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Greeley Greeting
Monday, November 27, 2023
A Message from the Principal
Dear Greeley Families,
I hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving Break! Prior to our week off, our school board hosted a member of the Winnetka Caucus, who shared findings of a recent community survey. One of the key findings of the survey was our community's desire to receive more data on student growth and achievement in our schools. This is congruent with feedback our schools gathered last school year.
The purpose of this week's newsletter is to highlight a number of our efforts centered on student learning and growth, as well as improvements in our communication practices regarding student learning. This coming month, all Winnetka schools will provide families with a fall progress report in addition to the winter and spring reports families have typically received in the past. The goal is to not only provide an additional touchpoint on student learning, but also provide families with an additional opportunity to visualize/understand how children grow in specific skills over the course of the entire year.
Indeed, student growth is also an important aspect of our school improvement plan this year. In addition to standardized measures, our staff is eager to communicate student growth in regard to daily classroom work (and have students reflect on their own learning). For example, Greeley students in our latter grades reflect on pre- and post-assessments to understand their own growth and set realistic goals with teacher facilitation. Our third and fourth grade teachers have also begun incorporating a social-emotional reflection in math pre- and post-assessments in order to provide a more holistic approach to reflecting on learning. We encourage families to have a dialogue with their children about any assessments, projects, or other work that is shared with the home.
Providing students with feedback during the learning process itself is equally important as sharing assessment; even more so! Real-time feedback allows teachers and students to adjust prior to finishing a project, completing an assessment, etc. This can look like a kindergarten teacher checking in on individual students during small group activity, a speech pathologist gently correcting a child's articulation in the moment, or a fourth grade student respectfully critiquing a peer's work. When you next speak with a Greeley teacher, I encourage you to ask how they deliver daily feedback to your child.
Lastly, we will begin a second round of "benchmarking" assessment in January. This will provide families with updated standardized data on how their children are performing in literacy and math via mClass and AIMSweb assessments, respectively. This is yet another means to not only see how a child is performing at a specific point in time, but also how they have grown since fall benchmarking. A final benchmarking period will take place in the spring.
Thank you for your partnership with our school and support of our teachers as we aim to model continuous improvement in our own practices.
Sincerely,
Joshua Swanner
Principal
Mark Your Calendars: Our Behavior Health Team is Hosting a Parent Coffee in December
After-School Electives Signup - Winter Trimester
Greeley Winter Electives Catalog
Please click here to register for Pokemon club.
COMING SOON: Greeley Book Fair!
Help us share the joy of reading with your child this holiday season! The Greeley PTO and Brenda Glenn, our Greeley librarian, are working with the independent bookstore Anderson’s to host the Greeley Book Fair on December 5th - 7th. Come shop a curated and new selection of high-quality books for your children, and have the opportunity to gift teachers books off of their personalized wishlists. Funds raised from the Greeley Book Fair help support our Greeley Resource Center to improve the quality of our book collections and technology. Online sales will also be available for those unable to shop in person.
Winnetka Parents Institute
Literacy Pilot: How District 36 Educators are Testing Literacy Programs and Practices
December 6, 2023
9:30 A.M.
Location: Skokie Community Room
As a part of the current literacy curriculum review cycle, approximately 59 teachers across the district representing each grade level are piloting a variety of evidence-based literacy programs and practices. The pilot allows teachers to apply current understanding of literacy instruction through the test of items vetted by the Literacy Leadership Committee.
Interested:
Following the event a link will be provided to the recorded presentation on the website.
Recordings of previous sessions:
Online Pre-Registration for Incoming Kindergarteners & New Students for the 2024/2025 School Year opens November 13, 2023
Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2024/2025 will open on November 13, 2023. Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2024, are eligible to enroll. Questions related to School Admissions and age requirements are addressed in School Board Policy 7:50 School Admissions and student Transfers to and from Non-District Schools.
Please note: There are two steps to completing new student registration. Step 1: Complete the online pre-registration form; Step 2: Visit the District Office (1235 Oak Street) to provide the following:
Proof of residency. Click here to view the list of documents that will meet these requirements. For your convenience residency documents may be uploaded during online registration.
Original or certified copy of your child(ren)'s birth certificate and a parent photo ID.
Completing both steps (online and in-person) is required for your child(ren) to be enrolled as new students. Click here to begin the online segment.
Why are both steps necessary? In January of each year, the District begins preparing its budget and staffing plan for the upcoming school year. For grades, other than Kindergarten/1st grade, the staffing plan is based on the assumption that all current students will return and matriculate to the next grade level. For kindergarten and first grade students, the District forecasts enrollment based on those students that have both the in-person and online forms submitted. These early enrollments impact the staffing plan by determining the number of kindergarten/1st grade sections and student services needed. For this reason, we ask that parent(s)/guardian(s) complete BOTH steps of pre-registration BEFORE January 12, 2024. As an added incentive new students that have completed the two step pre-registration process by January 12, 2024, will receive a credit of $40.00 toward student fees for the 2024/2025 school year.
Thank you for doing your part to ensure that the District is able to retain and/or attract the best educators for our students.
2023/2024 Calendar
To view the calendar for the 2023/2024 school year, please click here.
Follow us on Social Media!
Please follow the District via the following social media platforms in order to see day-to-day happenings and more.
Facebook and Twitter: @Winnetka36
Instagram: @WinnetkaPublicSchools
- Monday, November 20 - Friday, November 24: NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)
- Friday, December 1: Greeley Spirit Wear Day
- Tuesday, December 5 - Thursday, December 7: Greeley Book Fair (details to come)
About Us
School Hours:
8:30am | Doors open
8:37am | School promptly begins
2:10pm | Kindergarten dismissal
2:45pm | Early Release (MONDAY ONLY)
3:15pm | Grades 1-4 and Stay & Play Kindergarten dismissal
Email: GordonSchreiber@winnetka36.org
Website: https://www.winnetka36.org/greeley
Location: 275 Fairview Avenue, Winnetka, IL, USA
Phone: (847) 446-6060
Facebook: facebook.com/Winnetka36
Twitter: @Winnetka36