Dear Wasco Families,

As a community of learners there are many stories to share. While switching to remote instruction has been a difficult task, my favorite conversation with staff is, "What is going well?" I try to find the silver linings in all situations. Staff tells me stories about learning new technology strategies or new ways to facilitate instruction. Another silver lining: Parents are able to view our teaching in action. Our staff is still focused on aligning to the standards and using assessments to guide their instruction, moment by moment. As I pass through classes, remotely, I am able to see how our teachers motivate and engage students in learning. Thank you again for being our partner in your child's learning.

Kind regards,

Principal Brennan

331-228-6294

Stephanie.brennan@d303.org

Upcoming dates:

December 2 Report Cards available in HAC

December 11 Spirit Day Dress like a snowman: See below for details

December 18 Winter Class Party 1:00-1:40

December 21-January 1 Winter Break

January 4 No School -Teacher Work Day

January 5 School Resumes

Our music department has provided some fun holiday activities for our families. Check out the "Nutcracker Cup Game"! This activity will also be featured on our Facebook page.

Mr. Carter and Mrs. Therrien

i-Ready

Students have completed their winter i-Ready diagnostic. We will send home paper copies of diagnostic reports before winter break, but if you would like to access your child's i-Ready diagnostic information in the i-ready student portal as well as additional family resources, please watch the video below.

i-Ready Family Video

On the report below, you can see our school average of one lesson passed in Math and Reading.

Our school goal for the week of December 10-17 is to achieve two passed lessons per child in reading and math. Students can work on their iReady goals at any time.

All D303 students utilize the iReady tool to practice skills at their individual level. The chart below shows you the progress of the whole school. Each student has a weekly 45 minute goal of practice in each content area: reading and mathematics. We will provide parents updates on goal progress in future Wasco Weeklies. If you have a question about your child's individual progress, please contact your classroom teacher.

D303 has a Substitute Teacher's Handbook to show you the ins and outs of the job.

If after reading this, you are interested, please, reach out to Julie.Wenger@D303.org. Julie is our substitute coordinator. If you hold a Bachelor's degree, she can walk you through the process of applying for a substitute license with the state. This license affords you the opportunity to sub for teachers and teacher's assistants. If you hold a high school diploma or Associate's degree, you can apply for a Paraprofessional License. This license affords you the opportunity to sub for teacher's assistants.

After you get your license, you can apply to substitute teach in D303.

Click HERE for the application if you hold a Bachelor's degree and Substitute license.

Click HERE for the application if you hold a high school diploma or Associate's degree and Paraprofessional license.

Thank you very much for your consideration of becoming a substitute and helping us out. Have a wonderful weekend with your favorite people, and stay healthy and well!

Dear Families,

Between Monday, November 30 and Friday, December 18, students in all District 303 schools and programs will be learning in remote environments. Our staff members and administrators worked tirelessly over the summer and fall to enhance remote learning to ensure that students have access to positive, meaningful learning experiences. You will notice that remote learning is different from what your child may have experienced in the spring. We encourage parents to provide students with a consistent working environment where they have access to technology and other learning materials. If your child will be absent from a remote learning day, please email the teacher and call the school office prior to the start of the school day.

Below you will find information about expectations, schedules, and specials during remote learning.

Student, Family, and Teacher Expectations

1. Elementary school hours will be between 8:00 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. Students are expected to be available and ready to learn during those hours, whether the learning is synchronous or asynchronous

2. As with in-person learning, students are expected to complete assigned work by the deadlines set by the teachers

3. We ask that parents allow students to work independently or in collaboration with their teacher and classmates as much as possible

4. Teachers will provide a weekly schedule that provides synchronous and asynchronous learning times.

Specials and Lunch

1. Students in grades 1-5 will have a 30-minute daily special (art, music, physical education and LRC). The remote special schedule will be the same as the in-person schedule, with lessons being both synchronous and asynchronous. The special teacher will share the schedule with the students.

2. Kindergarten students will continue to access 15-30 minutes of asynchronous specials each day.

3. Students will have a 40-minute lunch break on the same schedule as they had during in-person learning. Student lunch times are based on grade level so your children may have different lunch times.

Instructional Technology Support for Families Explanation

Families can find support for all of their technology needs on our Instructional Support for Families website. This website can be found on our district.d303.org page D303 Technical Support Resources. See below for some of the resources:

1. If you need IT support, technical assistance, device exchange, etc. please click on IT Direct Support.

2. For Chromebook troubleshooting, click on Using D303’s Chromebook.

3. For information on Seesaw, Google Classroom, and/or Schoology, click on the Learning Platforms support.

4. For information on our video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Schoology Conferences, click on Video Conferencing Tools.

5. For support on any of the tools the teacher may use in the classroom, click on Digital Tools for Instruction.

Please see the Instructional Delivery Models document on the District website for sample schedules and expectations of all members of the learning community. We appreciate your partnership.

Next week all students have the opportunity to lunch with the principal- remotely! During their scheduled grade level lunchtime, we will eat, virtually, and share some good conversation. I am looking forward to hearing from the kids and they can share their ideas for school. (Hopefully not monsters and time machines-see poem above.) I am looking forward to what they share! The schedule for lunchtimes with me are below. - Principal Brennan

Monday, December 7th at 12:20pm-1:00pm: Click here for 5th Grade

Wednesday, December 9th at 11:05am-11:45pm: Click here for 2nd Grade

Thursday, December 10th at 11:30am-12:10pm: Click here for 3rd Grade

Friday, December 11th at 10:40am-11:20am: Click here for 1st Grade

Friday, December 11th at 11:55am-12:35pm: Click here for 4th Grade

Starting November 10th, Organic Life will be offering breakfast at all Elementary Schools. Breakfast meals are free for all students just like the lunches.

Students will have the option to order breakfast in the morning as they already do for lunch. Organic Life will prep the breakfast bags and deliver them to the classrooms by 1:20pm each day for students. This helps to support students eating a breakfast before coming to school the next day.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact our office.

SST appreciation-

All of us at Wasco are grateful for our Student Services Team! This team supports students, parents, and teachers by providing specialty services and being our resident academic and behavior consultants. Any teacher will tell you, having a guide on the side to provide suggestions, ideas, and extra help advances all the students’ learning. This team of specialists shares their expertise so we can all achieve more and they are always willing to step in and provide assistance to our whole Wasco school community.

As you know, we are using the Second Step program in your child’s classroom. The Second Step program teaches children important skills for getting along with others and doing well in school. It also helps our school be a safe,

respectful place where everyone can learn.

To further help our school be a safe and respectful place, we are also using the Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit. In these upcoming lessons, your child will learn specific skills to help stop bullying. Students will learn how to:

• Recognize when bullying is happening

• Report bullying to a caring adult

• Refuse to let bullying happen to themselves or others

• Be a bystander who stands up and is part of the solution to bullying

For bullying prevention to work, everyone needs to be involved. Get involved in making our school a safe and respectful place by letting us know if you hear about bullying at our school. Make sure your child knows to tell you or someone at school if he or she is being bullied. And give your child the clear message that it is never okay to bully others.

Rebecca Schroeder, Wasco School Social Worker

Nurse Tina Ahrens, Administrative Assistants Heather Kudabeck and Candace Thoke,

Lunch room Kelly Nelms, Fiona Galvan, Lucy Caraba, Jennifer Selvik, Faiza Memo

Custodian Rafael Sanchez

Not Pictured: Jennifer Selvik, Annie DeLapaz

Our school contains many different people groups whose work benefits the whole and they help us build a supportive network to facilitate the students’ school day. This week, I would like to recognize our school bus drivers. These men and women greet our students, become familiar with their interests, families, and friends. The bus drivers and students often share smiles and exchange support for one another.

Recently our school building was inspected for safety. It is a yearly inspection done by the Regional Office of Education in partnership with community safety officials such as the fire department. This team visits schools throughout the county during a school year. The inspector's appointment coincided with the arrival of our students and they had an opportunity to view students approaching and entering Wasco school. The inspectors admired how orderly our students approached and entered the building respecting the space of others. It was a fine compliment, because this is something that the students do ON THEIR OWN. Aren't all adults happy when the kids demonstrate the skills of cooperation and self sufficiency?

-”Quality is everyone’s responsibility.” W. Edwards Deming

Thank you to the PTO for hosting a Pumpkin Decorating contest! Our Wasco Wolves are a creative bunch and I think you are all winners! Did you see the Ghostmallow? The Wasco Wolf pledge pumpkin really caught my attention- we say that pledge everyday! What a great way to connect our whole school community. The PTO is currently hosting a Butter Braid Fundraiser and orders are due by November 10th.

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce this year’s Wasco Spirit Club Members!

Abby Poss - 3P

Natalie Wilton - 3A

Daniel McCauley - 3G

Graham Showalter - 3K

Meryl Kaplan - 4D

Joseph Barton - 4M

Julia Grawender - 4He

Andrew Leigl - 4Ha

Abeile Edwards -4th Remote (Erin Smith)

Sierra Horniacek - 4th Remote (Kerri Furlong)

Reese Full - 5R

William Showalter - 5R

Sydney Steib - 5E

These students were chosen from over 40 applicants for their leadership qualities and their unique ideas for promoting Spirit within our school and community! Stay tuned for more news from our Spirit Club and be prepared to show your SPIRIT!

Co-Coordinators: Amy Corda and Rebecca Schroeder

Last spring, Mrs. Misner, our Wasco Physical Education teacher, was awarded two grants from the Greater St. Charles Education Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting excellence in education within Community Unit School District 303. The group provides grants to teachers and several scholarships each year to our St. Charles High School students. Mrs. Misner received a grant for $274.98 for a Gopher Ignition Pro Interval Trainer that will be temporarily mounted on the wall in the gym. The timer can also be placed on a table so it is moveable. This will provide a great visual for station work and fitness training.

A second grant was written by Mrs. Misner for $990.31 on behalf of the D303 Elementary Physical Education team for new bowling equipment. The bowling equipment travels to each school throughout the year with all of our elementary students using it. The purchase was for 3 new bowling lanes including a rubber bowling ball and 10 pins and 6 new lightweight bowling balls for our primary and students with special needs to use.

Mrs. Misner would like to express her gratitude to the Greater St. Charles Education Foundation for their continued support of education and students in D303. If you are interested in learning more about the Foundation or would like to make a donation, the website is http://stced.org/

Here's an opportunity to admire the work of an entire grade level. Third grade is making the most of our schedule! These pictures show conferring, creative math word problems, and independent reading and writing. It's Spoooooktackular!

There is a chill in the air and the weather is turning colder. Please dress your students appropriately for P.E. and recess with coats, hats and gloves. Please put your name on things so they don't get lost! If you are missing an item please stop by our lost and found inside the vestibule.

Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions at julie.misner@d303.org.

Julie Misner

Physical Education teacher

Our school library is here to provide reading materials for your child. We have three ways to access fiction and nonfiction books: Print books for In-Person Learners, Digital/eBooks for In Persona and Remote learners, and Book Pickup for Remote learners. Please use this link below to access the pathway you choose. Happy reading!

Book Checkout procedures

It is important to us at Wasco that we provide a community of care and support to our families, especially when faced with financial hardship.

The current situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some families to experience a need related to job loss, medical bills, child care, etc. District 303 has several supports available for families through our schools.

The supports available include: Thanksgiving Meal Support and Big Hearts of Fox Valley Holiday Support Program. If you are interested, please complete this survey.

Parents we really appreciate your attention to safety you are when you arrive on campus. As inclement weather approaches, we are working to make sure we move traffic as smoothly as possible. Here are some suggestions:

• Please pull up AS FAR AS POSSIBLE in available space, without occupying the crosswalks (marked with white stripes). This will enable us to place more students in cars.

• Please be aware of loading quickly so that we can exit cars in the pickup line as quickly as possible.

• Take care to limit social interactions while driving. During arrival and dismissal, there is a lot of activity and we want to ensure all adults are watchful for moving students.

• Encourage your child to watch for your vehicle.

Parents and other visitors to a school campus are expected to be wearing a mask when at the school. Our school community goal is to be as safe as possible and following the precautions such as wearing a mask when sharing space with others or when we are unable to keep our distance is a community practice that decreases the spread of germs. Your help modeling mask-wearing and spacing from others demonstrates our commitment to the health of one another.

We realize there is much information to digest, especially if you are a parent new to Wasco. Please use this link to access a plethora of information about the daily operation of our school. We hope this guide answers all of your questions. When in doubt, please reach out to our office. We are happy to help! Even if you are a returning family, you might want to keep the link handy.

Transportation route information is accessible to families using this link: Bus Routes. You will need your HAC number to access the information. Transportation route information will not be sent home through the mail and can only be accessed online. Please note that for the first two weeks of the school year, the district will not make adjustments to the transportation routes. Our transportation department will collect suggestions about the routes and make adjustments where necessary after the first two weeks of classes.

Since March, District 303 has collaborated with our food service vendors to provide grab and go meals for students to enjoy at home. We want to make you aware of the procedures for making sure that students continue to receive meals, whether they are learning in-person or remotely.

Families who choose to purchase meals for their children will have their PushCoin accounts debited, unless eligible for free lunch. For more information about eligibility for free and reduced lunch, please contact Patricia Townsend at 331.228.6529.