Spirit Week: We are sending off the year 2020 in style. Your child can show their Bulldog pride by joining in the spirit week fun Dec 14th-Dec 18th. See the events below or the attached flyer for more information.

Portal Use and Student Progress: We are making efforts to better communicate with you about student progress. We are using our parent portal for all grade levels to keep you informed of assignments (missing or turned-in) and performance/progress throughout the trimester. It is so important that you are connected to and use this vital communication tool. Please check your information in parent portal for accuracy or contact the main office for assistance. More information about what can be viewed and how to access will be coming soon in a parent video tutorial.

Return to School Update: A return to school plan has been approved! Our team continues to prepare for if/when we are able to offer in-person instruction and how it will look at Churchill. We are working together to construct the very best plan that will meet the needs of our students and families. You can be certain there will be some changes due to the expansion of our learning model, but we will do our very best to minimize disruption to learning and build on our current success. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility in advance of us rolling into another new opportunity.

More details will be shared with families in the new year as we approach our first checkpoint on January 7th for returning to school. We appreciate your responses to the survey and are working to use the results in our planning. Please remember, we are not able accommodate changes at this time. You can view the approved revised plans on the district website and you are encouraged to reach out us should you have specific questions about how this plan will impact your family.

Parent/Teacher Conferences: Our team enjoyed connecting with all of our families that were able to attend conferences. Your support and continued partnership is vital and very much appreciated. Please stay in touch with your child's teacher should you have further questions/concerns or want to check-in on your child's progress.

Holiday Blues in the Time of COVID: As a follow-up to Homewood PTA's general meeting on 12/9 with guest, Marie Goulet, we want to extend our support to any of our families who are struggling with some of the challenges discussed - feeling overwhelmed, stress, anxiety. The mental health and wellbeing of our families is very important. Please reach out to our social worker and/or school psychologist to find out about more supports or resources we can provide during this difficult time.

PTA Shout Out: A HUGE shout-out to our PTA volunteers that sorted our Bone Store prizes into our students' pick-up materials. Our thoughtful and generous parent volunteers were also instrumental in helping out art teacher Anne Siegler-Blue with setting up looms for all 4th graders. THANK YOU, PTA!!!

Teacher Gifts: A few families have inquired regarding teacher gifts. If you would like, you may drop off gifts in the main office. We would encourage you to keep the items small in size and ask that you email the teacher directly to let them know that you have dropped something off for them.

Office Hours:

The office will be open from 8:00am-2:00pm on the following days:

• Monday, December 21
• Tuesday, December 22
• Monday, December 28
• Tuesday, December 29

*We still have materials in the office that students may need before we return on Jan 4th. Please come by and pick-up over break.

Tech Reminders:

Over winter break, please be sure to:

1. Turn your laptop on 3-4 times over break, and leave it on for a few hours, so it can receive updates
2. Be sure to keep your laptop in a safe place when it is not in use
3. Please do not bring your laptop when travelling

When back in session:

1. Restart the laptop every day
2. Close as many browser tabs and apps as possible when on Zoom

All Children Will Learn. All Children Will Be Served.

Email: sara.schnoor@hsd153.org
Website: https://churchill.hsd153.org
Location: 1300 190th Street, Homewood, IL, USA
Phone: 708-798-3424