony will start promptly at 1:15 and conclude by 2:00. Students will be able to briefly celebrate with their families in the cafeteria after the ceremony and then dismissed for the day at 2:30. Casual dress is recommended. Each graduating child will be allowed only 2 tickets per family. The 5th grade field trip and picnic will be held the following day, on Wednesday, June 12. Students will travel by bus to Milton House in Janesville. Following the field trip, the buses will take students directly to McKee Farms Park Shelter for a picnic, rain or shine. Permission slips will be sent home within the next few days. Families will be asked to contribute $15 to cover the cost of the field trip ($8.00) as well as for picnic supplies and a class gift ($7.00). Within the next few days permissions slips will be sent home with students with additional information regarding food donations. Parents wanting to help with the picnic can sign up HERE. For additional information, please contact Jess Lathrop. Leopold Resource Fair Leopold Resource Fair is tomorrow (Tuesday May 21st) at Open Schoolhouse from 6-8 pm. There will be dinner, summer fun baskets for raffle, and several community representatives from summer programs for kids, as well as services and resources for adults. The event is free and open to the public, so bring your neighbors and friends from other schools, too! Get Involved in Your PFO The PFO is doing some planning for next school year. If you have any ideas for projects or events that you would like to help lead, or if you would like to volunteer in any capacity - from helping with school pictures to joining the PFO Board, please let us know. We welcome and encourage the involvement, ideas and enthusiasm of all Leopold families! Mindfulness Workshop At Open School House on Tuesday, April 30, three dynamic teachers from the Holistic Life Foundation, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland, shared some mindfulness practices with students and families. Ali Smith, Atman Smith, and Andy Rodriguez have been working together since 2001 to nurture the wellness of children and adults. Nearly 50 Leopold community members came to take part in movement and breathing exercises that can help to calm the mind and improve focus. These types of brief but powerful exercises can be used by children and adults in school or at home. Some of the exercises we tried included: seated stretches, standing stretches, deep belly breath, taco breath, alternate-nostril breath, and breath of fire. After leading participants through short guided meditation exercises, Ali, Atman and Andy then responded to questions from participants. In the discussion about mindfulness practices and how to use them with children, one Leopold parent shared the title of a helpful book that incorporates steps to take at home: Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children by Linda Lantieri and Daniel Goleman. If you’d like to know more about Ali, Atman, and Andy and the Holistic Life Foundation, Inc., their website can be found at : www.hlfinc.org. If you have other questions about mindfulness at Leopold school, contact Lisa Thomas Prince, DLI program support teacher at Leopold ([email protected]). Thanks everyone. Have a great week and holiday weekend ahead!! Kris (Necesidad en español? Visita aquí.)
Oh my, do things get busy in the spring! Now if only we could get outside to enjoy them even more in the sunshine! A New Record A huge thank you to Pam Baumgartner and the small group of volunteers who identified and contacted local businesses to solicit sponsorships for this year’s Timber Wolf Trample. We collected a record amount of $6,350 in sponsorships and more than $1,800 in prize donations. We can’t wait to see what the kids can do with their donation collection efforts! Pam has worked tirelessly over the past few weeks on the sponsorship drive. It is a big (but rewarding) job to organize the sponsorship aspect of Trample and we are all very thankful for her efforts! We are also very appreciative of the local businesses that support our community, our school and our students. Please be sure to check out the extensive list of sponsors here and be sure to show your patronage to those that support Leopold! Spirit Week Don’t forget, the Trample is May 11. The kids are “training” in gym class and should be hard at work collecting donations for great prizes. Leading up to the Trample we will be holding Spirit Week. In an effort to help our kids learn about giving back to our community, along with the dress-up theme each day, we are asking kids to bring in a “themed” donation for a local organization that serves our community. Details will follow soon about the theme for each day and items to donate. Box Tops Collection The Final Box Top sheet of the year has been sent home with all students. The classroom that collects the most Box Tops by May 13 will win a party from Pump It Up. All students from the winning classroom will be entered in a drawing to win a Cinch Sac with their name on it! Leopold Goes to the Duck Pond The Leopold PFO and the Madison Mallards invite you to the Mallards game on August 10, 2013 at 6:05 p.m. Each $16 ticket purchased will include a box ticket in the Mallards grand stand, one hour of an all-you-can-eat ballpark food, soda and water, a fun baseball game, and best of all, $2 from every ticket sold will be donated back to the PFO. Bring the family and your friends! Order forms will be sent home in the coming weeks. Get Fit at Leopold From Jennifer Compton, AmeriCorps Volunteer:
Lunch Buddies Our Leopold counseling staff is looking for some adult volunteers to be lunch buddies for some special students. Lunch Buddies is a program designed to give select students social and emotional support, and provide these kids with more positive role models. Adult volunteers spend lunch and recess with their student buddies once a week. Volunteers can choose any of the three lunch periods (11- 11:40, 11:40- 12:20, 12:20-1) and are assigned a buddy based on recommendations from our school social workers. Of course, parents are also asked first to give an ok. Kids love the chance to show off their school and friends to special adults. For recess, they can choose to go outside, or stay in and read or do a special activity with their buddy. For forty minutes once a week, the amount that students appreciate this extra attention is incredible. Being a lunch buddy is a great way to get more involved in Leopold, meet staff and students, learn about the school day, and grow a positive connection with kids that can really influence what they think of themselves and their school. Here is what one of our adult lunch buddies said about his experience: "I can sum up the Lunch Buddy program in one word: powerful. What started out as him barely making eye-contact with me has transformed into his eyes lighting up every time he sees me coming down the hall, and eager hopes that I’m coming back next week. The Lunch Buddy program provides an easy access point to invest time and words of affirmation into the next generation of leaders, and I am confident the seeds planted today will bare awesome fruit tomorrow. It has become a highlight of my week, and I give it my highest recommendation!" ~Josh If interested, please contact Adam Emmart at [email protected]. A Conversation with Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham Please visit here to find out more about the new superintendent’s upcoming conversations throughout the district. From Arlene Silveria, MMSD Board of Education We have some updates for you on the state budget and the private school vouchers. We need your help! Where do I find the most updated information on the governor's budget and how it impacts MMSD? The district has updated their budget page. There are links to talking point on private school vouchers, special education vouchers and the proposed charter school legislation. These budget proposals, if passed, could drain $37 million from Madison schools over the next 5 years! In addition, there is a link in the right-hand column that will take you to a page providing information on how you can advocate for public education. We need you to inform your community about these issue and ask them to register their opposition. https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/budget Is there something I can sign to register my opposition to private school vouchers? Our state representatives have put together a petition against the private school vouchers. In the link below, please click on the stop sign and sign the petition. Then please SHARE this with everyone you know. (the web site at the capitol is a bit clunky. If you submit the petition and it takes you back to the welcome page....it worked.) http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/taylor/Pages/default.aspx Press Conference - please attend if your schedule permits The Dane County School Board Consortium and Dane County Superintendent Consortium will be holding a press conference detailing the impacts of the Governor’s proposed budget on public schools at noon on Wednesday, April 10, in room 411 at the State Capitol. School board members, superintendents, parents and business community members will address the governor’s proposed budget and its impact on public schools. 15 districts will be represented. If you are in the area, we hope you will attend. It will also be an opportunity for you to meet our new MMSD superintendent, Jen Cheatham. MMSD Budget On April 22, the Board will be receiving budget information from the Administration regarding the MMSD budget for the 2013-14 school year. Thanks everyone! Have a great week! A little late this week, but here's some information about what's going on at Leopold!
COME TO SCIENCE NIGHT TONIGHT FROM 6-8 PM! Ms. Kosterman says you don't want to miss out on your chance to walk on water (and cornstarch), learn about cells with superpowers, launch film canister rockets, build the tallest tower, watch dry ice in action and many more exciting hands-on activities. Come out for a night of excitement, exploration and ingenuity! CONGRATULATIONS TO MS. PERSIKE'S KINDERGARTEN CLASS, winners of our March Box Tops contest. They collected 494 Box Tops this round! Mrs. Persike's class will receive an ice cream party from Pump it Up, our Box Tops party sponsor. We collected more than 5,700 Box Tops this round. What a great job everyone is doing!! Watch for the next collection sheet in boxes in a few weeks with a deadline of May 13 for the final party of the year. YEARBOOK production is in full swing! Some important info on yearbooks... (1) Attention 5th Grade Parents - Sponsor the Yearbook! If you are the parent of a 5th grader at Leopold, sponsor the yearbook for only $15! Your donation includes a personalized message to your child (under their school photo) in the back of the yearbook. Sponsorship Forms are available here. (2) Book Bowl, Spelling Bee & Geography Bee Photos Needed! We are looking for group and individual photos for the yearbook from these events. If you took photos, please e-mail copies to Jana Olson ([email protected]). Thank you! (3) Field Trip & Classroom Photos Needed for the Yearbook! Did you take photos of a class field trip or class party? We'd love to include them in the 2012-2013 Leopold yearbook. Please send the photos to Jana Olson ([email protected]). Include the grade level of the children in the photos. Thank you! LEOPOLD SPIRIT WEAR is available for order through this week only. New items offered. Please visit here for a printable form or online ordering. THE TIMBER WOLF TRAMPLE T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST voting was held last Tuesday evening in our school library. We had 30 voters come through and view the 24 entries we received. Thank you to everyone who participated. Congratulations to the following students: K - Catherine Arnold 1 - Sandy Flores 2 - Kate Aman-Lavicky 3 - Jake Hansen / Divondre Hughes 4 - Isabel Kreger 5 - Joey Aman-Lavicky Overall winner of the t-shirt design: Joey Aman-Lavicky All of the entries are on display on the PFO bulletin board in the lobby and I hope to have them posted on our Facebook page soon too. THE TIMBER WOLF TRAMPLE is scheduled for May 11. In the next few weeks, registration forms and donation collection sheets will be distributed. Please note that you do NOT have to pay or collect donations to participate in the run, although we encourage kids to try. Collecting donations is a large part of the PFO's budget and a great way for neighbors, friends and families to support our students. Incentive prizes are offered for donations collected. More information on the event can be found here. THE PFO HAS BEEN WORKING ON SOME UPDATES TO OUR LOBBY. Next time you're at school, take a look at our gallery wall, which will change out on a regular basis and allow featured students to take home their framed artwork! We also have a wall honoring our namesake, Aldo Leopold. We are continuing to make updates to this space to make it warm and inviting for our families and guests. THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF A LOCAL KELLEY WILLIAMSON COMPANY STATION, Leopold School has been awarded a $500 ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grant. The money will be used for math and science materials. Funded by the ExxonMobil Corporation, the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program is designed to provide local Exxon and Mobil dealers with an opportunity to invest in the future of their community through educational grants to neighborhood schools. We appreciate this generous support of our school community! GET FIT IN FITCHBURG! Saturday, April 13, the City of Fitchburg will host a free health and wellness fair for Fitchburg Families at Leopold Elementary. Please visit the PFO blog here for a flyer with all of the details. Thanks to everyone for your continued support of our school and the PFO! Kris Hello families. An exciting week lies ahead at Leopold!
Science Night Tuesday Remember to come to Science Night on Tuesday, March 5th from 6-8. Mrs. Kosterman says you don't want to miss out on your chance to walk on water (and cornstarch), learn about cells with superpowers, launch film canister rockets, build the tallest tower, watch dry ice in action and many more exciting hands-on activities. Come out for a night of excitement, exploration and ingenuity! T-shirt Design Contest Deadline Remind your young artists that entries for the Timber Wolf Trample T-Shirt Design Contest are due Tuesday, March 5, at the end of the school day. Bring them in to your classroom teacher or the school office. For the indecisive, multiple entries from one artist will be accepted. Additional information and forms can be found here. Plan to join us next Tuesday, March 12, in the school library, for judging the entries! Community School Task Force Leopold has been identified as a Community School supporting the West High attendance area, and a Parent Task Force is being put together to support this effort. Please come to a Parent Task Force Attendance Area meeting on Thursday, March 7 from 6-7:30 p.m. The purpose of Parent Task Force is: 1. To address barriers and access in opportunities 2. To collectively share and generate information about promising practices 3. To recognize family 4. To build social and political capital of traditionally disenfranchised families 5. To provide opportunities for shared governance and build social capital 6. To make recommendations to MMSD Administration for what parents want in their Community Schools. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Box Tops Thanks to all parents and students for their continued Box Tops efforts for Leopold. We are finishing up counting for this round and we'll announce the winners soon. We are on an amazing pace for this year! We also have a check for $204 coming from amazon.com. This is money we made just for clicking on the amazon.com ad on the PFO website when we go to make a purchase. This amount is double what we made last year, so keep those clicks coming! Once you enter amazon through the PFO site a few times, it will become a habit for every time you shop at amazon.com. The link can be foundhere. Kindergarten Registration Tomorrow, March 4, from 1-6, is kindergarten registration. If you have an incoming kindergartener who is not currently in an MMSD 4K program, they will need to register for kindergarten. I'm registering my youngest and I'm torn between the sadness of letting her go and cheering that they're all finally in school! Lobby Updates The PFO has been working with the school on some minor updates to the lobby space to make things more inviting and cohesive. Over the next few weeks, some of these changes will start to take shape. We look forward to making our school even more inviting. Thanks everyone. Have a great week! Hello Leopold Families. I hope you're hungry for pizza because this Tuesday, February 19, is Leopold Night at Little Cesars! Stop in any time between 11am and 10pm, and be sure to bring the small yellow flyer that came home in backpacks last week! If you didn't get a flyer or can't find yours, I will post them on the blog for your to print. 25% of the sales at the Fish Hatchery Road Little Cesars during this timeframe will be donated to Leopold.
Box Top Collection Deadline! Remember, Box Tops for this round of collection are due Feb. 21!! this is a change from what the collection sheet says, so be sure to get your kids cutting this week! New Collection Boxes In an effort to clean up our school lobby, the PFO has put up metal mailboxes for the collection of Box Tops, Labels for Education and pop tabs. The mailboxes are mounted low enough for students to reach, are clearly marked for each item, and have a slot on top to slip in the items. The mailboxes are mounted on the wall across from the Post Road doors. Timber Wolf Trample t-shirt Design Contest Backpack flyers were sent home last week for our first-ever Trample t-shirt design contest. So get your budding artist working! Entries are due March 5. Entry forms will also be posted on the Timber Wolf Trample page of the PFO website as soon as it's ready. Trample Volunteers We are still in need of a couple key volunteers for the Timber Wolf Trample. We are thankful to those who have already stepped up to handle important aspects of this fun day for our school. If you would please consider helping with food, race logistics (ribbons, bibs, etc.), or organizing grade-level grants for teachers who help out, our school would benefit greatly from your time. School Announcements
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