Erickson Express
Family Newsletter
February 17, 2022
There is no school TODAY, Thursday, February 17th. School will resume on Friday, February 18th. On February 18th, students are dismissed at 1:40 and it is Pillar Day. Remind students to wear their pillar shirt or pillar color.
Thank you to the Erickson parents who planned and led the Valentine's Day parties this week! See picture below from Mrs. Crossley's first grade class.
HOT LUNCH: We are excited to announce that HOT LUNCH will be offered on MONDAYS & FRIDAYS starting in March. This is made possible by our lunch coordinators Stephanie Danek and Katy Michalec. Thank you both! SIGN UP HERE All orders are due on March 4th.
~PTO FAMILY PAINT NIGHT ~SAVE THE DATE~: March 10th in the evening! More info to come in the next Express!
5th Grade Service Project: Students in grades 1-5 participate in a service project throughout the school year. February is the 5th Grade Service Project. Fifth graders are raising money for the Mayfield School District in Kentucky that was devastated by tornadoes in December. They have been making keychains and bracelets, while learning about citizenship and compassion for others, and will "set up shop" and sell the $1.00 bracelets/keychains to students during the week of February 28th. See flyer below.
DISMISSAL UPDATE for students who get picked up: If you pick your child up at dismissal, please read on.
- If you arrive to school after 3:25 (this is when the parent lot is full), and you want to pick up your child(ren), please utilize the Park District parking lot.
- Please park in marked spots in the Parent Parking Lot. To many cars in the parent lot, creates a bottle neck on the way out, which slows down the parent pick-up circle, creates back-up on Springfield, and causes aggravation for those that arrived earlier to get a parking spot.
- Use the parent pick-up circle. The dismissal process typically takes 9 minutes. At 3:39 the parent lot is cleared and all kids are on their way home. Roll up at 3:38 and you will have NO WAIT! Your kids will love chatting with friends while waiting to be picked up.
I need YOUR HELP to make this process smoother. THANK YOU! I welcome feedback if you have ideas!
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 17: Hot Lunch Order Form is now open. See flyer below
February 18: Pizza Hot Lunch & Pillar Day- wear pillar color or shirts /Eagle's Nest, 1:40 Early Dismissal
February 21: No School - Presidents' Day
February 22: 2-22-22 Student Council TWO MUCH FUN Day: Everyone wear 2 of something: 2 necklaces, 2 bows, two hats, etc.
February 25: NO Hot Lunch
March 2: Wacky Wednesday - Theme TBD
March 3: 2nd Trimester Ends (Progress Reports emailed home on March 18th)
March 4: No School for Students (Staff attends professional development)
March 7: No School- Casimir Pulaski Day
March 10: Vision and Hearing Screening, PTO PAINT NIGHT in the Evening
March 11: Spirit Day: Wear Blue and Gold
FROM THE NURSE: Vision and Hearing Screening
Dupage County Health Department will be conducting vision and hearing screening for students at Erickson on March 10. Certified hearing and vision screening technicians will be providing screenings as mandated by the state in search for any vision or hearing deficiencies. In the event that deficiencies are detected in either area, The DuPage County Health Department Vision and Hearing team will return on March 24th to rescreen any students that did not meet passing criteria during the first screening.
They will be screening the following:
Vision: preK, K, 2
Hearing: preK, K, 1, 2, 3
Students in special education
Student in foster care
Student new to Bloomingdale SD13 this year
2022-2023 New Students
2022-2023 Kindergarten and New Student Registration
Parents wishing to enroll their new student into Bloomingdale School District 13 for the 2022-2023 school year can enroll online by clicking on this link: SD13 Enrollment Form
Please check out the “What’s Needed to Enroll My Student?” document located on the SD13 enrollment website.
Bus Tracking App- FirstView®
FAMILIES RECEIVED AN EMAIL on February 10th with log-in information. Please look for this email so you can set up the FirstView®, bus tracking and parent communication app for your smartphone or desktop.
Information about the 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.
In addition, there will be resources located on the District Webpage within the Business Office's department page.
Falling in Love with Paper Contest
We are extremely proud to partner with Paper to provide our 1st to 8th grade students and teachers with access to 24/7 on-demand, high-quality academic support.
In an effort to help students utilize this valuable resource, we are hosting a February student contest, “Falling in Love with Paper”, running February 14th-28th! During this two week contest, students will be encouraged to login to Paper to get academic support by using the live help and/or essay review feature. The top student users for academic support in each grade level will receive a $25 gift card and a treat for their classmates, from Paper. The winners will be announced March 4, 2022.
For more information about the contest and what students need to do to get started, see the this flyer As a reminder, students can access their Paper account by simply going to https://app.paper.co/login/student, enter their school then sign in with Google.
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.
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
Hot Lunch: We are excited to announce that we are adding an extra day of Hot Lunch! This is made possible by our volunteers Stephanie Danek and Katy Michalec. Thank you both for making this possible for the students!
Please see the attached flyer for all the ordering information. All orders will be due on 3/4, No Exceptions! https://form.jotform.com/220404926888161
Spirit Week: March 8th - March 11th we will have different themes for students to participate in to show their school spirit for Erickson! We are introducing a Paint Night to bring families into the school to have a painting tutorial led by the Art teacher Mrs. Clay.
PTO Contact Information: Stay in touch with the PTO by connecting with them on Remind and Twitter.
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