We are headed into our final days before winter break with great excitement!

• LOST and FOUND: Our lost and found is located right outside our main office. If your child has lost something, please remind them to check lost and found or you are invited to stop-in to retrieve items as well. Our lost and found is bursting at the moment, so items not claimed by Friday, January 13th will be donated.
• OFFICE HOURS: The Churchill office will be closed the week of Dec 26th. The office will be open from 8am-3pm January 3rd-January 6th. Please feel free to call or stop-by if you need anything.
• SESSION 2 CLUBS: Information and sign-ups will be sent out over break. We appreciate the continued feedback and suggestions provided by families and members of our Parent Advisory Committee on how to improve opportunity and access as it relates to these extra activities. Information about clubs will be sent in a separate email via parent portal on Thursday, January 5th. The Sign-up Genius link will be sent via email as well on Saturday, January 7th at 1pm. There will be an option to put your name on the waitlist if a club is filled. This is important because some clubs are grade level specific or there may be flexibility depending on the number of students on the waitlist to expand access. If you have already had the opportunity to experience a club or are in an extra curricular like band or orchestra, please consider allowing others to have an opportunity for this round (max 2 clubs per year). Please contact the main office with any questions.

We are so proud of our most recent recipients of our positive office referral. This special recognition is awarded to those who were caught being the best of the Bulldog best! Staff members are always looking for and recommending students who are consistently demonstrating our 3 Bs and desired social emotional competencies. We applaud these students and their contribution to our learning community.

Churchill is gearing up for our tutoring program which will begin in January and end in March. We saw great success and so much growth from those students that participated in the program last school year and will continue with a similar model this school year. Students were recommended to participate in small group tutoring which will be led by our very own certified staff during the child's PE and/or Special 2 days a week. Though students will be missing a PE or special on 2 days, they are being recommended because there is a need to close some important gaps in learning that will impact their future academic success. Please be on the lookout for a permission form and return as soon as possible. We do have a few open spots in some grade level groups so if you are interested in having your child participate, please contact our tutoring coordinator, Amy Edwards, at amy.edwards@hsd153.org.

We will be hosting winter celebrations on Thursday, December 22nd at 10:45am. There will be fun, food, and festivities! Thank you to our PTA volunteers for your time preparing for and facilitating this special event. Please remember that there are no outside food or snacks allowed. If you would like your child to participate in an alternate activity, please remember to inform your child's teacher.

Since we began using Lexia Learning, Core 5 and Power Up, 20% of our students that initially placed in below grade level content have moved into on-grade level content. We have also had 15 5th graders complete Core 5 and are charging ahead with Power Up. Very exciting! This is great news and we want to see this type of growth in reading continue. Core 5 and Power Up prescribe a number of minutes for students to engage in this individualized programming based on their level of need. Please take time out to encourage your student and remind them to get their Lexia minutes in over break.

Our new classrooms are coming together and will be completed in January 2023. Soon, crews will be working on sidewalks and putting the finishing touches on the outside. Here is a sneak peek of the inside!