Washburne Families,
I hope that the past few days provided time for rest and reflection, and that you were able to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday despite the unique circumstances of 2020. I really appreciated the weather over the weekend and tried to take advantage of getting outside as much as possible. In saying that, as we head into December the colder temperatures won't be far behind. Our current entrance procedures require students to wait outside until 8:25am or 12:25pm before entering the building. We would like to kindly remind you to send your children to school with appropriate outdoor attire. This may include layers, a warm hat, winter coat, and gloves/mittens.
Thank you for your partnership in ensuring our students stay warm, safe, and ready to learn as we head into the holiday season.
It is more important than ever to certify your students before coming to school. Due to the cold weather, and the difficulty of getting an accurate temperature reading, all students that have not certified will need to come inside to a waiting area before being able to be checked. This will cause their arrival to their own classroom to be delayed. I would also like to remind families that when students are dropped off or picked up after 8:30am/12:30pm or before 11:30am/3:30pm they need to use the main front entrance doors.
Student Streaming Changes for Trimester 2
Based on feedback from trimester 1, we have updated our procedures for students to stream into their core, academic classes for short-term absences that are due to COVID related reasons. These procedures will apply when a student is awaiting COVID test results, a family member is awaiting test results, or when a student is healthy enough to participate in school but is unable to come to the building due to COVID restrictions.
Please feel free to reach out to Mr. Horwitz with any questions.
Refinements to Washburne's Hybrid Model for Trimester 2
As we have shared in our past newsletters, we have met with staff, students and parents over the past few weeks with the goal of identifying possible refinements to our hybrid schedule to ensure our students are learning the critical content, skills and prerequisites to be prepared for 8th grade and high school. We collected additional Washburne parent survey data to help inform our refinements. Please Click HERE for a summary of the data collected. We noted that less than half of our parents were confident students were learning the necessary curriculum - a key area we want to address.
This process has provided us with a clear picture of where we are at the moment. As a school, we dedicated time at our November 13 Institute day to evaluate feedback and determine key refinements. In summary, we were encouraged by our discussions and feel strongly that our students are learning and ready.
Washburne staff is confident that students will meet expectations and be prepared academically and social-emotionally for New Trier. Teachers are watchful of the mental health of our students (27% currently report being overwhelmed), and they will continue to orchestrate a delicate balance of challenging students academically, addressing SEL needs, providing support, nurturing growth, encouraging curiosity, and inspiring a love of learning. Our students will always get our best. We are confident they will be ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead.
Below you will see updates from each of our core academic curriculum departments on their progress in the first trimester:
English
Our students will be prepared for the next stage of their academic career. We are hitting every curricular element and teaching all of the units in the curriculum spiral. In trimester one, we have taught independent reading and literary analysis writing skills, grammar, and vocabulary as well as explicit executive functioning and note-taking skills. Students have participated in book clubs and worked on annotating texts to be able to support claims with textual evidence.
Math While having a different experience as in previous years, students are meeting curricular goals. The major differences would be in the extra experiences that teachers provide, traditional group work, and more time for individual questions and daily, in person math help. We know that we have less class time, yet our classes have been very productive. The small to very small class size is an ideal situation. We get more done, are more effective, and students are more productive due to small class size. Students are reacting positively, behavior is good, and students are focused. We are seeing students focused and attentive in class and we believe this is due to the fact they are only in school for one academic block. The students are making the most of their time. We have not seen absences due to sports, vacations, etc. so students are not having gaps in instruction. We also know that we finished the curriculum last year so our 8th grade students did not have a gap in instruction. Our department has been influential in getting students help during advisory and prompting the starting of our homework club.
Science In 7th grade students are learning both practices and life science content in the science classroom at the same level and in certain circumstances at a higher level than in previous years. Students are practicing observing, data collection, sketching, scientific writing and executive functioning skills, which are essential for understanding how the science endeavor is conducted. These skills are important to develop in 7th grade and fine tune the following year in 8th grade when students partake in a lab heavy curriculum. In 8th grade students are learning both practices and physics content in science at the same level and in certain circumstances at a higher level than in previous years. Students are practicing graphing, scientific writing and executive functioning skills, which are essential for success at the next level. While there will be a few less topics covered in total during 7th and 8th grade science, the depth of information and individual attention each student receives is far greater than previous years. Because of the pandemic and certain restrictions placed on class room assignments and ability to share resources the laboratory experience will not be the same as previous years but there has been a focus on making each unit as experiential and hands on as possible.
Social Studies Students are on target to complete the entire 7th and 8th grade curriculum. We have maintained a typical pace and covered the same topics as past years, in addition to a focus on the 2020 election. We have shifted our instructional delivery model to adjust for the hybrid model which has resulted in the majority of independent work being completed at home. In person time has focused on direct instruction of content and classroom discussions. By the end of the year, we will have covered all state curriculum priorities, including content and skills. They will absolutely be prepared for next year!
I also wanted to highlight our plans for Trimester 2:
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Maintain revised advisory office hours to provide time within the in-person portion of the day for targeted assistance.
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Continue with Washburne's virtual after school Student Help Center. Teachers will invite specific students who need additional support.
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Listing target engagement minutes for the independent, remote portion of the hybrid day. Teachers will continue to emphasize to students and parents to utilize these minutes as a guide and encourage communication if assigned work is too much or not enough.
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Update streaming procedures to allow increased access to instruction for short-term absences and provide greater clarity to the community on this process (see more on this below).
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Utilize Swivl technology to help with the remote experience for our fully remote students. This new technology can help with small numbers of fully remote students; however, its benefits do not justify a large expansion of streaming students.
Common Recommendation Form
As a reminder, if you are applying to other schools there is a common Winnetka Teacher feedback form that parents need to sign and return the first page to Sharon Callahan ([email protected]) in the Washburne Office to begin this process. You can then send the Common Teacher Feedback Form, Linked Here, to each teacher.
December Hybrid Calendar
Please see this link to view Washburne's hybrid calendar for December.
Take care and be well,
Dr. Andrew Fenton Ben Horwitz Principal Assistant Principal
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Schoology Learning Management System
This school year District 36 adopted the Schoology Learning Management System for all grades. Schoology is utilized to post information on assignments and other relevant classroom communications. This learning management system is to be used daily within the hybrid or all remote schedules. Early this fall teachers shared login information and parent access codes with each family. Parents need to enter the access codes for each of their children. If you cannot locate your access code(s), please reach out to your child's teacher for your parent access code(s). Then sign up to Schoology with the code.
Additional Schoology Resources are available at these links:
Technology Support
The best way to get technology support is to email the help desk [email protected]. A representative from the Technology Department will be able to address the issue. If something is not working, it is always okay to take a break or step away.
If you are experiencing difficulty logging into Schoology or need help navigating the system, please email the help desk and your ticket will be forwarded to Jenn Marshall.
Kindergarten Registration
Registration for Kindergarten and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2021-2022 is now open and can be accessed from the District website. Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2021, are eligible to enroll.
The New Student Registration includes the following:
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Complete the following new student registration forms online.
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Provide proof of residency. Click here to view the list of documents that will meet these requirements. For your convenience residency documents may be uploaded during online registration.
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Provide the original or certified copy of your child(ren)'s birth certificate and a parent photo ID. Scanned copies or snapshots of these documents may be uploaded during online registration or can be submitted in-person at the District Office by appointment. Please contact the District Registrar at (847) 446-9400 or via email [email protected] for more information.
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Next spring you will receive an email from the District with a link to your child's registration. You will be asked to review the information provided in the past, answer additional questions, pay student fees, and sign up for transportation and before/after-school care at that time. Registration information will be sent to the student's primary email and home address.
Please note: children will not be considered enrolled until both the online registration and all supporting documents (steps 1-3) have been completed. We look forward to welcoming you to The Winnetka Public Schools.
Parent Education
Access this month's District sessions below:
News from The Alliance for Early Childhood
Please access the 2020-2021 Parent Program Flyer to view information on these upcoming events:
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Pandemic Parenting: Tools and Tips, December 3, 7-7:45pm Register Here
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Pandemic Parenting: Tools and Tips, February 18, 7-7:45pm Register Here
Additionally, families are invited to participate in Let's Play! 2020-2021 Ongoing Community Programs.
Family Action Network Events
Exploring Winnetka History: An Opportunity for Winnetka Families
(District 36 Alum Alexander Orsic's Eagle Scout Project)
Winnetka is a small village with a rich history. Take a walk around town or hop on your bike and visit these ten interesting locations throughout Winnetka:
-Station Park
-Village Hall
-Village Green
-Hubbard Woods Park
-Schmidt-Burnham Log House
-Robert E. Burke Park
-Winnetka Community House
-411 Linden
-Bell woods
-Crow Island Woods
Wherever you see a sign with a QR code you can scan it with your phone to learn more about where you are. You will be taken to a video of a Troop 20 scout explaining the history of that location. Thank you to the Winnetka Historical Society for supporting this outdoor educational opportunity.
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Replies to this email will be sent directly to Andrew Fenton. Please note that unsubscribing from this email will unsubscribe from all Winnetka School emails.
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The Winnetka Public Schools community empowers every student to flourish in an innovative, experiential environment. We support and challenge all learners to actively engage in continual growth and achievement to make a meaningful difference in the world.
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Upcoming Dates
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Wednesday,
December 9th
1st Trimester Report Cards available online in Powerschool
Tuesday, December 15th
Board of Education Meeting @7:15pm
Saturday, December 19th
Winter Break Begins
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