NBS Principal Newsletter
March 3, 2021
#NBSColtPride
Is it really March? The weather is improving and sun is shining. I am thankful for that and for the effort that everyone has put into this school year. The kids continue to show that they are adaptable and resilient. I am impressed with the work that has continued to help our children learn and grow. That work has been taken on by everyone and it shows how committed we all are to our children. Thank you for all that you have done throughout this pandemic time with our schools.
It is time for spring parent-teacher conferences and all the information you need to know is in this newsletter. Please read through the details and let me know if you have any questions. Conferences can be in-person or virtual. If you choose to meet on Zoom, you will need to let the teacher know that directly. There is not a feature in our software that allows you to make that request. If you do not let the teacher know, they will assume you are coming to the building for the conference. For obvious reasons, our two classes that are remote will have Zoom conferences.
Please remember to complete the Self-Certification for your child every morning. Students are not allowed into their class if it is not completed and they miss valuable time as we call you to get the questions answered. Link: health.barrington220.org
Have a wonderful day and enjoy the sunshine!
#NBSColtPride
#WeAreOne
Spring Parent Teacher Conferences
At North Barrington Elementary School we encourage communications on behalf of our students. One of the hallmarks of an excellent school and a strong school culture is a high degree of positive interaction and mutual support between home and the classroom. Twice each year, once in October and once in March, time is provided for parent teacher conferences. During these conferences we seek to accomplish three objectives:
(1) discussing your child’s progress, (2) providing parents the opportunity to share their observations of their child’s progress, and (3) providing the opportunity to share information and discuss plans between teacher and parent and make plans on behalf of your child. Discussions at the spring conferences should primarily be focused on progress and plans for this school year.
Spring conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, March 17th from 4:00-8:00 PM and Thursday, March 18th, 3:00-7:00 PM . (As a reminder, there is no school for students on March 19th.) We ask that you plan accordingly in order to schedule conferences during the conference days designated by the District. If you have a student that is in remote learning with a teacher from another building you will need to schedule through their Meet the Teacher link.
The allotment of time designated for spring conferences and the number of spaces available is more limited than the fall window. We value your support and will try our best to connect with parents who would like to communicate regarding their child. In addition to classroom teachers, all other certified personnel and staff are available for a conference.
As in the past, North Barrington will be utilizing Meet the Teacher software to schedule Parent-Teacher conferences. You will be receiving a link to Meet the Teacher on March 8th. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
CogAT Assessment
All students in grades 2 and 5 will be invited to participate in testing using the Cognitive Abilities Test ™ (CogAT ®) in March. This test will only be offered in-person. Students who do not come into school to take the assessment will have another opportunity in the spring or fall to participate in the in-person assessment with CogAT ®. The CogAT ® will be offered using the digital platform so students will need to be sure to have their iPads fully charged to participate and to bring headphones.
The CogAT ® is intended to measure reasoning and problem solving skills. Information gathered from the CogAT will be used by Barrington 220’s teaching staff and the Extended Services program as one way to help identify students with exceptional reasoning skills. Some students may benefit from work beyond what is offered in the typical Barrington 220 instructional program through the Extended Services program while others may benefit from differentiated instruction within the classroom. Special preparation for CogAT testing is not required. Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals. Reasoning skills are measured in three different cognitive domains: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal.
Verbal Battery measures flexibility, fluency, and adaptability in reasoning with verbal materials and in solving verbal problems. These reasoning abilities can play an important role in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and other verbal learning tasks.
Quantitative Battery measures quantitative reasoning skills; flexibility and fluency in working with quantitative symbols and concepts; and the ability to organize, structure, and give meaning to an unordered set of numerals and mathematical symbols. These reasoning skills are related to problem solving in mathematics and other disciplines.
Nonverbal Battery measures reasoning using geometric shapes and figures. To perform successfully, students use a variety of strategies for solving novel problems. Performance in these domains provides a relatively strong prediction of success in school.
After testing is complete, student reports will be sent home. The reports you will receive include several types of scores including Raw Scores, Age Scores, Grade Scores, as well as National and Local Percentiles when available. If you have questions about the CogAT test, please contact Ben Ditkowsky, the Director of Assessment for Barrington 220. If you have questions about our use of the CogAT for placement into the Extended Program, please contact Becky Wiegel, Director of District Programs.
5 Essentials Parent Survey
Please fill out the 5 Essentials Parent Survey as soon as possible. Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.
The Illinois 5 Essentials Survey for students and teachers will be conducted between now and April. The Parent Survey Supplement will be conducted between now and April. To take the parent survey please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/parent survey to begin.
For more information about the Illinois 5 Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ reports, please visit https://www.5-essentials.org/illinois. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 5 Essentials Client Services at 1-866-440-1874 or 5essentials@uchicago.edu.
February - Kindergarten Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
Chin - Benji Kim
Floyd - Caroline Winkler
Doherty - Lucas Neyfeldt, Quincy Matiyow
Heitman - Colin Carver, Kaylee Vesley
February - 1st Grade Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
McCarthy - Nico Heintz, Henry Christensen
Sztelle - Ian Kaplan, David Miller
February - 2nd Grade Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
Michels - Arianna Farbaky, Katerina Ebanoidze
Parr - Joshua Page, Logan and Nolan Merrill
Devine - Caiden Vist-Prince
February - 3rd Grade Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
Doyle - Theo Hunt
Krumm - Colten Haller, Violet Whalen
February - 4th Grade Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
Triggs - Gavin Hildebrand, Ryan Saunders
Tuzzolino - Nicolette Boryczko, Merrill Stutler
Check - Dylan Olson
February - 5th Grade Colt Pride Winners (AM & PM)
Bielski - Archie Haley, Lizzie Williams
Jirasek - Juliette Villalpando
Phillips - Angie Terziyski
Rodriguez - Haily Niese, Tilly Harned
Wang - Sela Anderson
Warrington - Nic Szela, Hutch Stennett
Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP)
The Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP), creators of our reading and writing programs, have developed numerous videos for families and caregivers to bring more joy into literacy learning. They draw on numerous years of experience and research in providing ideas for supporting reading and writing at home. We will highlight a few videos each week in upcoming newsletters, and encourage parents and caregivers to listen or watch these short videos. To access all videos created by TCRWP and additional resources, please refer to this link.
All Grades Levels: 6 Ways to Help Your Child Find Success with At-Home Learning and Establish Executive Functioning Skills That Will Last a Lifetime: Shanna offers parents six simple ways to help their child plan, organize and take charge of their remote learning, from having a quick morning meeting to orient to the day’s work to reflecting on work habits and time spent on each task. These tips for improving work habits are useful across grades.
All Grade Levels: Ways to Help Your Child Build a Strong Vocabulary: Hareem shares simple steps parents can use to help a child “own” a vocab word, using belligerent as an example. The steps are quick and doable, like “clap out the syllables” and “scrawl it on the back of an envelope.”
Important information in regards to Quarantine and COVID Cases
- COVID-19 FAQs for Parents/Guardians
- Here is the school guidance that we follow to the letter: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/IDPH-COVID19-Exclusion-Decison-Tree.pdf
- Keeping secondary contacts home is a parent's choice. It is not a CDC, IDPH, or LCHD recommendation.
- Definition of close contact - Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.
- CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing/contact-tracing-plan/appendix.html#contact
- LCHD recommended we NOT send classroom letters, protecting the identity of the person is required and paramount.
- For confidentiality reasons, we won't be identifying the classroom the person was in or if the positive person is a student or adult, as much as possible. This is due to the privacy of the information.
- If there is ever a situation that the nurses are unsure of, they immediately contact the LCHD
- We submit all positive cases students or staff to the health department and they follow up on each case.
- When we feel we do not have enough information (late at night typically), we do a short-term quarantine of any possible affected students or staff until we can feel we definitely know if they are a close contact.
- Our HR department and Director of Nursing contact trace right away (regardless of nights or weekends) when we find out about a positive case.
Important Dates
March 3, 4, 5 - CogAT Testing for 2nd and 5th graders
March 17th-18th - Parent-Teacher Conferences
March 19th - No School
April 21st - May 5th - Virtual Art Fair
Austin Johnson - Principal North Barrington Elementary
Email: ajohnson@barrington220.org
Website: https://www.barrington220.org/north
Phone: 847-381-4340
Twitter: @NBarringtonColt