FERNWOOD FAMILY NEWSLETTER #21, 1/28/25

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

~Thursday, January 30th, 2025, 5:30pm, SEC Meeting, In Person in the Fernwood Library

~Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 6:00pm, PTO Meeting, Fernwood Library and virtual https://meet.google.com/xyc-wwnz-czu

~Friday, February 7th, 2025, 5:30pm, Soup and Chili Night, Fernwood Cafeteria

~Saturday, February 8th, 2025, 9am-12pm, Morning of Montessori Event, McDowell Montessori

~Tuesday, February 11th 2025, 6:30pm, Fernwood Fund Meeting, Fernwood library and virtual, email brett.mytys@gmail.com for link

~Wednesday, February 12th, 2025, 5-6:30pm, New and Returning Student Open House, Fernwood Montessori School

~Thursday, February 13th, 2025, 6:30pm, Music Parents Meeting, Virtual https://meet.google.com/fpf-rvca-uuk

~Monday and Tuesday, February 17th and 18th, 2025, NO SCHOOL

~Thursday, February 27th, 2025, 5:30pm, SEC Meeting, virtual https://meet.google.com/tir-huzv-ikc

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fernwood Soup & Chili Supper: February 7th

Potluck for Fernwood Soup and Chili Supper A Potluck is active for Fernwood Soup and Chili Supper. Click above for easy ways to participate www.mealtrain.com

Due to popular demand, we’ve opened additional chef spots for the Soup & Chili Supper. Kevin dropped the ball (and the chili), but you don’t have to!

On February 7th, the Fernwood Café will transform into an all-you-can-eat soup tasting event featuring dozens of delicious soups prepared by Fernwood families. Soups will be served from 5:30 PM to 7:15 PM, with admission costing $2 for students, $5 for adults, and free for children 3 and under. Don’t miss this fun-filled evening of community and comfort food!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

POPCORN THIS FRIDAY! 1/31!

Popcorn will be available for sale this Friday at the Falling Heath Doors after school for $1.  Proceeds go toward the adolescent program.  This is happening on the last day of January which is the 39th day of Winter.  There are 48 more days of Winter after 1/31, not that anyone is counting.  Thank you.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR INCOMING K3 STUDENTS

Attention ALL parents of future K3 students!  If you have a child who will be turning 3 by 9/1/25, then you need to complete the MPS open enrollment process if you want them to attend school in the Fall of 2025.  The enrollment window is February 1st, 2025 to March 17th, 2025.  Siblings of current Fernwood students WILL get a spot at Fernwood, but you still need to submit the enrollment paperwork so we know to give them a spot here in the Fall.   MPS does not have any way to check on younger siblings (through birth records or similar) and hold spots.  Thus, parents must enroll to indicate that they have a student who is ready to start school.  If you have any questions about this process, please call the office.  No pirate left behind!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome, Mr. Jermaine!

Please extend a warm Fernwood welcome to our new daytime Building Engineer, Mr. Jermaine McAllister, Sr!  Mr. Jermaine is originally from Chicago (like Doc Rivers!💚🦌💚 ), he is an MPS parent (he’s one of us!), his favorite sports star is Michael Jordan (respect to the GOAT!) and he likes pineapple on his pizza (I’m going to make sure he knows about the Tropical Trolley).  Please take some time to introduce yourself to Mr. Jermaine if you see him around the building and take a look at the bio below to learn a little more about our newest staff member.  Welcome, Mr. Jermaine!  We’re so happy to have you!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Art Room Letter from Ms. Makula

There is amazing stuff going on in the Art Room these days!  Please take a look at this letter from Ms. Makula to see an update with visuals!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AFTER SCHOOL THEATER CLASSES – SPRING SESSION and SPRING BREAK SESSION

Leapin’ Lizards! Join us for the spring session of After School Theater Classes at Fernwood, where students will work on a mini-script of the Broadway musical ANNIE! We’ll explore the basics of acting, singing and musical theater dance while learning how to build a character and tell a story onstage. Students will sing and dance to classic songs like “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” and “Tomorrow” while having a lot of fun!

SPRING SESSION DATES:

Grades 1-3: Mondays, 2:30 – 3:30 pm, March 17 – June 2 (10 weeks, no class 3/24, 5/26)

Grades 4-6: Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30 pm, March 19 – June 4 (11 weeks, no class 3/26)

New and returning students are welcome; no experience necessary. Parents are invited to a special performance on the last day of class! https://www.characterkidsdrama.com/milwaukee-public-schools-registration

In our fun-filled musical theater camp, students will learn how to hone their “Triple Threat” skills: acting, singing and dancing. Come play creative drama games, build stage skills and explore popular Broadway shows and movie musicals while having a lot of fun! No experience necessary. Not available for the full week? Drop-In Days are now available!

March 24 – 28, 1 – 4 pm

Southwood Glen Elementary gym & stage (9090 S 35th St in Franklin)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Futura Spanish for 4th, 5th, 6th Graders

Upper El Spanish is happening!  Please see the attached flyer for an opportunity for 4th, 5th, and 6th students to take Spanish class this Winter and Spring with Futura Spanish.  Cost for the series of classes is $135.  Please see the attached flyer for details on dates, times, and registration.  Bueno!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Registration is now open for boys and girls of all skill levels, ages 5-13. Join a welcoming community of coaches, players, and parents for an exciting 2025 baseball season!

Volunteer Coaches and Paid Umpires are needed to help ensure another successful season.  While the league is open to all, most participants are from the Fernwood community and all games are at Lewis Field (near Groppi’s).

Register players, coaches, or umpires HERE.  Questions? Email us at info@bayview-area-redcats.org.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACT 20 Reading Instruction Information for Families

Please see the link below for information on Act 20. This is legislation that requires science based early literacy instruction in our schools.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Robotics Opportunity

Students who are interested in Robotics can see details below for an opportunity to join Robotics through the YMCA.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FERNWOOD PTO APPAREL SALE!

Announcing the annual PTO Apparel Sale with a COOL NEW T-SHIRT DESIGN featuring the Fernwood class pets!  Celebrate our menagerie with your ‘fit!

In addition to this new design, classic designs (We never go out of style!  We never go out of style!) are also available for purchase.  The PTO is also selling sweatpants, sweatshirts, tote bags, beanies, and more!  Ordering will be available starting on 1/14 and close on 1/28.  Orders will be delivered to school and sent home with students.

A special thank you to Michelle Stehlik and Andrew Adair for their help in creating the design and drawings!

Please see below for a flyer and a link to the site for ordering.  Please note, the site is best viewed on a computer screen rather than a phone screen.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Morning of Montessori Event

A wise Montessorian once told me that we here at Fernwood are part of a long history of Montessori in Milwaukee (and really globally).  We are stewards of this tradition and a chapter of this story…..

Please join our community at the district wide Morning of Montessori Event (formerly the Montessori Summit) at McDowell Montessori on 2/8.  Anyone and everyone is invited!  This event and celebration showcases what Montessori in MPS does through presentations, glass classrooms, and information sharing!  Childcare available!  See below for details.

Please note that the glass classroom observation rooms for Lower El will be hosted by Ms. Kelsey McCarron and Ms. Jen Sarnowski and feature students from their classrooms.  Please stop by to support our teachers and students as they give a live example of what a Montessori classroom looks like in action!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OUR SCHOOL IS COOL!

There’s always something COOL going on at Fernwood!  In celebration of the SUPER COOL January temperatures, Fernwood Montessori brings you THREE SUPER COOL things that have been happening lately!!!

Step One:  We can have lots of fun!*

Is Milwaukee the city of the future?  I have lived here for 17 years and this feels like a stretch, BUT the children ARE our future and these Upper El students have some strong ideas on how to take Milwaukee to the next level!  The Future City regional competition was held at MSOE on Saturday, January 18th. Both teams competed against 47 other teams from schools across the state to represent Wisconsin. They worked hard. They were judged on an essay, project plan, the model they built, a seven-minute presentation given to a panel of experts in different fields, and a question/answer session. Our Fernwood teams did an amazing job! If you have a chance to check them out, they may be presenting to a classroom near you. See below for pictures of the young urban planners and their projects!

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Step Two: There’s so much we can do!*

Is anyone else noticing all the robots around here lately?  Ms. Zimmers is concurrently commanding a classroom of adolescent students AND a ROBOT ARMY.  That lady can do it all!  Adolescents were tasked with programming the robots to walk in a straight line as well as to compete for speed and coolest looking robot.  Ms. Zimmers was tasked with getting the adolescent students to walk in a straight line (not likely) and also with competing with herself to make it home at the end of the day so she can get her kids to hockey practice.

See below for a note and pictures from Ms. Zimmers about this project!  Thanks to the PTO for providing funding for the ROBOT ARMY purchase of the DC motors to make this project possible.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Step Three: It’s just you and me!*

As previously mentioned, Titania McHenry, 7th grader at Fernwood, won the district MLK Jr. speech contest for 7th and 8th grade.  Celeste Ziegler, 6th Grader at Fernwood in Room 32, got 3rd place in the MPS MLK Jr. writing competition.  These two students represented Fernwood Montessori at a very COOL event (an awards ceremony and celebration of Dr. King on 1/20)!  Dr. King’s message of nonviolence, unity, equality, and peace is pretty much the COOLEST thing there is.  Thanks to Tania and Celeste for interpreting this message through their own unique lenses!  See below for some media coverage of the event with words from Celeste, a video of some of the speeches, and some pictures of our crew on stage!

*There is really SO MUCH to be enjoyed in the video below (motorcycles, rattails and other sculptural hairstyles, leopard print blazers, leather jackets, a tuxedo, a Public Enemy t-shirt, FORCEFUL wind machines, violins, choreography on a stairwell because of the STEPS, pick up basketball, pumping iron, acapella harmonizing but also synthesizers…I could go on) but the relevant part starts at the 2:40 mark if you are feeling pressed for time.