HLWW Elementary Laker News

With a month of school securely in place, our routines and school expectations are aligning and we’re moving forward together. Thank you for your help in this smooth transition, we’re off to a great start at school!

I’d like start by saying thank YOU for making a commitment to attend Welcome Days which took place on our first two days of school. I hope that you found the opportunity to connect individually with your child’s classroom teacher and found it beneficial to answer questions, ease any back-to-school jitters, and start the school year out on the right foot. As a staff, we are optimistic about the impact it made right off the bat, and look forward to working with students and families throughout the year.

One of the BEST parts of my job as principal is to celebrate students and share their good news! I’m

proud to recognize 22 students honored in September for their citizenship skills, specifically RESPECT. (There are many others who demonstrate courage and other positive traits each and every day, too.) October’s theme is RESPONSIBILITY. We will host discussions in classrooms about making good choices, taking care of personal property and the environments around us, and showing accountability for work, play and care for others. Another way we’ve been able to celebrate is to honor our “alumni” students and the roles they’ve stepped into at the high school level. Seeing students play in the band, lead a team or advisory group, participate in school activities, or be acknowledged by their peers through the nomination of homecoming royalty, it was fun to host the HLWW-HS Homecoming traveling pep-fest last week, rally school pride and recognize the successes of our former students.

Thinking ahead, we have a few fun & key events taking place in October. Please make note & mark your calendars! The first worth mentioning is happening is our first late start of the school year, which falls this week Friday, October 4. The late start means that all HLWW Schools will start 2 hours later than our traditional start time, and there is no morning preschool classes (or centerbase classes) scheduled that day. Next up is Wednesday October 9, when we have Walk To School Day for our morning routes to school. It’s such a great way to promote fitness and school community. Keep an eye on your calendars, Wednesday Folders, and communication from classroom teachers for other school happenings. The month will start to fill.

To close, I’d like to offer one final note of thanks. I am so appreciative of our collective school team.

With knowledgeable and caring teachers, hardworking, intelligent, and fun-loving students, and parents supporting our school community, we can accomplish a lot, and great things will continue to happen. Please plan to get involved and help move us forward. We make an AWESOME team together and I couldn’t be prouder to be a member of it!

I look forward to partnering with each of you for the upcoming school year.

With Laker Pride,

Jen Olson

Each parent/legal guardian is asked to provide at least one emergency contact, other than yourself (e.g., grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, neighbor, etc.). Emergency information may be used to contact you and/or those you designate as emergency contacts in the event of a student-related emergency if you, as parent/legal guardian, cannot be immediately reached.

To verify, update or add emergency contacts log in to your ParentVUE account, click on a student, click “student information”, click “edit information”, edit fields and save the changes.

· Breakfast will still be accessible for students as part of their regular school day.

· In case of rain, the “walk to school” event will be CANCELLED.

· Parents can absolutely participate!

· Participating in the “walk to school” event will not change the end of the day routine.

· What are the benefits of walking to school?

*It’s fun!

*Creates healthy habits!

*Cleaner environment!

*Increase community connections by helping neighbors to get to know on another!

Breanne Adickes, Social Worker

Missing school occasionally, happens. But as absences add up, they start to affect your child's academics. Missing 2 days a month will add up to 18 missed days throughout the year. This adds up to many hours of missed reading and math instruction, along with missed social/emotional learning and connections with peers. If your child is going to be absent, you need to let the office know by 8:45am for the absence to be excused. Call or email Terry at Humphrey 320-543-4680 or tknuth@hlww.k12.mn.us or Julie at Winsted 320-543-4690 jstifter@hlww.k12.mn.us. This contact can even be made in the middle of the night.

24-hour notification to the office is required for any planned absences. Examples of planned trips include an out of town trip, attending a funeral/wedding or other family event, sporting events (tournaments, hunting, etc.). It is important to contact the school office in advance, but prior to 8:45 a.m. on the school day before the absence occurs to allow the classroom teacher an opportunity to prepare instructional materials that would be missed in his/her absence.

After 3 unexcused absences, we are required by the county to start the process for educational neglect. At 5 unexcused absences, the county will contact you to attend a meeting and at 7 unexcused absences, they will open a case and assign an educational neglect worker. We really want to prevent this process so please reach out if there is anything the school can do to help with attendance concerns. The student handbook is also a great resource for any attendance questions.

Are you looking for a way to support our students and staff this year? Join us for our next PTA meeting on October 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Humphrey Elementary. It’s a great way to stay connected, share ideas, and help support our Humphrey staff. Make sure to follow the Laker PTA Facebook page for updates on school events, ways to support our wonderful Humphrey staff, and how you can get involved. If you have any questions, we’re her to help! You can email us at humphreypta@gmail.com.

Thank you for support Humphrey Elementary!!

Darla Mackedanz, Speech-Language Pathologist

How do oral language skills develop? Communication begins with hearing and responding to sounds. Children begin communicating and developing language the day they are born. As children grow and develop, they begin listening for different purposes and responding with words instead of sounds and gestures. Receptive language (listening) precedes expressive language (speaking). Receptive and expressive language skills, or oral language skills, lay the foundation for future success in reading and writing. These skills develop as children have opportunities to listen to and talk with their parents, relatives, friends, caregivers, etc. Children must be able to listen to and understand words before they are able to produce words and use them effectively.

Here are some simple activities that promote oral language.

• Engage your child in conversation throughout the day. Do not use baby talk. Speak at an appropriate rate and volume and in normal tones without unnecessary exaggeration.

• Read with your child every day. Ask him or her, “What do you think will happen next in the story? Would you have done that? What do/did you like best about…? This is a time to read slowly with inflection, using different voices for different characters. Follow words with your finger as this shows children that reading words moves left to right across a page. They will also see how to hold a book while reading.

• Read everything: labels, cereal boxes, road signs, menus, newspapers, comic books!

• Play games that focus on the importance of listening: Simon Says, Hokey Pokey, or Telephone.

• Teach the rules of conversation early (listening and speaking): do not interrupt someone that is speaking, take turns speaking, stay on topic, use an appropriate volume while speaking (inside/outside voices), etc.

• Prompt children to talk about and describe their feelings and ideas. How do you feel about asking the neighbors over for dinner? What do you think we should do today?

Mrs. Leann Gallagher, 4th Grade, Winsted Elementary School

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has been quoted saying, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” 4th grade is on a mission to make sure they can find the right book. Additionally, students have been challenged to read 40 books this year! With the challenge under way, it is important that they find LOTS of good books to read. During the second week of school, we discussed the different elements of a variety of genres. Students also looked at the books they had already selected from the library to determine the genre they were reading.

Then, on Monday, September 16, we had a Book Tasting in our classroom! First, we reviewed the process of previewing a book and how to pick a “good fit book.” When it was time for the event, students created their own group of four as they waited in the hallway for their hostess to seat them. They were escorted into the room as a “party of four” and were surprised to see the room had been transformed into a cafe. Desks were grouped together as tables which were set up with red-checked tablecloths, placemats and menus. Each table setting included a random stack of books. Students selected a book from the book stack. They looked at the front cover, read the back cover, previewed any illustrations, and then they began reading the first few pages of the book. Next, they used the menu to explain whether they would like to continue reading the book. They also rated the book. After a few minutes, students traded the book they were reading for another book at their table. We even had snacks and music to help us enjoy the cafe vibe!

We can’t wait for our next Book Tasting Event to explore more genres! Students had plenty of comments to share about what they enjoyed most about our Book Tasting Event.

• Kassidy loved sitting in groups and reading books.

• Haddie enjoyed the I survived series; both the graphic novels AND the chapter books.

• Lindzi was excited for the snacks and cute cafe look.

• Evy found a new author who wrote about dogs.

• Hadley H. enjoyed reading a book, Seven Blind Mice, that her mom read to her when she was little!

• Avery discovered an “old favorite” series and loved that it felt like a restaurant.

• Kensi found a science graphic novel about dogs!

• Ryan enjoyed that he got to sit at a table with friends to read informational books about sports.

• Gentry said the snacks were GOATed.

• Ella enjoyed old favorite books and liked that they had food!

• Finnley appreciated more time for reading. He tried some new books but hasn’t found what he likes yet.

• Max was glad to read with friends!

By: Mrs. LaMott’s 3rd grade class

The leaves are starting to change, the morning air is cooler, the sun isn’t coming up as early, the birds are flying south – all signs that Fall is here! Our third-grade class discussed all the things about Fall that we LOVE and came up with a large

list. From pumpkin pie to jumping in leaves, we are excited for the season of Fall!

“My favorite thing about Fall is…”

Matthew – playing football.

Addalyn – starting gymnastics because I love competing.

Laura – jumping in leaves, eating pumpkin pie, and going to the apple orchard.

George – Halloween and no bugs!

Jaceson – I can make a big leaf pile and jump into it.

Parker – carving pumpkins!

Brinley – making leaf piles!

Charlie – playing football!

Nixie – the pumpkins and leaves!

Carlie – no bees! I like the colorful leaves and cool air.

Elizabeth – getting to spend time with my family.

Hannah – cleaning for the fall and decorating for the fall because it gets the house clean for fall.

Gabriel – leaves falling, and I can make a pile to jump in.

Zoey – Halloween. I like when the leaves change colors. We love picking apples.

Rachel – to jump in the leaf piles because it’s fun!

Dakota – I love, love, love to hang out with my family!

Ben – football because I like to play running back!

McKenna – I get to jump in leaf piles and play frisbee with my family.

Bianca – apple picking! I also love hot apple cider and apple donuts. We also put all the leaves in a pile and jump in.

Emily – playing in the leaves and Halloween.

Elijah – jumping in leaves!

In follow up to Superintendent Walbruch's message to school families, listening sessions and community meetings will be held to discuss the proposal of the elementary building's grade reconfiguration. Families are invited to attend to learn more about the proposal, provide input, ask questions, and help guide decisions of our elementary schools.

Please consider attending to share your feedback about the potential opportunities and benefits, as well as any barriers or concerns. Your voice is important in the process. Thank you!

Monday, October 7--HLWW High School Media Center, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, October 9--Winsted Elementary Cafeteria, 7:30 p.m.

Monday, October 21--Humphrey Elementary Cafeteria, 7:30 p.m.

Ms. Krueger, 4th Grade, Humphrey Elementary

It is hard to believe that Summer 2024 has already passed us by! Now it’s time to settle in for some fall weather and a full year of learning and growing ahead.

Although we love our summers, getting back to our friends, fall sports and early morning class can be exciting and exhausting all at the same time. Going back into school routines does not have to be the worst thing ever. Here are three simple ways to make those early mornings when the days start out cold just a little easier for the entire family.

1. Reset your sleeping schedule: As we now have a few weeks of school down, it is important for our students to go to bed and get up at the same time each day. This will help them fall asleep quicker, have a better night’s sleep, and wake up ready for the new day of learning.

2. Create a daily routine: Help your child develop a routine each day so they know what to expect and what to do. Research has shown that as creatures of habit, children perform much better when they know the daily expectations at home and school. This includes creating a schedule that includes homework, play time, meals, and fun with friends. A visual schedule could also be a helpful tool for your child to see what is expected next.

3. Practice Positivity: Going back to school can be hard, especially for our littles so help them to adjust to this new chapter by showing positivity. Your child has a lot that happens at school throughout the day. Take time to reflect on what went well throughout their day. This will ease anxieties when coming to school. Ask about their new experiences, friends or games that they might have learned

School is an exciting place full of learning, love and joy. Help your child have a great adjustment to enjoy their day at school and the evening at home with you!