Country Meadows Principal's Message - Friday, October 4, 2024

Posted October 4, 2024

Good afternoon Country Meadows families,

We started the week with an engaging presentation from Fireman Tony, who shared valuable lessons with all grade levels. We are always grateful for community members who help extend learning beyond the classroom.

Our students also reached an exciting milestone by earning 200 Golden Paws! To celebrate, we had a school-wide pajama day today, and the energy was amazing.

Looking ahead, the theme for October is Be Curious. We'll be challenging our students to embrace their curiosity, think creatively, and come up with innovative ideas. We can't wait to see their enthusiasm and the exciting things they'll explore this month!

Next week, we’re also looking forward to Family Educator Conferences—an excellent opportunity to connect, collaborate, and ensure the continued success of our students. We look forward to partnering with you!

Kindly,

Aska Lempke

Upcoming Dates & Helpful Resources

October 10 - No School - School Improvement & Fall Family/Educator Conferences
October 11 - No School | Family/Educator Conferences
October 14 - No School - District Holiday
October 22 - Early Release Day

2024-25 School Year Calendar & Hours

CM Virtual Backpack

NEW *Family Educator Conferences Sign-Up*

Families, please make sure you're signing up for Family Educator Conferences! Sign-ups will close on Monday, October 7th at 4pm. Once again, we are using Meet the Teacher as our scheduling platform for Family Educator Conferences taking place on Thursday, October 10th (5:00-8:30) and Friday, October 11th (10:00-1:30). All conferences are virtual via Meet the Teacher’s platform unless you contact the staff members and notify them. If you miss the deadline to sign-up for a spot before Monday, October 7th at 4pm, please reach out to your school's office before Thursday to set up a time to meet.

Click on the link below to sign in to Meet the Teacher or copy and paste it into a browser: https://kildeerdistrict96.meettheteacher.com

For those who may be trying to sign-up for a conference using a mobile device, please know that you may encounter issues navigating the platform. For best results, it is recommended that you try to access the link on a laptop or computer.

REPEAT *Halloween Festivities on Thursday, October 31*

On October 31st, all students will have the opportunity to participate in a parade outdoors at 1:45 pm (dependent upon the weather) as well as the classroom party. Please see the image below for families wishing to view the parade outside.

Please see some reminders below:

The parade may be viewed by families outdoors. If it rains, it will be indoors for students and staff only.
The Halloween party in the classroom is only for volunteers already identified via the PTO. At this point, you know if you are a Halloween party volunteer (if so, please no extra siblings)!

Thank you for your help with this and we look forward to the creativity from our students this day!

Once students have walked around the school, they will come back inside the building for their class party. Only Halloween party volunteers will be allowed in the building after the parade. If you are a parent volunteer for the Halloween party, you must enter through the front door and sign in as usual. If you have questions about being a party volunteer, please reach out to our PTO. As a reminder, there is no outside food allowed at Halloween parties.

If the weather does not cooperate and we are unable to have the Halloween parade outside, we will email parents before 1:00pm notifying you that the outdoor parade has been canceled.

REPEAT *IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PTO PARTY VOLUNTEERS*

Parents attending the parties may not bring additional family members, other children, etc. We need everyone to abide by this and will have to ask you to leave if you come with other attendees.

Every PTO volunteer approved to come into our school MUST have their license or ID scanned through our security system to enter. If you have never volunteered at Country Meadows then you must come in to scan your ID or license ahead of the party. You have to bring this with you or you will not be able to enter. There is typically a very long line to enter at this first party, so please anticipate this. The more people who come and complete this early, the shorter the line will be on October 31st, 2021.

REPEAT *External Assessments from 23-24 to be Sent Out

Parents and Guardians, you will soon receive something in your email inbox. The results from last year's state assessments will be electronically sent to parents on October 1st. There will be instructions on how to receive a physical copy if parents are unable to print and would like to do so. Please see the chart below on which assessments information to expect from your child.

REPEAT * Club Opportunities

*REPEAT* Post Office Club (5th Grade Students Only)

Members will learn and carry out the step by step protocols to run an interactive school wide postal service community. Children will have the opportunities to advertise, model, and distribute letter communications throughout the school. Meets Wednesdays in Mrs. Abad's Room 110 when school is in session beginning Wednesday, September 18th-Wednesday, May 21st.

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

Please contact Mrs. Abad ([email protected]) or Ms. Grossman ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

REPEAT *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]).

*REPEAT* Rise and Shine Club (1-5th Grade)

Students are invited to come in before school for a relaxing start to their day. Join us to walk and run outside while the weather is nice.

Sept. 10- Nov. 26th

April 8th- May 27th

This club starts at 7:20 am and students need to be dropped off at school.

Please contact Ms. Almdale ([email protected]), Ms. Cannistra ([email protected]), Mr. Carley ([email protected]), or Ms. Petrella ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

*REPEAT* *5th Grade Sports Club*

Students will learn some new games, strategies, and develop their skills in a variety of different sports! This club will start on Thursday, September 12th 2024 and run until May 15th 2025. The first 40 students will be accepted into after school sports. Once registration has closed, you will receive an email confirming your child has been enrolled in after school sports.

Students need to be picked up at 4pm.

Please contact Mr. Carley ([email protected]), Ms. Petrella ([email protected]), Mr. Dowdy ([email protected]), or Ms. Morales ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

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, Aska Lempke, [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: