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Hello Leopold Families. A dreary week lies ahead, so we'll start thinking warm sunny thoughts now for the Timber Wolf Trample on May 10th!
The TimberWolf Trample is upon us! Please sign up to volunteer for the Timber Wolf Trample fun run. This is a fun and easy event to help with. You can sign up for jobs like course marshall, where you can stand along the race route and make sure the runners stay on track, finish line to help track runners as they come in, course set up before the race or clean up after, or help hand out awards and raffle prizes. Check it all out here! We'll provide an overview for anyone who is new, so don't worry if you haven't volunteered (or even if your students haven't participated) before. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-timberwolf2 The Timber Wolf Trample is Saturday, May 10. Registration begins at 9:30 with event warm up at 10:30, and the UW Marching Band leading our participants to the starting line just before 11 am, with some of our favorite tunes! Registration /fundraising forms went home with students last week. We will send one more round of registration flyers closer to the Trample and also post them online so you should have easy access to the form. Students do not need to pay or raise funds to participate in the Trample, but we do encourage students who are able to ask friends and family for support. Additional information on the day's events can be found on our website: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/timber-wolf-trample-fun-run.html New this year: the class with the most participants will win a pizza party donated by The Bridge! Picnic Following the run, The Bridge will provide all participants and families with a lunch. Bring a blanket to sit outside if you'd like, or we'll have tables inside. Staff Appreciation Lunch Tuesday, May 6 Leopold Elementary will be holding its annual staff appreciation luncheon to show our staff how much we appreciate all that they do for our students and our families. This year the Heide family of Liliana’s Restaurant of Fitchburg has generously offered to donate the main dish for all Leopold staff members. The Department of Revenue has also graciously offered to assist in the purchasing of vegetables for the luncheon. We need your help complete the rest of the meal! A form will be sent home this week for you to fill out what you can bring. You can also contact Jill Arnold at [email protected] to let her know what you'll bring, or with any questions you have. You can bring items in to school beginning the morning of May 6. Please be sure to mark any containers or utensils with your name. At the end of the day, you can pick up your serving pieces in the school lobby. -(Kindergarten and 1st grade) Cut fresh fruit – ready to serve -(2nd and 3rd grade) Desserts – cupcakes, cookies, bars, etc… -(4th and 5th grade) Drinks – 2 liters of soda, lemonade, iced tea or water Please volunteer to come help with the luncheon for a short time! A handful of people are needed to set up, serve or clean up. You can sign up here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-staff/1062747 Spirit Week Leading up to the Trample, School Spirit Week is May 5-9. The student council has chosen a dress up theme for each day, and the PFO has identified a corresponding donation to a local charitable organization. We encourage kids to dress up for Spirit Days as well as bring in a themed donation for each day, if they are able. It's pretty amazing to see not only the fun outfits, but also the generosity of our Leopold community. Each day, a group of volunteers will count kids dressed up in each class and award a traveling trophy to the most spirited class. If you're interested in helping count for about 15-30 minutes at drop off any morning of Spirit Week, let me know! Have your kids start planning their costumes now! Monday, May 5 MIS-MATCHED CLOTHES DAY - Wear a crazy, non-matching outfit! Bring gently used children’s clothing to donate to the Good Shepherd Lutheran Children's Clothing Closet. Tuesday, May 6 FAVORITE BOOK CHARACTER DAY - Dress up as your favorite character from a book! Bring a book to donate to the Friends of Fitchburg Library for a fundraising book sale to benefit the Fitchburg Library. Wednesday, May 7 CRAZY HAIR DAY - Style your hair a fun or crazy way! Bring an unused hair product (hair brushes, picks and combs, hair color kits and shampoo or conditioner) to donate to the Essential Pantry in our neighborhood. Thursday, May 8 FAVORITE TEAM DAY - Wear something that shows spirit for your favorite team of any kind! Bring a soccer item to donate (ball, cleats, etc., used items are ok.) to donate to Millenium Soccer. Friday, May 10 SCHOOL SPIRIT DAY - Wear school colors (red and black) or your Leopold spirit wear. Student Council will sell popcorn to raise funds for future school activities. Grounds Cleanup Thank you to all of the families and teachers who came out to help at the Spring Clean Up Day! We had about 35 people come out to rake, pick up trash, trim, weed, and spruce up the front of our school. A special thanks to the Bridge for volunteering their time and energy and cleaning out the beds on the southeast end of the school. A high five to the kids who came with their parents and helped clean up as well. We hope to do this again in the fall and work on the back of the school property! Leopold Spirit Wear The Leopold Student Council is selling Spirit Wear! Visit this website: http://www.logowareonline.com/apparel/leopold2014 to view and order. 15% of orders go to the student council. Leopold Community Walk--Steps to Respect What: A 20-minute walk through the Leopold neighborhood to celebrate Leopold’s emphasis on kindness and respect. Popsicles will be served to the students when they arrive back to school. When: Wednesday, May 7th, 2014 (rain date is May 21st) Time: 1:20 to 2:20pm Where: Starts and finishes at Leopold School You are invited to walk with your child. Please arrive at your child’s classroom no earlier than 1:20pm on May 7th. Please alert your child’s teacher if you leave the route with your child. Walking School Bus Volunteers Needed Volunteers are needed for Leopold's Walking School Bus to help children get to school safely and on time. There are three different routes taken to Leopold school that all start around 7 am and end at the school at 7:25 am. The program runs every Tuesday and Thursday morning. If you know of anyone that is interested in helping, please have them contact Kao Yong Thao at [email protected] or 608-204-4334. Race to Equity Presentation Leopold PFO has been a part of a broader group, called the Westside PTO, bringing together various PTO members to share ideas and success and engage in communication across MMSD. We meet once a month at schools in the area. The final meeting for the year will feature a presentation from the Race to Equity team, a coalition engaging in a multi-year project dedicated to reducing racial disparities in Dane County. After presenting their data from their first site of analysis - the experience of African Americans in Dane County - we will have a discussion about how PTOs and parent groups can work to build community in their respective schools and how to engage thoughtfully with all parents. Some of the Leopold PFO Board members (myself included) have attended a past presentation from this group, and it is a pretty profound study of issues affecting all Dane County families. From the report: Even starker and more consequential are the disparities evident in Dane County’s rates of child poverty. In 2011, the American Community Survey estimated that more than 74% of Dane County’s black children were poor, compared to 5.5% of white children. In other words, Dane County black kids were estimated to be over 13 times more likely to be growing up in poverty than white children. Our research suggests that this 13 to 1 disparity ratio may constitute one of the widest black/white child poverty gaps that the Census Surveys reported for any jurisdiction in the nation. We have been offered a limited number of seats at the event. If you have any questions or if you are interested in attending, please contact me so that I can RSVP for Leopold attendees and get you further information. http://racetoequity.net 2013-14 Yearbooks Yearbook order forms have been sent home with students. If you prefer, you may order your yearbook online here: http://www.schoolannual.com/ and click on the Buy MyYearbook button. We are listed as Leopold Elementary (not Aldo...). Families of 5th graders are invited to purchase a spot for a special message for your 5th grader, honoring their time at Leopold. This must be done via form and not through the online ordering process. Leopold Culture Night Leopold Elementary School will be hosting "Culture Night" at Open Schoolhouse on April 29th from 6pm-8pm. This event will feature storytelling, multicultural performances (dance and music), and a dinner. (Additional programming to be announced). We hope that families can share a piece of their culture and contribute to our celebration of diversity! Please check out this online sign-up if you'd like to get involved. 6th Grade Orientation at Cherokee An orientation for parents of incoming 6th graders will be held on April 30th from 6:30 - 8 pm at Cherokee Middle School. Flyers can be seen below or downloaded here. Learn 2 Ride Volunteers Needed Are you a bike enthusiast? Do you love working with kids? Do you want to teach a child a lifelong recreation skill? THEN WE NEED YOU! The MSCR Learn 2 Ride won a Silver Star for Program Excellence by the Wisconsin Parks and Recreation Association in 2013! The event was sold out last year and we taught 250 kids how to ride their bike. The event teaches children (and their adult chaperone) easy, innovative techniques to get kids riding solo on two wheels! The approach teaches youth ages 4+ how to balance, pedal, stop and steer on a closed course. Volunteers are a very important part of this event and we need you! All volunteers will receive an event t-shirt and leave the event with the knowledge they were a part of something great! Here are the locations and dates:
CLICK THIS LINK TO SIGN UP: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F45ADAE2EA31-mscr4 If you have questions, contact Cristine Reid, MSCR Recreation Specialist at 608-204-4583 [email protected]. This event is sponsored by MSCR, Schwinn, Helmets on Heads and the City of Madison Department of Transportation. Thanks everyone. Have a great week!Kris -- Kris Aman, PresidentLeopold Parent Faculty Organization Encouraging Kids. Connecting Families. Serving Leopold.
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T-shirt Design Contest Extended
We were a little light on entries for the Timber Wolf Trample t-shirt design contest. The PFO will extend the deadline through the end of the school day on Tuesday. If you need an entry form, they are available in the school office from Emily or you can view ideas and information, as well as print an entry form right here: http://www.leopoldpfo.org/timber-wolf-trample-fun-run.html We plan to display the entries at school so that all students will have an opportunity to vote for our winning Trample t-shirt. Leopold Night at Qdoba Tuesday is Leopold night at Qdoba from 5-9 pm. Qdoba is located at 5401 Caddis Bend. Please bring your flyer in so Leopold can receive 10% of your purchase. I will post the flyer online on the PFO blog prior to the event Tuesday night. March PFO Meeting Thank you to all of the parents who came to our March PFO family meeting. We had a nice turnout to hear Mr. Budd talk about math, Mr. Beaman talk about science, and Mr. Burkholder give a school update. We tried something new and videoed the meeting for those who might have wanted to come but weren't able. If you follow the link below, you can read the minutes or watch the video. I must point out that I wasn't sure of the best way to video, so the quality is not great, but we'll work on that. The PFO is always open to feedback as to if our meeting topics are informative. We got very positive feedback on this meeting. http://www.leopoldpfo.org/meetings-and-minutes.html Next meeting is Tuesday, April 8. Topics are music, art and family engagement. Important Upcoming Dates: March 18 - Math Night at Open Schoolhouse March 21st and March 28 - early release at 10:45 am April 5 - Leopold Rummage Sale (drop off on April 4) April 8 - PFO Meeting April 14-21 - Spring Break April 26 - Spring Grounds Cleanup May 5 - 9 - Spirit Week May 10 - Timber Wolf Trample PFO Literacy Project Over the past several weeks, Sara Dawkins and Emily Royalty from our PFO Board have been working very hard on developing ideas for a fall literacy campaign for our students for the upcoming school year. They have been writing grant proposals, making community connections and more to fulfill several goals centered around literacy for our students. The PFO works so hard behind the scenes and these ladies deserve lots of credit for the endless hours they are putting in to make Leopold an even better school. We look forward to sharing more information as we solidify the ideas and upcoming program. COMMUNITY NEWS Regent Soccer Club Kindergarten Soccer Registration deadline extended to March 22 to guarantee a spot on a team Regent Soccer Club and Madison Area Youth Soccer Association (MAYSA) are team up every spring to offer Kindergarten (Kinde) Soccer. The season starts in mid-April.The time to sign up is NOW! New teams are being organized this spring. Register by March 22 for a guaranteed spot. Registration includes a uniform and ball for each player and cones and flags for team play. Play dates for Kinde are Saturday mornings, April to June (times may vary). Practice times vary depending upon the coach. Typically there is one practice per week. We typically have parent volunteers who coach. Please let the club know when you register if you are interested in coaching. For more information and online registration, visit Regent Soccer Club (http://www.regentsoccer.org/) or MAYSA (http://www.maysa.org/). Regent Soccer Club also has a limited number of openings on existing teams from 1st grade and up. Please visit the club website (http://www.regentsoccer.org/) to register. If your child is interested in playing on a particular team please contact the Regent registrar at [email protected]. Scholarships are available to students with Free & Reduced lunch. Hope to see you out on the field. Thanks and have a great week! Kris -- Kris Aman, PresidentLeopold Parent Faculty Organization Encouraging Kids. Connecting Families. Serving Leopold. Good morning Leopold families. In defiance of the weather, we are beginning to plan some exciting spring events!
2014 Timber Wolf Trample! Planning is underway. Here are some important things to know:
Please mark your calendars for our spring grounds cleanup on April 26 from 9 am-12 pm. We will work on cleaning up our grounds and getting the garden ready for spring, as well as some possible playground improvements. Many hands make light work so we encourage families and neighbors to join in a fun day of taking pride in our school. More information will come about how you can play an active role in making our school and community look great! PFO Meeting Our next PFO family meeting will be Tuesday, March 11 at 7 pm in the Leopold library. Everyone is welcome to attend! We will be having Mr. Beaman, our REACH science teacher talk to us about the REACH science program. Every Leopold student spends time in Mr. Beaman's class during the school year so come find out what fun and exciting things they're up to in this unique program. Mr. Budd, 3rd grade teacher, will talk about fun math activities and how parents can support math skills at home for kids of all ages. Both will be able to answer questions parents have as well. We will also have a quick PFO update as well as a principal update. If you need childcare other than Open Schoolhouse, please let me know in advance. Science Night Science Night is scheduled to take place at Open Schoolhouse TOMORROW March 4th from 6pm-8pm. We hope that this event will show families how fun science is, and expose students to different areas of science. This event will include family challenges, hands-on experiments, and cool demonstrations. Science Night will also feature "MaGicEnergy," an interactive show that includes juggling, storytelling, and magic and inspires kids to engage in environmental stewardship. We are looking for volunteers to participate in Science Night by facilitating interactive exploration stations, serving food, and assisting with set up and tear down. MUCH HELP IS STILL NEEDED to support our awesome Open Schoolhouse group who is sponsoring this fun event for our kids! Please review this online sign up and see how you can participate. Any questions/comments, please contact Kao Yong Thao (608-204-4334,[email protected]) Leopold Garage Sale Calling bargain hunters and closet cleaners! The Leopold garage sale is scheduled for April 5. Items to donate for the garage sale can be brought in on Friday, April 4 (drop-off time to be determined). Mrs. Czech is organizing the garage sale and would like a few parent volunteers to help out! If you are interested in helping (and getting a first look at the goods), you can email Mrs. Czech at [email protected]. DLI Summit DLI parents are invited to attend a DLI Summit and BoE Forum. This is a summit designed for DLI parents, teachers and stakeholders who want to have conversations with other parents and stakeholders from all the MMSD DLI schools. The DLI Summit is being organized by Nuestro Mundo parents and the Latino Education Council and will be hosted at Centro Hispano on Sat. March 8th from 9 -1:30. Food and childcare provided. RSVP requested as seats are limited. The Board of Ed. candidates will be there over lunch to hear from families. Backpack flyers were sent home with DLI students. Race to Equity Project Last week, Sara Dawkins (PFO VP) and I attended a presentation on the Wisconsin Councils of Children and Families' (WCCF) Race to Equity project. This was an eye-opening presentation about a multi-year project to reduce racial disparities in Dane County. I would encourage everyone to visit the project's website at http://racetoequity.net. and review the first report issued by the project. Presentations have been given by Race to Equity throughout Dane County to various groups. The presentation we went to at Franklin Elementary School was very well attended. We are considering ways to bring this discussion to Leopold for our community and families as well. It is worth your time to look at and understand some of the powerful data that has been collected so far. COMMUNITY NEWS Madison Reads Leopold On March 1st there will be a free public reading from Aldo Leopold's work at the UW Arboretum Visitor Center from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM on Saturday, March 1st. Eric Liljequist, a retired teacher from Leopold, is one of the readers. Thanks everyone. Have a great week! Kris Hi Leopold Families. Are your kiddos counting down? Just 9 days of school left! Where did the time go? Here's what happening this week at Leopold:
*A document from MMSD regarding enrollment for the 2013-14 school year is attached.* Leopold Multi-Cultural Night Tuesday, June 4th, 6-7:45 pm. Bring a dish and recipe to share from your family’s heritage. Have fun with a potluck dinner and music from around the world. Recipes will be put together into a “Cultures of Leopold Cookbook.” Spend the night connecting to other Leopold families and celebrating students’ and families’ diverse backgrounds! Sign up below with your name, the name of the dish you will bring, and the country or region your dish represents! Please send your name, dish, and country or region represented to Jennifer Compton at [email protected] DLI Family Potluck DLI families end of the year potluck on Wednesday, June 5th from 6:00-7:15 in the cafeteria. Yearbooks Our delivery of yearbooks has arrived. If you have not yet ordered a 2012-13 yearbook, there are extra copies available. Please go here to find out how to order this year’s yearbook or yearbooks from past years. 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. Mabel’s Labels As a way to target the problem of lost belongings and a large lost and found closet, LEOPOLD ELEMENTARY is fundraising with Mabel's Labels, a company with all types of labels that are colorful, indestructible, easy-to-use and fun! Iron-Ons, Stickies, Bag Tags, Allergy Alert labels & more! Personalize your labels with names, nicknames, initials - whatever you choose. Cool icons help even little ones identify their own belongings. Dishwasher, microwave, laundry & kid tested! Dispatched within 24 hours! Visit LEOPOLD ELEMENTRY’S fundraising page, www.leopold.mabelslabels.com to place your order while helping our school! About Mabel’s Labels: We are moms who were frustrated by the amount of stuff that left our houses, never to return. After lots of research and testing we created the perfect fun, durable labels for the stuff kids lose! Our sticky labels and clothing labels, which are dishwasher, microwave and laundry safe, are not only practical, but also designed to be very special to each child. The labels are customized with a child’s name, favourite mix of colours and an icon (animal, symbol, etc.). We have also expanded our product line to include personalized stationery products, ID wristbands and household labels.” We strive to continuously design innovative labels for babies, kids and grown-ups alike. You’ll be amazed at what you can label!” Leopold Spirit Wear There are a few remaining Leopold Spirit Wear Items for sale: (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. Pop Tabs If you’ve been saving pop tabs this year, please be sure to deposit them in the large bottle in the school lobby. We will be ending our pop tab collection at the end of this school year. Trample Pictures Pictures of the Timber Wolf Trample, taken by Lola Mae photography, are now posted on the Leopold PFO website. http://www.leopoldpfo.org/timber-wolf-trample-fun-run.html Thanks everyone, have a great week! 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! Hello families. I hope everyone had a great spring break, even though it wasn't very spring like for those of us who stayed in Madison. But, as the weather warms up, we can all look forward to the May 11 Timber Wolf Trample!
Timber Wolf Trample Update Registration Forms are coming home Friday. The forms include a section for kids to collect donations from friends and family and earn prizes, register for the race, and a waiver for participation. If you need to download the form, you can find it here in English and Spanish. In the coming weeks, we will have Spirit Week, a Trample pep rally, and other fun activities leading up to the big event. 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 Private School Vouchers in the Madison Metropolitan School District The PFO Board and the MMSD School Board are hoping to enlist your help in our advocacy efforts regarding the governor's recent budget proposal. In the budget proposal, the implementation of private school vouchers in Madison, coupled with money targeted toward independent charter schools and NO increase in funding from the state will be financially devastating to our school district. Information is linked. https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/node/10455 We need your help to advocate for 3 things: 1. Remove the voucher and independent charter school expansion from the budget 2. Require accountability 3. Restore funding to public education On the second page of the linked document, there are ways to contact the legislature. In addition to contacting our Madison legislators, please also spread the word to any family and friends you have in other areas of the state. All legislators must hear from their constituents on how negative this budget is for public education. Please share this information with your parent groups. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact the Board at [email protected] A Message for Parents of 5th Graders from the Cherokee PTO I'm Co President at Cherokee MS PTO and we are in the process of finding great parents from Thoreau and Leopold that have kids moving to 6th grade. We have openings on the PTO Board and lots of volunteer opportunities (dances, magazine sales, ultra zone nights, etc….). I would love to make personal connections with incoming 6th grade parents that might be interested! We also have an opening for VP! If you are interested, please contact Beth Dohrn at [email protected]. Get Fit In Fitchburg Please see the attached flyer regarding the upcoming Get Fit in Fitchburg event at Leopold Elementary. Thanks everyone. Have a great weekend! 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 Leopold families. As spring is hopefully getting closer, we are looking ahead to a busy and exciting time at school.
Come help pick our t-shirt contest winner - TIME CHANGE Please join fellow parents, students and the PFO board tomorrow evening, March 12, at 6 p.m., in the Leopold library to review and vote for you favorite Timber Wolf Trample t-shirt design contest entries. This will be in lieu of a regular PFO meeting, so please stop when you can between 6 and 7. The REAP Farm-to-School program, a supporter of our Fresh Fruits and Veggies Program, will also have a table set up so you can learn more about the healthy programs they are supporting for our students. At the same time (Tuesday, 6 p.m.), a meeting for families with incoming kindergartners will also be held in the cafeteria. Timber Wolf Trample The t-shirt design contest is the kickoff to lots of fun and exciting stuff leading up to our 2013 Timber Wolf Trample. Additional events will include a pep rally, Spirit Week and more. We encourage you to use this opportunity to talk to your kids about the benefits of exercise and healthy habits. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the one-mile fun run/walk! This year's Trample will be followed by a picnic for all families so we hope to see everyone there and excited to get out and move. We are still hoping to have willing parents to step up and help with a couple of simple pre-planning tasks including food organization, and learning the ropes of volunteer coordinator. Our amazing volunteer coordinator, Tiffany, is "graduating" out of Leopold this year and it would be great to have someone learn from her while they can. We are now using Sign Up Genius to fill most of our volunteer spots, so gone are the days of dozens of phone calls. Please let me know if you would like to assist (with much help and guidance) for either of these important roles. Yearbooks Order forms have gone out for the 2012-13 Yearbooks. Please return those in the next few weeks. We are still in need of pictures to make this year's yearbook as memorable as can be. Please send pictures you have to Jana Olson. Ideas include pictures of FunFest, field trips, classroom activities and more. If your order form is lost, extra forms are available from Emily in the office. Spirit Wear Back by popular demand! Leopold Spirit Wear order forms are coming home this week. There are a couple of new items this time around. Return your form and payment to school or order online here. School Schedule Please note that this Thursday, March 14, is an early release day. Kids will be done at 10:45 Thursday morning. Spring Break is March 25 - April 1. Classes will resume April 2. Additional Announcements MSCR Learn to Ride Is it time for your child to break up with their training wheels? Learn easy, innovative techniques to get your child riding solo on two wheels! This approach teaches youth ages 4+ how to balance, pedal, stop and steer on a closed course. Each participant will receive a free bike helmet and should bring their bike. Call us if you need to reserve one of our practice bikes (limited supply). All participants must be accompanied by a companion 16+ years. In collaboration with MSCR and Madison Department of Transportation. PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. MMSD resident/non-resident: $7/$10.50 per child. www.mscr.org 608-204-3000. Find a location near you. Everyone welcome! School Date Time Course # Elvehjem Sun. 5/5 10am-12pm 42343 Olson Sat. 5/11 10am-12pm 42338 Falk Tue. 6/18 5:30-7:30pm 42340 Mendota Thu. 6/20 5:30-7:30pm 42341 *Leopold Wed. 7/10 5:30-7:30pm 42342 *Spanish speaking staff available Westside Lacrosse Club The Westside Lacrosse Club is developing both a 5th/6th grade team and a 3rd/4th grade team for the Spring 2013 season. Tim Prince will be coaching the 5/6 team and Mark Frey will be coaching the 3/4 team. The season will run from mid March - Mid June. The first 3-4 weeks will be indoor practices once a week and once we can get on the outdoor fields (~April 15th) we'll practice twice a week. We will likely hold practices 5:00 to 6:30 in the evening. I am leaning toward a Monday/Thursday schedule and hoping to hold 3/4 and 5/6 practices at the same time. Registration is open online at http://westside.uslaxteams.com/ and we'd love to have you sign up soon to help build our momentum! Also, Westside LAX has field time reserved OUTDOOR at Keva for the 5/6 and 34 teams to have some pre-season practice/skills sessions. Tuesday, March 19th from 5-6:30 and Thursday March 21st from 5-6:30. These will be full pads and gear - helmet, shoulder pads, arm/elbow pads, gloves, stick and cleats (no metal cleats). Athletic shoes can work, but cleats are best option. We have a limited number of equipment items available to borrow. If you have any questions please contact: Tim Prince 852-3520 (cell) [email protected] 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! |
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