The Tiger Times Newsletter
Pleasantdale Middle School
August 25, 2019
Welcome Back, Tigers!
Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year here at Pleasantdale Middle School! We're excited about what the future holds for you this year. We have a new logo (shown above), new gymnasium, and in about a month (hopefully less), a new, updated library for our students and staff to learn within. A wonderful thing about schools is that each year is a new year full of new opportunities. We hope you'll take advantage of these opportunities to make the most of your time here at the middle school.
As we talked with the students about on opening day, the choice is yours each day to decide if it is going to be an amazing day or just another day. We have much to be grateful for and hope you'll be reminded each and every day just how fortunate we are to live where we live, have what we have, and go to our great school.
A couple of keys to a successful year are to stay informed. How can you do this? Below are the best ways:
1. Please read this newsletter each week. It comes out at 1 p.m. on Sunday of each week to your email inbox. The headings are large and clear so that if something doesn't pertain to you or your child, you can skip that section. This is the way we will save you from being inundated with separate emails about each item contained in the newsletter. We know and appreciate how busy we all are so we thought this would be a great way to streamline communication. Once the newsletters come out, they are archived on the Middle School webpage for easy access in the future.
2. Please read any other emails or messages that we send you. We work very hard not to send out too much information but want to keep you informed. If you have questions about anything, please don't hesitate to contact Mrs. Reschke (creschke@d107.org) or Ms. Cuevas (mcuevas@d107.org) in the main office (708-246-3210) or email Mrs. Malatt or me with your questions. All of us are happy to help provide you timely and accurate information.
3. If you are on social media, please consider following Mr. Sonntag on Twitter at @Pdaleprincipal for pictures and updates each day. Also, please consider liking the Pleasantdale School District 107 Facebook page for updates and information across the district.
4. We will be adding additional ways to stay informed in the near future.
Thank you for being partners in everything we do to make Pleasantdale Middle School the very best school it can be!
"Move-In to Middle" and "Launchpad" Were Great Successes!
Thursday's All School Meeting Recap
What a great first day and opening All-School Meeting! The kids did a wonderful job of listening and participating in our meeting, meeting new staff, and the unveiling of our new logo. Here's the link to my presentation kicking off the school year! For some of you Pleasantdale alumni and historians, you'll see some pictures I bet you've never seen before! Enjoy!
Parents Must Report Absent Children by 8:20 a.m.
It is imperative that if your child is going to be absent from school, you inform us of this absence and the reason for the absence prior to the start of the school day (8:20 a.m.). If we aren't notified, our long-standing procedure is to contact the local police to do a wellness check in order to assure the safety of your child who should be at school.
To report an absence, we have made this as easy as possible by providing you multiple outlets to communicate this to us. You may either call 708-246-3210, dial extension 5 when the recording begins, or email us at middleattendance@d107.org. You don't have to wait until the morning of to report the absence. You may call or email as soon as you know your child is going to absent. For example, if your child has a fever at 8:00 p.m., please call or email us at that time to let us know that he/she is going to be home sick from school the next day.
No Pick Up Patrol at the Middle School
If something changes during the day, please call the office and we will request that the student come down at the afternoon announcements.
Dropping Things Off During the School Day
1. Having a charging station for all device each night that is not in your child's bedroom. This way, their school iPad will be fully charged for school and their other device will not be in their bedroom keeping them from sleeping.
a. A side note on this one, have the iPad inside the backpack and charging. This way, if your child remembers his backpack, he'll remember his iPad (and it will be fully charged as a bonus!).
b. Also, put all homework in this backpack the night before so if there is a rush to get out the door, nothing will be forgotten. If something is forgotten, consider letting your child lose a couple of homework points (which once will not affect his/her grade much at all) to learn the greater lesson of responsibility, independence, and idea that every action has a consequence, sometimes good consequences and sometimes not good consequences.
2. Put money on your child's lunch account so that if he/she forgets his/her lunch one day (it happens to all of us), he/she can problem-solve this for him/herself. Yes, the lunch may not be ideal, but again, that would be a small natural consequence to help him/her remember the lunch the next day.
These are the two most frequent reasons parents drop things off at school. Let's work together to lessen these happenings (and to give you some time back) this year!
Entering School During the School Day
Thank you for supporting us keeping everyone safe here at the Middle School!
Tiger Tipline
While it is always best to talk directly to a staff member, we understand that sometimes this can be uncomfortable or difficult for students or parents. At Pleasantdale Middle School, we offer the Tiger Tipline as an anonymous tool for reporting unsafe, uncomfortable, or unkind behaviors and situations. We explicitly teach the students that if they ever see something or hear something that makes them feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or is unkind, either online or in person, they should tell a “trusted adult” which could be parents, school personnel, or other adults in their lives. The Tiger Tipline can be accessed here and we will post the link in Schoology and create a shortcut to the link on the student devices for easy access.
School Spirit Fridays!
Lunch information
As you may have read in Dr. Palzet's email this week, the lunch menus have been upgraded significantly to show both nutritional information and allergens for the food served by Just a Dash, our third-party partner to provide hot lunch to our school. Here's the link to the menu for the rest of August (and then you can just click over to see September).
August Lunch Menu, Nutritional Information, and Allergens
To put money on your child's account, please log into Skyward and add money. For more complete directions or apply for free or reduced lunches, please visit here.
Middle School Curriculum Night/Meet the Teacher Night, Thursday, September 12
School Supply Lists
Follow Us on Twitter @Pdaleprincipal for updates and pictures of the happenings around the middle school
This Week...
Monday, August 26
Tuesday, August 27
CC Informational Meeting, 3:30-4:00 p.m. **No late bus will be running this week so students who attend this meeting will need to be picked up from school. If this isn't possible, please have your child not attend the meeting and pick up an informational packet during PE class or from Mrs. Truesdale. The coaches this year are Mrs. Truesdale and Ms. Porod (from the elementary school)
7th Grade Boys' Softball Tryouts, 3:30-5 p.m., Meet in the south gym
Wednesday, August 28
8th Grade Girls' Basketball Tryouts, 3:30-5 p.m., North gym
8th Grade Boys Softball Tryouts, 3:30-5 p.m., Meet in the south gym
Thursday, August 29
7th Grade Girls' Basketball Tryouts, 3:30-5 p.m., North Gym
First Cross-Country Practice, 3:30-5 p.m., Meet in the gym
Friday, August 30
School Spirit Friday (every Friday)! Wear anything Pleasantdale or navy, Carolina, or white.
A look ahead...
***Orchestra, Band, and Choirs will begin the week of September 9. Clubs and activities will be listed in this section in the future as well.
Monday, September 2-Labor Day-No School
Tuesday, September 3
Cross Country Practice, 3:30-5 p.m., Gym
Wednesday, September 4
No after school activities
Thursday, September 5
Cross Country Practice, 3:30-5 p.m., Gym
Friday, September 6
School Spirit Friday (every Friday)! Wear anything Pleasantdale or navy, Carolina, or white.
Cross Country Practice, 3:30-5 p.m., Gym
Questions? We're here to help!
Athletics: 708-246-7382
Mr. Mark Dreher, Athletic Director, mdreher@d107.org
Attendance notification: 708-246-3210, extension 5 or email middleattendance@d107.org before 8:20 a.m., please.
Health Office: 708-246-7619
Mrs. Denise Rende, Nurse, drende@d107.org
Main Office: 708-246-3210, extension 0
Mrs. Charlotte Reschke, Secretary, creschke@d107.org
Ms. Maria Cuevas, Clerical Aide, mcuevas@d107.org
Mrs. Brianne Malatt, Assistant Principal, bmalatt@d107.org, 708-246-7373
Mr. Griffin Sonntag, Principal, gsonntag@d107.org, 708-246-7609
Social Worker: 708-246-7505
Ms. Carrie Castaldo, Social Worker, ccastaldo@d107.orgPleasantdale Middle School
Email: gsonntag@d107.org
Website: http://ms.pleasantdale.schooldesk.net/
Location: 7450 South Wolf Road, Burr Ridge, IL, USA
Phone: (708)246-3210
Twitter: @pdaleprincipal