Jefferson Elementary

Upcoming Dates:

February 4 - PTO Meeting Via Zoom 6:30pm

February 14 - Valentine's Day - Classroom Festivities Throughout the Day!

February 17 - No School! Presidents Day

February 26 - 11:30am Half Day Dismissal

March 7 - Last Day of 3rd Quarter

March 10 - 14 - Spring Break - No School

April 18 - 21 - Good Friday and Easter Monday - No School

May 12 - 16 - Spring Book Fair!

May 23 - Last Day of School! Quarter 4 Ends today!

Memorial Day - May 26th

PLC Wednesday Dismissal will continue with K-2 dismissing at 2:05 and PreK following their PM dismissal schedule of 2:15pm. This will take place every Wednesday unless it is a District Half Day and we will dismiss at 11:30am on those occasions.

Thank you for joining us for our Family Fun Fair. The kids has about as much fun in 2 hours as they possibly could have on a Friday Night! We appreciate you bringing your families to our event! As always, if you have ideas or wish to join our PTO Crew, please reach out! We are happy to have more parents involved!

The PTO meets in person on a monthly basis, but provides an opportunity via zoom to join as well. Please consider joining our group. We have a great group of parents who have some interest in building bak an awesome PTO as an organization.

We have a family event coming up on February 24th and will be held at CMS.

Zoom Link

The PTO has started a new Facebook group. You can join using the following link.

Jefferson/Lincoln PTO

Meeting Dates:

• January 7, 2025

• February 4, 2025

• March 4, 2025

• April 1, 2025

• May 6, 2025

Historically, the PTO has fundraised for our schools to assist with the following:

• purchase playground equipment
• contribute to the cost of field trips
• provide classroom and school grants
• fund a Teacher Appreciation luncheon at each building
• host family events, such as Movie Night and the Fun Fair
• host an End-of-Year Party for the Lincoln Students
• assist with Field Day for Jefferson Students
• assist with the Book Fair
• and much more

After having our first E-Learning Day, we have worked through any little "kinks" that we experienced to make any future E-Learning Days even more smooth. We appreciated our families and our students who took the learning day as an opportunity to participate with their class virtually and also to work independently on core curriculum. If you had any other insight or had any feedback to provide, please make sure that you have communicated this as it is important to hear from all members of the community.

If any E-Learning Days are called for in the future, students will have a packet in the backs of their take home folders that will stay in place until needed. Teachers will send home iPads prior to inclement weather for students to be prepared as well. We appreciate you keeping these items in student book bags unless needed. Otherwise, they will simply come back to school with students, unused or not completed. Thank you!

Mrs. Gould, our PE Teacher, is encouraging our students to get started on Finn's Mission. If you do this with your child, you can help your child earn their very own Heart Hero Cape!

We would like to take a moment to pause and recognize Mrs. Kuebel for all she does for our students and staff here at Jefferson Elementary School. We are so lucky to have such an outstanding School Counselor. She provides whole group classroom lessons, ensures that students understand our school expectations, provides connections to outside resources and spends time in small groups or even individually with kiddos. Please join us in recognizing her this week during National School Counselor's Week!

Here is a quick snapshot into our student growth this semester! Thank you for partnering with our teachers to help our students be the best learners they can be! Our assessments are measured with District Benchmarks and tracked quarterly with a larger focus on the semesters.

Kindergarten Data:

Early Literacy - Started at 51% of students at or above grade level. NOW - December Data - 86% of our Kindergarten students are at or above grade level!

IReady Math - Started at 10% of our students at or above grade level. NOW - December Data - 56% of our Kindergarten students are at or above grade level!

1st Grade Data:

Early Literacy - Started at 51% of students at or above grade level. NOW - December Data - 67% of our 1st graders are at or above grade level!

IReady Math - Started at 52% of students at or above grade level. NOW - December Data - 68% of our 1st graders are at or above grade level!

2nd Grade Data:

Reading - Started at 49% of students at or above grade level. NOW. - December Data - 61% of our 2nd graders are at or above grade level!

IReady Math - Started at 47% of students at or above grade level. NOW - December Data - 62% of our 2nd graders are at or above grade level!

Please give your child a big high five for doing such hard work! We will update the progress as we continue towards our end of the year goals! Thank you for your help in the learning process! It makes such a big difference!

Mrs. Kuebel, our School Counselor, wants parents to know that she will be teaching 4 weeks of mini-lessons to support the continued education revolving around bully prevention. She will start these lessons in homeroom classrooms for students in Kindergarten - 2nd Grade. She will work with students to identify how to problem solve when someone is unkind or when they could stop a bully. We remind students that bully behavior is repeated behavior that happens to the same person over and over again and how to prevent that from happening. We do not want bullies at Jefferson School!

Students will be outdoors when temperatures are at or above 15 degrees (real feel). In order for kids to play in the snow, they must have both snow pants and boots. If your child has one without the other, they will not be able to play in the snow. If you are struggling to obtain these items, please let the Office know, as we have some available items that are free for the taking! Additionally, if you have any old or outgrown boots/snow pants, please feel free to donate them to the school! We always have friends in need!

Students increased their attendance goals to 93% on average for the last few weeks and we are doing very well! With cold and flu season around the corner, we continue to remind students and families that unless students have a fever, are vomiting, or experiencing diarrhea, we truly want them at school. We practice good hand washing and use sanitizer frequently at school to assist in keeping the germs away.

Help us to continue to support attendance which goes hand in hand with academic success, even at the earliest ages!

Schedule (Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri.)

• 7:50 School Doors Open - Breakfast line first to get kids to their lockers and then to the gym for breakfast quickly. Then non-breakfast eaters are allowed entrance to wait by their lockers.

• 8:05 Classroom Doors Open/End of Breakfast Line Bell

• 8:15 Tardy Bell Rings/Breakfast is Over

• 2:55 Dismissal

Schedule (Wed.)

• 7:50 School Doors Open - Breakfast line first to get kids to their lockers and then to the gym for breakfast quickly. Then non-breakfast eaters are allowed entrance to wait by their lockers.
  

• 8:05 Classroom Doors Open/End of Breakfast Line Bell

• 8:15 Tardy Bell Rings/Breakfast is Over

• 2:05 Dismissal (Kindergarten may dismiss at 2pm to avoid congestion)
  

Please do not drop off your child earlier than 7:40 as there is no supervision available until this time. The YMCA offers a before-school program for those in need. They have a sliding fee scale and will transport your child from the YMCA to any of the four elementary schools.

Students are outside as long as it is not raining and temps are at or above 15 degrees.

Is your family struggling and in need of additional support? Nexus is a support program offered by the Regional Office of Education #47 for participating school districts in Lee, Ogle, and Whiteside Counties, including Sterling Public Schools. Nexus supports the whole child/children by supporting the whole family. Through personal, respectful, and confidential interactions with a trained Family Support Staff, families create goals geared towards social-emotional needs, school readiness, and overall family well-being. The Family Support Staff connects and helps families navigate local community resources, thus creating a stronger community.

Please reach out to any office staff member to be referred to the Nexus program.

Being a Community School has so many benefits. One of these benefits is being surrounded by a friendly neighborhood. Jefferson is fortunate to have neighbors who are understanding of the traffic flow, the noises from playing children, and parents and children walking to and from the school. As you are dropping off students, waiting to pick up students, parking along the side streets, or walking the sidewalks, please remember to respect our neighbors and their personal property. Do not to block driveways, park in peoples' yards, or disrupt their personal property. Kindly pick up any trash or items that belong to you. We want to continue to have good relationships with our neighbors, so please help by doing your part.

Heather Wittenauer, Principal

Email: hwittenauer@sps5.org
Website: http://www.sterlingpublicschools.org
Location: 806 East Le Fevre Road, Sterling, IL, USA
Phone: 815-625-6402