September 2- Labor Day, No School

September 9- Fall Picture Day

September 16- Late Start (Arrival at 11:00, Doors open at 10:45)

September 24- Rock Your School Day!

September 25-26- 5th Grade Camp

September 27- PD Day, No School

Dear Journey Elementary Family,

Throughout the duration of the academic year, the Wentzville School District partners with community agencies that specialize in providing students, families, and educators with preventative education. Agency presenters are credentialed, coordinated through the District, and under the supervision of building administrators. Presentation topics are targeted toward specific grade levels. All students will participate in each program unless you choose to opt your child out of the lesson(s). If you are interested in opting your student(s) out of the presentation(s), please click the appropriate link(s) below.

Kindergarten Opt-Out Form

First Grade Opt-Out Form

Second Grade Opt-Out Form

Third Grade Opt-Out Form

Fourth Grade Opt-Out Form

Fifth Grade Opt-Out Form

If you have additional questions, please reach out directly to your student’s guidance counselor.

Thank you,

Emily Dittmer, Principal

Elizabeth Herbert, Assistant Principal

Pam Lueders, K-2 Counselor pamelalueders@wsdr4.org

Abby Pedano, 3-5 Counselor abigailpedano@wsdr4.org

Erika Kennedy, Educational Support Counselor

• The Wentzville School District has transitioned to a new student information system called “Focus” this school year. Please check out this link to update your contact/emergency information in Focus, register kindergarteners/new students, and to access Focus tutorials. Eventually, families will be able to use Focus for student attendance, grades, report cards, cafeteria balances, and required forms. Consider adding the Wentzville Schools Focus app and Wentzville School District app to your phone!

Journey parents and families, please take some time to complete this important parent survey. The survey will close Sept. 30, 2024. This survey will be given to our families, students, and staff this month, and again in April. This link is unique to our building, so if you have kids in multiple schools, please check their newsletter to answer questions for that building. Learn more about this survey and its purpose here.

Five school districts in St. Charles County are collaborating with Pedal the Cause to fight cancer. Pedal the Cause is offering a $10 registration discount for students who attend one of the St. Charles County schools. Learn more.

This fall, teachers and reading interventionists will be conducting reading assessments with all students. These assessments help us plan lessons and identify students who might benefit from extra reading support. In addition, our building reading specialists will work with small groups of students. These flexible groupings are not the same as Reading Intervention, families will be contacted directly by their child's teacher if he/she qualifies for Reading Intervention. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your child's classroom teacher.

Please see the attachemnt below for information about this years Turkey Trot!

If your child will need to take prescription or non-prescription medication during the school day, please visit Nurse Paula on Meet the Teacher Night. Here is a link to the forms that must be filled out annually in order for us to administer medication at school. If you have any questions regarding medication or health services, our nurse’s email is paulamorrisey@wsdr4.org

Visitors:

• Eat lunch with your child
• Attend a class party
• Attend assemblies
• Be a guest speaker

How can you participate as a visitor?

Visitors can show up on the day of the event/activity/lunch and check in to our buildings using Raptor, a visitor management system designed to assist with building security. Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our building at all times.

• When you arrive in a WSD building as a visitor, you will be asked to scan your ID and complete the management system’s check-in process.
• Raptor will screen the information against sex offender databases and locally customized lists of banned or potentially threatening individuals, instantly alert school officials to a threatening presence, and maintain a searchable log of all visitors.
• Once approved, you will get a customized visitor badge to wear while in the building.

Thank you for your support of our enhanced school safety protocols!

Volunteers:

• Work with students individually or in small groups under the supervision of the teacher or staff member
• Work inside the school, assisting staff with projects (PTA/PTO Officers, etc.)
• Work/organize field day activities
• Be a room parent, organize class parties
• Attend field trips - work with students individually or in small groups under the supervision of the teacher or staff member

How can you participate as a volunteer?

• Volunteers must register with the Family Care Safety Registry (FCSR). It provides a more extensive background check than our Raptor system, and is needed for volunteers who spend more individual time with students than our visitors.
• One-time, lifetime fee of $15.25. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to cover this one-time, lifetime fee. The online registration process can be found at FCSR-BSEES - MO.gov. (NOTE: This registration process CANNOT be completed on a mobile browser/device.)
• Once FCSR online registration is complete, you must submit a paper WSD Volunteer Registration Form A and B to the school office. When you arrive in a WSD building to turn in your forms, you will be asked to scan your ID and complete the Raptor visitor management system’s process as part of your volunteer registration. If you send your forms in to school with your child, or send them to the school office via email, please include a copy of your valid personal ID.
• Your approved volunteer status is accessible district-wide; you only need to turn in your forms to one WSD school.
  
• A new WSD Volunteer Registration form will be required each school year to run a current background screening if you would like to participate in volunteer opportunities.

Please note, the wait time for the FCSR Registration to be processed and for the District to be notified can be up to four weeks. We recommend completing this process as early as possible.

For complete information on volunteering in WSD schools, please visit the District website.

The JES Treble Makers Club starts this month! Our Treble Makers will be starting Tuesday, September 3 at 7:45-8:45. If you received the email about being a member in the club, please remember to order the club T-Shirt so it's ready for our first performance, and log into their google classroom for access to music. Club practices will be every Tuesday morning that we have school unless announced otherwise. I look forward to creating beautiful and fun music with you all!

Summer Reading BINGO Wrap Up

Thank you so much for encouraging your child to read this summer! We had over 60 students participate in our summer reading BINGO and that does not include the numbers that are still going to come in from the public library! Thank you so much for keeping our students from succumbing to the summer slide! You all are the best!

Back to School Book Fair

We will be having our first book of the year September 9-13! During this week your student will have the opportunity to shop the book fair during their library time. Here is a schedule for that week to better help you know when your child will attend.

Students can pay for their purchases in either cash or through an E-Wallet. If you do not know how to setup an E-Wallet here are the steps:

1. Visit Journey’s Book Fair homepage here.

2. Create a new eWallet with your existing Scholastic account, or create a new account.

3. Select “parent creating an E-wallet for a student.

4. Fill in the information needed

5. Add funds

Share the Fair

What makes the Fair one of the best days of the year for kids? For starters, it offers the rare (and for younger kids, the very first!) chance to shop for themselves, whether it’s discovering a new genre or picking up the latest book in their favorite series. The Fair is also a place where inspiring connections are made—with characters, fellow fans, and a lifelong love of reading.

Journey is an elementary school with 600 students. While the average cost of a book at the Fair is $8, many of our school families lack the financial means for even one purchase. Your donation will ensure every student can experience our special brand of #bookjoy with their classmates and leave the Fair with something they’ll love!

There are three ways for shoppers to contribute to Share the Fair:

• Grown-ups can contribute to Share the Fair when they add funds to their child’s Book Fair eWallet.

• Anyone at the Fair can add money at the register.

• When checking out, shoppers can round up their purchases to the nearest dollar or make a separate contribution to Share the Fair.

Goodies with Grands Breakfast

We will also have a breakfast to celebrate the “grands” in your life on the first morning of the fair! Come on Monday September 9 from 7:45 am- 8:45 am for breakfast, books, and a whole lot of fun! If you would like to attend the breakfast please fill out this Google Form and send in your money by Thursday September 5.

Volunteers Needed for the Book Fair

We are looking for volunteers for our book fair. If you are interested in helping we need help especially with our kindergarten- third grade students. If you are interested please email me (christineblecher@wsdr4.org) what day and slot you would like to help! See the above schedule for more information.

Emily Dittmer-Principal

emilydittmer@wsdr4.org

Liz Herbert-Assistant Principal

elizabethherbert@wsdr4.org

Journey Elementary

2000 Interstate Drive

Wentzville, MO 63385

636-445-5190