Message from the Principal
Week of August 16, 2021
Message from the Principal
Dear Virginia Lake Families,
Welcome Back to School! We can’t wait to see you during our Meet the Teacher event on Tuesday, August 17th from 8:30-9:30 a.m. School begins for students in Grades 1-6 on Wednesday, August 18th. School begins for our kindergarten students on Thursday, August 19th. Arrival begins promptly at 8:20 and school starts at 8:35 a.m.
Teacher assignments and transportation information are available in Infinite Campus. If you have any questions, please contact our school office at 847-963-7100.
Please watch the virtual tour of Virginia Lake, it will provide you with information about arrival. Our grade level door assignments have changed. Students with siblings are welcome to enter through the same door together the first few days of school, to assist our younger students in finding their new classrooms. Our staff is committed to our student’s safety. All of our staff members will be assisting students during arrival and dismissal during the first week of school. Please consider entering Virginia Lake using your child's arrival/dismissal door during Meet the Teacher. This will help your child become familiar with our new door assignments. If you have more than one child, we suggest you show all of your children their door assignments. Our staff will also review this information with students. Thank you for your partnership!
Arrival and dismissal doors assignments are as follows:
Door 1- Kindergarten & 1st Grade
Door 2- 4th Grade
Door 4- 2nd and 3rd Grade
Door 16- 5th and 6th Grade
Students who are car riders will remain in the building during dismissal. As families pull up in the car rider lane, a staff member will greet them. They will ask for your family's name, and we will call your child(ren) to the car rider lane using a walkie-talkie. Eventually, we will learn all of our family's vehicles, and loading students during dismissal will be efficient. We appreciate your patience during the first few days of school.
This school year, we will continue with the same self-certification process for students and visitors. Each student will receive a lanyard. Please sign your child’s lanyard every day; certifying that your child is free of Covid-19 symptoms, fever-free, and has not been exposed to anyone with Covid-19 in the last 14 days. Visitors will be asked to sign in certifying they are safe to be in the building too. We will be asking families to self-certify during Meet the Teacher and Parent Orientation. Clipboards with our District 15 forms will be available in your child's classroom.
Virginia Lake will begin serving breakfast at school this year. Breakfast and lunch will be free to all students. If your child would like to participate in our breakfast program, they may take a grab-and-go breakfast to class during arrival. Containers with breakfast will be available at each entrance. Students will be eating breakfast in the classroom. During the lunch hour, students will sit six feet apart. Students will eat in their classroom or in the MPR for lunch.
We encourage students to bring water bottles every day. Our water fountains have been turned on. Students may refill their water bottles at school.
Picture Day is scheduled for Thursday, August 26th. A flyer will be sent home with your child that includes information about ordering photos.
Do you want to become a part of the District 15 team? We're Hiring! Please check out the attached flyer for more information.
We have fun plans for our students on the first days of school! We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to Virginia Lake!
With Kindest Regards,
Patti Van Winkle, Principal
Virginia Lake Highlights
Kindergarten Teddy Bear Picnic
1st Grade Teddy Bear Play Date
TVs at Virginia Lake
News from our PTA
VL PTA is working hard on planning our Back to School Homecoming Picnic on August 20th from 4:30-6:30pm. This is one of our biggest events of the school year and we need parent volunteers to help with various things at the event... Please see the sign up below!
VL PTA: Back to School Homecoming (signupgenius.com)
Room Representatives - We are always looking for parent volunteers to help out in their children's classrooms throughout the school year. This includes Halloween and Valentine's Day parties. Room reps help to plan fun activities and games for students to participate in on these special dates. This is a great way for you to be a part of your child's school experience. We can have two room representatives and two helpers per classroom, so a total of four parents per class. Room representatives will do the majority of the planning and the helpers will assist them in various ways.
To sign-up, simply email allison.willis@hotmail.com saying who your child's teacher is and if you would like to be a room representative or a helper. We will do our best to accommodate all requests, but please keep in mind that space is limited to four people and if we receive more than four requests for a particular teacher, we will decide on first-come, first-served basis. There will also be a sign up available next Tuesday at Meet the Teacher if there are still spaces available at that time. We will reach out to the room representatives in the next few weeks to provide further information.
Covid-19 Safety at Virginia Lake
Families will certify their child(ren) are safe to be at school
Masks are required for all students, staff, and visitors indoors
Masks may be removed for recess, outdoor P.E., or outdoor classroom activities
Students will sit at least 3 feet apart in the classroom
Students will eat 6 feet apart during lunch
Snacks are not permitted in the classroom
Students will play in zones during recess
The playground will be open, and each class will be assigned one day on the playground
Students will use hand sanitizer or frequently wash their hands including before school, before and after lunch, & before and after P.E. classes
Social distancing will be encouraged during arrival & dismissal with multiple entries and exits
We will conduct contact tracing if there is a positive Covid-19 case in the building
Families will be notified if there is a positive Covid-19 case in their child's classroom
District Covid-19 dashboard will reflect transparent data on positive cases in each building in District 15
Shield testing will be done once a week for students who opted in
Classroom spaces will be disinfected daily
Bathrooms will be cleaned more frequently
School buses will be disinfected daily
Concurrent Learning
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to offer concurrent learning to our in-person students if/when they have been directed to quarantine if they are deemed a close contact to a positive individual or to go into isolation due to testing positive for COVID-19. We will ONLY allow students who have medical documentation or have been directed by the school nurse and approved by the building principal to quarantine or isolate. Students that have been directed to quarantine and approved to participate in concurrent learning for a specified period of time will be given a device and a link to the Google Meet to participate in learning. Students on vacation, out of the country, or home ill with any other illness will NOT be allowed to participate in concurrent learning. They will be marked absent per BOE policy 7:070 ATTENDANCE AND TRUANCY.
Back to School Picnic
Virginia Lake will be hosting a Back-to-School Picnic. Together as a school community, we will celebrate our new school year. Our PTA is sponsoring our event! We will have live music from one of our own teacher's family bands ( Thank you, Mrs. Early!). The Early Byrds Family Rock Band will be playing music and engaging families in the show. We will have giveaways, including spirit wear for all of the students. The Kona Ice Truck will be on site. Our Dolphin mascot will be greeting families and will provide your family a fun photo opportunity. We are also planning a few surprises.
Please save the date for Friday, August 20th from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Please RSVP for the event, so we have an accurate count of student spirit wear.
All of our students will receive a Virginia Lake T-shirt. If you are not able to attend the event, please complete the survey and RSVP no to our picnic. We will have an option for transportation from Country Glen Apartments. We will provide families with additional information soon. Thank you!
We can’t wait to see your family at our school event!
Important Dates
Monday, August 16 & Tuesday, August 17th- No School- Teacher Institute
Tuesday, August 17th- Meet the Teacher- 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Wednesday, August 18th- First Day of School- Grades 1-6
Thursday, August 19th- First Day of School- Kindergarten
Thursday, August 26th- Picture Day & Parent Orientation Night
Virginia Lake Elementary School
Email: vanwinkp@ccsd15.net
Website: https://www.ccsd15.net/VL
Location: 925 N Glenn Dr, Palatine, IL, USA
Phone: 847-963-7105