Bear Facts

Email: billingsm@usd231.com
Website: https://www.usd231.com/o/madison
Location: 800 W Madison St, Gardner, KS, United States
Phone: (913) 856-0400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MDEBears
Twitter: @MDEBears

No School December 16-January 4

Thursday, January 5 - Students Return from Winter Break

On January 4, our offices, and the entire building, will be closed to the public from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Staff members, including secretaries, will not be available to the public (in-person or by phone). This closure is to provide safety and security training to all our employees. The building will re-open on Thursday, January 5.

Thank you for your understanding.

Madison Elementary Lunch Menu

Just a reminder... Weekly balance reminders are sent to families whose students' account balances fall below zero due to purchases.

In an effort to avoid classes missing the same special on days of the week due to not being in session, we will continue to utilize a specials schedule that is on a 5-day rotation versus a day of the week rotation. Having this rotation, we will avoid the same specials always being on the same day of the week and avoid not having specials due to days off or snow days.

For a specific class schedule, please refer to the classroom information provided by the classroom teacher.

Monday - No School

Tuesday - No School

Wednesday - No School

Thursday - Specials Day #1

Friday - Specials Day #2

Where did the first semester go? It is hard to believe we are a few weeks away from the New Year! I am always amazed by how very quickly time passes by us. As we reflect upon the first semester at Madison, we have an abundance of celebrations, and we are excited to finish this semester on a strong note.

It is with a grateful heart that I offer my sincerest gratitude to you, our partners in education. We are truly a blessed learning community to have strong, committed and supportive families. We are so fortunate to have supportive families, trusting families, and giving families. Thank you for your continued support of Madison and our learning community.

There will be no school Friday, December 16 through Wednesday, January 4. We have much to look forward to as we enter the second semester on January 5, 2023 when our learning community reconvenes for the second part of the school year. We wish all of our Madison families Happy Holidays and look forward to seeing our Bears on January 5!

Our next PTA Meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 9 at 7:00 pm in the Madison Cafeteria. Childcare will be available during the meeting. We hope to see you there.

Congratulations to these three Bears for finishing first, second, and third in the Madison Elementary Spelling Bee.

This week, several students received positive office referrals for taking care of themselves, taking care of others, and taking care of this place. We are proud of these outstanding Bears!

Hello awesome families!

Finding fun AND useful holiday gifts for kiddos can be stressful. We get it! Need some ideas?

Check out this holiday gift guide that has fun ideas that also support social emotional growth. Or here is a list of some great children’s books if that’s on your list this year.

Wishing you joy, peace and rest amidst a busy season!

As always, we are here for you! Contact us anytime.

With thankful hearts,

Jackie Hodson, social worker

hodsonj@usd231.com

913-856-0409

Allison Southerland, counselor

southerlanda@usd231.com

913-856-3313

Thank you to Mr. Anderson for being a WATCH DOGS volunteer on Wednesday!

If you would like to sign up to be a Watch DOG, sign ups are now available for half day slots. We ask that you sign up at least two days in advance so a schedule can be created and the teachers can prepare for your visit. Volunteers must fill out a registration form and submit it to the office one week in advance of their scheduled day. Thank you for making a positive impact on our Bears! if you have specific questions, please contact Mrs. Daniels and Mrs. Billings at 856-0400.

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

1) Click this link to see our SignUp: You can sign up to be a WATCH DOGS Volunteer here.
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like (please add your child(ren)'s name).
3) Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password.

Note: Signup does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact the Madison Office and we can sign you up manually.

Registration Form

Watch D.O.G.S Apparel - If you would like to order and have the apparel shipped directly to you, please follow this link - DOGS Store

As we enter into Fall/Winter, it is a great time to remind our school community of the measures we take to keep students healthy and prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

• We reinforce frequent hand washing with our students and coughing/sneezing into a tissue or their sleeve (not their hands).

• In addition, we refer to the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (JCDHE) recommendations when determining the need to send a student home from school (see attached document). The JCDHE recommendation chart provides specific guidance on when a student can be readmitted to school.

• For example, students should be fever-free for 24 hours WITHOUT using fever-reducing medication before returning to school.

Occasionally we receive questions about head lice management in our schools, and we have an extensive set of resources on our website that can be found HERE.

• As needed, we will inform parents when we see an increase in illnesses in our school population with the potential for rapid spread among students and staff (such as influenza) or in the rare instance we have a mandatory reportable disease occur in our population, like Mumps. General head lice notifications are not recommended as they have been found to cause harm and lead to unnecessary treatment. Instead, the school nurse will assess the need for notification individually to those considered close contacts.

The Madison Elementary health room is available if your child becomes ill or injured while at school. Please familiarize yourself with the USD 231 Parent Handbook with details of our Health Services guidelines and procedures. Kansas law requires all students to have on file evidence of required immunizations prior to attending school. The Medication Authorization Form must be completed and signed by the parent or guardian for all medications given at school. It is recommended that medication NOT be sent to school with children. Parents should bring the medication to the health room (8:15 am to 3:45 pm).

A student will be sent home from school with any of the following:

• Temperature 100 degrees or greater, or with incidents of vomiting and/or diarrhea.
• Symptoms related to a possible communicable disease.
• Excessive drainage from eyes, ears, persistent earache, constant cough, or painful sore throat with enlarged lymph nodes.
• Students with acute infectious disease or parasite

Thank you for reinforcing healthy habits with our students. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at (913) 856-0450.

Nurse Angie

Birthday treats can still be brought to school and we encourage them to be store-bought or pre-packaged items (think Little Debbie type snacks) to help our students celebrate in a safe and healthy way. In addition, the USD 231 Nutrition Services department offers birthday catering options. Please see the image above or this link for more information about these services.

Did you know your Amazon purchases can benefit the PTA? AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Simply go to smile.amazon.com and select Madison Elementary Gardner to find our school!

Hello MDE families! We’re looking forward to the return of our Bears for the 2022-23 school year!

Madison Elementary PTA Executive Board Officers

President: Leah Bates

Vice-President: Jessica Grimes

Treasurer: Heather Musselman

Secretary: Andrea Satterfield

Membership Chair: Diane Owen

Madison Elementary PTA Meeting Dates 9/6, 10/3, 11/14, 12/12, 1/9, 2/13, 3/20, 4/10, and 5/1. All meetings will occur in the Madison cafeteria at 7 pm

Email us at: Madisonbearpta@gmail.com Like us on Facebook "Madison Elementary PTA Gardner, KS"

Interested in the Madison PTA Happenings? Stay in the know!

We invite everyone to join the Madison PTA Facebook page. By searching Madison Elementary PTA Gardner, KS under Pages, you will be able to join the group and receive updated PTA information.

If you are interested in joining the PTA, please see the membership form.

Nominate a Deserving Student or Employee Today!!!

The GESD recognition program has been established to recognize students and employees who exceed expectations.

"Gardner Edgerton Students of Distinction" (GESD) nominees can be any current student in the Gardner Edgerton School District who exemplifies traits of outstanding character and serves as a positive influence on their peers and the community-at-large.

"Great Employees Serving the District" (GESD) nominees can be any certified or classified employee in the Gardner Edgerton School District who exemplifies traits of outstanding customer service and is a positive influence on students, parents, co-workers or members of the community. The award will be presented on a weekly basis.

Answers to a few questions you may have:

• Nominations from previous years have been removed from the database.

• Even if a student or staff member has been selected as a GESD in previous years, they are again eligible.

  
  

We will recognize our first student and staff member sometime in September. This will allow time for nominations to be submitted.

Nominate a deserving STUDENT by clicking HERE.

Nominate a deserving EMPLOYEE by clicking HERE.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter - @MDEBears and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MadisonElementaryBears. We will use our twitter and facebook accounts to share information, pictures, and classroom happenings throughout the school year so you can have a window into the classrooms and experience the learning with your bear.