Wescott Word

This week, Illinois Report Cards were released with each school's Summative Designation. We are proud to share that Wescott was designated as high-Commendable, placing our school near the top 10 percent in the state, supported by data from the Illinois Assessment for Readiness (IAR). Additionally, District 30 overall remains among the top scoring districts in Illinois and the nation in both English language arts (ELA) and math, as supported by data from the IAR and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).

This is wonderful news, and we are proud of our highly talented staff, dedicated students, and supportive families!

We also commit to continuous improvement and will regularly reflect on our practices and make adjustments to maximize growth and support for students and staff. As part of this effort, we are focusing on improving ELA instructional practices and updating teachers' classroom resources to increase student engagement and growth. We also ask for your partnership in ensuring student attendance is prioritized. This is crucial to allow our staff optimal time to work with students and provide them with the high-quality instruction and care they need to be successful both academically and in social-emotional growth.

November 1- December 16

'Coat Off Your Back' drive

Tuesday, November 5

District Holiday - No School

Friday, November 8

Half day - School Improvement Day - dismissal 11:45 a.m.

Monday, November 11

Second Cup of Coffee with Dr. Brown 9:30 a.m.

November 12-15

Wescott Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, November 13

🍦 PTO Ice Cream Day 🍦

Thursday, November 14

PTO Special Lunch order dealine by 10 a.m.

Wednesday, November 20

🥨 PTO Special Lunch 🥨

(no Quest lunch served)

This month, we are focusing on the yellow quadrant of The Mood Meter, which is home to emotions that feel pleasant and have lots of energy, like lively and brave. Being in the yellow quadrant is beneficial in situations where having a lot of energy is helpful. Now is a great time to start a project, be physically active, or get things done. Want to move out of the yellow? Try taking a walk, listening to music, or taking deep breaths.

NEXT WEEK: Find out what we are learning in school about yellow feeling words

NOVEMBER 8: Learn how you can manage yellow-word feelings at home.

Please join us next Monday, November 11 at 9:30 a.m. for a Second Cup of Coffee in the Wescott library. Dr. Brown and members of the Wescott team will share our annual Wescott School Improvement Plan and information about our recently released School Report Card.

So we can plan accordingly, please let us know if you will be attending by using the form below. Please, click on the button below to sign up.

Look forward to seeing you then!

Thank you to our PTO members, parents and teachers who worked so hard to make our Halloween parades and classroom parties a success for our students. Click below to see an album of the day!

Starting November 1, Wescott school will participate in the Rotary Club of Northbrook's annual "Coat Off Your Back" drive.

New and like-new coats for infants, children, teens and adults of all genders can be donated in bins placed at Maple and Wescott schools. Hats, gloves, scarves in new condition are also accepted. Donations will benefit area organizations that include: Connections for the Homeless; PADS Lake County, Inc.; WINGS Program, Inc.; North Shore Helpers; The Veterans Closet; RefugeeOne; World Relief Chicagoland; HIAS; ECC; Stock the Shelves; Deerfield Free Store.

Thank you for helping those in need in our community!

This year we collected even more books than last year for Bernie's Book Bank! We filled ALL 9 bins with books that will be placed in the hands of kids in need of books at home! Thank you to all who donated this year!

November is National Native American Heritage Month! This is a time to celebrate the traditions, languages and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive. We honor the culture and heritage of these remarkable Americans who deeply enrich the quality and character of our nation.

Did you know?: Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state in 1914 seeking approval for a day to honor Indians, according to nativemericanheritagemonth.gov. The next year 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. Although some states declared honorary days around this timeframe, a “National American Indian Heritage Month” was not designated until 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.

Parents will be notified if their child does not pass the screening (based on District 30 criteria) or if developmentally appropriate errors are noted. If the screening results indicate additional assessment and/or speech therapy support, you will be contacted by one of the Speech-Language Pathologists.

District 30’s preschool screenings are also held at Willowbrook School. These screenings, designed to identify preschool-age children who may benefit from special education support prior to kindergarten, are conducted throughout the school year. If you would like to schedule a screening for your preschool child, please contact Tiffani Cuneo at 847-498-8964.

The Wescott Veterans Day Assembly will soon be here!

The assembly is a tribute to veterans, and will take place on Friday, November 8 at 9:00 a.m. Our assembly will take place at Wescott School in the gym. Our assembly is for students, staff, veterans and their family.

If you have a veteran in your family, we would love to have them be honored at the November 8 assembly. If your veteran is able to attend, please fill out the requested information in the google form by clicking the button below.

Wescott fully embraces our motto that we are a part of one big family and we are proud of every person who is a part of it. Help us show school pride and support our District 30 Strategic Plan values of inclusivity & belonging and community collaboration by sharing your culture!

With over 30 world languages spoken in our students' homes, we seek your help in translating our motto – "One big family" – into your native language for display on our blank entryway wall.

Throughout the school year, you will find updates on the project here in the Wescott Word, featuring images of students with their language submissions, as well as a list of languages already added to the wall and remaining languages needed.

We imagine this to be a lasting, visual celebration of our amazing Wescott community and can't wait for you to be a part of it!

How you can contribute:

• Please, submit your translation of our motto – "One big family" by clicking the button below. We ask that you follow the same format: first word is uppercase, followed by lowercase words (unless your language has a different set of grammatical rules for this statement).
  
• The translations will be added to the wall once they are processed by the printer. We aim for adding them once a month, unless no additional translations have been submitted. if you have questions regarding your submission, please contact pcoletta@district30.org.

Make sure your child's ewallet is set up and ready to go! The eWallet is a digital payment system and a simple way to handle money at the fair! This year, when you set up your eWallet, you will be prompted to donate to Share the Fair. This initiative was created by Scholastic to ensure all students can participate in the fair. These funds will go directly to Wescott students to make sure EVERY student can take home a new book!

Click here or the button below for school's book fair website and follow the directions to sign up for your child's eWallet.

FAMILY BOOK FAIR NIGHT: Thursday, November 14 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Thank you all for joining our students in this year's Halloween parade. The Yearbook committee would love to see those candid photos you took to potentially feature them in this year's book. Down below are the folders for each grade to upload your pictures:

Halloween Parade- Kindergarten

Halloween Parade- 1st Grade

Halloween Parade- 2nd Grade

Halloween Parade- 3rd Grade

Halloween Parade- 4th Grade

Halloween Parade- 5th Grade

Additionally, we'd love to see any lemonade stand pictures that you captured last week: Kindness Club-Lemonade Stand Photo Album

This is your last weekend to order a Yearbook for the 2024-2025 school year. Ordering has been extended through Monday November 4. At that time, Yearbook orders will be closed.

Yearbooks are $22 per copy and $30 per copy with personalization. Please note, at checkout, if you do not want personalization, you must deselect the personalization option as this is automatically selected. Yearbooks will be delivered toward the end of the school year.

Northbrook/Glenview School District 30 continues its partnership with Quest Food Management Services to provide quality food services to your student. We are happy to offer a preorder system via myMealOrder! Click the button below to order lunch for your student.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ashley Jenkins, Food Service Director for Quest at ajenkins@questfms.com.

Northbrook/Glenview School District 30 will have three school board seats to be filled at the Consolidated Election on April 1, 2025. Candidates who are elected will fill four-year terms expiring in April 2029.

Candidates for the office of the school board can now circulate nominating petitions for signatures. The period for filing nominating petitions concludes November 18, with November 12 being the first day permitted to file a petition.

A candidate for the school board is required to file the nominating petitions, Statement of Candidacy, and receipt for filing their Statement of Economic Interests with the applicable county election clerk and not with the school board secretary or the administrative offices of the school district. The county clerk may have petition forms available, or blank petitions may be downloaded from the State Board of Elections website, elections.il.gov.

Wescott has a “no food or drink” birthday celebration practice. We want our students to know other ways to celebrate birthdays besides treats.

If you want your child to bring something in for their birthday, we encourage you to donate a book to our library through the PTO Birthday Book Club. You can also send school supplies such as pencils, erasers, stickers, bookmarks, etc.

Please do not send paper birthday invitations to school. The use of electronic invitations through our PTO directory is suggested.

Please call the front office to let us know of any changes in pick up practices for your student. As a reminder the tot lot is not a part of Wescott grounds and is not supervised during arrival and dismissal times.

In our Wescott and District 30 community, we value open communication and community collaboration. We have best success when partnering with parents on student concerns.

We are noticing a concerning trend of inappropriate language use among our students. Much of this language appears to be influenced by content on social media platforms, particularly TikTok. We know that our community, parents and faculty, believe that maintaining a respectful and positive school environment is crucial for all children's well-being and academic success.

While we understand the popularity of these platforms among young people, it's important to guide our children in using appropriate language, regardless of what they may encounter online. We kindly ask for your support in reinforcing appropriate language use at home. Please:

1. Discuss with your child the importance of using respectful words and the potential impact of inappropriate language on others.

2. Monitor your child's social media use, particularly on platforms like TikTok.

3. Encourage critical thinking about the content they consume online and how it might influence their behavior.

Our staff will continue to address this issue at school. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter and continued partnership with Wescott.

Want to know what's going on around the community? District 30 uses a "Virtual Backpack" to share community information while saving paper, costs, and lightening the loads our students bring home. Please click the button below to view upcoming Community Events.

Any time a student feels unsafe, any adult in their school can help!

But sometimes, students or parents wish to reach out for help in a different way or after school hours. Safe2Help Illinois offers students a safe way to share information 24/7 that might help prevent any threat to school safety, including bullying, self-harm or other serious concerns.

The goal of this program is to get students to “seek help before harm;" it is not intended to suspend, expel, or punish. Safe2Help Illinois also offers a Mental Health Toolkit that provides resources for parents and educators reinforce the components of this program.

Safe2Help Illinois offers around-the-clock help via:

• Hotline: 844-4-SAFEIL
• Text line: 72332
• Email HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com
• Plus a website full of resources for young people seeking help for themselves or a friend. Its Ways To Get Help page is a directory of specialized hotlines, and other sections of its website provide practical steps for dealing with depression or helping a distraught friend. The checklist called "20 Questions To Ask Yourself If You Feel Like Giving Up" can help older children overcome a bout of anxiety or depression.

Wescott School is part of Northbrook/Glenview District 30, which exists to create an inclusive community that inspires learning, fosters resiliency, and cares deeply for every child. We honor childhood and foster intellectual, physical and social-emotional growth. District 30 serves more than 1,200 students in pre-K through 8th grade across Willowbrook, Wescott and Maple Schools.

We prohibit harassment and discrimination of all forms within our district and follows all policies and procedures to ensure a safe environment for all.

Main office: 847-272-4660

Health/Attendance Office: 847-400-8760

Location: 1820 Western Avenue, Northbrook, IL 60062, USA

Website: district30.org/wescott
Facebook: facebook.com/ngsd30
Twitter: @district30