The Central Scoop
September 3, 2021
From the Principal's Desk...
Dear Parents,
This week we are highlighting our amazing related arts classes! Our students are excited to attend ALL the "specials" classes this year....and in person! There is a ton of fun happening in Spanish, PE, music, art, library and technology classes. Our students are learning new vocabulary in Spanish, focusing on team building skills in PE, practicing rhythms in music, expressing themselves in art, reading new books in library and using Seesaw in technology. See the pictures below to get a glimpse at what's happening in these amazing environments.
As a reminder, there is no school on Monday or Tuesday next week. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
~ Becky & Holly
Rebecca Littmann
Principal
Central Elementary School
A "Peek at the Week" in Related Arts!
Spanish with Ms Alvarado
Spanish with Ms Weiss
Art with Ms Berngard
Updates From the District Office
D39 Strategic Plan - Final Feedback Requested
Last year, District 39 launched an effort to develop a new, multi-year strategic plan to guide the educational framework in Wilmette for the next five years. This planning process has focused on community engagement and aspirational visioning. The resulting roadmap will allow us to provide a foundation that focuses on the most essential, key initiatives while accomplishing collective excellence for our students for the next several years. We are grateful for all of your insight, input and feedback throughout this process. As we near the conclusion of our planning process, we ask for your final review and feedback. Please complete this short survey by Friday, Sept. 10.
COVID-19 Health, Resources and Metrics Page
We want to thank everyone for carefully monitoring symptoms and following healthy habits to help keep our school communities healthy. Resources for families regarding COVID-19, response to illness and quarantines are provided in our D39 Family Response to Illness Booklet. In addition, District 39 plans to continue to closely monitor regional and local COVID-19 metrics on our D39 COVID-19 Metrics Dashboard.
SHIELD Illinois Testing
District 39 has partnered with SHIELD Illinois to provide free weekly COVID-19 testing for all students, faculty, and staff. Testing will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at WJHS and will begin on Saturday, September 11. Families can register now through Power School by signing in and clicking on the “forms” tab.
Unvaccinated students are strongly encouraged to register for weekly screening, which will also provide access to intermittent testing on an as-needed basis, such as shortened quarantine options, test-to-stay protocol when available, and intermittent testing if potential exposure occurs.
Fully vaccinated students are encouraged to register for access to intermittent testing on an as-needed basis, such as when potential exposure occurs.
For more information on COVID testing, including our partnership with SHIELD Illinois, please click here for our D39 COVID testing webpage.
Introducing Our New Community Resource Officer
District 39 is thrilled to introduce Officer Val Davis, who will be serving as our Community Resource Officer from the Wilmette Police Department. Officer Davis has been with the Wilmette Police Department since 2002, and we are excited to have her serving our school communities in her new assignment. Welcome, Officer Davis!
Travel Guidance
With a long weekend approaching, we want to remind families of the CCDPH travel guidance. Following guidance from the CCDPH and CDC helps keep our community safe. We ask all families to carefully consider this guidance and to plan travel accordingly.
Substitute Teachers Needed
Bring a Towel to Lunch!
Carpool Line Update - Important
Bus Reminders & Masks
No Dogs on School Property
From the Nurse's Office
Make sure all of your health forms are ready to be turned into our nurse, Nicole Meyer. Please contact her at with any questions at meyern@wilmette39.org.
Updating Student Information in PowerSchool
Parents can now update their student(s) information in PowerSchool.
- Login to ps.wilmette39.org
- Select "21-22 Year Round Update" on the left hand side of the page. Select the student and scroll down to make changes. Once changes are made, press "submit".
- Please note, in order to change a student's name, address, parent information or guardianship, you must submit legal documentation to our school office.
PTA Announcements
Skyline Theater is Returning to Central this Fall!
Is Under the Sea where you want to be? Then join Skyline Studios and Central School to see. The Little Mermaid Jr. is coming to you. Lights, Camera, Action on Ariel, Sebastian and crew. Don’t be a Poor Unfortunate Soul. Become part of our world in this exciting show, make new friends and shine like a pro! Registration is open to 3rd & 4th grade students and classes will be held on Thursdays from 3:15-5:00 in the auditorium starting Sept. 16th. The cost will be $355. Register HERE
Looking to get involved this year? The PTA needs your help!
The PTA is currently in need of volunteers to fill the following two positions. Please reach out to Jencurchin@gmail.com if you are interested in learning more.
Civics and Safety (2 volunteers): Attend district Civics & Safety meetings on behalf of Central; Organize Bike Safety Day for 2nd graders!
Assistant Communications : Serve as a part of the core team that fosters communication from school to home on all PTA matters
Reminders From Last Week = Last Postings!
Safety Before and After School = Last Posting
We provide adult supervision before school each day beginning at 8:20 AM at the doors only. Our playgrounds are not supervised by adults (they are considered public parks before and after school). If you would like your children to be able to play on our playground before or after school, they should have a parent or adult babysitter present to supervise.
After school, please wait until close to the dismissal bell to walk onto school property to retrieve children. Our PE classes are outside until 3:10pm. There will be supervisors on hand at each door to help students locate their caregivers at dismissal.
Please help us promote bike/scooter safety. Children may not ride bikes/scooters on school property. This includes school sidewalks and blacktops. We are simply asking the children to walk their bikes to the bike racks (and scooter racks) when they arrive to school. As a reminder, 3rd and 4th graders may bring their bikes to school. Those in 2nd grade are encouraged to bring their bikes to school once they participate in bike safety training in May.
For more information about school rules and safety procedures, please view our district and school handbooks listed on the front page of our school website.
Lunch & Recess Reminders = Last Posting
LUNCH:
- Students can bring their own lunch OR buy a box lunch.
- Students will eat outside, in the cafeteria, or in a gym.
- If bringing own lunch: Students are expected to eat lunch on their own without the help of the supervisor, including opening up packages on their own. Please send items students are comfortable with and have used before.
- If buying lunch: There will be a monthly menu online. Here is the menu for the month of August and September. Parents put money into the students account.
- We will try to eat outside as much as possible. Please send a towel to keep at school to use for outside lunch.
RECESS:
- Outside, classrooms (pods) are allowed to interact/play with each other! Students can play with friends from other classes. (Note - this may change depending on the guidance we get from the health departments throughout the year).
- Masks must be on while on the playground equipment and Gaga Pit.
- A mask free zone will be the fields/grass and blacktop areas. Students may play games on the field and/or walk around and simply take a mask break.
- Mileage Club will start up again this year! It will begin later in September....more info coming soon!
Community Announcements
LINK: http://www.wilmette39.org/news/community_events
- Wilmette Food Pantry is open every Tuesday 10:30-11:30 am at Trinity United Methodist Church.
- "Best Step Tutoring” offers free online tutoring for PreK-12 grades. beststeptutoring.org
- A new Girl Scout Troop for 1st grade girls. Email centralgirlsscouts@gmail.com to learn more about registration. Parent meeting will be held on September 25th followed by the first Girl Scout Gathering on October 23rd.
Upcoming District & School Events
Monday, September 6th
No School ~ Labor Day
Tuesday, September 7th
No School ~ Rosh Hashanah
Thursday, September 9th
Central 2021 Virtual Curriculum Night. Save the date!
- 5:30-6:00 - Fourth Grade
- 6:00-6:30 - 3rd Grade
- 6:30-7:00 - 2nd Grade
- 7:00-7:30 - 1st Grade
Thursday, September 16th
No School ~ Yom Kippur
Join us on Twitter!
Central School is on Twitter!
- We have TWO Twitter accounts. Please "follow" us at Twitter.com! Explore Central 39 (with our actual "handle" as @explorecentral). With this account, we mostly share student activities that are completed in the Learning Commons (but other activities are often included as well). We are also providing this Twitter feed on our Central School homepage.
- There is also a principal page @BeckyLittmann where you can follow a variety of school happenings including all-school events, classroom activities, PTA enrichment, and school goals.