Hello Lester Families,

Thank you for all of your support this week with our parent/teacher conferences. There were many great conversations and we are so grateful for the partnerships we have with our families. In addition, the book fair was successful. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who made it a success. Shout out to Sydney Musselman and Katie Kadlec for organizing such a productive book fair week! In addition, thank you to the PTA and Sarah Schad for organizing a delicious dinner for staff on conference night. It was greatly appreciated. We have such fantastic PTA who always takes good care of us. Thank you!

We started the week with our monthly lunchroom celebration and we had so much to celebrate. We discussed ways for students to demonstrate kindness and we reviewed our expectations for safety and behavior in our school. Please also talk with your child about the importance of safe words and actions at school. It is so important that we are continually reminding our children of these important messages. We are also focusing on kindness this month. We are working on finding ways to encourage kindness across the building and encourage students to do the same at home.

We are excited to share that we exceeded our growth targets in both reading and math across grade levels. Since we met our targets, student have earned a movie prize. We will be watching a movie during lunch periods the week of March 3rd. If you would prefer that your child not watch the movie, please let your classroom teacher know so that we can make alternate plans for your child during lunch on those days.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend :)

Katie Novosel

Principal

knovosel@dg58.org

Lauri Smith

Assistant Principal

lsmith@dg58.org

GRATEFUL FORM

ABSENCE REPORTING FORM

LINKS TO PRIOR LESTER LIVINGS

Shout out to all of our families for the generous donations for our Student Council Souper Bowl Fundraiser! We were able to donate a large amount of canned goods and bulk boxed pantry items to the People's Resource Center. We are lucky to have such a caring and generous community!

Each year, our PTA organizes the Science Olympiad. This is a fun evening where students engage is team building and problem solving activities. This event does require registration in advance so please be sure to register with the link below if your child is interested in participating.

We are excited to share that we exceeded our growth targets in both reading and math during NWEA MAP testing at the building level. Since we met our targets, student have earned a movie prize. We will be watching a movie during lunch periods the week of March 3rd. If you would prefer that your child not watch the movie, please let your classroom teacher know so that we can make alternate plans for your child during lunch on those days.

We will be showing the movie Luck during lunchtimes the first week of March. This movie is rated G and teaches a message of the importance of family and friendship.

WAY TO GO, students!!! We are so proud of you!

We are excited to share that 3 Lester School students will advance from the regional to the state level of the PTA Reflections arts recognition and achievement program. These projects will be on display at Spotlight, a state-wide Reflections celebration in May hosted by the Illinois PTA.

Through Reflections, District 58 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are invited to submit works of art in six areas: dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts. The theme for the 2024-25 year is “Accepting Imperfection.” Twenty Downers Grove PTA Council projects are advancing to the state level.

Student registration for the 2025-26 school year is now open! We invite families to register their student(s) using the District PowerSchool Enrollment system. Please complete registration by Monday, March 31. We encourage families to register their student(s) in a timely manner, as early registration helps the District determine its hiring, staffing, classroom and transportation needs for the upcoming school year. Log on to your PowerSchool account. (If you are new and need to create a PowerSchool account, click here for instructions.)

See Megan Hewitt’s Feb. 4 email for details, or visit www.dg58.org/registration.

Grove Children’s Preschool will hold an open house on Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 5-6:30 p.m. at Henry Puffer School, 2220 Haddow Ave. Parents and guardians may tour the preschool, meet some of the staff, hear an overview of the program, and ask questions throughout the open house.

Grove Children’s Preschool tuition applications for the 2025-26 school year will open online at www.dg58.org/preschool on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 8 a.m. First priority applications are due Wednesday, March 19.

Learn here more.

Lester School will hold Kindergarten Roundup on Thursday, March 13th at 6:00 pm. If your child will attend Lester next school year, please be sure to attend to learn more about the kindergarten experience and to meet the kindergarten team.

In addition, we invite our 2025-26 kindergarten families to attend Kindergarten Dual Language Information Night at El Sierra School, 6835 Fairmount Drive, on Wednesday, Feb. 26 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. This meeting will provide an overview of District 58’s Dual Language Program. No RSVP required to attend; we hope to see you there!

Monday, February 18: No School- Presidents Day

Friday, February 28: No School- County Wide Institute Day

Tuesday, March 11: PTA Science Olympiad at Lester (sign up open now)

Save the Date: Thursday, March 13th Kindergarten Round-Up for incoming Kindergarten 2025-2026

Tuesday, March 18- Friday, March 28: IAR (Illinois Assessment of Readiness) Testing for 3rd- 6th graders

Mon. March 31- Fri. April 4: SPRING BREAK

Thursday, April 10: Family Reading Night at Herrick cafeteria (more info to come from PTA)

Tuesday, April 22: OPEN HOUSE 6:00-7:30 at Lester

As you are spending time over the next few weeks with family, please consider submitting a recipe along with a photo of the recipe and/or you creating the recipe as a family in this form (optional). We would love to hear about the delicious recipes that represent your culture and your family’s history. Please share a recipe that is meaningful to you, the culture it represents, and any story behind it. We will then put them all together and create a document to share with all of our families!

District 58 is busy planning for its 2025 Summer School and Extended School Year (ESY) programs!

While details aren't finalized, we wanted to share basic information for families who may want to start making summer plans.

More information, including registration links, will be shared next month.

Summer School: General Education & Enrichment classes will take place Monday, June 9 through Friday, June 27, 2025 at Henry Puffer School. No class will be held Thursday, June 19. This session will offer math and reading grade-level readiness courses, as well as enrichment classes; topics are still being finalized.

Summer School: Band & Orchestra classes will also take place. The schedule is still in development and will be shared soon.

Extended School Year classes will take place Friday, May 30-Friday, June 27 from 8:15-11:15 a.m. at Henry Puffer School. No class will be held on June 19. This session is open to students who qualify through their Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The student’s IEP team will identify targeted goals and specific special education services for the student.

Please note, District 58 will not offer the Essential Skills Summer School program this year. This program was previously funded by federal money that is no longer available.