Wilson Parent Newsletter
October 2019
Message from the Principal
Dear Wilson Families-
We are off to a great start! We have been instilling a sense of community in our classrooms with our Caring School Community social-emotional curriculum. You may have already received some familiy links from your child and teacher. A great deal of focus has been placed on developing our student's understanding of both the school expectations, procedures, routines and building strong relationships. Students learn best in an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.
During the month of October, we are also excited to share an author visit by Daniel Bernstrom for Kindergarten-2nd grade students. Mr. Bernstrom will be at Wilson on October 25th from 12:00-2:15 p.m. He will visit with each grade level for 30 minutes with a 10 minute transition time in between each session. Mr. Bernstrom will use the remainder of his visit to sign the pre-ordered books.
Please join us for our first multilingual family night of the year on October 24th from 5:30-7:00. We'll do the listening sessions FIRST (5:30-6:15) and then eat last (6:15-7:00) p.m. This is a great opportunity to listen and learn about the rich diversity in our community. All families are welcome!
For some students, we are offering two sessions of our After School Program and classroom teachers will make recommendations based on specific criteria. Please work on getting the after school paperwork filled out as soon as possible. Our after school dates are October 29th-December 19th and February 11th-March 17th.
Looking forward to continuing a great year!
Best regards,
Melodee Hoffner, Principal
Early Release Friday, Oct. 4
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- October 4 - Early release at 12:25 for Homecoming ~ A reminder that buses will run 2 hours earlier in the afternoon and school dismisses at 12:25.
- October 9 - Picture Retakes - 8:00 a.m.
- October 15 - PTO Meeting ~ 5:00
- October 17/18 - No School K-12/Education MN
- October 24 - Multilingual Family Night
- October 29 - PTO fundraiser pick up - 3:30-6:00
- October 29 - After School Program begins
- November 4 - No K-12
- November 6 - World Passport begins
- November 12 - K-5 conferences/PTO book fair
- November 14 - K-5 conferences/PTO book fair
- November 15 - K-5 conferences/PTO book fair/No School for K-5
- November 19 - PTO Meeting ~ 5:00
- November 21 - Family Night
- November 27-29 - No K-12
PTO News
We would like to thank all the Wilson students and families who joined us for the back to school ice cream social! We served over 300 people! We didn’t have the best weather but there was still a great turn out. We truly appreciate all the teachers, staff and parents who helped make it possible. And a special thank you to Hy-Vee who generously donated 14 gallons of ice cream and toppings!
Our Fall Fundraiser kick off was a success! We will have our fundraiser pick up day on Tuesday, October 29th from 3:00-6:00 p.m. at Wilson. Please make sure someone is able to pick up your items as we don’t have room to store them.
Thank you so much Wilson Families for collecting Box Tops over the summer! We were able to collect 1,475 Box Tops which equals $147.50! Way to go! Congratulations to Ms. Dobberstein’s first grade class for collecting the most Box Tops. They won an ice cream party sponsored by PTO! Don’t forget,we are still collecting the clipped Box Tops but the Box Tops program is switching to digital. All you need to do is:
1. Download the Box Tops for Education App
2. Select Wilson Elementary School
3. Scan your receipts using the App
4. Earnings will automatically be applied to Wilson
Congratulations to Andrew Mitchell for winning the grand prize of an Amazon Fire Tablet and Harper Johnson for winning 2 tickets to the Science Museum of Minnesota for the iLearn contest! Students who turned in their summer iLearn calendars were given a party with cookies and prizes on September 25th! Great work Wilson students!
If you are able, please come to our next meeting on October 15th at 5:00 p.m. in the Teacher’s Lounge! We would love for other parents to join us in helping make Wilson great for our students. We offer free, on site child care for parents during the meeting. Please email wilsonpto1@gmail.com to take advantage of this.
Don’t forget – follow us on Facebook!
Visitors to School
A reminder about the visitor policy that started with Owatonna Public Schools in March of 2018. With so many new families starting at Wilson each year we thought it would be helpful to share the details of the visitor management system.
Upon entering a school building, visitors will be asked to present an ID such as a driver’s license, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our schools without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only national database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency.
Once entry is approved, the greeter will print a name sticker that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.
The safety of students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those who may present a danger. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support for enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.
Physical Education News
Willie’s 10 mile Club is up and running! Students can now log laps they run, jog or walk during recess and PE to earn cool foot trinkets. For every 10 miles completed a new foot trinket is added to the dog tag. What a great way to stay active during recess and motivate some of our students to complete laps at school!
Want to stay up to date with what’s happening in our gyms? Check out or Wilson Wildcat Physical Education facebook page or follow @HoltphyED on twitter!
School Attendance
Unexcused Absences include but may not be limited to the following:
- Absence not approved by the parents and/or the school district
- Absence where parent failed to comply with reporting the absence to the school
- Needed at home
- Stayed home to babysit
- Overslept
- Missed bus
- Too cold
- Family vacations exceeding five days per school year
- Absences resulting from cumulated unexcused tardies (three tardies equal one unexcused absence)
Please call the attendance line at 444-8405 prior to 9:00 a.m. if your child will be absent.
Fire/Lock down/Tornado Drill
Red Ribbon Week - October 29-November 2
Our community and schools will celebrate Red Ribbon Week during the month of October. This is an annual national drug prevention celebration. The D.E.A. estimates that over 80 million people celebrate this event! Adults can support our youth to make a pledge to live a drug free life. All students will be offered the RED WRISTBAND symbolic of this pledge. Discount fliers will be available for students from local businesses for free/discounted items for wearing their bands throughout the week. OHS S.H.O.C. (Students helping Others Choose”) is active during the week along with local Noon Kiwanis. A variety of activities are hosted for our youth. Our schools will have Red adorning hallways, pledge banners and OMS/OHS prevention lunch booths. There will be a 4th grade prevention poster contest and pizza party honoring poster winners on Friday 11-1-19. SHOC /Kiwanis provide food and fun for the afternoon. Many of these posters will be displayed in local storefronts. Families are encouraged to attend our RRW “Kickoff” event in Central Park from 5-6:30 p.m. on Monday 10-28-19. SHOC will engage kids in fun games & activities, face painting, and pledge booths. Kiwanis will serve a free meal and root beer for all who attend. SHOC partners with our Steele Co. Safe & Drug Free Coalition hosting prevention booths with a variety of information and drug prevention promotional items. Also attending are school administrators, local law enforcement, SADFC members, United Way representatives and Mayor Kuntz. Support our youth and encourage each of them to make a pledge to live a drug free lifestyle!! Parents are also encouraged to become involved in our community drug prevention coalition! You may receive information on how to get involved down at the park on Monday night. Hope to see you down at Central Park on October 28!
Nancy Williams, MSW LICSW
School Social Worker & SHOC Advisor
Owatonna Public Schools
Building Readers
Office Information
School Hours (7:55-2:25)
325 Meadow Lane
507-444-8400 (Main Line)
507-444-8405 (Attendance Line)
Health Office Hours (7:45-2:45)
Spanish Liaison Hours (7:45-2:30)
Somali Liaison Hours (8:45-12:45)
Reminders
- Call the office before 9:00 a.m. if your child will be absent.
- The first bell rings at 7:50 and students are able to enter the building at that time. If students enter the building after 7:55 they need to check in at the office as they will be marked tardy.
- Please check the lost and found area as many items are there waiting to be claimed.
- Please remember to notify the office if you have a phone, address or email change.
Lunch Schedule
Please feel free to stop in and have lunch with your child. Remember to bring your photo ID (driver's license) to the office and receive a visitor badge.
2nd grade
- 10:50-11:10 recess
- 11:10-11:30 lunch
5th grade
- 11:00-11:20 recess
- 11:20-11:40 lunch
4th grade
- 11:30-11:50 lunch
- 12:00-12:20 recess
Kindergarten
- 11:20-11:40 recess
- 11:40-12:00 lunch
1st grade
- 11:55-12:15 lunch
- 9:25 recess
3rd grade
- 11:55-12:15 recess
- 12:15-12:35 lunch