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Greetings Skokie Community,
One of our commitments to our social emotional work this year is that we will design the lessons to be responsive to the needs of the students. Recently, Mr. Joynt visited our lunch periods to ask the students what was going well about SEL time, as well as to solicit ideas for topics to discuss moving forward. Students reported that they are forming new friendships through advisory and that they are enjoying the time overall. In terms of topics they would like to see incorporated, social media and communicating online was the most frequently mentioned idea. This comes as no surprise, as social media is becoming part of the fabric of tween life. Students are asking for our help in supporting their interactions online. It is encouraging that they are interested in gaining adult support and guidance.
Our team at Skokie will be working together to develop language and lessons to use with students so we can introduce this topic later in the school year. In the meantime, I wanted to share a helpful resource for parents. Believe it or not, a vast majority of the conflicts that occur here at school begin out of school in an online forum. The landscape of growing up has shifted since we were children, and it can be daunting to raise a digital native. It is critical that we partner together between school and home to support the children. The site
CommonSense Media
contains a plethora of helpful resources. If you go to the "Parents Need to Know" section, you will find links to information about various social media topics, apps, and sites. There is also a
Family Media Agreement
, which you may find to be a worthwhile activity to engage in with your child. If you partake in this exercise at home, I would love to hear about it!
Enjoy this beautiful fall weekend with your families!
Betty Weir
Principal
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @skokie36
Caudill Club
Calling all 5/6 grade students! It's Caudill Time once again. We'd love to have you join us for our annual Caudill Book Club. Please see the details below and bring any questions you have to Mr. Burleson and Mrs. Roel. Sign up will begin on Monday, October 14h at 7:30 a.m. in the Resource Center. After signing up, students are invited to read in the Resource Center until school begins. We look forward to another great Caudill Club this year!
Crosswalk Reminder
There has been some confusion as to if cars can make right turns when our crossing guards are out in the intersection with their stop signs. We ask that all four cars remain stopped when a crossing guard is in the intersection to ensure student and crossing guard safety. Thank you for complying; we recognize that it is slow moving during arrival and dismissal.
Memory Books
Please use
this link
to order a Memory Book for this school year! The cost is $25. There is an additional cost for personalized icons and all ordering is done online.
Bullying Prevention Month
October is Bullying Prevention Month, so if you could just reiterate at home that we should be kind to each other and let your kids know that there is a bullying form available online and on paper if students want to talk to one of our social workers,
Mrs. Weir, or Mr. Joynt about feeling bullied. Thank you for your support in preventing bullying and promoting kindness.
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Assistant Principal Corner
This week, we continued our second Social Emotional Learning (SEL) theme of the year about
Understanding How to Get Your Brain and Body Ready to Learn, and I've heard and seen great conversations and activities paired with engaging videos to learn about how different parts of our brain work together.
Our two vocabulary words that we continued learning about this week were:
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Upstairs Brain = Prefrontal Cortex: (tops of fingers): This is the area where we can access ourpositive problem solving and decision making skills, use flexible thinking, use reasoning skills, intentionally think, and focus.
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Downstairs Brain = Amygdala: (thumb/palm): This is our emotion center.
Please ask your kids to show you a model of how this works with their hands, and how our amygdala sometimes causes us to "flip our lids". Some classes also explored the different things the brain needs to be most effective.
The Lions of Leadership did not meet this week, as we didn't have school on Wednesday, but they will continue working on video ideas to remind students of the expectations in common areas next week.
We'd love it if you would talk to your kids about what they've been doing this week in school, especially related to their thoughts about their upstairs and downstairs brain.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Larry Joynt
Assistant Principal
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District News
Redistricting 2020
After three years of evaluating redistricting scenarios, The Winnetka Public Schools Board received a recommendation from Superintendent Kocanda at the School Board Meeting on September 24, 2019 endorsing Option 2 as the option best aligned to the Board's Redistricting 2020 Guiding Principles. The Board will make final approval of a change in attendance boundaries at the October 22, 2019 School Board meeting.
The September 24 meeting included a presentation from Cropper GIS, the District's demographer, summarizing data from a newly updated forecast model on student enrollment in the district. This updated forecast suggests a stabilizing enrollment for the district over the next ten years, and a continued imbalance amongst our three schools without a change in attendance boundaries.
Feedback from the community as well as input from the Village and Winnetka Police Department was reviewed at the meeting. Community concerns largely centered on changes in traffic patterns and the need for safety measures (signage, lighting, crossing guards) at the newly traveled intersections. The Village and Police are committed to partnering with the District in efforts to make this transition a safe one for families.
The School Board also continued discussions on "phasing-in." Phasing-in allows a subset of students to remain at their current school AFTER new boundary lines go into effect. The Board gained consensus on phasing-in the following students who reside in the redistricted zone (representing 2020-2021 grade levels):
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All 4th graders
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2nd and 3rd graders who attended D36 Kindergarten
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2nd and 3rd graders who did not attend D36 Kindergarten
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1st graders who attended D36 Kindergarten with an older sibling who attends Crow Island
Students that will not be given phase-in consideration are as follows:
Community members are invited to attend the following upcoming School Board meeting:
October 22, 2019
7:15 p.m. at Greeley School
School Board Meeting
The School Board will approve the plan for Redistricting 2020. New attendance boundaries and "phase in" accommodations will be approved at this meeting.
A Traffic/Pedestrian Request from The Winnetka Police
Working in collaboration with the Winnetka Police Department, we are addressing specific concerns regarding the traffic/pedestrian impact of the Streetscape Project in the West Elm Business District.
We strongly encourage pedestrians and bicyclists to consider alternative routes to avoid the road construction and lack of normal sidewalk accessibility at Elm Street and Chestnut Street. If traveling from the east, recommendations include detouring north or south on Green Bay Road one block to Oak Street or Spruce Street. Pedestrians and bicyclists may utilize the sidewalks on either street westbound to Birch Street, which are much clearer of any related construction concerns. Traveling from the west, recommendations include utilizing Birch Street in either direction to Oak Street or Spruce Street to avoid the construction when traveling east. The Winnetka Police Department is increasing their presence to assist with crossings of pedestrians and bicyclists at Elm Street and Chestnut Street.
Officials at the Winnetka Police Department have expressed confidence that with your cooperation during this period of inconvenience, the use of these alternative routes create the safest travel conditions possible. The Village anticipates the substantial construction of the Streetscape Project will be completed by October 18th.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month - Learn about the District's Prevention Plan
The District's Bullying Response and Prevention Plan provides guidance on methods for reporting. Reporting mechanisms are shared with students via discussions in classrooms (grades 1-4) and advisory/homeroom (grades 5-8). Students are always encouraged to talk with a staff member if they are feeling unsafe in the school environment. Additionally, communication forms, both on paper and on the District's website, allow students to discreetly notify their principal of a problem they would like to talk about. These paper communication forms are available in classrooms (grades 1-4) and will be used by staff if a student needs help completing or does not wish to complete the form on their own. Drop boxes for forms are placed in a common area within each school. Students in grades 5-8 have an electronic form available on their iPads. Parents can assist their child in completing a form as well. Click here to view. This electronic form can be accessed from the District website - Parent tab - School Safety and Awareness.
From Family Action Network:
Family Action Network (FAN) is a 501(c)(3) organization that curates a high-quality speaker series each academic year. All FAN programs are free and open to the public. To view a calendar of upcoming events, visit the FAN website: https://www.familyactionnetwork.net/.
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Dates to Note
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