Midvale – Lincoln School Community Organization

Class lists will be shared with teachers about a week before school begins and you’ll hear from your child’s teacher a day or two after teachers receive their lists. Teachers will set up Ready, Set, Go! conferences for caregivers, students, and teachers to get to know each other and see the classroom. When possible, these conferences are held before school starts (generally, towards the end of the week before school begins).

The number and size of classes may vary from year to year, but in 2025-26, there are seven kindergarten classes and most classes are around 15-18 students.

Midvale starts at 7:35am and ends at 2:30pm. Every Monday is early release (1:10pm). 

School “soft start” is at 7:20am (meaning students can enter the building at that time). All students should be in their classrooms at 7:35am.

Teachers will meet their classes in the parking lot between the playground and the school building near the basketball hoops. Teachers will have a big sign with their animal symbol (each class is named after an animal, like a butterfly, elephant, or giraffe) and a nametag for each child. Teachers will bring students in all together. School staff in orange vests will be there to help (and they’ll have kleenex for caregivers who need it!).

Children can enter the building through the main door on Caromar, or through the door in the back of the school near the basketball hoops. Caregivers who are driving often park along Midvale Blvd to walk their kids to the back door, or along Caromar or Clifden to walk their kids to the front door. Buses drop off along Caromar.

Unfortunately, caregivers can’t enter the building with their child. Look for school staff in neon vests; if your child is having a hard day, or needs help finding their class, staff are there to help!

School bus information will be available in Infinite Campus and FirstView in late August. FirstView provides location data via GPS tracking, and sends notification alerts when a student’s bus is getting close. School staff help get students from the bus into the building in the morning and help make sure that students get on the correct bus at the end of the day.

After school, K-2 teachers walk students in a dismissal “parade” from the door on the south side of the school, along the sidewalk on Caromar Drive where the buses are waiting, to the flagpole on the north side of the building. (See image below.) Caregivers can wait for their children in the areas circled in red. Make sure to wait on the grass or the paved driveway area (not the sidewalk!) so you don’t get in the way of the parade. If you are driving, many caregivers park along Owen Drive or Clifden Drive. 

Full day 4K students can be picked up on the playground.

There is an MSCR afterschool program at Midvale; however, typically, more children sign up than are able to be accommodated. Sign up for the MSCR program will open at 12pm on May 1. Some families that were placed on the waitlist initially were offered spots a few weeks after school began.

An informal survey of 2025-26 kindergarten caregivers indicated afterschool programs attended include Sprouts Nature School, Outdoors We Learn (OWL), and Creando Little Language Explorers. MOST (Madison Area Out-Of-School Time) also has a program finder for after school care that may be helpful. Other families do a nanny share with neighbors – Care.com, the UW Jobs Board, or neighborhood listservs can be good resources to find a nanny. (This is informational only, not an endorsement of any program by the SCO, and not an exhaustive list!)

The general supply list for Midvale can be found here. Your student’s teacher may also provide information about supplies when they reach out in late August. All students will need a full-sized backpack, an old adult-sized t-shirt to use as an art smock, and comfortable shoes to either leave at school or wear on gym days, as well as general supplies that will be shared by the class like markers, crayons, and glue sticks.

You can bring supplies on the first day of school – there will be tables set up marked with teachers’ names.You can also bring them to your Ready, Set, Go! conference.

Yes! Contact Midvale’s school social worker, Shaya Wingeno-Schrieber (srschreiber@madison.k12.wi.us).

• ParentSquare – direct communication from Gwen Frank, Midvale’s principal, other school staff (like specials teachers – art, gym, and music), and important reminders. Check out the MMSD ParentSquare page to learn about creating an account, following posts, updating preferences, and more.
• Infinite Campus – the MMSD platform for managing attendance, grades, schedules, test scores, and other information. (Find more information here.)
• Follow Midvale and the Midvale-Lincoln SCO on Facebook, and sign up for updates from the Midvale-Lincoln SCO.

For breakfast, students can pick up food in the school cafeteria to bring to their classrooms. It’s helpful to arrive closer to 7:20am if your student is planning on getting a school breakfast.

For lunch, all kindergarteners eat lunch at the same time. They sit at assigned tables with their class. Students can either get a school lunch or bring a lunch from home. Lunch is quick – about 20 minutes. When kids arrive at school in the morning, they will have a lunch card with their name on it, and they will choose either “school lunch,” “home lunch,” or “milk only.”

Use SchoolCafe to add funds to your child’s lunch account, fill out an application for a free or reduced price lunch, or view menus.

• Create accounts on ParentSquare, Infinite Campus, and SchoolCafe, and download the ParentSquare app if you’d like.
• Add money to your child’s school meal account using SchoolCafe if they will be eating meals or getting milk at school.
• Pick out a backpack with your child and pick up other school supplies.
• Add labels or write names on backpacks, coats and other outerwear, gym shoes, and other personal items.
• Practice independent skills such as:
  • Opening lunch boxes, pouches, and other containers you are planning to send with your child at mealtime; staff are in the lunchroom and can help but only have so many hands available!
  • Zipping zippers and putting on shoes by themselves (stick to velcro shoes til they can tie shoes on their own).
  • As it gets colder, putting on outerwear: snowsuit, boots, coat, hat, and gloves/mittens last.
• Attend kindergarten playdates and Popsicles on the Playground to meet other kindergarteners and their caregivers.