Bulldogs are the best! We appreciate the notes of encouragement and the continued partnerships with families that we are building throughout this school year. If you missed our family learning workshops about assessment and grading at Churchill School, the recordings will be sent out in a blast and then posted on our website next week.

As a reminder, if the air temperature falls below 20 degrees, the wind chill factor is below 20 degrees, or the playground conditions are unsafe we will have indoor recess. Students must wear snow pants and boots to be allowed to play in the snow.

We would like to encourage all of our families to participate in the upcoming MLK Day of Service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In partnership with the Village of Homewood, there are opportunities to donate items to local community organizations or engage in acts of service. Please see the links and documents below for more information.

An important part of monitoring our students' progress each year is the STAR test which is administered in the fall, winter, and spring. Students will be taking this assessment next week (winter). Please encourage them to do their best so they can show how much they have grown this school year.

We are approaching midterms of our second trimester. Next week, we will notify all families to log-in to parent portal to see your child's most up-to-date grades in all classes.

This week we began Session 2 of clubs. If your child is participating, please pick them up at 4:15pm on Center Avenue. Our Session 3 sign-up will take place in early March.

Our teachers have sent home a Day 3/Day 4 packet in the event we require future e-learning days. Please keep this packet in a safe place. Should we have another e-learning day, packets will again be emailed, posted on our website, and available in our main office vestibule. Students must complete and turn in the packet on the next in-person learning day to be counted present.

We recently distributed laptops to our 3rd and 4th grade students in order to more easily facilitate remote instruction for quarantined students and to offer additional access to our tech tools throughout the school year. Laptops will travel to and from school each day and chargers will remain at home. Students are responsible for charging the computer each night at home so they have a fully charged laptop at school. Some classes were not provided a laptop case. Though additional laptop cases have been ordered, they remain on backorder. Once they come in, we will put a case on laptops that still need one.

We are finishing our first session of tutoring and are so proud of our students' hard work and the efforts of our staff to provide this additional layer of support. Our students participating are working hard and showing improvements on the essential skills on which we are working.

New school guidance has been adopted by IDPH and ISBE and will be followed. You can see the updated guidance at this link.

Please see the information below to review our updated procedures regarding quarantines and remote instruction.

• Quarantine length is now 5 days.
• If required to quarantine, remote instruction will be provided within 24-48 hours once processed by our nurse and administration.

• Student will be able to access remote instruction by logging into their school issued device. No other materials are required. The teacher’s schedule and Zoom link will be posted on their Clever page.
• Live remote instruction will take place for math and reading only, but assignments for all subject areas may be provided (via Teams). Students should check their Teams’ pages for science/social studies, specials, and PE as well.
• Attendance will be taken. If your child will be absent from the Zoom, please call the attendance line at 708-647-2400 to report the absence.
• Interaction with the teacher during class is limited because they are instructing both in-person and remote students. They may do something unplanned based on the needs in the classroom and will adapt the best they can for students Zooming into the classroom. Please encourage your child to use the chat if they are having difficulty hearing or viewing the lesson.
• All teachers will work with students upon their return to make-up anything critical that was missed during their quarantine.
• The office team can connect you to tech support If needed, but may not interrupt the teacher during instructional time. A voicemail can be left or an email can be sent to communicate concerns during the school day – teacher will respond as quickly as possible.
• You may contact the office before 9am to order a school lunch to be picked up at Churchill any time between 10:45-12:15.

• Additional instructional resources can be found on a teacher’s Clever page – i.e. IXL math and IXL reading and language arts.

We had our SHIELD testing on Wednesday, 1/12 which resulted in 507 tests, 17 students tested positive, 0 staff tested positive. We will continue to send out classroom notices and call if your child tests positive or is a close contact. We appreciate your continued understanding and patience as the positivity rates continue to be elevated and we are responding to the implementation of recent new guidance.

All Children Will Learn. All Children Will Be Served.

Email: sara.schnoor@hsd153.org
Website: https://churchill.hsd153.org
Location: 1300 190th Street, Homewood, IL, USA
Phone: 708-798-3424
Twitter: @Ch_PrincipalS