Dear Families,
What a week! I hope your children were able to find some excitement with the snow. Snow is always the talk of Willow Grove for the little ones. We love hearing about their snowmen, snow forts, and sledding adventures.
We spend each month at Willow Grove focused on a social-emotional learning theme. We just wrapped up following directions during the month of January and are heading into taking turns for February. These are great topics to embed in your day-to-day conversations at home with your children. Next time you're playing a game or sharing toys at home, you can support your child by helping make the connection to learning about turn-taking at school.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Fondly,
Jenny Smith, Principal
Upcoming Calendar
FEBRUARY
15 – NO SCHOOL - Presidents Day
24 – Asynchronous Wednesday - PM Asynchronous for all (remote & in-person). PM students do not attend in-person or remote classes. They will have asynchronous learning opportunities that will come from teachers. PM students may access their AM specials as they typically do. Willow Grove Structured attends 8:45-11:00 AM.
26 – HALF DAY: NO SCHOOL for PM KDG/ PM EC Blended. Willow Grove Structured attends 8:45–11:00 AM
NEW *Valentine's Day*
Students may not pass out Valentine's Day cards or treats or trinkets to their classmates. Anything sent in will be sent back home with your child. Thank you to our PTO for providing a DJ dance party video for classrooms to celebrate the day on Friday, February 12. Kids will have fun groovin' along in a safe, socially-distanced dance party (remote and in-person, of course)!
NEW *IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR PARENTS OF IN-PERSON LEARNERS*
Parents who have children coming in must do their daily self-certification. It significantly slows down our arrival procedures when students don't have this.
Likewise, parents whose students do not bring their saliva samples will be called to come to the school and bring their student’s sample collection vial, barcode label, and plastic baggie and assist their student in collecting the sample.
Please remember that completing the daily self-certification and providing the weekly saliva sample is a commitment you made for your child to attend in-person. If there are repeat incidences for the daily self-certification and/or saliva collection, the student may need to go back to remote learning. Please set alarm reminders for yourself. I do not want anyone to have to move back to remote learning for this reason.
The schedule for saliva sample collection at Willow Grove is as follows:
Tuesday: Willow Grove PM Students
Wednesday: Willow Grove AM Students
See MORE INFO regarding saliva samples and collecting them.
To access the required Daily Self-Certification Form, you need to log into TeacherEase each day your student will attend in person to submit self-certification.
This VIDEO gives instructions, including how to access the daily self-certification form using your cell phone (iOS or android).
If you will be using your home computer to send daily self-certification, we suggest that you bookmark the TeacherEase website. The link is: https://www.teacherease.com/common/login.aspx
NEW *ERIN’S LAW*
An Illinois law known as Erin’s Law requires schools to implement an age-appropriate sexual assault and abuse awareness/prevention curriculum for Early Childhood through Grade 12.
Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96 researched and observed best practices and programs for delivering this instruction, selecting Victor Pacini to present Be Seen & Heard ©.
The focus of this developmentally appropriate and interactive program is to teach children skills to keep them safe from danger or abuse. Concepts discussed will include distinguishing safe from unsafe touches, safety rules at home and school, saying NO, safe/unsafe secrets, and telling a trusted adult, as well as reinforcing that an adult’s touching him or her is not the child’s fault. For more information about this presentation please CLICK HERE.
The presentation to students will be during the school day on February 25.
Early Childhood Blended & Structured Learning Note: Students in the Blended and Structured early childhood program do not attend the Victor Pacini presentation. Our school social workers push into those settings to provide a presentation for our youngest children. If you would like further information about the content, please contact Beatrice Chen at [email protected] for blended or Ashley Lewis at [email protected] for structured.
If you prefer that your child does not attend this prevention education session (Early Childhood or Kindergarten), please submit your written request or your questions to me at [email protected].
NEW *News from the Library*
Willow Grove is pleased to announce the purchase of over 1,500 e-books for our students to check out directly from home onto their iPads. Most of the classrooms have been introduced to a new app, called Sora by Overdrive. Children are allowed to check out one book at a time. They can also place one book on hold at a time.
Many of our books have a limited number of checkouts before they disappear forever. Because of this, we strongly encourage children to read a sample of the book before borrowing it. This way they can decide whether the book is a good fit and it will help our books last longer. In addition, we are asking students to return books as soon as possible so others may check them out.
Finally, If you have a public library card, students can add their public library and have thousands more books to choose from. All you need is a library card. See THIS VIDEO for instructions on how to add a public library to the Sora app.
NEW *Exploration Lab Request*
Please save any empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes for our remote kindergarten special, Exploration Lab- we will be using them for some upcoming projects. Thank you!
NEW FREE MEALS DISTRIBUTION/QUANTITY SCHEDULE
Families who want to pick up free meals for their students will receive two meals when picking up on Mon., Feb. 1.
On Wed., Feb. 3, they will receive meal supplies for five meals.
Beginning the following week (the week of Feb. 8), there will no longer be meal pick-up on Mondays. Instead, meal supplies for five meals will be distributed on Wednesdays.
Pick-up hours/location 11 AM–2 PM at Twin Groves or Woodlawn Middle Schools parking lots will remain the same.
Please direct questions to the public info coordinator at [email protected]
PTO Updates
Yearbook Photos: Who's that baby face?
Submit a photo of your early learner or kindergartner in your child's first year of life! Let's see if we can guess who is who!...
Note: If you are not planning on taking in-school portraits, you can submit a photo online or via app. The photo must be in "good taste" and from the waist up and preferably against a plain background.
The deadline for portrait photo submission is Feb. 28, 2021.
Yearbook Photos: Mask Fashion!
Submit a photo of your early learner or kindergartener with their mask fashion! Lions, Tigers, Unicorns or Princess - we would love to see their unique style.
Send us pictures of your student wearing a favorite mask and let us know why it's the favorite. Comfort? Color? Pattern? Superhero?
Please include your student's name, grade, and "MASK" in the description. See instructions below to submit photos.
How to submit photos:
Online at http://www.hjeshare.com/eShare/?code=WG2021
Phone app: HJ eShare (School Code WG2021)
REPEAT *Cultural Fair "All About Me" Student Submissions*
As I explained in a prior message, we are hoping to collect something from every student to showcase every family during our Together, WE are Willow Grove Cultural Fair event! Teachers will be collecting the "All About Me" submissions for students through Seesaw. Click here to see an example and several layout options for designing this. It may be done with photos or drawings. It can be completed electronically or you may print the template at the link above and take a photo of the finished product to submit. Students may do these on their own or they are a great opportunity for a family project and a way to share family stories and values as it's completed. These will be due by January 31. We'd appreciate your support so all kids and families can be featured on our special evening!
REPEAT *Commitment to Partnership for In-Person Learners*
We know that some surrounding districts or schools that began their in-person learning plan have had to revert to full remote for a period of time. In many situations, this has been due to positive cases about which families were not truthful with the school or with the health department regarding symptoms and the diagnosis or with those conducting the contact tracing process.
We are confident that the District 96 community will rise to the occasion and partner with us to ensure safety and success. Please think carefully about your commitment to our partnership before sending your kids to school.
REPEAT *Together, WE are Willow Grove! Virtual Cultural Fair Coming in February!*
On the evening of February 18th, we’ll be hosting a virtual family event, showcasing the many families and cultures represented in our school community. We hope to encourage our students to learn about other cultures, to celebrate what makes us all unique and to recognize cultural traits that we share.
Our evening will include a full school zoom gathering to kick-off the evening, followed by a choose-your-own-adventure path exploring family submissions to celebrate our school community.
SAVE THE DATE of February 18th from 6-7:30 PM. When we get close to the event I'll share the zoom link with families to join the fun!
REPEAT *Pre Register for 2021–22 Kindergarten Beginning Jan. 11*
Preregister incoming 2021–22 kindergartners beginning January 11 and no later than January 31 to receive a free T-shirt for your incoming student. SEE MORE INFO.
REPEAT *Tech Hub*
The District 96 Family Technology Hub is designed to guide families through technology tools related to Enhanced Remote Learning. On this site you can find links to the recordings and the corresponding Slides decks for the parent/family informational sessions from last week. You can also find tutorials on how to use ZOOM, Schoology, Seesaw, Clever, Notability, and other iPad essential tools for student learning. Additionally there is a link to email the technology support desk. Please save or bookmark this site. It will be updated with tools, resources, and tutorials through remote learning to better support your family.
Please email [email protected] with any tech-related support needed.