The 21 Ledger

The District 21 Health Center will have special hours during the upcoming winter break to ensure families continue to have access to essential services.

Winter Break Hours:

📅 Monday, December 23 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

📅 Tuesday, December 24 - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

📅 Thursday, December 26 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

📅 Friday, December 27 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

📅 Monday, December 30 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

📅 Tuesday, December 31 - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

📅 Thursday, January 2 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

📅 Friday, January 3 - 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Health Center will be closed on December 25 and January 1 in observance of the holidays.

We encourage families to take advantage of the Health Center’s services, including routine check-ups, immunizations, and health consultations during this time.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Health Center directly at (224) 481-2025 or by visiting the website below!

We are so excited to kick off our eighth year of Brad’s Bookworms!

Congressman Schneider’s initiative is devoted to the importance of encouraging children to read. The development of literacy skills among children is one of the most important lessons children learn in and out of school not only for personal development but for the doors literacy opens as well.

Even more important is maintaining those skills. And so, Congressman Schneider is excited to announce that this year, from now until February 1, 2025, children in grades K-5 in D21 are welcome to participate in Brad’s Bookworms!

Students are asked to read 10 books and log their progress with help from their parents, siblings, grandparents or other guardians. Once they have read 10 books, fill out the online submission form here.

OMNI is planning to host a camp at Whitman Elementary School during winter break that is FREE for kids in District 21!

• Open to kids in grades 1-5
• Group challenges and social skill games, interactive fun, and sports and active playtime!
• Camp Days (9 a.m. to noon):
• Monday, December 23
• Thursday, December 26
• Friday, December 27
• Monday, December 30
• Thursday, January 2
• Friday, January 3

Kids must be registered by Wednesday, December 18.

For more info (including how to register), click the button below!

Are you looking for fun, educational activities to keep students engaged over winter break? Try out code.org for activities that teach students about coding, AI, and more! We recommend the AI for Oceans and Code a Dance Party activities.

Did you know...? Consistent attendance builds stronger reading skills! Research shows that students who miss just two days of school a month are less likely to read at grade level by the end of third grade. Make sure your student is in school each day they are not sick.

District 21 utilizes the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth assessment as one measure to provide information on student academic growth. MAP is a unique computer assessment that adapts to your child’s level of understanding and mastery of skills. The difficulty level of each question is adjusted based on the student’s answers.

Students in second grade through eighth grade will be assessed in Reading and Mathematics and first grade students will be assessed in Reading between December 2 and 13.

If you have any questions about the MAP assessment, please contact your school's principal.

The Indian Trails Library has many events and workshops for students and their families during December.

Check out the calendar of events for specific activities and times this month.

Did You Know… As a district we are proud to celebrate the diversity of our learning community! Some of the celebrations taking place during the month of December include: Pearl Harbor Day, St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Bodhi Day, Las Posadas, Christmas Day, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve - If you’d like to learn more, click on the links! If there is a celebration that we missed, don’t hesitate to reach out and share it with our Language Services Department.

It’s hard to believe that not long ago we were busy with our summer activities and now we are heading into the cold winter months. Hopefully, this winter will be a mild one and we won’t have to worry about major snowstorms. We, your School Resource Officers (SROs), thought it would be a good idea to talk about important safety measures when we are driving our kids to and from the schools.

The Illinois State Board of Education has extended the timeline for the short term substitute license through 2028. We had some wonderful new sub candidates that applied to work with us this past year. Many of these subs are right from our community! We’re excited for these additions to our sub group but we’re not done yet. We are continuing to hire subs this summer. Please let your neighbors and friends know that we are hiring for next year.

We still have openings in our sub pool for the following positions:

• Secretary - $100/day

• Health Assistant - $100/day

• Teaching Assistant - $125/day

• Teacher - $141/day

• Registered Nurse - $309/day

• Long term teacher (more than 10 days in the same classroom) - $227/day

In addition, any subs who work 100 days this year will receive a $1,000 bonus at the end of the year.

Check out this video on how to apply for a short-term substitute license, and this link for more information.

Hawthorne, London, Field, Frost, Kilmer, Poe, Riley, Tarkington and Twain each received perfect scores, an increase from five schools last year and zero in 2022-2023.

“This achievement reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment for both our students and staff. I want to thank our dedicated facilities team and everyone involved in ensuring our schools meet the highest standards of safety," said Dr. Michael Connolly, superintendent.

Projects include a conversion of the Gill Administration Center into a dedicated storage facility, new playgrounds at Tarkington, Twain and Whitman, and a bus turnaround at Whitman!

Best news: It's not as comprehensive as last year, so a delay to the school year shouldn't be needed!

Nine students emerged as the winners of our annual holiday card challenge, "Holidays Around the World," which asked those interested to creatively express the beauty of global traditions.

You can read more about it here. Congratulations to all!

Watson visited with the Bulldogs to discuss his popular series while leading a hands-on drawing tutorial for five of the characters from “Stick Dog.” He also answered a range of questions, offering insights into the writing process and the creative journey behind the books.

Read more about his visit here.

The author of “It Will Be OK: A Story of Empathy, Kindness, and Friendship” engaged students with interactive storytelling sessions, insights into the writing process, and shared a video made by a friend that highlighted a “love letter to your library.”

Read more about her visit here.

We are incredibly grateful to the following local businesses for their generous donations toward our Beanstack Reading Challenge! Their support helps us motivate and reward our students as they dive into reading and build a lifelong love of learning.

• Culver's Northbrook
• El Famous Burrito
• Lazy Dog Restaurant
• Walmart of Wheeling
• McDonald's (Wheeling)
• Bowlero
• Portillo's
• Chick-fil-A (Allen and Delia Ordeanu, owners)

Your partnership makes a lasting impact on our students, and we are thankful for your dedication to our school community!

The livestream video of the November 14 meeting of the Board of Education can be viewed here.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on December 12, 2024, at 7 p.m. at the District 21 Community Service Center and Administrative Office.