Country Meadows Principal's Message - Friday, September 20, 2024

Posted September 20, 2024

Good afternoon Country Meadows families,

What a fun week! On Tuesday, we had a schoolwide PRO Assembly where students were introduced to their Houses! Each class is assigned to a House Color where they show their House Spirit. Within their House Colors, each class is also assigned a Cub Buddy Classroom. Ask your child who’s their buddy classroom! At the assembly, a student in second grade won a raffle with their PAW to be featured in the Principal’s Message. Check out the photos below.

For the month of September, our Be You theme is Be Brave! We had several students that have been nominated for their bravery by the staff. The students were celebrated by their classmates and their teacher.

In just a few short weeks you will have the opportunity to meet with you at Family Educator Conferences. The conference dates are Thursday, October 9th and Friday, October 10th. Please keep an eye out for more information about conference times and signups.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kindly,

Aska Lempke

Principal

2024-25 School Year Calendar & Hours

Upcoming Dates & Helpful Resources

Friday, September 27 - Cub Crawl (Country Meadows)
Thursday, October 3 - NO SCHOOL - District Holiday

NEW *Virtual Backpack*

I want to highlight an invaluable resource available to you: the Virtual Backpack. The Virtual Backpack provides easy access to information and resources from our school, PTO, District, and community.

To help you stay connected, I’ll include a link to the Virtual Backpack in future messages and you can always access it from our website. I encourage you to explore this helpful tool!

Take a look, HERE!

NEW *Exploration Lab Materials*

Exploration Lab is always looking for paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls for design engineering projects. If you would like to save some and send them to school with your students, we will put them to good use! Thank you so much! - Mrs. Lockhart

NEW *Yearbook Club*

Yearbook club will consist of about 30 students working with Mrs.Rogers-Rivera and Miss Alper in partnership with two PTO parents to create the 2024-2025 Country Meadows Yearbook. Students will assist in designing page layouts and taking photos for the yearbook. They will also organize a theme for the yearbook and create page layouts along with any other related task to yearbook creation. We will begin Thursday, September 26th and end on Thursday, May 29th.

Students need to be picked up at 4:05 pm.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Alper ([email protected]) and Mrs. Rogers-Rivera ([email protected]).

NEW *Bus Evacuation Drill*

On Tuesday, September 24, Country Meadows will be conducting the annual Bus Evacuation Drills. This will take place in the morning as the students arrive at school.

NEW *Fire Drill*

On Thursday, September 26, Country Meadows and Woodlawn will be conducting a Fire Drill. Students will be evacuating the building during the drill. If the weather does not cooperate, we will reschedule the drill and communicate the rescheduled drill date,

REPEAT *Leaving a Positive Digital Footprint*

As we navigate an evolving digital age, it is important for our children to learn how to use technology safely and responsibly. To best support our students in developing these lifelong skills, KCSD96 will be introducing the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Lessons to our K-8 students throughout the year. These age-appropriate lessons will cover essential topics like online safety, protecting personal information, and recognizing positive and negative online behaviors. It’s important that we set our students up for lifelong success.

Common Sense is a widely-used resource used by school districts across the country, including in our region. We encourage you to review the material with your child and have open discussions about what they learn in class. You can access the resources and learn more by visiting the Common Sense Digital Citizenship website.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum

By working together, we can help our children become thoughtful, safe, and respectful digital citizens. If you have any questions, please reach out to Principal, Lauren Delahanty at [email protected].

REPEAT *FAMILY TECH TALK*

Technology plays an important and evolving role in your child's education. It's critical that you and your family have open discussions about your use of technology. KCSD96 is hosting its annual "Family Tech Talk” in the Educational Development Center (downstairs of Ivy Hall Elementary at 1072 Ivy Hall Lane, Buffalo Grove). This discussion is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24 at 7pm. Presenters are Director of Information Technology Services Bob Hanrahan and School Resource Officer Edyta Zuk. Mr. Hanrahan will talk about the district and its technology initiatives. Officer Zuk will discuss online safety awareness and tips.

If you have questions, contact the Community Parent Liaison, Lubna K. Andrabi, at [email protected]

REPEAT Parent Engagement Opportunities - GCI and TEP

KCSD96 is dedicated to fostering strong partnerships with our community, offering a range of opportunities for parent engagement. Through these programs, we empower parents to actively contribute to and enrich the educational environment for all of our students. This information, including meeting dates for the 24-25 school year, will be sent to all families in Friday's E-News. We encourage our teachers to relay this information to families who may be interested.

Guiding Coalition of Interculturalism

GCI is a learning community that reflects and connects the KCSD96 values of diversity and inclusion; aligns parents, educators, and students in cultural and educational experiences; and engages with a wide audience. This year our Bilingual Parent Advisory Council will merge with GCI to create a more cohesive group focused on cultural diversity, inclusion, and language support. We will align their missions to create a unified group that addresses both interculturalism and bilingual education and create one communication platform for parents, educators, and community members. GCI meeting dates for the 24-25 school year are:

October 1st, 2024
November 12th, 2024
January 21st, 2025
February 25th, 2025
April 22nd, 2025

Meetings are at 6:30pm in the Educational Development Center at Ivy Hall Elementary (1072 Ivy Hall Lane). Please fill this Google Form to indicate your interest. For questions, please contact, Community Parent Liaison: [email protected].

Thought Exchange Partnership

TEP offers parents the opportunity to share their thoughts and receive information about instruction, programs, and district initiatives. TEP is a committee that seeks parent feedback in developing student discipline policies and procedures related to the Student Handbook and provides information and feedback to the Board. District 96 values two-way communication, and a deep understanding of parent perception supports district planning and communication. TEP meeting dates for the 24-25 school year are: