WHS Principal Post January 2018

Welcome to 2018 at WHS! Below you will find both some highlight from December and a look ahead to the new year!

• 1/12, Friday- D44 Institute Day, NO SCHOOL for students!
• 1/15, Monday- MLK Jr. Day, NO SCHOOL for students!
• 1/17, Wednesday- WHS PTA "Dine Out" Fundraiser @ The Patio
• 1/23, Tuesday, WHS PTA Meeting, 7pm, LRC
• 1/31, Wednesday, - Early Release Day, Students dismissed at 1:15 p.m.

Below you find the latest edition of our WHS "Starcast". Students of WHS prove a look back at some of our school's happenings during the time before winter break! Enjoy!

On behalf of our students and staff, I want to give a huge "THANK YOU" to our WHS school community members who so kindly donated to one or more of the following efforts:

• WHS Student Council Food Drive
• Lombard Fire Dept. Toy Drive
• WHS "Giving Tree"

During the holidays, we were humbled by the tremendous generosity and support from our school community. This is truly one of the things that makes this school such a great place to be a part of! You are making a difference!

For the Thanksgiving holiday, all of the donated food was sorted and boxed by our WHS Student Council representatives and parent volunteers. This effort was able to impact eight our families during this time of thanks!

A HUGE box of donated toys was picked up by the Lombard Fire Dept. Pictured here are the WHS Student Council Executive Board members making the hand off. Thanks to all the families who helped make the holidays brighter for families in need in Lombard!

Through our WHS PTA Giving Tree, gift packes were provided to 10 of our WHS families. Thanks to all the WHS parents and staff who participated in this collection effort.

Now that our winter musicals and the holidays are behind us, I would like to gather feedback from our school community about the winter musicals. As you know, for the first time these musicals took place at GWMS. In an effort to continuously improve the experience, your feedback is greatly appreciated. Please take a few minutes to reflect on the experience using the link below.

Below you will find a summary of important dates related to the D44 Science Fair.

The winter weather season is upon us. Please take a few minutes to review the link below that outlines our WHS Winter Weather Procedures. Highlights include the following:

• Students will be outside for arrival and recess UNLESS the temperature (including the windchill) is below 10 degrees.
• Once the snow falls, students must have both snowpants and boots to play in the snow
• In the event of school closing, you will be notified via an automated phone call, email, and it will be posted on the D44 and WHS websites.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE DETAILED WHS WINTER WEATHER PROCEDURES

WHS will be participating in One School One Book beginning in mid- January. Stay tuned for more information! Every WHS Family will receive a copy of "The Adventures of a South Pole Pig," our school's book selection. Read more about the program below.

One School, One Book™ is a program designed to create a shared reading experience across an entire school community. You select a classic children’s novel, you give each student a copy, and every family reads that book together at home. Every family in your school community reads the same book at the same time. You maximize the shared reading experience by presenting enriching activities at school that enable children to share and experience the characters and world of each book.

The ideal titles for the program are those that can be understood by early readers and yet still interest experienced readers – classics such as E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, newer titles such as Betty G. Birney’s The World According to Humphrey series. And when you choose to read two or even three titles together in a year, you expose your students to a wider array of characters and worlds, and you increase your success at instigating the habit of family literacy.

Schools implement a variety of activities each day to heighten and promote interest in and discussion of the book, from daily trivia questions to exciting assemblies to school-wide art and music and projects. Students experience the story with their family and enjoy participating in the follow-up activities at school the next day. This strategy builds daily awareness of the details of each story and encourages deep, attentive, and personally gratifying listening habits. When your school models the habit of regularly reading together as a family, you create a strong foundation for literacy in each child’s life.

Please join me in welcoming Hammerschmidt's new evening custodian, Nicole Motley. Our previous long running evening custodian, Chris Sullivan has accepted the head custodian position at the new John Shroder Early Childhood Center. This brand new D44 facility open on January 11th. We wish Chris all the best on his new position.

Nicole previously worked at Kennedy Junior High School as a custodian. Additionally she has experience as a Housekeeping Supervisor at a local movie theater! This will come in handy for our PTA Movie Nights! :)

Traveling through the Humanities @ GWMS

February 15, 2018

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

All District 44 5th grade students and their parents are invited to observe the Humanities classes in action. You will have the opportunity to travel through the GWMS facility at your own pace to familiarize yourself with the layout for your future middle school experience! Current GWMS students will be demonstrating while Humanities teachers share information about their classes (Technology STEM, Photography, Industrial Tech STEAM, World Cultures, Spanish, French, Art, Consumer Science, Culinary Arts, Band, Orchestra). We hope this opportunity will be beneficial regarding the transition from elementary to middle school. Please join us for this exciting experience!

The January Parent Information Night will be held on January 16th at the D44 Administration Center from 6:00- 7:00 p.m. Parents from all buildings are invited to attend this session.

CLICK HERE for the attached flyer

The building visits will take place at Madison School on 1/11 and 2/1. This will be an opportunity for parents to see Madison School, visit the current bilingual Kdg classroom, and have a question and answer session. Stay tuned to your email for an invitation from our D44 Administration.

CLICK HERE if you are interested in touring the current bilingual Kdg. classroom at Madison school.

If you would like more information on the D44 Dual Language Program beginning in the fall, click on the link below.

D44 Dual Language Program

Do you want to see some snapshots from the past few weeks? Click on the red bar below to view recent staff tweets!

Please mark the remaining Early Release dates below on your calendar! Students will be dismissed at 1:15 pm on Early Release Days.

Email: ddanielski@sd44.org
Location: Wm Hammerschmidt Elementary School, Hammerschmidt Avenue, Lombard, IL, United States
Phone: 630-827-4200
Twitter: @ddanielski