Oshkosh Early Learning Newsletter

Oshkosh Early Learning News - October 2026

If we missed you at our first event, we hope to see you at our next event in November. Check out the Family Event section of this newsletter for more information.

We are beginning our Wisconsin Act 40 Literacy screening in October. This screening tool helps us identify where your child is at with initial letter sound connections. We can adjust learning experiences for your child to support their growth between now and the end of the school year based on what we learn. All families will receive information about their child’s current benchmark scores on Monday, October 19th.

Follow the learning and fun happening in our OEL classrooms by connecting with us on social media!

Facebook @OshkoshEarlyLearning & Instagram @oelowls

Sincerely,

Beth Schendel

Principal of Early Learning

Office of Early Learning

325 S. Eagle St.

Oshkosh, WI 54901

Phone: 424-1004 Fax: (920) 236-3815

• October 7 - 📸 Peace Picture Day
• October 16 - No School All Students (Professional Development for Staff)
• October 23 - No School All Students
• October 27 - 📸 Traeger Picture Retake Day
• November 2 - 📸 Oakwood Picture Retake Day
• November 3 - Save the Date: OEL Family Event
• November 12 - 📸 Peace Picture Retake Day

All schools in the OASD are committed to living our values daily from preK all the way through high school. You can learn more about our OASD district-wide values and how we bring them to life in preschool below.

Learning to Write Names

Children’s own names are a powerful part of emergent literacy development. In school and at home, we can use children’s interest in their name to help them learn a great deal about letter/sound relationships. This is why we start teaching letters by having the child learn the letters in their name and having them write those letters.

How you can help at home:

• Have your child write his or her name with a capital letter at the beginning for the first letter and lowercase letters for the rest of the name.

• Use the way that we teach children how to write letters in the Oshkosh Area School District by looking at the attached Uppercase and Lowercase letter formation documents.

• Help your child strengthen the fine motor skills needed for writing by providing opportunities to work with

• playdough

• utensils

• scissors

• different writing tools (e.g. crayons, markers, chalk)

Here are some ways we are working on learning the letters in our names at school.

Meet Chirpy!

Has your child talked to you about Chirpy the counting cricket? Chirpy introduces our preschoolers to foundational math concepts while we review the number line. He is a fun and engaging character who pops up in our math lessons to help your child learn number games, dot patterns, and number line paths. He helps children learn counting rhymes, follow interactive number tracks (like "Chirpy's Path to 6"), and solve simple story problems.

September Math Learning

What Learning is Coming Up in October?

• Counting to 10: Children are practicing oral counting from 1 to 10. We use puppet games and daily calendar routines to make counting a playful habit.

• Matching Quantities (1 to 6): We are focusing heavily on "one-to-one correspondence"—meaning children touch one object for every number they count. They practice matching groups of objects to their written numbers.

• Comparing Sets ("More or Less"): Students look at groups of items (like a pile of yellow leaves and a pile of red leaves) to predict and determine which group has more or fewer objects.

• Sorting & Graphing: Children learn to sort objects by multiple traits, including color, shape, size, and texture. We will also introduce simple graphing by placing our sorted leaves into visual rows to count them.

• Early Measurement: We are introducing the vocabulary of measurement by directly comparing objects by length (longer/shorter) and weight (heavier/lighter) using real gourds and pumpkins.

How to Support Your Child at Home

• Take a Math Walk: Collect colorful leaves or acorns outside. Ask your child to sort them by color or size, and count how many you found.

• Play dough Numbers: Help your child roll out playdough into "snakes" to form the shapes of numbers 1 through 6.

In our classrooms the teachers are always the Safekeepers. Children are learning that the Safekeepers are there to keep them safe. The children’s number one job is to help keep it safe. Children make this commitment daily. Children are learning what it feels like, sounds like, and looks like to be safe in the classroom. Some examples include using walking feet, gentle touches, listening ears, and staying with their Safekeepers in the classrooms.

Check out some of our 4K students at Oakwood in Miss Melissa’s classroom making their commitment to keeping it safe!

Since the first day of school, our classrooms have been learning about social emotional development and engaging in various activities that support regulation. One of the structures that we put in place to support children in regulating their emotions is the “Safe Place.” The Safe Place is a self-regulation learning center. Children are learning that when big feelings arise in their bodies; sad, mad, scared, excited, etc. they can go to the Safe Place in our classroom to learn how to regulate them and sit with those feelings in a healthy and safe way. Self-regulation is built on thousands of moments of healthy co-regulation with a trusted adult. When a child uses the Safe Place, adults come and support them in using the tools to regulate their big emotions and return to learning.

Check out the Safe Place in Miss Meredith’s classroom at Peace.

In the Oshkosh Area School District we are all focusing on four core values: Integrity, Safety, Engagement, and Excellence. In 4K we are teaching these values in ways that our youngest learners can understand.

We use these visuals:

We use catchy chants like the one of Miss Abby and Miss Erika’s 4K in this video

This helps students be able to start understanding and modeling our district values.

In our classrooms students feel a felt sense of safety because they know what their day at school looks like. One way we do this is through the use of a visual schedule.

Visual schedules support young children in predicting what is coming next. When students in our classrooms ask questions about their day and when they get to do something we refer to the daily schedule. An important job in our classrooms is the “Schedule Helper.” When a child has this job, they utilize the schedule to show what we are doing, when we are doing it , and when we are done. Ask your child about their daily schedule and if they have had the opportunity to be the “Schedule Helper.”

Check out this visual schedule from Mrs. Gorski’s class at Carl Traeger.

We have several staff who are in and out of our 4K classrooms on a regular basis to provide support for teachers and students. We wanted to introduce our support staff to you so that you can put a face with a name. We’re always excited to see our Oshkosh Early Learning friends, whether it’s at school or out in the community. Here’s who may be a familiar face to your child:

In an effort to provide families with peace of mind and information about their child’s bus rides to and from school, the OASD is pleased to offer an app called Stopfinder.

Click Here to Read the Full Stopfinder Transportation Update

Note: If you have questions about Stopfinder, please reach out directly to Kobussen at (920)424-7575. For all other transportation related inquiries, please contact Teresa Doemel or Amanda Brayton in the Office of Early Learning (920)424-1004 or amanda.brayton@oshkosh.k12.wi.us and teresa.doemel@oshkosh.k12.wi.us .