Words from Walsh January, 2021
Staying connected with Walsh School
Greetings from Principal Martin
Dear Parents/Guardians: As we begin the New Year, let us take the opportunity to reflect on the past year with all of its blessings, as well as all of the challenges that faced us. I am so proud of our students on adapting to their constantly changing world. Together, we have learned so much and worked so hard to keep us moving forward. In a very cloudy time, there have been so many beacons of light guiding us. I want to recognize and thank all of our staff, teachers, and parents who continually give their all in their commitment and dedication to our students and to this district.
After what I hope was a very relaxing winter break, we will be getting back to business, working hard to keep moving our students forward in their educational journeys. Please keep the lines of communication open with your teacher, and discuss any concerns you may have. If you have any questions that I can help answer, please do not hesitate to contact me.
In the school office, we are starting our new year with a warm welcome to Amy Schroll who has been working hard over the break to get ready to step into the secretarial position, allowing Corinne Cirillo to start her long awaited retirement! I thank Mrs. Cirillo for her dedication to District 92 and assisting us over the summer to help us get steady and ready for the remote waters that continue to test our buoyancy. I wish both Amy and Corinne much happiness on their new roles in life, and I wish all our families a healthy, happy and prosperous new year! ~ Mrs. Teresa Martin
Important Dates in January
Mark Your Calendars
4 - Teacher Institute (No School)
5 – School Resumes
14 - School Supply Pick-Up 1:00-3:00 p.m. - 1st Grade Remote Only (Hebel, Rusick)
15 - Spirit Day - Pirate Day (Arrr you ready to show your school spirit?)
18 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King’s Birthday
19 - Board of Education Meeting - 7:00 p.m.
26 - Picture Day (Kindergarten and Early Childhood)
27 - Picture Day (1st Grade)
28 - School Supply Pick-Up 1:00-3:00 p.m. - Kindergarten Remote Only (Beckmann, Squires)
29 - Western Day (Yee Ha! Learning is fun!)
Remember to call the office by 9:00 a.m. if your child will be absent.
Office hours are 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. ~ 815-838-7858 www.d92.org
A Note from the Nurse
Remember to dress your child appropriately with a coat, hat, scarf, mittens, and boots. Students may be outside on days where the wind chill is above 10 degrees. All students may be going out for gym, unless they have a doctor’s note to keep them inside for medical reasons.
Please keep your child home if they have a temperature above 100 degrees, are vomiting, coughing uncontrollably or have yellow or green drainage from their nose, or are showing any symptoms of Covid. We are trying to keep all of the children here healthy and
appreciate your cooperation.
Picture Day at Walsh School
Please know that our photographers will be following safety precautions and guidelines when lining up students and taking photos. Please follow their directions to ensure a safe, timely and frown-free experience.
All students will be photographed for our yearbook and their school IDs (except those who are on our do not photo list; these people have been personally contacted). If you are unable to attend our picture day, there will be a retake day on March 15th.
January 26th*
In-Person PreK and Kgtn students - will be photographed during the morning while at school.
Remote Learning PreK and Kgtn students - photographers will be available between 1:00-3:00pm, please use Door 1 and follow staff instructions.
January 27th*
In-Person 1st grade students - will be photographed during the morning while at school.
Remote Learning 1st grade students - photographers will be available between 1:00-3:00pm, please use Door 1 and follow staff instructions.
Click here to order a picture packet of your child. Use the ID Code: EVT92KMHW
(remember there will be no class composites available this year, just individual photos)
*updates/changes will be sent home by the mass communication system if necessary
Kindergarten News
Happy New Year from the Kindergarten Team!
In Fundations, we will be finishing up our last few lowercase letters and starting to work on capital letters! We will practice the correct letter formation for capital and lowercase letters. Students will continue to decode CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words such as hen, big, fun, rat, and log.
In reading, students will learn the rest of their superhero reading powers! We will continue to use those reading strategies when we are reading books. The new strategies we will learn are: last letter power, sound power, and reread power! In Schoolwide, we will begin our non-fiction reading unit! We will be learning about the structure of non-fiction books, as well as learning about different types of non-fiction books.
In math, we will be starting Unit 3 in our Bridges curriculum.
The Bridges math skills we will be working on will include:
Counting to 100 by 1’s and 10’s
Counting, adding and subtracting objects
Understanding doubles
Ordering and comparing numbers
As you can see, it is back to business in kindergarten after our holiday break!
First Grade News
Welcome back and hello 2021! The first-grade teachers hope you had a safe and wonderful winter break. The new year brings us a fresh start with many exciting learning opportunities.
We will begin the year by continuing to work on our narrative writing. We will spend the month of January exploring the writing process. As we continue our nonfiction unit, students will be introduced to many nonfiction reference books and literary nonfiction books. Students will continue to work on reading with accuracy and fluency. Please continue to have your child read and review comprehension of text with you at home using all of the paper books that have been sent home. The only way to increase fluency is through practice.
Fundations will progressively become more challenging as students learn:
~Closed syllable concept with short vowels
~Closed syllable vs. open syllable
~Vowel team sounds for: ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, oy
~Narrative fiction vs. informational books
~Reading with accuracy and prosody
We will continue Unit 4 in our Bridges in Mathematics (which revolves around the number line, an essential mathematical model) for the month of January. We are also looking forward to spending some time learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy this month. What a great and busy start to the new year!
P.E. News by Mr. Wallace
Music News by Joanne Moan
What a month of music-making in the homes of our Walsh students!
Happy New Year to my Walsh Family!
Thank you to all the adults out there who are supporting your child during our classes! Thank you for helping your child have their music kit and other supplies ready to go. Thank you for encouraging your child to keep trying, and to give his or her best effort! I appreciate YOU.
Kindergarten: During December, we had fun with the Gingerbread story and sang the Gingerbread Man’s favorite song: Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man! The students were challenged to use their body in a different way in the song, “Touch the Ground”. When I showed them a number, they could only touch the ground with that many parts of their body. 2! (2 feet …or… 1 hand and 1 foot… or…1 knee and 1 head!) We practiced a new musical opposite: smooth (legato) and detached (staccato). We had a great time learning about different holidays in December, including Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. We lit the menorah with finger cymbals and triangles and danced a rhythmic Kwanzaa routine. We finished out the month with Jingle Bells and Up on the Housetop, and learned about the story of “The Nutcracker”, a famous ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In January, kindergarteners will be playing various instruments, from their kit and from their environment. We will be studying the alphabet and putting letters into our warmups and songs.
1st Grade: During December, the first graders created patterns and songs with their magic red cup and rhythm sticks. We even made a musical hamburger! The students practiced a beautiful Hanukkah song, called “Hanukkah is Here”, and added a steady beat on our classroom instruments while lighting the menorah. We learned several dances this month, including a Dance for Hanukkah and Russian Trepak from “The Nutcracker” ballet. We just finished the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” from the ballet. We used three different movements to create different patterns to represent different parts of the song. We also had fun with “Time for Toys” a rhythmic song that included instruments and word chains. We even added an Xbox to our song as a popular toy! In January, the first graders will be practicing melodic direction, especially using two notes, so and mi.
Art News by Mrs. Deckinga
In January, the kindergarten classes will be reading the book Snowballs by Lois Elhert. We'll be creating a multimedia winter bird collage inspired by the book using watercolor, crayon, paint, and construction paper.
The first grade students will be experimenting with the art element of line as they make 3D line sculptures using strips of construction paper. We'll learn paper manipulation techniques such as how to to create spiral lines, zigzag lines, etc. When we're finished, they will look like miniature amusement parks!
Who knew remote learning could be this fun?
Early Childhood News
The early childhood classes are off to a great 2021. We will work on a winter unit, and our “Read It Once Again” selection this month will be “The Mitten”. Our letters for this month will be J, K, L and M. In our Bridges math program we will be counting, comparing, sorting, and patterning this month. We are counting to 25 and beyond, and working on naming number and letter symbols presented in random order. In addition, we will learn about staying healthy during these cold winter months. Stay warm and read lots of books!