All Things SLI

What a great Homecoming Week ! We hope to see you in the parade crowd today. Give us a shout and wave. SLI will be Going for the Gold with our float. A big shout out to our Homecoming Float Club staff and students, our float is certainly deserving of a gold medal.

Thank you families for your generous candy donations. It isn't a parade float without candy to hand out to the crowd.

This week we finished up our four conflict & bullying lessons during our Cyclone Circle period of the day. Our lessons focused on: What is Conflict? What is Bullying? Roles in Bullying - Teasing, "Snitching" & Reporting and Class Pledges. Look for our homeroom pledges next week in our newsletter. Intermediate school students go through a lot of changes from when they start in 5th grade and leave us ready for high school. It is very important that we work together in partnership to help your child connect, explore, and soar at Silver Lake.

While it seems like a long way away, just a reminder that Monday, Oct. 9, is a professional development day, and there will be no school for students that day.

Have a great fall weekend!

All my best,

Jill Marr

SLI Principal

Support Oconomowoc Athletics and save money too! Please support the Oconomowoc Sports Booster Club with the $20 purchase of a Raccoon Card. It saves you money throughout the community at area businesses and restaurants while supporting programs for student athletes. Click on the link to order your Raccoon Card from the athletic webstore. All orders will be mailed to the address associated with your webstore account.

https://oconomowoc.revtrak.net/booster-clubs/oconomowoc-sports-booster-club/#/v/athletics-raccoon-card

OASD is committed to developing skills and habits that will ensure our students will graduate ready for success in career, college, and life. We have articulated these characteristics, or life-ready skills, in our Graduate Profile and they include strong communication, leadership, life balance, scholarship, citizenship, and problem-solving abilities.

This year, our students will learn, develop, and practice these life-ready skills and habits so that our future OASD graduates are prepared to balance various life aspects including academic, emotional, social, physical, and financial well-being, to lead a healthy and well-rounded life after high school.

Students will learn about these life-ready skills in different ways, based on their age. This Life Ready Parent Information Guide contains information for grades 5-8.

To help us better understand which life-ready skills our students have already learned and which may still need to be developed, our staff will once again use the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) in our 5th-8th grade classrooms this fall. DESSA is a research-based tool, where teachers can indicate how often a student has demonstrated specific life-ready skills within the past month. The DESSA is completed by your child’s teacher based on observations of student interaction in the classroom, it is not completed by students. The DESSA evaluates skills like persistence at challenging tasks, making good decisions, working well with others, and a variety of other skills that are included as desired characteristics of an OASD graduate in our Graduate Profile.

A few of the questions that teachers will observe and answer are:

• During the past 4 weeks, how often did the child contribute to group efforts?

• During the past 4 weeks, how often did the child perform the steps of a task in order?

• During the past 4 weeks, how often did the child show creativity in completing a task?

School staff will use information from DESSA for future planning and programming within the classroom, school, and district-wide. Our goal is to ensure that your child is continuously developing the skills they need for lifelong success.

If you would like to opt-out of this assessment please email your school office to make that request. Email addresses and contact information for our schools are available on our website.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2260 in Oconomowoc is now accepting entries for its 2023-2024 Voice of Democracy scholarship competitions. America’s middle school students will be required to answer, “How are you inspired by America?”

Our post is providing monetary prizes of $100, $50, and $25 to our top three winners and will also send forth our best essay to (hopefully) compete at the district, state, and national levels. We are only accepting applications from middle school students who are registered at Nature Hill, Silver Lake, and Lake Country Classical Academy.

Encouraging a better understanding and appreciation for America, the VFW’s Voice of Democracy (for high schoolers) and Patriot’s Pen (for middle schoolers) essay competitions help foster patriotism among today’s youth. The programs also offer friendly competition as well as reward success in the form of individual scholarships totaling more than $3 million.

Open to all students in grades 6-8, more than 68,800 students participate annually in the Patriot’s Pen essay competition. Syed Ali, the 2021-2022 Patriot’s Pen first place winner, was sponsored by VFW Post 521 and its Auxiliary in New Iberia, Louisiana.

If any of your students would like to participate, please have them complete the enclosed application form with all required signatures. All essays must be typed in English with no color or graphics. They must be 300-400 words in length and every word is counted, regardless of length. A copy of the entry form and the program rules will be dropped off at your school this week. Forms can also be reproduced locally.

Entries will be collected at SLI on OCTOBER 23rd, 2023. For any entries submitted after this date, please have the students drop them off directly to the VFW Post in Oconomowoc. The post canteen is open from 3pm to 9pm on most days. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 31st, 2023. No late entries will be allowed.

If you have any questions regarding this competition, please feel free to reach out to Russ Bachman (Scholarship Committee Chair) at phone number 860-839-7800 or the undersigned at phone number 262-354-2700.

This is a friendly reminder that families may not drop off or pick up in the staff parking lot. With buses and staff leaving it is a safety concern for students to be walking through the lot. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

• New students or students who were absent during the original picture day/s should come to the camera on Retake Day.
• Students who would like a retake must bring their original portrait packet to the camera and return it to the photographer.

When families register their child for a club or sport, part of the registration process is for both parent/guardian and student electronically sign the Random Drug Testing Policy consent form. Here are links to the policy and frequently asked questions. Thank you for supporting a safer learning environment within our schools and establishing a stronger culture of drug disapproval within the school community.

Random Drug Testing Policy

Frequently Asked Questions

Mr. Bruns give the Chain of Awesomeness to Mrs. Zupke who in turn gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Michael B. Michael consistently volunteers in the classroom and engages in whole group discussions. He is able to balance his wonderful sense of humor with completing tasks in the classroom. Michael is kind to his peers in and out of the classroom.

Kimberely N. gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Mrs. Nettesheim who in turn gives the Chain of Awesomes to Riley C. Riley is such a hard worker. He is also kind and helpful. I am so proud of him.

Michael B. gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Mrs. Cavanna who in turn gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Cassie L. Cassie continually helps build community in our English Language Arts class. She is a creative thinker who has a strong sense of her own ideas; yet at the same time she is leader in being open-minded and accepting of her peers.

Cassie L. gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Miss Ryoo who in turn gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Corbin A. Corbin does his best to participate in orchestra class, comes in prepared, and shares his love for music every class! He is a respectful and responsible student.

Riley C. gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Mrs. Teske who in turn gives the Chain of Awesomeness to Emme S. Emme is such a sweet and hardworking young lady! She is respectful, kind to all, and a great example in the classroom. I see her getting more and more comfortable to share her great ideas with her classmates. I am so lucky to have her in my class this year - she is just awesome!

SLI Cyclones girls basketball hard at work against Frank Lloyd Wright Wildcats.

Daily reading is important for students to strengthen their literacy skills and we seek to provide a variety of reading materials for students to access at school. We also want to ensure that parents have the ability to review their child’s reading choices and provide input on the types of materials they can access.

If you would like to access your child’s district library account to view their check outs, you can do so by logging in as your child through Classlink (our single-sign-on system available through the district website Quick Links). Once logged into Classlink, users have access to a listing of all of the books available to check out through our school libraries by clicking on Destiny Discover (physical books) or Sora (electronic books and audiobooks). Students can provide parents/guardians with their login information for Classlink.

Access to digital and print library books is determined by grade level (K-5 Juvenile/Elementary, 6-8 Young Adult/Middle School, 9-12 Adult/High School). If you would like to request restricted or extended access for your child(ren) that differs from this list, please complete this online form.

Questions about this information can be directed to library@oasd.org. All other inquiries should continue to be directed to your school libraries.

Parents of students 16 and younger seeking a work permit, will now log on to the Department of Workforce Developments page and use their permit application tool. Here is the link: Work Permit.

This new system will allow you to apply for a permit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer, tablet or smartphone. You will make your payment through the system as well. The department will mail a paper copy of the permit directly to your child's employer.

Want to see pictures of students and events happening during the school day?

Want reminders of upcoming events?

Follow SLI on Social Media! We welcome new followers.

We can all prevent suicide. Understanding the issues concerning suicide and mental health is an important way to take part in suicide prevention, help others in crisis, and change the conversation around suicide.

Find resources at

https://988lifeline.org/how-we-can-all-prevent-suicide/

Ask - Research shows people who are having thoughts of suicide feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way. Findings suggest acknowledging and talking about suicide may reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation.

Be There - Individuals are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful after speaking to someone who listens without judgement.

Keep Them Safe - A number of studies have indicated that when lethal means are made less available or less deadly, suicide rates by that method decline, and frequently suicide rates overall decline.

Help Them Stay Connected - Studies indicate that helping someone at risk create a network of resources and individuals for support and safety can help take positive action and reduce feelings of hopelessness.

Follow Up - Studies have also shown that brief, low cost intervention and supportive, ongoing contact may be an important part of suicide prevention, especially for individuals after they have been discharged from hospitals or care services.

Learn More about How and Why the 5 Steps Can Help by visiting: https://www.bethe1to.com/bethe1to-steps-evidence/

Call or text 988. Last year, 988 was activated as a new three-digit dialing code. When someone dials 988, they will be connected to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This confidential support line is available 24 hours a day to provide free help to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress. Learn more about 988 at: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988

Here is the family technology presentation in case you missed it or were unable to attend during our Open House. If you want to know how to connect to your child's Canvas courses, utilize GoGuardian Parent App, or know about technology your child is using at school, check out our the presentation.

Emily Cornell, is SLI's technology coach. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to her cornelle@oasd.org.

Tech Presentation

Go Riteway is looking to hire Oconomowoc bus drivers! We appreciate our bus drivers for safely transporting our students around our district for the school day and also driving students to athletic, academic and numerous other events. They truly keep our district running! Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/3KxDdYS

Our school needs more short-term substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and custodians - can you help?

As a short-term sub, you have the flexibility to choose which school you would like to work at, and what schedule works best for you. Use this online form for a fast and easy application process if you’re interested in joining the OASD as a short-term substitute.

Long-term substitute teacher, paraprofessional, and custodian positions are also available at all of our OASD schools. You can apply online through WECAN for a long-term position by creating an account, then searching for Oconomowoc Area School District in the support staff section.

Please consider working for the OASD and making a positive impact on our school and students!