4K Connect
WSD 4K Newsletter - December 2, 2022 - Issue 7
Notes from the 4K Principal
Dear 4K & Early Childhood families:
FUN FACT: the ages of 2 years to 7 years is a time of critical brain development. This provides a prime opportunity to lay a foundation of knowledge for children. Parents and caregivers are the most influential teachers! Everyone can help support a child's healthy development. Just a few minutes of some simple, engaging activities can make a big difference.
One way you can help support your child's development is by engaging in the practice of "serve and return." The following information is from the Center for Developing Child at Harvard University and outlines "serve and return":
Practice "Serve and Return"
Practice "serve and return," or back-and-forth interaction with your little ones. Even before they learn to talk, infants and children reach out for attention - babbling, gesturing, or making faces. When young children "serve up" a chance to engage with them, it's important to "return" with attention. It can be as simple as a game of peek-a-boo. Or, if a toddler points at a toy, name it out loud as you hand it to the child.
STEPS in "Serve and Return"
- Notice the serve and share the the child's focus of attention
- Return the serve by supporting and encouraging
- Give it a name!
- Take turns...and wait. Keep the interaction going back and forth.
- Practice endings and beginnings.
Serve and return interactions make everyday moments fun and become second nature with practice. By taking small moments during the day to do serve and return, you build up the foundation for children's lifelong learning, behavior, and health --and their skills for facing life's challenges. For more information visit: The Center for Developing Child
Think of this exchange like a ping-pong game or tennis match. Have fun serving and returning in back and forth exchanges with your child!
Be Well,
Kara Rakowski
Wausau School District 4K Principal
Featured Classes of the Month - Hawthorn Hills
4K Family "Build It" Night
Mark Your Calendars
December:
December 6-9: Parents Connect to School
December 23 - 30: Winter Break
January:
January 2: School resumes
Pictures from our Parents Connect to School trip to Monk Gardens
Curriculum Corner
We continue with our new unit, La Tortuga. We will begin our next unit, Elves and the Shoemaker on December 12th.
LITERACY I CAN:
- find a friends name
- tell you a character in a story
- draw a line under a picture
- show the title, cover, front and back of the book
- name the color yellow
- name a circle
- show around, in, on
- print the first letter of my name
- repeat the U, C, O (magic C letters)
MATH I CAN:
- place items in a location when given a direction with under, over, across
- identify, name, and describe a circle
- duplicate ABAB patterns
- make a small collection of 4
- verbally count to 10 with some correspondence
- show a number representation for a group of objects to 4
- move objects of different shapes to represent an object
- read numbers to 4.
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL I CAN:
- I can point to pictures of faces showing six different feelings. (Emotional Literacy 2.1) Emotions 2.1
TARGETED VOCABULARY:
- I can use and say these words: La Tortuga, turtle, flute, dance, wise.
LEADER IN ME:
Our Wausau School District 4K Social Emotional Benchmark Emotional Literacy 2.1 - (I can point to pictures of faces showing six different feelings) links to the following Leader In Me Habits:
- Habit 1 Be Proactive
- Habit 2 Begin with the end in Mind
- Habit 3 Put first things first
- Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Tucker's Nursery Rhyme Corner
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty
sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty
had a great fall.
All the king's horses
and all the king's men
couldn't put Humpty
together again.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells
and cockle shells,
and pretty maids all in a row
Little Bo Peep
Little Bo Peep
had lost her sheep,
and can't tell where
to find them;
Leave them alone,
and they'll come home,
bringing their tails
behind them.
4K Wrestling Camp
Tucker's Friendly Reminders
FYI -
Please remember to have your child bring/wear winter clothes, snow pants, boots, hats and mittens to school everyday! Without proper winter clothing, students will need to stay on the blacktop and not be allowed to play in the snow PLUS they are learning how to put on their own winter clothes!
Thank you!!
FYI
Dear Parent/Guardian:
What can an Infinite Campus Parent Portal do for you?
In today's busy world information must be at your fingertips in a moment's notice! Put Infinite Campus to work for you by creating a personal Parent Portal. In just a few minutes you will be able to access some or all of these features:
- Check Busing Information
- View Student Grades
- Print Report Cards and Progress Reports
- Pay School Fees
- View Payment History
- Update Email Addresses and Phone Numbers
- Set up personal notifications
Parents who do not have a Parent Portal set up received the following information in an email. Please contact Jess Napiwocki at jnapiwoc@wausauschools.org for your GUID# to get started!
THE JANUARY REPORT CARD IS ONLY ACCESSED THROUGH THE PARENT PORTAL. The district is asking all families to set up a parent portal. Please follow the instructions below to set one up. One portal will be used for all your children.
Follow the steps below to set up your parent portal:
- COPY GUID# that is provided below. (Do not include the word -GUID#-)
- Click on the link below
- Click on New User?
- Past GUID# you copied into Activation Code box.
- Crease your own username and password.
SAVE THIS USER NAME AND PASSWORD SOMEWHERE. DO NOT FORGET OR MISPLACE.
GUID#-
https://wausauwi.infinitecampus.org/campus/portal/parents/wausau.jsp
Tucker's Helpful Tips
Learning at Home
Do you know how many concepts can be discussed and learned while making a gingerbread house?
Here are some of the many ways children learn while building:
Colors - red, blue, yellow, green, etc. Name and talk about the colors as you build the house.
Shapes - circle, oval, square, rectangle - maybe even a triangle. So many different shapes come together to make houses.
Counting - how many windows, walls, door knobs, roof shingles, candies to decorate? There are so many pieces to count!
Positional words and concepts - same/different, across, under over, around, in, on, top, middle, bottom. As you decorate, describe where the pieces go. These concepts are critical to math relationships and understanding math concepts.
Patterns - AB (ex. Red - Green), AABB (red-red-green-green). Start a pattern and then see if your child can extend the pattern. Or have your child make a pattern!
Have fun!
IF YOUR 4K or EC CHILD IS GOING TO BE ABSENT FROM SCHOOL, PLEASE CALL THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS!!
Contact Numbers
Please remember to call your 4K office if your child is going to be absent from school due to illness or another reason. When you call in, please give the reason for the absence. Please also call First Student at 715-842-2268 to let them know our child will not be riding the bus that day.
AM classes begin at 8:25am, dismissal is at 11am
PM classes begin at 11:40am, dismissal is at 2:15pm
Kara Rakowski, 4K Principal krakowsk@wausauschools.org
Program office: 714.261.0265
First Student: 715.842.2268
Jones - 4K Administrative Assistant: 715-261-0265
Jess Napiwocki jnapiwoc@wausauschools.org
Hawthorn - 4K Administrative Assistant: 715-261-0055
Kellie Messman kmessman@wausauschools.org
Jefferson - 4K Building Para- 715-261-0185
Jessica Brown jrbrown@wausauschools.org
Riverview - 4K Building Para: 715-261-0040
Jackie Keller jkeller@wausauschools.org
NOTES FROM THE NURSE
WHEN TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AT HOME
- Fever (temperature 100 degrees F or greater) child should be fever-free, without medication for 24 hours before returning to school
- Diarrhea (4-5 loose stools within the previous 24 hour period)
- Vomiting (within a 24 hour period before school starts)
- Upper respiratory illness with frequent cough/drainage
- Strep throat (until 24 hours after treatment has begun
- Pink eye (until 24 hours after treatment has begun
- undiagnosed or untreated skin rash or sores that cannot be covered
You can help your child stay healthy by encouraging frequent and thorough hand washing. Hand washing is the single most important defense against disease. Be sure to notify school if your child is going to be absent an the bus company if your child rides the bus.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Update Your Information
Thank you for helping us keep our records as accurate as possible!
WSD EMERGENCY SCHOOL CLOSING PLANS FOR 4K STUDENTS AT ACADEMY SITES:
School Closing: All AM & PM classes cancelled. No evening activities.
Yellow Bus Delay: All AM & PM classes cancelled. No evening activities.
District Wide Emergency Closing After Students Are At School: If morning 4K students are already at school, parents will be responsible for picking them up at school. There will not be bus service. No evening activities.
The 4K class times fit in between the pick-up and drop-off times for the rest of the school district. The same buses transport the older students to school before transporting the 4K students and likewise, take the 4K students home before taking the older students home.
In rare occasions, the Wausau School District is forced to cancel classes during the school day, usually due to inclement weather. If classes are cancelled after 4K students are already at school, this creates a problem for the bus company as they don't have enough buses to take the 4K students home as well as the rest of the district's students.
Due to the number of students involved, the bus company will transport the elementary, middle and high school students home on days that school is cancelled. This eliminates the possibility for transportation for the 4K students. Therefore, it will be necessary for parents to have a plan in place for school cancellations. Each family will need to designate a person who will be responsible for picking up their 4K student at school.
4K Inclement Weather Information
What will a virtual learning day due to inclement weather look like for 4K?
If there is an inclement weather day and school is moved to a virtual learning format. 4K will do the following:
A 4K virtual activity guide for the day will be shared with all 4K families through SeeSaw.
This guide will provide a range of ideas you can do at home to support learning through hands-on play based activities. The activities will be designed so that you can do them during daily routine activities.
You can choose 1-2 of the activities to complete.
Your child’s classroom teacher will share a google meet code and time for you to connect. This google meeting will be 15-20 minutes. We understand that since 4K is not a 1:1 ipad environment you may not have technology to connect. That’s ok! You can follow the activity guide shared through SeeSaw.
We will do our best to be proactive should inclement weather be predicted and send home any necessary classroom materials. Please understand that, at times, Wisconsin weather is unpredictable and there may be a situation where we will need to implement a traditional “snow day” should unexpected weather arise.
Tucker's 4K Spotlight - Our 4K & EC staff
WSD 4K Academy at GD Jones
1915 S. 12th Ave
Wausau, WI 54401
715-261-0265
Jessica Napiwocki - 4K Administrative Assistant
Kara Rakowski - 4K Principal & Early Childhood Coordinator
Andrey Frey - 4K Teacher
Michele Kettner - 4K Teacher
Melissa Willemon - 4K Teacher
Cha Yang - 4K Teacher
Beth Gruber - EC Teacher
Shelly Urmanski - EC Teacher
Jessa Reif - Speech - Language Pathologist
Lori Kurszewski - EC Teacher
Anne Winter - EC Teacher
Cory Durbin - EC Teacher
Stacy Stenz - 4K & EC Program Support Teacher
Sara Boettcher - School Psychologist
Michelle Dahms - Social Worker
Beth Van Dong
Mia Lodahl - Physical Therapist
Jacob Ehlert - Occupational Therapist
Kathleen Kostner-Rass - Occupational Therapist
Support Staff
Chou Thao - Bilingual Paraprofessional
Pa Thao - Bilingual Paraprofessional
KaBao Mua - Bilingual Paraprofessional
Ashley Hafeman - EC Paraprofessional
Chris Mergan - EC Paraprofessional
Ami Serrano - EC Paraprofessional
Danika Decorah - EC Paraprofessional
Diane Leffel - Paraprofessional
WSD 4K Academy at Hawthorn Hills
Wausau, WI 54403
715-261-0055
Lisa Dunahee - 4K Teacher
Marla Harris - 4K Teacher
Jaci McKamey - Speech-Language Pathologist
Anne Winter - EC Teacher
Support Staff
Kellie Messman - 4K Admin Assistant
Julie Her - Bilingual Paraprofessional
Nhia Her - Bilingual Paraprofessional
WSD 4K Academy at Riverview
Wausau, WI 54403
715-261-0040
Danica Szekeress - 4K Teacher
Kristin Hall - 4K Teacher
Ashley Ermeling - EC Teacher
Morgan Persha - Speech-Language Pathologist
Renee Kressel - Speech-Language Pathologist
Donna Husnick - DHH Teacher
Cindy Schuster - DHH Interpreter
Mackenzie Wockenfus - Occupational Therapist
Support Staff
Jackie Keller - 4K Office
Cher Her - Bilingual Paraprofessional
Tammy Davisson - EC Paraprofessional
Emily Walker - Paraprofessional
Kristy Durkes - Paraprofessional
WSD 4K Academy at Thomas Jefferson
Wausau, WI 54401
715-261-0185
Samantha Kniess - 4K Teacher
scorreaobrien@wausauschools.org
Renee Krautkramer - 4K Teacher
BreAnne Wais - 4K Teacher
May Xiong - 4K Teacher
Denise Wonsil-Michlig - Speech-Language Pathologist
Support Staff
Jessica Brown - 4K Office
Bele Vieira Willard - Paraprofessional
Emmalyn Grau - Paraprofessional
Sierra Lane - Paraprofessional
WSD 4K Community Sites
1500 Merrill Ave
Wausau, WI 54401
715-298-3832
Leah Bjerke
615 Stark St.
Wausau, WI 54403
715-848-0206
Alaina Lippert-Olson
707 3rd St.
Wausau, WI 54403
715-845-2177
Corina Ramos:
Sandy Readenour: