The Patton Post

Happy St Patrick's Day to all who celebrate it! We were treated to a wonderful performance by the Hogan Irish Dancers today that really got us all in the St Patricks Day spirit. It was a great way to end the day after another week of testing. Thank you to our PTA Chair, Megan Worthington, for organizing this for the students.

As mentioned, we finished up IAR testing this week and will continue with make-up testing next week for any students who were absent..

Thank you to Mr Whitaker for all the time and effort he put into the 3rd grade musical performance last night! The 3rd graders blew me away with their talent and I have been humming Disney songs all day today! They were amazing!.

We have 5 more school days to go until we break for Spring Break! Let's finish the week strong next week!

Have a great weekend!

Ellie Chin

On Election Day, Tuesday, April 4, 2023 Patton school will be used as a polling place all day. We have the following procedures in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff:

• The polling place for our school is our gym

• Voters will only be allowed to enter through Door 4 (Gym entrance by the bike racks).

• We will hire a full-time building attendant to sit in the area that connects the gym to the building.

• A District Administrator will be on site that day.

• Students scheduled for P.E. that day will have their P.E. class in the Commons.

• All grades will have indoor recess.

We take the safety and security of our students and staff very seriously. And while these procedures will cause some disruption to our typical day, we are confident that students will continue to have a safe and engaging day of learning.

If you have questions, please contact the Patton front office at 847-398-4288

Dismissal is a very busy time of the day for us and we are grateful that it generally runs smoothly for the most part. Although we have had snow recently, we did notice on the few days when the weather was improving, we had more students hanging around after school on the playground or blacktop.

We wanted to remind everyone that all students do need to leave Patton at the end of the school day unless they are at CAP or participating in an after school activity where they are supervised. Students cannot stay and play on the playground after school unless they are being supervised by an adult.

Please reinforce to your children that if they are being picked up, they should wait for you on the blacktop near the pick up line and not at the playground, the basketball courts, or the Gagaball pit. Staff work with our traffic team to make sure all students waiting by the fence get picked up. At 3:45, we bring any students who haven't been picked up into the office so we can call home and make sure someone is on their way. We want to make sure all students get home safely.

CAP utilizes the playground and blacktop until 6:00 pm and the CAP employees are only responsible for supervising children in the CAP program.

Thank you very much. Your partnership in ensuring a smooth transition at the end of the day and the ongoing safety and well-being of our students is greatly appreciated!

IDPH and the CDC are observing an increase in strep throat, specifically in children.

What is Strep Throat?

Strep throat is a sore throat caused by Streptococcus bacteria that is passed around through nose and mouth droplets. This can be spread to others until 24 hours after antibiotics have started. Your health care provider will confirm this illness by swabbing the throat and testing specifically for strep.

Signs and Symptoms

Sore throat that can start very quickly, swollen tonsils possibly covered with white patches or streaks, swollen lymph nodes, fever, painful swallowing, and headache. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and stomach ache.

Prevention

Wash hands thoroughly. Do not share food, drink, or utensils. If your child is diagnosed with Strep, they can return to school 24 hours from the start of antibiotics and 24 hours of being fever free.

Please feel free to come in at any time over the next week and take a peek at the Lost and Found. Your child/ren are also encouraged to come down during the day and check for any items that might be theirs. We will be donating all remaining items during Spring Break.

The Illinois State Department of Human Services requires a dental examination for all children entering kindergarten and second grade.

Please have the dental form completed by your dentist and return it to school as soon as possible. The compliance date for this regulation is May 15, 2023. However, you may submit the form at any time. Dental offices will be very busy in the spring as the compliance deadline approaches. We will accept dental exams that have been completed after November 15, 2021.

Children in kindergarten and second grades that do not have copies of the required dental exam on file by May 15, 2023 are not in compliance with this regulation.

Dental forms can be downloaded at www.sd25.org.

Did you know you can pre-register any new student, K-5th, on our district website? Click here to access the pre-registration page. Please feel free to share this information with any new neighbors you may have. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the front office at 847-398-4288.

We cannot wait for the Fun Fair to return to Patton next month!! This is a FREE event but, if you would like to attend, we ask that you please Register Here so we can ensure there is enough fun to go around!

You can also help be part of our planning team, supervise a station, or help with set-up and clean-up! Sign up to join the fun and help us bring this event to Patton!

Our wonderful Library Director, Mrs Hemmer, is in the throes of running our annual March Madness Tournament of Books and the finalists are getting narrowed down! This is always a fun project and I know the students really look forward to finding out who the winner is! We'll be sure to let you know which book our Panthers thought was the MVP!!!

Even though the weather may not feel like it, summer is just around the corner and we know some of you will be making plans! Please consider signing up for Summer U!

It will run June 12 - June 30, 2023 at Thomas Middle School *Dates subject to change pending review of winter weather emergency days.

Registration will begin on March 6, 2023 at 9 am and end on April 28, 2023, at 3 pm. Please visit www.sd25.org/summeru for a full list of courses and times. If you have any questions about Summer U, please email summeru@sd25.org for assistance.

Our SEL program, RULER, teaches students how to regulate emotions- even in the hardest of times. One important tool we teach is called the Meta-Moment.

What is the Meta-Moment?

Most of us have had the experience of “losing our cool” and regretting it later. For example, your daughter is whining, the milk spills, and you’re late for work. You raise your voice at her and she dissolves into tears. Later, you wish you had handled the situation differently. Even in the most trying moments, our behavior does not have to be automatic and reactive. The Meta-Moment is a process that allows us to prolong the time from when we are triggered to when we respond. And, taking Meta-Moments keeps us aligned with our values over time. With practice, our responses can be more deliberate and skillful. Even when our emotions are really “hot,” we can take a Meta-Moment, pause, call to mind our ‘best self’ and choose a helpful strategy. Practicing Meta-Moments over time requires intentionality and effort…and, it’s worth the extra effort to feel proud of the actions we choose even in the most challenging moments.

Believe it or not, but the first day of Spring will soon be upon us! Known throughout many cultures as "Nowruz" I for one am ready for a new beginning next Tuesday.....and a break from the snow and cold!

I'd like to start by saying THANK YOU for all the donations we have already received for our indoor recess carts! We appreciate your generosity and would like to take advantage of any spring cleaning that may be happening over the next few weeks as we go for one more big push to stock our indoor recess carts! Card games (such as UNO), board games such as Checkers, Chess, Trouble, Connect 4, etc. are always popular and VERY welcome. Building toys such as magnatiles and also marble runs are also in high demand. It really does make such a difference if we have enough games for everyone to use when we have to call indoor recess. We appreciate anything your children may have outgrown.

We're aiming for one final big push to try and ensure as many of you can have your voices heard as possible! We appreciate those of you that have already completed the survey. If you have not yet done so please do take a few minutes out of your day and share your feedback regarding how we're doing as a school and a district! It really doesn't take very long but will have a huge impact on how we move forward.

Survey Link: https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/?target_name=parent

RACE TO REGISTER for the ABC/25 Get Burbed Challenge on April 15, 2023! Join classmates, friends, family and staff to support the ABC/25 Foundation. You can run or walk the 5K or 1 Mile events or support the event by volunteering. Register by March 17th to receive the early bird benefits - a guaranteed race shirt in your size, packet delivery to your SD25 school and discounted registration! Additional details and link the register can be found at abc25challenge.org/registration.

Be sure to watch the video to see the winner of this years race shirt! Follow us on Facebook for all events and updates!

March is a celebratory Month for sure! Please read on to find out a bit more about the cultures and heritages that we celebrate throughout our School District.

On Friday, the District launched its new Parent Academy newsletter and page on the website.

The goal of Parent Academy is to provide learning opportunities for parents to better understand ways to support their students’ academic success and personal well-being. We welcome parents and families to engage in various activities and events to explore topics related to mental health, well-being, equity and inclusion, and academics. Please visit the website (www.sd25.org/ParentAcademy) for archived newsletters, further resources and information, or to submit an idea/topic for the next Parent Academy newsletter.

Take advantage of not having to deal with the car line and/or the freezing cold blacktop pickup after school and have your 4th or 5th grader stay after school on (most) Tuesdays in room 255!

Mr. Morkert will provide a quiet space where kids can work on assignments, read, or get extra help. If interested, you must sign up using the link below (space is limited to 12). Please be sure to include your child's name when you sign them up and note whether you will pick up your child or if they can walk home. CAP kids welcome as well. Please contact Mr. Morkert for any questions (tmorkert@sd25.org).

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094AACAE23AAF49-4thand6

Mr Morkert is hoping for a few more participants this month! This really is a great way for students to catch up and/or get a bit of help with areas they might be struggling in.

We have a truly AMAZING PTA traffic team that ensure our Panthers arrive to and depart from school safely and on time! If you would like to help out, please consider signing up as a substitute by filling in this form. It helps our traffic team enormously to know that there are subs available should someone fall sick or be unavailable. You can indicate if you only have availability for AM or PM and will receive a group text when there is a need. You can volunteer if you are available, but no pressure if you are not available. Any help is appreciated and benefits so many of our students. Believe it or not, even if you can only help twice during the year, your contribution is welcome and needed. Thanks so much in advance!

Patton teachers and staff work so hard to support our students on a daily basis. We invite you to fill out this google form if you would like to recognize a staff member or a team for their hard work. We will pass on the good news to them. Thank you in advance for sending an encouraging word as we know it will mean so much to our staff.

Monday 27th - Friday 31st March - NO SCHOOL SPRING BREAK (students return to school Monday 3rd April)

Tuesday 4th April - Election Day (school will be OPEN and the gym will be open to voters)

Friday 7th April - NO SCHOOL

Monday 10th April - NO SCHOOL (Institute Day - Staff Only)

Friday 21st April - PTA SPONSORED - Fun Fair

Please be sure to click on the Patton PTA website button above for information about other upcoming events

Main Line: (847) 398-4288
Fax #: (847) 394-6681
Absence Procedure
Twitter: @AHSD25Patton