NEWS ALERT!!!
Great things are happening at Jefferson Preschool!
Click on the links and pictures below to see the highlights!
In May 2008
Thank you to the employees of First Choice Bank in Wheaton Illinois who came
to Jefferson Preschool to conduct
a service project.
They came ready to work as they helped mulch, edge,
plant and transplant bulbs to make the area around
our Jefferson Preschool
sign look beautiful!
In February 2008
Jefferson Preschool participated in a nation wide
Jump Rope For Heart campaign to raise money for the
American Heart Association. The event took place on Friday, February 15th during each classroom's regular gym time.
Thank you to all the families and staff for raising $2,659 for this
worthy cause. We couldn’t have done it without the help and support of our volunteers which
included Ginger Maurer, Kathleen Gerhart and Sue McFarlene, Kathleen Gerhart, Lea Lamb,
Donna Johnson, Sara Kud, Julie Rodriguez and Martha Aderholdt. A very special thank you
also goes to Sara Kud, Cathy Maurer, Terri Donahue, Pam Carey and Martha Aderholdt who
spearheaded our first Jump for Heart event.
Preschool Grant: Thank you to Pam Williams who wrote and received a $750.00 grant from Wal-Mart on behalf of the PTA and Jefferson Preschool. This money will be used to purchase instructional materials for the classrooms.
In December 2007
Monroe Middle School Book Buddies - Another wonderful school partnership has begun between Monroe Middle School and Jefferson Preschool Students. Monroe students come to spend quality time with our preschoolers working on reading together, writing and eventually publishing their own special books that they have created together! Thank you Monroe!
In November 2007
Veteran's Day 2007: America the Beautiful. Jefferson Preschool celebrated Veteran’s Day with many Jefferson family members who
are veterans or who are currently serving in the military. The children paraded to the
ceremony while waving their flags to patriotic music. The Color Guard Team from the
Marmion Military Academy, under the direction of Sergeant Major John Gissel, joined us to
present the flag for the morning ceremony. The Color Guard from Wheaton College, under
the leadership of Staff Sergeant Robert Metzger, presented the flag in the afternoon.
Staff and students watched as the flag was presented, everyone recited the Pledge of
Allegiance, and the children gave thank you cards to the veterans in attendance and sang a
special “thank you” song to them.
A student representative from each class “mailed” a handmade card in a life size mailbox to
troops overseas.
These cards, along with care packages created from Jefferson family
contributions, will be sent to troops stationed overseas via Illinois Operation Support Our
Troops. Additional child crafted cards were given to veterans at the DuPage Convalescent
Center.
The ceremony concluded with Emily DeSouza and Amy Norton singing “America the
Beautiful” and the entire audience joined in singing “The Star Spangled Banner” as images of Jefferson students and veterans filled the screen.A heartfelt thanks goes to Deborah Johnson, committee chair, Sara Kud, Diana Newberry,
Amy Norton, Emily Desouza, Bertie Lazzari, Lori Roberton, Sharon Doll, Diane Wheeler,
Meghan Antioho and Judy Wynn. This year Deborah Johnson and Diana Newberry represented the children and families of
Jefferson Preschool on WETN radio. We believe the community has a better awareness of
how our youngest learners in District 200 have learned more about our veterans and
reached out to the many brave men and women serving our country.
On behalf of the Jefferson staff, we thank all of the courageous men and women who make
incredible sacrifices for our freedom everyday. We Honor, Remember and Thank You!
In October 2007
SHARING A VISION: is an approved Professional Development Provider by the Illinois State Board of Education—State Teacher Certification Board. This program was spearheaded by Kris Stoffels and Marlene Byron and was funded by the New 200 Foundation Mini-Grant two years ago. The conference was held in Springfield Illinois on October 17-19, 2007
CATCHING THE DREAM: Reach Your Goals-Use Your Ideas-Invent Your Own Dreams and Visions. Cassi Williston, Mary Iffert and Joanne Metoyer have been awarded a grant by Sea200 to institute their support group, Catching the Dream. This group has been created for children who have a sibling with a special need. There will be 4 sessions this fall for siblings ages 3rd - 5th grade. In spring there will be a session for K - 2nd grade.
DUPAGE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM: Marcia McRae from the DuPage Children’s Museum (DCM) worked with some of the classes at Jefferson Preschool on October 2nd to create art work which will be exhibited at the new Good Show! Gallery, “ Sea of Shape and Pattern”. This show is open to area families.
In September 2007
HUBBLE MIDDLE SCHOOL- A school partnership has begun with Hubble Middle School as students accompanied by Social Worker Maureen Henry come twice a month to help in classrooms and to interact with our preschool students. Thanks Hubble!
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY - Jefferson Preschool has had many visitors from our community! A local firefighter and police officer have visited some of the preschool classes during community helper units. Many of the classes have visited the Wheaton fire dept and had tours of their firehouse. We will have various visitors from the community including local dentists, pediatricians, veterinarians.
In May 2007
SHARING A VISION: The Showcasing Committee has selected Jefferson Preschool's application to present "Our Together Time" which is designed to instruct students by combining the self-contained and tuition-based preschool classes for units of instruction. This program was spearheaded by Kris Stoffels and Marlene Byron and was funded by the New 200 Foundation Mini-Grant two years ago. The conference will be held in Springfield in October!
There was 1 New 200 Foundation Mini-grant awarded to
Jefferson Preschool!
Teachers Kris Stoffels and Marlene Byron were awarded the grant. The grant is intended for use in the Jefferson garden. Now the teachers will be able to expand the garden in size, buy new tools and implement other activities to do (composting and worm farm) as part of "together time" !
In April 2007
Exchange Club Grant
We are pleased to announce that Martha Aderholdt, Physical therapist, applied for and was awarded a grant on behalf of Jefferson Preschool.
Grant monies will be used to purchase equipment for the playground and gym!
Yang Wei gave a cultural arts assembly for the morning class on Wednesday, April 25th at 9:30. He is a famous musician who has played with YoYo Ma. His instrument is called the Pipa, a chinese lute-like instrument.
In March 2007
Jefferson Preschool received NAEYC Accreditation Recertification for 2007!
Congratulations on maintaining NAEYC Accreditation and engaging in continuous improvement to provide high quality care and education for the children and families you serve!
From: NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation
Students win VFW Post 2164 Coloring Contest!
Kelby D., Abby B., Caroline and
Natalie G., Tony P., Emily M., Jack B., Diana O. and Sadie M. who have won the VFW Post 2164’s annual pre-school coloring competition. All winning entries have been sent to the VFW Post in Batavia for district judging which will occur in April. One entry from the regional competition will be selected to
go onto the state competition. Congratulations and good luck to all of our Jefferson artists!
In November 2006
A heartfelt thanks goes to Deborah Johnson, committee chair, Judy Wynn and Susan Sauer. The committee was instrumental in spearheading the planning and coordination of all activities leading to and including the Veterans Day ceremony. Due to the outstanding activities planned, the children have a better understanding of Veterans Day and honoring the many brave men and women who protect us and keep our country safe.
It has been our honor to represent the children and families of Jefferson Preschool on WGN-TV and WETN radio. We believe the community has a better awareness of how our youngest learners have reached out to the many brave men and women serving our country by teaming up with Operation Support our Troops to provide needed items to soldiers serving overseas.
On behalf of the Jefferson staff, we thank all of the courageous men and women who make incredible sacrifices for our freedom everyday.
We Honor, Remember and Thank You!
Click here for highlights
In October 2006
Miss Kris and Miss Marlene's AM and PM classes harvested pumpkins, watermelon and gourds that they had planted the previous spring. Photographers from the Daily Herald and The Wheaton Leader came and took pictures and put an article in the papers!
Click here to see the articles! 
The Daily Herald
The Wheaton Leader
In September 2006
New Family Welcome!
Families had an opportunity to tour our facility and investigate all of the resources available at Jefferson.
In May 2006
We invited our grandparents to Jefferson Preschool. We had a great day!
See the special photographs!
In April 2006
Thank you City of Wheaton for our 
beautiful new tree!
Happy Arbor Day! The City of Wheaton selected Jefferson preschool
as the site of this year’s Arbor Day
celebration.
On Friday April 28th AM
classes sang a special song and helped plant a tree in the front of the building with
the
Mayor Jim Carr of Wheaton.
This event will be aired on the local cable station. Wheaton channel 10.
Visit our "Garden of Gratitude"
Thank you to all of our
special
PTA volunteers.
On Monday April 24,
We have 40 PTA parent volunteers being honored for chairing PTA committees or volunteering at PTA Functions.
Some of the many activities include: The Hay Ride, Ice Cream Social,
Fun Fair, Book Fair/Grandparents Day, Teacher Appreciation,
Spirit wear, Beautification of our school and
our Library Helpers.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
We are growing in many ways because of you!
In November 2005
We Honor, Remember and Thank you!
As part of Jefferson’s observance of Veteran’s Day, November 11th, we would like to recognize all those connected with Jefferson School students (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc.) who are currently serving in the military or have done so at any time in the past. If you have a family member who is a veteran or who is presently serving in the service, please make sure you complete a “star form” by the end of this week. We will display these pictures in our hallways for all the children to see.
The children will also be decorating cards that will be sent to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cards will be placed in packages sent by Operation Support Our Troops Illinois. If you are interested in donating an item for the care package, we will be glad to have it delivered along with the cards.
Hurricane Katrina Update!!! The items collected by both Emerson and Jefferson students and staff left November 4, 2005 for Gretna, LA. It should be arriving in
Louisiana sometime next week.They are very appreciative at
George Cox Elementary School of the help we are sending their way. Please let your students know their efforts are really appreciated.
In September 2005
We will be participating in helping the George Cox Elementary School in hurricane stricken
Gretna, Louisiana with supplies for children and
staff during the
course of the school year.
IT will be a joint effort with
the school staff,
families, and PTA organization. Children will be bringing
in donations
and writing letters to the students at this school. Staff will be
in contact
with the staff there through e-mail. We hope to instill a keen sense
of
community responsibility in our students.
Congratulations to last year's MDA Hop-a-Thon participants
who raised over $4,500 to support families in our
community living with neuromuscular diseases. Representatives of the Jefferson Preschool will present live
on the WGN Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon on Monday,
September 5th between the hours of 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
In May 2005
Staff members Sue Whittaker, Judy Lutz, Mary Kalitzky, Amy Norton, and
Denise Murzyn along with student Jack Kleve and his mother Andrea Kleve presented the specialized technology used within the classroom at Tech 2005 in Springfield, Illinois. Among the honored guests were Senator Peter Roskam, Representative Randall Hultgren, and Representative Sandra Pihos.
There were 2 New 200 Foundation Mini-grants
awarded to
Jefferson Preschool!
Cassi Williston and Joanne Metoyer were awarded a $500.00 grant to develop workshops for siblings of children with special needs!
Kris Stoffels and Marlene Byron were awarded a $500.00 grant to expand “together time” by promoting joint classroom activities between self-contained and tuition-based preschool classes!
In February 2005
NAEYC Accreditation – Jefferson Preschool earned accreditation from the National Association for
the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) – the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals.
A Special thank you goes to Representative Randall Hultgren and the
Junior League of Kane and DuPage County, Inc.
Jefferson Preschool accepted the Gift of $100 as presented from the Junior League of Kane and DuPage Counties, Inc. in the name of State Representative Randall Hultgren. The check was used to purchase accessible computer software for the preschool students.
Congratulations to All!