Happy Friday! There are some short weeks that feel long because a lot of items are packed into a shorter week. For some reason, this week felt really fast to me. I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying the students and everything that they are doing in the school, making Woodlawn amazing. Check out the blog and have a great weekend!
Upcoming Dates:
10/5- No School- Conferences
10/6- No School- Conferences
10/9- No School
Picture retakes are OCTOBER 18TH - Look for details in the upcoming blogs…
Parents - No Door Dash Deliveries
Woodlawn parents, as stated in the handbook, food deliveries from outside vendors are not allowed. Please make sure that you are not having lunch delivered for your child. Thanks.
PHYSICALS - 6th Graders
6th grade parents, physical forms must be in by October 15th or your child will be excluded from school. If you have any questions, please contact our school nurse, Denise Kaufmann at [email protected]
7th & 8th Grade Fall Sports
Sports Physicals- Please Read
Any 7th or 8th Grade student interested in Boys Basketball must have a current Sports Physical to participate. There will be no exceptions. Now is a great time for families to check and get everything in order. Tryouts begin later in October.
If you have any questions about your child’s current Sports Physical, please contact Denise Kaufmann at [email protected] or call the Woodlawn main office at 847-353-8500.
Fall Family/Educator Conferences
Fall Family/Educator Conferences are right around the corner. The conference dates are Thursday, October 5th from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM and Friday, October 6th from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM.
Conferences will be held virtually using Meet the Teacher’s video conferencing platform unless parents request an in-person conference using the instructions bolded at the end of this message. After you have scheduled your conferences, you will receive an email from Meet the Teacher with a link you will use to access the video conferences.
Middle school parents will have the option to sign up with one core content teacher (see below) and pertinent exploratory/PE teachers. Please note: Students on the A-Day schedule will have their Spanish teachers available during this round of conferences. Students on the B-Day schedule will have this opportunity in the spring.
Available Middle School Core Teachers
6th Grade: 2nd Period Teacher
7th Grade: 1st Period Teacher
8th Grade: 1st Period Teacher
If you are unable to schedule a conference with a specific teacher, please remember that conferences are not the only time to communicate with teachers. Please feel free to reach out at any time.
REQUESTING AN IN-PERSON CONFERENCE
If you want to have an in-person conference with the teachers, you must notify the teachers via email by the end of the day on Tuesday, October 3rd.
Lake County STEM for Girls Conference
We are excited to share that the Lake County STEM for Girls Conference is back! The conference hosts women from various STEM fields who work with the attending students by engaging in hands-on activities with real-world applications. Each session is interactive and inspiring! Girls in grades 6th-8th are invited to attend.
We have a STEM fair (with lots of goodies) and also invite parents/guardians to attend adult sessions to learn more about saving for college, how to support students in high school academic paths and mindfulness. We have a fantastic keynote and an enthusiastic closing for both students and parents!
This year the conference is being held at Vernon Hills High School on November 4th, 2023. We've attached a flyer to this email and can't wait to hear how it goes when your child attends.
Registration is open!
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]
Middle School Health (Repeat)
Please click HERE to access the ‘23-’24 Health Education letter.
SHS World Fair
Click here for the Woodlawn Daily Announcements
Save the Date
Wednesday, October 25th 6pm-8pm
Fall Glow Party
Online MTK sales are October 14th to 21st.
Cash Only In-person sales during lunch October 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Cash Only entry tickets and raffle tickets will be sold at the party.
*Woodlawn Students Only*
Purchase through MTK and receive a free raffle ticket with your $10 entry ticket! And a free raffle ticket with each $10 bundle purchase!
In person sales will be $10 entry ticket and $10 for 10 raffle bundles or $1 each
Event Includes: party treats and snacks and entertainment
Finally, we are working with the Woodlawn students on understanding the appropriateness of the words they use. Too often, there is a comfort level with each other in middle school where the lines of what is acceptable gets blurred and the students do not always recognize that they are being offensive. In all honesty, throughout my tenure, I would say 75% of all significant student differences (arguments, fights, prolonged issues) happen between two students who are friends. All students, regardless of gender, race, religious background, etc., will run into a situation where they use or have strongly worded language used upon them that is offensive. In my experience, the boys get physical and the girls get extremely upset. All of this has to do with a lack of maturity and experience with knowing how to handle it. As I mentioned at curriculum night, last year we needed to calibrate the expectations from a school point of view and adopted the phrase, “Your Words Matter”. This year, our adopted phrase is, “Your Words Have Power”. Having the students think about what they say and how their words impact those around them. The idea is that the words students use can be either a positive or negative. Going back to the things that are said between the students, even if they are friends, other students around them at the time of the conversation can be highly offended. The goal of the Woodlawn staff is to encourage teamwork between students and ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging. Saying things that lift up others will strengthen the bonds between everyone in class.
Guiding your student through middle school and high school is not easy. They may run into a number of bad situations with a friend, classmate, teammate or just some random student. Discussing resilience and staying above the nonsense is critical for long term success. Talk to your middle school student, let them know the struggles you had at this age level. Tell them that better days are ahead and assure them that you will always be there to support them. Each child is so different here at Woodlawn, but our goal is the same, prepare the entire student body for the next step, regardless of what that might look like.
Have a great weekend.