November 2019
Dear Marquette Families,

November tends to be a time when we practice gratitude and give thanks. As principal of Marquette, I have a lot of gratitude for our community members and want to share some of these appreciations.

  • Thanks to the families that work so hard to support their children by getting them to school each day. You are your child’s most important teacher and help in so many ways. I also appreciate your connections to school by helping with schoolwork, attending school events, connecting with teachers, and even volunteering at Marquette.
  • Thanks to the hard working staff at Marquette. We have a strong group of educators with skills and expertise who are committed to children’s success and their own professional growth. They care a lot about kids and continually go above and beyond to build strong relationships with students.
  • Thanks to our Special Education team who ensures our students with disabilities excel at Marquette. They are always committed, flexible, and creative to make each day positive for students. We have welcomed new staff members this year, and the team continues to collaborate and provide strong supports for students.
  • Thanks to the local organizations and businesses who support our school. This includes the Marquette Neighborhood Association and Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association. These groups make donations and support special projects within our school community. This recently has included purchasing diverse books for our school and planting additional trees on our school grounds.
  • Thanks to our community partner, the Wisconsin State Department of Administration. They contribute snacks, school supplies, clothing, and other material needs throughout the school year. Their employees also volunteer for events at Marquette Elementary.
  • Thanks to our custodial team who works hard to keep O’Keefe and Marquette clean and well maintained.

I hope you are able to take some time to express gratitude as a family. Science has shown there are social, emotional, and physical health benefits for practicing gratitude. One positive habit to develop with children is to take time each day to discuss what you are thankful for as a family. This may also be a way for kids to process challenging situations or setbacks in a more positive way. You can look for the possible good things to come out of these situations together.

We look forward to seeing you at family conferences and our Community Read this month!

Best,
Mrs. Parks
The Book Fair is Coming to the LMC!
Mystery! Fantasy! Information! Humor! Find these books and more at the Fall Book Fair! All profits go to the Marquette Library!

Book Fair Schedule 
Monday, November 18 1:15-3:30 pm
Tuesday, November 19 2:45-3:30 pm
Wednesday, November 20 2:45-3:30 pm
Thursday, November 21 7:30 am-7:00 pm (all day during Parent/Teacher Conferences)

Contact Librarian Maegan Heindel at 204-3229 or mheindel@madison.k12.wi.us with any questions.
Library Update
We’re having a great time in the library! All classes spend time every other week exploring the STEM activities in the CoLab, our makerspace.

All classes are talking about Digital Citizenship and learning about finding good books in the library. If you want to continue the conversation about online safety and responsibility, check out these resources on finding balance when using media:

Community Read Family Celebration
Community Read Family Celebration
Thursday, November 7th
5:30-7:00 pm
Marquette Cafeteria and Library

Bring your family’s favorite board game!
Enjoy some pizza!
Celebrate the power of reading!

5:30 - 6:30 Enjoy pizza and games in the cafeteria and check out the public library table for a library card and fun activities!

6:30 Come together to share a song that the students have been working on!

The PTG will provide pizza for dinner. If you are willing to make a donation to help cover the cost of the pizza, the suggested donation will be $1 per slice. Fill out the bottom portion of the flier that will be sent home and return it to school so that we can make sure to have enough pizza for everyone!
Greetings from Music!
Greetings, dear musicians and families!

We’ve had a wonderful month in music and have been busy singing, drumming, and beginning work on ukuleles. Students designed “All About Me” sheets to display for our Open House, and we’ve started our classroom gallery of photos that represent who we are at Marquette. It’s beautiful to see every child’s precious face lining the walls of our music room, and we will continue to add photos of our musicians throughout the school year.

Moving into November, we will be singing and playing ukuleles, working on a song for Marquette’s Community Night on November 7th (please join us for pizza, games, music, and community!), and brainstorming possibilities for our Fine Arts Night (February 26, 2020).

Do you play an instrument? Would you like to visit and share your talents with us? Or join in a song at the November 7th event OR Fine Arts Night? We would love to have you make music with us!

Check out Fatoumata Diawara, our October Musician of the Month, and see what you think of her music. Students have had varying reflections to her vocal style and multi-lingual music.


It continues to be a joy to teach your children, and I’m sending light and good vibes to all of our Marquette families.
Love Ms. Kazda
DONATIONS Needed in the Health Office
The health office is in need of sweatpants/leggings as our supply is greatly depleted. If you have any pants or leggings in good shape at home that you are no longer using, we would be grateful for the contribution. We need sizes from 6 through teen sizes.

Thank you for your donations.
Celebrate Smiles
Our school is participating in the Celebrate Smiles in-school dental program. To make the program efficient and successful, cooperation, teamwork, and good communication is needed. 

What is Celebrate Smiles? 

  • CS is an in-school mobile dental clinic which provides care at school. Services include screening, sealants, fluoride varnish, cleanings and prophylactic care, fillings, and extractions.

  • It is operated by Access Community Health Centers. 

  • It is headed by the Celebrate Smiles Dental Manager, (Honey Pa) and led by licensed dentists. Staff includes 3-4 hygienists, and 2 program assistants, as well as the MMSD Family Health Liaison to assist with preparation. 
  • Celebrate Smiles is open to all children who wish to participate. (Several middle schools have been added this year, including O'Keeffe Middle School. Last year, Marquette participated for the very first time.

  • Services are provided at no cost to the families. If families receive a bill, it is in error, and they should contact Access Community Health Centers’ Billing Department. 

Why should students sign up for Celebrate Smiles? 

  • Although all children are eligible to participate in Celebrate Smiles, the program seeks to target children who do not have dental insurance or regular opportunities to see a dentist. Since oral disease accounts for 51 million hours of lost instructional time, it is evident that oral health is linked to academic success. 

  • The success of the program is directly related to ease of participation. All that is needed for a child to be treated at Celebrate Smiles is for you to complete the consent form. There is no need to schedule an appointment, save up money for treatment, or take time off of work to take your child to a clinic. When a consent form is completed, and a student is present at school, they can be treated by the Celebrate Smiles dental team. You are under no obligation what so ever to participate. However, if you choose not to have your child participate, we would appreciate the consent form coming back to school with a NO checked. That way we know that the fom made it home, and a parent has seen it. We will be sending these forms home during the week of parent teacher conferences (November 18th-November 25.) More information will be provided at that time. If you have questions,please direct them to me at 204-3235.
Marquette Mile
Thank you to all the families that participated in, volunteered to help supervise areas and supported our Marquette Mile fundraiser event. We also would like to thank our DOA volunteers for coming to support the event. The money from the t-shirt sales is used to support various field trips, guest speakers and other events throughout the year. The students did a wonderful job walking or running their mile to make the event a fun, healthy, community building event.
From the PTG:
A big thank you to all who placed orders for the REAP-Taste of Wisconsin fundraiser. Orders will be ready for pick up on December 10. All the money raised helps support our schools! Forget to turn in your form? Have a last minute order? There may still be time. Contact Kate Brunner directly at katebrunner1@gmail.com .  Volunteers are also still needed to help with sorting and distribution (Dec. 7, 9, 10). 

We’ve got a fun new event coming up this month! Join us in cheering on the East High Purgolders Girls Basketball team on November 23rd . This will be a great opportunity for our Lapham and Marquette students to show their school spirit and connect with the Madison East athletic community. East High is reserving a special section for Lapham and Marquette families and there is no charge for admission. Students will be recognized on the video board during the game and may have a chance to get their picture taken with the Purgolder mascot. The Lapham-Marquette PTG is also sponsoring free popcorn for attendees! Tip-off for the junior varsity game is 5:45 p.m. The varsity game starts at 7:15 p.m.

It was wonderful seeing so many attend the October PTG Meeting. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 12th at 6pm in the Lapham Auditorium. As always, pizza and childcare will be provided. 

Unable to make the meetings? You can stay connected by following us on Facebook , Instagram , joining our mailing list , or by visiting our website .
Tree planting at Marquette - Trees provided by MNA
The Marquette Neighborhood Association provided new trees for our schools. Trees were planted with the help from Lapham and O'Keeffe students on October 18th with Lapham receiving 8 trees and Marquette receiving 10 trees. We want to thank the many donors, Marquette Neighborhood Association, The Green Spaces & Trees Committee, Jackie Suska, Jeremy Kane and the Urban Tree Alliance for helping make this possible. Families when you come to The Waterfront Festival or Orton Park, in addition to having tons of fun, the money that is spent goes right back into the neighborhood—these trees being just one example.
BOX TOPS
Box Tops:  Please continue to drop off your box tops to the Marquette office. Box tops have expiration dates so we want to collect them quickly and submit them frequently. Thank you for supporting our school!
Marquette Elementary - 1501 Jenifer St Madison, WI 53703
Office: 204-3220 | Safe Arrival: 204-3233 | Fax: 204-0467 
Sally Parks , Principal | Anna Brown , Secretary