The Colt Communicator

Dear North Barrington Families,

What a great week at NBS!

We were very excited to celebrate our 100th day of school both in first through fifth and in Kindergarten. There is evidence everywhere of how much we have grown over the past 100 days of school. We also were very excited to welcome our newest class of NBS colts to our Annual Kindergarten Round-up event. We had several families attend the informational session and visit our kindergarten classrooms. Thank you our PTO and our classroom teachers for supporting this special evening.

Thank you for helping us celebrate 100 Days of Learning at NBS! We are looking good at 100! Also, thank you to our nature ladies for teaching our Kindergarten through Second Graders about salamanders. Who knew that some salamanders grew to over 5 feet long?

We have our STEM event tomorrow, Saturday, February 8th at Prairie Middle School. Please see the flyer below.

Next week is our KINDNESS Party. Please note that this party is focused on sharing kindness. Children can bring Valentine's to give to each classmate. Please make sure the Valentine does not have candy of any kind included. Students should not be bringing any traditional Valentine's gifts to distribute. We are asking that everyone wear pink as the color of Kindness. More details are below.

Enjoy your weekend,

Dr. Lisa West, Mrs. Sara Jirasek, Mrs. Kalin Lomas, and Mrs. Lisa Neyfeldt

REMINDERS:

Parent Drop off After 8:00 am: As you are aware, we are making strides in improving our attendance at NBS. A vital part of this is punctuality. Our second bell rings promptly at 8:00 am, and your child must be in their classroom to be considered on time. If you arrive at or after 8:00 am, please park your car, escort your child or children into the office, and sign them in. They will then receive a welcome pass and be directed to their class. Please remember, it is not safe to drop your child off at the curb or front door at or after 8:00 am and leave them unsupervised. Rest assured, we have measures in place to ensure their safety. We appreciate your understanding and support in this matter!

MEDICAL/DENTAL EXCUSAL:

If your child leaves school for a medical/dental appointment an excuse note from the healthcare provider is required for the absence to be excused. Please return the note to the building office staff following the appointment. Thank you!

ATTENTION TO ATTENDANCE:

Please click here for D220's Attendance Procedures.

UPDATE TO DISMISSAL (CIRCLE DRIVE):

Please note that if you are having your child go home with another family at the end of the day, please make sure to copy the office in your communications. The communication MUST reach the office by 2:15 pm for the change in transportation to be updated. For safety, we must know where children are at all times.

Please note that you can reach Dr. West, Principal, at lwest@barrington220.org, Mrs. Jirasek, Assistant Principal/TOSA, at sjirasek@barrington220.org, Mrs. Kalin Lomas, co-PTO president, at kalin413@gmail.com, and Lisa Neyfeldt, co-PTO president, at lneyfeldt03@gmail.com. We would love to connect with you! Our joint newsletter will be distributed through Infinite Campus on Fridays at 3:00 pm.

Social Media:

Instagram: northbarringtonpto

Facebook: North Barrington School PTO (run by the PTO) & North Barrington Elementary School (run by the school)

Twitter: @NBSPTO (run by the PTO), @NBES220 (run by the school) & @law281 (Dr. Wests’ account)

We are working with the Lions Club to collect old eyeglasses for both children and adults in need. These glasses are then distributed in the United States and globally. With 2.5 billion people not having access to adequate eye care, our donations make a difference. If you can spare any eyeglasses, please drop them in the Lions Club Donation Box located in the front vestibule just outside the main office. Thank you!

Look forward to seeing you at the Windy City Bulls game TOMORROW! It’ll be a fun time hanging out with fellow NBS families as we sold 118 tickets! Doors open at 6pm and the game begins at 7pm

Help us raise some money from the comfort of your couch! Money raised will support students and staff with supplies and activities, such as assemblies. This year, we are auctioning off some of our most popular prizes, including VIP parking spots, principal for the day, VIP seats for 5th-grade graduation, police and fire truck rides to school, and extra gym time & lunch with our fabulous gym teachers. You can’t win if you don’t take a chance! This ONLINE-ONLY Auction will start on Friday, Feb 7th, and end in the evening of February 13th! Click the link to view the auction items before it starts: https://e.givesmart.com/events/GjA/i/

Our Kindness party will be on February 13th from 1:30 to 2:30. Your child's room coordinator will reach out for donations of items to celebrate Kindness. Please adhere to the approved snack list shared. Classrooms are nut-free. Children are allowed to bring Valentines to share. They should bring one for each child in the classroom, no candy or treats but they can pass out small erasers, pencils, or friendship bracelets if they'd like. Children can also make homemade Valentines if they would prefer to not purchase store-bought ones. Wear PINK to represent KINDNESS and share our school spirit.

We will have outdoor recess unless the "feels like" temperature is below 0 degrees. To keep students as warm and dry as possible, children should have snow pants, a warm coat, hat, gloves/mittens, and snow boots. When there is snow on the ground, students without snow pants and boots must remain on the blacktop. Ensuring students wear proper winter clothing items will support the fun they have at recess on our amazing playground and sled hill when there's snow.

As we head into winter, we would like to remind families of Barrington 220’s inclement weather protocol. In the event of inclement weather, the Superintendent of Schools will implement one of the following three scenarios:

School Canceled

All school buildings will be closed and students will make up the inclement weather day at the end of the school year.

Early Dismissal

There may be some rare occasions where it will be necessary to dismiss school early. On these days, middle and high schools will dismiss first. Elementary school students will be released at their regular dismissal time.

eLearning

All school buildings will be closed, however students and staff will complete the school day from home. This would eliminate the need to make up days at the end of the school year. Teachers will check their usual electronic communication methods throughout the day during regular school hours, to support students.

Barrington Children's Charities hosts Packs of Plenty (POP) every Thursday at Sunny Hill Elementary School, and we’re looking for NBS parents to help!

What do you do? Show up at Sunny Hill from 9:00-9:45am on a Thursday and join several other Barrington community members to pack food bags for students from under-resourced homes in Barrington. After packing food, one NBS volunteer drives the food to the front office at NBS so food can be passed out to students for the weekend.

It’s a great way to meet others and help kids in our community! Grab a friend and choose a day or to show up!

If you would like to sign-up to be a NBS volunteer, sign up HERE. If you have any questions or would like to be a permanent NBS volunteer for this program, please contact Ashley Samz at AshleySamzPTO@gmail.com or (847) 644-9163 (call/text).

ALLERGIES:

At North Barrington, we continually focus on safety. Part of those safety procedures is allergy awareness. Sending group snacks or lunches to the classroom is not allowed. This includes birthday treats, trinkets, balloons, and candy.

Children can bring individual snacks to eat during their snack time and their classroom teacher will share information with you about snack. Sharing any extra foods is not part of our approved procedures and is a safety risk to our friends who have an allergy. If there is a Colt Pride celebration, teachers will work with administration and the school nurse and access the approved food list as well as notify families of students with allergies. Please do not bring or send snacks for the entire class.

PARTIES:

Our parties will have food from the approved list, and the room coordinators will work with the administration, classroom teachers, and the PTO to ensure safety.

NBS will have two parties and end-of-year events.

Our February Kindness party will be on Thursday, February 13th from 1:30 to 2:30.

More information about our parties will be shared with Room Coordinators.