Friday Focus

• A Message from Marcie
• A Note for All School Volunteers
• Another Successful Read-a-Thon in the Books!
• Conference Sign Ups are Coming
• Social Emotional Learning Survey
• Parker's Picks
• New Tech Tip
• Valentine's Day Reminder (2nd Posting)
• World Language Night (5th Grade Only)
• South Park VIP Day is Coming!
• This Week in Pictures
• News from Early Learners
• Other Important Info

Check out the PTO Spotlight here:

• Skate Night- 2/23, 5:20-7:20pm
• Domino's Pizza Fundraiser- 2/10-2/24
• Bingo Night Save the Date- 3/9
• Feed My Starving Children Volunteer Opportunity- 3/15
• Bulls Game Fundraiser- 4/4, 7pm
• and much more...

Dear Families,

We sincerely appreciate all the families who contributed to the Pete's Lunch Philanthropy Project and participated in the South Park Read-a-Thon. Your generosity and involvement make a meaningful difference in our school community — thank you!

Upcoming Important Dates

• Friday, February 14: No school for students due to a district-wide Institute Day for teachers.
• Monday, February 17: No school in observance of President’s Day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Marcie

We are incredibly grateful for the time, care, and dedication our volunteers bring to our school community. Your generosity enriches the experiences of our students and supports our staff in countless meaningful ways. Whether you're helping in the lunchroom, library, assisting with events, or providing behind-the-scenes support, your efforts make a lasting difference.

We’ve recently noticed instances where volunteers have contacted another child's parent directly about incidents they observed at school, such as illness, injury, or behavioral concerns. While this may seem helpful, we respectfully ask that you refrain from doing so.

Reaching out to parents in this way can compromise student privacy and may result in miscommunication or delays in families receiving accurate information. To ensure all concerns are handled appropriately, please report any observations to the school administration, who will follow the proper steps to address the situation.

We sincerely appreciate your understanding and cooperation in helping us maintain clear, respectful communication practices.

Once again this year, our Read-a-thon was tremendously successful! It was so exciting to see our students get motivated to do extra reading inside and outside of school. The Masked Reader was a fun addition to this year’s event which the students really enjoyed. Our Masked Readers were unmasked at Wednesday's assembly to great enthusiasm! We hope the excitement for reading continues well beyond the fundraiser! The funds raised will allow us to make some much-needed improvements to our non-fiction collection.

The Read-a-thon officially ends tomorrow, and students can continue adding minutes through Saturday. Anyone keeping track with a paper log should turn it in on Monday. Next week, students will receive coupons for the prizes they have earned. We’ll also have awards for the students in each class who have read the most, and of course the coveted Penguin Pride trophies will be awarded to the top classes! Way to go Penguin Readers!

Mark your calendars! Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, March 20 from 1:00-4:00 pm & 5:00-8:00 pm and on Friday, March 21 from 8:30-11:30 am. All DPS109 schools will hold in-person parent-teacher conferences this year with an option to Zoom for parents/guardians who are not available for an in-person conference. Parents will sign up for a conference using Sign-Up Genius. We will share links for all teacher sign-up forms on Thursday, February 20, at 12:00 pm (noon).

It is best practice to hold one parent conference per child, to ensure that both parents receive the same information regarding their child’s strengths and needs. Therefore, we ask that parents sign up for one joint conference per student. If this is a concern, please reach out to Dr. Faust directly. We look forward to seeing all of our parents during conferences. Conferences are a discussion between parents and teachers. At this time elementary conferences do not include students and therefore we ask that children not attend the parent-teacher conference.

Building students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) skills is important at South Park. As a part of the learning process, we will be asking students in grades K-8 to reflect on skills related to social-emotional learning and the school environment. The survey will be administered to all students in grades K-8 between February 18 and February 28, 2025. Per policy, if you would like your child to opt out of taking the survey, please contact me no later than February 13.

Our students will celebrate Valentine's Day with their classes on Thursday, February 13th. Per the District 109 Food and Allergy Management Plan, "Classroom parties, including holiday parties as well as birthdays and other celebrations in the classroom, shall be food-free. Students shall not bring food to give as gifts or share with other students (such as with Valentine’s cards)."

Thank you for your cooperation!

Join the Caruso staff on February 20, 2025, from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. for a virtual Middle School World Language Night! Members of the DPS 109 World Language Team will provide valuable insights about the language options available at the middle school level.

World Language Night Meeting Link

Following the meeting, a copy of the presentation will be emailed along with a form to submit your student's first and second middle school language choice. Please be advised that minimum enrollments are needed to run 6th grade sections. Language selections will be due by Wednesday, March 5 at 8 a.m.

Also, on February 21, your 5th graders will have the opportunity to see the current middle school students perform skits and answer their questions about taking French, Hebrew, and Spanish in middle school.

This week, we kicked off our Black History Month unit by diving into the stories of important current and historical figures. The students have been fascinated by learning about these influential individuals through brief biographies and fun coloring pages. They've really enjoyed discovering that a biography is like a story about a real person, and they're eager to learn more! We've also been focusing on the talented author and illustrator Vashti Harrison, whose simple yet expressive style of using c curves for facial features has been a hit with our young artists. The children have been enjoying replicating her style and are proud of their creative work!

In addition to our exciting learning activities, our students are buzzing with excitement for our upcoming Valentine's Day class parties on February 13th! This week, we've had fun using our writing skills to create special cards for friends and family in our Valentine's Post Office-themed dramatic play center. We also celebrated a huge milestone—our 100th day of school on Friday! It’s hard to believe we've already shared 100 magical days together, and the students had a blast marking this special occasion with fun activities and games.

In Grady's Group this week, students discussed how hurtful words can leave lasting effects on someone's feelings. To illustrate this, students wrinkled a paper heart every time we shared an example of a hurtful word or action. The children then used kind words to "fix" the heart by placing a bandaid on it. The key takeaway was that, even after kindness was shown, the wrinkles remained, helping students understand that hurtful words can leave long-lasting scars. The lesson emphasized: "Before you speak, think and be smart, it's hard to fix, a wrinkled heart."

• All visitors to South Park School MUST bring a valid driver's license or state ID card to the main office before entering into the building. Beginning this year, we will collect IDs during your visit and return it to you as you leave.
• If your child is going to be absent from school, you need to call or email us by 9:00 that morning. ** Call 847-945-5895, ext. 2103 and leave a message OR ** Email Nurse Nora Moskos.
• Please follow our morning procedures, and drop your children off at their regular grade level doors. If you choose to drive through the front circle at arrival, kindly stay in your car when you drop off to help us reduce morning congestion.
• K-5 drop-off is between 8:35-8:45 a.m. Students who arrive after 8:45 a.m. will need to enter through the front door of the school, as all other doors will be locked.
• Dismissal for all Kindy and 1st-grade walkers and car riders will take place at their grade level door.
  
• Early Learners drop-off/pick-up info can be found here.
• When parking in our Birchwood parking lot, please remember that our preschoolers are dropped off and picked up by the west end (closest to the school). Sometimes, their parents' cars can block a parked car from exiting for a few minutes. To avoid that, we suggest that you park closer to Birchwood Avenue.

Friday, February 14th

• No School - Teacher Institute Day

Monday, February 17th

• No School - Presidents' Day

Thursday, March 20th (corrected date)

• Early Release at 11:40 a.m.
• Spring Conferences from 1:00-8:00 p.m.

• Non-Attendance Day
• Spring Conferences 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Monday, March 24th-Friday, March 28th

• Spring Break

2024-25 Music Concert Dates:

• 5th Grade - Wednesday, January 29th @ 6:00

• 4th Grade - Wednesday, February 12th @ 6:00

• 3rd Grade - Wednesday, April 9th @ 6:00 (new date)

• 2nd Grade - Wednesday, February 12th @ 5:00

• 1st Grade - Wednesday, January 29th @ 5:00

• Kindergarten - Wednesday, April 9th @ 5:00 (new date)

• Early Learners - Thursday, May 1 @ 5:00