WHS Principal Post- September 2019

It was great seeing so many of you at last week's Fall Curriculum Night! During the first week of each new month, a new WHS Principal Post Newsletter is published. You will find school highlights, important dates to note, and updates about all things related to our school! This newsletter is in addition to "Weekly News" that comes to your email each Friday afternoon. Please review the information below to stay connected!

THANK YOU to all the families who have uploaded a family picture. If you haven't yet uploaded one, please consider sharing one. Submitted photos will be displayed in our LRC as a way to celebrate all the members that make up our Hammerschmidt School Community. Click on the link below to upload a family photo.

If you have a split or blended family, please feel free to submit more than one, or share in whatever way you are comfortable with!

CLICK HERE to upload a family photo

9/6- Friday, PTA Movie Night, 6:15- 8:15 pm, GYM

9/9-9/27 PTA Walk & Roll to School

9/11-Wednesday, WHS Picture Day

9/13 - Friday, PTA Coffee Hour, 8:45 – 9:45 a.m.- APR

9/13- Friday, Family Fitness Fair, 4:00- 6:30 p.m.

9/17- Friday, PTA Dairy Queen Dine- Out

9/17 - Tuesday, PTA Parent Welcome 6:30 – 7:00 p.m.

9/17 - Tuesday, PTA Meeting 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

9/27 - Friday, Early Release Day 1:15 pm Dismissal

The Star Cast crew would like to know what is happening with WHS students outside of school hours! If you have a news story or event that you would like WHS to know about, please fill in the following link. Please keep in mind that the StarCast Productions come out once they are complete (without a set timeline). If you know of an event date ahead of time, please give adequate time to get it into the Starcast.

Share you news with us by clicking on the link below.

CLICK HERE- To share your student news with us!

Join us for the 2nd Annual Family Fitness Fair that will be held at Hammerschmidt on Friday, September 13 from 4:00-6:30pm, RAIN or SHINE. Families are invited to participate in multiple fitness challenges sponsored by many local fitness companies! You do not want to miss your chance to win some great raffle prizes! Be on the lookout for more details on the flyers coming home today! Interested in volunteering?? We need help with planning and support on the day of the event! Contact Molly Victor at mollyerinvictor@gmail.com.

On Thursday, 9/5 we will have three separate assemblies. One for K-2, one for 3-4, and one for grade 5. These assemblies were scheduled by D44 to meet the Erin's Law requirement and replaces the CAP program we previously had for grade 1, 3, and 5. The feedback from the schools who have already had this assembly have been very positive.

Click on the link below to learn more about each specific assembly:

BE SEEN & HEARD ASSEMBLY INFORMATION

To do my part to make our school theme come alive, I set a goal to connect with every WHS family by the end of the school year.

What does a meeting look like? This could be an in-person meeting, a phone call, or event a google hangout or skype style connection. This is about whatever works best for you. Below is a list of possible visit opportunities that may work for you:

• A scheduled phone call

• Traditional meeting in my office at Hammerschmidt

• Home visits - yes I can come to you!

• Meeting at an off site location of your choosing

• Meeting before or after your child's parent-teacher conference

• Meeting before or after an already scheduled WHS event

If you have another idea, please suggest it. I will be as flexible as possible.

How long do connections need to be?

They can range between 5-30 minutes depending on what works for you. Please do not feel obligated to schedule a long phone call or visit.

What will we talk about?

The most important part of the conversation is us getting to know one another. It will be very informal!

My two questions for families are:

• What is important that I know about you, your children, and your family?

• How can I help you and your children to feel supported?

How do I set up a connection?

It's simple! Please email me with potential dates and times. I can also be as flexible as possible on the weekends.

You can reach me via email at ddanielski@sd44.org

Each day, your child has the opportunity for a snack at school if and when needed. In accordance with national dietary guidelines, our Wellness Policy and good, old fashioned common sense, we are continuing to support students in making healthy decisions. Food and nutrition play a crucial role in health promotion and disease prevention. In school, we strive to teach students about healthy choices with food, exercise and lifestyle. For these reasons, and the topic of allergens mentioned below, we are asking for your support in providing healthy snacks for your child.

Food allergies affect one in every thirteen children, and nearly 40 percent of children with allergies have a history of a severe reaction. At Hammerschmidt, we have many students with various allergies. For some, a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction could potentially occur if there is skin contact with, or ingestion of, just a trace amount of an offending allergen. We are very concerned about the possibility of exposure, which could potentially be fatal, yet want the least amount of imposition on classmates and school personnel. Since snacks brought from home may be a regular part of each day, we are requesting that you follow the guidelines below in order to minimize the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction occurring at school:

• Classroom snacks may only be the items listed on the attached snack list

• Please speak to your child about the importance of never sharing any food or snack with another student

• Food should be ready for consumption and not require peeling, washing, slicing, etc.

• Snacks might be brought into the classroom in the morning

• It is very important that food does not take away from instructional time or create a mess

We are not asking you to avoid any foods in your child’s lunch, only during snack time.

Believe it or not, time can be very short during the school day. Please help the staff save time and awkward conversations with students by adhering to the requests made above. As you can imagine, it would be very difficult for the students to witness a severe reaction to an allergen in the classroom. The School Nurse is available to answer any questions you have about this matter. The students, their parents and I all appreciate your cooperation in helping to provide a safe classroom and school for all of our students.

Thank you to all those who supported the WHS Edible Garden with purchases from the Farmer's Market at out WHS Fall Curriculum Night. The students made $94.00 that will help support the garden!

This past Friday, August 30th, all of our WHS students traveled the building to learn about our behavior expectations. No matter where you are at Hammerschmidt, we have the same four expectations:

• Be Safe
• Be Respectful
• Be Responsible
• Be a Problem Solver

Fifth Grade students were trained and led each of the stations by teaching and modeling ways to meet our expectations. Below you will find a few of pictures from this school wide event.

Join other parents, high school and middle school students, and professionals to learn about issues facing today’s youth. The Glenbard Parent Series engages top experts, parents and school staff to become proactive and informed in pursuit of the mutual goal to strengthen our communities. Programs are free and open to the public. Click on the button below to see the 2019-2020 lineup of speakers.

These events are FREE and do not require advanced registration!

Please join me in welcoming Lauren Johnson to our WHS Office Staff. Lauren will be here on Thursdays in the Office Clerk role.

This year we will once again run our "Star Constellations" program. Essentially, we break up our 430 students into 31 small families consisting of 12-15 students. A few students from each grade level are in each of the groups. These Star Constellations group meet once a month to do some team building, projects, and activities related to social emotional learning. One goal of this program is to provide each one of our students with an additional adult at WHS who they will have as their support network. Over the course of the students' time here, they will remain with the same group. This allows us to form strong relationships with our students and also for the students to get to know the other group members well. At our first meeting on Sept. 27th, we will welcome our new kindergarten members to each of our groups. This program has been a fun and rewarding way for our staff to build collective responsibility our WHS stars.

Order forms for this year’s school-wide themed T-Shirts are due by Friday, September 13. You can get your very own “WHS One School One Family” Dri-Fit T-shirt in your choice of short or long sleeve. You can place your order now through the HAMMERSCHMIDT PTA Store!

D44 Superintendent Ted Stec will be visiting our WHS PTA Meeting in October to share information about the future of D44. Click on the link below for more information.

The Future of 44 Presentations

Click on the video below for an overview of D44's Blue Point Alert System

Click on the button below to see the latest from D44's Virtual Backpack!

Email: ddanielski@sd44.org
Location: Wm Hammerschmidt Elementary School, Hammerschmidt Avenue, Lombard, IL, United States
Phone: 630-827-4207
Twitter: @ddanielski