May Newsletter

• Join the Campfire Cake Walk in the music room!
• Get creative in the craft cabin!
• Dine in the "mess hall"
• Read with a parent or friend in the reading tents with your new flashlight!
• Play CAMPING B-I-N-G-O

Please RSVP by May 6 so that we know how many campers to expect! This event is for Adult and PreK - 5 Wilson students.

Students are required to remain with their parent/guardian as all times.

• May 7th - Fastbridge Testing
• May 8th-10th - Let's Smile Dental Clinic
• May 10th - Talent Show permission slips due
• May 15th - All City Track Meet @ 4:30 at OHS
• Camping Under the Stars @ 5:30 at Wilson
• No School May 27th - Memorial Day/District Close
• May 31st - Talent/Awards Show
• June 1st (Saturday) - PTO Carnival
• June 4th - 5th Grade Graduation @ 8:30
• June 5th - Last Day of School

Healthy Husky Challenge Results:

Thank you for your help in collecting donations in support of our annual Healthy Husky Challenge. We held our event on April 3rd during PE and collected over $5,000 which means that roughly $2,500 dollars will be donated to Community Pathways in Owatonna and the rest will go toward the purchase of new equipment for our PE program. A special congratulations to the following students that were our top donation collectors!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TOP HEALTHY HUSKY CHAMPS!

Kindergarten - Bernie & Thorby Lovstad $110

1st Grade - Miles Sweet $200

2nd Grade - Colton Rothstein, Haven Fleming & Izzy Rivers $100

3rd Grade - Marlen Sanjuanero $105

4th Grade - Grayson Sweet $200

5th Grade - Athena Quast $185

Healthy Husky Challenge Parade of Champions:

If your student raised $100 or more you are invited to participate in the Parade of Champions on May 15th at the OHS Track. The parade of Champions will kick off the All-City Track Meet! Be sure to wear your new shirt!

All-City Track Meet:

If your student finished 1st or 2nd in their event, they qualified for the All-City Track Meet. The All-City Track Meet will be held on May 15th at Owatonna High School Track starting at 4:30. An invitation and schedule went home with students after our Wilson Track Meet. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Thorson or Mr. Williams at 507-444-8437.

• ALL Field Events including Tug of War: 4:30 start time
• Hurdles: 5:30
• 50m Dash: 5:45
• 100m Dash: 6:00
• 400m Dash: 6:15
• Relays: 6:35-7:30
• Mile Run: 7:30

Kids Fun Run Series

The last Fun Run of the school year is on May 15th! There will be a 1 mile race for all 3rd-5th graders at the end of the All-City Track Meet at the OHS Track. Race Time is at 7:30pm.

The Regional Science Fair was held on Saturday, April 27th. Great job to our students who represented Wilson Elementary and Owatonna Public Schools!

We would like to extend a HUGE shout out to Mr. Bissen for organizing Wilson's Science Fair!! Mr. Bissen was selected as this year's Teacher/Coordinator of the Year! A lot of work goes into the planning this event and helping students prepare for both the Wilson Science Fair and the Regional Science Fair. Thank you, Mr. Bissen!

A BIG thank you to Wilson PTO for helping cover the student entry fees for those who participated in the Regional Science Fair!! We appreciate all you do to support our Wilson students!

Illness

One of the goals of health services is to assure a healthy environment. Many students and families are frequently concerned about when students should stay home or attend school. The following information is intended to help with this decision.

• If student has a fever of 100 degrees or more, the student should stay home for 24 hours after the temperature returns to normal (without fever reducing medicine).
• If the student has vomited or had diarrhea, the student should stay home until 24 hours after the last episode.
• If student has any rash that may be disease-related or the cause is unknown, check with the family physician before sending the student to school.
• If student is ill at home, please call the school attendance line daily to report the reason for the absence. It is helpful to report specific symptoms and/or diagnoses.

Communicable Disease

In order to track communicable conditions within the schools, it is helpful if parents notify the school health office when a student has a communicable condition (i.e. chickenpox, head lice, strep throat). It is recommended to regularly check your student's hair for head lice.

For more information, please use the following link: Health Services

There is no school on the following weekday dates:

• May 27th - Memorial Day/District Closed

Wilson PTO is always looking for more participants to be a part of the organization. This can include attending monthly meetings, planning events, or volunteering at events. Many hands make light work! If you're interested in learning more, please plan to attend one of the meetings below. Meetings are held at 5:00 in the Wilson Staff Lounge.

Meeting dates:

MAY 28

JUNE 11

Upcoming Events

• June 1 - Family Carnival Night
  

At Wilson Elementary the adults and students work together to use common language around skills that are expected. Classroom teachers use homeroom lessons to talk about what these skills will look like, sound like, and feel like in our school setting. The skills and the language build consistency for our students. Predictability and consistency are important to the success our students have academically, socially, and emotionally.

The bus can be a challenging place for students to regulate their bodies and demonstrate the skills that we talk about and practice. It's important to remember and remind your children of the skills that are expected while riding the bus. When students struggle to demonstrate the appriopriate skills it can result in bus privileges being removed for a period of time.

Wilson Elementary has 3 outstanding Behavior Intervention educators. During a school day they play a critical role in supporting students in moments of struggle. Our Behavior Interventionists provide calm interactions and work with students on new skills that allow a student to adjust their perceptions, feelings, and behaviors. Wilson's Behavior Interventionists support the development of our 6 primary skills: Tone/Volume, Physical Boundaries, Interactions, Area of Designation, Accepts Directions, Self Regulation.

If a student is in need of a behavior intervenionist, this is NOT a situation where a student is "in trouble". Wilson Elementary's Behavior Interventionists are employees of the school district. They are highly effective and trained in responding to the needs of students in their moments of struggle.

McKinney-Vento Support for Families In Transition

The Mckinney-Vento act supports families and youth that lack a fixed, regular, and appropriate nighttime residence. Additional support is available from the Owatonna Public Schools for these families.

Qualifying families include those that are:

• Experiencing a loss of housing

• Couch hopping or temporarily staying with other people due to your financial circumstances

• Staying in motels, campgrounds, or vehicles due to a loss of housing

• Experiencing homelessness or living in a shelter

• Migrant and staying here temporarily

• As well as unaccompanied youth that are living without a parent or guardian

If any of these situations are true for your family, you may qualify as a Family in Transition (FIT) under the Mckinney-Vento act and Owatonna Public Schools is here to support you.

If your family qualifies for Mckinney-Vento support, you may be eligible for benefits such as, the right for your child to continue to attend their school of origin when you move boundaries, busing to and from your current residence, free breakfast and lunch, free preschool for age eligible children. Ms. Alisha, Wilson’s school social worker, is able to provide additional information for community-based supports that may benefit your family.

Owatonna Public Schools is committed to providing high quality education to all students, regardless of housing status. Please be assured that information on housing status is confidential. If you feel that you may qualify as a Family in Transition, you can receive support by reaching out to Ms. Alisha via email or phone. Her contact information is listed below.

Alisha Field

School Social Worker

Wilson Elementary School

afield@isd761.org

507-444-8415

Here in Owatonna, our department's goals are to:

• Prepare high quality, nutritious school meals that encourage students to create lifelong healthy eating habits.
• Maintain high food safety standards.
• Provide exemplary customer service to all in a warm and welcoming environment.
• Build and nurture relationships with students, staff, parents, and the community.
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As part of these goals, we work to ensure that we are aware of the various cultures in our community and that do our best to adjust our menus within reason to offer suitable options for our students. For example, we are aware that many Muslim families avoid pork, as well as our Catholic families who avoid meat during Lent. This is why all items containing pork have a sign featuring a pig and the words "Pork" in front of the item, and we always have a non-pork entrée option for students to choose from. Similarly during Lent, we offer at least 1 meatless option on Fridays. Another example we are continuing to expand on is our vegetarian options as we know vegetarianism and an overall decrease in meat consumption is continuing to grow in popularity among young people.

In summary, Nutrition Services creates our menus to be inclusive; not exclusive.

School Menus: CLICK HERE