Elementary schools across the Watertown Unified School District participated in elections of their own on Tuesday by casting votes to determine favorite cookie flavor and even to elect a school president, which was the case at Lebanon LEAP Elementary School. It was a close race at LEAP between resident hen, Henny Penny, and resident snake, Jack Tater. Jack Tater was the top-vote getter in the end. 🐍
Wellness Wednesday Spotlight: Sonya Garza
Join us as we welcome Sonya Garza, Community Relations Liaison for Rogers Behavioral Health in Oconomowoc, to our next Wellness Wednesday event, on Nov. 20, starting at 6 p.m. at the Watertown Public Library. Sonya connects providers, families, and patients with Rogers’ evidence-based mental health care. With her experience coordinating care and her passion for mental health, she’ll guide us through the levels of care Rogers offers and how these resources can support our community. This event is organized by WUSD Mental Health Coordinator Kenda Roman. For more information, email romank@mywusd.org.
Look at these cute 4K students learning and growing together 🍎. They are pictured enjoying crafts, building projects, and even a fun game of BINGO! To celebrate Halloween, they read The Little Ghost Who Was A Quilt 👻.
Fourth-grade students at Webster Elementary School recently participated in their very own version of the TV game show Fear Factor for Halloween 🎃. Without being able to see what was in a variety of boxes, the students put their hands into witches eyeballs (grapes), goblin ears (dried apricots), monster tongues (banana peels) and more! The students had to guess what items they were feeling and the students who guessed the most items correctly won a prize. Pictured are the students who guessed at least four out of the six items correctly.
Please join us Thursday, November 7 from 6-7 p.m. to learn about Project SEARCH.
Project SEARCH is a 1-school-year internship program for adults with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 35. It is targeted to adults whose goal is competitive employment.
The program takes place at The Marquardt where total immersion in the workplace facilitates the teaching and learning process as well as the acquisition of employability and marketable work skills. Interns participate in three unpaid internships to explore a variety of career paths.
Interns work with a team that includes their family, their Project SEARCH instructor, Project SEARCH skills trainer, job developer, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, and Long-Term Care partners to create an employment goal and to support the intern during this important transition from school to work.
The interns begin their day learning employability skills in a training center at The Marquardt. After this hour-long class, the interns move to their internship at The Marquardt where they work for approximately five hours. At the end of the day, interns return to the training room to reflect on their day, discuss challenges, and evaluate progress.
The goal of Project SEARCH is competitive employment for each intern utilizing the skills they learned during the program. We hope you can join us for Project SEARCH Information Night on Thursday, Nov. 7 from 6-7p.m. We will meet at the Towne Centre (at The Marquardt), 1045 Hill St., Watertown.
Third-graders had a blast playing in the fallen leaves under a beautiful blue sky at Douglas Elementary School last week. 🍁
Was the brief power outage that affected much of Watertown today a trick or a treat for our high schoolers? 👻 Dozens of students, and even members of our Nutritional Services staff, are celebrating Halloween today by wearing some pretty amazing costumes to school! 🎃
Last Thursday, while classes were not in session, Watertown Unified School District staff participated in a variety of professional development learning opportunities at locations all across the community. In addition to meeting in our public school buildings, staff training and collaboration also took place at Watertown Regional Medical Center, Madison College, and at The Collective. Staff development focused on Literacy training, Keys to Literacy Module Work, Data Review, aimswebPlus training, ASCA training, NVCI training, FERPA training for certified and paraprofessional staff, and more. In addition, CTE (Career to Technical Education) staff received a behind-the-scenes tour of WRMC’s Harvest Market and district clerical staff received training in Canva, a graphic design program. It was a great day for team building all throughout our school district! #WatertownWay
HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) held its annual HOSAween Pumpkin Carving Contest on Sunday, Oct. 20. Winners included: 3rd Place - Sophia and Hannah (classic Jack-o'-Lantern), 2nd Place - Miliani and Summer (Ghost Pumpkin), and 1st Place - Eleyna and Kacie (German Shepherd Pumpkin). A great time was had by ALL!
The Watertown Unified School District Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting tonight at 6 p.m. at the Educational Service Center, 111 Dodge St. Please note, a budget hearing will take place prior to the meeting at 5:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend. To view the meeting agenda, please visit: https://go.boarddocs.com/wi/watertown/Board.nsf/vpublic?open.
Thank you to Jersey Mike's Subs of Johnson Creek for its generous donation of $1,437 to Watertown High School! To celebrate the opening of the new Jersey Mike’s location (485 Wright Rd, Unit 103, Johnson Creek), the restaurant teamed up with WHS to present a free sub card to all students and staff. For each card redeemed Oct. 2-6, the student or staff member received the free sub plus Jersey Mike’s made a $3 donation to WHS. Pictured with the donation check are (from left) WHS Associate Principal Jennifer Pennington, WHS Associate Principal Jennifer Bault, WHS Associate Principal/Athletic Director Jamie Koepp, WHS Principal Josh Kerr and WHS Dean of Students Chad Hayes.
How cute is this? To celebrate learning all 26 letters of the English alphabet, kindergarteners at Schurz Elementary School participated in an Alphabet Parade on this beautiful October afternoon. The students each held a letter flag and as a group walked around the block as parents, caregivers, friends and family members cheered them on. #WatertownWay
There are several Board of Education meetings coming this week and next week. View all the upcoming agendas and read past meeting minutes by visiting https://go.boarddocs.com/wi/watertown/Board.nsf/vpublic?open.
Students attending the WUSD’s eCampus Academy recently gathered for two in-person learning activities. Last week, students and their parents/caregivers took a field trip to the Horicon Marsh. Did you know that the Horicon Marsh is only 2-feet deep? eCampus Academy learners took a boat tour around the Marsh, were treated to a hands-on experience at the Explorium, and hiked the Story Book Trail.
In September, eCampus Academy students enjoyed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) learning stations at the Educational Service Center.
To learn more about the eCampus Academy visit https://www.watertown.k12.wi.us/o/ecampus.
🎃 Join us for this special trick-or-treating event! 👻
The Watertown High School National Honor Society is hosting a Trunk-or-Treat and your children are invited! The event will take place on Wednesday, October 23 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the WHS student parking lot. Candy and treats available while supplies last. Costumes encouraged!
Douglas Elementary School Tigers recently read the book Do Unto Otters with Mrs. Lessner, and students chose one word from the book to decorate. The book was all about being a good neighbor, and students learned about how they could be good classmates by being kind, honest, considerate, and more! The decorated word sheets now adorn the entranceway to the school building. This is a great visual reminder for our students and school community to do their best every day.
Mrs. Peters’ Webster Elementary School 4K class recently read "Pete the Cat; I Love My White Shoes," and had a blast acting out the story! Students practiced reading and retelling the Pete the Cat story in many different ways including painting with model cats and using a magnet board story telling kit. The class had fun creating a patterning snack using the items that Pete the Cat walked in with his white shoes – blueberries, strawberries, and mud (chocolate sauce). To complete the story, students engaged in a Pete the Cat sensory activity by walking through blueberries, strawberries, mud, and water with their bare feet! This is a great example of Learning the Wildcat Way…100% every day!
There are so many unique opportunities within the Watertown Unified School District for our students to always be learning something new. Pictured here are Tech Ed students at Riverside Middle School exploring and studying a variety of skills and applications, from hands-on wood lathe to digital 3D design and modeling. #WatertownWay
🎶 Congratulations to the Watertown High School Marching Band! 🏆
The band earned a 1st Place finish in Class Triple-A at the Red Hawk Invitational in Milton this past Saturday! The band set a school record high score of 70.35! Catch the band’s next performance on Friday at the WHS Varsity Football game as they prepare for their trip to the State Marching Championships on Saturday, Oct. 19 at UW-Whitewater.
We love seeing our students running, playing, and having fun with their teachers and classmates. Enjoy these photos from the recent Lincoln STEM Elementary School Panda Bot Boogie and the Webster Elementary School Wildcat Dash.
