Dear Families,
This week flew by with the excitement of another remote weather day and our cultural fair last night! Unfortunately, I was made aware of a glitch with our zoom link that caused some difficulty for some to enter into our cultural fair evening. I'm so sorry to families or staff who struggled to attend, as a result. In spite of that, we did have a wonderful turnout! What fun to gather for an evening and celebrate our wonderful community. For our closing activity, we had families and staff share ONE WORD that means Willow Grove to them/their family. The responses filled my heart with joy! Take a look at this VIDEO to see and the following pictures:
The good news if you missed the event is, the evening centered around a WEBSITE that has been created for all to enjoy, so the learning and fun continue! Thank you for the many contributions we had from families and staff. Please take the time to explore it with your families. We ask that you don't share the website with others, as the audience intended is our Willow Grove community.
Enjoy!
Jenny Smith, Principal
Upcoming Calendar
FEBRUARY
24 – Asynchronous Wednesday - PM students are 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. Students in the AM session attend 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 *Help Needed - Willow Grove Pledge*
District 96 has 62 languages represented amongst our student body. This is something we celebrate and are proud of! One way we'd like to celebrate this with our students is by creating our Willow Grove pledge in multiple languages. Our vision is to develop multiple images of our pledge where our 3 key characteristics are in languages that represent languages spoken by our students and families. Each poster will also have a flag of the country/countries where the language is spoken. We need your help! If you speak a language other than English, please complete THIS SURVEY to support us in making this possible. Thank you!
NEW *Celebrating Black History Month*
February is Black History Month. At our cultural fair, I shared a resource I found, How to Celebrate Black History Month in Chicago. This is for all ages, not intended only for our young audience. There are definitely some resources that would be great educational opportunities and fun to share with your children. Even some live-streamed performances coming up are featured, like the Chicago Children's Choir performing next week on February 25th.
REPEATING *Illinois 5Essentials Survey*
Share your thoughts about how your child’s school is doing on the 5Essentials for school success. 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. District 96 will participate in the statewide 2020–21 5Essentials Survey to meet state legislation and the Board’s mandate. District 96 parents may voluntarily participate to complete the survey. Please select the Parent Survey and begin.
Beginning in February and through Apr. 2, students and teachers will complete their surveys to help identify strengths and weaknesses in their school’s learning environment. In District 96, students in grades 4–8 will complete their surveys on Mar. 19.
This survey is designed to help school and district leaders better understand the parent/school relationship. All responses are anonymous. Parents are asked to complete a survey for each student attending a Kildeer Countryside District 96 school. The survey will be open through Apr. 2, 2021. Questions? See Frequently Asked Questions and/or contact 5Essentials Client Services 866.440.1874.
REPEATING *Spring Parent/Educator Conferences*
Spring Parent/Educator Conferences are right around the corner! The conference will take place on Thursday, March 11th from 5 PM to 8:30 PM and Friday, March 12th from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM. These conferences will be 15 minutes in length and held remotely over Zoom. We will continue using Meet the Teacher as an electronic sign up for conferences.
Please know that the sign-up link will be sent out in a separate communication on Friday, February 19th at 7:00 PM.
Meet The Teacher does not require that multiple conferences be made, but it does default to every teacher a student works with being checked. These individuals include classroom teachers, specials teachers, related service staff, and interventionists that students work with. At Willow Grove, this includes specials teachers, which not all kindergarten students work with as they are optional. We prioritize conferences for families of students who are attending the specials, as they do not have enough slots to meet with every family. If you have questions about how to access specials for your child, you may reach out to your child's teacher, who can direct you to instructions for joining or to the specials teacher you'd like to connect with.
Please see the picture below for directions on how to uncheck a teacher/interventionist if you do not need to meet with during conferences or for a specials teacher your child does not see.
Repeating *Kindergarten and 2nd Grade Parents Dental Screening Reminder*
The Illinois School Code requires all children in kindergarten, second and sixth grades to have a dental examination by May 15th of each year in compliance with the rules adopted by the Illinois Department of Public Health. If you have not already done so, please submit your 2nd-grade child’s dental exam form to our building nurse. To see a complete list of the health forms required for students, please visit our Student Health Section of our Web page.
REPEATING *PTO Highlights*
So much happening! Please be sure to check out our full blog this week!
- St. Patrick's Day Cookie decorating Kits for sale through Membership Toolkit and even a contest!
- Capture your memories, order your yearbook now!
- Submit Pet Parade Yearbook Photos! Note: If you have still not submitted your child's baby, snow or mask photos, you can still do so. Please remember to upload only appropriate and limited photos for review and consideration.
- Box Top Collection Happening now, too!
More details on all of this in our PTO Blog!
REPEATING *Dual Language Parent Night for 21–22 Kindergarten Parents*
District 96 Director of Language and Early Literacy Kathryn Sheridan will present a live virtual program for parents interested in the Spanish/English Dual Language program opportunity for their incoming 2021–22 kindergartners.
REGISTER HERE to receive the link to attend the live virtual informational program for parents of incoming kindergartners Wed., Mar. 3, at 6:30 PM.
See the District website to LEARN MORE about the District's optional Spanish/English Dual Language program.
REPEATING *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].
REPEATING *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. LINK HERE
REPEATING *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]
REPEATING *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.
REPEATING *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.