Good Afternoon Highland Families,

It was a great first full-week of the 2024-2025 school year! The week began with our 6th graders leading our annual Recess Rodeo. This week we also held our first All-School Meeting of the school year! At our All-School Meeting we reviewed expectations, introduced our theme for the 2024-2025 school year, and played color wars! Congrats to the White Team for taking home the championship belt this month. A very big shout out and thank you to the PTA volunteers who helped unpack the library this week! Fall MAP testing also began this week, with the majority of testing wrapping up by the end of next week. The MAP schedule can be found below. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at 630-719-5835. Take care and have a great weekend!

My Best,

Zac Craft

Principal, Highland School

• MAP testing continues all week
• 08/27/24: Curriculum Night, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

• 09/02/24: No School, Labor Day
• 09/06/24: 2023-2024 IAR reports sent home (4th-6th grade)

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.

The District 58 Instrumental Music teachers are excited to launch a new school year in BAND and ORCHESTRA and begin making music together again soon! We look forward to seeing returning students and also are thrilled to continue our work with the over 300 beginner instrumentalists who started their musical journey during our summer jumpstart program!

In-school lessons will be starting at each elementary school the week of Sep. 3rd. Once we have established this routine, students will also participate in weekly after-school rehearsals to prepare for their concerts! Please watch for an email from your student’s orchestra or band teacher with details about lesson and rehearsal schedules. Click here to meet your band and orchestra teachers - we look forward to seeing you soon!

Fall MAP benchmark testing begins next week. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to demonstrate the knowledge, as well as for our teachers to collect data to inform their instruction and plan for next year. Below is the MAP testing schedule. We would appreciate it if you remind your student to try their best on the test, get a good night sleep before the test, (and everyday), and eat healthy breakfast!

The staff at our school will be utilizing The Zones of Regulation™ curriculum, commonly known as "The Zones." You may recall that this program was introduced in its pilot form last spring to our students. This year, we look forward to starting the year integrating this into student’s daily practice. As a refresher, this program includes lessons and activities designed to help your child develop self-regulation skills, which encompass self-control, self-management, and impulse control. Self-regulation is defined as the optimal state of alertness of both body and emotions for any given situation. The curriculum aims to teach students to recognize which Zone they are in and how to use strategies to maintain or change their Zone.

Through these lessons, students will expand their emotional vocabulary, learn to read facial expressions, understand others' perspectives, identify triggers for their behavior, and develop calming and problem-solving strategies.

A key component of this curriculum is ensuring that all team members understand and use The Zones language. This shared understanding creates a supportive environment, allowing students to practice and quickly adopt self-regulation skills in various situations. You can assist in this process by:

• Using The Zones language and discussing the concepts as they apply to you in different environments. For example, verbalize your own experiences: “This is really frustrating me and putting me in the Yellow Zone. I need to calm down by taking deep breaths.”

• Helping students become aware of their Zones and feelings by pointing out your observations.

• Validating the student's current Zone and helping them brainstorm appropriate self-regulation strategies for the context.

• Sharing how the student’s behavior affects your Zone and feelings.

• Encouraging students to use The Zones language to express their feelings and needs, and to share their Zone with you.

• Showing interest in learning about the student’s triggers and preferred tools for self-regulation, and asking how they would like reminders to use these tools.

• Asking students to frequently share what they have learned related to Zones.

• Reinforcing students for recognizing their Zone and managing their behaviors appropriately, rather than only pointing out unexpected behaviors.

It's important to remember that everyone experiences all of the Zones, and it is not considered “bad” to be in the Red and Yellow Zones. The Zones of Regulation aims to provide a neutral, judgment-free framework for understanding and managing emotions. We look forward to partnering with you in our implementation of Zones of Regulation this school year.

As required by law, all new students, as well as students entering grades K, 2, and 6, must receive health examinations and immunizations and submit completed health forms by October 15th. To learn more check out the Health Services page on the District 58 website.

Thank you to many of the families who have already completed and submitted these forms. In accordance with Illinois law, failure to comply with these requirements by Oct 15 of the current school year, or 30 days following registration for first-time registrants, will result in the student's exclusion from school until such requirements have been met. All sections of the child examination form must be completed including the health history, which must be filled out by the parent.

District 58 communicates frequently regarding these requirements as it is our hope to avoid school exclusion for all of our students. If you are in need of additional assistance, our school nurse, Mrs. Sweet (nsweet@dg58.org), would be happy to assist you in answering questions or connecting you with resources to complete this requirement.

Looking for a job? Here are 10 reasons why you should consider applying to be an instructional assistant in District 58!

1. Convenient work schedule -- work the same hours your children are at school!

2. Earn $17.47/hour, plus a $2,000 stipend for some positions.

3. Work close to home.

4. Paid holidays, and no weekend or summer work

5. Paid sick and personal days

6. Medical, dental and vision benefits

7. Generous IMRF retirement benefits

8. Training and professional development

9. Supportive and positive work culture

10. Fulfilling work - make a difference in the lives of children!

Instructional assistants work alongside teachers to help students realize their full potential. Work can include small group instruction, 1-on-1 support, classroom organization and more. Learn more and apply at www.dg58.org/employment.

Big shout out to the volunteers who unpacked the library and helped with other unpacking! Things only get done because of volunteers! Without volunteers we couldn’t do a quarter of what we do at HIghland. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

Mums and Memberships

It may be hot now but it’ll be fall before you know it! And that means, mums are for sale! Fall mum 9 inch pots will be $10 each. Delivery (60515 zip code only) is an additional $10. We are offering the following colors: Orange, Yellow, White, Pink, Purple and Red. Sales will end on Thursday September 5th and pick-up will be on September 13th from 3:30pm-5:30pm.

Also, while you are buying your mums for yourself, your neighbors and the grandparents, buy/renew your PTA memberships! Buy your mums and PTA memberships right here

PTA Information

Please follow us on Facebook at Highland PTA 58 and on Instagram at highlandpta58. Feel free to email the PTA at any time at highlandpta58@gmail.com

Also, please spend just a minute or two completing this survey for the PTA and different communication methods. We appreciate your time and input! Survey Link Here

Why should you join the PTA? The Highland Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to providing enriching, fun and educational programs to our school community. These may include family fun events - Bingo Night, Welcome to School Party - or educational programs - World Cultures Night, One Book One School program. We also support and fund many in-school activities, including school t-shirts, birthday books, additional field trips and assemblies.

One easy way to support the PTA is to purchase a parent membership for $15 (one user) or a family membership (two users) for $20. The purchase makes you a member of the Illinois PTA, and a portion of the proceeds will fund our Highland PTA activities. Members receive a regular newsletter with information about PTA activities and is the only way to access the all-school directory. Link Here Again To Buy/Renew Membership So You Don’t Have To Scroll Back Up

School T-Shirts

Forms were posted in classrooms during Meet the Teacher, but if you didn't get a chance to fill it out, please follow this link. We will be ordering t-shirts soon and want to get the correct size for your child. They will be wearing these shirts for school assemblies and field trips!

Dining for Dollars

The next Dining for Dollars will be at Gia Mia on Tuesday September 10 from 11am-9pm. Enjoy tasty food and support your school’s PTA. More information to come!

Yearbook

Please send your photos to Yearbook Chair, Christina Zycinski, from the first day of school that you would like to be considered for the yearbook. Photos can be emailed to clzycinski@gmail.com.

Please be sure to include the student's grade and/or teacher name in your email!

Open Committees

Speaking of volunteers…. We still need volunteers for these open committees and shadows for others. Please consider helping out or sadly these activities will disappear. Shadows will work with the current chair and then take over after June 2025.

Please email the PTA if you are interested!!

Open Committees:

~Reflections: coordinate with IL PTA, visit each classroom to explain what Reflections is, collect artwork, organize submissions, deliver artwork to council.

~Summer Math Club: coordinate with PTA council to distribute math packets to students, help to recruit volunteers for math packet check sessions at the library over the summer.

~New Committee Idea: do you have an idea for a committee? Let us know! Email the PTA with a plan and proposed budget.

Shadows Needed:

Yearbook

Math & Science (every other year)

Outdoor Family Movie NIght

Please join us at DG Swim & Racquet on the evening of Friday September 6 for the annual Outdoor Family Movie Night! More details to come!

Room Parent/Party Host Volunteer

Wondering how you can volunteer this year?! Room Parents and Party Hosts could be that opportunity! Information will be coming out soon, so keep your eyes peeled for forms

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!

Please click below to see the most up to date school health requirements. If you have any questions regarding health requirements for your student, please reach out to one of the members of our school nursing team.

District 58 strives to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff and community. To further support this endeavor, the District has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.

ReferralGPS is a service providing assistance to our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the District’s existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS assists families in triage and appointment setting.

School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:

1. Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options

2. Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/DG58 to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously

The platform has the ability to filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.

ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.

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