A Letter from the Health Office - New School Year 2024/2025

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

Hello Jefferson School families! We are excited and looking forward to a great school year!

Free vision and hearing screen is coming up in late September/early October. Please see here for additional information and an opt-out form. 

If your student has a change in their health or has a healthcare need at school, please contact Susan Martin susanm.martin@oshkosh.k12.wi.us or Liz Lynch elizabeth.lynch@oshkosh.k12.wi.us.

Beginning of the Year Medication Information:

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,

As we dive into the months of September and October, our Physical Education curriculum will focus on developing fundamental motor skills across all grade levels. For our Kindergarten and 1st grade students, we’ll be exploring locomotor movements such as skipping, hopping, and jumping, in addition to practicing underhand and overhand throwing. Our older students will delve deeper into the techniques of underhand and overhand throwing, working on precision and control through a variety of engaging activities. We encourage you to support their learning by practicing these skills at home, which will help reinforce their classroom experiences and foster a love for physical activity. Thank you for your continued support!

Music Update from Mr. Flaugher

It’s been a busy few weeks in the music room! We began the year by learning about the life and music of September’s Composer of the Month: Lin-Manuel Miranda. K-3 got to explore his music through guided discussions to express what the music meant to them. They also got the chance to play alongside his music by using their bodies as percussion instruments as well as using rhythm sticks. 4-5 got to perform Miranda’s music with a collection of Tubanos, Djembes, Congas, and Talking Drums. Every class also got to participate, or will be participating soon, in their first Centers activity, the Instrument Petting Zoo. Through the petting zoo, students were able to explore and create music on a variety of drums, auxiliary percussion, xylophones, keyboards, ukuleles, and guitars. In the
coming weeks, Kindergarten will continue to explore their singing, speaking, whisper, and shouting voices in class. 1st grade will explore simple rhythmic elements of music using the song “Apple Tree”. The 2nd graders will continue to add instruments to their rap “I Had A Loose Tooth” and will soon discover what eighth notes are. 3rd grade will begin exploring strong vs weak beats before diving into the musical elements of time signatures. 4th grade will continue to
work on their song “Lil’ Liza Jane” as we begin to start reading sheet music. Lastly, 5th graders will get an intro-to-reading-sheet-music lesson on boomwhackers before going full steam ahead into our Recorder unit. Also, please mark on your calendars that Jefferson’s winter concert will be held at 6pm on
December 16th at the Alberta Kimball Auditorium. It is expected that every child is present and participates as it is an important time to showcase the hard work your child will be doing in class over the next few months. In the event of a conflict, please let me know as soon as possible at willem.flaugher@oshkosh.k12.wi.us.

Note for 5th grade:
In preparation for this year’s winter concert, we will soon be learning to play the soprano recorder in music class. We will begin the recorder unit on September 30th. Your child will be provided a school recorder to use during the semester that will have to be returned the next class after the holiday concert. If your child wishes to purchase their own recorder, Heid Music carries Angel brand soprano recorders around the $5 price range. Once we begin our instructional unit on recorders, please encourage your child to practice! Your child is responsible for bringing their recorder to every music class (unless you buy an extra recorder to leave in the classroom).

Helpful practice hints:
1. Cover all the holes tightly – leaks cause squeaks!
2. The left hand is placed above the right hand
3. Blow gently with “warm” air.
4. Please label the recorder and its storage container with your child’s name.

Thanks for your continued support of your child’s creativity in music!
Musically yours,
Willem Flaugher

Art Update from Ms. Keefe

We are back!! In art after exploring the new set up of the room and going over expectations we are going to start learning about each of the elements of art! Each grade will learn about each element throughout the year. The first element will be Line. Kindergarten will be making Crayon Tracks, creating different crayons out of paper and then painting their “tracks” with different types of line. 1st and 2nd grade will be making “Crayon Buddies”. They will make a larger sized crayon out of paper and then on a separate piece of paper they will paint different types of lines and later glue their crayon buddy onto their lined paper. 3rd graders and 4th graders will be making “Pencil Tracks,” similar to the previous grades they will be making a paper pencil, larger based and then they will be making a notebook-like piece of paper and then paint different types of lines onto their backgrounds, gluing their paper pencils onto their main piece. 5th graders will be making different painted pencils onto their papers, and these pencils will be shaped in the different lines that we learn about. Following learning about the element of Line, we will be learning about the element Shape.

Media and Technology Update from Ms. Kese

Family Tips - Help Kids Balance Their Media Lives 

From phones and tablets to streaming movies and YouTube, tech and media are everywhere. Kids love easy access to shows, games, and information. Parents and caregivers love that kids can learn on the go (and stay busy when dinner's cooking). But it's easy to overdo it when the phone never stops pinging and the next episode plays automatically. Families can keep media and tech use in check by following a few simple practices. The first digital citizenship lesson in October will be about media balance.

Check out these 5 tips!

• Create screen-free times and zones.
  • Help kids take breaks from tech by limiting screen time in bedrooms, during study time, or at the dinner table.
• Try parental controls.
  • Set content limits that make sense for your family. Alongside conversations about healthy media habits, use features such as content filtering, privacy settings, and time limits offered by the apps and platforms your family uses to help manage access and exposure to media.
• Establish clear family rules. 
  • Decide together what kind of media and tech is OK -- and when it's OK to use it. A family media plan can help get everyone on the same page. 
• Watch and play together!
  • Choose quality, age-appropriate media to enjoy with your kids. Visit commonsensemedia.org to find shows, games, and more.
• Help kids identify healthy behaviors. 
  • Practice talking about feelings -- both physical and emotional -- during screen and non-screen activities. 

School Counselor Update from Mrs. Brown

Hello families, welcome to the 24-25 school year!   I am Jacqui Brown, School Counselor at Jefferson Elementary. This is my fifth year here and I am thankful to be part of our amazing school family. I am looking forward to working alongside our staff and families to support and help our students be successful socially, emotionally and academically. Here is some brief information regarding the school counseling services here at Jefferson:

• Classroom Lessons on social/emotional topics (Great People Skills). 
• Small Group Counseling (support groups, targeted social skills)
• Short term & Solution-Focused Individual Counseling (crisis intervention and management, mental health issues, family issues, friendship issues, classroom issues)

*Please note, school counselors do not provide “therapy” and/or long term counseling. Please find attached a flier with more detailed information regarding school counseling at Jefferson and myself. (Link HERE).

• Parent Consultations
• Assist with referrals to outside agencies
• Collaborate and partner with staff, parents to support students.
• Collaborate and partner and staff to organize school wide events to foster our school family.

During my lessons we learn and practice life skills that are meant to help each of us be the great person we were created to be (example: space conflict resolution, being a super student, making friends, mindset, study skills, etc). Skills that can help us be kind, helpful and safe. Therefore, this year I am rebranding my lessons. We will refer to them as Great People Skills - GPS with Mrs. Brown. 

In the month of September, I have been visiting all classrooms to do an introduction/connection lesson. I will also be conducting minute meetings to have an opportunity to have a 1:1 connection/check-in with every student.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is something I can do to support you or your child. You can reach me by calling our school office or emailing me directly at: jacqueline.brown@oshkosh.k12.wi.us

Here is to a great school year! Wishing you and your loved ones well.  Mrs. Brown

Math Update from Mrs. Bauer

All K-5 classrooms have already started teaching and learning from our universal curriculum, Bridges in Mathematics. Students are already engaging in rich math talks, using math tools, and solving problems. If you are a new or existing Bridges math family, you may notice that your child may represent math thinking with different models or pictures and you may notice that your child may share more than one strategy to solve. This is what deepens our students’ conceptual understanding of math that in later grades, deepens their understanding of how a procedure/algorithm works. Bridges allows for multiple entry points into a problem so that all students can engage in math learning and growing. Consider checking out the Math Learning Center Site where you will find grade level resources such as “Math at Home,” “Math Apps,” and other information about the Bridges Curriculum. https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/curriculum/family-support

Literacy Update from Mrs. Boettcher and Mrs. Vollbrecht

As a parent or guardian, there are many things you can do to make sure that you're supporting and growing your child's literacy skills at home every day. Here are a few easy ideas:

1. Read from day one. Start a reading routine in those very first days with a newborn. 
2. Share books every day. Read with your child every day, even after he or she becomes an independent reader. 
3. Reread favorites. Most children love to hear their favorite stories over and over again. Rereading books provides an opportunity to hear or see something that may have been missed the last time and provides another chance to hear a favorite part. 
4. Visit the library early and often. Make visiting the library part of your family's routine. 
5. Find reading and writing in everyday things Take the time to show your child ways that adults use reading and writing every day. 
6. Talk, talk, talk. A child's vocabulary grows through rich conversations with others. No matter your child's age, narrate what you're doing, talk in full sentences, and add interesting words into your conversation. 

Information from: "10 Things You Can Do to Raise a Reader." Reading Rockets, 2012.