Friday Focus

• A Message from Marcie
• MAP Reports
• Chromebook Collection Grades 2-5
• Calling All 5th Graders
• Summer 2023 Digital Tool Access Information
  
• IXL Summer Boost
  
• Other Important Info...
  

Don’t miss the PTO Spotlight:

• Thank YOU from the PTO
• Yearbooks are in
• PTO Volunteers needed
• And more...

Thanks for a great week, South Park!

Our entire week was filled with laughter, creativity, and discovery! Highlights included doing science experiments throughout Tuesday, changing everyone's name on Wednesday, playing games within and across classrooms yesterday, and finally, ending our week with Field Day and Helping Hands Day.

I want to send my gratitude to all of the parent volunteers who either helped with Helping Hands Day activities or braved the heat during Field Day. Our students had the perfect balance of friendly competition while also giving back to our community by creating Birthday Kits for the food pantry, designing blanket squares for Project Linus, assembling school supply kits for Gratitude Generation, and making tissue paper flowers for the Weinberg Community for Senior Living. Thank you to everyone for making today possible.

Our word of the week was "tangible" and we used this word as a way to explain to students that hands-on philanthropy projects using tangible objects are so important. As we prepare our children to become compassionate and responsible members of society, we feel it is essential to help them understand why engaging in hands-on service can be even more impactful than monetary donations alone.

Next week, we will cap off the school year on Wednesday at 11:40 a.m. For students who want to participate in the 10-day countdown, the final days are listed below:

Monday - Great Day to be a Penguin Day - South Park Spirit or School Colors (blue and yellow)

Tuesday - Neighborly Day (students will be doing random acts of kindness for others)

Wednesday - Swing into summer wearing colorful summer clothes.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Marcie

MAP reports were mailed out earlier this week. I want to remind parents that MAP data represents one data point in time and does not tell the full story regarding a child's progress. If you have specific questions about your child's scores, please feel free to reach out to the teacher or to me.

Our 4th and 5th-grade teams have collaborated with the Department of Teaching and Learning to determine math placements for all rising 5th and 6th-grade students. All of our current 4th and 5th-grade students should have received notification of their math placement along with their MAP report in the mail this week.

Teachers will collect Chromebooks next week on Monday or Tuesday, so please be sure to send devices and accompanying materials back to school with your child next week.

Please return only the original stylus and charger that were provided by the district. The district will not accept any non-OEM (original equipment manufacturer) items.

Do you like to sing? Are you interested in joining Choir at Caruso?

Sign-Up for Caruso Singers before the end of the school year!

Caruso Singers is a non-auditioned, ALL 6th-grade singing group.

No experience necessary to join Caruso Singers! Just an interest in singing : ).

They sing many styles of music, but mainly, popular, familiar songs & only rehearse once a week.

Please join them for an Informational Webinar on Monday, June 5th @ 6pm.

While the meeting is not required, it is a great place to ask questions and hear from current and past students about their Choir experience.

For more information (including webinar link & sign-up form), please click here.

Questions? - Email Ms. Kara Vombrack at kvombrack@dps109.org

The digital tools in the table below can be accessed on a personal (home) device by going to clever.com and entering the student’s dps109 email address and animal password (school issued) OR by using a Clever badge if you have one.

On your personal iPad, you can install the Clever app as well if you would like.

Other digital tools used throughout the year (not listed in the table) that require a Google sign-on with a dps109 email may be used as well (i.e. WeVideo, CoSpaces Edu, Worldbookonline, etc.)

Please note: some features of the individual digital tools may become disabled throughout the summer as the companies make updates to their product in preparation for the 2023-2024 school year.

Reminders for student emails, passwords, and graduation years:

Students' emails are their first name + last name + graduation year @ dps109(dot)org

Example: mariagalanis2022 @ dps109(dot)org

Exceptions are longer name combinations. For those, it would be first initial + last name + graduation year @ dps109(dot)org

Example: mgalanis2022 @ dps109(dot)org

All passwords are an animal + 4 digits

Graduation year:

K: 2035

1st: 2034

2nd: 2033

3rd: 2032

4th: 2031

5th: 2030

6th: 2029

7th: 2028

*the above grade levels refer to the 2022-23 school year

SUMMER 2023 DIGITAL TOOLS

Reading Eggs - K-1

RAZ PLUS - K-2

ST MATH - K-5

IXL Reading - 2-8

IXL Math - K-8

Big Ideas Math Skill Trainer - K-8

IXL provides summer boost skill plans that highlight skills from the previous year to help students be on track for the next grade level. Note: the grade levels are for the grade level that the student will be heading into. For example, if you click on the 1st grade link, the page says, "help rising first graders".

Video: How Students Can Access the IXL Summer Boost

Alternative way to access IXL Summer Boost: Summer Resources Page

• All visitors to South Park School MUST bring a valid driver's license or state ID card to the main office before entering into the building. Beginning this year, we will collect IDs during your visit and return it to you as you leave.
• If your child is going to be absent from school, you need to call or email us by 9:00 that morning. ** Call 847-945-5895, ext. 2103 and leave a message OR ** Email Nurse Nora Moskos.
• When parking in our Birchwood parking lot, please remember that our preschoolers are dropped off and picked up by the west end (closest to the school). Sometimes, their parents' cars can block a parked car from exiting for a few minutes. To avoid that, we suggest that you park closer to Birchwood Avenue.
• Please follow our morning procedures, and drop your children off at their regular grade level doors. If you choose to drive through the front circle at arrival, kindly stay in your car when you drop off to help us reduce morning congestion.
• Drop-off is between 8:35-8:45 a.m. Students who arrive after 8:45 a.m. will need to enter through the front door of the school, as all other doors will be locked.
• Dismissal for all Kindy and 1st-grade walkers and car riders will take place at their grade level door. Parents who park in the front circle should wait until 3:10 p.m. to do so.
• Dismissal is at 3:25 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We dismiss at 2:25 on Wednesdays.
• Our practice is to let kids go outside if the temperature/wind chill is 10 degrees or warmer and it is not raining or snowing too hard.
  

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, June 6th - 5th Grade Variety Show - 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 7th - School's Out at 11:40 a.m.

Link to District 109 Calendar