The Central Scoop
August 17, 2018
From the Principal's Desk...
Dear Parents,
Welcome Back to School! I hope you had an enjoyable summer spending quality time with family and friends. We are all looking forward to another rewarding and exciting school year at Central Elementary.
Everything you need to know for school is now posted on the front page of our website under the heading “Parents” and then, "Back to School." In addition to important dates and reminders, our website includes letters from each classroom teacher welcoming his/her students and families. You can also see what school supplies to purchase for each grade level. Please review the district’s parent handbook (and the “Central Handbook Addendum”) where you will find information about pick-up and drop-off procedures, food policy information, lunch/recess procedures, etc. You can also learn about our commitment to maintain a bully-free, respectful community for all of our students as part of our “First Class Central” initiative. For your convenience, here is the direct link to all the items you need for the start of school on the website: Back to School Information.
As a reminder, parents will receive an email with class assignments for all registered students by the end of the day on Tuesday, August 21st. Please be sure to check your spam/junk folder. In the event that you do not receive this email, please contact the office on Wednesday, August 22nd.
Below is the schedule for the first day of school on Thursday, August 30th. Like last year, parents may walk their children to the classroom for a quick “Kiss and Drop-off." Parents are then welcome to go to the gym for the annual “PTA Coffee” where you can sign-up for volunteer opportunities starting at 8:45 AM.
Grades 1-4
First Half Day with Dismissal at 11:55 AM
*Parents may go to classrooms from 8:35 AM-8:45AM only
PTA Coffee & Sign-ups in the Big Gym 8:45 AM-10:30 AM
Kindergarten
Children attend this with their parents and meet the teacher:
AM Kindergarten:
8:40 AM-9:25AM- Last name beginning with letters A-K
10:25 AM-11:10AM- Last name beginning with letters L-Z
PM Kindergarten:
1:00 PM-1:45PM- Last name beginning with letters A-K
2:15 PM-3:00PM- Last name beginning with letters L-Z
On Friday, August 31st, grades 1-4 are dismissed at 2:15pm. Kindergarteners will follow their regular morning or afternoon schedule: AM Kindergarten (8:35 AM-11:10 AM) and PM Kindergarten (12:40 PM-3:15 PM).
We look forward to welcoming you all back on August 30th!
~ Becky
Rebecca Littmann
Principal
Central Elementary School
Who's New at Central?
Amanda Utynek (4th Grade)
This is Amanda’s 20th year in District 39! She has taught at both Highcrest Middle School and Wilmette Junior High, and most recently served as a districtwide Curriculum Coordinator. Amanda is originally from Ohio where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from The Ohio State University. She currently lives right here in Wilmette with her husband Darrin, her son Cooper, and their lovable pug, Lambeau. In her free time, Amanda loves traveling (New York City is one of her happy places!), going to concerts, and doing yoga. She is thrilled to embark on the next phase of her teaching career at Central School!
Anthony Haduch (3rd Grade)
Vanessa Kovachy (Psychologist)
Jenna Oskey (Learning Behavior Specialist)
Christopher Baum (Learning Behavior Specialist)
Danielle Baker (Social Work Intern)
Familiar Faces in New Places
Julia Mahowald (Learning Behavior Specialist): Julia is moving to the Therapeutic Intervention Program that is housed here at Central School. She is looking forward to bringing her expertise to the program to help students.
Becky Dolinko (LBS Maternity Leave Substitute for Jen Archer for first six weeks of school) Becky is a familiar face around Central School. Last year, Becky was a paraprofessional at Central and is familiar with the students and their programming needs. Becky graduated from the University of Illinois and has two years of teaching experience. She looks forward to working with students in a new capacity this fall.
** Also note - Miss Stacey Steinberg was married over the summer and officially changed her name to Mrs. Stacey Dana!
Updated & Innovative Spaces Inside and Outside Central School
With the completion and success of the Learning Commons, we are now hoping to expanding the concept to our playgrounds and classrooms.
Outside: Our Playgrounds
Having high quality, safe and accessible play structures are one of the 21st century's answers to modern child development. One way of meeting these needs is to improve our community’s play structures. Recess on the playground at Central is not what it could be because the playground equipment is almost 20 years old. It’s outdated, has been patched-up by the district over the last several years, and is in desperate need of a makeover. A review of the current equipment shows wear and tear that can’t be maintained by the district much longer. Furthermore, the vision is to reconfigure the playground into one large space so the children can run freely between the play structures.
With this in mind, Central School’s administration and the PTA have partnered together in a joint fundraising effort to improve our playgrounds. In the past, our community was successful at raising money and recruiting volunteers for similar projects, including the Learning Commons, four years ago. The Central School teachers plan to volunteer their time to this effort as well. We’re hoping our community will rally again to support this project. More information on this important initiative will be coming soon from the school and the PTA!
Inside: Our Classrooms
Inside the school, we are looking at how to best update our classroom environments to promote flexibility and innovative learning. School administration has been working closely with vendors, other districts, and staff volunteers to conduct site visits and research best practices for implementation here. To help get us started, Katie Rollings’ classroom will be transformed with new furniture and a new layout/structure as a pilot space for this coming year. Vendors are lending us furniture samples to "pilot" in Katie's classroom. Ms Rolling's classroom is downstairs in room 105 (closest room to the lobby). All parents are encouraged and welcome to peek-in during Curriculum Nights to see the new space.
Air Conditioning!
The district is looking at our large spaces inside the building to provide air conditioning for our students and staff. I'm happy to report that THIS YEAR we now have air conditioning in the BIG gym! This will help our all-school assemblies, gym classes, and provide another cooling station for rotation for classes on hot days. Moving forward, the district will be providing air conditioning in our cafeteria by fall 2020. We are very thankful that the district prioritized funds for us to have air conditioning in two more large spaces, and we look forward to providing a more comfortable experience for our students at Central to learn.
Improved Security Protocol
District 39 continues to evaluate our safety procedures and has made some adjustments for when we have visitors. When you come to volunteer at Central, you will need your driver’s license each time you come into the building. While in the past, a parent could show his/her license one time, the new requirement will be to bring the license EVERY time. The secretaries will hold onto the driver’s license while you are in the building and return it to you when you leave for the day. These procedures will be practiced in all D39 schools. Our new procedures will be aligned with other schools in the area, including New Trier High School. Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe!
Friday Early Dismissal Reminder
As a reminder, with the start of the 2018-2019 school year, 2:15pm-3:15pm supervision for our Friday Early Dismissal will be offered only to families who meet one of following criteria:
Your child attends the Park District After School Recreation Program and takes the 3:15pm bus from Central School to the Wilmette Park District Recreation Center.
You have a child in grades 1-4 who has a sibling in PM kindergarten.
Your child participates in a Friday After School Park District 3:15pm club at your home school (Central).
Classroom Snack Guidelines and Reminders
As you know, in any given classroom, we have students with a variety of serious, and often life-threatening, food allergies. To ensure a safe learning environment for every student in our schools, we are limiting classroom snacks to fruits and vegetables only. The items brought to school can be cut up and placed in baggies/containers from your home, or be pre-packaged bags of apples, carrots, etc. as we often see sold in bulk. Please avoid those that are packaged with dips or items that require the labeling of contents. We prefer fresh fruits and vegetables. If there is an ingredient list, it really doesn’t follow the guidelines. Thank you, in advance, for supporting our efforts to keep Central School safe for every child.
Cafeteria Update
Civics and Safety
The D39 Village Wide PTA Safety & Civics committee produced a fun video to ask children and their parents/caregivers to respect the safety rules and guidelines around the schools. Over the course of the last three to four years, Wilmette Police officers, cross-guards, bus drivers, and PTA representatives gathered stories of incidents that happened at their schools. With input from parents, and children of all ages, this video was created to communicate the most important safety guidelines to keep everyone safe around our schools. https://youtu.be/gt2lTcguIsE
Wilmette Park District After School Clubs
Here is a link to the Park District website where you will find information regarding after-school park district clubs: http://www.wilmettepark.org. The Fall 1 session runs Tuesday, September 11 – Friday, October 19. The Fall 2 session runs Monday, October 22 – Friday, December 21. All participants can register through the Wilmette Park District starting on Tuesday, August 28 at 9:00 am. If you have any questions or concerns about a club, want to know how to sign-up, discuss an absence, etc. please contact Haylee Kessler at hkessler@wilpark.org or 847-853-6297. (please do not call Cathy or Sallie at the front office as the school does not plan/teach/run the clubs - thank you!)
PTA Announcements and Reminders...
* The PTA sends out their own newsletter on Sundays - here are just a few highlights
Save The Dates!
Central School Carnival
Kick-off the new school year with The Central School Carnival! There are volunteer opportunities for both adults and teens that are in two shifts, so you can attend the Carnival with your family AND help out. The Carnival is on Saturday, September 15th from 2:00PM to 5:00PM, rain or shine, at Central School. Bring the whole family to meet up with old friends and new classmates. This is a family fun event you don't want to miss! To see all of the Carnival details, including how to volunteer, purchase tickets, or donate a cake to the tremendously popular cake walk please click here http://centralschoolpta.org
Saturday, September 22, 2018 - Parent/Teacher Party
Mark your calendar for the party of the 2018/2019 school year! Central School’s Parent/
Teacher Party is happening on Saturday, September 22, 2018. This is a school wide adult event and is sure to be a blast! More details on the PTA website.
From the Nurse's Office
NEW: Call Central School "Attendance Line" For Absences:
847-512-6150 (this used to be called the "SAFE PHONE")
Please call the Attendance Line to report absences even if you let the classroom teacher know, because some teachers don't see the email/voicemail until later in the day. Teachers assume you are calling the office. It's important that the school nurse is directly aware of any absences otherwise, your son/daughter may be considered "missing." The school nurse keeps track of all school absences in the building. For safety reasons, we want to make sure all of our students are accounted for and safe.
New Central Health Office Website!!
Here is your go-to site for all of your health related questions including PE/Recess Notes, Health Requirements, Dental Examinations, Allergy and Asthma, Medications, Snacks in Classrooms, Lice, Influenza...and more!
Community Announcements...
- Information on community events can be found here: Community Events
Family Action Network (FAN)
Click HERE for information about FAN and upcoming speakers.
Join us on Twitter!
Central School is on Twitter!
- We have TWO Twitter accounts. Please "follow" us at Twitter.com! Explore Central 39 (with our actual "handle" as @explorecentral). With this account, we mostly share student activities that are completed in the Learning Commons (but other activities are often included as well). We are also providing this Twitter feed on our Central School homepage.
- There is also a principal page @BeckyLittmann where you can follow a variety of school happenings including all-school events, classroom activities, PTA enrichment, and school goals.
Save the Dates...
8/28 - New Family Orientation @ 6:30PM
8/30 - First Day of School
8/30 - Kindergarten Curriculum Night @ 6:15PM
9/5 - 1st Grade Curriculum Night @ 6:15PM
9/5 - 2nd Grade Curriculum Night @ 7:15PM
9/12 - 3rd Grade Curriculum Night @ 6:15PM
9/12 - 4th Grade Curriculum Night @ 7:15PM
9/13 - Picture Day
9/14 - Picture Day Rain Date
9/15 - Fall Carnival 2:00PM-5:00PM
9/22 - Parent Teacher Party - new date!