Greeley Greeting

Dear Families,

It was a memorable first week back with your students! We culminated the exciting week with a significant event-our first all-school assembly in our beautiful auditorium, a testament to our strong community-minded spirit.

Our new nurse, Ms. MaryKathryn Janda, will join our staff starting Monday. Please welcome her to our team if you see her or receive a call from her. You can read more about her below.

Our teachers will continue receiving valuable training with our new literacy resources, so your child(ren) will have a substitute teacher one day during this week. I appreciate your support as we continue learning ways to improve our literacy practices. If you are interested, Dr. Becky Mathison will host a special family session. Please take a look below for more details.

Students in grades K-3 will also participate in Wednesday's annual hearing and vision screening. If there are any concerns, you will be contacted.

Have a wonderful week!

Lindsay Kopinski

Principal, Greeley School

We are excited to welcome Ms. MaryKathryn Janda, BSN RN CPN, as the new school nurse at Greeley. She has been a pediatric nurse for 37 years in various hospitals in the Chicago area. She lives in Evanston with her husband and a 15-month-old English Springer spaniel, Molly. She has two children, Madelyn and Jonathan, who are both in college. She is excited to start this next phase of her nursing career at Greeley.

Winnetka Parents Institute Kicks Off This Week!

The District offers regular sessions for families to learn more about a variety of topics. Join us on September 11 for our first event, focusing on Literacy Programming in our schools. View the entire 2024/2025 schedule here.

September 11, 2024

Time: 9:30 AM

Location: Carleton Washburne School RC

Dr. Becky Mathison (Assistant Superintendent of Innovation, Teaching and Learning), will conduct a session to learn about the new literacy materials that were selected, why they were chosen, and what to expect this year.

Interested:

RSVP here

Feedback Link

Mr. Dunafin is excited to announce that the Fall Session for After School Sports for 3rd and 4th graders will be starting soon!

Registration will open Tuesday, September 10th at 9 am on the District Web Store.

The activities will include Kinetic Wellness's favorite games and new exciting activities specific to this class. We will meet each group once a week after school for nine sessions. This class will run on Wednesday for 4th grade and Thursday for 3rd grade from 3:15-4:00 p.m. We look forward to another fun season of sports!!

Fall Session Dates

4th Grade Dates:

9/25, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/4, 12/11, 12/18

3rd Grade Dates:

9/26, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 11/7, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12, 12/19

This week you will be sent home a new (blank) car sign in case you should need it, generously made by our PTO volunteers. Please write your last name on the sheet in all capitals to make it stand out. This should be placed prominently on your passenger-side dashboard or your passenger window to help the pickup line move smoothly.

September

• 9/10 Sports Club registration opens at 10:00am Register here
• 9/11 Winnetka Parent Institute: Literacy 9:30am-11:30 at Washburne-RSVP here
• 9/17 Pokemon Club registration opens at 9:30am-Register here
• 9/25 Picture Day
• 9/26 Go to School Night, 6pm-7:30pm
• 10/3 No School

Please join us on Thursday from 6:00-7:30pm as teachers share classroom information and curriculum highlights with families. Your classroom teacher(s) will share more specific information in their classroom newsletters.

We are excited to share a new resource with parents this year that will enable them to receive a weekly email sharing their student’s web activity using their school account. An introductory video can be viewed here. For a detailed overview of the capabilities and how to get started, watch this video. You can expect to receive an email by September 3 inviting you to download the Securly Home app.

Additional resources:

• Home App Walkthrough .pdf

• Securly’s Standard Filtering Categories

The District’s Green Team will be hosting a kickoff event on September 13 at 3:30-4:00 pm at the Washburne Amphitheater. All current and interested Green Team members District-wide are invited to attend and hear more about our vision for this school year. Did we mention there will be popsicles? Please RSVP here if you plan to attend so we know how many to purchase.

Please follow the District via the following social media platforms in order to see day-to-day happenings and more.

Facebook and Twitter: @Winnetka36

Instagram: @WinnetkaPublicSchools

Download the District’s app by searching “The Winnetka Public Schools” on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The app will serve as a convenient way to report absences, view and manage your school calendars, and see at-a-glance District news.

In September, we celebrate LatinX Heritage Month in the United States each year. This tradition began in 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a proclamation to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week. The dates for LatinX Heritage Month were chosen to coincide with the Independence Day celebrations of many Latin American nations when they declared independence from Spain.

During LatinX Heritage Month, we celebrate the countless contributions that Hispanic Americans have made to our nation. We also take this time to recognize the trailblazing individuals who fought for progress and equity for their communities. Throughout this month, teachers will incorporate this into their classrooms with age and grade appropriate materials. In addition, our library will be sharing some resources for families at home. You can access two of the resources here:

• Families can learn more about LatinX Heritage Month here.

• You can access our library collection via Destiny here: Destiny Collection

As a school, we will also celebrate Patriot’s Day on September 11th. Patriot’s Day is a national day of remembrance for those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. In the morning, our school will take a moment of silence when we complete the Pledge of Allegiance as a school community.

Ms. Cornyn and Ms. Schaefer are excited to host a Pokemon Club again this year. Please see the flyer below, and register at the District Webstore starting September 17th at 9am for the fall session.

Greeley School is thrilled to partner with Right at School to bring after-school opportunities to our students. These electives will be available this fall, with registration opening online on September 2nd. See the flyer linked below for more information.

9/2: Registration opens

9/20: Registration closes

Week of 9/23: Clubs begin

The preferred method for reporting absences is to report the absence online. Please click here for the link to the Absence Form.

You may also call the school office (847-446-6060) as early as possible or email Ms. Park (meredithpark@winnetka36.org) and Mr. Schreiber (gordonschreiber@winnetka36.org) at any time. Without this notification, someone from the school must call your home to find out why your child is absent.

These absence procedures not only help us fulfill the required attendance monitoring obligations but also help to assure the safety of our students. Whether you call or complete the form, you will be asked the same questions. Please be ready to report the following symptoms when you report an absence due to illness:

• Fever

• Headache

• GI (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach ache)

• Cold (runny nose, congestion, cough)

• Flu Diagnosis

• Strep Diagnosis

• Sore Throat

• COVID-19

Parents are being asked to report symptoms or diagnosis to the school as we strive to support the health of all students and staff. For reference, here are our District Health Guidelines.

Please let your child’s teacher, classroom associate (in kindergarten and 1st grade), Ms. Park and Mr. Schreiber know if your child will be dismissed early for an appointment during the school day. When your child is being dismissed early, the child’s parent/guardian or authorized contact must come into the building to pick your child up.

You should also notify the school if your child is going to be late or is not going to return to school after lunch.

School Hours:

8:20am | Morning supervision begins

8:30am | School Doors open

8:37am | School promptly begins

2:10pm | Extended day kindergarten dismissal (Monday-Friday)

2:45pm | Grades 1-4 & Stay and Play kindergarten dismissal (Mondays only)

3:15pm | Grades 1-4 & Stay and Play kindergarten dismissal (Tuesday-Friday)

Office Email: gordonschreiber@winnetka36.org

Location: 275 Fairview Avenue Winnetka, IL 60093
Phone: (847)-446-6060