WJHS Highlights
02/21/2025
A Message from the Administrative Team
Dear WJHS Families,
This newsletter template seemed appropriate, as winter reared its head this past week or so with snow, ice, and frigid temperatures! This made the PTO Soup Spectacular even more special, because it helped warm us up from the cold, snowy, day! Thank you for our amazing PTO and those who volunteered to make soup, set up the lounge, and send us off with leftovers. We really appreciated it!
CSCI
The window is still open for families to participate in the CSCI, our school culture and climate survey. This survey will provide valuable information and insight into our school community by assessing perceptions of school climate in the areas of safety, relationships, learning, the school environment, and communication within the school.
The survey will take between 15-20 minutes to complete and we recommend that you take the survey once for each child, as you may have different experiences for each.
You can access the survey online through this link: https://rezed.io/1PE8EL
Thank you for your partnership and support of Wilmette Junior High School. We look forward to sharing this data with our learning community later this spring.
Sincerely,
Kate, Jeff and Rob
As you can imagine, the lunch boxes left behind tend to become a little stinky and attract bugs, and so we can only hold on to them for a limited amount of time. If you feel that your child is missing a lunch box, please visit WJHS and check out the lost and found! Lunch boxes will be thrown out at the end of the month.
The month of February is Black History Month. While learning about and honoring the contributions of Black Americans to the history of our country and their impact on our world today is something we do year-round at school, this month is a great time for families also to set aside time to recognize these trailblazers and engage in learning about the contributions of African-Americans...especially in our area. Did you know that the Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago is considered the birthplace of Black History Month?
A couple of family-friendly opportunities include the Commemorative Day Event at the Chicago History Museum or the Multiple Events, both musical and historical at the Field Museum. In Wilmette, children are offered the opportunity to participate in the Village's annual Black History Month contest or visit the Wilmette Public Library for one of their events.
Our district-wide theme for the month of February is “Our Features Are Important,” making it a great time to celebrate all of the diversity in features around us. Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor, Bodies are Cool by Tyler Feder, The Proudest Color by Sheila Modir and Jeffrey Kashou and Monica Mikai, and The Patch by Justina Chen Headley and Mitch Vane, are great books to spur conversation at home about our unique features and how they make everyone special. Additionally, the Wilmette Public Library, in their ongoing efforts to support these themes in District 39, is offering a Between the Lines: Our Features are Important event this evening, February 7, for families which will be a great opportunity to learn with others about how to embrace our differences.
Engaging in these activities as a family supports your child in developing their social-emotional skills as they learn about themselves, engage in perspective-taking, and celebrate many various traditions and experiences in our communities.
The WJHS PTO has been asked to pass along some relevant community information:
D39 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Grab your friends and sign up for a table for TRIVIA NIGHT on Saturday, April 5th at St. Joseph’s school gymnasium. Doors open at 7:00pm. Tables for up to 10 adults are $750, theme and costumes are encouraged. Tables go on sale Tuesday, February 25th at 10am. BYOB, raffle, prizes and good times! Check it out at https://d39foundation.org/
REGINA DOMINICAN SCHOOL (across from WJHS)
Girls in grades 5-8 are invited to participate in the monthly book club on Wednesday 2/26 from 4:00-5:00pm. The book to be discussed is Seven Clues To Home.
Girls in grades 6-8 are invited to a Creative Writing Workshop on 3/10 from 5:30-7:00pm. Regina students and faculty will lead writing activities from creating detailed characters to writing scavenger hunt poetry with a team.
For more information on these events go to https://www.rdpanthers.org/apps/pages/special-events
Register Now for the 2025-26 Academic Year
Registration remains open for the 2025-26 academic year. Completion of registration now helps us to staff our schools with the correct number of class sections and the very best teachers around! Please help us plan to continue this excellence by completing registration now.
ALL students must register, including new and returning students. Additional information regarding returning and new student enrollment is available online.
Registration for returning students can be completed via the PowerSchool Parent Portal and choose “registration.”
Registration for our new full-day kindergarten program is open now, as well. Kindergarten registration numbers are crucial to our planning for kindergarten sections and staffing. If you have an incoming kindergartener or know someone who does, please encourage completion of the registration process as soon as possible.
Registration is also open for our Lechner Early Education Program (LEEP) for three- and four-year-old preschool program.
The 2025-26 academic year calendar is available online.
District 39 Summer Enrichment Program Registration is Now Open
Our D39 Summer Enrichment Program Registration is open in RevTrak! This fun and educational program runs from July 2-31 and offers a variety of academic and interest-based courses for students currently in grades K-7. This year, courses for students in grades k-3 will be held at McKenzie Elementary School while courses for students currently in grades 4-7 will be held at Highcrest Middle School. Please view our list of offered courses and visit our D39 Summer Enrichment Program website for more details on this wonderful summer option.
Elementary School Parent/Teacher Conferences - Save the Date
Families with children in elementary school, please save the dates of March 20-21 (Thursday/Friday) for spring parent/teacher conferences. As in the fall, we will be using the Meet the Teacher platform for these meetings. You will receive an email on Friday, February 28 with instructions for scheduling your conferences online. Registration will open for scheduling on Monday, March 3. Video conferences are encouraged and set as the default within the registration system; however, requests for in-person conferences can be accommodated.
Parent Education Events
Make plans now to join us on Wednesday, March 12 at 11 am for District 39’s next Parent Education event titled “Parenting Kids with Big Emotions and Big Behaviors.” Registration for this event, which will be held virtually via Zoom, is now open. Please visit our Parent Education webpage for our full schedule of events as well as archived recordings of past events.
New Trier Winter Carnival – TONIGHT
New Trier’s Annual Winter Carnival, organized by the Class of 2025, will be held tonight, from 5:30-8:00 pm at New Trier’s Winnetka Campus (385 Winnetka Ave.). New Trier seniors turn the entire campus into a wonderland for kids, with games, inflatables, crafts, treats, and more! Before the carnival, there will be a Magic Show in the Black Box Theatre at 5 pm. Tickets for the Magic Show are available online, and carnival tickets will be available at the door.
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: @wjhswolves39
Twitter: @hawkwolf39