Good afternoon Prairie Families,
We hope that you are signed up for a spring Family Educator Conference in order to check in with your child’s teacher about their progress. Please see detailed information below on how to sign up for a conference and if you run into any issues, please reach out to our front office and ask for Mrs. Michele Demas, our administrative assistant.
The 5Essentials survey for parents is open and our goal is to reach 20% participation! The 5Essentials is used for school improvement purposes and more information can be found below.
As a reminder, next week has a unique schedule due to conferences, please see the upcoming dates below.
Have a great weekend,
Ms. Lauren Delahanty
*Upcoming Dates*
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Thursday, March 20 - EARLY RELEASE DAY | Spring Family/Educator Conferences
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Friday, March 21 - NO SCHOOL | Spring Family/Educator Conferences
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Monday, March 24-28 - NO SCHOOL | Spring Break
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Monday, March 31 - School resumes
NEW *5Essentials for Parents*
It's a race against the clock and Kildeer is our first school to hit our GOAL of 20%! Each school must have 20% of its parent population take the short 5Essentials Survey by March 28th-- in order to receive their results. These results are crucial as all KCSD96 schools use this data for planning for the coming school years. Parents and guardians, please take 5 minutes of your time to complete this survey. Parent identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.
Please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UChicago Impact Survey Support at 1-866-440-1874 or [email protected].
Here are the parent response rates for schools in Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96:
Country Meadows Elem School: 5%
Ivy Hall Elem School: 4%
Kildeer Countryside Elem School: 22%
Prairie Elem School-Buffalo Grove: 5%
Twin Groves Middle School: 1%
Willow Grove Early Learning Center: 19%
Woodlawn Middle School: 3%
NEW *A Message from Officer Zuk - Important Safety Reminder*
Buckle Up for Safety!
Ensuring the safety of our students is always our top priority-- including at arrival and dismissal. Recently, it has been noticed that some children are not properly wearing their seatbelt while in the car with their families. Our Buffalo Grove Police Department School Resource Officer would like us to remind all families that:
✅ Children under 8 must be in an appropriate child safety seat or booster seat.
✅ Drivers, passengers, and children 8-16 must wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt at all times.
We greatly appreciate your partnership in maintaining safe environments at Prairie!
NEW *IAR Testing*
As required by the State of Illinois, students in grades 3 - 8 take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) each spring. This year the district will be administering the IAR to students within a window between April 2nd to April 8th. The Illinois State Board of Education does not offer an opt-out. Instead, it is considered a refusal as this is a required test by the state. Parents and guardians, please note that this test is highly important and is on par with assessments like the ACT and SAT. Additionally, this is an opportunity to build your child's test taking skills prior to attending high school. Please encourage your child to get a good amount of sleep during the window, and continue to eat nutritious and nourishing breakfasts.
REPEAT: *Family Educator Conferences Sign Ups Begin March 6th*
Family/Educator Conferences are right around the corner! Once again, we are using Meet the Teacher as our scheduling platform for conferences on Thursday, March 20th (5:00-8:30) and Friday, March 21st (10:00-1:30). Sign ups begin at 3pm on March 6th.
All conferences are virtual via Meet the Teacher’s platform unless you contact the staff members and notify them.
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Elementary school families: When you open the Meet the Teacher platform, you will see your child's classroom teacher in the list of available conference sign-ups as well as some specials teachers, special education teachers, and related service providers if your child sees them during a school day.
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Middle school families: When you open the Meet the Teacher platform, you will see one of your child's core teachers in the list of available conference sign-ups as well as exploratory teachers, special education teachers, and related service providers if your child sees them during a school day.
Please sign-up for a conference with any staff member listed who you would like to see. Meet the Teacher Conference Sign Up will close at 4:00 pm on Monday, March 17th. After that, you must contact the building administrative assistant at the school.
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.
Families with multiple students in KCSD96 may experience issues when trying to switch between sign-ups. To mitigate any problems, please try using a different browser or logging out between sign-ups.
REPEAT: *March 4th Student Registration Opens*
Student registration for the 2025-26 school year opens on March 4th. Parents and guardians of new Kindergarten students (who have submitted all required documents) and returning KCSD96 students will be emailed a link to register their child for the 2025-26 school year.
Complete registration by April 15 to receive a $20 Early-Bird discount. Families with returning students who register after April 15 will pay the standard registration fee.
Registering early helps us to plan for the upcoming school year.
Registration fees paid by April 15 for the 2025-26 school year are:
- Early Childhood Blended Tuition: $2,870 (or $335.07 monthly)
- Kindergarten: $90
- Grades 1-4: $110
- Grade 5: $120
- Grades 6-8: $135
Families new to District 96 can find more registration information here: https://www.kcsd96.org/about/registration
If you have any registration questions, please contact [email protected].
REPEAT *Kindergarten Registration*
Spread the word– Kildeer Countryside School District 96 is excited to welcome kindergarteners for the 2025–2026 school year! To ensure all students have the opportunity to build a strong and consistent educational foundation, children who are five years old on or before September 1st of a given school year will be enrolled in Kindergarten. Children who are six years old on or before September 1st of a given school year will be enrolled in first grade. In addition to the information below, we have more details on our website.
Registration Timeline:
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STARTING NOW: Begin the registration process by emailing all required documents to Cristina Castro, Administrative Assistant at Willow Grove Early Learning Center, at [email protected]. If you have a student currently enrolled in Pre-K at Willow Grove, you do not need to resubmit these documents.
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March 4, 2025: The district will send online registration links to families with approved documents.
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March 18, 2025: Dual Language Program Virtual Parent Night from 6-6:30pm. This is for parents of incoming Kindergarten students who are interested in learning more about the program. Meeting link to be provided.
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April 15, 2025: Early Bird Discount Ends for Registration. Dual Language Lottery due date.
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April 29, 2025: Virtual Dual Language Lottery at 5pm. Meeting link to be provided.
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April 30, 2025: Complete registration by this date to attend the Kindergarten Kick-Off event at Willow Grove Early Learning Center. Registered families get the sign-up right away once they are fully registered.
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May 14, 2025: Kindergarten Kickoff will be held at Willow Grove. This event is sign-up only for families who are fully registered by April 30. Students will receive a free t-shirt!
Required Documents:
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Child's birth certificate, passport, or visa
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Parent/guardian driver's license or passport
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Recent (within 30 days) mortgage statement, signed lease, or property tax bill
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Recent (within 30 days) utility bill
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Completed Enrollment Form, Residency Form, and Home Language Survey (available in multiple languages)
Please review the Health Requirements and submit the necessary health forms by the specified due dates.
For questions, contact Cristina Castro at [email protected] or call (847) 541-3660.
REPEAT *Incoming Kindergarten Dual Language Parent Night Opportunity
Interested in having your child obtain a bilingual education? The KCSD96 Spanish/English Dual Language Program is a unique and enriching opportunity in our region-- providing an opportunity for students to develop a deep academic proficiency in two languages. In the Dual Language Program, 50 percent of the academic curriculum is delivered in Spanish, and 50 percent of the academic curriculum is delivered in English.
If families are interested in the Spanish/English Dual Language Program Lottery, they must indicate so during the virtual registration process starting in March. The deadline is April 15th. The lottery will be hosted virtually on May 5th. For more information, please visit: https://www.kcsd96.org/curriculum/dual-language-lottery
KCSD96 will be hosting a Virtual Parent Night from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on March 18, 2025, for parents of incoming Kindergarten students who are interested in learning more about the Dual Language Program. To RSVP and receive the virtual meeting link, please complete this form.