STEM Elementary Newsletter

November 8, 2024

Mark Your Calendars!

November 12: Culvers Dine to Donate

November 22: Commitment letters for the 25-26 School Year Due (For current STEM students- letters were sent via email on 11/1)

November 27-29: NO SCHOOL

December 2: Applications for 25-26 open (Incoming Kindergarteners and NEW students only)

December 23-January 1: WINTER BREAK NO SCHOOL (School resumes January 2nd)

Click here for the 2024-25 School District of Waukesha Calendar

Did You Know?

Throughout this school year, you may have noticed a few changes when talking with your child about reading & writing. Recent legislation at the state level, called Wisconsin Act 20, calls for all schools to take a more structured approach to literacy instruction. Structured literacy means that the teaching incorporates listening, speaking, reading and writing. All of these important skills are emphasized throughout our new district literacy curriculum, Benchmark Advance. Act 20 also emphasizes the importance of early literacy screening and interventions to ensure all students are on track with their reading skills.

What’s Different with Benchmark Advance? Compared with our previous instructional approach and curriculum, Benchmark Advance provides a more structured framework with greater levels of explicit teacher modeling. Readers learn how spoken sounds connect to written words, the structure of a sentence, meaningful parts of words, relationships among words, and the organization of spoken and written words. Each three-week unit is centered around a knowledge building topic, while also introducing essential reading skills. Benchmark Advance emphasizes text-based learning with aligned texts, providing appropriate reading challenges for each student while encouraging critical thinking, discussion, & knowledge building.

This alignment has already strengthened our approach to reading, as we can confidently address the requirements of Act 20 with our new curriculum. Families can expect to see more frequent literacy updates and possibly additional reading support services as we work to meet these new benchmarks.

Here are some great questions to ask your student:

What new story or topic have you been reading about this unit? Can you tell me something interesting you learned from it?
What new letter sounds or spelling patterns did you practice this week? Can you show me some words you learned?
Did you talk about any new words or vocabulary in class? Can you tell me what they mean and how to use them?

News & Updates

Health Room Thank You & Needs

A huge thank you to all of the families that have donated so far - I am so grateful for our amazing families!!

Mrs. Williams is in need of a few items to help the Health Room run smoothly. If your family can contribute in any way, Mrs. Williams and all of our students would be so greatly appreciative! "Nearly new" hand me downs are most welcome also!

Leggings (girl sizes 6-12)
Sweatpants / Joggers (boy sizes 8-10)
Girl’s underwear (sizes 6-12)
Boy’s underwear (sizes 8-16)

Gift Cards (Mrs. Williams can use gift cards to make these purchases for our Health Room - those Target Clearance racks are GREAT!
Pretzels (individual OR large container)
Tissues

Lost and Found 11.8

Remember to label those items as the weather turns colder! Latest items pictured below.

Drop Off Time Reminders

Just a friendly reminder that students coming for breakfast cannot enter the building until 7:30 am and other students at 7:40 am. There is not supervision out front in the morning. Students arriving prior to 7:40 who are not having breakfast need to wait outside or on the far side of the entry area to avoid blocking the entry doors. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe in the morning!

Kindergarten Project

Kindergarten is doing a school wide pop tab fundraiser for our Social Studies inquiry project to raise money for the Ronald Mcdonald House. The class with the most pop tabs will win cookies with Kindergarten!

Art to Remember is back!

Order forms are on their way and will be arriving soon. If you'd like to jump right in, you can access a search of our school's ATR page here. Orders will be due November 18, and arrive in mid-December.

There was a slight tech malfunction at the company when names were uploaded, so if you find that your student's name is spelled incorrectly, please let me know and I will do my best to fix it.

Christmas Clearing Council

If your family would like to apply for 2024 Christmas assistance, click here for information and applications. Deadline to apply is November 15, 2024 at 11:59 pm.

If you would like to support a family or donate, click here to visit the Christmas Clearing Council website and click "How to Help" to learn more.

STEM Family Volunteers & Social Coordinators

MakerSpace Request

Our MakerSpace could use donations of paint. Donations can be dropped off in the front lobby.

STEMShare

We are pleased to offer our STEMShare program to families who need it. STEMShare provides healthy, kid-friendly foods to participating students at the end of each school week. If your family would benefit from a supplemental food bag each Friday, please click here and complete the request form (this information is kept strictly confidential).

📌 Don’t Miss Out on our Two Facebook communities!

Check out the Waukesha STEM Academy page for the latest events, updates, and fun photos from all grade levels. Stay connected and engaged with the Waukesha STEM Elementary School Families page, your go-to for social connections, and community activities.