Bear Cub Bulletin

We had a wonderful March at Wilmore Elementary. The month was jam packed with student celebrations and opportunities to showcase their talents. We loved celebrating the visual and performing arts talents during the annual Arts Showcase. Our fifth grade students performed "From the Inside Out" musical for students and guests with a positive and inspiring message. The fifth graders also celebrated their DARE education graduation. We celebrated students during our first The Cub Club recognition celebration and of course wrapped up the month with our Dojo celebration.

The end of our school year is rapidly approaching. Students will complete the final iReady diagnostic to determine their growth in reading and math this school year at the end of April or beginning of May. 3rd-5th grade students will participate in the Kentucky Summative Assessment the week of May 1st-May 5th. Please stay tuned to Dojo, Facebook, Instagram, and the Bear Cub Bulletin to stay up to date on events and opportunities to get involved.

Check out the rest of the April Edition of Bear Cub Bulletin to stay up-to-date and connected to your Bear Cubs!

• April SBDM Meeting on Wednesday, April 12th
• Student Advisory Council April Meeting on Monday, April 17th
• April Lunch Visitors on Tuesday, April 18th and Wednesday, April 19th
• WES Career Fair on Monday, April 24th
  
• JCS Kindergarten Transition Night: Storybook Walk at WES on Tuesday, April 25th (6:00-7:00)
• Spring Fling on Friday, April 28th (5:00-8:00)
  
• Kentucky Summative Assessment Testing for 3rd-5th grade students the week of May 1st
• Bike and Walk to School Day on Wednesday, May 3rd
• 5th Grade Bash on Friday, May 12th
• OOVOTO on Monday, May 15th
• 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony at WES on Wednesday, May 17th at 6:00
• Last Day of School for Students on Friday, May 19th

REMINDER:

All students in Jessamine County Schools receive one (1) breakfast & one (1) lunch at NO COST regardless of income. For the 2022/23 school year, meals are provided through the USDA funded NSLP/SBP. However, to assign a meal eligibility for schools/families to receive various additional state and federal program benefits; please complete, sign, and return one application per household to your child’s school or the JCS Food Service Office at 851 Wilmore Rd. 859-887-9274

Completing the Educational Benefits form will help support your family with paying for field trips and technology fees for the school year as well.

Educational Benefits Form 2022-2023

Reach out to me if I can support you or your Bear Cub in any way!

Email: monica.thompson@jessamine.kyschools.us

We look forward to seeing you soon!

We are very excited to introduce you to the newest member of our Wilmore family!

Marley is a 1 year old Aussiedoodle who lives with one of our school counselors, Ms. Sasha. She recently completed specialized training & passed the Canine Good Citizens test. Marley loves kids and is very laid back! She will start visiting the school during the day.

Below we have included the benefits of having a therapy dog in schools so that you can better understand what led us to the decision to have Marley join our team.

What are the benefits of having a school dog?

Numerous research studies have shown the benefits of therapy dogs in schools. They have been common in schools in the United States for many years. Evidence indicates that benefits include:

• Cognitive – companionship with a dog stimulates memory, problem-solving and game-playing.

• Social – a dog provides a positive mutual topic for discussion, encourages responsibility, well-being and focused interaction with others.

• Emotional – a school dog improves self-esteem, acceptance from others and lifts mood, often provoking laughter and fun. Dogs can also teach compassion and respect for other living things as well as relieving anxiety.

• Physical – interaction with a furry friend reduces blood pressure, provides tactile stimulation, assists with pain management, gives motivation to move, walk and stimulates the senses.

• Environmental – a dog in a school increases the sense of a family environment, with all of the above benefits continuing long after the school day is over.

It is our goal that Marley will work with both individual students and classes. She will ALWAYS be accompanied by an adult.

We realize that there are some children have severe allergies to dogs and/or are afraid of dogs. If you feel either of these things may be a concern for your child, please email Sasha Turansky at sasha.turansky@jessamine.kyschools.us or call Sasha at 859-858-3134. She can also be reached on your child’s class DoJo.

Spring Break Ideas and Resources

Congratulations to Emily Chafin, the 2022-2023 Wilmore Elementary Teacher of the Year! We are so proud of her service to students. She is compassionate, committed, and devoted to meeting their needs. We are lucky to work and learn by her side each day!

#wearewilmore #wearejessamine #teacheroftheyear #bearcubpride

Here is the Teacher of the Year presentation with student videos that Ms. Sasha put together. Congratulations to all of our staff that were recognized this year. We are lucky to work with caring teachers that make a positive impact daily! Thank you to the families that nominated staff members and offered positive praise for the daily work that they do to make a difference for our Bear Cubs.

New this year!

We want to ensure we are inclusive of ALL youth no matter the level of support they may receive at home, and we want to ensure 4-H camp is an option for those youth.

• We have reserved 3 male and 3 female spots PER SCHOOL (Elementary and middle)
• Information is attached with details, but the bottom line is, you as a school can work to use these spots for youth who may not have the support to sign up with the online system.
• We offer a limited number of $150 scholarships that are need based and they simply qualify with income level (Based on federal free and reduced lunch guidelines.)
• These are first come first serve just fyi, we do not have them reserved for your school and these folks.
• We leave it up to you if you want to help pay more or not.
• This isn’t meant to be more work, we just hope that you all would know or be able to identify youth who would benefit from or LOVE a chance to attend summer camp but may not be supported enough to get the fast going spots.
• See the attached sheet. I do ask that you all let me know by the application deadline (Which will be April 21) if you DO NOT plan to utilize your school spots. We will then be able to pull youth off our waiting list.

4H Jessamine County Camp Flyer

4H Jessamine County Camper Information

Each month we will share communication about hosting visitors in the cafeteria. We will reserve a special location in our hall of flags or the Memory Garden (weather permitting) for you and your child. We want you to enjoy your child and learn more about their school experience, so we will not invite friends to be included in the special lunch. This is to protect our students and their dietary needs.

We now accept debit/credit payments, any caregiver or visitor will need to bring EXACT CHANGE with either cash or check if paying with cash. We are NOT able to make change. If exact change is not provided, any change due will be deposited onto the student's account.

**Any adult or visitor meals (including children) are $2.90 for Breakfast and $4.85 for Lunch. Meals are provided to all JCS students at NO COST.

All visitors MUST check-in at the front office through our Raptor Technology system and will be invited to the cafeteria only. Please plan to exit the school when your child's homeroom teacher picks up their class.

Grade Level Lunch Schedules:

1st Grade: 11:00-11:30

2nd Grade: 11:25-11:55

3rd Grade: 11:50-12:20

4th Grade: 12:00-12:30

5th Grade: 12:25-12:55

April DATES:

Tuesday, April 18th

Wednesday, April 19th

Kentucky students take the Kentucky Summative Assessments (KSA) to meet federal and state testing requirements. Previously, these tests were called Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP). They are developed by Kentucky teachers and align with the Kentucky Academic Standards in each content area.

KSA are the annual summative assessments given in grades 3 through 8, 10 and 11 to Kentucky public school students. KSA provides content area assessments, including reading and mathematics at all grades, and science, social studies, writing, and editing and mechanics once per grade band (i.e. elementary, middle, and high).

These assessments are Kentucky’s measure of student proficiency and progress on the state content standards. These standards establish goals for what all students should know and be able to do in each grade. KSA are online assessments with only a small percentage of accommodated students taking it on paper. It goes beyond multiple-choice questions to include extended response and technology-enhanced items for students to demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Assessments provide critical information about student learning, but no single assessment should ever be the sole factor in making an educational decision. It is important to remember that assessments provide only one measure of student learning, but when combined with grades, classroom activities, unit quizzes and tests, and district-level assessments, the end-of-year assessments can help provide a more complete picture of a child’s abilities over the course of the school year and path toward academic success on these content standards. ​

For KSA, students receive a separate scale score and performance level (distinguished, proficient, apprentice, and novice). Performance levels are different by content area. These levels indicate performance on groups of items that measure similar skills. PLDs for each grade and content area are available for review using the links below.

• KSA PLD Grade 3

• KSA PLD Grade 4

• KSA PLD Grade 5

Wilmore 3rd-5th grade students will participate in KSA testing the week of May 1st.

Join the March meeting in-person or online:

PTO Meeting

Thursday, March 16 · 3:15 – 4:15pm

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/vrj-ntix-ovp

Here is a brief overview of our March Office Discipline Referral (PBIS Data). We share this data with our students and staff to set goals for the upcoming month. We invite you to look at the data and discuss with your child as well as we are all working to ensure our school is a safe and productive learning environment.

Many factors go into the decisions that are made regarding classroom placement. Factors such as gender balance between classes, social/emotional needs, behavior, learning style accommodations, etc. are taken into consideration as our school staff prepares next year's class lists. Class lists are a collaborative effort of the current grade teachers, special area teachers, support staff and the administrative team. Wilmore Elementary seeks input from caregivers, staff, and students as additional considerations when forming class lists for 2023-2024.

While specific requests for teachers/classrooms are not considered and should not be requested, there are a number of factors that parents/guardians can be instrumental in providing that assist in the placement process. Please consider carefully any information you would like the current school staff to be aware of as the placement of your student for next year is considered. Your input will be shared with the class placement committee. Information will be collected through April 21st.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WES2324

Welcome to the University of Florida Literacy Institute’s Parent Resource Hub! This collection of web-based language and literacy resources was compiled and curated by UFLI faculty and graduate students. We are adding to and refining these resources regularly, so check back often!

UFLI Family Resource Hub

Families of Primary Students

Families of Intermediate Students

Check out the resources on Common Sense Media about how to navigate social media with your child.

Parenting, Media, and Everything in Between

Parenting, Media, and Managing Screen Time

Join us for our April PTO Meeting on Thursday, April 20th at 3:15 in the library.

Join in person or on Google Meet: PTO Meeting

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/adh-tqsi-bqg

We will discuss upcoming fundraisers and how we can recruit additional volunteers to support school events.

If you are interested in volunteering at Wilmore during the 2022-2023 school year, please complete the school level and district level forms. You can submit the district level form to Casey in the front office and she will turn it into the district or you can submit directly to Teresa Walters at the district level. We will confirm that your background check is complete after the district has completed their volunteer checklist.

If you plan to support your child's classroom during celebrations, field trips, or special events at WES, we must have your volunteer forms on file.

Wilmore Elementary Volunteer Profile

Jessamine County Schools Volunteer Form

All students in Jessamine County Schools receive one (1) breakfast & one (1) lunch at NO COST regardless of income. For the 2022/23 school year, meals are provided through the USDA funded NSLP/SBP. However, to assign a meal eligibility for schools/familes to receive various additional state and federal program benefits; please complete, sign, and return one application per household to your child’s school or the JCS Food Service Office at 851 Wilmore Rd. 859-887-9274

Educational Benefits Form 2022-2023

We value parent and community involvement and would love to have all cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives represented on our Site Based Decision Making Council. If you're interested in serving as a minority representative, please reach out to Ms. Thompson.

monica.thompson@jessamine.kyschools.us

We look forward to serving you and your child!

Email: monica.thompson@jessamine.kyschools.us
Website: https://www.jessamine.k12.ky.us/9/Home
Location: 150 Campground Lane, Wilmore, KY, USA
Phone: (859)858-3134
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilmoreElementarySchool

Mission Statement:

The mission of Wilmore Elementary School is to create a safe, personalized learning environment that embraces the whole child, focuses on continuous growth, and prepares our students to positively contribute to our families, our communities, and our world.

Vision Statement:

The core purpose of WES is to create a personalized learning environment for each student, where teachers collaborate to use research-driven, high-impact practices paired with rigorous curriculum to ensure high levels of growth and learning for all.