Erickson Express
Family Newsletter
February 3, 2022
POP TAB WAR Winners: TRUSTWORTHINESS PILLAR collected the most pop tabs! EVERY pillar had awesome participation and contributed to the overall collection! Thank you families for supporting this fundraiser for Ronald McDonald Charities. The Trustworthiness pillar will have a popsicle party after lunch on February 15th.
Congratulations to these students for winning the Erickson Spelling Bee and participating in the District Spelling Bee. Congrats to 5th Graders: Saanvi S., Adam C., Chrissy H., Sara K., Arjav S. and 4th Graders: Tashuq R., Zahra S., Maggie M., and Aaron S. Today, all Spelling Bee Club participants celebrated their success with a pizza party. Choosing to practice spelling after school hours is pretty impressive!
The week of February 7-11, students in grades 1-4 will take the OLSAT Assessment (Otis-Lennon School Ability Test). OLSAT assesses a student's cognitive abilities (e.g., verbal, nonverbal and quantitative). This test measures critical thinking and reasoning skills. The test is approximately 60 minutes. Results from OLSAT testing will be shared with parents.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, or feedback. The best way to reach me would be via email or phone: sjohnston@sd13.org or 630-529-2223.
Have a wonderful week!
Stacy Johnston
Principal
Important Dates
February 4: Pizza Hot Lunch
February 7: 100th day of school
February 7-11: OLSAT Testing (grades 1-4)
February 9: PTO Meeting @ 5:30 in the Erickson Library
February 11: Spirit Day & Pizza Hot Lunch
February 14: Valentine's Day Classroom Parties (see info. below)
February 16: PTO Dine out night - McAlister's Deli 10:30am-9:00pm
February 18: Pizza Hot Lunch & Pillar Day- wear pillar color or shirts /Eagle's Nest, 1:40 Early Dismissal
(wear your character pillar shirts today!)
February 21: No School - President's Day
Bus Tracking App- COMING SOON- Bus Tracking App
Bloomingdale SD 13 is excited to inform you that the District will be launching FirstView®, a bus tracking and parent communication app for your smartphone or desktop on Thursday, February 10, 2022. FirstView® is being made available to parents through our continued partnership with our transportation provider, First Student. The FirstView® app, located at www.firstviewapp.com or in the Google Play App Store or Apple iOS App Store, allows parents to track their child’s bus live in real time. Parents will be able to follow a map screen that shows the location and direction of their child’s bus, the bus stop schedule for the current day and timestamps for school arrivals and departures. Parents will know when the bus arrives or departs from school. Using GPS, the app is designed to provide parents with a better guideline for bus location and its estimated time of arrival at bus stops. Students should still be at their assigned bus stop 7 minutes prior to the estimated or scheduled arrival time. Among its many great features, the app allows parents to customize alerts and email notifications to alert them when their child’s bus is at a chosen distance or number of minutes away from their stop. Also, parents can track the buses for all of their children using individual color coding for each child, so every selected stop will appear on the map on their phone or computer simultaneously for easy viewing. This is a great feature for grandparents and other student caregivers.
Our District Technology Department has worked closely with First Student over the past month to ensure additional security measures are in place to safeguard student information when parents use the FirstView® app, which requires a your child's Student ID and an unique Security Code. The security measures are designed so only you can view your student’s bus stop and information specific to your child.
Please watch for a message next week that will contain the necessary information to set-up this application. In addition, there will be resources located on the District Webpage within the Business Office's department page.
5Essentials Survey: Please Consider Participating!
Bloomingdale SD13 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.
All Bloomingdale SD13 teachers, as well as students in 4th - 8th grade, 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.
Valentine's Day Information
Valentine's Day is Monday, February 14th and at Erickson we LOVE to create fun experiences for students!
- We will have our annual PTO Valentine's Day parties on Monday, February 14th. Valentine's Day parties will take place on Monday, Feb. 14th. Morning Kindergarten and Preschool parties will be at 10:40-11:20 and Preschool-5th grade afternoon parties will be from 2:20-3:00.
- Students can bring in valentines to pass out to classmates. They can bring in a packaged food item (ie- sucker) or non-food item to accompany the valentine that will go home (no valentine day treat eating in the classroom). Teachers will communicate if there are food allergies (ie- nuts) in the classroom so you know what not to purchase if your child chooses to participate in passing out valentines.
- The PTO will again be sponsoring a valentine fundraiser called Valentine Grams. Students will be bringing home copy of the Valentine Grams Flyer and Gram Sheet today. Information is also in PTO section below.
Volunteers to the Building
Those who are volunteering on a regular basis or directly working with students will need to show the building principal their vaccination card or a negative covid test, within three - five days prior to volunteering, per the Governor's Executive Order.
This only applies to individuals who volunteer on a regular basis. Parents or other adults who visit for an IEP or parent-teacher conference do not need to show a vaccination card or negative covid test. Please see the building principal if you have further questions or need clarification. Click here to view language from Executive Order 87 (Vaccination/Testing).
REMINDER from the SCHOOL NURSE
It is our goal to keep everyone healthy and avoid prolonged student absences, but we need your help. Please do not send your child to school if they are feeling sick, have been in close contact with someone suspected of having COVID and are feeling unwell, or if they are awaiting test results.
If the nurse suspects the virus is present, the symptoms the nurse will screen students for includes:
- Fever (100.4 or higher)
- New onset of moderate to severe headache
- Shortness of breath
- New cough
- Sore throat
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- New loss of taste or smell
- Fatigue from unknown cause
- Muscle or body aches from unknown cause
Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact our nurse Joyce Turnipseed at 630-529-2223. Your support is ALWAYS appreciated.
PTO Scholarship Application Bloomingdale School District 13
The Bloomingdale School District 13 Parent Teacher Organization is pleased to announce the availability of scholarships. We will be awarding scholarships to two graduating Seniors who attended Erickson. Applications are due into Erickson by April 15, 2022
PTO Information
PTO Contact Information: Stay in touch with the PTO by connecting with them on Remind and Twitter.
PTO Meeting will be 2/9 at 5:30 in the Erickson Library
Valentine Grams: The PTO will be providing an option for students to purchase Valentine Grams to send to their friends. See flyer below for information Click here to print Valentine Gram Sheet
PTO Dine out is 2/16 at McAlister's. See flyer below
Character Counts Pillar Shirts
Erickson Elementary School
Email: sjohnston@sd13.org
Website: sd13.org
Location: 277 Springfield Drive, Bloomingdale, IL, USA
Phone: 630-529-2223