Hometown School Newsletter

August 30, 2022

Bencik's Buzz

Hometown Families:

We will begin our fall MAP testings for students in grades K-5. Our CASE students will NOT be testing. Our students will be taking the test Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Please make sure students come with charged chromebooks and are ready to test. Please remember we do not have school on Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day.

Picture Day

Picture day is set for September 2nd. Please see the attached document with all of the details.

Spirit Wear

We have started our sales of Spirit Wear. Please visit the online store. There are many different options. Sales will be due September 13th.

Ice Cream Friday

We will kick off ice cream Friday on Friday, September 2nd. Students will be able to purchase ice cream for 1.00 at lunch.

Hometown Staff Spotlight

Every week I will be spotlighting a staff member or a team. This week I will begin by introducing our new school social worker Ms. Alaa Mahmoud.


How long and what grades have you taught?

This is my first year as a school social worker, I graduated with my master’s in social work in

May. I interned in the district last year at Kolmar School and couldn’t be happier to be back in

the district.


If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

If I could travel anywhere, it would be Palestine, my parents were both born and raised there

and would love to be back to where my parents grew up and to visit the many places and

meet the people they have always talked about.


What are you most excited for this year?

I’m most excited to build relationships with my students, families, and staff.


What is your favorite food?

My favorite food is pizza and wings.


Who is someone you admire and why?

The person who inspires me is my dad. I admire him more than anything. He’s the one who

made all the sacrifices just so his kids wouldn’t have to go through the hardships he did. He’s

the most loving and caring person out there.



If you see Ms, Mahmoud around Hometown, please welcome her and say hello!

Clubs

Our teachers have handed out clubs and activity forms to students. Some clubs are as follows:

Chorus: Grades 3-5

Student Council: Grades 4th-5th

Board Game Club: 5th grade

Wonder Girls: Grades 4th-5th Girls

Crazy 8's Math Club: 2nd Grade

Art Club: Kindergarten

Spanish Club: 5th grade

Talent Show Club


There will be other clubs offered trimeter 2.

Late Start

We will have our first late start of the year next week Wednesday, September 7th. Students will start at 9:30am.

SAVE the DATE

Open House is scheduled for September 15th from 4:30-6:00pm. We look forward to seeing all of the families that evening. We will also have the an ice cream social until 6:30pm. More details will follow.

Dismissal

Please remember you may NOT park in the back lot when picking up students. You must park on the side streets and walk to the child's door. Please be mindful during the dismissal time.

Teacher Communication

In order to mainstream communication from teachers this school year, we will be using SeeSaw as the main platform for teacher to parent communication. Please sign up for SeeSaw using the information that was given to your family from the teacher.

PTA

We strongly encourage you to join our PTA at Hometown. We work together to provide many different events throughout the school year for the students. We always work with our volunteers to set them up for success. Please consider joining this organization. Our first meeting is September 1st at 6pm. We will have a presentation from two of our teachers about SeeSaw.

Intramurals

Please see the information for intramurals for the park district.

Arab American Family Services

We are happy to partner with the Arab American Services for the school year. Please see the attached flyer. We are looking for parent mentors to start the new year. If you are interested please reach out to the school. We will have a table at the Open house with more information.