When the teachers and I met on Monday to plan the week, our consensus was that establishing belonging would be important for all students. As designers of a productive learning environment, we realize the importance of honoring each student’s right to be accepted. In an elementary school an important goal is teaching the students how to ask questions, evaluate information, and respond to others. Our morning meetings focused on activities which explored how we honor belonging in our school. Here is a video I shared to support classroom conversations.

Kind Regards,

Principal Brennan

A Sense of Belonging at Wasco Elementary School!!

In school, a sense of belonging gives students feelings of security, identity and community, which, in turn, support academic, psychological and social development.

***A sense of belonging is created through morning meetings at Wasco school to allow students to connect with each other, build relationships, share their thoughts and feelings, and listen to others.

Social Awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The ability to understand social and ethical norms for behavior and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

• Perspective-taking

• Empathy

• Appreciating diversity

• Respect for others

• Here is a great video to learn about social emotional learning.

Texts That Teach A Sense of Belonging:

If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold; Suzanne Kaufman (Illustrator)

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson; E. B. Lewis (Illustrator)

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

• District 303 is recommending, but not requiring mask usage for all students and staff members

• Masks are required on any school-based transportation, including all school buses, due to a Federal Order

• All other mitigation strategies will continue such as:

• three feet social distancing in classrooms,

• six feet social distancing when eating,

• appropriate hand hygiene,

• cleaning and disinfecting surfaces,

• enhanced ventilation systems

• Per the Kane County Health Department, students and staff who are experiencing COVID symptoms or test positive will still be excluded from school

• Due to the TRO, District 303 will not be contact tracing or excluding close contacts

• Students or staff who are currently excluded due to being a close contact may choose to return to school effective Tuesday, February 8

• SHIELD Testing will continue to be available for those who choose to participate

• As always, if your child is ill, please make sure to keep them home

Dear District 303 Parents and Guardians,

District 303 participates in the annual Illinois 5Essentials Survey that collects feedback from our students, teachers, and parents. Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will give you the opportunity to share your thoughts on important elements of school effectiveness. The responses will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide our improvement efforts. All responses are confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.

The Parent Survey is currently open and will remain so through March 11, 2022. To take the survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey. As part of this communication, we have included a link to graphics of the login page with additional information about how to access the survey. Most notably, make sure you enter Kane County in the box for county even if your home or your child’s school is in DuPage County. This will allow you to correctly select your child’s school.

All District 303 teachers, as well as students in 4th through 12th grades, are being asked to complete this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if their teachers and/or students meet the response rate threshold of 50 percent. Teachers will work with students to assist them with logging in and taking the student survey.

On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey is administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago. The survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. These five indicators that affect and predict school success are:

• Effective Leaders

• Collaborative Teachers

• Involved Families

• Supportive Environments

• Ambitious Instruction

We value your feedback and appreciate you taking the time to provide us with your input.

For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact 5Essentials Client Services at 1-866-440-1874 or 5essentials@uchicago.edu.

During our school day students are scheduled for a classroom recess, lunch recess, and possibly outdoor P.E. We are so impressed with the responsibility of our students who bring their outerwear every day to school demonstrating how to prepare for their school day!

Our Elementary School Handbook shares the guidelines for Outdoor Physical Activity. If temperatures are at or below zero degrees (with wind chill), we do not go outside. The specifics can be found on page 8 in the Section Dress Code: Outdoor Physical Activity. This section of the Handbook also lists our policies for other types of weather.

Link to Elementary School Handbook

February 21 No School-Presidents' Day

February 23 Early Release at 2:10pm

February 24 End of Trimester-Elementary School

Thompson Middle School:

5th Grade Student visits to Thompson Middle School:

Friday, May 13 from 9:00 - 10:30 AM

Wredling Middle School:

5th Grade student visits to Wredling Middle School:

Wednesday, May 11 from 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Corron and Norton Creek

Thursday, May 12 from 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Wild Rose and Non-Feeder Schools

Friday, May 13 from 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Munhall and Anderson

To learn more about what has been happening in Empower, please view the newsletter here. You may have heard students in second, third, and fourth grade having been making dog enrichment toys and fleece tie blankets to donate. If your child is interested in making them at home here are the directions: Dog Toy and Fleece Blanket. Lastly, here is the Empower Hero and Maker's Challenge for next month.

Website- Please visit our brand-new website at the link below. We are working very hard to get this to be a great resource for all things PTO. This is going to be our main source of communication from here on out. We will be posting the most up to date information here.

https://sites.google.com/d303. org/wascopto/home

Email- We will still continue to send emails as needed

Freshschools- Please send an email to one of the following board members to get added to this communication platform. This is a great way to be able to get in touch with other student's parents.

Shannon or Scott Von Essen: WascoPTOPresident@gmail.com

Alison Sweet: WascoPTOVicepresident@gmail. com

Misti Floyd: WascoPTOSecretery@gmail.com

Heidi Hastert: WascoPTOTreasurer@gmail.com

Shannon Martin: sm3martin@gmail.com (Executive Fundraiser)

Please reach out with any questions you may have to any of the executive members above.

Thank You all for your continued support.

Wasco Elementary PTO