Harper Happenings
October 14-18th
What's Happening
Important Upcoming Dates-
- NO SCHOOL MONDAY 10/14
Book Fair: October 21-23
Environmental Awareness Week: 10.21-25
Harper Parent Social: November 1
PASS39 Parent Education Evening: Monday, October 21st. All Parents Welcome!
Topic: How to help your child navigate social conflict and bullying 7:00 - 8:30 PM (at MEC)
PTO General Meeting at Harper: Thursday, November 14 at 9am, in the school auditorium. District 39 Superintendent Kari Cremascoli will be our guest speaker.
Principal's Message
Hello Harper Parents/Guardians,
Enrichment is Awesome: We are thankful for the support of the PTO (all of you!) for all the enrichment opportunities you provide our students. Through iGNITE, we are able to organize a plethora of amazing learning experiences and activities. Here is a highlight of some of what is planned for this school year:
Kindergarten: A field trip to Emily Oaks Nature Center; High Touch-High Touch programs in the classroom.
1st Grade: A field trip to the Wilmette Public library; using a Giant Map to teach map skills; Hi Tech - Hi Touch Science - Matter and Weather experiments; Yoga sessions
2nd Grade: Get Buggy for the Insect unit; The Grove for the Native American unit; a field trip to the Adler Planetarium for the Sun, Moon, Earth unit.
3rd Grade: Receiving a traveling trunk on Lewis and Clark from the National Park Association; A field trip to see a play at Lifeline Theater; A field trip the the Prairie; Going to Codeverse in conjunction with our technology department.
4th Grade: A field trip to the Shedd Aquarium; working with and going to Feed My Starving Children.
I want to encourage you to donate to iGNITE. Additionally, your donations help to fund extra crossing guards before or after school! Thank you to those that have donated already - it is much appreciated. If you have any questions or cannot remember if you made a donation, please reach out to Jill Huebsch. jillhuebsch@gmail.com.
Have a great weekend!
Aaron
Parent Planning Notes:
Fall Conferences Information: Sign-ups are coming soon! You can begin to sign-up on Monday, October 21. You will receive an email from District 39 on Friday, October 18 with specific sign-up information. Conferences take place on Thursday, November 7 and Friday, November 8. There will also be time-slots for kindergarten on Wednesday, November 6. Please know that conferences cannot be scheduled outside of the D39 designated conference times.
Halloween Costume Information: Reminder, as discussed in last week’s Happenings found HERE, As you purchase costumes, please remember that students are not allowed to bring weapons or wear a costume that "is in bad taste." Costumes need to be appropriate for school and not depict violence. We prefer no face masks that cover the entire face (we want to be able to see and identify children). Please have conversations with your children about what is appropriate. Also, if the weather is nice, we plan to hold a Halloween Parade outside (on the sidewalk) starting at 9am on 10/31 like we have in past years. More information to come.
School Fields During the Day: We do not want extra people walking through or around the fields during the day for safety reasons. Please, if walking near the school, try to stay away from the fields. Thank you for understanding and your support in this matter.
Harper Parent Social
The 2019 Parent Social is 3 weeks away...now is the time to purchase your tickets and book your babysitters! The event will be on the rooftop of A. Perry Homes (1220 Washington, Wilmette). There will be an open bar, apps, and desserts to snack on. New this year- we are taking song requests!!! Email parentsocial@harperpto.com if you have a favorite song you want to hear! Link to purchase tickets: parent-social
Announcements
- Book Fair! Sign up to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C44ADAA22AAFA7-2019
- Attention 4th Grade Parents!
The Yearbook Cover Competition is open now. If your child wishes to, they can submit a design for the Yearbook Cover.Harper 2019-2020 Cover Contest Rules:
· Only 4th graders may participate
· Use colored markers (such as Sharpies) for the design (no pen/pencil/crayon)
· Draw WITHIN the black border. Anything outside of this will not be included.
· The page MUST be portrait/vertical orientation
· Write your name on the back in pencil
· Students may submit more than one entry
Due Date: Wednesday 6th November 2019
Drop off your design in an envelope to the front office – PTO Yearbook folder. There are also additional templates in there.
Questions: email: yearbook@harperpto.com
Also, please send a baby picture of your 4th grader to yearbook@harperpto.com.
- Community Service: we will be organizing the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive during the weeks of November 4 and 11- more info to come. Also interested in volunteering? Thanksgiving Day Volunteer Event for Connections for the Homeless http://vhub.at/1WE80BD PS: there will be no Halloween Candy Drive this year (FYI)
- Fall Box Tops Competition! Turn in box tops with the sheet you received in your student's backpack by Monday, October 14th to help Harper raise money for the Harper Maker Space! Each box top raises $0.10! The student who turns in the most box tops will win a $10 Amazon gift card. Also, paper box tops are phasing out and you will begin to see that box tops are going digital. Please visit btfe.com and download the app! Products HERE
- FREE MONEY for Harper!!! Do you order from Amazon? Please read link to learn about Amazon Smile. If you make a small change to how you order, Harper PTO will receive 0.5% back from Amazon. Remember, only purchases at smile.amazon.com (NOT www.amazon.com or the mobile app) support charity. Be sure when you register your charity to search for Harper PTO. The Amazon Smile "App": You cannot use Amazon Smile with the Amazon App on the iPhone. However, the good news is that you can set up a shortcut to the Amazon Smile website which gives a near-identical experience to the app. It’s very quick and easy to do.
1. If you have the Amazon App installed you should remove it. To do this, tap and hold the app icon until it starts to jiggle. Tap the cross at the top left of the icon and confirm that you want to delete it. Don’t worry, this will not delete your Amazon account or any of your settings.
2. Now load Safari (the iPhone internet browser) and go to smile.amazon.com
3. Tap the ‘share’ button (looks like a square with an arrow pointing up) on the bottom of the screen.
4. Tap the ‘Add to Home Screen’ icon. You may need to swipe to the left to see this.
5. You will now have an Amazon Smile icon on your home screen which you can use in exactly the same way you used the Amazon App.
Remember to select Harper PTO for your Amazon Smile charity.
iGNITE
Donate now to iGNITE! and help your children have a fun-filled year of enrichment opportunities! The suggested donation of $125.00 per child (tax-deductible) enables iGNITE the opportunity to bring in speakers, scientists, and programs along with taking children on field trips. In addition, this pays for our amazing crossing guards that keep your kids safe and secure! We ask that you donate early so we can begin these programs at the beginning of the year! Thank you so much to those of you who have already donated to iGNITE! We are currently at 56% (236 students) participation. If you have not donated, it is not too late. There are 2 ways to donate:
1. Click on link: http://harperpto.com/ignite-donation/
2. Drop off a check in the iGNITE! Folder in the Harper Lobby. Please make the check payable to Harper PTO and include your child's name on the check.
If you have any questions or can’t remember if you made a donation, please reach out to Jill Huebsch. jillhuebsch@gmail.com
Community Service Corner
Try doing a 30 day kindness challenge with your family!
https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/bhf/30daykindnesschallenge
The Kindness Connection at Northbrook Court is featuring a new recipient, in addition to our regular recipients.
All of October and November we are volunteering for GiGi's Playhouse
TKC volunteers will make Math Kits for students at GiGi's Playhouse.
Join us for a fun event to celebrate this partnership. We will be making math kit projects with GiGi's Playhouse Kids Club members on Tuesday, October 22nd at 6:00pm. Everyone is welcome! Just come by and help us make this a special events for the kids.
Thanksgiving Volunteer event for Connections for the Homeless on Saturday, Nov 9
It’s a great way for the entire family to help together!
Link: https://connect2home.volunteerhub.com/lp/tg19?format=List&filter=All
Harper will also be collecting donations for a food drive benefiting Connections for the Homeless from November 4-15
Kindergarten: Cornbread/Bisquick
1st grade: Boxed Stuffing/Box Mashed Potatoes
2nd grade: Canned Vegetables
3rd grade: Gravy/Broth/Soup
4th grade: graham crackers/pie filling
Community News
http://www.wilmette39.org/news/community_events
- Acts of Kindness Cabaret performs a benefit for Family Promise Chicago North Shore, a non-profit assisting local families in crisis homelessness situations, on Saturday, October 19th, 7:00 pm at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 1140 Wilmette Ave.
- PEDAL POWER wants your used bicycles! Please donate bicycles at various locations on Saturday, November 2nd, 9:00 am - 12:00 noon. Bicycles are renovated and awarded to CPS honor roll students.
- Rotary Club of Wilmette is hosting its annual BIG BOOK DRIVE October 1st - November 16th at all D39 schools. Please donate your gently used books.
- Wilmette Food Pantry is open every Tuesday 10:30-11:30 am at Trinity United Methodist Church.
All announcements to be included in the Harper Happenings should be sent to Kelly Maggio via the Communication Request Form by Mondays at 9 am. If you do not receive an email response within 24hrs, please send an email to kwmaggio@gmail.com to confirm your Communication Request Form was received.
For more school information, visit the Harper PTO website.
For additional D39 community events, visit wilmette39.org