Highland Happenings

Good Afternoon Highland Families,

I hope you had a great week. Thank you to all of the Highland families that attended parent-teacher conferences this week. Conferences are a great opportunity for us to strengthen the bond between home and school and ensure that we are collaborating to support our Huskies! Registration for the 2025-2026 school year is now open! Student registration is a critical step in the planning process for the upcoming year and we ask that all of our families complete the registration process no later than March 31st. If you need any assistance in completing the registration process, please reach out to Highland main office at 630-719-5835. Take care and have a great weekend!

My Best,

Zac Craft

Principal, Highland School

• 02/11/25: Kindergarten and 2nd Grade Field Trip to the Tivoli
• 02/11/25: 6th Grade Intramurals
• 02/12/25: 3rd Grade Learn Not to Burn
• 02/12/25: Student Council Meeting
• 02/14/25: Pizza Lunch
• 02/14/25: Valentine's Day Class Parties

• 02/17/25: No School - Presidents' Day
• 02/19/25: 5th Grade Safety Patrol Meeting
• 02/20/25: 3rd Grade Field Trip - Museum of Science and Industry
• 02/20/25: Scoop Meeting
• 02/21/25: End of the 2nd Trimester
• 02/21/25: Treat Day

Regular school attendance is crucial for students' academic and social development. Since the pandemic, student absences have increased in schools nationwide, including in District 58.

District 58 is focused on improving student attendance and raising family awareness regarding their child's attendance. As part of this effort, all District 58 schools sent home attendance awareness letters on Friday, Jan. 31, noting the number of days students have been at school.

While ensuring your child attends school is important, we want to clarify that students should stay home when they are sick.

When determining if your child should remain home from school due to an illness, the District asks that you follow the recommendations of our local public health agencies and reference District 58's health guide. For example, your child should stay home if he or she has experienced the following symptoms within the past 24 hours: vomiting, diarrhea or a fever greater than 100. Your child may return to school if he or she has been symptom-free for 24 hours without the use of medication.

The Attendance section of District 58's Family Handbook provides additional information.

We are excited to share that Highland student Sydney Maschek will advance from the regional to the state level of the PTA Reflections arts recognition and achievement program. Her project 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.

Congratulations Sydney!

Will your child attend kindergarten at Highland next school year? Or do you have a friend or neighbor whose child will? Here are four steps to prepare!

1. If we don’t already know that you have an incoming kindergartner, contact the Highland office at 630-719-5835 or zcraft@dg58.org and let us know! We will add you to any school-specific kindergarten contact lists.

2. Attend Kindergarten Roundup at Highland on March 20th, at 6:00 p.m. Kindergarten Roundup gives parents and guardians the opportunity to visit their child’s future school, meet the principal and staff, and ask questions.

3. Visit our Kindergarten Resource webpage for kindergarten resources and helpful information.

4. Attend Kindergarten Dual Language Information Night. Learn more about the Dual Language Program below!

Thank you to our incredible school community for making a lifesaving difference this year by participating in the American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge! Our school helped create a team of lifesavers by learning hands-only CPR and how to spot the signs of a stroke, we collected funds to support the AHA’s lifesaving

mission, and we couldn’t be more proud!

This year, Highland Elementary had 34 students registered, 4 students completed Finn’s Mission and learned hands-only CPR and the warning signs of a stroke, and altogether raised $3,088!!

As part of our new Student Library Card Program, District 58 invited families to sign up their child to receive a free library card during school registration last year. The Downers Grove Public Library recently finished preparing the library cards and delivered them to District 58 schools. Students will receive and learn about their library cards during their Highland Library time.

Students who signed up and already have a library card will receive an envelope with information about the program. In addition, participating students who live in Woodridge should have received their library card by mail last month. Library cards may not yet be ready for students who transferred to District 58 mid-school year. If you did not sign up your child for a library card but would like one, please contact the school office. We will partner with the library for a second issuance of library cards later this year.

Learn more about the Student Library Card Program.

Incoming kindergarten families are invited to an informational meeting regarding District 58’s Dual Language Program on Wednesday, Feb. 26 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at El Sierra School, 6835 Fairmount Drive. The meeting will be in both English and Spanish. It is intended specifically for parents and guardians of incoming kindergarteners for the 2025-26 school year.

Learn about:

• Understand the benefits of dual language learning.

• Learn more about District 58’s bilingual learning model and how to participate.

• Meet some of the dual language teachers and staff. Get answers to your questions.

• Learn how to enroll.

District 58’s Dual Language Program opens up a world of opportunities for young learners. We welcome your child to join this journey! To learn more, visit our Dual Language Program webpage.

llnesses such as flu, RSV and COVID-19 are spreading in the community. District 58's Health Services website has great resources on preventing these illnesses, and steps to take if you get sick.

In addition, winter break is a great time to clean your child's coats, winterwear, book bag, lunch box and anything else your child takes to school to help fight the spread of germs!

Do you have young children at home? Do you have friends or neighbors with little ones? Please share this information!

District 58 offers free preschool and developmental screenings designed to identify young children, ages 0-5, who might have developmental delays and who would benefit from special education prior to beginning kindergarten.

Each week, a member of the Highland staff will be highlighted in the Highland Happenings! This is a great opportunity for our Highland community to learn more about our staff members and all of the information featured in the Happenings can be found in the staff directory on our website. This week we are highlighting Mrs. Varys.

Library FUNdraiser

The best way to raise money is to do something FUN while making memories with your child!

For a donation of $25 to the library fundraising project, you can sign up for a slot to come in and read to your child’s class during their scheduled library time.

We will be starting with our younger grades, K-2, and opening it up to the older grades in the coming weeks.

Visit https://evite.me/fSQsEEkk1H to view the schedule.

Please reach out to Cara Baran with any questions.

Thank you for your support of this important initiative!

Highland Husky Read-A-Thon

The PTA is currently hosting its fourth annual Read-A-Thon fundraiser until February 28th, 2025. The Read-A-Thon is a marathon of student reading to raise money for the PTA. Donations can be a flat dollar amount or you can pledge an amount for each minute your child(ren) reads. We are suggesting donations of $50 per student - $30 of that will help us meet our operating budget goal for the year and above that will go towards our library fundraising efforts. We recognize the ability to donate varies across families and truly appreciate whatever you can offer.

Please check your email registered with the PTA to make donations and log minutes throughout the fundraiser. Givebacks sent an email for every student on Wednesday, January 29th. There will be rewards given to students for the top readers per grade level, readers that pass 100, 250, 400, and 600 reading minutes and more! Prizes will be based on each student's total reading minutes logged by the end of the fundraiser. Can our Huskies read 80,000 minutes to earn an extra spirit day? We think so!

Please reach out to Erin Grady at etgrady32@gmail.com with any questions

Math & Science Night

Math and Science Event will be hosted on March 13, 2025! In order to be successful, volunteers are needed for this event!

Volunteer Opportunities

• Lead a session on a scientific topic of your choice (each session last 12-15 minutes and will be presented 6-8 times throughout the evening)

• Assist in one of the sessions listed above (no need to have any knowledge, just be able to assist the presenter)

• Supervise a math station in the gym (families will visit 8 different stations, your role will be to provide directions to the families. These directions and supplies will be provided to you!)

Volunteers will remain in their assigned area for the duration of the event, so if you volunteer, you must arrange to have your children attend with your spouse, their grandparents, or another family member.

If you are interested, please contact Katie Hurckes at katiehurckes@gmail.com.

Donut Day!

Help Highland Fundraise with Do-Rite Donuts!

The Highland PTA is partnering with Do-Rite Donuts for a fundraiser. Donuts ordered will be delivered to Highland and handed out by our wonderful volunteers. Order donuts and fundraise for Highland at the same time: https://portal.tripleseat.com/direct_bookings/yzvvmmr99twm

Family Event

Tickets go on sale today! Go to the Givebacks store and buy your tickets!

Get ready to glow at our All School Neon Party!

Date: March 7, 2025

Time: 7:00-9:00pm

Location: Herrick Cafeteria

Put on your brightest neon outfits, grab your special someone and join us for a night of fun, dancing, and unforgettable memories!

Stay tuned for more details!

PTA Board Nominations

Want to help plan all the awesome activities for Highland staff, students and families!? Want to bring some new activities or new ideas to the PTA? Well, come on and join the PTA Board!!! Any questions please reach out to us at any time, or even just say hi, highlandpta58@gmail.com

Item's that can be found in every edition of the Highland Happenings, such as the Highland Playbook and our student attendance form can be found below. We want to ensure that these resources are always available to our families while also making each week's Happenings as reader-friendly as possible!

The Highlanad Playbook is your place to find important information about Highland including a staff directory, arrival/dismissal procedures, informaion about social-emotional learning, and much more. Click the image to the right to access the 2024-2025 Highland Playbook.

It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. We recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, we hope that we can work together to remind students that during the school day, personal electronic devices should be turned off or silenced and out of sight. This includes wearable devices if they become distracting to the learning environment. Students should not be using phones, Apple Watches, or other devices to send or receive text messages or phone calls during the school day.

Email: zcraft@dg58.org
Website: DG58.org/HG
Location: 3935 Highland Avenue, Downers Grove, IL, USA
Phone: (630)-719-5835
Facebook: facebook.com/HGHuskies
Twitter: @HGHuskies