Hunting Ridge Hawk Happenings
January 31, 2024
Welcome to the New Year, 2024!
We have had a very busy month. First, we want to thank all of our parents for their hardwork keeping students connected to learning when the weather impacted in person school days.
As we approach February, we want to keep families updated with the Moving D15 Forward project at Hunting Ridge. Parents and caregivers will begin noticing some changes outside of our building as soon as early March. This will be most obvious in the areas of the Mallard side of the building and the upper blacktop. Workers will use fencing to visually let us know where boundaries will be during this time.
What will change this spring?
To access the parts of the building where most of the work will take place, workers will create a temporary acceess path in the area of the baseball field, toward the playground, and up one of the paths. Our baseball field will not be accessible this spring or summer for school or park district activities. Students will still have access to the playground and parts of the field for recess each day.
Our Leadership Team is working on a plan to adjust our morning arrival and dismissal routines to ensure students can safely access the building from parent drop-off in our Mallard lot in the morning and buses at the end of the day. As we refine this plan, we will communicate with parents and practice with students so that everyone is familiar with the temporary changes.
How can you help?
One way to help is to get students to school between 8:10 AM and 8:25 AM each morning. This helps students be ready for their start to the school day and will allow workers a set time to resume work after arrival. Please remember that students arriving by car should exit the passenger side of the car. By pulling all the way to the sign, more cars can safetly exit students in a timely manner.
What else is happening?
Hopefully families are following the board meetings each month. Next year, the district's Transitional Kindergarten program is dissolving with the introduction of full-day kindergarten across the district. Hunting Ridge will be welcoming the Learning Environment for Academic Progress (LEAP) program to the building. Like Transitional Kindergarten, LEAP is a district, self-contained special education program that serves students from across the district. The LEAP program serves students with various disabilities who require a cross-categorical, self-contained special education classroom setting, primarily characterized by significant academic delays and the need for intensive related services. We look forward to welcoming the students, families, and staff members in LEAP and making them a part of our wonderful Hunting Ridge community.
Fondly,
Mrs. Ortlund
Important Dates:
- Thursday, February 5, 2024 - D15 Spelling Bee, 7:00 PM
Thursday, February 8, 2024 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 PM
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 - Boys 2-Ball at Falcon Park 6th Grade 3:15 PM; 5th Grade 5:30 PM
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Valentine's Day Parties
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Girls 2-Ball at Falcon Park 6th Grade 3:15 PM; 5th Grade 5:30 PM
Thursday, February 15, 2024 - D15 Full Day KDG Information Meeting, 6:15 PM
Monday, February 19, 2024 - Presidents' Day - No School
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 - Non-Attendance Day for Students
Wednesday, February 21, 2024 - Board of Education Meeting, WRS, 7:00 PM
Thursday, February 22, 2024 - HR - Open House, 6:30 - 7:30 PM
From the Office - Mrs. Cefalu and Ms. Amato
Online student registration for the 2024-2025 school year is now open. Please visit our registration page to start this process.
Online registration opens January 30, 2024 and closes July 1, 2024.
Registration is the first step in getting ready for the upcoming school year. After you register your child online you need to:
- Pay student fees. Our student fee webpage outlines the District’s student fee structure and the three ways fees can be paid. Information regarding fee waivers for families that qualify is also found on this page of our website.
- New families to the district, kindergarten students, families with a lease, and families that were flagged by our third-party residency verification system are required to provide proof of residency to complete the registration process. Our residency webpage outlines the documents you will need to provide to prove residency.
Online registration opens January 30, 2024 and closes July 1, 2024.
From the Nurse: Miles of Smiles
This year we will partner with Miles of Smiles, a new company coming to our school, to provide free dental services for our students. This company requires a permission slip, signed by parents or caregivers, before a school office visit. Parents and caregivers can also sign up online via the QR code given on the attached sheet. Completed forms are due to the office no later than Friday, February 9.
5-Essentials Survey - Your Feedback Is So Important!
February 1 through March 29 students and teachers in District 15 and across Illinois are asked to participate in the annual statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent/guardian, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey gathers data related to five indicators that can be targeted to improve important student outcomes, including attendance and state test score gains. The 5Essentials Survey asks questions about:
Effective Leaders
Collaborative Teachers
Involved Families
Supportive Environments
Ambitious Instruction
All District 15 teachers and 4th through 8th grade students will be asked to take this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if at least 50 percent of the teachers and students complete the survey. We need at least 20 percent of our parents/guardians from your child’s school to complete this survey, a parent/guardian supplement will also be generated for the school and is an important source of information from our families.
Your identity and survey responses are completely confidential. The school does not have access to individual survey responses and cannot connect any survey responses to you or your child.
The parent survey is available in English and Spanish and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.
To complete the parent survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/
Select Parent survey
Type County where school is located
Type in schools name
In District 15, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey for students and teachers will be conducted from February 1 to March 29. You may take the survey between these dates by visiting the 5Essentials Survey website and selecting the appropriate survey to begin.
For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, please visit the Illinois State Board of Education's website.
Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten!
We are so excited to launch full day kindergarten next year in D15 schools. In preparation for this, we want to be able to let our perspective parents know what to expect. All schools in D15 will be hosting an informational parent night on February 15, 2024 at 6:15 PM. Parents should attend the meeting at the school where their child will attend kindergarten for the 24-25 school year. Our school's meeting will be in our multi-purpose room for parents only. If you have neighbors with young children that will be coming to kindergarten next year, please help us spread the word.
Math Resource To Share With Parents If Needed
Below are great resources that you can share with parents if needed.
Kindergarten | Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | Grade 5 | Grade 6
These will be linked to the unit spreadsheets. Slides link to Spanish and English family letters and IM provided videos (closed captioning available in Spanish).