Dr. Ackley’s Message . . .
GUESS WHOOOO?
The North Lake School District received a most generous gift from Paige and Lexi Anderson’s grandparents, Debra and Dave Parkhurst. There is a unique story to accompany this gift, and the proper channels were taken to accept this donation for educational purposes. This will help enhance our curriculum units on life science, ecology, and more specifically, food chains and animal adaptations. Paige and Lexi are planning an all school naming contest for the new NLS Great Horned Owl.
“NOW WHAT?” NOT “WHAT IF?”
You heard about the evacuation drill in the last WAVE. The 5th and 6th graders were very thoughtful and engaged during the drill. I encouraged the students to talk with parents about their questions and response in the event of an emergency. During school safety training, staff practices the “NOW WHAT?” in various scenarios. You can spend all day asking “WHAT IF?” However, law enforcement teaches us to think about “NOW WHAT?” better protecting the students and staff.
North Lake School conferences will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. with a 30 minute teacher dinner break at 4:30pm. Click on the name/s below to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you at school.
Kindergarten: Mrs. Giesie Ms. Orendorff
1st Grade: Mrs. Tarkowski Mrs. Toczyski
2nd Grade: Mrs. Brittnacher Mr. Ray – Contact via Dojo
3rd Grade: Mrs. Flannery and Ms. Kudis
4th Grade: Ms. Dankmeyer and Mrs. Richman
5th and 6th grade: Sign up with your child’s homeroom teacher**
Mrs. Andorfer Mr. Kaczor Mr. Byrne Mrs. Ruck
7th and 8th grade: sign up with the teacher(s) of your choice
Miss Mays Mr. McConville Mrs. Minor Mrs. Wagner
Special Education, Specials and Elective teachers: Mrs. Clauer (Phy. Ed.), Mr. Krieger (Music), Mrs. Lesch (School Counselor), Mrs. Lyons (Art), Ms. Westcott and Mr. Wood will all be available for drop-in visits. Feel free to stop by their classroom or office.
**Grades 5-6**
If you would like to meet with teachers in addition to your child’s homeroom teacher,
please contact that teacher directly to schedule a time slot.
REPORTING ABSENCES CORRECTLY
DAILY ABSENCES MUST be reported via PHONE CALL/VOICE MAIL to the SCHOOL OFFICE at 262-966-2033 for state reporting purposes prior to 7:30 a.m.
Please do not email or text individual staff members. This is important because the staff member may not be present to record the information. If you are Dojoing or emailing teachers, this is a courtesy, but does not fulfill state reporting purposes nor guarantee that the teacher is informing the office.
Please CALL THE OFFICE to report attendance for your children at 262-966-2033.
LOST AND FOUND
Cooler weather may have you thinking sweatshirt time! Can’t find it?
Please remind your child/children to check the lost and found in the commons and come take a look when you are at school for parent teacher conferences next week.
HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS
All Halloween celebrations will be on Friday, October 31st. K-4 families are invited to attend the parade at 8:00 a.m. in the MPR. The majority of classroom parties at North Lake School are student led. Homeroom teachers will communicate party specifics.
SKI CLUB
The Ski Club will be returning this year and will once again be at Little Switzerland.
More info will be coming soon!
Fire Prevention Week
Upcoming WAVE Dates
October 31
November 14
December 5
December 19
A Note from Ms. Meister...
Temperatures dropping and sunlight waning make it a wonderful time of year to curl up with a good book. Perfect time for a book fair! Research shows children who choose books that interest them are more motivated and empowered to read and learn even more. Thank you Mia Stremcha and the volunteers for making this happen at North Lake School.
Counseling Corner
Hello North Lake Families!
We are getting ready to celebrate Red Ribbon Week here at North Lake during the week of October 27-October 31. Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States. Here at North Lake School, we focus on healthy choices and decision making with the younger students. The older students also talk about decision making, refusal skills, and drug/alcohol facts.
Here are the topics that we discuss at each level:
Kindergarten and 1st grade: Identifying safe/unsafe things to put in our body
2nd grade: Medicine safety
3rd grade: Peer pressure strategies
4th grade: Decision making
5th grade: Peer pressure resistance strategies
6th grade: Natural High – building resiliency
7th grade: Peer influence – making good choices even when it’s difficult
8th grade: Drug/alcohol information and resistance strategies
Activities will take place in Guidance class, Health class, announcements, and discussions in homerooms. We will also have a Wear Red Day on October 29th. Please join us in wearing red that day – it will let your children know that you support healthy choices, also!
Please stop by and see me at conferences!
Jill Lesch
School Counselor
Riding the WAVE of Wellness
I would like to take a moment to address a current health concern, in some of our classrooms, as there have been questions about policies. Please take a moment to read a release from Beth Gatzow, our district nurse:
“We have noticed an increase in cases of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease going through a few of our classrooms. Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease presents with fever/cold symptoms first, followed by blisters/sores in the mouth, palms of hands, and bottoms of the feet. It is spread for the 24 hours leading up to the fever and for the 24 hours after the fever has broken (without the use of fever-reducing medications).
Students must be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications before they return to school. If students have open sores on their hands, please contact the office as return criteria may be different due to infectious disease risks.
At the present time, there is no exclusion criterion for a student who is fever-free, but still has open sores in his/her mouth. If the number of cases continues to rise, this may change.
Please ensure that you are not sending your students to school with a fever and you are waiting a FULL 24 HOURS fever-free WITHOUT the use of fever-reducing medication.”
I would like to add that the fevers generally associated with Hand, Foot, and Mouth are low grade (under 102°F) and that even after the fever is gone and the blisters dry up- the virus can still be spread through feces/stool for weeks. It’s of paramount importance to reinforce washing your hands properly with your children.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call us- but in reinforcing our theme of “Count Me In” for the 2025-2026 school year, can I “Count YOU in” to help keep our student body as healthy as possible?
Becca Soya – Health Room Aide
October Dates to Remember
17
Sports Day
NLEF Book Fair
Kindergarten Field Trip, Glacier Rock Farm – 8:30-1:00 p.m.
NLEF Fall Fest – 6:00-8:00 p.m.
20
NLEF Book Fair
21
NLEF Book Fair
6th Grade Girls Basketball at NLS – 4:30 p.m.
7th Grade Girls Basketball at NLS – 5:30 p.m.
22
NLEF Book Fair
7th Grade Girls Basketball at Richmond – 5:30 p.m.
School Board Meeting in Library – 5:30 p.m.
23
11:30 Dismissal
Parent Teacher Conferences – 12:00-8:00 p.m.
24
No School – Teacher Inservice
27
Red Ribbon Week
6th Grade Girls Basketball at NLS – 4:30 p.m.
7th Grade Girls Basketball at NLS – 5:30 p.m.
29
Wear Red Day
7th Grade Girls Basketball at Erin – 4:30 p.m.
30
Red Ribbon Week
6th Grade Girls Basketball at NLS – 4:30 p.m.
31
Red Ribbon Week
End of 1st Quarter
