Hello Sugar Creek families,

Happy New Year! We are so happy to have everyone back and be into the swing of a new year with the same wonderful Sugar Creek community. We work hard here at Sugar Creek to make sure all of your children feel safe, seen, loved, and heard each day! Just a reminder that there is no school on Monday for the MLK Jr. holiday. We'll see everybody back on January 21st!

~Mr. Brunner and Ms. Houghan

Monday, January 20th-No School

Wednesday, January 22nd-Extended Day

Friday, January 24th-Snowball Dance

Monday, January 27th-Late Start

Wednesday, January 29th-Extended Day

Friday, January 31-Report Cards Come Home

Monday, February 3rd-Late Start

Thursday, February 6th-February Community Gathering

Friday, February 7th-Whoopensocker Evening Performance

Monday, February 10th-Late Start and PTO Meeting

Wednesday February 12th-Battle of the Books Field Trip for 4th and 5th Grade Participants

Friday, February 14th-Charter School Interest Form Closes

Monday, February 17th-No School

As we wrap up 1st semester, report cards are scheduled to come home with students on Friday, January 31st. Paper copies will only be sent to students whose family requested a paper copy. All students (Grades 1-5) will receive paper STAR Reports. If you opted for digital communication in InfoSnap, please be on the lookout for an email with directions on how to access your child's report card in Powerschool on 1/31.

We recently shared with you how you can support our teachers and staff with obtaining small but important items that would benefit their work through donating at the Sugar Creek

Spanish Class Resumes in February! Did you miss registration in the fall? We currently have space available to add your student to the class roster! Looking for an exciting way for your child to learn Spanish? This 8-week adventure, ¡Vamos con los animales!, is just what they need! From “visiting” a pet store to exploring a family farm, the zoo, the ocean, and the rainforest, students will learn new vocabulary, conversation skills, and cultural facts—all in Spanish! Join us for a wild journey!

Please note: Students enrolled in the Full Year session, which started in the Fall, do not need to re-enroll.

Enroll today! https://futuraadventures.com/wisconsin-region/

Our first grade Monolingual classrooms had a showcase of their learning for staff on the day before Winter Break. Students wrote letters convincing the zoo to add a new animal to their collection! It was wonderful to see students so proud of their work that culminated their Unit 2 Learning!

Hello, my name is Ben Laxton and I will be working with Mr. Brunner to complete my practicum experience to become a principal this spring. I have worked in the Verona Area School District for 10+ years as the school counselor at Glacier Edge Elementary School. I am excited about the opportunity to learn from Mr. Brunner and get to see how Sugar Creek runs. I will be popping into the building for experiences and to work on different projects starting in late January. Some of you may recognize my last name: my wife Tiffany Laxton is an art teacher in the district and splits her time between New Century/VAIS and Sugar Creek.

Hello, my name is Kaite Mohr, the Curriculum Learning Specialist at Sugar Creek Elementary. I previously taught first grade at Glacier Edge for 15 years, including 8 years in the Two-Way Immersion program. I am currently pursuing my K-12 Administrative License and will be completing an administrative practicum at Sugar Creek, working closely with Ms. Houghan and Mr. Brunner. I look forward to this opportunity for professional growth.

The safety of all students, staff and visitors is our top priority, and never far from our minds and actions, and to that end have been giving our safety and security measures at Sugar Creek a close review.

Recent steps taken include: a series of new security measures at entrances (including steps around supervision and camera coverage), work with an outside company to ensure all spaces have clear signage and room numbers (see the picture of Head Custodian Mr. Meyer as he works on this large project), Stop the Bleed training (through the Dane County Sheriff's office) offered to all of our staff, and a safety meeting between our Building Emergency Response Team and district officials and local law enforcement agencies.

Whoopensocker, a six-week UW-Madison Arts Residency Program partnership with Sugar Creek, will be having two Family / Community performances in February!

Our entire Third Grade is involved in Whoopensocker, and students have learned about acting, writing, the creative arts, connect the the state standards, and has been SO inspiring to the students and well-received by our teachers.

The two public performances are scheduled for February 7th at 6:30 p.m. and February 8th at 11 a.m. These are open to all.\

Last month we featured Ms. Buerger and Ms. Ver Voort. Two other volunteers at Sugar Creek include Mr. Krueger who volunteers with Mr. Shrader, and Ms. Olewnik, who volunteers with Ms Peterson.

An important message from VASD’s Registrar: If your child will be entering Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year and you are interested in applying for the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program, please note that there is an application that must be completed. To apply, kindly fill out the JotForm linked below.

Aplicación para el programa TWI en Español- https://vasd.jotform.com/250015879582160

English TWI Application- https://vasd.jotform.com/250016360517144

December Golden Award Winners:

Golden Lunch Tray-Ms. Jaehn

Golden Shoe-Mr. Kroenke

Golden Recess-Ms. Lenzlinger

Golden Dustpan-Ms. Middleton

Families of 3rd-5th grade students, would you like to help your child become more confident, focused, and resilient? Does your child like to swim, bike, or run? Then join us this spring for the Tri 4 Schools Training Team, a program designed to help your child to complete a Tri 4 Schools triathlon! Your child will improve their physical and emotional health, and gain healthy life skills.

Practices will take place after school on Mondays and Thursdays from 2:20-3:30 pm at Sugar Creek and will begin on April 4th. The team is coached by Melissa Ruder, Chris Westberg, Tara Osterholz, and Teresa Hoffman. The registration fee is $170, and financial assistance is available to those who qualify. The fee includes an entry into the Waunakee Kids Triathlon on May 18th, a portion of your fee will be returned to Sugar Creek to help support fitness and health initiatives.

If you are interested in this program, you may register at tri4schools.org, please register by March 3rd. If you have questions, contact Melissa Ruder at ruderm@verona.k12.wi.us.

Tri 4 Schools is a non-profit organization that helps kids lead an active lifestyle through swimming, biking, and running events and programs supporting school health and fitness efforts. Learn more at tri4schools.org.

Each December, VAHS offers out to VASD elementary schools the opportunity to have Fifth Grade classes come for an hour-long overview of choir, orchestra, and band, with fun performances. Pictured here is a choir with VAHS choirmaster Ms. Heather Thorpe on stage leading.

Sugar Creek never misses this wonderful opportunity for our students, and you will be happy to also hear that our students are so polite and such a good audience that they routinely are complimented by the high school staff.

Mr. Daniels is the extracurricular supervisor for our Safety Patrol program. It’s a busy role, as he introduces, teaches, assigns, monitors, and adjusts all things related to the program throughout the year. It is a great leadership opportunity for Fifth Graders at Sugar Creek, and in order to join the members are expected to be doing their best at school, and being attentive to the needs of others when on duty. A BIG thank you to Mr. Daniels for doing this!

You read correctly. Starting next year, VASD will have two full weeks off for Winter Break. (The 2025-26 school year calendar is posted here, at the bottom of this link.) This change will put VASD in line with other area districts, such as MMSD.

Each Monday morning, VASD staff are in meetings with their colleagues to work collaboratively and engage in deep learning surrounding student achievement. PLCs work collaboratively to examine instructional practices. The PLC is the unit of change which will support teachers to create a learning environment where all students are supported. In these spaces educators prioritize student growth, commit to continuous improvement in instructional methods, and center disciplinary literacy practices.

Pictured here are members of the Sugar Creek and Glacier Edge First Grade Two Way Immersion PLC, working hard AND thoroughly enjoying each others’ company in Ms. Freire’s room on a recent Monday morning.

The non-profit Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin recently donated to VASD a brand new piece of kitchen equipment. Because of our work promoting health and wellness, VASD chose Sugar Creek to be the recipient of a breakfast cart! The cart is pictured here with Ms. Nixi Gandia Perez. Each morning, teachers in Grades 1-5 take a few minutes to walk their students through a breakfast line (Kindergarteners have breakfast delivered to them). The breakfasts are free, and healthy.

If you have recently arrived in the United States within the last three years and are interested in learning English from Sugar Creek's Bilingual EA, Ms. Yami Reyes, please complete this form. Classes will start in the spring and be held on Mondays and Wednesday evenings.

Congratulations to Rafi Pastor in Mr. Shrader’s classroom for being a winner of VASD’s district-wide library bookmark design competition! Rafi is one of 2 VASD first graders in the entire district to have her bookmark printed for distribution in our elementary libraries.

This is an annual optional competition sponsored by the VASD librarian team that interested VASD students can participate in each fall. This year the competition was broken into different grade ranges: K-1; 2-3; 4-5. A committee selected design finalists (see SC finalists listed below) and VASD students had the opportunity to vote for their favorite design during their weekly library time.

Rafi’s beautiful bookmark design is available, along with the other winning VASD bookmarks in the Sugar Creek library!

We also want to extend a big Sugar Creek congratulations to the following competition finalists:

K-1st:

Evelyn R. in Ms. Jaehn’s class

2nd-3rd:

Sadie S. in Ms. Cartwright’s class

Alana K. in Ms. Weaver’s class

Aylin A.C. in TWI

4th-5th:

Fabian A.R. in TWI

Lucy S. in Ms. Strand’s class

Ned M. in Ms. Miller’s class

Way to go Sugar Creek artists!

Immunization Clinics

Public Health Madison and Dane County is hosting another immunization clinic on Saturday, February 8, 2025 at the Holtzman Learning Center, 333 Holtzman Road, Madison, WI, 53593. You may make an appointment online by clicking on this link.

The vaccines are free for school aged kids over the age of 5. PHMDC may vaccinate if you do not have insurance, are under 19, are Alaskan Native or American Indian, have BadgerCare, Quartz, GHC or Dean Insurance.