Country Meadows Families,
What a fast and exciting first week of remote learning! If you haven’t heard by now, Zoom had a nationwide outage on our first day of remote learning. Thank you for your patience with the Monday morning challenges. Part of what makes Country Meadows a great place to be is the incredible patience, support and compassion of our community. We value your partnership. We are excited to welcome you to our virtual curriculum night next week, so please make sure to see the additional information below. Additionally remember you have opportunities to connect with your child’s teacher via parent office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. If you haven’t obtained the link to these opportunities, you can do so by connecting with your child’s teacher. We hope everyone has a great weekend, and we look forward to another great week of learning next week!
Kindly,
Meghan Bird - Principal
NEW *Curriculum Night Dates/Info*
Save the Date! Curriculum Night will be Sepetember 2nd. Curriculum Night will be a virtual opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher. We will be sharing what your children will be learning and teachers review routines and classroom procedures, etc. It’s a nice evening to get to know your child’s teacher and our school. More details will be forthcoming!
Willow Grove Early Childhood & Kindergarten: September 1 at 6:30 PM
Elementary Grades 1 & 2: September 2 at 6:30 PM
Elementary Grades 3-5: September 2 at 7:15 PM
NEW *A Special Message from our School Resource Officer*
Buffalo Grove School Resource Officer Essig introduces himself and shares encouraging words for students starting this new school year.
Buffalo Grove School Resource Officer Greeting for Students (video: 30 sec.)
NEW *Teacher Absence Protocol*
In the event that any of your child's teachers are absent, we have initiated a teaching partner system. Because our teachers plan instruction collaboratively as grade-level and specials teams, the teaching partner system will provide students the opportunity to learn grade-level material with students in another teacher's classroom in your child's home building or possibly across the district for specials. We believe this provides the best possible scenario for our students. In the event that partner teachers are unavailable, back-up plans have been put into place.
Building administrative assistants will notify families via email of any absences and provide directions for how students should access Zoom links. Students in grades 4-5 will also receive this email directly. Classroom teacher Zoom links will be changed to the partner teacher's Zoom session when a teacher is absent. Students should click on their classroom teacher's usual Zoom link, and it will automatically send them to the partner teacher's Zoom session. For specials, a section will exist on the teacher Clever login page with access to partner teacher links. When there is a substitute for a specials teacher, the classroom teacher will guide students regarding how to access their specials class. This process will be in place beginning on Monday, August 31, 2020.
NEW *Tech Hub*
KCSD96 Family Technology Hub! The District 96 Family Technology Hub is designed to guide families through technology tools related to Enhanced Remote Learning. On this site you can find links to the recordings and the corresponding Slides decks for the parent/family informational sessions from last week. You can also find tutorials on how to use ZOOM, Schoology, Seesaw, Clever, Notability, and other iPad essential tools for student learning. Additionally there is a link to email the technology support desk. Please save or bookmark this site. It will be updated with tools, resources, and tutorials through remote learning to better support your family.
New *MAP Testing*
NWEA MAP, or the Measure of Academic Progress, is a normed referenced, computerized adaptive test which helps teachers, parents, and administrators improve learning for all students and make informed decisions to promote a child's academic growth. Like in previous years, all students will be taking the MAP test in reading and math during the school day. Testing will take place during the MAP window, September 8-18. Your child’s teacher will be in communication regarding details and the specific dates of testing in the coming week.
NEW *Yearbook Photo Upload*
As you can imagine, we can use all the help we can get with collecting photos for the yearbook this year! If you have 1st day of school pictures or any remote learning pictures you would like to share, please use this information to upload your photos.
Please go to www.hjeshare.com and enter the CM eShare code: CM2021
They can also simply go to http://www.hjeshare.com/eShare/?code=CM2021 to bypass the login screen.
NEW *PTO Blog*
Please take a moment to read the PTO blog this week!
REPEATING *Family Expectations in the Remote Learning Environment*
We appreciate all that parents are doing to create a conducive learning environment at home. Please refer to the Family Expectations in the Remote Learning Environment / Expectativas de la Familia Durante el Aprendizaje a Distancia document for information to enhance your child(ren)’s remote experience.
REPEATING *Tech Support*
As students are home with their iPad devices to access remote learning plans, we do anticipate there may be some tech needs that arise. If you run into any difficulty with your child’s school iPad, just send us an email explaining your problem and we can support you and your device. Please email [email protected] with any tech related support needed.
If we did not have your child’s iPad at Material Pick-Up, contact [email protected]. They will check the status of your child’s enrollment and work to provide your child’s iPad as quickly as possible. Pick-up for all tech related items will be housed through Ivy Hall School.
REPEATING *Remember to Meet Health Form Requirements*
Health form requirements vary by grade level and for new/returning students. New to District 96 (all grade levels)? See MORE INFO regarding grade-level specific health form requirements.
All students entering Kindergarten must have their CERTIFICATE OF CHILD HEALTH EXAMINATION/IMMUNIZATION FORM (signed by the physician) on file in the school office by October 15, 2020.
All students entering Kindergarten must have their Vision Examination Form by October 15, 2020.
All students entering Kindergarten must have a DENTAL EXAMINATION FORM on file at their school office by May 15, 2021.
All students entering Grade 2 must have a DENTAL EXAMINATION FORM on file at their school office by May 15, 2021.
All students entering Grade 6 must have their CERTIFICATE OF CHILD HEALTH EXAMINATION/IMMUNIZATION FORM (signed by the physician) on file in the school office by October 15, 2020.
Additional Grade 6 health form requirements include the DENTAL EXAMINATION FORM by May 15, 2021.
REPEATING *See the Revised Quicklist 20–21 Calendar*
Please see the Revised Quicklist 2020–21 CALENDAR, including school hours information and dates for Early Release Days, Half Days, holidays, and winter/spring breaks.
REPEATING *Supporting Our D96 Community Families*
The pandemic is creating challenging situations for many families in our community.
Community members who are able to are invited to donate these items: macaroni & cheese (cups or boxes), canned foods (veggies/fruits/tuna/chicken/beans), granola bars, tortillas, cheese (shredded/sliced), eggs, deli meats, frozen ground beef/chicken.
Please deliver to collection boxes outside the Exceptional Learners Collaborative (ELC) front entrance, 990 Corporate Woods Parkway, Vernon Hills, from 8 AM–3 PM. Please observe social distancing when delivering donations and ring the doorbell when delivering perishable foods and/or gift cards.
Questions? Contact [email protected]