NEW!  ACTION NEEDED! PTO Event: High Interest Day Class Selection! High Interest Day Class Selections- 1st through 5th Grade Students ONLY  High Interest Day is right around the corner on Thursday, April 17th. This is a day set to bring together our Tonawanda families and community members to present their talents, hobbies, skills, cultures, and interests with our students. On this day, students in 4 year old Kindergarten and 5 year old Kindergarten will travel with their classes to each session. Students in grades 1st through 5th will make class selections and attend five fun and informative presentations throughout the day. If you have a student in 1st-5th grade, please read the instructions below:

Please follow the steps below to complete the student class registration.
1. Please review the "Class Description" sheet linked HERE
2. Select ten (10) classes for the entire day (please note some classes are grade specific) on this Google Form by Saturday, March 22nd.
Classes will be assigned with fifth grade down priority; however, no one is guaranteed any particular class. Late, missing or incomplete forms will be filled by the committee. Reminders regarding class supplies and permission forms will be given to the students by Monday, April 14th. Students will receive their class schedule the morning of High Interest Day. Volunteer sign-up will come the week after spring break!

 

NEW! March PTO Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 13 at 6 PM in our library!  All four Elmbrook School Board Candidates will be present at our next PTO Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 13 at 6pm in the Tonawanda Library. If you would like to submit a question, please feel free to do so here. If there is not enough time to ask all questions, candidates will be provided a copy and their responses will be shared via Tonawanda PTO communication. If you are unable to attend in-person, please join us virtually at meet.google.com/ntm-ttck-hex. Thank you! 

 

NEW! PTO Penny Wars - THANK YOU  for your generosity with the donations for the Nature Center! Our Tonawanda community raised an incredible $2156.67 for the Elmbrook Nature Center at BEHS. Our fifth graders have earned the Penny Plaque for this 2024-2025 school year! 

 

WI Forward State Testing  Please see this linked letter for more information about the WI Forward. Our third, fourth, and fifth grade students will participate in our WI Forward state testing beginning the week of March 17th. Your child(ren)'s teacher will communicate your child(ren)'s testing schedule in the coming weeks.  

 

Elm Grove Safety Village Registration - begins March 17th!  Community Safety Education for Kids - open to incoming 4K and 5K children! See this linked flyer for the details. This is a popular opportunity therefore registration fills quickly, as it always has in the past. The class size is limited to 40 students and that there will be a waitlist once capacity is reached. Don't delay in your registration! 

 

Calling Mystery Readers in our Library for March for our 4th and 5th Graders! https://signup.com/go/fBSpdZA

 

ORDER NOW!  Yearbook Orders- Be sure to order: Order your 2024-2025 Tonawanda Yearbook here:  https://mortensen.orderschoolpix.com/89729 Password: prepay   If you can't remember if your photo package included a yearbook or if you ordered a yearbook for your child, please email jill@mortensenphotography.com. Yearbooks are distributed on the last day of school. Thank you!

 

Save the date! April 24th for our Visual Arts Showcase and Family Math & Literacy Night. 

 

Reminder! Students will need their warm winter gear every day!  Our students will go outside for recess every day unless the temperature is below zero and/or if there is a negative windchill. Students should have mittens/gloves, hats, jackets, snow pants, and boots to fully enjoy the snow and to stay warm when playing on the playground. It is helpful to have all items labelled with their name.   

 

Save the Date! EEF Sponsored STEAM Event for kids on April 9th at BCHS Main Gym from 4:30-7:00 PM. See this link for all the details and ticket information!

 

Save the dates! The PTO Bowling Bash events are scheduled for April 29 and May 1. More information to come!

 

Student Arrival, Dismissal, and Transportation Reminders!

As always our students' safety is our highest priority! As you know, the times of student arrival and student dismissal are our busiest times in our parking lots and neighboring streets. As always, please use caution and drive slowly in our parking lots and around our surrounding neighborhood streets. Additionally, please continue to be considerate of our neighbors. Thank you, always, for your patience, understanding of, and cooperation with our procedures and expectations as they are put in place for student safety. Please review our arrival and dismissal plans linked here.   

 

Important BEFORE SCHOOL TIMES:  Outside Supervision Begins at 8:30 AM, Students Enter School Building at 8:42 AM, and the School Day begins at 8:50 AM!  Please be sure that your child is not arriving before 8:30 AM each morning as our staff is not available for outside student supervision until 8:30 AM. Students may arrive anytime between 8:30 - 8:42 AM. Students enter the school building at 8:42 AM. Our school day begins promptly at 8:50 AM so please have your children to school between 8:30 - 8:42 AM. The eight minutes (8:42-8:50 AM) allow your child to get all settled into their classrooms for a great start to the school day at 8:50 AM. Thank you for your cooperation! 

 

IMPORTANT! Change of Plans for After-School Dismissal. Please notify us of any change in your child(ren)'s after school dismissal plans.  Please send an email to your child's teacher and copy both our administrative assistant Mrs. Michelle Kiese at kiesem@elmbrookschools.org and our health room assistants at tonawandahealthroom@elmbrookschools.org  as early as you can in the morning, but for certain before noon.  After 12 noon, we cannot guarantee that your child's teacher will get the email as they are busy teaching and working with our students, and likely not checking email. If plans change after 12 noon, please call the MAIN SCHOOL OFFICE at 262-785-3950 to talk to Mrs. Michelle Kiese about the plans. Thank you for your assistance in keeping consistent plans for your child(ren) and for communicating with us when the plans need to change.

 

Please keep up to date! Background Check Process for Volunteers!  We love our family/parent/grandparent volunteers! We wanted to share the process for becoming a volunteer in our schools. Please see https://www.elmbrookschools.org/departments/human-resources/how-to-volunteer-in-elmbrook for all the information including completing our district's volunteer background check process.  You will need to renew this process every two years. There is an approximate two week processing time before you are able to volunteer in our school. Thank you! 

 

Monthly attendance email will be sent for your child(ren). Email communication sample:  The School District of Elmbrook is committed to student achievement and every school day counts. Regular school attendance promotes continuity of the learning process and academic success of every student. Frequent absences deny students the benefit of planned classroom instruction, participation, hands-on or active learning, and can rarely be regained despite extra instruction or support. Every month, we will update families on their child's attendance in an effort to work collaboratively to ensure regular attendance for all Elmbrook students.  Then specific attendance information will be shared regarding your child.  Wisconsin law allows for families to excuse their children from school up to 10 days per school year.

 

Student Attendance Matters! Accurate student attendance is important to us. If your child(ren) will be absent from school, please email our attendance office at TonAttendance@elmbrookschools.org and your child(ren)'s teacher(s) OR call our main phone line 262-785-3950 and select option 1. Please indicate the reason for their absence. Please try to do this before the start of the school day or at least by 8:50 AM.  The tonattendance email mailbox is monitored only through approximately noon each day. 

 

Medically Excused Absences: Families may submit verification of medical appointments and/or illness from a medical provider to the school attendance office in order to be reflected in their child(ren)'s attendance.  With these medical verification documents, the documented absences will not be included as a part of the up to ten allowed days of absences per school year. 

 

Vacation Request Form linked here. Please complete this form for trips when your child(ren) will miss 3 or more school days due to the vacation. Please complete this form with as much advance notice as possible. Thank you!

 

Follow our Tonawanda PTO on social media! The PTO Instagram account is @tonawandaPTO and join the private Tonawanda Parents Facebook group. To join, please provide the grade/assigned teacher for one of your children in order to be approved to join, so we can keep it to our community.

 

Support the PTO: Scan your box tops!  Have you downloaded the Box Tops App for your phone? You can earn some major Box Top bonuses for Tonawanda with back-to-school shopping! Just by linking your Walmart account, you can earn $5 without purchasing anything! Referral code for an extra 25 box tops: XCDU04RV

 

Family guests may join their child(ren) for lunch in our cafeteria. Due to limited space in our cafeteria, only your child(ren) may join you at the "guest table" (unfortunately no friends are allowed to join) and families must PRE-REGISTER to join lunch by calling the office at 262-785-3950 or email Michelle Kiese at kiesem@elmbrookschools.org within the week of your planned visit as we have a capacity of 12 guests for lunch each day. Thank you for your understanding! 

 

Bus Information:  Go-Riteway is the bus company that serves our Elmbrook School District. Bus route information for the 2024-2025 school year will be sent via email to your family in mid-late August. If you have questions, please connect directly with Go Riteway at 414-249-5048. Sign Up for the Here Comes the Bus app! You can track your child(ren)'s bus for the before school and after school routes!  Please see the link for more information on the Here Comes the Bus app. Due to large ridership on our buses,  only routed students will be allowed on the buses again this school year.  We cannot have unrouted students ride home with other students on their buses for playdates. Only routed and assigned bus riders may be on our buses.  Thank you for your understanding!