The Skokie Home Scoop
February 27, 2023
Dear Families:
It is hard to believe that we are in our final days of February. We are looking forward to coming together with Washburne students, staff and parent volunteers this Friday, March 3rd for Dance Marathon. Students who are attending will be checked in for the event during the day on Friday, and will walk from Skokie to Washburne along Oak at 3:30, following dismissal. We appreciate all of the work that has gone into this event and are excited to be a part of the shared effort on Friday afternoon!
Exploring Skokie
Visual Arts: Students are currently creating signs for the building. These “traffic signs'' are intended to stretch our creativity and imagination within the realm of “parody”. They serve to guide our community as we travel together down this fun but sometimes bumpy road!
Resource Center: Students have been studying and creating book reviews in our library catalog. We drafted and edited these reviews to spark the interest of readers who are exploring different titles. Our work reinforced summarizing and writing for an authentic audience. We now have over 300 student-created reviews in our catalog and it is constantly growing. In the technology MakerLab, students are utilizing apps and graphic design skills to create visual descriptions of literature genres as well as book recommendations for their peers.
Dance Marathon
Link to the general Skokie-Washburne donation page: SK CW Dance Marathon
Dance Marathon 2023 is coming up this Friday, March 3rd!
ALL 5th – 8th Graders Are Invited & Encouraged to Participate
Immediately After School 3:30PM – 5:30PM in the Washburne Gym.
Click Here for Students to Sign Up
What an AMAZING response we have had so far to Dance Marathon 2023. Our Skokie/Washburne community is playing an important role in the advancement of care and treatment at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. As of today, our community has raised OVER $40,000, with all proceeds being donated to support the nearly 223,000 patients that Lurie Children’s Hospital treats annually. Way to Go Already, Skokie/Washburne LIONS!
All 5th through 8th Graders are invited and encouraged to continue participating through their classroom donations (happening now) and to join us and register for this inspiring, social afternoon (on March 3rd). Not only is this a wonderful social event for 5th through 8th graders to participate in together, it’s also helping build awareness among our student body about health issues that affect children during an afternoon of games, prizes, a DJ, food and fun with your friends right after school.
Parent Volunteers Are Needed
We are looking for families and parents to help ensure a successful Dance Marathon. Click link to sign up to help in one of two ways:
Volunteer your time to chaperone at Dance Marathon on March 3rd, if all spaces are full and you want to volunteer email here!
Donate a raffle prize for the kids to win. Raffle prizes need to be dropped off by March 1st to the Boulos home at 986 Grove St. There will be a bin on the side porch to put the raffle items in.
Thank you for all your help in making this a successful event!
Questions? Email here!
District Updates
Acceleration Policy Information
The Accelerated Placement Act requires Illinois public school districts to adopt and implement policies on acceleration that provide opportunities for single subject and grade level acceleration. To learn more about District 36’s acceleration policy implementation visit the following links: acceleration infographic and updated webpage. Thank you to the parents who provided feedback regarding the request form. The final version is posted on the webpage. Please note this is not the live form; the acceleration request form will be open March 6-31. If you have questions about the policy please contact the Director of Innovation, Teaching and Learning, Dr. Becky Mathison, at beckymathison@winnetka36.org.
Working in Winnetka 36:
Winnetka 36 is always looking for great candidates when there are openings and we appreciate referrals encouraging them to apply. Here’s a link to our current openings: https://www.applitrack.com/winnetka36/onlineapp/default.aspx
We also get questions about the necessary steps on how to become a substitute teacher and thought we would share how to do that on the bottom of the document: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/how-become-sub-teacher.pdf
Winnetka Voices Podcast Episodes
Winnetka Voices is a podcast hosted by The Winnetka Public Schools, featuring candid conversations on issues relevant to education and shared resources to support our students and families.
NEW! Episode #4:
Recruiting & Retaining Incredible Educators
Listen here:
Winnetka Parents Institute
UP NEXT:
March 2023
From Washburne to New Trier: (Paul Waechtler, Principal)
A D36 Parent's Guide to the New Trier Transition
March 7, 2023 (confirmed)
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Carleton Washburne School, 515 Hibbard Rd.
Paul Waechtler, Principal at the New Trier High School Freshman
Campus, and Lori Worth, 8th Grade Transition Faculty, will discuss the New Trier freshman placement process and the efforts made to ensure a smooth transition to high school. A Q & A will provide an opportunity for parents to learn more about how to best support their child(ren) as they prepare for their New Trier experience.
Interested:
Learning the Mood Meter- District Implementation of RULER
(District 36 SEL Coaches)
March 14, 2023
Location: Washburne RC
Time: 10:00-11:00 AM
The Mood Meter is a tool that helps build awareness of emotions in ourselves and others. This tool aids us in understanding how our emotions influence our thinking and behavior, empowers us to recognize and label our full range of emotions, and assists us in developing strategies to learn how to work more skillfully with our emotions.
Interested:
D36 K-8 Math Programming: An Overview
(Dr. Becky Mathison, Director of ITL and District Math Teachers)
March 21, 2023
Location: Washburne RC
Time: 10:00-11:00 AM
During this session Dr. Becky Mathison, Director of Innovation, Teaching and Learning, alongside a team of math educators from the District will provide an overview of D36 math programming K-8 including an upper grade course map, explain how the approach aligns to progressive education and the portrait of a graduate, and ways to support your student at home. This session will feature a panel of D36 math educators.
Interested:
APRIL 2023:
Differentiation: What is it? What does it look like in D36?
Dr. Becky Mathison (Director of Innovation, Teaching and Learning)
April 19, 2023
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: SK Community Room
During this session Dr. Becky Mathison, Director of Innovation, Teaching and Learning, alongside a team of educators from the District will provide an overview of what differentiation is, how it is implemented in D36 classrooms, explain how the approach aligns to progressive education and the portrait of a graduate, and ways to support your student at home. This session will feature a panel of D36 educators.
Interested:
Adventures in Learning Summer 2023
The Winnetka Public Schools will offer its Adventures in Learning summer program from June 14th to July 19, 2023. There will be no classes on June 19th or July 4th. Our General Program is designed for students entering 2nd grade through 8th grade and will be held at Washburne School. Our Primary Program provides activities for children Pre-K (4 years old by June 1st, 2023) and K-1st grade (5 years old by September 1st, 2022) and will be held at Crow Island. Classes will be as varied as wilderness skills, archery, tennis, science, cooking, and many types of crafts...along with the annual favorite, Animal Care. Registration will go live in March.
WPSF Phone-A-Thon Fundraiser Is Coming Soon!
On March 12 th , Winnetka Public Schools Foundation (WPSF) Board members will be reaching out to D36 parents and community members by phone, text and email in order to secure donations for the coming year. Every donation can make a difference in our schools and for our community! Donate online by March 11 th to “Beat the Call!” With your support, WPSF can continue to provide our teachers with the resources they need to bring creativity to the curriculum while enhancing the learning experience for all Winnetka D36 students.
What is the Winnetka Public Schools Foundation (WPSF)?
WPSF is a non-profit volunteer organization which raises funds from District families and the
community. Those funds are used to provide grants to D36 educators which enable them to go above and beyond what is possible with tax dollars alone. This year, WPSF provided over $111,000 in grants to Crow Island, Greeley, Hubbard Woods, Skokie and Washburne.
What People Are Saying About WPSF
“The Foundation continues to be a vital partnership that supports [our] work, allowing us to consider resources that we may not otherwise have immediate access to, while also continuing to promote the creative and innovative instructional design that our district has historically celebrated. We are immensely grateful to the Foundation for its commitment to our schools, students and staff, and excited about the possibilities in the year ahead.”
Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent Winnetka School District 36
WPSF Funded Skokie School Grant Highlight: A More Modern Music Room
The music curriculum at Skokie focuses on learning to present, perform and share. This year, music teacher, Betsy Balkin, requested funding from WPSF for the purchase of modern instruments and technology to create an in-school music studio.
Expanding access to instruments like the electric drum set, electric guitars and bass guitars as well as studio microphones have allowed more students the hands-on experience to integrate technology, learning and creativity in the studio through increased opportunities to perform and produce.
“It has been such fun reimagining the new music room space. The equipment provided through the WPSF has helped transform the space into a multipurpose music room where learning, practicing, and performing can all take place on our new classroom stage.”
Betsy Balkin, General Music Teacher/Choir Director, Skokie School
Sincerely,
Michelle Cooney and Larry Joynt
Principal and Assistant Principal
The Skokie School