Edgewood's Tiger Talk

The end of the year is a busy time! One of the highlights has been seeing our service learning projects come together. As we wrapped up our year, we asked students to identify a need in the community, think about their own character strengths, and make a plan to help address that need.

Classes have presented their work over the past few weeks, and it's been inspiring. Here is what they did:

• 4K noticed a need for confidence and support moving to the middle school, and used their strengths in drawing and beginning writing to make cards for each of the 5th graders.
• 5K thought we could use some kindness reminders. They made posters and put them throughout the building.
• 1st grade is full of animal activists. They are concerned for species going extinct in Wisconsin. They raised money through a popcorn sale and used it to plant and grow milkweed (for Monarch Butterflies), buy and built bat houses (for the brown bat, which eats mosquitos!), and donated to an organization that works to save the Sand Piper.
• 2nd grade was concerned for homeless animals. They collected money and items to give to two local shelters--one for dogs, and one for cats.
• Ms. Snyders' 3rd grade class became passionate about the homeless population in Milwaukee. They found items needed by the Hope House, collected them, and donated them.
• Ms. Paulus' 3rd grade class is concerned by the amount of paper waste we have at school in our cafeteria. They calculated how much is used unnecessarily this year, and created an add to campaign for more conscientious use in the future.
• Mrs. Schuetts' 4th grade class wanted better playground equipment. They took it upon themselves to monitor the status of the ball carts, redistributing equipment and pumping up balls. (Thank you!)
• Ms. Stark's 4th grade class had read a book called The Lemonade Wars. They wanted to have their own. They learned to make lemonade from scratch, made it, and sold it during recess on a very hot day. Proceeds went to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a charity that supports children's cancer research.
• 5th grade was full of passion. Some students helped 4th graders with recess equipment. Some held a bake sale, raising funds for our local EHSA through an epic penny war. Some wrote notes to high school students, and stuck them on lockers anonymously.

Seeing students pride in their work, and their knowledge that they can make a positive impact on their community was heart warming. We strive for our students to be come Confident Thinkers. While part of that comes through work with academics, it also comes from experiences like this. Thank you for all your support, whether it be through donating cookies or materials or sending in $ for penny wars and bake sales. It was a wonderful way to wrap up a year of Character Education.

Tomorrow, you'll all get report cards, and they will all tell you something to the effect of, "Keep reading over the summer!"

Full confession: I usually start out with grand intentions of reading a bunch of books with my kids and playing board games daily and doing workbooks. Even as an educator, though, I find it really hard to keep up with these habits. Here's the one thing that's helped: setting an expectation I can enforce. For example:

• Before you can play video games/watch TV, you need to read for 20 minutes, pick up your room, and practice piano.
• No TV until after 3:00, reading for 20 minutes, and writing a journal entry.

When kids start off playing games or doing preferred activities, it's a battle to get them to move away from it to something less preferred. We want reading to be fun, but it takes more work than watching a screen. Thinking of it as an adult, "Time to leave the party and go clean the bathroom." Don't get me wrong--I value a clean house, and feel good once it's clean. But "clean the bathroom then go to the party" is a lot more fun!

Going to the library has also bolstered my kids' excitement about books and reading. There's something special about searching through shelves of cleanly-bound books. Plus, it's free and air conditioned!

This year, as many know, we bid adieu to Mrs. Adkins (5th grade) and Mrs. McClanahan (music). They are both retiring after impactful careers.

Replacing Mrs. Adkins will be Mr. Skewis, who's relocating to the MIlwaukee area from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He has experience teaching Title 1, coaching youth sports, and is from a family of educators. Mrs. Dropp, currently the part time music teacher at Glenwood, will be moving to full time and teaching at both Glenwood and Edgewood (similar to Mrs. Betz, our art teacher).

We're also bidding farewell to Coach K (Mr. Kurkowski), who will be moving to Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife, who is doing a year of a research fellowship following medical school. They're also welcoming their first child in July. We wish them all the best! We're excited to welcome back Mr. Warnecke as our Physical Education Teacher. He taught at Edgewood for 5 years, and left to provide childcare for his son 3 years ago. Welcome back, Mr. Warnecke!

Ms. Eckes, one of our amazing special education teachers, will be expanding her positive impact by serving as a district-wide behavior coach next year. While we'll miss seeing her on a daily basis, we're know that it will help students and staff throughout the district, and she'll still be around if we need her =).

Mrs. McClone, who began here as a paraprofessional and has served as the long-term substitute for Mrs. Hoekstra while she's been on maternity leave, is putting her teaching credential back to use, and is stepping into Mrs. Eckes' role as a special education teacher.

We'll miss those departing, and are lucky to have a talented staff continuing and joining us next year.

We have a new board, and exciting things planned for next year!

Save the date for our Back to School Picnic--Friday, September 8th. It'll be a great opportunity to connect with other families and hear about our fundraising campaign for the 2023-2024 school year!

Many of you shop on Amazon. Did you know that you can earn money for Edgewood's Home and School Association while doing it? You can give more $ to your child's school by doing what you'd do anyway!

1) Go to smile.amazon.com

2) Search for your charity: Edgewood Home and School Association, Inc."

3) This only works from the desktop site, not from the app.

6/8: Last day of school, 1/2 day (release at 1:26)

8/30: Open House, 4:30-6:30

9/1: First day of school for 5K-5th grades (yes, it's a Friday)

9/5 & 9/6: Staggered Start 1st day for 4K

9/8: Back to School Picnic, sponsored by the EHSA

Email: mboyd@greenfield.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.greenfield.k12.wi.us/schools/edgewood/
Location: 4711 South 47th Street, Greenfield, WI, United States
Phone: 414-281-5750