As the stay-at-home mandate was extended through the end of the school year, we are looking at students who are dealing with a situation they had never imagined. There are bright spots and there are struggles. Here is a link to a website that gives some additional advice and strategies for helping your child cope with their thoughts and feelings when they come to you with their questions. It can be read in English or Spanish.

Sesame Street remains a staple in helping children manage difficult topics. Here here is a link to some ways they have helped parents navigate our current times.

We continue our yoga theme for movement as we are still inside most of the time. It gives a good small space option for movement. This video takes your child through a calming and breathing exercise.

Because Covid-19 is a virus that is new to us, the cdc.gov website is a great resource for specific up to date information that follows the science and provides current evidence based findings on questions that you may have come up as a result of your family discussions.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Northern Illinois Food Bank invites you to our drive-thru Pop-Up Market to pick up fresh groceries this Saturday at Elgin Community College. Anyone in the community that may need a little extra help during this time is welcome to join us. No ID is needed.

When: Saturday, May 2 from 10am-1pm

Where: Elgin Community College | 1700 Spartan Dr | Elgin, IL 60123.

This week's SEL lesson focuses on perspective taking; The ability to look beyond your own point of view, so that you can consider how someone else may think or feel about something. To do this successfully, you must have some understanding of others' thoughts, feelings, motivations, and intentions.” (Socially Skilled Kids, 2020). There are activities embedded in the presentation for students and adults. The five developmental stages of perspective taking; age 3 through 15+ is interesting and helpful to understanding this social-emotional competency.

• Social awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
  

The challenges and uncertainty facing families and children are impactful on overall mental health and well being. We are hopeful the resources shared will be a support to parents/guardians and children. If you have any questions on the information provided or are seeking additional support for yourself or child, please contact Patti Palagi, Director Instructional Interventions (patti.palagi@d303.org or 331-228-6457).

Mrs. Liechty and Mrs. Shaw collaborated on a book for Davis Primary Students and their families to enjoy.

Click on this link, WHERE ARE THE KIDS?, to “Read the book!”

A Parent Link email invitation will be sent later today for students to share what they love about Davis with Mrs. Shaw as she gets to know us. Watch for it!

Our talented students have put together some pretty amazing artwork. Enjoy our virtual art show HERE.

3rd and 4th Grade Families, we need your help! We want to celebrate our 5th graders with a virtual cla pout. Ms. Dixon will be putting together a video. What we need is 3rd and 4th graders (K-2 is also welcome to participate) to send a short video of you clapping. It can be by yourself, with a sibling or with your whole family. Videos are to be posted here on flipgrid. The password is 5thclapout. Please send videos by May 8th.

Attention current 4th graders! Check out a video from Ms. Lydigsen, Richmond’s band teacher next year! To watch the video click HERE.

Join us Friday, May 8th at noon for a fun game of virtual Jeopardy. Students can join by using the link they will see in their SciTech google classroom on the 8th. We hope many of you can join us.

Please take by tomorrow, May 2nd!

D303 would like each 4th and 5th grade student to participate in a student survey on the topics of remote learning and social emotional learning (SEL). Students in 6th to 12th grade are taking a similar, but different survey.

D303 is partnering with Northern Illinois University to gain insights from students (grade 4 and up) related to remote learning. The first part is a jointly created survey on how remote learning is going in general. The second part contains established questions designed to help the District understand the overall social emotional well-being of students during remote learning.

The survey will close at the end of the day on May 2, 2020.

Please have your child click the link below to fill out the survey. Use the language toggle on the upper right side of the screen to switch between English and Spanish.

Students in 4th and 5th grade click here to fill out a Student Survey on Remote Learning and SEL

All aspects of student information will remain confidential. If you would like additional information on the survey, please contact David Chiszar, Executive Director Assessment & Accountability (david.chiszar@d303.org), or Patti Palagi, Director of Instructional Interventions (patti.palagi@d303.org). The survey will capture student insights connected to remote learning, social-emotional well being, and coping strategies/supports accessed during this unique time. NIU has established a partnership with D303 through their federal Project Prevent and Address Bullying grant. We are excited to gain additional insights into students' perceptions of remote learning in order to assist us in directing our academic and social-emotional programming.

Along with the student survey we are asking parents a similar set of companion questions on the topic of remote learning. This information, along with student and staff feedback, will be used to help D303 understand, plan, and adjust.

Parents please click here to fill out a Survey for Parents on Remote Learning

We are celebrating our teachers and staff during our Virtual Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8!

Our first ever Virtual PTO meeting will be held on May 6th at 7PM. A link will be coming soon. We hope you can attend as there will be voting items for the upcoming year. Mrs. Shaw will join us as well.

Monday - Friday, May 4 - 8

- Teacher Appreciation Week

Wednesday, May 6

- Virtual PTO Mtg at 7:00pm

Friday, May 22

- Last Day of School