Dear Shepard Families:
Can you believe that it is already October? When I entered the field of education, my dad—who, as you may know, was my high school principal—told me that the time would fly each and every school year. I have found that to be entirely true. At the time, I asked him if that was still true when he had his own children going through his school, especially one (me) who needed a lot of help and caused a fair share of stress. He said that time went by even faster. I'm sure we collectively feel that phenomenon, which gives us a great reason to appreciate each moment that much more. Thank you for navigating this journey with us!
In this edition, you will find:
New Information:
- Parental Tech Tips
- REMINDER: Health Information Due Soon!
- Upcoming Safety Exercise
- Middle School Health Curriculum Note
- Volunteers Needed: Reality 201
- Remind App Information
- Jersey Day — Wednesday, October 9th
- Picture Retake Day — Thursday, October 10th
- Amber McBride Author Visit Recap
- Chicago Bears Middle School Girls Flag Football Clinic
- The Anxious Generation Parent Event Recap
- Young Adult Literature Permission Form for 6th and 7th Grade
- 8th-Grade Yearbook Flashback Page
- Arrival and Dismissal Lanes Reminder and Request
- Lockers, Locks, and Personal Responsibilities
- Yearbooks
- Lunch Information
- Medication and Attendance
- PTSO Information
Sincerely,
Rob Wegley, Principal
Cathy Van Treese, Associate Principal
Ginger Logemann, Director for Student Services
Upcoming Dates
October 7 - Fall Sports Team Photos - After School
October 7 - Girls Volleyball —Away @ Gemini - 4:30 pm
October 7 - Cross Country — Away @ Caruso - 4:30 pm
October 9 - Jersey Day! First Shepard Spirit Day
October 10 - Picture Retake Day
October 11 - Fire Drill
October 11 - Cross Country Sectionals
While we encourage everyone to limit time spent on devices, we understand that these tools can foster meaningful connections when used wisely. However, in today’s digital age, it can be difficult to stay informed about the latest apps and trends to ensure your child's online safety. We want to do our part in supporting students and families in the various ways they can implement security settings on their children’s devices and monitor time spent online. What better time to introduce these tech tips than October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month! Throughout the school year, we will feature practical technology tips in our newsletters, offering fresh ideas for families to use at home developed by our own Student Resource Officer, Lauren Maldonado, and our Innovations Specialist, Maria Galanis.
Here is a tech tip all about Apple and Android Parental Controls!
It is very important that we have the most up-to-date health information for your child. There are some important deadlines coming up soon.
PHYSICALS: All new students, Early Learners, kindergarteners, and 6th graders must have an updated health form on file by October 15th, or they will be excluded from school.
EYE EXAMS: Kindergarteners and new students must have an updated eye exam on file by October 15th, or they will be excluded from school.
DENTAL EXAM: All new students, kindergarteners, 2nd graders, and 6th graders must have an updated dental exam on file by May 15th of this school year.
Get more information by clicking here.
You received an email earlier this week notifying families about our upcoming safety exercise on October 15th. As a reminder:
Students in grades K-3 will read the book I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared, followed by a discussion with their teacher.
Students in grades 4-8 will watch a short screencast reviewing the components of ALICE, followed by a discussion on how to respond in various situations.
If you have any questions about ALICE or safety procedures at your child’s school, please contact our Director of Safety and Security, Solveig Jurmu (sjurmu@dps109.org), or reach out to Rob Wegley (rwegley@dps109.org).
As part of the Physical Education/Health curriculum at Shepard, your child will take part in lessons designed to develop life-long health habits. Topics are aligned with the National Health Education Standards (NHES), which are designed to help establish, promote, and support health-enhancing behaviors. Middle school units of instruction are as follows:
Social and Emotional Health (6th Grade)
Nutrition (6th Grade)
Mental Health (7th Grade)
Injury Prevention & Safety (7th Grade)
Violence Prevention (8th Grade)
Substance Abuse & Prevention (8th Grade)
Specific sexual health topics are addressed in partnership with outside agencies. In February, 8th-grade classrooms partner with Candor Health for a live virtual session called Teen Sexual Health. Similar to the 5th-grade session titled Puberty I, an on-demand parent webinar will be provided prior and an opt-out made available. In April, speakers from Childhood Victories, Inc. provide age-appropriate presentations focused on sexual-assault and abuse awareness (Erin’s Law). This program occurs for all grades and an opt-out is made available. While not a stand-alone unit, sexual health topics may be discussed in Health classrooms as a result of student questions or in connection to related topics. If parents/guardians have concerns, they should email their child’s PE teacher no later than 12/20/24.
From the PTSO:
Please help our fabulous 8th-grade Social Studies teachers by being an "Investment Advisor." You will be helping the students build a mock portfolio of investments!
You don't need to be an 8th grade parent to help. If there is anyone you know who would be a great volunteer for this program, please have them sign up—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, you name it!
Reality 201 takes place on Thursday October 10, 2024 and two sessions are available. Sign up for one or both!
Session One: 10:00 am - 12:20 pm
Session Two: 12:40 pm - 3:00 pm
Here is the link to sign up: Reality 201 Volunteers
Thank you!
Questions? Please reach out to shepardptso@gmail.com
As we strive to keep you informed about important events and updates at Shepard Middle School, we are excited to use the Remind app again as a valuable tool to strengthen our school-family partnership. Through this app, you will receive announcements from our Student Council (also known as StuCo), led by Mrs. Greenberg. These announcements will not only keep you informed about spirit days, fundraisers, and other important events throughout the school year but will also actively involve your child in the exciting activities shaping our school community.
To sign up, please follow the directions below. Check out this video if you would like step-by-step instructions.If you require any assistance setting up the app, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mrs. Greenberg.
Our first Shepard spirit day is on Wednesday, October 9th. Students and staff members are encouraged to wear jerseys to represent their favorite teams! This is the start of the year-long spirit day competition that takes place across all grade levels. By wearing a jersey, students can earn points for their ExSEL class. We're excited to see all the jerseys on Wednesday!
On Wednesday evening, several parents from both Shepard and Caruso came together for a community conversation on the foundations Jonathan Haidt lays out in his book, The Anxious Generation:
No smartphones before high school
No social media before 16
Phone-free schools
Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence
Those who attended engaged in conversations about anxiety, social media, and how we support children in navigating all that comes with, well, being this age. Some really cool conversations happened that resulted in some key community and individual takeaways, and we want to share the themes and some examples here.
Themes:
1. Setting Boundaries Around Phone Usage
Parents talked about no phones in the bedroom, no phones at meals, taking phones at 7:00 pm or another set time, phone-free car rides and social plans, and setting limits and parental controls on phones. They also discussed alternatives to smart devices like flip phones or, as you could describe the first phone I ever had, "brick" phones.
2. Modeling Healthy Behavior as Parents
Parents discussed getting off our own phones, modeling phone-free time and behavior, and intentional disconnection.
3. Family Routines and Activities
Parents discussed having no-device times set as a family and creating more opportunities for family reading and play.
4. Encouraging Freedom and Resilience
Parents discussed letting kids make mistakes and experience conflict to learn how to handle it, encouraging physical adventure and outdoor play, and allowing boredom. They also discussed anti-fragility and helping children focus on their locus of control.
5. Fostering Community Support and Shared Guidelines
Parents discussed exploring a community-wide pledge for phone/social media limits and coordinating phone-free play and social engagements.
Of course, as you know, parenting does not have a one-size-fits-all option. Still, it was powerful to hear parents engage together and discuss potential solutions, tips, and supports as a whole community. If you would like to be engaged in further community conversation and/or get involved with other interested parents in continuing the conversation and commitment as a community, please feel free to reach out to me.
All books in Shepard's library collection have literary merit and are carefully selected with the help of reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist, but some are labeled Young Adult (YA) and are intended for grades 8 and up due to more mature content. While we encourage all students to read various sorts of materials, we prefer that you as the parent(s)/guardian(s) determine what is appropriate for your child. For this reason, we ask that you sign this form should you decide to grant permission for your child to read books from the YA section in both 6th and 7th grades. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Shepard's library information specialist, Dr. Andrea Trudeau at atrudeau@dps109.org.
Students are doing a nice job using their lockers during the school day. Sometimes, though, students are leaving locks unlocked or not putting a lock on their locker. To protect your child's materials and personal items, please reinforce the need to use a lock! Students are responsible for their own materials and items during the school day, and we want to help our students continue to learn that crucial skill of personal responsibility.
Our amazing PTSO shared information on this in their welcome back letter, too, but we wanted to add a reminder that you can purchase school lunches through Lunch Solutions in advance! Ordering opened Tuesday, August 6th. Ordering for the following week closes at 10:00 am on THURSDAY each week. For information and ordering, please visit http://ptgms.com/lunchsolutions/shepard.
Medication
Please do not send any medication, over-the-counter pain pills (Tylenol/Advil/aspirin), or cough drops with your students. State law prohibits students from taking medication at school outside of the nurse's office with a doctor's note on file. We will confiscate any medications as listed above found outside of the nurse's office.
Attendance
If your student will not be in school, please report the absence to the health office by phone—(847) 948-0620 x5103 or email (shepardattendance@dps109.org) before 8:00 am. If you do not contact our school nurse by this time, she will contact you at home or at work to ascertain your child’s whereabouts. Children must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Students will only be dismissed to a parent/legal guardian or to emergency contacts designated in Family Access.
Student Tardiness to School
Students who arrive late are greatly disadvantaged because they miss starting the day with their peers and miss out on the instruction given at the beginning of class. This means that they are often unsettled and confused about tasks, resulting in reduced achievement, regardless of academic ability. It is also very important that students establish good routines and habits in preparation for the rest of their lives. Punctuality is a life skill that is important to develop.
Tardiness to school will be unexcused even if a family member brings the student(s) to school. Oversleeping, missing the bus, car/traffic problems, etc. are all unexcused. Tardies are excusable under the following circumstances: personal illness of student, serious illness or death in the family, a doctor/dentist/professional appointment (a note or phone call from a parent or a professional), family emergencies, and religious holidays.
School begins promptly at 8:00 am. Students are expected to be in class ready to learn by 8:00 am.
Student Tardies to Class
Students are expected to be in class, in their seats, ready to learn at the start of class. Students who are not are subject to school discipline.