Lester Living
Friday, February 9, 2024
Thank you to our families for the delicious sweet treats bar! We are so lucky to have such incredible and thoughtful families. We also appreciated all of the conversations we were able to have with all of you during conferences. We hope you had a chance to look through the lost and found items. Please be sure to check for any lost items as it has grown pretty large over the past couple of weeks. Please note that we will be donating all items during spring break.
Our office is asking for your help! We have had a large amount of items being dropped off for students throughout the day. This causes an interruption in the classroom each time items are delivered by our secretaries. We are asking for you to help us with students remembering lunches, water bottles, ipads, instruments, and all other necessary items each day. We appreciate your support at home with this and encouraging your child to be responsible with remembering items they need each day.
A HUGE shout out and thank you to all of our amazing parents for volunteering for our book fair this week. It takes a village and we were lucky to have you all. Special thanks to Sydney Musselman & Katie Kadlec for all of their preparation and planning. It was such a great week for our students!
Next week, we will have a spirit week! Please check out details below. We look forward to a fun week ahead.
We hope you enjoy your weekend!
Katie Novosel
Principal
Lauri Smith
Assistant Principal
FAMILY READING NIGHT at Herrick!
Lester PTA invites you to Family Reading Night!
Come learn the science behind chemical reactions, special effects, fire, ice, and more! Show off your new knowledge at Science Olympiad the following week! All ages are welcome, bring the whole family. There will be a read-aloud, followed by a presentation from Mad Science of Chicago.
15th Annual Science Olympiad!
Mark your calendars for the 15th annual Lester School Science Olympiad, which will take place on March 5, 2024 at 6:30 PM. This is a tremendous team-building event where groups of three to five students, plus a parent guide, spend the evening solving problems together. Our free, non-competitive program allows students to experience three fun and exciting 30-minute events within their grade level. We have some exciting new activities planned for this year so don’t delay and sign up today!
Registration for student participants and parent guides is now open! The deadline to sign up is February 20th. https://forms.gle/6djr9B3BpwaQQbh8A
A special thank you to this year's Science Olympiad sponsor, MGFS!
Kids Heart Challenge
It's almost that time of year!! Save the Date for our annual Kids Heart Challenge Fundraising event! We kick off on February 20th! You can register now by clicking this link.
NEXT WEEK!!!
FROM COMMUNICATE 58:
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wed. Feb 14: Gr. K-3 Optional Valentine Exchange
Fri. Feb 16: FUN LUNCH
Mon. Feb 17: NO SCHOOL
Sat. Feb 24: District 58 Reading Games at ONeill Middle School
Mon. Feb 26 & Tues. Feb 27: DGPL Booktalks in Library
Wed. Feb 28: Family Reading Night (details to come)
Fri. March 1: NO SCHOOL- Dupage County Institute Day
Tues. March 5: Science Olympiad (details to come)
Mon. March 25-Fri. March 29: SPRING BREAK NO SCHOOL
A Peek into Lester Life:
3rd Graders Readers' Theater
Kindergarten Creativity!
Shark Tank Presentations by 5th graders!
CONGRATS TO OUR LEOPARDS!!! LUNCHROOM MOVIE PRIZE!
Small Group Reading Instruction
Writing Time in 3rd Grade
Thank you to our wonderful parents and PTA!
REPEATED ITEMS BELOW:
Grove Children’s Preschool holds Open House Feb. 15
Preschool parents and guardians are invited to an open house to learn more about the District’s gold-rated Grove Children’s Preschool program. The Open House will be Thursday, Feb. 15 from 5-6:30 p.m. at Henry Puffer School, 2220 Haddow Ave.
Parents and guardians may tour the preschool, meet the staff, hear an overview of the program, and ask questions throughout the open house.
Grove Children’s Preschool tuition applications for the 2024-25 school year will open online at www.dg58.org/preschool on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 8 a.m. First-priority preschool applications are due Monday, March 11.
Grove Children’s Preschool is located at Henry Puffer School and Indian Trail School (6235 Stonewall Ave.) in Downers Grove. Students attend school five days per week during either a morning or an afternoon session.
New service on mental health resources
District 58 strives to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff and community. To further support this endeavor, the District has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.
ReferralGPS is a service providing assistance to our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the District’s existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS assists families in triage and appointment setting.
School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:
Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options
Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/DG58 to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously
The platform has the ability to filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.
ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.
ABSENCES
Will your child be ABSENT?
This year, we have a Google Form for you to fill out to let our secretaries know when your child will be absent from school. This is an option for you instead of calling or emailing. Our hope is that this will streamline the process for you! We will add this link each week for you in this Newsletter.