Monthly Messenger
Jefferson Elementary and Fox River Academy - October 2023
Upcoming Events and Important Dates
Mark Your Calendar!
October 2: Fox Governance Board Meeting 5:00 - 6:00
October 6: NO Boys and Girls Club
October 11: Vision Screening
October 12: Conferences 3:45 - 7:00 / Scholastic Book Fair in LMC
October 12: Fall Fest 4:30 - 6:30
October 17: Conferences 3:45 - 7:00 / Scholastic Book Fair in LMC
October 26: Picture Retake
October 27: NO SCHOOL
Conferences
PTC Fast
Step 1: Watch for a link from PTC Fast that will be sent through email and/or text.
Step 2: Click on the link.
Step 3: Find your students classroom teacher and click on their name.
Step 4: Enter student's name, your name and email.
Step 5: The system will send you a link to choose a day and time for your conference.
Step 6: If you have multiple students to schedule, you will be able to do it at this time.
A few things to know...
1. Students that have two households will need to coordinate their conference, as we only provide one conference per student.
2. If you have already been contacted about setting up a conference time, there is no need to schedule again, as it has already been done for you.
Please call the office with any questions about conferences. Thank you!
Vision Screening
Lions Club
The Appleton Area School District , in collaboration with the Appleton Noon Lions Club, will be providing vision screening for all students at Jefferson and Fox River Academy. This screening is made possible through grants from St. Elizabeth hospital/Ascension and from the Pfefferle Family Foundation. Volunteers from the Appleton Noon Lions Club will be doing the screening with a SPOT camera, an automated vision screening technology. To effectively address vision issue in children, the SPOT camera has been developed to quickly detect the most common treatable vision conditions in children.
SPOT takes a picture from about three feet away and parents are provided with a printed summary of the vision screening. If your child currently wears prescription eye glasses or contact lenses, please be sure they are wearing the prescription lenses for this screening.
If you do not wish to have your child participate in this vision screening, please contact our school office at (920) 852-5500 before October 11.
Picture Retake Day
Harmann Studios
Harmann Studios will be having a Picture Retake day on October 26. This is for students that were absent on the original picture day, a new student to Jefferson or Fox River Academy, or students that have ordered a retake online or through Harmann's customer service at 1-800-234-8910.
Birthday and Holiday Treats
From the 2023-2024 Elementary and Middle School Family Policy Manual
The Appleton Area School District promotes a whole child approach, which ensures that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged as part of the total learning environment. The District supports a healthy environment where children learn and participate in positive emotional, dietary, and lifestyle practices.
Recognition for special occasion without treats: Birthday recognitions during the school day will not include students bringing in snacks/treats from outside of the District for other students and will instead take place through non-food practices.
Please consider donating a class gift such as a new game, puzzle or book. Or non-food items to distribute to the class.
5K-2 Literacy Screener
The two best predictors of a child’s early reading success are alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness. In accordance with Wisconsin Act 86, all students in grades kindergarten through second grade are required to be screened annually for reading readiness in the areas of letter-sound knowledge and phonemic awareness. This screening is one tool that helps educators identify students that may need more targeted support in reading, including children with Dyslexia and related conditions.
The 5K-2 Literacy Screener will be administered to all students at three times during the school year: fall, winter, and spring. The results of the screener will be used to design specialized phonics instruction that is aimed at remediating lagging skills. The results of the screener will be shared with parents/guardians during the fall and winter conferences, and then sent home in the spring of the year. It’s important to note that this screener does not diagnose Dyslexia or other related conditions but rather serves as a tool to ensure that every child receives the intensity of instruction that he or she needs in order to become a proficient reader.
Each grade level has a unique screener aligned to the progression of skills in alphabetic principle and phonemic awareness that are needed to become a fluent reader. The teacher, with support from the literacy interventionist and/or instructional coach, administers the screener individually to each student in the class. On average, the screener takes 7-15 minutes to complete. Students showing mastery in the fall are not retested in the same skill areas in the winter, or spring. Students not showing mastery in the fall are retested in the same skill areas to monitor skill development.
If additional support is needed based on screener results, extra reading support(s) will be provided and discussed with you at conferences. Supports may include:
● explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics
● collaboration between classroom teachers, interventionists, learners, and families to ensure cohesion
between instruction in multiple environments
● attending to all aspects of a student’s identity and needs. This includes meeting social emotional needs
and teaching self-advocacy
● additional literacy assessments may be done to pinpoint specific areas of concern and small group
instruction may be provided
Unlike other assessments, state law does not allow districts to grant opt out requests for the 5K-2 Literacy Screener. If you would like more information concerning this notification, please reference Wisconsin's Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia Related Conditions for more information. Should you have any questions on the 5K-2 literacy screener, please reach out to your child’s teacher, your principal, or feel free to contact me at: willercarrie@aasd.k12.wi.us or 920.832.5320 ext. 60170.
Yours in Education,
Carrie Willer, PhD - Director of Elementary Education
Melissa Chrisman - Principal, Jefferson & Fox River Academy
This information is also available in Spanish and Hmong - Pick up in the office
Student Attendance
Contact Us!
1000 S. Mason St. Appleton, WI 54911
Office: 920-852-5500
Fax: 920- 852-5501