Principal Post -September 2018

We are already in our fourth week of school at Hammerschmidt! Time is flying by. Each month I will push out this monthly family newsletter. You can expect to see some highlights from the past weeks and some important dates to note for the month.

Tuesday, 9/11- D44 Board of Education Meeting, 6 p.m., Administration Center

Wednesday, 9/12- WHS Picture Day

Thursday, 9/13- WHS PTA Coffee Hour

Friday, 9/14- WHS PTA Movie Night, 6:15 p.m. drop off

Monday 9/17- Thursday 9/28- WHS PTA Walk + Roll to School

Tuesday, 9/18- WHS PTA Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Parent Welcome, 7:00 p.m. PTA Meeting

Thursday, 9/27- D44 EARLY RELEASE DAY, Students dismissed at 1:15 p.m.

Friday, 9/28- WHS PTA Family Fitness Fest, 4:00- 6:30 p.m.

Mark your calendars for the WHS Picture Day. This will take place next Wednesday, Sept. 12th.

Next Thursday, Sept. 13th, the WHS PTA will be hosting an informal "Coffee Hour." Stop by for some informal conversation about how to get involved in our PTA. This will begin right after our school day starts. Come on in and stop by the APR after student drop off!

The first WHS PTA Movie Night will be next Friday, Sept. 14th. Look for the sign up coming home in your child's Friday Folders. This will run from 6:15- 8:15 p.m.

To encourage healthy lifestyle habits, our WHS hosts an annual "Walk + Roll to School" event. Students and families will be encouraged to either walk or ride their bikes to school from Monday, Sept. 17th until Friday Sept. 28th.

Please join me is wishing Rebecca Harris the very best as she transitions to her new role at the D44 Administration Center. Rebecca has been a tremendous office partner and a phenomenal ambassador of Hammerschmidt. She'll always be a Hammerschmidt All Star!

Liz Valdivia, the longtime office clerk at Madison School, has accepted the WHS School Secretary position. Liz has served the MD school community for the last 9 years, three of which were during my time there. I know that after you have had a chance to meet and work with her, you will feel the same way that I feel about her. I couldn't be happier and more proud to welcome Liz to Hammerschmidt School.

The warm weather has brought us a lot of unwanted bee activity around Hammerschmidt. In the front of the school, a colony of honey bees moved in near the APR entrance. After our D44 maintenance department looked into this issue, we learned that honey bees are protected in Illinois. This required us to enlist the help of a local beekeeper to have the hive removed. This past Labor Day Weekend the crew was out to take care of the job. They captured some pictures and video of bees. Click on the video below to see the footage.

This year we will once again run our "Star Constellations" program. Essentially, we break up our 430 students into 31 small families consisting of 12-15 students. A few students from each grade level are in each of the groups. These Star Constellations group meet once a month to do some team building, projects, and activities related to social emotional learning. One goal of this program is to provide each one of our students with an additional adult at WHS who they will have as their support network. Over the course of the students' time here, they will remain with the same group. This allows us to form strong relationships with our students and also for the students to get to know the other group members well. At our first meeting on Sept. 27th, we will welcome our new kindergarten members to each of our groups. This program has been a fun and rewarding way for our staff to build collective responsibility our WHS stars.

This 2018-19 School Year, our staff will be introducing the "7 Habits" to our WHS students. Each month a new habit will be focussed on. Dedicated time is set aside on our Early Release Days where everyone in the school is engaged in lessons and activities related to these habits. These 7 Habits tie in nicely with our "All Star Learners and Leaders" theme. Students demonstrate great leadership by understanding and developing these habits.

The "7 Habits" are listed below:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin With the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Undertood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

Last week, all WHS students were introduced to Habit #1- Be Proactive. Click on the link below to learn more about Habit #1:

WHS "Be Proactive" Newsletter - Sept. 2018

Are you interested in purchasing some new WHS Spirit Wear? Please see the attached form return it to school by Friday if you would like to place an order.

CLICK HERE for the WHS Spirt Wear Order Form

Parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends of the family are welcome to join. PTA membership supports many student programs. As a PTA member, your family will also receive a copy of the the WHS PTA Phone Directory. Thank you for your consideration!

CLICK HERE for the WHS PTA Membership Form.

The Glenbard Parent Series is a series of FREE speakers designed to support families of school age children in our immediate area. Every event is free, and does NOT require registration. Check out the link below to see if any of these opportunities interest you!

Glenbard Parent Series Website

CLICK HERE to download the 2018-19 Brochure

Email: ddanielski@sd44.org
Location: Wm Hammerschmidt Elementary School, Hammerschmidt Avenue, Lombard, IL, United States
Phone: 630-827-4207
Twitter: @ddanielski