The Wonderful World of Woodbury

Welcome to our weekly update! We are thrilled to keep you informed about the happenings at our school, celebrations & achievements and upcoming events, ensuring you're an active part of your students educational journey. In each update, you'll find highlights of the past week and a preview of what's to come, fostering a strong sense of community and collaboration between the school and our cherished families. Most week's will be brief, but at times there is important information or updates that help support if us in your involvement in our little school. Thank you for taking the time to read it!

Throughout the month of September we are kicking off our Woodbury Way core values by sharing them with students throughout our morning meetings and daily announcements. Please check out our core values below. For several years now we have referred to this as our Woodbury Way of being safe, kind and responsible students and citizens. This year, all buildings in our district have aligned these core values for both students and staff in our learning community.

Recently we also administered our Fastbridge Benchmark assessments to all students in order to identify our starting points for intervention and support, WIN time, and to help support collaboration amongst our district professional learning teams. A family report of those results will be shared with you when fall progress reports are sent home.

Teachers have been reaching out to ensure all parents/guardians are signed up for fall conferences. If you have not scheduled a conference with your student(s) teacher, please contact them. Conferences are being held on November 20th & 21st.

Do you plan on volunteering or attending a field trip? We would like to avoid a line on the day of such an event. Please visit our main office between the hours of 7:00-3:30 to complete our background check aiming for completion within 30 days in advance.

Morning Arrival: Please pull all the way up and allow your child to exit the vehicle independently. Please do not exit or walk your child to the entrance or playground. If you wish to do so, please park on an adjacent street and walk your child to the playground. We hate to be repetitive, but this does help us run a more safe and orderly procedure.

New Sandwich Police Department Chief of Police, Kevin Senne, & Officer Eric Bright visit with students after completion of our law enforcement drill.

9/18: District Leadership Team Meeting, Homecoming Spirit Week Begins

9/19: School Board Meeting

9/29: Progress Reports, Learner Traits Only

10/2: Custodian Appreciation Day

10/3: Fall Pictures

10/4: Walk or Bike to School Day

10/6: Institute Day, NO SCHOOL

10/9: NO SCHOOL, Columbus Day

10/11: Severe Weather Drill

10/17: School Board Meeting

10/19: Great Shakeout, Earthquake Drill

10/20: Kindergarten Fieldtrip to Woody's Orchard

10/31: Classroom Halloween Parties & Halloween Parade

11/2: Third Grade Hoover Field Trip

October 4th is Walk to School Day. If you are typically a car or bus rider you can also meet us or drop off your child at Knight's Park-1001 N Latham St., at 7:30 a.m. to walk with us to school. A staff member will be there to meet students.

Looking to join our wonderful parent organization? You can find out more information by checking out their Facebook page. Our PPA has been a wonderful to support to us in making our school a great place to be!

Have you wondered who you should call if you have a school or student related question? We want to ensure you always feel heard and can access our staff to answer any questions you might have. Here are some helpful tips in order to support you in knowing who to contact.

School Office: Questions about registration, records, paperwork, attendance, dates and times of activities/events, changes in transportation and other general questions can all be answered by calling our main office at 815-786-6316 and speaking with our secretaries, Mrs. Schroeder or Mrs. Hulon. This is the quickest way to get a hold of our office. The office is open from 7:00-3:20. Please leave a voicemail if your call is not answered as the voicemail is checked regularly.

Classroom Teacher: This is the first person to contact with any questions about your child, whether it be academic, social emotional/behavioral, any school related incidents that took place during the school day, questions about homework, advice on supporting your student's growth and progress and anything else related to your child that you feel the teacher needs to know. We are your partners and we are here to support one another. We love hearing about your celebrations and good news as well! Please note that if you have a question about your child's IEP or a special class such as music or PE, those staff members can also be contacted directly.

Principal: Mrs. Kern always aims to be available and accessible to families as much as possible. If you have struggled to have questions answered after first going through the classroom teacher or office, have sensitive information or more that needs to be communicated, need advice or help solving an unresolved issue, or more, please know that you can contact her by phone or via email. Just like the teachers, she also loves hearing your great news and celebrations!

School Nurse: Questions or information about anything health related, physicals and immunizations, medications or treatments, health care plans, and more.

Our goal is always to respond to inquiries within 24 hours or the next business day. Sometimes staff are out of the building or in meetings or out sick and there may be a delay. Staff are not required to respond to parents/guardians outside of their work hours. In some circumstances, emergency communication will be dealt with individually. Thank you for your understanding.

We love having your students at school! If your family is struggling with housing or basic needs, please reach out to us so that we are able to share resources we have on hand to support our students and families. When it comes to student attendance, we want to help remove or alleviate any barriers you may be experiencing. If you are having difficulty getting your child out the door for school we are also ready and willing to help in any way we can.

Showing up matters for R.E.A.L because it is an opportunity to:

• Build Routines

• Increase Engagement

• Provide Access to resources

• Support Learning

Routines: Daily attendance routines can reduce stress, increase your child’s self-confidence and lay a foundation for good attendance in later grades.

Engagement: Participation in school helps your child connect with other children and adults and get excited about learning.

Access to Resources: Schools can give you access to meals, physical and mental health care and other supports, and fun enrichment activities (sports, clubs, music, afterschool and summer programs, etc.).

Learning: Children learn best from hand-on activities and through meaningful interactions with their teacher and other students.

We have completed 2 of our 3 fire drills and improved our time exiting and accounting for all students and staff my a full minute between the first and second practice. This takes organization and cooperation by our students as they focus on their teacher and exiting the building in a safe and orderly fashion.

We also completed our law enforcement/lockdown drill on Friday morning with Officer Bright. While we understand that the thought of such drills can be unsettling, it is essential to emphasize that these exercises are an integral part of ensuring the safety and well-being of our students and staff. These drills allow our students to familiarize themselves with the procedures and help our staff fine-tune their responses in case of an emergency. Rest assured, the drills are conducted in a manner that minimizes any potential distress for the students. We explain the purpose of the drill to them in a reassuring and age appropriate manner and address any questions or concerns they may have.

Email: jkern@sandwich430.org
Website: https://ww.sandwich430.org/
Location: 322 E 3rd St, Sandwich, Illinois, USA
Phone: 815-786-6316
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wwwoodburyschool/
Twitter: @Woodbury430