Field Flash
October 29, 2021
Dear Field Parents and Guardians,
Well, this weather just didn't cooperate today! We are so very appreciative of our room parents and all their hard work in preparing for our Halloween parties. While we weren't able to be outside, our students enjoyed an indoor parade and classroom parties. We hope you enjoy the Halloween weekend and the nicer weather. We also want to share that Trunk or Treat is still on for this evening!
Speaking of Halloween, if you have extra candy in your house and you'd like to donate it to our troops, we are doing a collection as part of our learning related to Veterans Day. There will be a box in the main office for students to drop off this extra candy.
In other news, students received their school pictures this week. Our picture retake day is on Thursday, November 11th. If you'd like your child to have a re-take, they should bring their pictures back to school on that day. Afternoon kindergarten students who'd like a retake should come to the main office with a parent on that day at 9 a.m.
A quick note about morning arrival and dismissal: thank you to the many, many families who park legally in the morning and/or use our "kiss and go" areas. We've had a number of illegally parked cars and landscape vehicles in the area, which makes morning arrival more difficult for our students, families, and our busses. Thank you for helping us with a safe morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. As a reminder, our "kiss and go" area is just that - please do not idle or park in that area at any point during the morning arrival time.
As a continued reminder, everyone should continue to monitor their health and stay at home if they develop any symptoms. In addition, all unvaccinated family members must remain home if a household member exhibits symptoms and/or is awaiting test results. Please know that COVID-19 symptoms vary widely, especially it seems in children. Our primary focus is to keep students safe and in-person, learning together.
Thank you for your partnership!
A few additional important reminders:
- Colder Weather: Now that the weather feels more like fall, please make sure that your child is dressing to be outdoors for the lunch/recess hour. We instruct students who bring coats or sweatshirts to wear them when we are outside.
- CARES tickets: as part of our building-wise positive behavior system, students can earn CARES tickets. Starting this week, each classroom selects a winning ticket and that student comes down to the office for a small prize. As a building, we were working towards a building-wide ticket goal to earn a pajama and stuffy day, which is what students voted on as the October celebration. We are proud of our students and their excellent respectful and responsible behavior! We have earned a pajama and stuffy day for Monday, November 1st!
I hope that you have a nice weekend!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Courtney Goodman
Principal
Pizza Day Volunteers Needed for Tuesday!
Volunteers are needed for Tuesday, November 2nd, to help serve pizza to our awesome students! Please sign up using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d4aabaa2ca7fa7-field1
There are 2 different lunch sessions — First Lunch: 11:25–11:55 AM (4th/5th Grade) and Second Lunch: 11:55 AM – 12:25 PM (1st/2nd/3rd Grade). You are welcome to join us for one or two shifts! Please note, per District 64’s COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, all volunteers are required to present proof of full vaccination and wear a mask properly at all times.
Thank you for volunteering – Pizza Day wouldn’t be a success without you!
Dates to Remember
As a note, we have school each day until Thanksgiving week. There has been some question about November 2nd and 11th, both of which are school days.
Wednesday, November 3rd: Send in your Veterans Day pictures
Thursday, November 11th: Veterans Day (we are in school today!)
Thursday, November 11th: Picture Re-take Day from 9-11am (PM kindergarten retakes should come at 9am to the main office)
November 22nd-26th: Thanksgiving Week - no school
Monday, November 29th: School resumes
Veterans Day - We need your help!
This year we would like to honor the Veterans from our Field School Family. If you have a Veteran in your family, please send in a picture with their name, branch and relation to the Field student.
Ex: Walter Hamilton
Army
Mrs. Thornton's Grandpa
We will be compiling the pictures to display at school. Please do not send an original photo. While we will be careful with the pictures, we would hate for anything to happen to your special picture. You can send the picture with your child to give to his or her teacher. All pictures should be submitted by Wednesday, November 3rd.
Also, do you know a Veteran who would be comfortable speaking to our students via Zoom? If so, please email Mrs. Goodman at cgoodman@d64.org.
Field's Green Team Shares Tips for Lunch
Lunch & Recess - Updates
As this year evolves, so have our lunch & recess plans. Our primary goal during the lunch/recess hour is to keep students safe in terms of minimizing the potential for close contact while also ensuring students have the opportunity to play and enjoy their friends.
With those goals in mind, we will continue to eat lunch outside as much as possible. For the recess portion, we'll also continue to be outside as much as possible. We do use the Childcare Weather Watch system to determine when it's safe to be outside for the recess portion (once we hit the winter months).
We are adjusting our plans for indoor lunch. The primary reason we are adjusting our indoor lunch plans is to shift to having students 6 feet apart while they eat (as compared to the 3 feet we do currently indoors). With students 6 feet apart while unmasked, we will have fewer close contact situations during the school day. In order to be 6 feet apart during lunch, we will return to our picnic style lunches when indoors. We did this last year with all 5th graders, all 2nd graders, and some 3rd graders (our current 3rd graders and 4th graders), and it was a success. Essentially, students will eat in their current assigned large group spaces, as well as in some hallway areas, and students will use their towels, as they do outside, to eat picnic style, 6 feet apart from others.
We will continue to make our final lunch and recess decisions by 11:00 a.m. If you would like to know our decision, please call the main office after 11:00 a.m.
As always, children are also permitted to leave school for the lunch recess hour. Parents need to come to the main office and sign out their child(ren). Students would remain home for the full hour of lunch/recess, which runs from 11:40 until 12:35 (Wednesdays from 11:15-12:10).
Trunk or Treat!
On October 29th, the Field PTO will be hosting an extra spooky Trunk or Treat from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the staff parking lot. We hope to see costumed Field families there!
Admission is free but donations of canned goods for local food pantries are suggested. (Please note that this is not a drop-off event, and parents must stay with their kids.)
There are still a few remaining spots to decorate the trunk of your car. Sign up here!
Two Easy Ways to Support the PTO!
Donating made easy! There are two simple and virtually effortless ways your everyday purchases can support the Field School PTO. Please consider using both of them!
- Amazon Smile: Amazon Smile will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases. To use Amazon Smile, go to http://smile.amazon.com. Enter Eugene Field School Parent Teacher Organization in the search box, then click "start shopping"! Be sure to bookmark it, as you must use smile.amazon.com when purchasing to apply donations toward the Field PTO. Amazon Smile is now available on the Amazon app! Click here for details.
- Box Tops for Education: Download the Box Tops app to your phone for another simple way to help the Field PTO earn money on everyday purchases. Just remember to scan your receipt within 14 days for credit on items purchased! Click here for instructions.
See what’s going on in our community!
From the library to the park district, our communities of Park Ridge-Niles have lots to offer, even virtually. For information on all the latest happenings, be sure to check the Community Info & Events webpage.
Eugene Field Elementary School
Website: www.d64.org/fie
Location: 707 N Wisner St, Park Ridge, IL, United States
Phone: 847-318-4385
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fieldparkridgeniles/?fref=ts
Twitter: @fieldd64