The Patton Post

Friday, November 17th

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Friday, November 17th

This will be a VERY brief Post seeing as our Panthers have a wonderful week off school ahead of them! We had a wonderful Spirit Week this past week and, on Monday, in honor of World Kindness Day, the students each took a paper chain link and wrote down a kind word, or a kind act that they would like to share with a classmate, teacher, friend or family member. We then took this Kindness Paper Chain and hung it in the commons so our students could remember the acts of kindness they wrote down! The paper chain looks amazing and will be a wonderful reminder for our Panthers!

The Patton Staff would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Patton community. We appreciate the strong partnership we share in supporting the students of Patton in every way and helping them continue to grow in all areas. Thank you for all who volunteer in countless ways, who serve with our Patton PTA, who donate and contribute for different events and to support various needs, for encouraging your children to do their homework, helping them be prepared each day, getting to school on time, creating fun spirit week outfits, and helping them write notes of gratitude! Staff were so touched by the many notes and cards students wrote this week to express their gratitude. We feel fortunate to work in such a supportive community.

I hope you all have a wonderful Fall Break! For those of you that are traveling, please be safe and have a lovely time and, for those of you that celebrate, may your Thanksgiving be full of joy and gratitude. I can't wait to see everyone on Monday, November 27th bright eyed and bushy tailed! In the meantime, please enjoy this video of our First Trimester highlights!

Have a wonderful break!

Ellie Chin

PACKAGES FOR PATRIOTS (NEW POST!)

Our Panthers certainly rose to the occasion for our "Packages for Patriots" food drive! I was blown away by the amount of food that was donated! I have no doubt that the recipients will be delighted to receive a little "taste of home" and it warms my heart to know that Patton has been able to contribute to helping make someone's day! THANK YOU for being such a wonderful, kind and generous community!

PATTON SPREADS JOY EVENT - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1st (NEW POST!)

We can't wait for our 2nd Annual "Patton Spreads Joy" Event on the 1st December. This is an RSVP ONLY event! There will be 2 time slots available for this event: 6-7pm and 7:15-8:15pm.

Please RSVP for this event HERE. Those who attended last year found it to be a wonderful event with time to connect with other families, while also doing something meaningful for others. Thomas Middle School band and chorus will also be performing so for any future Timberwolves interested in participating in the future, this is a wonderful opportunity to see and hear them perform.

FOOD & NUTRITION SERVICES - SEASONAL MENUS (NEW POST!)

The Food & Nutrition Services Department is continually working to provide our students with lunch menu items that they enjoy, while providing a variety of nutritious options for our students. To achieve this, the department will be having seasonal menus this school year. All elementary and middle schools will have a Fall (8/17-11/17), Winter (11/27-2/14), Spring (2/20-5/31) Menu. Many of our favorite menu items will stay on the menu, however, this allows us to add some new products to our menus!

Our elementary and middle school students taste-tested a variety of new menu items this fall, and we have selected several of those items to be placed on the winter menu. We had quite a few items our students enjoyed, so some of the student-approved items will also be placed on the spring menu.

Updated menus will be posted on our website as well as on our app. Nutritional information can also be found on our website. We look forward to continuing to serve our students delicious and healthy lunch options.

FAMILIES IN NEED (2nd POST!)

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There are families in our community that can use a little extra help during the holiday season. Please contact Barb Donahue, our Social Worker, if your family is one that would benefit from this assistance. This is meant to be “a hand up, not a hand out”.

The staff is collecting gift cards to various local stores. These gift cards will be distributed amongst the families that reply. Please reach out, either via confidential voicemail or email (see below) by November 30th if you are interested or if you have any questions.

Email: bdonahue@sd25.org

Voicemail: 847-506-5927

TRAFFIC UPDATE (2nd POST!)

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Thank you so much to our community for adjusting to the changes in our drop-off and pick-up routines due to construction. As we are approaching winter weather and expect more car traffic, we thought it would be a good time to send a “refresher” on our traffic procedures and to ask for everyone’s continued patience and cooperation. All requests are focused on the overall safety of our students on a daily basis. We appreciate all drivers adhering to the same expectations as that makes it more clear and safe for everyone

Please take note of the signage on streets surrounding Patton as these should be adhered to at all times.
Please do not drop students off at school before 8:50am. There is no adult supervision and the doors will remain closed until 8:50, rain, snow and shine.
Please note that the gates to the car drop off zone will not open until 8.45am - if you are here before the gates open, please wait patiently and do not drop off your children in the parking lot as there is no supervision.
Please be kind and respectful to our crossing guards and traffic volunteers. There is a shortage of both throughout the district, and if we lose our volunteers and crossing guards, everyone will feel the impact on a daily basis. Their safety is also important to all of us.
Traffic will follow the same rules and patterns regardless of the weather so please plan for this, especially as the weather changes. Students dropped off will still have to walk from the drop off area to the front entrance so please ensure they are dressed appropriately and are ready to go. This will also help to make sure they have all they need for recess weather.
For CAP families, please remember that, ideally, drop off should be completed before 8.50am and pickup should start after 3:45pm - this really helps to ensure that traffic can flow at these busy times of day.
Please be mindful of speed when entering and exiting the parking lot.
The traffic team is still in need of volunteers! A few extra people would be incredibly helpful and would ensure that we can keep drop off and pick up running smoothly and efficiently. Please do reach out via pattontrafficteam@gmail.com if you are interested! Any amount of time you can offer would be HUGELY appreciated!

I know this is a lot of information and I would like to take a moment to say how impressed and appreciative I have been with how well drop off and pickup have been going so far this year! Let’s keep it up through the winter months when there will be a few more cars and a few more weather challenges in the mix.

HOMEWORK CLUB - NOVEMBER (Ongoing Post!)

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Homework club is returning for November! This is a wonderful space and opportunity for students to catch up on some homework, enjoy quiet reading time and ask for help if they need it!

This will run every Thursday in November (except for November 23rd of course).

If your child is interested, please SIGN UP HERE and be sure to enter your child's name when signing up! There are only a few spots remaining each week!

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FOOD SERVICE INFORMATION (Ongoing Post!)

Our Food services team are delighted to welcome you back this school year! Updated menus were posted this week and the Choosi App has been updated! All product nutrition and ingredient information can be found on the AHSD25 Food Services page and all allergy information is available on the Choosi App!

Please see links below for some helpful information

PARENT ACADEMY (Ongoing Post)

The District recently launched its new Parent Academy newsletter and page on the website.

The goal of Parent Academy is to provide learning opportunities for parents to better understand ways to support their students’ academic success and personal well-being. We welcome parents and families to engage in various activities and events to explore topics related to mental health, well-being, equity and inclusion, and academics. Please visit the website (www.sd25.org/ParentAcademy) for archived newsletters, further resources and information, or to submit an idea/topic for the next Parent Academy newsletter.