Greeley Greeting

August 20, 2024

Week of January 21, 2025

Principal's Message

Dear families,

This week, we're wrapping up our benchmark assessments, and we're excited to share the results with you through OTUS. The portal will open on January 31. Based on your feedback from the leader rounding meeting this past fall, we've created a user-friendly parent guide to help answer common questions about your student's performance. You can access the OTUS for Parents guide using the link below.

If you haven't yet completed the parent survey to provide feedback for our strategic planning process, we encourage you to take 10-15 minutes to share your thoughts. Your feedback will help shape the district's priorities for the next few years. The survey link is also provided below.

Stay warm, and thank you for your continued support!

Warm regards,

Principal Kopinski

Upcoming Dates

January

1/31 Otus Parent Portal Opens (Winter Benchmarking Data)

February

2/3-2/28 Greeley Adopt a Gorilla Change Drive (benefitting Lincoln Park Zoo)
2/12 Winnetka Parent Institute: From Washburne to New Trier, 9:30am at Washburne
2/20 No School-Parent Teacher Conferences
2/21 No School-Parent Teacher Conferences
2/24 Acceleration Request Window opens

March

3/7 End of Trimester 2
3/10 Start of Trimester 3
3/13 Greeley PTO STEAM Night, information to follow
3/24-3/28 Spring Break

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New Information

Please Complete Strategic Priorities Survey: Open Through January 31

As the District launches its Strategic Planning process, we are conducting a survey in partnership with Studer Education. Your feedback will guide our work as we identify the greatest areas of need to best support our students and families through their K-8 experience.The survey takes about 10-15 minutes. Please complete a separate survey for each of the schools your children attend.

The Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey can be accessed here:

Winnetka Public District 36 – Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey

To maintain confidentiality of the Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey, our partners at Studer Education will be administering the survey, managing the data collection, and aggregating the data to provide results reports to leaders.

Parent Teacher Conference Sign Ups

Teachers will send out sign ups for the February 20th and 21st Parent Teacher Conferences on Monday, February 3rd by 3:00pm. Please check your email on this date to sign up for conferences with your child(ren)'s teacher(s).

Greeley Adopt a Gorilla Change Drive

Our fourth graders are working closely with RC director Brenda Glenn to organize a change drive to raise money in order to adopt a Gorilla at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Please look forward to a student-created promotional poster coming next week in the Greeley Greeting to share more details about the fundraiser occurring during the month of February.

Improving Car Dismissal Procedures

This week, Greeley is piloting a new project to improve car dismissal for both students and staff. You may notice staff members organizing students by grade level as they wait for their cars to arrive. Additionally, a staff member may be using a megaphone to help ensure students hear their names being called.

If this pilot proves successful, we plan to incorporate it into our regular dismissal procedures. You can assist us by continuing to display your car placard in the window, which helps staff quickly identify which students to call forward to the car line.

Thank you for your support!

Reminders from Last Week

Benchmark Assessments & Otus Access

Benchmark assessments are valuable tools that provide a snapshot of student progress at a point in time. These assessments help teachers to identify areas where students are excelling and where they may need additional support. They can also inform instructional decisions by providing data that can be used to tailor teaching to meet each student's unique needs and strengths. Benchmark assessments are an important component of progressive education, which recognizes that students learn in different ways and at different rates. By using benchmark assessments to inform instruction, teachers can provide a more individualized approach to learning that supports each student's academic growth and personal development.

Academic benchmark assessments for literacy and math will occur three times this year for students in grades K-8. The Winter Benchmark Assessments start on January 6th and conclude on January 24th. There are four platforms the district utilizes to gather student learning information; aimswebPlus, mCLASS, NWEA MAP, and SSIS. Benchmark data will be available in Otus beginning January 31, 2025. In order to allow for the data uploads to take place and to provide parents with consistent access to student data, please be aware that the Otus Parent Portal will be inaccessible January 6-January 30.

Building Data Team meetings to review the Winter Benchmarking data will occur February 3-14.

For help with understanding what questions you can answer in Otus, access Otus for Parents.

Additional Otus Parent Resources

Stay & Play Registration

Kindergarten students who are not currently enrolled in Stay & Play will have the opportunity to register for the 2nd half of the year after 8:00 am January 6th through this link. Please note that the registration period ends January 31, 2025 and will remain closed for the remainder of the year. The rates are prorated below. If you attempt to register before the 6th, you will receive an Item Unavailable message. After purchasing Kindergarten Stay & Play registration, your child will be able to begin their attendance in the program the following Monday so the schools can plan accordingly.

Online Pre-Registration for Incoming Kindergarteners & New Students for the 2025/2026 School Year is Now Open

Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students NEW to the District (beginning fall 2025) is now open.

Kindergarten enrollment: Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2025, are eligible to enroll for Kindergarten.

School Admissions and age requirements are addressed in School Board Policy 7:50 School Admissions and student Transfers to and from Non-District Schools.

2-Step Process to complete registration:

Step 1: Click here to begin the online new student registration process.
Step 2: Contact Maria Perez via email marizperez@winnetka36.org or phone 847-446-9400 to schedule a time to drop-in with final verification documents.
Complete BOTH steps of new student registration BEFORE January 17, 2025 and receive a $40.00 discount applied to your child’s 2025/2026 student fees.