Carleton Washburne

We hope everyone stayed safe and warm this weekend. Temperatures will be cold this week, so please encourage students to dress for the weather. As a reminder, doors open at 8:20am in the morning.

We had over 200 students join us Friday evening for Washburne’s Winter Bash. Students danced, ate, played a variety of sports, and socialized with their peers. A huge thank you to our PTO for organizing this event, and to all of the parents who volunteered their time to help supervise. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we are thankful for your partnership.

Our conference appointment system opened last Friday for families to schedule winter conferences on February 9th and 10th. All families were sent an email last week with instructions to make appointments for your child. If you did not receive this information, please reach out to Ben Horwitz - benhorwitz@winnetka36.org.

As a reminder, parents can choose to schedule either in-person or virtual appointments. If you see room numbers listed for your appointments, you have scheduled in-person conferences. If you see Zoom links, those are virtual appointments. If you have accidentally scheduled the wrong type of appointment, please reach out to Mr. Horwitz.

Take Care and Be Well,

Andrew Fenton & Ben Horwitz

Washburne Principal & Assistant Principal

Parents can see the monthly menus in our cafeteria by clicking HERE. Please feel free to use this menu to plan out your child’s meals.

On Friday, March 3rd, Skokie and Washburne students are invited to participate in a dance marathon to raise money for Lurie Children's Hospital. Students who raise $20 or more are welcome to join in on the fun! We will have a DJ, games, raffle and more from 3:30-5:30 pm in the Washburne gyms. Our most recent Dance Marathon raised over $42,000, and our goal is to beat that! Students will register online with their advisories to collect donations. Please encourage your child to fundraise for this great cause. Each student will have their own fundraising link that can easily be shared with family and friends.

Thank you for your support!

8th grade families can schedule a 15 minute conference with a counselor from New Trier by clicking on this sign up LINK. These optional conferences are an opportunity to discuss your child’s schedule for next year. Conferences will take place in person in the Washburne Gym on Monday, February 13th from 1:00-6:00 PM. Students should attend the conference as well.

If your child has an IEP, please do not sign up for these conferences. You will meet with representatives from New Trier at a different time to discuss your child’s schedule for next year. If your child has a 504 plan, you can sign up for a scheduling conference using the link above.

Please note that these conferences are a discussion of your child’s schedule for next year, not an actual registration. All families should look for instructions from New Trier to complete that step.

Welcome to Window to Washburne! Each week, we will be highlighting some of the learning taking place in our classrooms.

Renowned author Steve Sheinkin visited Washburne this past Friday to speak to our 8th graders about his books and his writing process. Many of our students have read some of Mr. Sheinkin’s books, which tend to explore historical events and figures in ways that are accessible and fascinating for young readers. During Friday’s presentation, Mr. Sheinkin shared details about his writing process and facts from earlier in his career. Of particular importance, students were able to hear how Mr. Sheinkin learned from these moments and became a better writer as a result. At the end, our students were even able to pitch historical events to Mr. Sheinkin as ideas for his next book.

Kudos to Ms. Nelson for arranging such a meaningful presentation and to Mr. Sheinkin for taking the time to speak to our students!

In this section we will be shining the spotlight on our Related Studies program and all the wonderful opportunities available to our Washburne students.

The CW Chorus hit the ground running after Winter Break, participating in and performing for the New Trier Junior High Choral Festival. This invitational paired us with Central School in Glencoe to perform two songs, and enabled us to hear what the other feeder school choristers are singing. We got to work with New Trier choral directors, as well as sing in ensemble with each of the feeder schools plus New Trier’s top groups. It was an exciting field trip and concert - our first invitational since before Covid, and we shared a couple pictures below.

CW Choristers are beginning preparations for a spring season including the District Music Festival (April 17-18), a tour of D36 schools (May 11) and our spring concert (May 18). We’d love to welcome more voices - like to sing? Stop by C109 on Thursday morning, Monday early release, or just ask Ms. Scott!

Musical Theatre students are busy digging into song and scene work for their May performance of Seussical: the Musical…. Oh the thinks you can think!

Piano students are applying both treble & bass clef knowledge in their music reading, and some are beginning chord work this week. (Chord what?? Employing a technique to access more pop tunes….)

Guitar students are coordinating visual and auditory input to emulate songs they’ll want to play. They have become excellent TAB readers, and are working the transitions between a few basic chords… now we embark upon the combination of reading+listening to play popular songs.

The CW Broadcasting Club is open for registration on the District Web Store.

Students! Come and be a part of the CWB Club and produce news segments for our school's YouTube News Channel. Whether you want to be in front of the camera or behind the scenes, there is a role for you! No experience is necessary; all you need is an interest in learning how to produce a news broadcast.

Come join Mr. Selgrat and the crew to build your skills using our professional studio equipment in the Washburne TV Studio. The CW Broadcast Club, Session II will be Wednesdays, after school from 3:30pm - 4:30pm, beginning February 1st, 2023 through May 24th for a total of 16 meetings.

Hope to see you in the TV Studio!

Travel Boys Volleyball is starting this week for all 7th and 8th grade boys.

Practice times are Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays from 3:30-5:00pm and Friday mornings from 7:00-8:00am. Matches are all played during the week, Mondays through Thursdays, starting at either 4:00pm or 5:00pm (roughly). There are no weekend commitments. Boys should bring athletic clothing and knee pads to all volleyball events.

There will be 2 days of tryouts on Tuesday, January 31 and Wednesday, February 1 from 3:30-5:00pm. The season will end on Thursday, March 16.

Please contact Andy Becker at AndyBecker@winnetka36.org with any questions.

Check out our monthly newsletter here.

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 #3:

Supporting Literacy Needs & Fostering a Love of Reading

Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent, is joined by Dr. Becky Mathison, the District’s Director of Innovation, Teaching and Learning, Ms. Missy Parks, second grade teacher at Crow Island School, and Anna Karwowska, Youth Services Manager of The Winnetka-Northfield Public Library. Topics addressed include how we've seen students' needs evolve following the result of the pandemic, how the District approaches supporting students in their reading skills, and tools that may help parents and caregivers support an interest in reading at home.

Listen here:

Apple Podcast

Amazon

Spotify

iHeart Radio

Episode #2:

Prioritizing Social Emotional Learning & RULER in our Schools

Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent, is joined by the District’s Social Emotional Learning coaches, Sachiko Kawata-Burke, Jennifer Knudson, Danielle Leitner, and Allison Szczecinski. The SEL coaches discuss the role they play in supporting students and teachers, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. The coaches also share the concept behind RULER, a research-based tool from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, that is currently being implemented in our schools.

Listen here:

Apple Podcast

Amazon

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Google

Premiere Episode:

Fostering Post-Pandemic Growth & Resilience for our Children

Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent, speaks with Ms. Carly Andrews, Executive Director of The Alliance for Early Childhood, on how we can best support our childrens’ social and emotional needs, academic growth, and socialization in the wake of the pandemic.

Listen here:

Apple Podcast

iHeart Radio

Spotify

Google

Amazon

Click here for resources and events from The Alliance for Early Childhood.

The District is offering an array of upcoming educational sessions for families and community members. Click here for session dates and more information.

UP NEXT:

From Washburne to New Trier:

A D36 Parent's Guide to the New Trier Transition

March 7, 2022

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:

RSVP here.

If you missed it:

View the Acceleration in Winnetka 36 Presentation here.

Director of Innovation, Teaching, and Learning Dr. Becky Mathison hosted this information session about the acceleration policy. The acceleration policy provides the opportunity for parents, students, and licensed educational professionals to request that accelerated programming be examined for an individual student. The policy identifies acceleration as: early entrance in Kindergarten, early entrance into 1st grade, single-subject acceleration (any subject), and grade-level acceleration. The content included a review of the purpose of the acceleration policy and a preview of updated procedures this year. Please note that the New Trier Math program and Washburne accelerated math are not a part of this policy. Thank you to the parents and community members that attended the WPI event about the acceleration policy on January 25.

Attendees were provided a draft copy of the acceleration request form in order to provide feedback before the form goes live on March 6. If you would like to provide feedback, please review the draft of the form here. Feedback that is specific and aligned to a particular question would be most helpful. Consider which items need to be changed, looked at further, or improvements. Please share your feedback with Dr. Becky Mathison at beckymathison@winnetka36.org by Friday, February 10.

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.

Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2023-2024 is now open on the District website and via https://registration.powerschool.com/family/gosnap.aspx?action=30658&culture=en. Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2023, are eligible to enroll.

The new student registration process is completed in three steps:

1. Complete new student pre-registration forms online beginning November 16, 2022.

2. Provide the original or certified copy of your child(ren)'s birth certificate and a parent photo ID. The certified copy can be submitted in person at the District Office. If you have the original birth certificate, you may bring it to the District Office to be photocopied. The District Office is at 1235 Oak St., Winnetka.

3. Provide proof of residency and paper registration forms. For your convenience, all required residency documents may be uploaded during online registration. Click here to view the list of documents that will meet these requirements as well as the other forms required for registration (Registration Forms & Information).

Children will not be considered enrolled until both the online and paper portion of registration has been completed and residency documentation is verified. If you have any questions, please contact the District Office at 847-446-9400.

We are launching a new series called “Painting our Portrait,” highlighting each of these areas along with examples of how the Portrait of a Graduate is coming to life in our schools. Follow along on our website, in the Winnetka Wire, and on social media to learn more about how our educators infuse these competencies into our students’ learning experiences.

Composting is in full swing at Greeley, Hubbard Woods and Washburne Schools. A plan is underway to introduce composting at Crow Island and The Skokie School.

Please note that items that are not on the lists below are not eligible for composting. This includes dog waste, scrap wood, and yard waste. While leaves and other organics are compostable, this service is not intended to take the place of the current Winnetka community systems and home composting solutions. If you notice composting bins are full, the District is unable to accept the materials and kindly requests that you do not place items outside of the bins for health and safety reasons. We also ask that residents abide by the hours designated for our schools. Further information on hours and bin locations is available on the Village website.

Food Products:

• Baked goods

• Bones

• Breads

• Candy

• Cereal

• Coffee grounds

• Dairy products

• Egg shells

• Fish/seafood

• Flower/plant cuttings

• Fried food

• Fruits

• Grains and grain products

• Meats

• Vegetables

• Spices/herbs

• Sugars/syrups

Paper Products:

• Blue painters tape (it’s paper!)

• Cardboard (pizza boxes!)

• Coffee filters

• Sugar/salt/pepper packets

• Egg cartons (paper only)

• Microwave popcorn bags

• Napkins

• Newspaper

• Paper food packaging

• Paper towels and wrap

• Tea/tea bags (no staples)

• Untreated wood products/sawdust

New Trier High School is always seeking to improve its communication with community members. The District is asking all community members to take the time to fill out a

brief online survey about communications preferences: https://bit.ly/newtriersurvey

The survey includes questions specific to parents with children in New Trier Township elementary schools. It should take only a few minutes to complete. The survey link will close on Friday, Feb. 10.

New Trier encourages all sender school families to take the time to complete this very brief survey. Thank you!

• READ: Alliance’s Fall/Winter Newsletter

• READ: Alliance’s Let’s Play Guide 2022-2023 and NEW Let’s Play! Information

• REGISTER: Virtual Parent Series: Using Connection, Compassion, and Co-Regulation to Address Challenging Behavior in Young Children with Cari Ebert, February 9, 7-8:30pm

• REGISTER: Let’s Play! Let’s Play! Winter Woods Exploration Saturday, February 11, 10:00am-12:00pm, Crow Island Woods, 1140 Willow Rd, Winnetka

• REGISTER: Virtual Parent Series: Attachment and Your Young Child’s Mental Health: How You Can Make a Difference with Kate Blaker and Sarah Eastburg in Conversation with Carly Andrews, February 23, 7pm

For upcoming events, access FAN’s website here.

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

Tuesday, January 31st: School Board Meeting @ 7:15pm

Thursday, February 9th & Friday, February 10th: Winter Conferences - No School