January Newsletter
Week of Tuesday, January 2nd - Friday, January 5th, 2024
Welcome back and happy 2025!
The start of a new year is the perfect moment to reflect on the journey ahead, set or reset goals, and embrace new opportunities for growth. It offers a fresh chance for all of us to focus on both
academic and social aspirations, creating a supportive community built on communication and collaboration.
As we look toward the remainder of the school year, our commitment to academic excellence
and community engagement remains steadfast. The partnership between parents, students, and
staff plays a critical role in student achievement and contributes to the positive reputation of our
schools and communities.
At our fall conferences, we all reaffirmed our commitment to this partnership. Teachers and staff
are dedicated to reaching every student, offering challenges within a safe and encouraging
environment. Students are expected to embrace values of respect, kindness, and responsibility;
creating a community that is open-minded and eager to learn in diverse ways. Parents and
guardians play an essential role by staying informed about their children's lives, both in and out
of school, and holding them accountable for their actions, both positive and negative.
The broader community also has an important responsibility to support our schools and celebrate
the positive initiatives happening within them. Together, we owe it to one another to bring our
best efforts and strive for excellence every day.
A brief reflection of December highlights before we jump into January. Decemberâs events
included Humphreyâs great âoutta this worldâ experience thanks to the Bell Museumâs
Exploradome and classroom lessons. We improved our wheeling skills with the roller-skating
unit at Humphrey as well, with one final skate day on our first day back from winter break.Winsted students also had an opportunity to shine with their musical programs, performing in front of a full audience. Holiday celebrations with an added snow day and sing alongs to close the 2024 school year. A glimpse of January events involve fourth graders will participate in a Kindness Retreat, facilitated by Youth Frontiers, fostering connections and reflection. Additionally, Winsted is gearing up for our roller-skating unitâa favorite among both students and staff! As we approach the midpoint of the school year in a few weeks, it's incredible to think about how much we've accomplished together.
The coming months promise challenges, preparation, and plenty of enjoyable moments. We
encourage families to actively participateâask questions, engage with your child, and consider
volunteering if possible. Together, as a united team, we can continue to achieve great things for
our students.
Thank you for your ongoing support and dedication to our schools and students. Wishing you a
fantastic 2025, and we eagerly anticipate welcoming students back on January 2nd!
Warm regards,
Jen Olson
Grades 1-4 Milk Break
If you would like your child to participate in the classroom milk break for the second half of the year, please send $26.00 by January 17. Checks payable to ISD 2687.
Grades 1-4 Snack Break
Bernice Pehl, Title One, Winsted Elementary
I donât know my multiplication facts! Multiplication is hard! This is a common thread as students learn their multiplication facts. I have found that this is a very difficult concept for some students. While it can take a long time to memorize the facts there are ways to help you along the way. There are youtube videos people have made in which the students learn to skip count their 7s for example. The one I am familiar with is 7s set to the tune of âHappy Birthdayâ 7,14,21; 28,35; 42,49ers; 56 and 63; and 70. Try it at home. This is a great bridge for students as they learn their facts. Over the years, I have found some teachers have come up with small rhymes or tricks to help students learn their facts. Here is one for 5X5. 5X5 (High Five - 25). I try to focus on the ones that give my students the most problems. Here are a few that I came up with. Try them out at home and see what happens.
- *6X7 ON MY SHOE, 6X7 IS 42 (FOUR LACES THEN TIE YOUR SHOE, 2 AFTER YOU TIE YOUR SHOE) (SHOE, 42)
- *6X8 OPEN THE GATE, 6X8 IS 48 (OPEN THE GATE, POINT TO THE 4 CORNERS OF THE GATE) (GATE, 48)
- *7X7 ON THE LINE, 7X7 IS 49 (MAKE TWO LINES WITH YOUR ARMS, FOUR POINTS ON THE LINE (LINE, 49)
- *7X8, 5,6,7,8; 7X8 IS 56 (5 AND 6 COME BEFORE 7 AND 8) (5,6,7,8; 56)
- *6X4 OPEN THE DOOR, 6X4 IS 24 (KNOCK TWICE - 6X4, KNOCK, KNOCK, 24) (DOOR, 24)
- *7X4 RUNNING LATE, 7X4 IS 28 (RUNNING WITH 2 FINGERS FOR LEGS) (LATE, 28)
- *8X4 BOTH SAID âBOOâ, 8X4 IS 32 (THREE LETTERS IN THE WORD BOO, 1 - B and 2 - OOs) (BOO, 32)
- *6X6 PICK UP THE STICKS, 6X6 IS 36 (PICK UP THE STICKS, HOLD UP 3 FINGERS AS THEY SAY 36) (STICKS, 36)
Winter Indoor Activities
Jenny Hagen, Special Education, Humphrey Elementary
In case your child(ren) are like my children and you are getting repeated requests for screens when itâs too cold to go outside, here are some fun indoor activities you can do this winter.
You can read to your child or have your child read to you. Plan a visit to the new Howard Lake Library or head to the Winsted Library to pick out winter-themed books.
Observe how the volume of snow changes once it melts into water. Make fake snow out of baking soda and shaving cream. Experiment with dissolving hot cocoa powder in different temperatures of water.
Winter-themed arts and crafts allow your child to get creative and practice their fine motor skills. You can create a snowman out of cotton balls, cut paper into snowflakes, or glue sugar cubes together to make an igloo to name a few.
4. Helping in the Kitchen
Whether itâs measuring ingredients, adjusting recipes, or observing what happens when different ingredients are combined, cooking provides a great way for children to apply math and science concepts.
5. Family Game Night
Winter nights (when the sun sets before dinner!) is the perfect time for a family game night. Games can help children practice skills such as math and reading. Whether you play a classic board game like CandyLand or a card game like Uno, youâll be practicing teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
Greetings From the WES Music Room!
Jana LeClaire, Music, Winsted Elementary
Recently, the WES 3rd and 4th graders had the joy of performing âChristmasâŠand MoreâŠat the Movies". The inspiration for this program came about as a result of a back-to-school lesson in music. We learned the song âTry Everythingâ from the movie, Zootopia, as a way to facilitate discussion around growth mindset versus fixed mindset. The lyrics to the refrain of the song are: âI wonât give up, no, I wonât give in âtil I reach the end, and then Iâll start again. No, I wonât leave. I wanna try everything. I wanna try, even though I could fail.â What a powerful message! Especially when learning music, kids have to be willing to take risks. One canât learn music by sitting on the sidelines, you have to be actively involved in the activity in order to truly develop your skills. Even brand new skills that you are learning for the first time. It can be very difficult to try something you have never done before in front of a whole classroom full of learners, but that is the nature of what we do in working toward skilled musicianship. We talked about how we have to be willing to make mistakes because that is how we learn! We mess up, and then we try again. Then we keep doing that until we have practiced enough to perform without even thinking about it. Another favorite line of mine from the song is, âBirds donât just fly, they fall down and get up.â As hard as it is to believe, birds are not hatched instinctively knowing how to fly, their parent birdies have to boot them from the nest in order for them to learn. Talk about a learning curve! Well, we absolutely fell in love with the song and its message. The kids were vehement that we sing it for our program. I told them, âI donât know how Iâm going to get this song to fit into a holiday show, but Iâm going to get it to fit into a holiday show.â Hence the âŠand moreâŠpart of the narrative. And, when you canât find a pre-written script that fits your vision, you write your own! Even as adults, we are lifelong learners and we canât be afraid to try something because we might mess up. We will, itâs inevitable. We just try again, we rewrite the script. I am just very, very lucky to have students who delivered those simple lines that I wrote and rewrote so brilliantly!
Santa's Stuck
Jessica Pavlenko, 1st Grade, Winsted Elementary
To celebrate the magical time of year, we learned about various holidays celebrated throughout the world. We have also read some fun holiday-themed stories. One of the stories we read recently was Santaâs Stuck! by: Rhonda Gowler Greene. In it, Santa gets stuck in the chimney and needs help getting out. We then created our own Santaâs Stuck! art projects, along with writing about how we would help Santa get unstuck. Here are my studentsâ adventurous ideas:
- Jacob-I would call the elves.
- Brayden-I would make a new Santa, so he could get the old Santa out
- Kobe-I would make a new Santa.
- Sam-I would use a rope.
- Oakley-I would get my parents to help.
- Emma-I would pull him out by his feet.
- Bryce-I would just make a new Santa.
- Mason-I would pour water down the chimney.
- Lars-I would pull him out with a bulldozer.
- Emmitt-I would make a new Santa.
- Phillip-I would use a crowbar.
- Grace-I would push him out.
- Asher-I would make a new Santa.
- Layth-I would use a rope.
- Lilah-I would stick butter on him.
- Colton-I would call his reindeer to pull him out.
- Jayden-I would pour water and the elves could push him down.
- Remi-I would pull his feet.
- Happy-I would pull him out.
- Jaânaya-I would pull him out with a rope.
- Nahomy-I would use a rope.
- Kaia-I would get some friends and push him out, so he could get back to his sleigh.
2025-26 Kindergarten Registration
This is your time to enroll your child for 2025-26 kindergarten. You will have the opportunity to meet the kindergarten team and other school staff members, visit the classrooms, participate in child-friendly activities and finalize registration paperwork. Plan to set aside approximately an hour for you and your future kindergartener.
Date/Time: TBD
Elementary Yearbook
Order Online bytheyearbook.com
Humphrey School Code
723447
Winsted School Code
723460
You can also send $16.00 (cash or check) in the yearbook envelope that was sent home with your child in December.
Volunteer
HLWW School District requires background checks for all school volunteers. Completing the forms indicates your interest to volunteer in our schools and grants permission for the required background check to be run. Complete one form per child (only one background check will be run). Allow five to ten business days for processing.
