Fairmount Families Week END Report

Thank you to all the parents and guardians who attended our Winter Conferences! Your partnership and support are invaluable in helping our students thrive.

A quick reminder that registration for the 2025-2026 school year is now open. We appreciate your help in completing this process as soon as possible, as it greatly supports our planning for next year. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Lisa Niforatos

Be sure to follow me on X/Twitter @Fairmount58.

Fairmount School Attendance Form

Past Newsletters

Please help us spread the word to any families and neighbors who have a child preparing to enter Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year. Children who will be five years old on or before Sept. 1, 2025 may attend kindergarten during the 2025-26 school year. Parents and guardians (who reside in Fairmount’s attendance area) are encouraged to call or email the Fairmount office team prior to Kindergarten Roundup to be added to any school-specific kindergarten contact lists.

For current families: If we don’t already know that you have an incoming kindergartner, contact the Fairmount office at 630.719.5830 or jderango@dg58.org and let us know! We will add you to any school-specific kindergarten contact lists.

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

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!

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.

We are excited to share that Rachel C. (Grade 5) from Fairmount 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 District 58 projects are advancing to the state level.

Congratulations, Rachel!

The Young Authors’ program celebrates the written work of children in Kindergarten through sixth grade at Fairmount School. The program's purpose is to support classroom teachers in their efforts to encourage and improve students’ abilities in writing, reading, listening, and sharing, and to recognize the accomplishments of young authors. In simple terms, your child writes a piece (poem, story, newsletter, comic...), submits it to his or her teacher, and then all the submissions will be judged for grade-level winners and school winners to be acknowledged.

Please read the parent letter below from Mrs. Stroud with additional information.

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.

While Fairmount does not have a Valentine's Day party at school, classroom teachers will allot a short amount of time on February 14th to allow students to exchange Valentine's Day cards with their classmates, if they so choose. This is, of course, completely optional. If you do choose to send cards with your child(ren), please note the following:

• A student must have a Valentine for every child in their class.
• Food is not allowed, however, non-food items are allowed (such as pencils and stickers).

Everyone is invited to wear red, white or pink on 02.14.2025!

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.

During the month of January and part of February, Mrs. Laama will be out of the office. To ensure all communications are received during this time, please email Jill DeRango at jderango@dg58.org. Thank you for your patience and flexibility during this month as we will have substitute coverage assisting Mrs. DeRango in the office.

Monday, February 10th is a Professional Learning Monday. All students are dismissed at 2:00 p.m. according to their regular dismissal plan. Please be sure you have made arrangements for your child to be picked up from Fairmount at 2:00 p.m. each Monday.

Fairmount School is focused on a handful of school improvement goals this year that involve our ELA curriculum implementation, a supportive focus on the Zones of Regulation as well as targeted goals centered around ELA/Literacy for K-2 and 3-6. Each month we will provide information in our "Home Connection to Learning" section of the newsletter focused on one of these goal areas.

Don't forget to check out the different ways you can implement "Zones at Home" which was previously shared last week.

Click HERE for a video with more information on including Zones at Home.

If you are looking for any information from our amazing Fairmount PTA, please visit their website:

Fairmount PTA

Information regarding upcoming events, spiritwear, membership and more can be found throughout the site.

The next Fun Lunch will be Friday, February 14th, provided by Home Run Inn. Orders are due by this Sunday night at https://fairmount.h1.hotlunchonline.net/ ! For a list of all upcoming lunches, or answers to frequently asked questions about Fun Lunch, visit https://www.fairmountpta.com/events/fun-lunch . If you have any additional questions or have any trouble ordering, contact Tiffany Melnyk at funlunchorders@fairmountpta.com .

If you are not already using the Box Tops app to scan/download your shopping receipts to earn money for our school, now would be a great time to start! Just use the QR code within the flyer below to download the app. Be sure to choose Fairmount School and use the referral code: MYJ35RDS

Send a screenshot with proof of your app to angie.mitchell23@gmail.com and your child can get a Box Tops Spirit Stick for their backpack!!

The Box Tops app features monthly challenges to join, info on all products which are eligible for Box Tops earnings, and information on current Bonus Offers, which are detailed in the flyer. There are also ongoing bonus offers at Jewel (earn $5.50 when you buy any 5 eligible products) and Target (earn $4 when you buy any 4 eligible products), now through 2/8! It would be wonderful to have additional families supporting our school through the Box Tops program, thank you for your consideration!

Link

From Birthdays (or half-birthdays), Lost Teeth, Positive Behaviors and More... we love celebrating our Falcons!

We are so glad you are part of our school community! Whether this is your child's first or seventh year at Fairmount, we wanted to provide a fun way to get to know the many members of our teaching and school staff. We started this section two years ago and look forward to continuing it during the 2024-2025 school year. This year we have added a "school twist" for our staff.

Role at Fairmount: 6th Grade Teacher

Years at Fairmount: 10 years in the 90's and currently this will be my 13th year back at Fairmount!

Favorite Subject in Elementary School: Reading

Least Favorite Subject in Elementary School: Writing

Favorite Grade in School: Junior year of High School

A big part of why I became a Teacher... Having amazing teachers in Downers Grove growing up! My mom and my grandma were also big influences!

A memorable moment of my time in school was... Singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" as a solo in our school choir at Kingsley.

If I wasn't a teacher/didn't work in a school I would... Physical therapist or work at Trader Joes!

02.10: Happy Monday- Wear Orange! Student Dismissal 2:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m. DG58 Board of Education Meeting

02.11: 3rd Grade Field Trip: Museum of Science and Industry; Sign Language Club (for registered students) 3:00-3:45 p.m.

02.12: 3:00-4:00 p.m. Chess Wizards (for registered students); 7:00 p.m. PTA Meeting (virtual)

02.13: 3:00-4:00 p.m. Young Rembrandts; 3:00-3:45 p.m. 2nd/3rd Spanish Club

02.14: Happy Valentine's Day - Wear Red, White or Pink; PTA Fun Lunch

02.17.25: No School, District Closed

02.28.2025: No School; Teacher Institute Day

03.31-04.04: Spring Break - School and Office Closed

2024-2025 DG58 School Calendar (PDF)

Important Calendar Highlights:

• Spring Break: March 31-April 4, 2025

• Last Day of School: Friday, May 23, 2025 (if no emergency days are used)

Please note that information BELOW this point is repeated information that has been shared in a previous newsletter(s), but is still made available here for your reference.

Does your child love reading? Does your child love baseball? We have the perfect reading program for you! Fairmount School is participating in the Kane County Cougars' Reading Club! A flyer was sent home with your child this past week with information regarding this program, including game dates/times and reading requirements. Please reach out to Mrs. Glennon with any questions that you have at aglennon@dg58.org.

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.

Regular school attendance is crucial for your child’s academic and social development. We appreciate your partnership in helping them arrive at school on time each day.

District 58 is focused on improving student attendance, and as a part of this effort, attendance awareness letters were sent home with each student today via their backpack. Please reach out to me should you have any questions about your child’s attendance or this letter.

If your child's dismissal plan will be different (e.g. not taking the bus), please communicate this to both the school secretaries and classroom teacher as promptly as possible. This is especially important for our younger students, so we can support their dismissal process. In the event of a last-minute change (anytime after 11:30 a.m.), we ask that you please call the school office (630.719.5830) as staff members may not check their emails prior to daily dismissal.

Lisa Niforatos, Principal lniforatos@dg58.org

Jillian DeRango, Secretary jderango@dg58.org

Andrea Laama, Secretary alaama@dg58.org

Website: www.dg58.org/fa/

Location: 6036 Blodgett Avenue, Downers Grove, IL, USA
Phone: 630.719.5830
Twitter/X: @Fairmount58