Newsletter - February 2020

Winter is here and students are wearing boots to school. Please remember that boots are not appropriate shoes to wear in the gym and all students need to have a SEPARATE pair of gym shoes to wear for Physical Education class. If this is an issue, please contact me so that we can work something out. Also, please ask your student(s) if their shoes still fit! Elementary students grow quickly and their gym shoes may not fit them the entire year. You may see reminder notes coming home with students that pertain to these items.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION?

As we came back from break we continued our striking unit with hockey! Students learned to control an object with their hockey sticks as well as strike an object to score a goal during game play. Students had high expectations when it came to safety and every one of them did a great job. 

WHAT’S NEXT IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION?

February is a FUN month for the Jefferson Patriots! It is Kids Heart Challenge month (formerly known as Jump Rope for Heart). The kickoff for the Kids Heart Challenge is Valentine’s Day--February 14th! The first parent letter will be sent home that week. Did you know that students can get a wristband just for signing up ONLINE? And they can earn the Finn badge by taking on FIVE challenges! They don’t even have to raise any money! 

KIDS HEART CHALLENGE

Kick off is February 14th.  If you want to get signed up early to receive a wristband, go to http://www2.heart.org/goto/jeffersonoshkosh and put in your information!

BRING YOUR PARENT TO PHYSICAL EDUCATION

There was such great feedback from our fall “Bring your Parent to Physical Education Week” that I have decided to do it again in the Spring! Keep an eye out for information very soon, it will happen sometime in March before Spring break!

#SPORTSMANSHIP

Ask your student(s) about our sportsmanship board in the gym. Students are selected based on behaviors that show good sportsmanship and a short sentence is written on a paper sports ball and stapled to the board. It is really starting to fill up! Our goal is to have the whole board covered by the end of the year. 

TIPS TO BE FIT AT HOME

The snow is here but that shouldn’t stop you from getting exercise! Here are a few tips for indoor and outdoor fun!

1. Shovel instead of using the snowblower (but be careful not to hurt yourself).

2. Build a snowman! Rolling that giant snowball through the yard is hard work!

3. Go for a run/walk. Sometimes the crunch of the snow beneath your feet after a fresh snowfall is the best sound. Enjoy it while getting some exercise.

4. Make fitness fun by making it a competition! Challenge your family members to see who can do the most jumping jacks before time runs out, or before the commercial during your favorite show is over. 

5. It’s resolution season! Did you make a fitness resolution? If you did, keep going with it! It takes 21 days to make a habit so don’t stop now!

ALL STARS OF THE MONTH

During the month of January,  Mrs. Lange kept an eye out for students that went above and beyond in the gym. Their behavior was spot on! They were positive role models and leaders, had great sportsmanship, and were respectful, responsible, and safe. The all stars of the month for each grade level are below with their pictures. Great job Patriots!

Kindergarten: Kolten and Calli                              1st: Madi         

                     2nd: Alaysia                      3rd: Madison   4th: Ethan               

 5th: Saguara

Vocabulary is an important factor in a child’s ability to read. For example, if a child is trying to read the word hammer but doesn’t know what a hammer is, the child will not be able to know that he or she is right--even if he or she actually reads the word correctly. 

Vocabulary continues to increase as text difficulty increases. More specific words are used in place of common words such as yelled instead of said or properly instead of right. As children progress into the upper elementary grades, more science and social studies words start appearing in text as well as more complex academic language. 

There are many things you can do as a parent to help build your child’s vocabulary knowledge:

Start at the root 

Begin with a simple root word, such as push. Ask your child to come up with words they know that contain that word, such as pushing, pushed, push-up. Talk about how all these words have some shared meaning related to the word push. 

Multiple meanings 

Many words have more than one meaning. While sitting at the dinner table, choose a word and brainstorm as many meanings and uses for the word as you can think of. Some words to start with: spring, check, light.

Introducing new words

First provide a simple, kid-friendly definition for the new word: Enormous means that something is really, really big. Second, provide a simple, kid-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life: Remember that really big watermelon we got at the grocery store? That was an enormous watermelon! Third, encourage your child to develop their own example: What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That's right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge! Lastly, keep your new words active within your house. Over the next few days and weeks, take advantage of opportunities to use each new vocabulary word in conversation.

Helping your child learn new vocabulary and build up his or her vocabulary bank is one of the most important things you can do to help ensure academic success. 

During the month of January, classrooms worked on showing their Patriot Pride by following the Jefferson Way of being Respectful, Responsible, and Safe.