Bulldog Bulletin Weekly Newsletter
Week of October 7, 2024
Churchill Families,
October is a busy month. This month we are celebrating Hispanic Heritage, Breast Cancer Awareness, and National Bullying Prevention month. We are continuing our short announcement each day from 9/16-10/15/24, to learn about famous Hispanic Americans. Please ask your student to name one of the Hispanic Americans from last week. See other resources below to review as a family. We are also wearing pink on Thursday in honor of breast cancer awareness. Additionally, see the letter below concerning the prevention of bullying. Furthermore, extracurricular clubs are ready for sign up. See the details below. Finally, just a reminder that there is no school, Friday 10/11, through Tuesday 10/15. Student will return to school, Wednesday, 10/16.
Have a great week,
Mrs. Peacock
National Bullying Prevention Month
Dear Families,
Bullying is a serious issue that affects many students, including those in elementary and middle school. It’s important for us to work together to create a safe and supportive environment for all of our children. Below, you’ll find some important information, statistics, tips, and resources to help you support your child if they are experiencing or witnessing bullying.
What Is Bullying
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, cyberbullying and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
See the attachment below with links of helpful resources.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Boehl and Mrs. Wesley
Churchill School Social Workers
Dear Churchill Parents,
We're excited to introduce our extracurricular clubs for the upcoming school year! These staff-sponsored clubs offer fantastic opportunities for your children to explore new interests and develop skills beyond the classroom.
Club Offerings
For Session One, we're pleased to offer the following clubs:
- Art Club (5th Grade)
- Books & Bagels (3rd Grade)
- Girl Power (3rd Grade)
- Bulldogs Wings Running Club (3rd-5th Grade)
- Dude Crew (5th Grade)
- Early Act Club (3rd-5th Grade)
- Basketball Club (4th and 5th Grade)
Each club has specific grade levels, meeting times, and enrollment limits. Please review the brochure's full club descriptions for details.
Guidelines:
- Students can sign up for one club per session.
- We ask that students only sign up for two clubs a year to accommodate all students.
- All clubs end at 4:15 p.m.
- There is no bus transportation for after-school clubs.
- Students should be picked up on time after each club session on Center Avenue.
- If a student is picked up late more than twice, they will be removed from the club.
How to Sign Up
1. Review the club offerings in this Bulldog Bulletin.
2. Mark your calendar: Sign-up opens Saturday, October 12th, at noon. We will send an email blast with a Sign Up Genius link to select a club.
3. Sign-up is first-come, first-served. Please follow the directions carefully when signing up.
Don't worry if your child doesn't get into a club this session - we plan to offer three sessions this school year, providing more opportunities to participate.
We're looking forward to an exciting year of extracurricular activities at Churchill,
Mrs. Williamson
Assistant Principal
PTA Spirit Wear Store - Until 10/13/24
The PTA will be selling t-shirts from all 3 schools as a start to our spirit wear store. The spirit wear store will run from September 22-October 13. You can access the store by clicking the link below and entering the password.
https://championsportswear.itemorder.com/shop/home/
Password: QV659
All orders will be distributed to the schools in November. Any questions please contact Lisa Opiola at fundraising153@homewoodpta.org.
PTA NEEDS YOU!
“Did you miss the sign up to volunteer at your student’s classroom parties? Please use this link to sign up and your room rep will reach out about the three parties:
Fall Party is October 31 at 10:45-11:45
Winter Party is December 20 at 10:45-11:45
Valentines Party is February 14 at 1:45-2:45
Free or Reduced Lunch Information
To All Families: Please be advised that those who qualified for free or reduced priced meals from the 23-24 school year and have not yet reapplied for the 24-25 school year will no longer receive free or reduced meals beginning October 1st. If you are unsure if you have qualified for the 24-25 school year please contact our food service director at anne.simons@hsd153.org or call 708.922.2417. Be sure to include your child's first and last name in your messages.
Anne Simons
Food Service Director
Homewood School District 153
708.922.2417
Processes and Procedures to Keep in Mind
Early Dismissal or Transportation Change:
- If a student needs to be picked up early or a transportation change is needed, please call the main office at 708.798.3424, before 2:30pm. You may also send a written note to school with your student. They must bring it to the main office.
- The next early dismissal is October 31. The time for making changes on early dismissal days is before 11:15am.
Lunch Drop Off:
- Food delivery services such as Uber Eats, Door Dash, etc., are not allowed and will be returned.
- Parents/Guardians may drop off lunch for students 20 minutes before the lunch period begins.
- Lunch period times are:
- 3rd grade 10:40am
- 4th grade 11:30am
- 5th Grade 12:15pm
SAVE THE DATE
No School - Staff Institute Day - 10/11/24
No School - Indigenous Peoples' Day/Fall Break - 10/14/24 - 10/15/24
Picture Re-takes are Tuesday, 10/22/24
Lost and Found Donation to Goodwill is Friday, November 1st.
- Please remind your student to check the lost and found to collect their belongings.
- The remaining items will be donated to Goodwill on November 1st.
Those Who Excel and Teacher of the Year Nominations
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) sponsors the Those Who Excel & Teacher of the Year program to honor educators who have made significant contributions to our state's public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools. Awards are presented in seven categories:
- Classroom teachers (teachers with 5-plus years of experience)
- Early career educators (teachers with 1-4 years of experience)
- School administrators
- Student support personnel
- Educational service personnel
- Community volunteers
- Teams
The process is different than in the past. Now anyone can nominate however many people as they want in the above categories. A nomination takes only 5-10 minutes and can be done here:
Before starting a nomination, you will need to provide the following information:
- Name of nominee and contact info
- School district info
- Name of supervisor
- Names and contact info for 2 additional references
- Short answer- what makes then awesome/great?
The deadline to nominate someone is October 15. If someone is nominated, they will be notified via e-mail and they will then have from November 1-30 to complete the application.
You can read all about the awards here: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/teacher-of-the-year.aspx
