Friday is here and just like Loverboy says, everybody is “Working for the Weekend.” (Ask Alexa to play that one) It was a shorter week with Monday off, but it seems like five days worth of stuff gets stuffed into four days. We had two amazing concerts here this week with our band and orchestra playing. Talented artists with our amazing leaders in Mrs. Wronkiewicz and Mr. Craw. Check out the blog this week.
NO SCHOOL NEXT FRIDAY, March 3rd
NO SCHOOL MONDAY, March 6th
NEW *Student Led Conferences*
Student Led Spring Conferences will be held on Thursday, March 23rd from 5:00pm to 8:30pm and Friday, March 24th from 10:00am to 1:30pm.
Conferences will be 20 minutes in length for students in grades 1 - 8. Students in kindergarten and early childhood will have 15 minute conferences, and students in Guided, Structured, and ILC classrooms will have 15 minute conferences.
During the conferences students will be guiding their parents/guardians through a reflective presentation regarding the progress they have made this year as well as areas of strength and growth. After the presentation has concluded students will be able to provide a tour of other learning spaces in the school.
The Meet the Teacher sign up will be open to parents at 5:00pm on Monday, March 6th, and it will close on Sunday, March 19th at 11:55pm. After that you will need to call the school office to schedule a conference.
Please Note: All student led conferences will be held in-person. There will be no remote option for Student Led Spring Conferences. If you are unable to attend in-person, students will be able to share their presentations at home.
Because conferences are student led, there will be no conferences scheduled or provided between the parent and teacher only.
NEW *Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR)*
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 Tuesday, March 7th through Monday, March 13th. Prairie Elementary and Kildeer Countryside Elementary have been selected for a field test this year, which will be administered on Tuesday, March 14th.
Woodlawn PTO Presents The Spring Fling 2023
Wednesday, March 15th, 2:30 - 5pm
Purchase your wristband and discounted raffle ticket bundles starting Saturday, March 4th thru Saturday, March 11th via Membership Toolkit!
$10 wristband purchase includes food, games, and entertainment… Photo booth – Gaming Truck – Prizes – Ping Pong - 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament – Raffle Baskets Plus one raffle ticket for a chance to win awesome raffle basket prizes!
* Baskets include: gift cards, candy, Lululemon, Woodlawn and Stevenson spirit wear, spa/nails, gaming and so much more!!!
- Raffle ticket bundles purchased online are $10 for 12 tickets. (After online sales close, they will be $10 for 11 tickets.)
- Online ticket sales will be available through Saturday, March 11th EOD.
- After this deadline, students can still purchase wristbands and raffle tickets during their lunch periods.
*Raffle ticket bundles will be available for pick up Monday 3/13 - Wednesday 3/15. *Wristbands will be distributed the day of the event, Wednesday 3/15 during lunch hours.
- Cash and checks accepted (payable to Woodlawn PTO).
- Students wearing school spirit wear or their favorite professional team jersey, receive an extra raffle ticket at the door.
- Raffle winners must be present at the drawing.
If you would like to volunteer to help at the event or if you would like to volunteer to referee for the basketball tournament (usually Dad’s love helping with this) or for more information, contact Spring Fling co-chair Dana Mills at [email protected]
FOOD, FUN, AND PRIZES AWAIT! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!
Click here to visit the PTO Monthly Blog.
Focus Groups
Dear District 96 Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
The Catalyst Club in District 96 is a drug prevention, education, and awareness club. We work in conjunction with Stevenson High School’s Catalyst Club and community partners, OMNI Youth Services and the Stand Strong Coalition, to create fun and informational programming and events as well as media prevention campaigns throughout the year.
In order to obtain feedback about this year’s media campaign, OMNI Youth Services, in partnership with the Stand Strong Coalition, will be holding grade level focus groups in the local middle schools. This will allow students an opportunity to critically inform the upcoming communication campaigns. Prevention research supports students are more likely to remember, understand, and internalize a prevention campaign’s message if the student population's shared views and opinions are reflected in the campaign. Student input is vital to the campaign’s efficacy.
In turn, we are looking for a small group of 12-15 students per grade to participate in a focus group of their respective grade (6th, 7th, or 8th). The focus groups will be facilitated by prevention specialists from OMNI Youth Services. The focus group data collection will be conversation based with all responses remaining anonymous with no identifying information or names being used in the creation of new media campaigns. The focus group purpose is simply to gain feedback and observations from a sample of students who have seen and heard the messages shared during this school year.
Participation is voluntary and optional and if you do not wish for your child to participate, there will be no penalty at all.
The one-session focus group will take place during grade level lunch periods on Tuesday March 21 or Wednesday, March 23rd and will not interfere with any academic class time. Participants will be able to eat their home or school bought lunches during the focus group. Additionally, all focus group participants will be entered into a raffle for a gift card prize.
If you give do not give your consent or you do not want for your child to participate, please reach out to us no later than Friday, March 17th.
Please let me know if you have any questions. You can reach me at
[email protected] 847-353-8500 X2705 or Greg Grana [email protected] x2904
Before you read the standard blurb, here is the reality. The Woodlawn parents have responded to the 10 minute 5Essentials survey at a 7% family rate. That means only one spouse had to respond to get us to that 7%. In order for this to count, we need to 20% of our families to respond. Please respond. I will take anyone at this point. Kildeer Elementary School is at 27%...we can do this.
Thanks, Greg.
5Essentials Survey
Beginning January 24 through April 2nd, District 96 invites you to share your thoughts on the inner workings of your child’s school. On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago.
As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school. Your participation will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide our improvement. Parent identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.
Please visit http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/ to begin the parent survey. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UChicago Impact Client Services at 1-866-440-1874 or [email protected].
Click here for the Woodlawn Daily Announcements
Finally, my oldest son is a high school business teacher. He is in his second year and has become a valuable part of the high school community which he works. Just this week, he was approached by the varsity baseball coach and given a job as a lower level coach. Woo hoo. Hearing this news brought me way back in time to my freshman year of high school. When it was spring time, baseball tryouts rolled around and I wanted to make the high school more than anything. ANYTHING! Now back in the day, we didn’t have batting cages to practice at before the season, we didn’t practice year round and I was never on a travel team. You showed up on day one with your mitt and fielded, threw and hit with 60 other hopefuls for 30 spots. I was a decent park district player who loved baseball so I certainly wasn’t a lock to make the team. Throughout the hallways of my high school, you could look back at the pictures of the players and teams that dated back to 1929, the year my high school opened. You could see the uniform designs, equipment changes, and hair styles through the decades. I was all in on the legacy and tradition that came with wearing the school name across my chest. Luckily, I was fortunate to have a solid tryout and wound up making that freshman team. The players on that team were all so talented that I felt honored to make the “A” team. I never took for granted the opportunity I was given and to this day, I am grateful to our coach and the team I played on. I honestly believe that, in a small way, it helped shaped the person I am today. Was there something in your life that you can pinpoint as a positive, life shaping moment that helped lead you forward? I hope so. It is really cool.
Have a great weekend!