Dear Lions Park Families,

I can't believe that Monday is May 1st, which officially kicks off our last month of school! The ABC countdown started on Wednesday which means that we are already starting our end-of-year fun! Today we had a visit from the Lincoln jazz band and show choir which is inspiring for our students who may one day be able to return to Lions Park as a member of one of these groups.

This week was Disability Awareness Week in District 57. Our students had opportunities to watch videos, listen to books and/or participate in activities/experiences to build their awareness of disabilities and help them embrace the idea that we all have different abilities and that we all need to celebrate our differences. I hope your children shared with you some of what they learned.

Next week begins our spring benchmarking. Next week students will take MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). Students will take two computerized MAP tests- one in reading and one in math. Each test takes approximately one hour. Also, during the next two weeks, students will participate in brief assessments to look at their reading fluency and math problem-solving. The reading fluency test involves having students read three passages aloud for one minute per passage. The math problem-solving test is another computerized test that takes about twenty minutes. Some students will also be given Fountas and Pinnell, a leveled reading assessment.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Warmly,

Katie Kelly

Principal

Lions Park School

Friday, April 28 - PTO 5th Grade Dance, 6 p.m. @ LP

Monday, May 1 - 6th Grade Orientation, 7 p.m. @ LMS

Tuesday, May 2 - PTO 5th Grade Paint Night, 6 p.m. @ LP

Thursday, May 4 - PTO LP Parent Night Out (see flyer below), 6 p.m.

Board of Ed Special Meeting - Board Organization, 7 p.m. @ FV

Wednesday, May 10 - PTO Special Lunch

Thursday, May 11 - Fine Arts Night, 5:30 p.m.

Friday, May 12 - PTO Spring Fling, 4:30 p.m. (see flyer below)

Tuesday, May 16 - Board of Ed Meeting, 7 p.m. @ FV

Wednesday, May 17 - D57 Band Festival, 6 p.m. @ Veterans Memorial Band Shell

Friday, May 19 - Early Dismissal @ 11:50 a.m. (NO PM KIDS CORNER)

Monday, May 22 - PTO Meeting, 7 p.m. @ Mrs. P & Me

Tuesday, May 23 - Ed Foundation Meeting, 7 p.m. @ FV

Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL

Thursday, June 1 - Last day of school

As our staff continues the important work of this school year, we are also preparing for the 2023-2024 school year. One important upcoming task will be sectioning students into classes for the new year.

Sections are created according the the following criteria:

• Strengths and areas of need are considered for each child.

• Some students are clustered by these strengths and/or areas of need to enable push in or pull out support.

• Social and emotional needs are noted and an attempt is made to balance the number of students needing support in these areas among the classrooms.

• We try to balance the number of boys and girls in each class.

We welcome your input into this process by inviting you fill out this form. Please do not feel obligated to share input. The teachers have wonderful insight into the needs of their students, and are a critical part of this process. If you choose to share your thoughts, please include information about your child's learning style and the type of learning environment you feel will be the best match for your child's style. You may also include students you feel are or are not an asset to your child's learning environment. If there is a particular child you do not want your child to be sectioned with next year, it is important to submit a form stating this. We do not automatically separate students who have had conflicts. We do not guarantee that we can honor every request, but we seriously consider all input that is provided. Because of the complexity of the process, we do not accept requests for particular teachers, and requests for a particular teacher will not be honored.

While classroom teachers and specialists are involved in this process, it is important that you submit any input you have via this form, so that I am aware in case changes need to be made over the summer when the teachers are not working. Furthermore, pertinent information will be shared with teachers, but the specific form responses will be read only by me and Mrs. Grzybek, our assistant principal.

Please complete and submit this form no later than May 1st, if you wish to provide input. I assure you that our staff takes this task very seriously and puts a great deal of time and thought into creating the most balanced sections for the following year. We appreciate your support as we make our plans.

Planning for the 2023-24 school year is underway. If your child will not be returning to Lions Park for the 2023-24 school year, please call the school office at (847) 394-7330 or email Mrs. Rizzo at lrizzo@d57.org.

Also, if you have moved during the present (2022-23) school year, please contact the office with the new address information.

We are happy to be offering the opportunity to apply for the Love for Linda Scholarship Fund once again. To honor the memory of Mrs. Linda Frahm, a Lions Park primary teacher, the Lions Park staff raises money to provide scholarships to fund learning opportunities for District 57 students to enhance their summer learning. Mrs. Frahm valued exploring the world around us through multicultural lessons, celebrating the unique characteristics of the individual child, and volunteering within the community. Please click on this link for more information and to apply for your child to receive funding for language courses, summer classes, arts workshops or sports camps.