Skokie Home Scoop

Dear Families:

As we honor Veterans Day, we would like to take a moment to show gratitude for the many sacrifices veterans have made. To the veterans in our community, thank you for your service.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Skokie this week for parent teacher conferences. We encourage you to participate in Skokie’s Book Fair. We will have QR codes available at parent teacher conferences and information is below about the book fair. We are hoping to have a high level of participation from families. You will also find wish lists created by many of our teachers and students!

Trimester One will come to an end on November 22nd and Trimester Two will begin following Thanksgiving break, on December 2nd. While student schedules will largely stay the same, they will begin a new Exploratory class during the upcoming trimester.

Last month, we hosted families at Skokie for a leader rounding session. This provides an opportunity for us to learn more about what is working well, what has been challenging, how we can be helpful and who has been helpful during the beginning weeks of the school year.

We received great feedback that will continue to guide our work this year. Families shared an appreciation for the social events for students, including Skokie Socials and clubs. Thank you to our PTO for their partnership with Skokie Socials! Families also shared an appreciation for Skokie’s caring and responsive educators and for the smooth roll-out of Yondr pouches. Additional feedback noted Skokie’s openness to feedback as well as the detailed highlights in the Home Scoop from our Exploratory team.

Challenges Skokie will continue to focus on are including big picture and detail-oriented information in weekly newsletters, increasing consistency in homework expectations across grade levels and communication ahead of parent teacher conferences about what to expect during conferences. We truly appreciate your partnership and feedback. Feedback supports our growth as we work together to best meet our students’ needs.

Our 5th-8th grade educators are collaborating in the areas of homework and executive functioning and are working towards greater alignment and consistency in this area. Below, please find information regarding this week’s conferences.

Skokie Fall Conference Talking Points

Exploring Skokie

Spanish: Sixth graders have been working diligently on the Elite 8 Verbs in the past tense, or the 8 highest frequency verbs. To increase comprehension, students have started their Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) program, which consists of 5-10 minutes of silent reading of a Spanish book that interests them. Students have also worked on a class favorite story, El Bebé Malo (The Bad Baby,) which details the struggle of an exacerbated mom and her troublesome toddler. Students read, acted, wrote, and listened to this story to maximize comprehension. Students collaborated with a story unscrambler and engaged in several review activities, such as Texttivate and Gimkit. To increase cultural competency, students engaged with Enrique Iglesias’s hit single Quizás (Perhaps).

Fifth graders have been seamlessly transitioning to the high rigor of Skokie’s Spanish program and have finished their first full story, “________ y el helado.” That’s not a typo, each class has chosen a unique name for their protagonist, who goes to several locations searching for a unique flavored ice cream (bone-flavored ice cream, anyone?) Ask your child what their class named their protagonist and what ice cream he/she was looking for! Students were also introduced to Textivate, a digital, innovative vocabulary software that gamifies learning. Long gone are the days of flash cards and copying vocabulary 50-times. With Textivate, students learn by having fun.

Science Olympiad

Any 6th graders who are interested in Science Olympiad are welcome to join the team at Washburne. There will be an informational meeting just for students on November 12th from 3:30-4:30 pm at Washburne in Room W221N, just down the hall from the front office. Registration under Washburne Non-sports will open the following week.

If you have questions, please email Emily Berna at emilyberna@winnetka36.org

Science Olympiad is live on the District Web Store under Washburne Non-Sports. Registration opens at 9am on Tuesday, November 19th.

SLAB

The Student Library Advisory Board (SLAB) Club at The Skokie School is an exciting new initiative for fifth and sixth graders passionate about reading and creativity. This year, the club will focus on engaging activities catering to its members' interests and talents. Students can curate book collections, design eye-catching displays, create book trailers, and produce vibrant reading posters, to name a few. Additionally, they will participate in book reviews and brainstorming sessions and have a budget to spend on new resources to shape the future of the library's offerings. With guidance from dedicated staff like Mr. Burleson and Mrs. Roel, SLAB aims to foster a love for literature and a sense of community among young readers. The club is free for all students and meets every Thursday morning from 7:30 am-8:15 am in the library, inviting all book enthusiasts to join in on the fun and creativity. These are just some of our ideas, but the real magic comes when the students sit down and dream up ways to use SLAB for good in our school and world! We plan to meet every Thursday except the following dates when school is out of session: (December 26, January 2, February 20, March 27)

Book E-Fair

You can begin placing your orders on November 1st, 2024. After the fair has ended, the books will be delivered for free to the school. We will then distribute them to the students and teachers in their classrooms.

To place your order, go to these two links:

Pre-K through 5th Grade Title

6th Grade through 8th Grade Titles

Parent Teacher Conferences November 14 and 15

Conferences this fall have shifted from October to November. To prepare for a conference experience that meets the needs of students and parents, in the spring of 2024 parents were invited to complete a feedback survey. Staff used the survey to update information related to the purpose of conferences.

Online Pre-Registration for Incoming Kindergarteners & New Students for the 2025/2026 School Year begins November 18, 2024.

Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2025/2026 will begin November 18, 2024. Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2025, are eligible to enroll. Questions related to School Admissions and age requirements are addressed in School Board Policy 7:50 School Admissions and student Transfers to and from Non-District Schools.

Sincerely,

Michelle Cooney and Larry Joynt

Principal and Assistant Principal

The Skokie School