The Simon School Days Newsletter
September 11, 2015
Dear Parents and Families of Simon Elementary:
Even though the official start of autumn is not until September 23, it will soon feel like fall. I have always enjoyed the fall season; it is a great time to share time with your family, friends, and my personal favorite - football.
At Simon, we are here to make a difference in the life of your child. Parents are a huge part of this. If you have a question about your child’s academic performance or behavior, please contact your child’s teacher first before you contact the principal. Clear lines of communication between teacher and parents are very important to meet the needs of your child. Thank you.
Reminder about Remind
1. Enter this number (815) 401-9303 with this message @simon1516
2. Click here for additional directions
By joining your the group on Remind, you’re choosing to receive class messages via push notifications, SMS, or email. Don’t worry, your phone number will not be shared with the teacher or anyone else in the group.
That's it! You will start receiving messages next week.
Thank You for all that attended our Back to School Night
A special thank you to Mrs. Kristi Provi and Mrs. Gail Starkey for getting all the preparations for our 8th annual Back to School Cook Out & Open House on Thursday, September 10.
Also, thank you to all the teachers and staff volunteers that assisted that evening.
Birthday Treats
For grades PreK-5, students may bring treats to school to celebrate their birthday. Please note, treats should be commercially prepared and not "homemade" with the list of ingredients displayed so the teacher can monitor if there is a risk of an allergic reaction. Parents should not feel obligated to bring a treat; it is completely optional. In order to create the least amount of confusion, please send something that is easy to eat. Gum is not an appropriate treat. If you choose to send a treat, please contact the teacher beforehand in order to determine an appropriate time for the treat to be distributed and to avoid multiple treats on the same day. We may also ask our school nurse to review the ingredients of a birthday treat if there is a child in the classroom with a severe food allergy.
STAR 360 Student Assessements
What are STAR assessments?
Renaissance Learning™ pioneered computer-adaptive testing in the classroom in 1996 with the introduction of STAR Reading™, and has been improving upon it ever since. As a result we offer a line of testing products that all function the same, are all built with the same high level of measurement accuracy, and all share the same design principles.
STAR Early Literacy Enterprise™ is the leading computer-based diagnostic assessment of early literacy skills developed for Pre-K–3 students. These tests take 15-20 minutes. STAR Early Literacy Enterprise tracks development in three domains and ten sub-domains:
Word Facility and Skills
- Alphabetic Principle
- Concept of Word
- Visual Discrimination
- Phonemic Awareness
- Phonics
- Structural Analysis
- Vocabulary
Comprehension Strategies
and Constructing Meaning
- Paragraph-Level
- Sentence-Level Comprehension
Numbers and Operations
- Early Numeracy
These assessments will start K-2 in a couple of weeks (mid September). Parents will receive their child's information with their first report card in November.
September Calendar Events
We will start adding a full month Simon calendar to the website starting in September. If you do have any specific questions about events or functions, please call the school office at 815.335.2318.
Fall Picture Day
Dorothy Simon Fall Picture day will be Thursday, September 24 starting at 8:20 a.m.
The link below will provide your parents and students access to your school's online order page. The order code is 02873QA when using the link below. This provides an easy way for your parents to not only order before Picture Day, but also after Picture Day for those who might have forgotten to return their order envelope.
Thursday, Sep 24, 2015, 08:15 AM
Dorothy Simon Elementary School, South Benton Street, Winnebago, IL, United States
School Vision and Dental Forms Due
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/pdfs/eye_examinations.pdf
Kindergarten and 2nd Grade students - dental exam and form due May 15
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/pdfs/dental_information.pdf
For more information, contact Nurse Trish or Nurse Beth
Thursday, Oct 15, 2015, 12:00 AM
Dorothy Simon Elementary School, South Benton Street, Winnebago, IL, United States
Fall Preschool Screening
Winnebago CUSD #323 will conduct preschool screenings for the 2015-16 school year on Friday, October 16. These children may be eligible to attend the Winnebago School District Preschool for the 2015-16 school year. Appointment times are limited.
The preschool screening is to determine eligibility for our preschool program and for you to have a better understanding of your child's strengths and areas for improvement. We encourage everyone with preschool aged children (ages 3-5) to participate in screening regardless of your interest in the preschool program.
The screening will assess your child’s developmental skills in the following areas: academic concepts, gross and fine motor skills, speech and language, social, behavior, self-help skills, and vision and hearing.
Screening appointments take approximately one hour. Children have to be 3 years old at the time of the screening appointment.
The screenings will be held at Dorothy Simon Elementary 309 S. Benton St. Winnebago, IL 61088. Please call 815.335-2456 to make an appointment.