Ferson Creek eNews

Mon., Sept. 16th - Chess Club meeting, students only, 3:25 pm in the Art room

Thurs., Sept. 19th -STC Public Library "Get Carded" Literacy Night, see flyer below

Wed., Sept. 25th - Early Release, dismissal at 2:35 pm

Fri., Oct. 4th - Kick-a-Thon & Crosstown Classic

Thurs., Oct. 10th & Fri., Oct. 11th - Conferences

Mon., Oct. 14th -Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day Holiday - NO SCHOOL

Thurs., Oct. 24th - Picture Retake Day

Wed., Oct. 30th - Early Release, dismissal at 2:35 pm

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Curriculum Night. It was great to have so many parents in the building learning about grade level curriculum and classroom routines. I hope you found the return to a more traditional curriculum night presentation informative and worthwhile of your time. Looking forward to continuing to build our partnership throughout the year.

Conferences are approaching in October. This year, they will be held on Thursday, October 10th from 8:00 am-8:00 pm and on Friday, October 11th from 8:00 am - noon. We will offer both in-person and virtual conference options. Pick-A-Time will open on Friday, September 27th for you to reserve your conference time. Specific directions for this will be shared in next week's eNews.

KICK-A-THON is a local event that began over 30 years ago as an effort from the St. Charles High School Dance Team to raise money to help kick cancer. It has grown to include East and North High School Dance Teams and other amazing charities. This charity event will benefit the Fox Valley Food for Health, Colette A. Miles Foundation, and the high school dance teams. To date, we have raised over a million dollars and need your help to keep that number growing. Please join the St. Charles High School Dance Teams as we raise money to kick cancer.

This year’s event will take place on Friday, October 4th, 2024, at St. Charles North High School, prior to the start of the varsity football game between St. Charles North and St. Charles East. Local community members who help with fundraising will form a kick line alongside the dance team members and kick 100 times in an effort to raise money for these charities.

Link to donate and support! See you there!

Our Health Office is in need of a few articles of spare clothing to have on hand for students. If you are able to donate, please click Nurse Donna's Wish List!

Starting Monday (Sept 9) and for the rest of September, football will not be played at Ferson Creek. There have been an overwhelming amount of conflicts from football and we need the opportunity to regroup and plan for a more positive experience. This means football cannot be played during class or lunch recesses. At this time, footballs from home may not be brought to school.

But we have a plan for the kids being able to play football safely in the future! During the month of September, PE will be teaching a unit on football during regular PE classes.

• In addition to football skills, the kids will also be learning the rules of football.
• Mr. Khoury, Mr. Navis and Dr. DuCharm will review and revise the rules to include sportsmanship.
• After the football unit, the football rules will be shared with staff and lunch supervisors. They will apply to both classroom recesses and lunch recesses.
• Prior to reinstating football (probably in October), the rules will be reviewed during all grade level lunches.

Technology can be a wonderful way to keep in touch with family members. However, smartwatches and phones can become quite disruptive to the learning environment when parents are contacting their children throughout the day (and vice versa). The Elementary Student Handbook contains the following language:

Students are extended the privilege of possessing phones/smartwatches on school grounds; however, their use is limited to after-school dismissal and non-school days. These devices must be in the off position, or not used once the student arrives on campus until the end of the school day.

Teachers will request that phones and smartwatches are off and/or set to school mode for the duration of the school day. If you need to get a message to your child during the day, please reach out to the main office and your child's teacher.

Please see the attached letter for directions on accessing your child's iReady assessment results.

Please call 331-228-2300 to report absences and choose option "1" or email Cheryl Wiley at cheryl.wiley@d303.org

• Messages can be left 24 hours a day.
• Please leave your name, your child's name, phone number, reason for absence and your child's symptoms if ill.
• If you have advance notice of an absence please fill out our prearranged absence form, inform your child's teacher and submit the completed form to the front office. You are allowed up to 5 prearranged absences per school year.

Our parent volunteers are an integral part of our school community. Therefore, we'd love to invite you to spend time with Ferson Creek students during lunch and lunch recess.

Interested? Information and sign up can be found using this link.

Please keep in mind that it is important to keep our students, staff members, and volunteers safe while they are in our schools. Given that, all volunteers must:

• Have your ID ready and sign in at the office to receive your visitor badge.
• EACH YEAR complete a Volunteer Liability Form. If the school does not have one on file for you and you do not provide one, the office will provide one for you when you come for your first day as a volunteer.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Dr. DuCharm (331-228-5920, Alison.DuCharm@d303.org)

If you'd like to be a part of the optional, PTO sponsored school directory, please login into your Membership Toolkit account to update your students' information for the 2024-25 school year. All students' grade levels have been advanced, but you will need to update their teachers.

If you don't have an account yet, be sure to register! You can update your account privacy settings at any time!

PTO- Membership Toolkit

Kristy McKnight, Principal

Website: https://fersoncreek.d303.org/
Location: 38W160 Bolcum Road, St. Charles, IL, USA
Phone: 331-228-2300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ferson-Creek-Elementary-1492773537612187/