Washington Wavelength Fall 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL:

Dear Washington Families, 

Learning and safety are our top priorities at Washington School, and our partnerships with families are crucial for achieving these. When it comes to student safety, there are several things that parents can do to assist, so I would like to provide a few important reminders:

• There is no adult supervision on the playground until 8:05 AM. Please do your best to not drop students off prior to that time. 
• Students are not allowed on the playground equipment after school without an adult. 
• The staff parking lot is for staff and visitors only. It is not to be used for drop off or pick up before or after school. 
• There is heavy traffic around the school before and after school. Please drive with extreme caution. 
• All parents/visitors to the school must enter through our secure pathway next to door 9. Outside doors are locked at all times throughout the day. 

We look forward to working with you this year, and seeing you at parent-teacher conferences on October 23rd and 24th to talk about the progress your child is making! 

Sincerely, 

Matt Peerenboom, Principal

Important Dates      

September

• 2 - No School
• 25 - Picture Day
• 27 - No P4J
• 30 - No School

October

• 7 - 4th Grade JSOL Field Trip 
• 17 - Oktoberfest  -  Picture Retake Day
• 18 - No P4J
• 23 & 24 - Conferences
• 25 -  No School

November

• 4 - No School
• 22 - End of First Trimester  -  No P4J
• 27-29 - No School 

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Traffic and Safety Reminders  

Safety Patrol 

Our school safety patrol is now on duty before and after school. The students have been trained in crossing students safely and wear bright yellow safety belts for easy visibility. Please help all of our students stay safe by following the drop off and pick up procedures below.

• Please avoid parking on the corners of intersections to ease the flow of Traffic.
• Please avoid parking too close to the crosswalks.  This can cause congestion and make it difficult for cars to pass through these areas safely, and it can also make it difficult for crossing guards to see around the vehicles to look for oncoming traffic.  
• Please ALWAYS have your child use the available crosswalks rather than crossing in the middle of the street. Children are safest when crossing at patrolled crosswalks.

Thank you for all of your help and support! We really appreciate it!

Grade Level/Special Area News

Early Childhood

We’re off to a good start in the Early Childhood morning and afternoon programs. Our day is filled with lots of fun activities including circle time, table activities (arts and crafts, fine motor practice, snack), play, and movement. The students are learning the routine and how to play with others. We do have the option of going outside to play, so please make sure to dress your child for the weather.

P4J

We have been excited to begin to get to know the P4J students this year!  We have been working on our fine motor skills and developing stronger fingers and hand muscles.  P4J students have been excited to use scissors in class and learn the proper technique to hold their scissors.  As the colder weather approaches, we will be working on putting our coats on by ourselves and practice zipping our coats.  These are great skills to be working on at home as well.  I look forward to meeting with P4J families on October 23rd and 24th at Parent-Teacher Conferences to share more about our goals for the year in P4J!

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is off to a great start! We have been learning our school routines and are continuing to work on alphabet, math, social, and digital skills. Please continue to practice letters, sounds, and numbers with your child at home. 

For the children’s safety, please send shoes that are easy for our kindergarteners to put on and take off themselves. Also make sure sweatshirts, jackets, backpacks, etc. are labeled with your child’s name.

The Take Home Folder is a great communication tool between home and school. Please make sure to check it everyday for notes from your child’s teacher and/or the office. Also, make sure to check your child’s backpack. It may have some memorable things in there to show what we are learning in kindergarten!

First Grade

First grade has had a great start to the year.  Students are working hard following rules and practicing the procedures and routines of the classroom. We dove right into our curriculum in the month of September and will continue working through our different weekly themes in reading. Please help your child with their reading progress by listening to them read and practice their decodable stories that come home each night. This will help them with their decoding, fluency and confidence as a beginning reader. In math, first graders are working hard on number sense and adding and subtracting within 20.  We'll continue working on our rocket math practice each day to improve fact fluency. As the weather cools down, please remember to send your child in layers as we are outside for recess twice a day, and fall weather can sometimes be unpredictable. Thank you for all the support as we started this school year and we look forward to a great year!

Second Grade

Welcome back to our returning and new Patriot Families! We are loving having everyone back with us after a hopefully relaxing summer break. 

We have been introducing and practicing second grade routines. Students have been learning what it means to be a good citizen in 2nd Grade. Our main communication will be through Seesaw. 

Our math program uses lots of hands-on explorations and practices skills through our workplace games. This year we will be practicing math fluency facts. They will be coming home on a regular basis. Please feel free to work on any of the problems that students did not complete. There will be math homework 2 - 3 times per week.

We also encourage your child to read 20 minutes each day.  They may partner-read more difficult text with a grown-up or read independently.  In the family newsletter we will list the weekly phonics pattern and heart words. Encourage your child to sound out these words when they come across them in their text and practice the heart words so they know them “by heart”. Practice Makes Better!

As a reminder, the weather is changing.  Please make sure your child comes with a jacket/sweatshirt. Also please continue to send your child with a water bottle to school everyday.

Third Grade 

3rd grade has been hard at work!  We are busy getting into our reading, writing, and math routines. We have been reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction stories and focusing on  retelling, citing textual evidence, and chronological order.  In writing, we are focusing on personal narratives and will be moving onto writing opinions.  Continue to look at the Reading, Writing, and Spelling Weekly Focus sheets that are sent home at the beginning of the week.  As a reminder students should be practicing their reading for about 20 minutes each night and spelling words as well. In math we will be finishing up our addition and subtraction patterns and moving into multiplication. In Science we are learning about life cycles, adaptations and completing animal research projects. In social studies we are learning about diversity, cultures, geography, and our government. Please look for a reading or math homework sheet sent home once a week.  We will also be taking our first trip in November to the Survive Alive house in Beloit, so be on the lookout for more information on that when it gets closer.

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade is off to a great start for the school year! In math we are working on solving multiplication and division problems using different strategies.We have also been working on prime and composite numbers. In reading we have been reading different expository and realistic fiction texts. Some reading strategies we have been focusing on are comparing and contrasting, predicting, and the author's perspective. In writing we have been working on subjects and predicates and compound sentences. We are also going to be starting a new writing piece soon! In social studies we have been learning about the different social sciences as well working on our mapping skills. We have had fun learning about the different continents and oceans. Lastly, in science we have been learning about life science and the different functions of living things. Fourth grade has been working hard and we are looking forward to the rest of the trimester.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade has been off to a busy start of the year! In math we are starting to work with fractions. We will be adding and subtracting with uncommon denominators. In reading we are coming to the end of Unit 1 and will be starting Unit 2. Unit 2 we will explore expository texts, folktales, and poetry.  In science we have been exploring the phenomena of a "pizza farm" and even starting to grow our own mung & lentil beans! Social Studies has been a great exploration for 5th grade! We have done simulations of what life was like as an explorer and colonist. Now we are exploring the relationship between the Colonies and Great Britain which will lead us into the Revolutionary War. We are settling into our routines in 5th grade and can't wait to see what this year holds! 

Learning Commons

We are excited to be back up and running here in the Washington LMC. We hope you all are enjoying taking time to read with your students. As a reminder I am including your student's library days. We regularly practice with students the library rules of no puppies, no babies, no water bottles and our books live in our backpacks. These tips will help keep your students library books safe and ensure they have them to return on their library day so they can select new books. We appreciate your active participation and support in helping your student(s) path to literacy, lifelong learning, and love of reading. 

• Monday: Johnson, Hartin
• Tuesday: Marx, Binkley, Severance
• Wednesday: Oswald Am & Pm, Niemeier, Dring, Schmidt, Glowacki, Wilson
• Thursday: Choitz, Gray, Otremba, Sendelbach
• Friday De Lorimier, Werner, Barry, Halon

Counselor Connections

Hello families! 

My name is Mrs. Morgan, and I am the School Counselor at Washington. I can not wait to continue working with our amazing students this year. As the counselor, I am here to help support your student’s social, emotional, and academic development.  I collaborate with our students, educators, families and professionals in the community to provide your students the resources they need to be successful inside and outside of the classroom.  

I will come into each classroom weekly, on the full weeks of school to teach their Connections class! In these lessons we will focus on learning about our emotional brain and coping strategies we can use to work through challenges. We also learn about conflict resolution, friendship skills, growth mindset, safety, and so much more! 

If you have any questions or concerns that I may help with, please email me at morgancasey-schm@janesville.k12.wi.us, call me at (608)743-7225, or text me at (608) 561-1424.

English Learners

Hola! Welcome back to all students at Washington School and especially to the three newest students joining me in  English Learner classes. I am excited to start my second year at Washington as an EL teacher. One of the best parts of my job is working with the same students I did last year and adding a few new ones. I love to see the growth from one year to the next. 

At the start of the year, it is testing time with STAR and after that, we get down to work. Students will work with me on Reading and English skills while speaking, reading, and writing. All my students will participate in their classrooms with their peers and join me for a little extra work to make sure that each student is meeting their academic goals. 

We are off to a great start already and hope to see lots of success as the school year continues.

Mrs. Nass

Notes from the  Music Room       

Kindergarten:  These students are getting to know the music room and each other.  We began exploring how a steady beat can be used and found in lots of places other than just music, like in clocks, our hearts, a ball bouncing, our hands, or our feet.  We are learning musical games that involve a steady beat and also help us learn names!  We are having fun with bean bags and the alphabet and good manners, and will begin exploring sounds and instruments and our own voices.

1st-2nd Graders: Students in grades 1 and 2 are reviewing the steady beat and playing games using bean bags and cups, singing songs, marching, and playing instruments to the steady beat.  We will be heading into some very fun activities with beat, rhythm, and melody in the month of October.

3rd-4th Grade:  These grades are reviewing steady beat and quarter notes, but also reviewing Treble Clef Staff pitch reading skills.  They will be expanding their knowledge of these skills on ukuleles and Orff instruments as we head into October.  They have been playing rhythm games with drum sticks that also help us review each other’s names, playing Lines and Spaces Bingo, which also introduces them to the Bass Clef.

5th Grade: These students now have music class 3 times a week.  The third day is to explore and learn about their music choices they have to choose from when they fill out their schedules for 6th grade in January.  Parker H.S. Band, Choir, and Orchestra students came and introduced us to the instruments and choir so they have a better idea of what they sound  and look like.  The students are reviewing Treble Clef Staff reading and rhythms and will work on Recorders to enforce these skills and demonstrate how a woodwind instrument is played.

A Few Lines from Washington’s Art Studio

Dear Families,

I am very excited to welcome back all the Washington artists who have been busy creating in the art studio! We kicked off the year with students creating an art piece of what summer means to them. Students shared their artworks with a partner by guessing each other’s ideas and telling what they liked about the art piece.

Each class is learning about the artist, Keith Haring, and doing a Keith Haring inspired project. We are having fun with the movement of the action figures, the bold lines, bright colors, and  playfulness of our artworks. Students are using the Elements of Art: line, shape, color, form, and space. They are also using the Principles of Design: repetition, proportion, and movement.

This year students will be investigating artmaking while developing creativity and innovation through: drawing, painting, printmaking, using mixed media, collage, creating sculptures, weaving, sewing, learning about past and present artists, learning about art history, and using clay.

Why Art? Art is everywhere! Art helps you form connections in Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Math. Art enhances and enriches all learning experiences. Create is the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Art teaches problem solving skills. It helps us learn about history and many cultures. Art helps us express ourselves. It is a great outlet for stress. 

Art develops 21st Century Skills including: curiosity, imagination, creativity, flexible thinking, independence, responsibility, problem solving, evaluative skills, experimentation, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. These core skills, developed through art, help empower students to meet the challenges of the global marketplace.

I am committed to helping each student feel successful and welcomed. Your support is incredibly valuable as students progress through the year. If ever I can do more to support your child, please let me know.

I cherish the opportunity in helping your child cultivate his/her creative, imaginative abilities and art skills.

Artfully Yours,

Lynn Hopfauf lynn.hopfauf@janesville.k12.wi.us 608-743-7243

PE News  

Hello Washington Friends and Families,

We are off to a great start in the gym this year already, and are back to having a traveling PE teacher again. Therefore, two of the 5th grade classes will be taught by Mr. Rand instead of Mr. Hutson. At the beginning of the year we always like to start off practicing skills that students will be applying throughout the year. Some of these skills include cooperation to help students learn how to work together, throwing which is a skill that is applied in multiple activities, and kicking skills such as passing and dribbling. We look forward to learning many more skills and getting better at the ones we already know.

If you have any questions or need to contact us for any reason:

Mr. Hutson zachary.hutson@janesville.k12.wi.us  608-743-7248

Mr. Rand   gannon.rand@janesville.k12.wi.us

Schoolwide Title I Program Notice

As a school with a low-income rate of 59.6%, Washington School receives federal Title I funds to support the learning of all students through a Schoolwide Title I Program.  Schoolwide programs serve all children in a school. All staff, resources, and classes are part of the overall schoolwide program. The purpose is to ensure all students, including those most in need, are positioned to  meet the state's challenging academic standards.  Schoolwide Title I schools annually complete a needs assessment to identify the school’s strengths and areas for improvement in student achievement, develop strategies and action steps  to address how the goals identified will be achieved,  and evaluate and update the plan as needed.   

Schoolwide Title I schools are required to engage parents and families in the Title I planning and evaluation process as well as provide opportunities for parents and families to engage in supporting their child’s education.  Parents of children enrolled in Title I schools have the right to

• Timely information about services provided;
• Access to a description of the curriculum, the forms of assessment used to measure student progress, and the achievement levels of challenging state standards;
• Opportunities or meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children upon their request; 
• Response to their suggestions in a timely manner.

Copies of the Schoolwide Title I Plan and the Title I Parent and Family Engagement Policy are available upon request. Please contact the school secretary at (phone number) or (email) to request a copy.

Child Find Notice

Upon request, the School District of Janesville is required to evaluate a child for eligibility for special education services.  A request for evaluation is known as a referral.  When the district receives a referral, the district will appoint an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to determine if the child has a disability, and if the child needs special education services. The district locates, identifies, and evaluates all children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private (including religious) schools, elementary schools and secondary schools located in the school district.

A student with a medically diagnosed disability is not automatically eligible for special education.  An outside medical diagnosis is insufficient of special education eligibility.  A student must be found eligible as a “child with a disability” under state and federal special education law.  A student with a disability is one who requires specially designed instruction as a result of meeting the criteria for at least one of the identified disability categories under state and federal special education law.  A student cannot start receiving special education services without a full and individual comprehensive special education evaluation completed by the student’s district.  Outside evaluations and other information shared by the parent, such as medical diagnoses, are considered during the evaluation and may provide supporting or new information about the student’s academic and functional skills important for determining the nature and extent of the student’s disability and education needs.  34 CFR §§ 300.8 and 300.301. Wis. Stat. § 115.76(5).

A physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker, or administrator of a social agency who reasonably believes a child brought to him or her for services is a child with a disability has a legal duty to refer the child, including a homeless child, to the school district in which the child resides.  Before referring the child, the person making the referral must inform the child's parent that the referral will be made.

Others, including parents, who reasonably believe a child is a child with a disability may also refer the child, including a homeless child, to the school district in which the child resides.

Referrals must be in writing and include the reason why the person believes the child is a child with a disability.  A referral may be made by contacting Mrs. Kimberli Peerenboom, Director of Pupil Services, School District of Janesville, at 608-743-5061, or by writing her at 527 S. Franklin Street, Janesville, WI, 53548.

School District of Janesville
CONFIDENTIALITY OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH CHILD FIND ACTIVITIES

The School District of Janesville is required to locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities, including children with disabilities attending private schools in the school district, and homeless children.  The process of locating, identifying, and evaluating children with disabilities is known as child find.  This agency conducts the following child find activities each year in the form of Early Childhood and Speech and Language Developmental Screenings. This notice informs parents of the records the school district will develop and maintain as part of its child find activities.  This notice also informs parents of their rights regarding any records developed.

The school district gathers personally identifiable information on any child who participates in child find activities.  Parents, teachers, and other professionals provide information to the school related to the child’s academic performance, behavior, and health.  This information is used to determine whether the child needs special education services.  Personally identifiable information directly related to a child and maintained by the school is a pupil record. Pupil records include records maintained in any way including, but not limited to, computer storage media, video and audiotape, film, microfilm, and microfiche. Records maintained for personal use by a teacher and not available to others and records available only to persons involved in the psychological treatment of a child are not pupil records.

 The school district maintains several classes of pupil records.

• "Progress records" include grades, courses the child has taken, the child's attendance record, immunization records, required lead screening records, and records of school extra-curricular activities. Progress records must be maintained for at least five years after the child ceases to be enrolled. 
• "Behavioral records" include such records as psychological tests, personality evaluations, records of conversations, written statements relating specifically to the pupil's behavior, tests relating specifically to achievement or measurement of ability, physical health records other than immunization and lead screening records, law enforcement officers' records, and other pupil records that are not "progress records." Law enforcement officers' records are maintained separately from other pupil records. Behavioral records may be maintained for no longer than one year after the child graduates or otherwise ceases to be enrolled, unless the parent specifies in writing that the records may be maintained for a longer period of time. The school district informs parents when pupil records are no longer needed to provide special education. At the request of the child's parents, the school district destroys the information that is no longer needed. 
• "Directory data" includes the student's name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, photographs, degrees and awards received, and the name of the school most recently previously attended by the student. 
• "Pupil physical health records" include basic health information about a pupil, including the pupil's immunization records, an emergency medical card, a log of first aid and medicine administered to the pupil, an athletic permit card, a record concerning the pupil's ability to participate in an education program, any required lead screening records, the results of any routine screening test, such as for hearing, vision or scoliosis, and any follow-up to the test, and any other basic health information, as determined by the state superintendent. Any pupil record relating to a pupil's physical health that is not a pupil physical health record is treated as a patient health care record under sections 146.81 to 146.84, Wisconsin Statutes. Any pupil record concerning HIV testing is treated as provided under section 252.15, Wisconsin Statutes.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and section 118.125, Wisconsin Statutes, afford parents and students over 18 years of age ("eligible students") the following rights with respect to education records: 

• The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of receipt of the request. Parents or eligible students should submit to the school principal [or appropriate school official] a written request that identifies the records(s) they wish to inspect. The principal will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. The school district will comply with the request without unnecessary delay and before any meeting about an individualized education program, or any due process hearing, and in no case more than 45 days after the request has been made. If any record includes information on more than one child, the parents of those children have the right to inspect and review only the information about their child or to be informed of that specific information. Upon request, the school district will give a parent or eligible student a copy of the progress records and a copy of the behavioral records. Upon request, the school district will give the parent or eligible student a list of the types and locations of education records collected, maintained, or used by the district for special education. The school district will respond to reasonable requests for explanations and interpretations of the records. A representative of the parent may inspect and review the records. 
• The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the parent or eligible student believes is inaccurate or misleading. Parents of eligible students may ask the School District to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate or misleading. They should write to the school principal, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the district decides not to amend the record, the district will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and the right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing. 
• The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information in the student's education records, except to the extent that federal and state law authorize disclosure without consent. The exceptions are stated in 34 CFR 99.31, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act regulations; Sec. 9528, PL107-110, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and section 118.125(2)(a) to (m) and sub. (2m), Wisconsin Statutes. One exception that permits disclosure without consent is disclosures to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the district as an administrator, supervisor, instructor, or support staff member (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel); a person serving on the school board; a person or company with whom the district has contracted to perform a special task (such as an attorney, auditor, medical consultant, or therapist); or a parent or student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. Upon request, the district discloses education records without consent to officials of another school district in which a student seeks or intends to enroll. Also the district discloses "directory data" without consent, unless the parent notifies the district that it may not be released without prior parental consent. 
• The right to file a complaint with the U. S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the District to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20202-4605.