Dear Kildeer Families,
What an incredible week! I can confidently say that Kildeer staff had an amazing week on behalf of all the love and outpouring of support from YOU! They were showered daily with words of appreciation, delicious treats from the PTO, and I was able to send over 150 emails this week with shout-outs from families. Our pants may be fitting a little tighter but our hearts are exploding with gratitude!
These past couple of years have been tough on us all and I have been amazed by the level of dedication from our Kildeer staff. Truly, our students are so fortunate to have educators that show up each day, committed to helping each and every child be the best version of themselves.
Kildeer, you know how I feel about you. Thank you for all that you do for kids. We hope you felt the love!
NEW *5th-Grade Musical Next Week*
Dear 5th Grade Families,
I am thrilled to finally invite you to a triumphant return to Kildeer musical performances, featuring your 5th grader! What an amazing way to end this school year!
Let me also express my extreme gratitude for your patience and flexibility as we complete what feels a bit like a lunar landing. It's been a wild ride to this finish and next week will be a great celebration.
There will be 2 performances on Wednesday, May 11th.
First, the 5th graders will perform for the entire school from... the stage! Using appropriate spacing and a largely-remote audience, we will perform starting at 2pm.
*Please see the email from Mr. Tatar with the zoom link and passcode!
Our second performance will be later that evening, with the performance beginning at 6:30pm. Call time for all students will be in the Kildeer cafeteria at 6:10pm, seated by class. From there, they will enter the performing area, which will be either the Kildeer large gym or an outdoor location.
In the spirit of flexibility, please stay tuned until early next week when we will make the official call on the evening location.
Attire for 5th graders for Wednesday, May 11th: Blue and gold and/or Kildeer wear. The performance is roughly 30 minutes long.
Thank you again for your support and patience. I can't wait for next week!
NEW* Orchestra Concert*
WHAT: 4th and 5th Grade Orchestra Spring Concert
WHEN: Thursday, May 12th, @ 5:45 pm
WHERE: Woodlawn Gym
NOTE: Students should arrive in concert attire with instrument and music by 5:00 pm for tuning and warm-up.
NEW *ART SHOW AT STEVENSON HIGH SCHOOL*
Come one, come all to the 42nd annual art fest at Stevenson High School! Many of our local artists, including Kildeer Cougars, will be featured at this annual event. We hope to see you there!
Tuesday, May 17, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Stevenson High School Fieldhouse
NEW *Kindergarteners to Visit Kildeer School*
On Tuesday, May 17th at 9:30 am, Willow Grove Kindergarten students who will attend Kildeer School in the fall will be visiting our campus. During the visit, students will meet the principals, visit first-grade classrooms, and see the school. If you know of any registered incoming 2022-2023 first-grade students who do not currently attend Willow Grove, please make them aware of this opportunity. Parents can call the office at 847.634.33242 to register their child for the tour.
Repeat *Golden Paws at Kildeer*
Week 1 Winner: 1st Grade
Week 2 Winner: 5th Grade
Week 3 Winner: TBA next week!
Golden paws are awarded to a class when they are showing Respect, Responsibility, or Kindness. Additionally, each grade level will incorporate activities and lessons over the next few weeks that focus on these key concepts. Mr. Higgins and I look forward to seeing who had the most paws for an extra recess with us! This challenge will go through the end of May and we can't wait to see where we go next!
We encourage you to ask your child what their class has done to earn Golden Paws. You can work towards showing Respect, Responsibility, and Kindness at home as well, challenge your child to come up with one way they could show each of these values at home next week!
Here are some ideas:
Kindness: Pick up litter around your neighborhood, leave a kind note for a neighbor, give a family member a compliment, or call a relative to tell them you love them
Responsibility: work on learning how to do a new chore around the house, help pack their own lunch, try to do homework without parent reminders
Respect: Be extra careful to use please and thank you, respect yourself by trying a new healthy food or outdoor activity, respect your things by keeping your room clean or making sure to put away toys you take out.
Repeat *Curriculum Home Connections*
New Resource Page Designed, with Parents in Mind
In response to some parents' questions about how to best support their children with academic work at home, the district’s Instructional Coaches designed a one-stop resource that equips these families in doing just that.
The resource is a new District web page ~ the “Home to School Connections'' ~ designed for parents and filled with invaluable links to internal and external Technology and Curriculum Resources. Under the Technology Resources heading, for instance, parents will find the usual District resources used for assistance with iPads, frequently used apps, TeacherEase, SeeSaw and Schoology.
The page also features Curriculum Resources, which presents a wealth of resources ~ sorted by grade/grade levels ~ for help with literacy, math, and the other subject areas, and links to the District’s pacing guides (which indicate what a child is expected to know at each grade level).
Families will find resources to practice high-frequency words, strengthen their mastery of math-word problems or help them write more descriptively. There is also information on supporting a multilingual student at home and 10 of the best questions to ask your student to elicit more than a ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ response about what they’re learning or experiencing at school.
The resource was debuted at Thursday night’s Thought Exchange Partnership (TEP) meeting. Check it out for yourself:
Repeat *Summer 2022 iPad Information*
All Buildings:
- Students in grades K-7 will keep their iPad and all peripherals over the summer unless they are not returning to D96 for the 22-23 school year.
- Any non-returning students will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
- Families who exit out of D96 after the last day of school will need to return all of their technology to the District Office over the summer. Any device not returned will be placed in lost mode and will not function.
- Over the summer, some apps and services will continue to work at the student’s 21-22 grade level. Apps and websites like Dreambox, Lexia, Typing Agent, (etc) will be available to use over the summer but are not guaranteed to work at all times. The technology department will only be supporting the use of these apps in ESY or Summer School.
- As we get closer to August, we will roll-up student data and new services. Apps will also become available to them relative to their 22-23 grade level.
Willow Grove Specific:
- EC iPads will be collected at the end of the year. We ask that devices and peripherals (charging cable, charging brick, and case) that are kept at home be returned to Willow Grove and made available for collection no later than Wednesday, May 25th. Note that EC students do NOT receive Logitech Crayons.
- Current Kindergarten students will keep their iPads over the summer. New grade-level content and services will be made available on their iPads sometime in August.
- Any non-returning students will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
Middle School Specific:
- 8th Grade iPad collection will happen on Wednesday, May 25th. Students will be expected to turn in their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon.
- Any non-returning students in grades 6 and 7 will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
Repeat *End of the Year Dates of Interest*
There is a LOT that happens in the last 8 weeks of school. Here are a few things you may want to know about! This does not include everything, yet puts some important dates on your radar!
- May 11: 5th Grade Musical- this is the date!
- May 17: Kindergarten transition day- Incoming Kindergarteners will take a field trip to Kildeer to meet our 1st-grade teachers and specials team. More to come from Willow Grove!
- May 18: Field Day-this fun tradition returns with a rain date of May 19. More information to come from our PE teachers.
- May 20: Family Picnic & Music performances from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th graders- This is an incredible tradition hosted by the PTO! Given that we were unable to hold musicals for all grades, 1st-4th graders will be featured this evening at the picnic. More information coming soon!
- May 31: 5th grade transition day- 5th graders will take a field trip to Woodlawn Middle School in the morning, followed by fun afternoon of activities planned by the PTO!
- June 1: 5th Grade Variety Show- we had to reschedule this a couple of times this year. More information coming about this Kildeer tradition put on by the PTO!
- June 2: Last Day of School!
NEW *MAY Vernon Area Public Library Book Talks*
For more book talk recommendations, please visit our Book Talks Help Guide at https://guides.vapld.info/booktalks. For graphic novel suggestions, please visit our J Graphic Novel Help Guide at https://guides.vapld.info/graphic novels or our Junior High Graphic Novel Help Guide at https://guides.vapld.info/jh graphic novels.
*Tech Hub*
KCSD96 Family Technology Hub! The District 96 Family Technology Hub is designed to guide families through technology tools.
Please email [email protected] with any tech-related support needed.
*** STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS***
Click HERE to see the ABC Countdown for the remainder of the school year!
*** PTO News ***
- Mark your calendars for our annual Kildeer Family Picnic on Friday, May 20th from 5-7 p.m. This is a Kildeer favorite and we hope to see you there! NOTE: All 1st-4th graders will have an opportunity to perform as a grade level at this fun event. It is tentatively scheduled for:1st at 5:30, 2nd at 5:45, 3rd at 6:00, and 4th at 6:15.
Check out the blog!
We had over 20 parents attend our breakfast on Wednesday this past week. Again, that is one small way we can return the favor to our PTO and express our gratitude for taking such good care of our students and staff. After this week, we have so much appreciation for showering us with treats in the lounge. PTO...you continue to go above and beyond!
Next week, we have another celebration. On Wednesday, May 11th it's Nurse Appreciation Day! Nurse Ali has been our rock these past couple of years so please consider passing along your gratitude for taking care of our students: [email protected].
I am personally looking forward to the weather forecast next week. I think we've all had enough of this gloomy rain. Moms....wishing you a wonderful weekend of celebrations ahead. My family and I are hanging out at one of our happy places!
Fondly,
Mrs. Vail Kieser
Principal