The Central Scoop
October 15, 2021
From the Principal's Desk...
Dear Families,
Our Central fox pride is in full swing at school! Excitement is in the air as we revealed our new brand name today in an all-school assembly outside. We are officially the FANTASTIC FOXES and we celebrated our FOX PRIDE! We also kicked-off a new Fantastic Fox Pride Ticket today as well. Students are getting excited about earning tickets when they are caught demonstrating Patience, Responsibility, Integrity, Determination and Empathy. You'll be hearing more about our school-wide positive behavior initiative in the weeks and months to follow. Go Foxes!
And tomorrow we continue celebrating our Fox Pride with our annual Central School Carnival. Join us for carnival games, inflatables, food and the very popular Cake Walk. Learn more below under "PTA Announcements."
With Warm Regards,
~ Becky & Holly
Updates From the District Office
Institute Day Highlights
We hope our students and families enjoyed a day off of school on Monday! Despite the day off of school, our schools were busy with learning as teachers and staff engaged in their Institute Day. Our entire district staff engaged in a full day of learning on Monday about the Responsive Classroom approach to building community inside the classroom. We have adopted this method district-wide as a way to build a foundation that spans all classrooms, schools and grade levels, from which we can develop essential social emotional skills and advance learning. This training taught our staff techniques and strategies to use in their classrooms and across the school to engage students in academics, build a positive community, effectively manage the learning environment, and provide developmentally responsive instruction. This is just one step as we continue to build a toolbox of strategies to support the social emotional needs of our students while building academic readiness and rigor.
Parent Education Webinar Recording
As an extension of our activities from Monday, our Parent Education series this week offered parents the opportunity for “Learning About The Responsive Classroom Model and Tips to Take Home.” This webinar shared many of the components of the Responsive Classroom approach, and how some of those strategies could be integrated at home. If you missed the presentation, you can view the recording here. Please see this information sheet from Responsive Classroom for more details and feel free to review the Responsive Classroom website, too. We look forward to continued communication and partnership with you as we strengthen community across our classrooms.
Strategic Plan Update
As we continue to lay the foundation for implementation of our strategic plan, I want to thank our entire district staff for their engagement in this week’s work on Responsive Classroom. One of the goals of the strategic plan calls on us to continue to facilitate a supportive community. The Responsive Classroom approach helps to cohesively address the social emotional needs of our students as they progress through their educational journey.
PTA Meeting - Dr. Cremascoli as Guest Speaker
We enjoyed a visit by Dr. Kari Cremascoli who was our guest speaker at this month's general PTA meeting. She reviewed the new 5-year Strategic Plan with us that was recently approved by the District 39 Board of Education. Click here to review a one-page summary of our 2021-26 Strategic Plan: Engage, Empower, Inspire. This plan provides a roadmap for excellence in education and continuous improvement throughout our Wilmette schools over the next five years. We are laying the foundation for implementation of the plan and we have jumped right into planning. We will be launching a promotional campaign in the coming weeks to increase awareness and understanding of our collective efforts and are excited to engage our stakeholders as we take these next important steps.
Mileage Club Update
The Mileage Club participants are moving along. We have approximately 255 participants who have chosen to consistently run or walk for at least part of their recess and as a school we have already accumulated 2,487 miles and have 14 students who have completed their first marathon of the year and have their picture up on our Mileage Club Wall.
The following students have completed their first marathon since our first update. Campbell F., Charles B., Charlie M., Connor H., Ethan B., George H., Grant T., John D., Mark J., Max F., Peter G., Ryan M., Ryder A. and Silas L.
Mileage Club is available to all 1st-4th grade students during recess on Monday-Thursday each week. Our next update will be in a couple of weeks.
Just keep moving!
Sister School Update
We are very excited to reconnect with our sister school this year. As a reminder, our sister school is The Little Village Academy located in Chicago. The school serves students in grades Pre-K though 8th grade. Many of the students are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English. One of our Spanish teachers, June Alvarado, visited the school and is helping us create a long-term relationship. We are looking forward to re-establishing a connection with the school that we started pre-pandemic. We will share more information with families once we establish a plan and coordinate activities between our two schools.
On behalf of our Sister School Committee, we appreciate the opportunity to learn just as much from our sister school as they will learn from us, and we are honored to be a part of the sister school exchange.
Pumpkin Decorating Contest on 10/26
Halloween Reminders
Yes, we are celebrating Halloween this year!! We plan to start the day with our annual outdoor parade (starting around 8:45am) followed by parties in the classrooms. Here are a few tips and reminders as we plan for the fun holiday this year:
- Costumes are OK to wear to school for the duration of the half-day. Costumes should be developmentally appropriate and not be too scary for our young students. Please no "fake weapons" of any kind.
- Children must wear a regular face mask as suggested by the CDC and IDPH, and not a costume-type mask. Please consider this need when selecting costumes for your children.
- Parents can line-up outside to watch our outdoor parade. The parade will start at the front of the school, move along the sidewalk around the perimeter of the school, and end on the blacktop. If there is inclement weather, the outdoor parade will be cancelled.
- Room parents can drop off crafts at each school for the students to complete in their classrooms. Then room parents can either make videos of themselves doing the crafts, or they can join a party via Zoom (or projected on a smart board) to show the students how to use the materials. Classroom teachers can begin planning the party with their room parents to determine the details.
Fall Conferences - Reminders
The online sign-up system is scheduled to open on Monday, October 25th and stay open through 11:59pm on Monday, November 8th. You will receive an email on Friday, October 22nd with directions on how to sign-up.
Please Donate to Ignite!
D39 Parent Education Events
PASS39: Connecting Parents Coffee Talk
The Parent Association for Student Services in District 39 (PASS39) is a parent organization committed to supporting parents of children with learning, behavioral, emotional, and developmental challenges.
Click HERE for the updated newsletter!
PTA Announcements
Central Carnival: Cakes and Volunteers needed- Sign up below!
The Central School Carnival is TOMORROW from 2:00-5:00pm on the Central School blacktop. Adult and teen volunteers are desperately needed to help make the Carnival a success. Also, please consider donating a cake for the Cake Walk. It's always a hit and we couldn't do it without you - Thank you! Join us for carnival games, inflatables, food and the very popular Cake Walk - BUY TICKETS HERE
Adult Volunteers *Child care available for some shifts! Follow the link for more info.https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4bafad2aaafa7-parent
Teen Volunteers
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4bafad2aaafa7-teen
Cake Walk
Cake Walk Donations 2021
Central School Book Fair
October 18-24th
Join us for the Annual Central School Book Fair! Come out and support our school while shopping for early holiday and birthday gifts. Consider a gift card for your teacher or the school librarian to fill our shelves.
Where- The Book Stall - 811 Elm Street in Winnetka or online https://www.thebookstall.com/
When - October 18- 24
What - Central School will receive 20% of all sales during our book fair week if you mentioned Central Elementary School.
Eat at 501Local Monday-Thursday during Book Fair Week and mention Central School - 15% of sales will be donated back to the school! Stay tuned for more fun events that week in Winnetka to support our school!
Save the Date - Mother & Son Barn Dance
Attention all mothers and sons please join on November 7th for the Mother & Son Barn Dance. The event will be from 2:00pm - 4:00pm at Central School in the tent located on the blacktop. Please note weather might cause us to delay until spring, however we want to try our best to host this fun opportunity! Look for registration in Sundays PTA Scoop.
Save the Date - Sip and Shop
Mark your calendar for Thursday, November 4th for a Sip and Shop at Share. Start your holiday shopping early! Details to follow.
Community Announcements
LINK: http://www.wilmette39.org/news/community_events
- Once again, the D39 community will partner with the Volunteer Center of the North Shore for National Make A Difference Day on October 23, 2021. This is a great opportunity for you to donate gently used items that may be collecting dust around your house! More than a dozen nonprofit organizations will be at Indian Hill Train Station (111 Green Bay Road, Winnetka) from 9-Noon on October 23 to collect donations. In advance of dropping off items, please sort them into bags/boxes based on what each charity can accept! Click here for a list of charities and accepted donations.
- PICKLES EMPOWER is hosting fall sessions/activities from October 18 - November 19 for 1st - 12th graders with a parent/guardian being treated for cancer or requiring close monitoring for disease progression. Information and links are posted on the Community News site.
- The Volunteer Center is offering many volunteer service opportunities. Make a Difference Day, October 23rd, donate gently used and new goods to benefit over a dozen community nonprofits.
- National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 - October 15. Join in recognizing Hispanic Americans achievements and contributions. See website for events and activities.
- Wilmette Food Pantry is open every Tuesday 10:00-11:00 am at Trinity United Methodist Church.
- "Best Step Tutoring” offers free online tutoring for PreK-12 grades. beststeptutoring.org
From the Nurse's Office
Call Central School "Attendance Line" For Absences: 847-512-6150. Please contact Nicole Meyer, our school nurse, with any questions at meyern@wilmette39.org.
Upcoming District & School Events
Saturday, October 16 - Central School Carnival (outdoors)
Wednesday, October 20 - Picture Retake Day
Friday, October 29 - Halloween Parade @ 8:45am (outdoors), Early Release Day
October 18-24 - Central School Book Fair at the Book Stall
November 11-12- Fall Conferences (on Zoom)
November 22-26 - No School
Early Release Days (October 29th, January 28th, April 22nd, June 9th)
Academic Kinder only: 8:35-11:10
AcadK + KEEP39: 8:35 – 11:55
Grades 1-4 8:35 – 11:55
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.