The Central Scoop
April 16, 2021
From the Principal's Desk...
Dear Central Families,
Thank you for your kindness and support for the Karamboikis family. The show of support and care makes us proud to be part of the Central community. Our Central School PTA put together a few ways for our community to support the family. If you have not yet had an opportunity to contribute and have interest, please see below.
DONATE HERE (helping with cleaning/housekeeping)
We have grief counselors and professionals at school to support staff and students as needed. The experts have recommended that our conversations with children occur more organically and only if and when the students have questions or bring up concerns. We are watching our students closely and will respond to their needs when necessary. And of course please reach out to us directly if your child needs any support here at school.
With Warm Regards,
~ Becky & Taylor
Conferences Next Week
Parent-teacher conferences are on Thursday and Friday of next week. We look forward to sharing your children's successes while partnering with you to plan their future goals. As you know, our conferences will be virtual and we will meet you on Zoom.
Here are a few tips to make sure you have a successful conference this year:
- Talk to your child before the conference to learn how they are feeling about school, what is going well, and if there are any areas where they are struggling.
- Click this link to learn how to use Zoom ahead of the conference.
- Join the Zoom link a minute or two early. You will be put into a waiting room and the teacher will welcome you in when it is your time to conference.
- Watch the clock because conferences last for 20 minutes and the teacher will have to move on to the next conference at the end of your meeting. We want to make sure to maximize your conversation time!
Students & Staff Enjoyed Dress Alike Day!
Green Team Announcement: Earth Week
D39 Updates
Healthy Habits Remain Critically Important
This week we were excited to welcome the 4th quarter of the school year and more students back to school for in-person instruction and activities. While the community begins to open and mitigation restrictions outside of school are lifted, we want to remind everyone of the critical importance of ongoing vigilance of our mitigation efforts within school. As a school community, we are doing all that we can to prioritize health and safety, which includes the mental, physical and educational health of our students. The healthy habits and strong mitigation efforts we have had in place throughout this school year continue to be critical in ensuring the ongoing safe operations of in-person schooling. Please help us by doing your part. Remember to:
Keep your child and siblings home when any member of your family is experiencing symptoms or being evaluated for Covid-19,
Avoid in-person social gatherings,
Limit and closely monitor exposure that may occur through outside activities, sports and travel,
Quarantine when potentially exposed to Covid-19, and
Practice the 3Ws healthy habits that have helped support our community throughout this school year. Watching your distance, Wearing a face mask, and Washing hands remain critically important tools in mitigating the risk of exposure to Covid-19 and maintaining safe and healthy communities.
We are all in this together and our health and safety, along with the ongoing safe operations of in-person schooling, depends on each member of our school community doing their part. Thank you for your continued support.
D39 Strategic Planning
What are your hopes and dreams for your child’s school? District 39 has launched a new strategic planning process to help us envision and plan for the future aspirations of our school community. Your ideas and input are integral to guiding this process. The insights provided by you and other stakeholders throughout our community will help to create our aspirational future and identify areas of focus for the district over the next five years. Please take a moment to share your feedback on this quick D39 Parent Survey for Strategic Planning. Information regarding this new strategic planning process is available on the D39 Strategic Planning website.
Metrics Team Update
Our District 39 Metrics Reopening Advisory Team meets every other week, and is scheduled to meet again next Friday morning. The D39 Metrics Dashboard and full report for this week are available online for those interested in reviewing it.
We are doing all that we can to prioritize the health and safety, which includes the mental, physical and educational health of our students. The healthy habits and strong mitigation efforts we have had in place throughout this school year continue to be critical in ensuring the ongoing safe operations of our in-person schooling, especially as more students join us on campus. Staying home when experiencing symptoms or when members of your household are experiencing symptoms, avoiding social gatherings, limiting exposure that may occur through outside activities, and practicing healthy habits such as watching distancing and wearing face masks remain critically important tools in mitigating the risk of exposure to Covid-19 and maintaining safe and healthy schools and communities. Unfortunately, with 5-days of instructional programming and reduced distancing within homerooms, if a case of Covid-19 is identified among our students there is a likelihood that a classroom quarantine may need to occur. We all hope to avoid this as much as possible and call upon our community for their support in accomplishing this. Please continue to practice healthy habits, limit exposure and monitor symptoms. We are all in this together and our health and safety, along with the ongoing safe operations of in-person schooling, depends on each member of our school community doing their part. Thank you for your continued support.
In-Person Events for Our Remote Learners!
We are planning exciting in-person opportunities for our remote students this spring at Central School. For our April events, students will spend an hour visiting with administrators, familiar teachers, and possibly other students here at school. We will do some fun activities to connect such as participate in an art activity, play a PE game together, and socialize with peers on the playround. If the weather is nice, we will be outside the entire time. If the weather conditions are poor, we will do our activities in the cafeteria, socially distanced.
As you plan for your visit, please note the following:
Grades 1-4:
- Students in grades 1-4 will be dropped off on Central Ave in front of the school. We will meet all students to take their temperatures.
Please complete this self-certification form and bring a paper copy with you when you arrive to school. We will collect it from your child.
- Staff will walk your child to the playground and blacktop where we will have hand sanitizer to use before and after playing.
- We will bring all of the students back to the front of the school by the front entrance for pick-up at the end of the hour.
- Please remember that masks are mandatory for everyone - students, staff, and caregivers on school property.
- For our kindergartners, this is an after-school event on the half day of school and parents are invited to join us on the kindergarten playground. All students and caregivers must be in masks. We will provide hand sanitizer on the kindergarten playground for everyone's use.
As a reminder, please let us know if your Fox will join us by signing up HERE. Fill out this form as we are using this for attendance, planning, and safety purposes. We look forward to seeing our Foxes in person soon!
DATES & TIMES:
- Kindergarten: April 22nd 1:00-2:00pm
- 1st Grade: April 22nd 9:30-10:30am
- 2nd Grade: April 21st 10:00-11:00am
- 3rd Grade: April 21st 1:00-2:00pm
- 4th Grade: April 19th 10:00-11:00am
What if I choose to stay remote?
If you do not want your child to come in-person, we will have an alternate virtual activity available during this hour with our librarian Mrs. Diekman. Using grade level appropriate books and activities, the sessions provided by Ms. Diekman will explore how the food we eat gets to our tables. Students will need to have paper, a pencil, and crayons or colored pencils.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87392320961?pwd=Qk5uUTdOdElmMDFOWkNzSXViTmFNQT09
Meeting ID: 873 9232 0961
Passcode: 041561
Spring Weather = Lunch Outside
Wilmette Warriors - This Week!
In an effort to recognize our outstanding students, each classroom teacher is identifying a student from class for a weekly special recognition. Each week, students will be selected for showing characteristics such as kindness, respect, trust, caring, friendship, courage and community. Selected students will receive a certificate and recognition through a short celebration video that will be shared on Friday afternoons. Please CLICK HERE to see the video celebrating our WILMETTE WARRIORS from this week!
9th Annual Trivia Night: On sale now!
Join the D39 Educational Foundation this Saturday from 6:30 - 8 pm for their family Trivia Night. Glam up your jammies, wear your best costume, or appear as you are – just APPEAR! Buy your tickets on the Foundation website. We hope you can make it - there are prizes to be won!
D39 Parent Event
The D39 Parent Event: App Tasting: Quick Demonstrations of Apps Kids are Using was very successful. For those of you that could not attend, we recorded the one hour session for you to watch here.
Central Avenue Construction Update for 4/16
A Note From Nurse Zito
If anyone in your household has developed symptoms or is awaiting test results due to exposure or symptoms, all students need to be kept home until a negative result is received. Thank you for helping to keep everyone safe.
**Call Central School "Attendance Line" For Absences: 847-512-6150
Monthly Birthday Bash with the Principals
Here is the Zoom link:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86424245957?pwd=UWJyYllIWC9pQzA4S1FTaXlpSGh3Zz09
Meeting ID: 864 2424 5957
Passcode: Foxes
Community Announcements...
LINK: http://www.wilmette39.org/news/community_events
- New Trier Day of Service will be held on April 17th. Be the hope for someone with cancer by registering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor. Due to COVID-19, bone marrow and blood stem cell data banks are low. There is an urgent need for donors.
- Register at: https://join.bethematch.org/NewTrier or text NewTrier to 61474.
- Wilmette Wings Soccer Club tryout registration is open for Kindergarten - 8th grade players interested in travel teams. Register at www.wilmettewings.com/tryouts or contact Tom Gizynski at tomgizynski@wilmettewings.com
- Trevian Girls Softball Association is adding players to their girls 8-12 year old spring and summer teams.
- Wilmette Baseball Association’s 2021 Spring House League registration is now open for Kdg. through 8th graders.
- Cub Scouts Pack 1 Welcomes all McKenzie students! Contact wilmettepackone@gmail.com to sign up.
- Covid Catch Up Tutors offers free virtual tutoring by qualified high school students for Pre-K through High School grade levels.
- Wilmette Food Pantry is open every Tuesday 10:30-11:30 am at Trinity United Methodist Church.
- Join Girl Scouts! Daisy Launch Event for Pre-K and Kindergarten students and Virtual Girl Scout Events are being held.
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...
Thursday, April 22nd - Early Release Day
- Grades 1-4 are released at 11:55am
- No School for AM Kindergarten
- KEEP39 Students come to school this morning and are also released at 11:55am
- No lunch is served on this day
Friday, April 23rd
- No School: Conferences
Monday, May 10th- save the date!
- Kindergarten Orientation 6-7pm