In The Laidlaw Loop

The positive energy and momentum was purely contagious these first few days. Our staff is ready. Our students are ready. Mrs. Dolan and I are ready. All good vibes ahead for the 2024-25 school year.

All students in 1st-5th grade participated in Camp Leopard on Wednesday afternoon. This was an all school endeavor to ensure our students are clear on our shared, collective, staff expectations for living The Laidlaw Way. Each class rotated through eight different stations led by different members of our Laidlaw Staff. The stations focused on explaining our school expectations for being safe, respectful, and responsible in the following arenas of the school:

1. The playground

2. At morning lineup

3. At afternoon dismissal

4. When walking in the hallways

5. When using the bathroom

6. At the gaga ball pits

7. Indoor lineup routines

8. And, general resect expectations towards adults and other students in the building

Camp Leopard concluded with an all school assembly and we rounded out the day with a whole school YMCA dance party. Ask your Leopard about it. We all had a blast.

I hope to see many of you next Thursday evening for our Laidlaw Curriculum Night. Details below.

Dear Families: In order to support a positive transition back to school for your kiddos, we allow parents to be on the blacktop at arrival and dismissal the first few days of the school year. Beginning Monday we will move to our regular blacktop procedures, which means that we kindly ask parents to stay behind the fence line at both arrival and dismissal for the remainder of the year. This is to ensure our staff is able to focus on student safety at all times. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

If your child is interested in joining the 4th grade Band or Orchestra, please be sure to read the email sent out by Hannah Andrews on Thursday, Aug. 22. Please contact Hannah Andrews with any questions.

Tuesday, August 27th, 4th grade Band/Orchestra optional Informational meetings at McClure--9:30 AM and 6 PM

D101 calendars are going home with students today. And if by chance, anyone does not receive one, please reach out to the PTO. You can email laidlawpto@gmail.com.

Please view the arrival and dismissal details below. As we did last year, Maple Ave (between Forest and Hampton) will be closed to traffic at arrival and dismissal times.

For families who drop off on Hampton: There will be dedicated staff members stationed on Hampton Ave to help the car drop off line. Please adhere to the signs and pull all the way up to the designated drop off area near the staff parking entrance on Hampton.

1st Grade Families: Please do not park your car and get out of your car right in front of school. This area must remain clear for our school bus. Should you wish to walk your student up to school and wait with your student, please park several blocks down and walk up to the front entrance with your student. Kindly, do not get out of your car right in front of school.

I am pleased to share several after school enrichment (optional, paid) opportunities for our Laidlaw students that are run by 3rd party vendors. Here is our fall schedule. Registrations are open. If you have questions about any of our enrichment programming, please reach out to the 3rd party vendors directly. Thank You.

Monday -

1st-3rd graders STEAM Academy (new this year)

4th-5th graders STEAM Academy (new this year)

Musical Theatre

Tuesday-

Art Class

Wednesday-

Sticky Fingers (cooking class)

Thursday-

Art Class

Friday-

Sticky Fingers (cooking class)

Golf (new this year): Elementary Golf School is offering an exciting junior golf program at Laidlaw School, designed to expose golf to juniors of all ability levels. This program is created and taught by PGA Professionals, to include lesson plans that are fun, safe, and educational. Youngsters will be given the opportunity to experiment with playing a variety of different shots. Our program teaches basic fundamentals, with plenty of variation for practicing and playing. We will not only teach the shots, but also the etiquette, behavior and finer points of the rules of the game. Our instructors will be able to adjust the level of complexity to each child’s individual level of progress.

For more information, or to register for the after-school golf program at Laidlaw School, please visit www.elementarygolfschool.com or call (630) 853-6348.

If you would like more information about the Right At School before and after care program, please see the included flyer or visit their website at https://rightatschool.com/.

Please find the 2024-25 calendar HERE

Friday, August 23: PTO Welcome Back Ice Cream Social (details coming in PTO email)

Thursday, August 29: Curriculum Night/Meet The Teacher (details above)

Friday, August 30th: 9AM All School Fire Drill

Monday, September 4: NO SCHOOL--LABOR DAY

Monday September 9- Friday September 13: Fall MAP testing (grades 2-5)

This summer, the administrative team spent considerable time updating the Elementary School Handbook. Please do spend some time reviewing some of the important information regarding attendance, academics, behavior/discipline, technology, etc. The handbook can be found via the link above.

Register at https://raceroster.com/events/2024/91220/laidlaw-elementary-school-5k-and-fun-runs?fbclid=IwY2xjawEh_1dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXEb8ws2TtDMOIyYEATwFdgpClb60O7x_6oO-LIQJBM5OKsQ0DwDhQcCrg_aem_NM0WYU7NSatwFUs1x8HQPA