Maple Grove Charter School - One Town. One Team. One Dream.

Last week, Maple Grove had the opportunity to celebrate and recognize just under 100 learners that met their quarter one reading goal. In order to do this they had to turn in September and October reading logs with completed minutes. Maple Grove foxes K-5 said their CRISP traits really come out in order to meet the goal! Learners used craftsmanship to make scarecrow mason jars and enjoyed an apple nacho boat after 📚🦊 Keep up the strong reading foxes. Quarter 2 is already under way and can require extra perseverance with the holidays! Check out these adorable scarecrows!

🌶️ What a night at Maple Grove Charter School! 🌶️

A huge thank you to all of our families and community members who came out for our Chili Supper! It was such a fun and successful evening thanks to your support.

A big shout-out to our amazing Maple Grove staff who organized, cooked, set up, and ran the event — you’re the best!

👏 Thank you to our Chili Cook-Off contestants — Morgan Gille, Betsy Bloch, and Trina Lutzke — and congratulations to Morgan Gille, winner of the Golden Ladle! 🥇

And of course, thank you to our families for donating all the chili ingredients, to Harmony Cheese for their generous donation of cheese and cheese curds, and to Polka Dotted Pie for the delicious desserts.

It truly takes a village — and we’re so lucky to have the an amazing one right here at Maple Grove Charter School! 🧡🦊

🌶️ Tomorrow’s the night!
Leave the cooking to us and join us for the Annual Maple Grove Charter School Chili Supper & Cook-Off! A great evening to enjoy delicious chili with all the fixings plus desserts, connect with our community, and support our school!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite chili in the cook-off with 3 mystery chefs from our awesome community! Plus check out the Book Fair and add a new book or two to your family library or start on your Christmas shopping! We hope to see you there!

The MGCS PTO is excited to share our new apparel order! Show your Maple Grove pride while supporting our PTO, which helps fund special events and activities for our learners throughout the year.

Click the link to shop: https://maplegroveschool.itemorder.com/shop/home/
Order deadline is November 14th.

🎃 Spooktacular Halloween Fun! 👻
Last week was full of Halloween excitement at Maple Grove Charter School! Learners enjoyed a costume parade and had a blast with classroom activities and festive fun. Thank you to everyone who helped make our Halloween celebrations so memorable — it was a day full of smiles, creativity, and spooky fun! The staff even got in on the costume fun as the "Spice Girls" along with Mr. L as the chef!

The kindergarten class at MGCS enjoyed a visit from a community member, wood worker, and Governance Board member, Michael Fasse.  These learners recently completed a unit about "Toys and Play," which compared toys from long ago to toys today.  Mr. Fasse described his childhood attending a different one room schoolhouse, shared examples of more simple toys from that time, and various activities that required using his imagination.  He also shared his hobby and craftsmanship with the class by gifting each student a handmade wooden fox!  Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talents, Mr. Fasse! 🦊

🔥 Shoutout to the Hamburg Volunteer Fire Department and EMTs! 🚒 Thank you for visiting Maple Grove Charter School to teach our learners about fire safety, checking smoke detectors, and making an escape plan. We truly appreciate your dedication to our kids and your ongoing commitment to our school and community! ❤️🦊

🎃 Thank you for making our MGCS Trunk or Treat a huge success this past weekend! We are so grateful to everyone who joined us for a fun-filled afternoon—our creative trunk decorators, generous donors, the Neske Family, the Maple Grove Charter School PTO, and all the families who came out to join in. 👻 A special thank you to the Fromm Brothers Historical Society for matching donations and supporting our school and community, and to Fromm Family Foods for hosting us on the historic Fromm Farm. Your partnership made the day extra special! 🙌 Thanks to your kindness, we raised funds to support Maple Grove Charter School and created memories that will last a lifetime. 🧡 Share your favorite photos from this fun event in the comments—we’d love to see them!

Agri-Science Lab Lesson Memories from 4th Graders at Maple Grove Charter School!
Students had three learning targets to tackle during their hands-on salsa making lesson. 1. Identify which parts of the plant we can eat. 2. Safely prepare vegetable and fruits for consumption. 3. Define farm to table in their own words. Students worked so well together to prep their "key" ingredients to make a very delicious, consumable farm-to-table product. They then rated and explained their salsa taste-testing experience. Once again, this type of learning is what helps make Maple Grove unique and different than other schools.
*Disclaimer: Thanks to all of the families that donated ingredients, materials and time to help make this activity successful.

🌶🍂 Join us for the Maple Grove Charter School Annual Chili Supper & Cook-Off! 🍂🌶

We’re excited to host a FREE family and community event to thank our families and neighbors for their amazing support of our school and learners!

Enjoy:
⭐ Mystery cook-off contestants
⭐ Chili, hot dogs, cheese curds, desserts, juice & milk
⭐ Student Council-led activities
⭐ Usborne Book Fair setup

Date: Thursday, November 6, 2025
Time: 5:00–7:00 PM
Place: Maple Grove Cafeteria – 135594 County Rd L, Hamburg, WI

Takeout containers will be available, and free-will offering/donations will be accepted.

Come enjoy great food, fun, and fellowship as we celebrate our wonderful school community! ❤️

Ms.Etten’s first grade class was challenged by headquarters during their EL module to make a magnificent thing for their classroom. Students were to come up with a problem in the classroom and think of what is missing to make it better or fill the void. They then had to work hard showing collaboration, perseverance, initiative, and responsibility to work through the planning process of rough drafts, collection of tools, trial and error, and obviously the construction of it being built!
The following were the items made and the groups responsible for building production🙂
First Grade Classroom Welcome Sign - built by Malachi, Andrew, and Norah

Classroom Mailbox - built by Liam, Gunner, and Mireya
Lunch Choice Popsicle Sticks - built by Kenna, Amelia, Charlotte, and Violet

Sharp and Dull Pencil Holders - built by Colton, Landon, and Madelyn

Alphabet Mobile - built by Bransen, Jacob, and Aria

Special Carpet Spots - built by Esme, Dane, and Kaelynn

Leader of the Week Necklace Badge - built by Carter, Adeline, and Dember

Thank you first graders for solving the problems of things missing in our classroom and for working together to come up with the solution.
Keep up the creative minds and hard work! 🔨🪛✏️📝

-Ms. Etten & Headquarters

🎃 Grab your costumes and join us for a spooky-fun afternoon! 👻
🗓 Saturday, October 25 | 2:00–4:00 PM
📍 Fromm Brothers Historical, Athens, WI

Enjoy hot dogs, cookies, juice, and more! 🍬🌭 There will also be raffle baskets donated by the classes at Maple Grove! All proceeds benefit Maple Grove Charter School, and the Fromm Brothers Historical Society will generously match donations up to $1,000.

Bring the whole family for treats, fun, and Halloween spirit! 🧡🖤

Like true Maple Grove Charter School fashion, fourth graders said farewell to "dear" Miss Sandy (FieldEdventures mentor) after her guidance through a hands-on fish dissection lesson. Their learning target was to locate and identify the internal structures and functions within fish and then to compare/contrast the fish anatomy to their own bodies. This was such an amazing experience for many; some may now be inspired to be ichthyologists or taxidermists. Others may never want to see a fish again in their lives. Once again, we are truly blessed to have such awesome opportunities here at Maple Grove!
**Disclaimer: The lab trout were the fingerlings that have been raised by the previous third and fourth grade students for their Trout in the Classroom lessons.
**Disclaimer: The dissection tools were graciously borrowed from Mrs. Bunkelman's high-school Agri-Science class.

Our MGCS 3rd graders had an unbeaverlievable field trip to the Merrill School Forest!🦫🌲 Their topic of study: Beaver adaptations — and wow, did they dive right in! Do you know... • ❓What is the scientific name of a beaver? • 👀 What is a nictitating membrane, and why is it so helpful to beavers? They also learned about Mr. Commoner’s Laws of Ecology and even got to put their knowledge into action by building their own beaver dams right in Ripley Creek, using natural resources around them! A HUGE thank-you to our amazing PTO and families — your support makes these hands-on learning experiences at the School Forest possible. 💚🌎

🍿✨ It’s Popcorn Friday! ✨🍿
A big thank you to the Maple Grove Foundation for sponsoring this fun tradition, and to Mrs. Artus and her family for popping and delivering delicious popcorn to all of our students and staff today! ❤️🤍
What a great way to end the week! 🎉

Camouflage and Flannel Day at MGCS! 🍂🌲 Between the fall leaves and the woods, our learners disappeared right into nature—can you spot them? 👀🦊

Golden leaves & endless giggles...fall is our favorite at MGCS! 🍂💛

🍯🐝 Sweet, sticky goodness! A huge thank you to Dr. Carla Prahl, our bee hive mentor this summer, for sharing her expertise and passion with our learners! She, along with fellow beekeeper and new MGCS parent, Mr. Mengal, led a honey extraction demonstration that had our kids buzzing with curiosity. Students learned new vocabulary like centrifuge and revolutions, discovered that nearly 1/3 of the food we eat depends on pollinators like bees, and asked such thoughtful questions along the way. They got to taste the sweet honey fresh from the frames with apples, sample the wax, and watch how capped cells are scraped with a hot knife before the extractor spins out the honey. We are also so thankful for our parent volunteer apprentices who helped care for the hives throughout the summer—their support made this learning possible! We are so grateful for the support of our community in creating these hands-on learning experiences! 🦊🌱

✨ Ribbon Cutting Celebration ✨ We had the honor of celebrating the official ribbon cutting for our brand-new natural playground at MGCS with the Athens Chamber of Commerce! 🎉 A huge thank you to the School District of Athens and Superintendent Andrea Sheridan for their ongoing support of Maple Grove Charter School. We are also incredibly grateful to Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds out of Ontario, Canada, for their thoughtful design, and to Revi by Design for bringing that vision from design to reality. 🌿 Special recognition goes to our dedicated playground committee: • Robin Hanson – Teaching Principal • Sandy Benton – Environmental Education Consultant • Kerri Zamzow – Intermediate Classroom Teacher • Sabrina Riehle – Primary Classroom Teacher • Jamey Handschke – Head of Maintenance • Annette Neske – Community Member & Parent • Rebecca Primm – Governance Board Member & Parent This entire project was made possible through the Charter Implementation Grant, and we are so grateful for the opportunity it has given our students. 💚 Rooted in our school’s environmental and agriscience focus, this playground will no doubt become a favorite place for our Foxes to explore, challenge themselves, and use their imagination while connecting with the natural world. 🦊🌳