Dear Families,
Today our kindergarten students put on an incredible spring music celebration. We're so proud of all their work! Thank you to our music teachers, Mrs. Muehling and Mrs. Murray, as well as our PE teacher, Mrs. O'Gara, for organizing this amazing show! Thank you to so many parents for coming to view the show. We loved having you today! Next week I'll be sharing out the videos of the shows with kindergarten parents.
This week was staff appreciation week. Thank you to parents and the PTO for all the ways you spoiled our staff this week! I know we all felt the love and it means so much to us! We are so thankful for your partnership. Thank you for all you do!
Kindly,
Jenny Smith, Principal
NEW *PROOF OF RESIDENCY REMINDER - CURRENT KINDERGARTEN FAMILIES*
In KCSD 96, each year, parents of current Kindergartners and 5th graders are required to reprove their district residency.
To re-prove residency, parents are asked to provide three items to the Administrative Assistants at their child’s current school:
- Current monthly mortgage OR lease statement OR property tax bill OR Warranty Deed AND
- Current utility bill (e.g., water OR electric OR waste collection) AND
- This Proof of Residency Form (completed and signed)
To learn information for other questions, please visit HERE. Questions? Call or email Mel Lundeen, our Willow Grove Administrative Assistant.
NEW *PTO UPDATES*
Save the date for Willow Grove’s End of Year Picnic on May 19th. The event will run from 6-7:30 p.m. Head over to Membership Toolkit to preorder meals from Culver’s and check out volunteer and donation opportunities. Kona Ice will be available for purchase the night of the picnic! They will donate 25% of their proceeds back to Willow Grove. There will be a DJ and other activities to celebrate the end of a great school year!
Thank you to everyone who donated items, or their time and talents, to assist in Staff Appreciation Week! We love our Willow Grove staff and it was so much fun to show our gratitude for all their efforts this year!
CLICK HERE FOR OUR PTO BLOG FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE AND OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS!
REPEAT *Curriculum Home Connections*
New Resource Page Designed, with Parents in Mind
In response to some parents' questions about how to best support their children with academic work at home, the district’s Instructional Coaches designed a one-stop resource that equips these families in doing just that.
The resource is a new District web page ~ the “Home to School Connections'' ~ designed for parents and filled with invaluable links to internal and external Technology and Curriculum Resources. Under the Technology Resources heading, for instance, parents will find the usual District resources used for assistance with iPads, frequently used apps, TeacherEase, SeeSaw and Schoology.
The page also features Curriculum Resources, which presents a wealth of resources ~ sorted by grade/grade levels ~ for help with literacy, math, and the other subject areas, and links to the District’s pacing guides (which indicate what a child is expected to know at each grade level).
Families will find resources to practice high-frequency words, strengthen their mastery of math-word problems or help them write more descriptively. There is also information on supporting a multilingual student at home and 10 of the best questions to ask your student to elicit more than a ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ response about what they’re learning or experiencing at school.
The resource was debuted at Thursday night’s Thought Exchange Partnership (TEP) meeting. Check it out for yourself:
REPEAT *Last Call for Library Books*
Parents if you happen to see any school library books at home please return them to school as soon as possible. With school drawing to a close for the year we need to begin cataloging and checking the inventory for the school library.
REPEAT *FIELD DAY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY*
On Thursday, May 26th, all Kindergarten and Early Childhood children will be participating in Field Day at Willow Grove! This is a rain or shine event filled with games, races and fun! There will be 9 different stations, such as Silly Races, Parachute, Treasure Hunt and more.
Mrs. O’Gara is looking for parent volunteers to run each station. If you are interested, sign-up HERE. Half the students will attend Field Day in the morning, and half in the afternoon. Please see the list below to see when your child’s class will be participating. Sign-up is due by Monday, May 9th. First come, first serve.
AM 9:15-11:30 AM: Filippo, Longman, Schmidt, Casas-Maya, Wittenberg, Dolan, AM Freer, AM Yandura, AM Wiehe, AM Sewell
PM 12:15-2:30 PM: Hibbs , Holzman, Rabin, Preskill, Derry, Santucci, Chappas, PM Freer, PM Yandura, PM Wiehe, PM Sewell
*Parents of Ms. Bently and Mrs. Johnson may reach out to the teacher to know which their child is attending if you are interested in volunteering.
Volunteers need to be here at 9:00 AM for AM Field Day and 12:00 PM for PM Field Day.
There are a limited number of volunteer spots to have a manageable group size and maintain an orderly and safe environment. We will have to ask volunteers who arrive with additional children/siblings or adults to leave, as only approved volunteers may attend. This is also not a spectator event and we cannot allow anyone other than approved volunteers on the Willow Grove campus. This is for the safety of students. Mrs. O'Gara will get back to you to confirm your attendance and provide further details.
Thank you so much for your interest! We'd love to have you!
REPEAT *Registration Reminder*
A big thank you to those of you who have already registered your student for the 22-23 school year. For those of you who haven’t yet, we need your help! We staff our buildings based on completed registration. We like to keep class sizes low so that students have the best possible experience and the only way we can do that is by having the most accurate information. If you have not registered yet, please take a few minutes to complete this important process. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the school office and we would be happy to help at [email protected].
REPEAT *Summer 2022 iPad Information*
All Buildings:
- Students in grades K-7 will keep their iPad and all peripherals over the summer unless they are not returning to D96 for the 22-23 school year.
- Any non-returning students will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
- Families who exit out of D96 after the last day of school will need to return all of their technology to the District Office over the summer. Any device not returned will be placed in lost mode and will not function.
- Over the summer, some apps and services will continue to work at the student’s 21-22 grade level. Apps and websites like Dreambox, Lexia, Typing Agent, (etc) will be available to use over the summer but are not guaranteed to work at all times. The technology department will only be supporting the use of these apps in ESY or Summer School.
- As we get closer to August, we will roll-up student data and new services. Apps will also become available to them relative to their 22-23 grade level.
Willow Grove Specific:
- EC iPads will be collected at the end of the year. We ask that devices and peripherals (charging cable, charging brick, and case) that are kept at home be returned to Willow Grove and made available for collection no later than Wednesday, May 25th. Note that EC students do NOT receive Logitech Crayons.
- Current Kindergarten students will keep their iPads over the summer. New grade-level content and services will be made available on their iPads sometime in August.
- Any non-returning students will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
Middle School Specific:
- 8th Grade iPad collection will happen on Wednesday, May 25th. Students will be expected to turn in their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon.
- Any non-returning students in grades 6 and 7 will need to leave their iPad (inside of the case), charging cable, charging brick, and Logitech Crayon, with the building Tech Aide for collection.
REPEAT *Current Kindergarten Families - First Grade Volunteer Opportunities*
As kindergarten families look ahead to first grade, consider getting involved in your child’s elementary school PTO. Board positions are open in many schools and there are always volunteer opportunities. Following are the PTO links to learn further information and contact emails if you’d like to reach out and see how you can get involved.
Country Meadows PTO Information - [email protected]
Ivy Hall PTO Information - [email protected]
Kildeer PTO Information - [email protected]
Prairie PTO Information - [email protected]
REPEATING *Covid Metrics*
To stay up-to-date this school year on local metrics, please visit the COVID DASHBOARD for District 96. Our priority remains to keep our students safe and follow guidance from the CDC. If your student is identified as a "close contact", you will be notified individually through the contact tracing process.