Woods Creek Chronicle

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Oct. 10: Panera & WC PTO dine out day

Oct. 10: WC Family Library Night 5:00-7:00 p.m. @ CL Public Library

Oct. 11: Picture retake day

Oct 14: Columbus Day-No school

Oct. 16: Skate Night 6:00-8:00 p.m., Xtreme Wheels

Oct. 17: WC PTO meeting 7:00 p.m., library
Oct. 23: Early Release Day 2:00 p.m. dismissal

Oct. 31: Halloween Parade 1:50 p.m. details in next newsletter

District 47 calendar for the 2024-2025 school year

Please check our school website for additional information: wds.d47.org

Please join us for our first ever Family Library Night! The "Discover Your Library" event will take place at the Crystal Lake Public Library on Thursday, October 10 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The event will be held as an open house to promote the library, get families familiar with the library, and provide them with information regarding library events. You can sign up for a library card, check out books, complete a scavenger hunt, create bookmarks, play games, listen to stories read by your teachers or principals, and explore Sphero Robots. We look forward to seeing families there!

If your child had his or her picture taken in September, you received your picture package in September. If you did not pre-order, you received a Second Chance form with the Ticket Code and instructions on how to purchase pictures online from Color Portraits, Inc. Please contact Color Portraits, Inc. at 847-382-7505, ext. 7, with questions about ordering pictures.

Students requesting a picture retake will turn in their original package/item on October 11 and will then have their photo retaken. Students will receive the same package/item with the retaken photo about three weeks after retakes. Students who were absent on September 5 or are new to WC will have their picture taken on October 11. Retake day ordering information is available here. This retake ordering option is for students who are new to Woods Creek or who were absent on the September 5 picture day.

Every year during our Veterans Day assembly we present a slide show celebrating staff and students' veteran family members. If you would like to add a photo of your veteran family member to our slide show, please fill out this Google Form by November 1. If you have multiple veterans in your family, please fill out one form for each person. If you have previously submitted a photo of a veteran family member for past assemblies, your slide will continue to be shared in our presentation until all of your children have left Woods Creek. Please contact Mrs. Hurckes at klhurckes@d47.org if you have any questions.

Our Woods Creek Encore teachers (STEM, music, art, learning center and PE) are on Instagram! Please follow them at @wc_encore to see some of the great things your student is doing in Encore classes.

We will be hosting a Halloween parade and classroom parties on October 31 during the school day. Students may bring Halloween costumes to school but should not wear them to school. They will have a few minutes later in the day to put their costume on over their clothing.

Please DO NOT send your child to school with a blow up costume or a costume that includes blood, gore anything too scary. Costume accessories, especially weapons, are best left at home and used later during trick-or-treating. Masks may be worn during the parade if they are not too scary and students can see well enough to walk with them on. We request that students refrain from wearing face paint.

Parents will be invited to attend a parade outside of the school at 1:50 p.m. More details to follow in the next newsletter.

Woods Creek has received the Thrive award from GreatSchools.org. Award recipients were selected based on student and teacher responses to a state-wide survey (5 Essentials) that assesses a school’s leadership, teaching culture, academics, family engagement, and learning environment. This is so exciting! Learn more about the award here.

The cast and choir of Dot and the Kangaroo, JR. are preparing for their performances in November. All Woods Creek students will get the opportunity to attend the musical during the school day on Thursday, November 14. This will be a morning field trip for students. Also, there will be ticketed performances on Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16. Tickets will go on sale at a later date. Mark your calendar for the show!

Woods Creek is partnering with Treering for yearbook compilation and online sales again this year. All yearbook orders must be placed online via this link: Treering Yearbooks.Our school passcode is: 1016039057551331. Each yearbook costs $18.60 (softcover) or $25.43 (hardcover) and you can save 10% if you order by October 31, 2024! Yearbook orders placed by April 29, 2025 will be delivered to the school for distribution before summer break. Please contact Mrs. Walsh at kjwalsh@d47.org with any yearbook questions.

You may have seen information in last week’s “Fast Few” about student FastBridge results being posted to ParentVue. Teachers and staff regularly monitor student learning through formal and informal assessments of students’ reading and math skills. To help us know which students might need additional support, we administer FastBridge universal screening assessments three times each year. Your elementary child has taken the first round of assessments.

Teachers, staff and administrators review scores after testing. Some students whose scores are low across different tests are provided with additional support known as intervention. Students who receive interventions also take regular progress tests to see if their skills are improving over time. These tests are short and given weekly to monthly, depending on the student’s learning needs. In addition to FastBridge, other assessment information, such as local assessments, are also considered when making decisions about who should receive academic interventions.

Your child’s Student Benchmark Report is now posted for your viewing in ParentVue under “Documents.” The report helps the school staff and parents know how the student is responding to classroom instruction and/or interventions provided to the student.

If you have questions about your child’s school performance, please contact your child’s teacher. This information can also be discussed at the upcoming Parent/Teacher conference you will schedule for November.

We are SO grateful to our Woods Creek families for all of the support!

With many volunteer hours and fundraising dollars, here's what we did this month:

• Provided 88 high interest birthday books to students

• Completed over 45 teacher projects in the TAP room

• Distributed 72 school supply packs to ordering families

• Handed out FREE spirit wear shirts to ALL students

• Organized and sent out the Parent Directory

• Hosted a Back-to-School breakfast for staff

• Held our annual fall Spirit Wear Sale

• Organized one Dine-Out night raising over $200

Enjoy a meal at Panera on October 10. Bring or show the Woods Creek PTO fundraiser flyer or use code FUND4U when ordering online to help our school. Panera will donate 20% of sales to the WC PTO!

Woods Creek PTO presents Family Skate Night at Xtreme Wheels in Crystal Lake. Join your friends on October 16 - plus, any child that attends will also get a free skate night pass for another night! No drop offs, all family members welcome.

• Date: October 16, 2024

• Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m.

• Cost: $3 per skater; $5 skate rental or bring your own

The Woods Creek PTO is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in November. By visiting our fair, you will help our school create a culture of reading, build our school libraries and select books for your home library. The Book Fair will be in our school library and will be open on Thursday, November 7, 4:00-7:00 p.m., Friday, November 8, 4:00-7:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 9, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. If you cannot make it to the fair, please shop at our school’s Online Book Fair which will be available November 7- November 21. We look forward to seeing you at the Book Fair!

We've assembled a list of our Teachers' Favorite Things so we can show our love all year long! Send in a favorite snack on a random Friday, give a gift card to a favorite restaurant for the holidays, pick up their favorite coffee drink as a thank you. Let's show them our support!

Want to stay in the know? Be sure to follow us on:

• Facebook: Woods Creek PTO

Please email the WC PTO at woodscreekpto@gmail.com with any questions.

Through the use of Title III funds, D47 partnered with Children's Plus, Inc. to select bilingual and multicultural books for our school libraries. With our student population continuing to become more diverse, it was time to make more books available that are representative of all of our students as best possible. Over the past two weeks, our 4th and 5th grade students participated in a "book tasting" in order to explore the new books! Ask your child which was their favorite!

Fifth graders with with Mrs. Fox and Mrs. Schwab visited Prairieview Education Center where they learned about ecosystems. They measured the ages of trees & tested the pond water to make sure both were healthy. It turns out they are!