The Wilmot Word: 10-22-21
Law Enforcement Drills
Hello Wilmot Families,
As a reminder all District 109 will hold our required law enforcement drill on Monday, October 25. This drill provides an opportunity for us to practice a response to an active threat on campus. District 109 utilizes the ALICE model.
ALICE stands for the actions that are part of the model:
- Alert
- Lockdown
- Inform
- Counter
- Evacuate
The Deerfield Police continue to support our implementation of ALICE which offers options to evaluate the threat, and best respond to promote the safety of our students and staff. All members of our staff receive ALICE training annually.
Students in grades K-3 will read a book, “I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared,” followed by a discussion with their teacher; students in 4th and 5th grades will watch a short screencast that reviews the different components of ALICE, and they will discuss how they would respond to various situations.
District 109 does not conduct unannounced drills, and we do not simulate any type of danger or violence. We are sharing this information in advance of the drill should you wish to speak with your child prior to the 25th.
Our students have done a great job participating in fire, \bus and earthquake drills this year and I am confident the ALICE drill will go well. If you have any questions about ALICE or overall safety please contact me or the Safety Committee Chair Dr. John Filippi (jfilippi@dps109.org).
Eileen
Parent Conferences
Mark your calendars - We will hold our annual parent-teacher conferences on Monday, November 22 in the evening and all day on Tuesday, November 23. All D109 schools will hold conferences via Zoom. We will have parents sign up for a conference using Sign-Up Genius. I will share links to all teacher sign-up forms on Monday, November at 5:00 pm.
It is best practice to hold one parent conference per child, to ensure that both parents receive the same information regarding their child’s strengths and needs. Therefore, I ask that parents sign up for one joint conference per student. If this is a concern, please reach out to me directly. We look forward to seeing all of our parents during conferences.
Conferences are a discussion between parents and teachers. At this time elementary conferences do not include students and therefore we ask that children not attend the parent-teacher conference.
PTO BOOK FAIR - SUNDAY IS CANCELLED - PLEASE Read below
Due to inclement weather, the Wilmot Book Fair will not be open on Sunday October 24th. However, we are going to carve out short windows of time for students to shop the book fair by class next week. Kindergarten - 2nd grade will visit the book fair on Monday October 25, and
3rd - 5th grade will shop on Tuesday, October 26. If you would like your child to purchase books, please send your child with cash, a check made out to Wilmot PTO, or set up an ewallet for your child (click here to see how to set up an ewallet). ONLY students with money or money in the ewallet will be able to shop.
Family Access Will Be Unavailable - Please See the Dates Below
Please note that Family Access will be down from October 20-29 and then from November 5-19 to allow grades to be submitted. Please contact Kristin Neu (kneu@dps109.org) with any questions.
Upcoming Revisions to Our Lunch Program (3rd posting)
As we prepare for the cold weather it is time to revise our lunch procedures to accommodate all students as they eat inside of the building. Here is what you need to know:
- The tents will be removed at the end of the month and all students will eat inside the gym/lunchroom sitting at small individual tables spaced 6 feet apart.
- K,1st and 4th grade students will continue to have lunch/recess from 11:20-12:15 and 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade students will continue to have lunch/recess from 12:20-1:15. However, some grades will flip their lunch and recess schedules. This is necessary to allow for proper social distancing in the lunchroom.
- 4th and 5th classes will be split up during their lunch/recess period, with 2 classes eating while the other 2 classes have recess. Again, this is necessary to allow for proper social distancing in the lunchroom.
- Students will continue to sit at an assigned seat each day and will eat and have recess with their full class.
- Students will continue to have recess with peers from only their own grade level in an assigned area of the playground/blacktop.
These revisions will go into effect on Monday, November 1.
Thank you for your support.
109 GIVES BACK FOOD & SUPPLY DRIVE! - USE ATTACHED FLYER
Help people in need! We are excited to announce that the 2nd Annual 109 Gives Back Food & Supply Drive will take place at all six buildings from November 1-5 and from November 8-10. We are trying to collect 5,000 items as a district to benefit the West Deerfield Township Food Pantry... if every student brings two things, we will accomplish that! Look for more information next week or head to www.dps109.org/109givesback to read more now.
DPS109 SEL Parent/Guardian Workshop on Monday 10/25 at 7pm with Doug Bolton
DPS 109 is excited to announce that, in partnership with PPS 109 (our parent and educator partnership supporting the district community) we will be hosting a series of parent/guardian/community workshops this school year.
We will be kicking off this series next Monday, October 25th, with a one-hour Zoom webinar hosted by Dr. Doug Bolton entitled “Parenting Through COVID: Understanding & Coping With The Stress.” In this talk, Dr. Bolton will share some of the lessons we are learning from COVID about how to use stressful times to build resilience in our children that will help them now and in the future. Before COVID, there was a childhood mental health crisis. As challenging and painful as COVID has been on all of us, the disruption of this pandemic has pushed us all to find resilience during a time of remarkable stress. I
The webinar begins at 7 p.m. No sign-up is required ahead of time, and the session will be recorded and distributed in the next 109 News for anyone that cannot attend.
Click the link below to join the webinar:
Oct. 25 Dr. Doug Bolton Zoom Link
Passcode: 968130
Volunteers and Visitors (3rd posting)
A quick reminder, that all volunteers or individuals spending prolonged time in one of our buildings are required to be vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID test.
If you are coming to our building to volunteer, please remember these things:
- Wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status
- Bring a photo ID to check in at the front office
- Bring your proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test (not self-administered) from within the last week
- Complete a Covid self-certification prior to coming to school
Halloween (2nd posting)
This year, we will be celebrating Halloween at Wilmot on Friday, October 29. Below is important information to help make this a fun and safe day for everyone.
Costumes:
- Students should wear costumes to school as we cannot safely assist students in changing into costumes during the school day.
- Nothing is to be worn on the face (e.g. costume masks, face make-up, etc.) as this could impact the effectiveness and comfort of the required face covering. Sunglasses and eye make-up are permitted.
- Toy weapons (or any props resembling a weapon) are strictly prohibited.
- Students should not wear group costumes that excludes other students.
- Please send a bag for your child's costume should they choose to take it off during the day.
- If you need assistance in providing your child with a Halloween costume, please let me know
Parade:
- We will hold the Halloween parade at 9:30 am, weather permitting. Guests may arrive no earlier than 9:15 am.
- It is essential that ALL guests stand away from the students as they parade (at least 6 feet). Parents/guests should not stop the parade, approach the children, or ask students to step out of the parade for a photo.
- It is important that we spread guests out during the parade. On Monday I will share a map of the parade route with assigned gust areas. We ask that you stand in the designated area of your youngest child.
- We ask that all gusts remain outside during the parade.
Families who are not comfortable sending their child in costume, please reach out to your child's teacher so that we can be sensitive to you or your child's feelings about dressing up for Halloween. We want everyone at Wilmot to feel comfortable.
PTO Corner
The Wilmot PTO Gift Wrap Sale is over Monday, October 25th!
Turn in your orders! It’s not too late! Click the link to start shopping or browse the catalog.
Ordering is easy!
● Order by catalog or online at www.ShopFund.com
● Catalog orders will be delivered to your child’s classroom
● Online orders can be delivered to the school or directly to your home
Any questions, please contact Jodi Kier at jodi.kier@gmail.com.
Fun Lunch
Thank you for your continued support of Wilmot's Fun Lunch program. Your support has made this a successful program. We want to remind everyone that our lunch program is not only an amazing way to support local businesses but is also an incredible fundraiser for our school! Marla's Brown Bag gives Wilmot back a portion of all it's sales and in the first 6 weeks of school alone we received $1,600! We continue to receive monthly checks throughout the school year. Let's all feel good about ordering our kids lunches :)
SHIELD Testing-ongoing posting
Shield testing will continue each week on Thursday. If there is no school on a Thursday, we will test on Friday Testing is not mandatory. However, by consenting to the testing, your child’s name is put on a roster and the expectation is that they will be testing weekly unless a parent/guardian notifies us otherwise. As parents provide consent we will continue to add names to the roster as consent is provided. Please note that it can take up to 2 weeks for names to be placed on the testing roster.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO FILL OUT THE SHIELD CONSENT FORM please
log in to Skyward/Family Access and it should appear as a green box next to your child’s name. Contact Kristen Neu (kneu@dps109.org) with any Family Access questions.
IF YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO OPT OUT OF A WEEK OF TESTING…
- Click here to fill out the required Google Form by 8:00 am each Wednesday (the day prior to testing):
The Latest COVID Information-ongoing posting
The district has a landing page with constantly updated COVID protocol information. Be sure to visit www.dps109.org/fall2021 to check out the latest updates on:
What do I do if my child wakes up sick? (and what happens to siblings)
Our COVID case dashboard - updated in real time
Save the Date
Friday, October 22 - PTO Book Fair - Outside after school
Sunday, October 24 - PTO Book Fair - Outside after school
Friday, October 29 - Halloween parade - 9:30 am