Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

Each year we ask you to complete a Parent Satisfaction Survey. The results help us reflect and guide our next steps to strengthen our partnership with you. As principals, we take a lot of time reading through the results to be intentional in our actions to better partner with families. We wanted to share with you our focus areas this year.

This year we want to:

• Increase the Overall Parent Satisfaction Score at Muskego Lakes from 4.41 to 4.46
• Increase in the area of "I regularly receive feedback from school staff (including infinite Campus) on how well my child is learning" from 4.26 to 4.31

One action step we are taking to support the sharing of feedback about your child's progress and events/happenings at school is a Musky Monday Folder! Each Monday, your child will bring home a colored folder (which matches their grade level color). Inside these folders, you can find important fliers, PTO information, tests, projects, or anything teachers/students want to share with their families. You can expect this folder to come home this upcoming Monday, so please ask your child about it.

In Partnership,

Rachel Rydzewski & Nancy Pasch

Muskego Lakes Principals

• Fall Math iReady Testing - September 13-15th

• School Picture Day - September 13th

• No School - October 3rd

• Fall Parent Teacher Conference Dates - October 13th and 19th

Is there a member of the Muskego Lakes staff who has been especially kind? helpful? Is there someone at Muskego Lakes who goes above and beyond for you and/or your child? If so, consider nominating any member of the Muskego Lakes staff for a Musky Award!!! To do so, you can complete the form here. We will be taking nominations until September 23rd, 2022. Thank you for helping us honor our staff here at Muskego Lakes!

Parents and Guardians can now put their student's absence in IC rather than calling into the school! We ask that you please report student absences from school daily before 9:00 am. In addition, we thank you for trying your best to make appointments outside of the school day whenever possible.

Directions to Report Absences Using Infinite Campus

• Report absences by logging into Infinite Campus, either through the Campus Parent App or from a computer.
• Once logged in, click More, then Absence Requests.
• Select your student(s).
• Select the reason from the drop down.
• Select the absence type.
• Select the date(s).
• Add Comments.
• Click Submit

Failure to notify the school of a student’s absence within 24 hours shall be considered as truancy and handled accordingly. We want to partner with you to support your child's attendance, so don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have concerns or wish to partner to create a plan to support your student's attendance.

Students shall be allowed one day for each consecutive day of absence to complete and submit pre-assigned work. Students do not receive an extra day to complete work due to an approved field trip or pre-arranged absence. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm arrangements with all teachers prior to a field trip or pre-arranged absence.

At Muskego Lakes, we pride ourselves on having a variety of co-curricular activities for our students to participate in! Next week, on Thursday, September 15th, your child will have an opportunity at lunch to explore and learn more about the following co-curricular options available to them:

• Boys Basketball (7-8th)

• Girls Basketball (7-8th)
• Volleyball (7-8th)
• Track (7-8th)
• Cross Country (5-8th)
• Wrestling (5-8th)
• Cheerleading (5-8th)
• School Musical (5-8th)
• Student Council (5-8th)
• Ski Club (5-8th)
• World Language (5-8th)
• NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) (Invite for 7-8th)
• MLMS Bike Club (5-8th)
• Fab Lab Club (5-8th)
• Robotics (5-8th)
• Chamber Choir (6-8th)
• Science Club (5-8th)
• Open Gym (5-8th)
• Art Club (5-8th)
• Generations Club (5-8th)
• Creative Writing Club (5-8th)
• Destination Imagination (DI) (5-8th)
• Jazz Band (7-8th Band Members)
• Dungeons and Dragons (5-8th)
• Wellness Club (5th)
• Mindfulness Club (5-8th)
• Best Buddies (5-8th)
• SPLASH/Homework Club (5-8th)
• Yearbook Club (5-8th)
• Anime Club (5-8th)
• Jewelry Club (5-8th)
• Stickers and Doodles Club (5-8th)

Look for more information coming home in the Musky Monday folder and in next week's parent newsletter!

Students will get their photo taken for their ID cards and the yearbook on September 13th during the school day. Students will be getting their photo taken during their literacy class throughout the day.

If your child is sick that day, we will have a photo retake day later on in the school year.

Ordering Student Photos

If you'd like to order pictures, they can be ordered online using the following link:

https://orders.schoolandsportpics.com/ordering

When ordering, you will need to use the access key 6WNP4RQJ or use the drop-down menu to type and search for Muskego Lakes Middle School to start your order.

Use this coupon code to save 10% off of your order if placed prior to picture day:

Fall100388

*If for some reason your child misses or needs retakes, that is scheduled for September 29th.*

Muskego-Norway Schools is focused on continuous improvement and exploring ways to improve student learning. During the 2021-22 school year, a team of teachers created specific criteria of what math instruction should look and sound like, and then explored various math resources that meet that criteria. Following the year-long study, three resources were brought forward. During the 2022-23 school year, 5th grade staff will be engaged in a pilot process to further explore three resources. The resources selected by the team are Illustrative Mathematics, Bridges, and Context for Learning Mathematics. Teachers will also continue to access our current math resource.

A very thoughtful process was facilitated to ensure instruction is cohesive for students and teachers continue to have the opportunity to collaborate with one another. If your child’s teacher is piloting math resources, you will also be asked to provide feedback from a parent/guardian perspective.

You may order a middle school yearbook through Jostens, as yearbook sales are not handled through the school. In order to order a year book please visit: Jostens.com/YB23 . The deadline to place an order is February 1st, 2023. Additional copies of yearbooks will not be available at school after the deadline.

If you're not certain if you've already ordered a yearbook, please search your email for "Jostens" and look for a confirmation of sale. Or, if you created an account when ordering, you may login to Jostens.com, and view your purchase history.

To inquire about financial assistance, please reach out to Stacy Pawlak, Social Worker.

We have noticed that quite a few students are not bringing appropriate shoes for PE. Students are required to have tennis shoes to participate in PE. So, we ask that you check with your student that they have a pair for class and can leave it in their gym locker.

If your child does not own a pair of tennis shoes and/or can not leave a pair at school for PE, please contact Stacy Pawlak (stacy.pawlak@muskegonorway.org), our school social worker.

Families, please check your child's lunch account balance within Infinite Campus. Students with a negative balance are not allowed to purchase a la carte items or extra meals. As a reminder, the free lunch program that was in place the last two years is no longer available.

If your child has not had their finger scanned for lunch purchases and you would like them to do so, please have them stop into Student Services to pick up a permission slip. Please complete the form and have your child return it to Student Services. We will process additional finger scans later this month. Thank you!

Students will take the Fall iReady Assessment on the following dates:

• Make-Ups for Literacy: September 12th

• Math: September 13-15th

• Make-Ups for Math: September 16th
  
  

The iReady Assessment is designed to get a clear picture of what students know and what they need to work on next. Talk with your child about doing their best and not stressing about wrong answers. In addition, it will be beneficial for students to ensure their chromebook is fully charged, has a pair of headphones, get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast on test days.

Looking to update your kiddos or anyone in your family’s Muskego Lake Spiritwear, here’s your chance!

You can now purchase your items online in 3 easy steps:

1. Go online to https://muskegolakes2022.itemorder.com/
2. Choose your items and add them to your cart
3. Securely checkout with your credit card

Online Store Deadline: Sunday September 11th, 2022 (11:59pm CDT)

Items will be delivered to your student at school. The current turn around time is approximately 4 weeks after order is closed.

Please consider joining the Muskego Lakes PTO. We meet monthly in the MLMS library at 6:30pm. We always welcome new faces and would love to hear your ideas in how we can make this an amazing school year ahead!!

MLMS PTO Meeting Dates for 2022-2023

• September 21st
• October 19th
• November 16
• January 18
• February 15
• March 15
• April 19
• May 17

The PTO would like to cordially invite you to Pastries With Parents on Friday, September 16th before school starts from 7-8am in the cafeteria! It will be a fun way to spend some time with your student as they end their first full week of the new school year and parents, grandparents, siblings, etc are all welcome to attend!

All items (donuts, coffee + milk) will be $1 each and you'll pay at the door and/or use our school's venmo that morning. When signing up, please note how many will be attending + how many of each things that you'd like for your family. Walk-ins will be allowed the morning of, but we'd prefer that you RSVP to make sure that we have enough of everything!

To help with morning traffic flow, please park in the lot on right side of the school and do not use the bus parking spots!

Head over to the SignUpGenius link for all of the details + to RSVP!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e45aea929abfece9-pastries

We encourage you to follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Twitter: @MLMSmuskies