A Letter from the Health Office

Susan Martin LPN/Health Assistant and Liz Lynch, BSN, RN, NCSN

Heart Disease Awareness Month 

• Avoid/ Quit smoking - Smoking can increase plaque in your blood vessels making them narrower and harder to pump blood through. This increases your risk of heart disease as well as increasing how hard your heart needs to work! 
• Maintenance -  Obtaining and maintaining a healthy body weight for your body, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels will decrease your risk of heart disease and increase your overall health!
• Screen for diabetes - It can easily be detected through a simple blood test. Ask about your need for a preventative screen with your provider.
• Get active - Find an activity you enjoy (walking, jogging, dancing, biking, swimming) and get moving 2 to 3 times a week! Not only will this help keep your heart healthy, but your mind too!
• Build your muscles - Lifting weights and strength training tones muscles and burns fat. This helps to strengthen your heart and reduce how hard it needs to work on a daily basis. It’s recommended to strength train 2 times per week.
• Eat smart - Build your plate with heart-healthy foods such as: leafy greens and vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein rich foods (fish, nuts, lean meats), and healthy oils (avocado, salmon, canola). Check out a new recipe book from the library!
• Limit junk food - Added sugars, saturated fats, and excessive sodium (as good as they can taste) can add extra work for your heart and increase your risk of heart disease. Enjoy in moderation!
• Stress less - Stress increases a hormone called cortisol, which leads to weight gain, fatigue/ poor sleep, emotional wellbeing etc. Try incorporating stress relieving activities into your daily routine such as: yoga, walks, reading, meditation, listening to music. Even if it is only 5-10 minutes at a time. 
• Sleep more - Sleep restores the body, helps to decrease stress, and increase overall mood. Practice good sleep hygiene: sleep in a cooler temperature, darken your environment, avoid screens at least 20 minutes before bed, try to obtain 8 hours of sleep.
• Smile - Do what lights you up! Make time for enjoyable activities and hobbies to help lower stress and improve your overall mood! Added bonus - smiling is contagious!

February Family Bucket List

If your student will need to take medication during the school day, please have your child’s provider fill out and sign the appropriate form below. These can then be returned to the office or faxed by the provider to: 920-424-7583.

• Over the Counter Medication Form *parent signature only required*
• Prescribed Medication Form 
• Inhaler/Asthma Action Plan  
• Epipen/Allergy & Anaphylaxis Form

REMINDERS:

Directions on the medication bottle/box must match the written order on the medication request form.

• Stock Epi-pens do NOT go on field trips. 
• Please fill out an Emergency Epi-Pen/Anaphylaxis Plan even if you don’t have a personal Epi at school.
• PRN medications (Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Tums etc.) must come in a new and unopened bottle.
• Is your child up to date with their immunizations? Please contact the doctor for physicals and immunizations! All students at Jefferson are required to have their Tdap, Polio, MMR, Varicella and Hep B! Please check with your doctor to see what wellness requirements are needed for your child.

Phy-Ed Update from Mr. Schneider

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This month in physical education, we introduced our K-5 students to the exciting world of soccer! Our young athletes practiced essential soccer skills, including passing and kicking, while also exploring teamwork strategies to build collaboration and communication. Through engaging drills and games, students learned how to work together to achieve common goals, fostering both their physical abilities and social skills. It’s been amazing to see their enthusiasm and improvement on the field!

Looking ahead to next month, we are excited to kick off our jump roping and bowling unit. Jump roping will help enhance students' coordination, rhythm, and cardiovascular fitness, while bowling will introduce them to skills such as aim, precision, and balance. These activities promise to be both fun and beneficial as we continue to promote healthy, active lifestyles.

Thank you for your continued support in keeping our students active and engaged. If you have any questions or would like to know more about our program, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Music Update from Mr. Flaugher

This month, our class delved into the powerful relationship between music, art, and life through Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Using historical artifacts and original writings, we explored how Mussorgsky's deep grief over the loss of his friend Viktor Hartmann became the inspiration for one of the most iconic pieces of symphonic music ever composed.

Students examined how Hartmann's vivid artworks and Mussorgsky's emotional connection to them shaped each movement of the composition. By listening, analyzing, and reflecting on the music, we uncovered how raw human experiences—like grief, memory, and creativity—can be transformed into lasting artistic legacies.

This hands-on journey into history, art, and music revealed that artistic expression transcends time and connects us to universal human experiences. We’re excited to carry these lessons into our ongoing musical exploration!

Art Update from Ms. Keefe

This month K-2 students are starting their winter themed projects. Kindergarten students are working on creating painted snow people along with learning about snow sculpting. First and second graders are learning about murals and community art, working in groups creating their own winter murals. 3-5 are starting the next project that will be in the neon black light art show, these projects will involve collage, printmaking, and oil pastels! The neon art show will be at Jefferson in March on Stem night, and congrats to all of the students at Jefferson who got into the Masonic art show on January 18th!

Media and Technology Update from Ms. Kese 

Digital Citizenship Update for Elementary Parents - This Month's Focus: Online Relationships and Cyberbullying

Dear Caring Adults,

I want to keep you informed about our digital citizenship lessons. Here's an update on what we've covered and what's coming up:

Last Month's Recap

We discussed online safety, privacy, and security. Students learned about what information is appropriate to share online and what should be kept private.

February's Topic

We're focusing on online relationships, communication, and how these affect our digital footprints. A key part of this is addressing cyberbullying and mean online behavior.

Tips for Parents

Here are some ways you can help your child navigate the online world safely:

1. Talk about cyberbullying: Explain that it means repeated, unwanted mean or hurtful words or actions online.

2. Stay involved: Ask about your child's online activities, like who they talk to in games or on websites.

3. Practice responses: Help your child think of ways to respond to or exit from uncomfortable online situations.

4. Encourage kindness: Teach your child to support others who might be experiencing bullying.

5. Take breaks: Help your child step away from devices if online drama becomes overwhelming.

6. Know what to do: Make sure your child knows the steps to take if they experience cyberbullying, including saving evidence and telling a trusted adult.

We hope this information helps you support your child's positive online experiences. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

School Counselor Update from Mrs. Brown 

Hello families hope you all had a reenergizing winter break and wishing you all well in the new year.

In Great People Skills (GPS) in the month of January in 2nd-5th Grade are learning about how our amazing brains work and how it may impact the way we feel.  We learned the term "Flipping your lid" (when your brain is so stressed out that it makes you act without thinking first). Students learned/reviewed that there are three important parts of our brain that are involved in feelings and thinking. Utilizing one hand and making a fist we learned these three important parts of our brain. 

The Prefrontal Cortex-PFC (KG-2nd also called it wise owl) also known as the Executive Part of our brain.  This is the part of our brain that helps us with decision making, think before we act (fingers folded over our thumb while making a fist). We learned that when our PFC is in control we feel calm, alert and ready to learn, and our body feels relaxed and safe. The Hippocampus (KG-2nd called it Memory Hippo) also known as the Emotional Part of our brain. This part of our brain is our memory saver, it stores new memories and brings out old memories, it also helps us learn and we feel our emotions. If you open your hand your palm is where your memory saver would be.  The third part is the Amygdala (KG-2nd called it Guard Dog) also known as the survival part of our brain. The biggest job of this part of the brain is safety. Inside hand while making a fist the thumb is the guard dog. The Amygdala  helps us act fast in cases of emergency to keep us safe. When the amygdala senses danger it tells the body to FIGHT, FLIGHT, or FREEZE. 

Students learned that when a guard dog senses danger, It barks! (Kids made their thumb bark inside your fist) our survival part of the brain takes control. When the PFC or the owl hears loud barking, it flies away! Make your wise owl PFC fly away. When there is loud barking our memory saver can’t hear or do its job! And that is flipping your lid, then the guard dog or survival part of our brain is in control so we may fight, flight or freeze. The guard dog sometimes may start barking when it may not truly be in an unsafe situation, we may just be worried, upset, mad or stressed out. 

Students learned that we can use healthy coping skills when we sense we are about to flip our lids or when we have already flipped our lid. So that we can get our wise owls or PFC back in control. 

Some of the healthy coping skills we talked about are: taking slow deep breaths. Tell someone you trust how you feel, kids are encouraged to talk to their trusted adults. Pay attention to what you see, smell, taste, hear, and touch. Use positive self-talk (remind our wise owl that it’s just your guard dog). Acknowledge that you may feel stressed but are not in danger. I don’t need to fight or fly or freeze. I need to calm down my guard dog by taking some deep breaths. 

We will have a follow-up lesson focusing and practicing helpful coping skills more in depth. However, the use of helpful coping strategies is something our teachers teach, encourage and practice daily with students throughout the day.

In KG and 1st Grade we are learning about comfortable and uncomfortable feelings and that all feelings are okay. We are also learning that when we experience uncomfortable feelings it is important to still work on keeping it kind, helpful and safe.

Any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. Wishing you well!

Mrs. Brown

Math Update from Mrs. Bauer

January is the fifth month of this school year. How is your child feeling about their grade-level math so far? Now is a great time to explore their outlook with fresh [2025] eyes and make necessary adjustments. Inspiring or even maintaining a love of math will mean incorporating a healthy mix of challenges.

Consider some of these strategies:

1. If math has often been hard and challenging, help your child identify one good thing about their math experience so far. With every challenge, there is growth. 📈

2. Incorporate a “feelings chart” or “feelings thermometer” into your child’s math work. 🌡️

3. Allow your child to sit with their emotions and to reach out for support [from teachers]. 🙋

4. Relieve stress through physical activities [like counting jumps during jump rope]. 🏃

6. Inspire self-compassion by helping your child acknowledge when they have worked hard, tried their best, and been brave [in math clas]. 🤗

Remember that strong emotional-learning skills will lead to successful academic performance in all subject areas and will build a healthy member of society.

*These are some adapted suggestions from Mathnasium.

Literacy Update from Mrs. Boettcher and Mrs. Vollbrecht

How to Encourage Writing at Home

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 the child 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. 

A portion of this update is from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-your-childs-vocabulary  and http://www.readingrockets.org/article/use-words-teach-words