The Wilmot Word: 01-07-2022
Hello Wilmot,
We need your help to keep our buildings open and safe. As Mr. Simeck shared earlier, the coming weeks aren’t going to be easy. Jeffrey Shaman, infectious disease modeler at Columbia University, said this week,
“get vaccinated,
get booster shots, and
prepare for a bumpy January.”
We completely concur and would add three additional requests:
SHIELD testing is a benefit to all of us. This is truly a time for all of us to pull together. Participating in SHIELD testing helps us limit the spread of the virus within classrooms and buildings. We can’t encourage you strongly enough to help us by having your child test. The sign-up link for SHIELD is below as is the link to the Deerfield booster clinic being held this weekend.
If one of your children tests positive, we’d ask you to keep siblings home unless or until they test negative. While guidance states that vaccinated siblings can come, our experience with the Omicron variant is that all of the kids get it if one gets it.
Send your student to school with an age-appropriate and form-fitting KN95 or N95 mask, if possible. Cloth masks are not effective against the new variant.
EXTRACURRICULARS (WILMOT CLUBS) RESUMING ON MONDAY, JANUARY 10-CONSENT AND SHIELD TESTING REQUIRED
We are prepared to resume extracurricular activities starting on Monday, January 10. All participants must have a signed consent form and be signed up for SHIELD testing in order to take part. Extracurriculars are different from enrichments. Those involved in Wilmot clubs will receive a separate email from me today.
Wilmot Clubs Requiring Shield Testing and Consent Include:
- Yearbook (Wednesday at lunch)
- Team Give (4th and 5th Grades) (Monthly at lunch)
- Choir (Tuesdays after school)
- Fashion Squad (Mondays after school)
PARK DISTRICT ENRICHMENTS RESUMING ON MONDAY, JANUARY 10
After school enrichment activities offered at the elementary schools will resume next week as well. These programs are run by the Deerfield Park District, so you do not need to fill out a DPS 109 consent form for these programs. Not sure what counts as an enrichment versus a DPS 109 extracurricular program?
Wilmot Park District Winter Enrichment Activities Include the Following Afterschool Classes:
- Pegasus Soccer Clinic (Monday)
- Chess (Monday)
- Basketball (Tuesday)
- STEAM (Tuesday)
- Hip Hop (Wednesday)
- Amazing Minds (Wednesday)
- Floor Hockey (Thursday)
- Karate (Friday)
- Young Yogis (Friday)
REVISED QUARANTINE GUIDANCE
The CDC has put out clarifying guidance specifically for K-12 schools reducing the recommended time for isolation and quarantine periods to five days. IDPH & ISBE have since endorsed this new guidance.We are working to adjust our quarantine and isolation periods based on these new regulations and will contact affected individuals directly. The question of who is supposed to quarantine comes up often. Please check out this helpful explainer from the CDC.
LOCAL VACCINE/BOOSTER CLINIC - NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED
Daily Certification - PLEASE COMPLETE BY 7:45 AM EACH DAY
As a reminder, all families must complete the required daily certification form by
7:45 am for each child. When a student is not certified it delays the entrance procedures for all students, at times causing students to stand outside longer than necessary. I am asking for support from all families by completing this short form each day.
SHIELD Testing
We have resumed our normal Shield Testing schedule will continue to test on Thursday mornings.
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 Thursday testing):
OPTIONAL VACCINE DISCLOSURE FOR STUDENTS AGES 5+
Many families have recently chosen to have their 5-11-year-old student vaccinated.
As a reminder, your child is not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after receiving their second dose.
You can complete an optional form in Family Access to let DPS 109 know that your child is vaccinated. This is the same form that was made available to students ages 12 and older earlier this year. Please click below to log into Family Access.
Why are we asking for this information?
A major benefit of completing the form is that if your child is deemed to be a close contact to a positive case, either in school or outside of it, our contact tracing team will quickly be able to potentially rule out quarantine for those that have voluntarily disclosed their child’s vaccination status or minimize the number of additional tests required to participate in the test to stay program.
Again, filling out this form is entirely optional. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to communications@dps109.org and we will put you in touch with the appropriate department.
Winter MAP Testing (2nd posting)
Between January 10th and January 28th, our schools will again administer the Math and Reading MAP assessments from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA).
As a reminder, winter MAP data provides us with a mid-year, point-in-time snapshot of a child; however, a triangulation of data gives us a deeper understanding of each individual student. For example, classroom assessments, mastery of standards, and day-to-day performance also inform our instructional practices.
While absolutely no preparation is required/needed, you may view this practice test if you have any desire to see what the assessment looks like. The username and password are both the word “grow”.
5th Grade Information (Music Show, 6th Grade world Language Meeting and Candor Health Education Presentations
5th Grade Virtual Music Concert (3rd posting)
Middle School World Language Night Zoom (Save the Date)
Thursday, 1/20/22 at 6:30pm: The Caruso and Shepard World Langage Teams are coming together to share information about our wonderful language programming for our incoming Bluejays and Spartans. Drop into the Zoom session to hear from the teachers and learn about our curriculum highlights in Mandarin, Hebrew, French, and Spanish.
A Zoom Link and Q&A Document will be shared prior to the meeting.
5th Grade Candor Health Puberty Education
This live, virtual event will take place in the next two weeks. There are two separate zoom links & dates below.
1. Mothers(Mother figure) and daughters will meet on Thursday, January 13th at 6:30 pm.
LINK - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88651878474?pwd=dFdtOGFjaHlrbnU1T3B1NWJLaGFBZz09
2. Fathers (Father-figure) & sons will meet on Thursday, January 20th at 6:30pm.
LINK- https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86900600025?pwd=WCtFSThXWmdJRzFlUm0vVU9mM1hJZz09
At this event, mothers and daughters & fathers and sons (in separate zooms, on separate days) will:
- Increase their knowledge of human anatomy
- Understand that changes are a normal part of human development
- Increase their comfort in discussion and caring for their changing bodies
Parents can find more information about Candor's programs on the links below:
FAQ sheet but video format: https://vimeo.com/444319972
Parent FAQ sheet : https://candorhealthed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Puberty-1-FAQ-2020.pdf
Conversation Starters about Puberty 1: https://candorhealthed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Conversations-Starters-Puberty-Aug2020.pdf
We hope to get as many 5th grade participants as possible. If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Robin (jamierobin110@gmail.com) or Jocelyn Weiner (jocwein@yahoo.com).
PTO Corner
Eat and earn Event
The PTO has secured a restaurant for a 2022 Eat & Earn PTO fundraiser. Jimmy Thai restaurant will donate 25% of total sales on Tuesday, January 11th from 4-8:30 pm. Click here to see the flier you need to bring with you in order for Wilmot to receive the donation.
SAVE THE DATE: Wilmot PTO Skate Night is back and will be held on Sunday, January 30th, 6:40-8. More details and sign-up info to come after Winter Break!
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
- Monday, January 10
- Park District Enrichment Classes Begin
- Fashion Squad begins after school
- Tuesday, January 11
- Choir club begins
- January 10-28 - Math and Reading MAP assessments. Teachers will share their schedules in the coming weeks.
- Monday, January 17
- No school in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Tuesday, January 18
- Fifth-grade music concert. Virtual presentation for parents and guests at 9:20 am.
- Thursday, January 20
- BOE meeting at 7:00 pm
- Friday, January 28
- Wilmot Spelling Bee (4th and 5th-grade finalists) - 1:30 pm
- Sunday, January 30
- PTO Skate night-6:40-8:00 pm