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WJHS Highlights
05/03/2024
A Message from the Administrative Team
Dear WJHS Families,
Next week is 🎊 Staff Appreciation Week. 🎉 We are so excited to celebrate all that our staff does to make our WJHS Community a positive, warm, and supportive place to be for students and each other! A special thank you to our PTO who has planned daily fun for all of our staff with a theme of “Around the World”! 🌍
While all staff will celebrate this week, we want to call out each group of people who help make WJHS a great place to be! If your child has an adult at school who is special to them, please encourage them to write a note or thank them for all that they do to create a safe space for them to learn and grow!
Monday: is National Nurses Day ⚕️and so we'll shower Nurse Kiersten and our nurturing office staff with extra love today! Staff will enjoy a French 🇫🇷 breakfast in the lounge!
Tuesday: National Teacher’s Day - let’s give our teachers some special thank yous for all they do! An Italian 🇮🇹 lunch will be served for everyone in the lounge!
Wednesday: Patient, Popular, Paras - their support for our students helps guide them for life - thank you! Colleagues can gather for English 🏴 Tea & Biscuits in the lounge!
Thursday: Non-teaching Certifiably Amazing Staff - we couldn't do it without you! Student services, related services, tech specialists, librarian and more! The administration will provide a Mexican 🇲🇽 lunch in the staff lounge!
Friday: Support(ive) Staff! We recognize our hard-working and dedicated site technician, custodial, and cafeteria staff! Let's all wrap up the week and celebrate Friday with a USA-inspired 🇺🇲 sweet treat in the lounge!
Thank you to all of our families and PTO who help celebrate the work that we do and the community in which we all contribute - we appreciate you and are looking forward to next week!
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Kate, Eric and Nicole
Tech Tidbit
FaceTime and Messages are disabled on student iPads to help students focus on using the devices for school purposes only. Students still have access to email and can use Apps, like Google Docs, to be able to collaborate and communicate with each other and teachers. Sometimes students are tempted to use the district provided tools and accounts for personal items, such as setting up social media accounts with school email, gaming, outside school sports communication and socializing with friends. Some students will also set up their personal email accounts on their district iPad. Students should be using personal devices for personal, unrelated school items. Please have a conversation with your child about using their district issued iPad only for school.
8th Grade Families: Upcoming Events
Monday, June 3: 8th grade field trip to Great America. Information HERE. Deadline to sign up is next Friday, May 10.
8th grade graduation will take place on Wednesday, June 5 at 5:30pm in the new Winnetka Main Gym, at the Winnetka Campus of New Trier High School on Wednesday, June 5, 2023. Please find the most recent information sent home HERE.
The New Trier incoming/new student web page is something to bookmark! Important information is now posted regarding registration and upcoming events. Click HERE to access.
May SEL
As we enter into the final weeks of the school year, students can feel a mixture of emotions. They are gearing up for summer and a less-structured time away from school, and they are facing the reality of saying goodbye to their friends and teachers for the summer, and maybe even longer as they transition to a new building. This can mean challenges at home as students think about the transition ahead.
In the coming weeks, as you gather around the dinner table, or even on a walk or car ride, we have suggested a couple of activities that you can try with your child(ren) to help them express these end-of-year feelings with a focus on gratitude and looking forward to new and exciting things. Check them out and enjoy!
Gratitude and Memories: Have your child create a Top 5 or Top 10 list of best memories from the school year. You can write these down or just ask your child to share them with you. Ask your child why that stood out to them, and why they are thankful for having had that experience. It will help them process their feelings about that experience, and will also spur some great conversations about what they might hope for in the coming year.
Letter to My Future Self: Invite your child to create a letter or a drawing that they would share with themselves a year from now and include what they want to remember from this school year, and lessons they have learned, and one wish for themselves for the coming year or summer. As this can be difficult for younger children, they could draw three things: their favorite memory, something they learned this year, and a wish/goal for themselves in the next grade or in the summer. After completing the letter/drawing, put it in an envelope and put it on the fridge with an open date for a year later. You can open it up and see if the lessons and memories were still there, and if the wish came true!
PTO Highlights
AFTER SCHOOL CLUB”S “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST JR PERFORMANCE TONIGHT
Skyline Children’s Theater is excited to present the spring performance of WJHS students in “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” in the WJHS Auditorium TONIGHT 5/3 at 7:15pm. Tickets available at the door or pre-purchase them HERE. TEACHERS/STAFF: you’ll get in FREE with your staff ID!
TEACHER/STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK IS MAY 6 - MAY 10
We have been hard at work planning some nice things for our teachers and staff next week to let them know how much our parent community appreciates them! Themed days of treats, lunches and tokens of appreciation will be given out all next week to all teachers and staff on behalf of all our parents. If you would like to contribute to the items being planned for our fun activities, you can check out the SignUp Genius HERE.
📣WJHS & NEW TRIER SPIRITWEAR 📣
Looking for a great gift for your graduating 8th grader? Get them ready for New Trier High School with a “Class of 2028” sweatshirt! Details HERE. humanKIND is a locally mom-owned company that we’ve partnered with to sell WJHS spiritwear. Items are fully customizable with an option to ship OR pick up locally. Click HERE for options.
8TH GRADE GRADUATION SIGNS ARE HERE
Attention 8th Grade Parents: The WJHS PTO is pleased to provide a complimentary yard sign for your graduating student! You can pick up your FREE sign at 728 Romona Road (it’s the house with the BLUE door.) Parents can feel free to stop by to take a sign at their convenience - ONE SIGN PER GRADUATE PLEASE. Congratulations to all our 8th graders from the WJHS PTO!
8TH GRADE GRADUATION INSIDER INFORMATION
8th grade parents- did you see the email notification 5/1 from WPS D39 about the details for graduation. Click HERE to reference. FYI- the road (Trevian Way) that goes “in back” of New Trier High School’s Winnetka campus is a ONE WAY (good to know if you’re planning on dropping off your 8th grader at 5pm!). You can only enter it via the east side. From Winnetka Ave. turn NORTH onto Essex Rd, then follow the building around the back turning LEFT onto Trevian Way. Door N19 (the drop off door) is the first set of doors on the left.
23 DAYS LEFT IN THE SCHOOL YEAR - VOLUNTEER TODAY!
✅Lunch server - Please spend 1 hour of your time to help serve food to students in the lunch line on any given day. The lunchroom staff really appreciates our help! Sign up HERE
✅Courtyard volunteer - Can you spare 30 minutes of your time during the day? Monitor this relaxing space during lunch recess. Open to 7th Graders on Wednesdays and to 8th Graders or Fridays. Sign up HERE
PARENT-LED WASHINGTON D.C. TRIP FOR CLASS OF 2025
Parent-Led Washington D.C. trip is an option for the Class of 2025 (current 7th Graders). This trip is NOT sponsored by the WJHS PTO but is being coordinated by a WJHS parent. Trip will take place February 14-17, 2025 and no school will be missed. For more information click HERE or contact Stephanie Crocker at crocker.l.stephanie@gmail.com.
Trip Code: wilmette25
Password: wastrip25
D39 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION NEWS
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6 - May 10. For a $39 donation, the staff member(s) of your choice will be honored with a personalized certificate sent via email and their name posted on our website’s Wall of Honor. All donations benefit D39 schools by funding the foundation’s Gripp Grant program. Purchase your appreciation certificate HERE.
District News
Welcome Our New Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction!
We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Joshua Swanner to our D39 family as our new Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Swanner is completing his seventh year as principal at Greeley Elementary School in Winnetka and has extensive experience as an administrator, teacher, and teacher leader. Prior to his principalship at Greeley, he served as Assistant Principal at The Skokie School (Grades 5-6) and as a middle/junior high school teacher in both Winnetka and St. Charles. Dr. Swanner brings to this position a passion for supporting student and staff learning, successful experiences with building strong and successful school communities, and a commitment to advancing effective curriculum and instruction. He was approved by the D39 Board of Education at Monday night’s meeting and will begin his work in D39 in August.
Information on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Classroom
District 39’s statement of inclusion articulates our commitment to a safe and equitable learning environment that fosters a mindset of empathy, respect, and belonging. Every classroom in our district comprises students who bring unique identities, cultures, beliefs and traditions, and it is imperative that they see themselves and their families reflected in their classroom and school.
Teachers and staff in D39 are committed to supporting students as they share their identities, beliefs and traditions with their classmates and strive to acknowledge the many traditions represented in our D39 community. This may include the use of literature, video, student sharing, or other activities to support student representation and understanding of one another. Please visit our website for our complete District 39 Statement of Inclusion.
Board of Education Meeting
The Board of Education gathered on Monday night for its monthly business meeting. During this meeting, the Board heard committee reports and was presented with the district’s December 1 Child Count report. Agendas and materials for all Board of Education meetings will be posted online the Friday prior to the meeting.
Parent Education Event
Make plans now to join us virtually via Zoom next Wednesday (May 8) at 11 am for our last Parent Education event of the academic year. This presentation, titled “Supporting School Transitions,” will give our families tips and information ahead of their child(ren) transitioning from 4th to 5th grade and 6th to 7th grade. There is not an in-person option for this presentation. Register online to reserve your spot and visit our D39 Parent Education website for our full schedule of events, registration links, and archived recordings.
Wilmette Junior High School
Email: office-wjhs@wilmette39.org
Website: http://wjhs.wilmette39.org/
Location: 620 Locust Rd, Wilmette, IL, USA
Phone: 847-512-6600
Instagram: @hawkwolf39
Twitter: @hawkwolf39
Principal at Wilmette Junior High School; love being an educator and working with young people; value spending time with friends and family