Norton Creek Elementary

3/4/2022- Kane County institute Day (No Student Attendance)

3/14/2022- School Board Meeting 5:30pm (Haines Center)

3/15/2022- Learning and Teaching Committee Meeting 5:30-7pm (Haines Center)

3/16/2022- DPTO Meeting 9:30am

3/24/2022- Business Services Meeting 5:30-6:30pm (Haines Center)

3/28/2022-4/1/2022 Spring Break (No Students In Attendance)

4/4/2022- School Resumes

Last week, we talked about making a poor choice. Today, we'll talk about making it right. In my line of work, when I have to administer any kind of discipline, I hear a lot of students apologizing to me. I always remind them that I'm not the one they need to apologize to or make things right with - it's the person they harmed. That realization is what sent me on a course to find a more meaningful system for discipline and led me to Restorative Practices.

Restorative Practices hinge not on rules being broken but on relationships and people being harmed and the person who caused the harm making things right. It's about getting the two parties to the table after we've determined it's safe to do so and they're willing to do it, and facilitating a conversation. We ask questions such as: "What happened?", "What were you thinking at the time?", and "What do you need to do to make things right?" to the person who caused the harm. To the person who has been harmed we ask questions such as "What impact has this incident had on you and others?", "What has been the hardest thing for you?", and "What do you think needs to happen to make things right?".

All sides in the matter having the opportunity to answer these questions and hear the other person's perspective is invaluable. Getting both parties to agree to what happened really charts a course for a productive conversation. It leads to true understanding of one another and an opportunity to truly repair the relationship. It also takes me out of the picture as a proxy for the student who was harmed. For years, I always felt like I stood in for the person who was harmed, and the person who caused this harm never had to face the person and own what he or she did. To the untrained eye, this may seem like it goes pretty easy on the person doing the harm because there isn't often a classic punishment like detention or suspension attached to it. However, it is far more challenging for that person to look the one he or she harmed in the eye, own what they did fully, and discuss what he or she can do to make it right. When we think of the ages of our Eagles, this lesson is precisely what they need as they grow - not a cathartic punishment an adult administers to make ourselves feel like better because "we did something."

For centuries, we would discipline looking for a "shame response." While I do agree that it is fine for someone who committed some harm to feel remorse over what happened, I don't think our aim should be to stir up a negative feeling and hope that prevents the choice from being made again. We have to teach. We need to make the harmed person feel whole again, and we need to let the one who committed the harm to know they are still a valued member of our community. This healthy way of resolving conflict was largely absent from our childhoods when the idea was to punish and move on. When the focus is on building community, we stand a better chance of building community. When the focus is on shaming someone, we wind up with people possibly feeling shame but also possibly feeling unwelcome within the community and don't know what to do with those feelings.

Beginning this fall, Norton Creek will expand our implementation of Restorative Practices. It's a long journey - one we are excited to embark upon. We appreciate your patience as we learn more about this important work all in the interest of establishing the right conditions for our Eagles to foster relationships...and repair them when things go in an unexpected direction.

Have a wonderful three-day weekend with your Eagles, Norton Creek!

Hello Norton Creek Families!

In art class, our students upload a photo of their work onto Artsonia, the world’s largest online student art museum. It's a free, safe, educational program designed to connect parents and families with their child's creative activities at school. Many of you are familiar with Artsonia because we have used it in the past.

Founded over 15 years ago, Artsonia has been recognized with the national distinguished

service award for outstanding contribution to the arts by the National Art Education Association, as well as the distinguished service award by the state art associations in New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan and Colorado.

Families in K-1 or those new to Norton Creek, please check your email for an invitation from Artsonia If you would like to grant permission for your child to join our exciting school art gallery or click on the link and enter your child's name and grade, along with an email address: https://www.artsonia.com/connect/J6SC62KW

We participate only for the digital gallery and it is not necessary to purchase anything that Artsonia offers. Thank you for your support! If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Joyce.Simkus@d303.org.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will no longer consider a positive at home test result as a valid positive result. The health department now advises individuals who test positive on an at home test to go validate the test result at a COVID testing site. Individuals who test negative with an at home test are to validate with a rapid test at a testing site.

Kindergarten thru 5th Grades-

8:00am-3:00pm

Students can be dropped off at 7:45am for the school day. It you arrive before that time please keep your child with you until 7:45 as there is no supervision outside until then.

Our school office is open from 7:30am until 4:00pm on school days.

Please email any arrival/dismissal changes as well as any information for the school nurse or office staff to nor-office@d303.org

Please call the school attendance line if your student will be absent/tardy/leaving early from Remote Learning at 331-228-2700. Please spell your students first and last name or their student ID number when you leave a message. If you are emailing the teacher please also email nor-office@d303.org indicate students first and last name.

Students must apply for the privilege of using prearranged absence days through the principal’s office.

This completed form must be turned in at least (2) school days prior to the requested absence.

The building principal or designee has the authority to grant up to (5) days of excused absence per year

for the following types of absences:

 Participation in regional and/or national contests or awards

 Family vacation—qualified by the phrase “accompanied by parent”

 Special religious events

If your child is arriving after 8:00am please walk them into the school and sign them in.

Our next early release day will be on March 23rd. Dismissal is at 2:10pm.

The following dates below are early release Wednesdays. Please plan accordingly for your children.

Students will be released at 2:10pm on the followings dates this year-

• March 23
• April 27

If there is a occasional change to your child dismissal please email nor-office@d303.org and your child's teacher or call the office directly at 331-228-2701. If it is after 2pm please call the office directly so that we can ensure your child gets the notification of changes.

LUNCH SCHEDULES:

5th Grade: 10:50-11:10

2nd Grade:11:15-11:35

Kindergarten: 11:40-12:00

1st Grade: 12:05-12:25

3rd Grade: 12:30-12:50

4th Grade: 12:55-1:15

If your student forgets their lunch please email the classroom teacher and drop off at the main office. Please label with the students full name.

VIRTUAL VARIETY SHOW (K-5) nortoncreekvarietyshow@gmail.com

Norton Creek PTO are excited to host our 2nd annual Virtual Variety Show open to all grades. To enter your child or your child’s group act, please click here. There only needs to be one entry per act, where you will enter all participants within that group. See flyer below, created by a few of our very own 5th grade Eagles!

We can’t wait to see your child on our virtual stage! Registration closes March 18th.

CHESS CLUB nortoncreekptotreasurer@gmail.com

Did you miss out on the winter chess club? No worries, there is a Spring sign up happening now! No experience required. Come learn to play with other Eagles this spring! See the flyer below for more details and sign up here using code NCE3.16.22

Deadline is March 9th!

BASKET RAFFLE Behind the Scenes mjrhinerson@gmail.com

The basket raffle planning is moving right along! It’s going to be a good one, we promise! We are almost ready to launch and advertise it on MTK. Be on the lookout for volunteer sign ups soon. If anyone would like to help fundraise and reach out to local businesses for basket donations, please email anyone from the board or our amazing parent volunteer, Marla Rhinerson!! This is our BIGGEST fundraising event of the year and we can’t do it without your help!

PTO Meeting NEXT week

Please join us for our March PTO meeting next Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00PM in the LRC! Agenda is here. We hope to see all your beautiful faces in person! Zoom will also be set up and available for those that can’t make it!

MTK

Families, if you have not updated MTK this year, or need to make any changes to your child’s teacher and/or t-shirt size, please do so soon. The PTO has a surprise up their sleeves……

AMAZONSMILE (K-5) nortoncreekptovicepresident@gmail.com

Calling all shoppers! If you are shopping on Amazon, please consider using AmazonSmile. With every eligible purchase, AmazonSmile donates 0.5% to our school when you choose Norton Creek Elementary as your charity. This includes millions of everyday items at smile.amazon.com. You must use the specified link for Norton Creek to receive credit. Ask all of the Amazon shoppers in your family to use AmazonSmile!

Website: https://nortoncreek.d303.org/
Location: Norton Creek Elementary School, Smith Road, West Chicago, IL, USA
Phone: 331-228-2700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Norton-Creek-Elementary-1439295139641887/