The Skokie Home Scoop

June 5, 2023

Dear Families:

We hope you had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to the summer ahead! We are looking forward to Field Day today. Thank you to all of our volunteers for helping to make this day happen.

Bonanza

Our 5th grade students showcased their knowledge and perspective with one another and with our 5th grade families on Friday. Students researched, wrote and performed pieces focused on Seeking New Frontiers. They shared what they have learned about historical events, and the stories, past and present of those who seek new frontiers. Topics covered included The Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, Manifest Destiny, the Mexican-American War, the Alamo and Westward Expansion. Our students created props, managed the stage and wrote class Playbills. We would like to congratulate the 5th grade team on two productions and a great deal of collaboration and learning!

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Summer Math: Below, please find links to games, websites and resources to support students’ math engagement over the summer!

Summer Math Activities

6th Grade Summer Send-Off

We had a blast celebrating our 6th graders in a Luau-themed summer send off last week. The DJ, shaved ice truck and beautiful weather coupled with the energy and excitement of our 6th graders made for an amazing afternoon!

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Field Day

We kicked off our final week of the 2022-23 school year with Field Day. With another picture perfect day and the coordinated efforts of our KW team, families and enthusiasm of our students, the day was a huge success. We hope everyone continues to enjoy the week ahead!

Friday Schedule

As a reminder, this Friday, June 9th is a half day. Students will dismiss at 11:50 am on Friday.

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Exploring Skokie

French: In 6th grade, we have been reading and acting out our novel, Brandon Brown à la Conquête de Québec. Students have used many different methods to show their comprehension of the vocabulary including, storyboards, miming, and writing. We then started reading a story about a black hole. Students will retell this story in French in their own words to show their comprehension and capability of sentence formation in French.

Spanish: Fifth graders worked diligently to complete our class novel Isabela captura un congo and were able to complete several visual storyboards. They enjoyed acting out parts of the novel, and were particularly interested in the “trial” part, where they had to defend one character over the other to decide responsibility for a mid-book event.

They read a story about a strange flower that introduced the vocabulary for our last story, Los Ñus (The Wildebeests.) Students loved making the sound effects for the character on the motorcycle!

They read the last story of the year and found a lot of enjoyment in the plot. Fifth grade is ending the year with a story rewrite, where they are retelling the Ñus story in their own words.

Sixth grade students worked on a short story with a clip about a woman who accidentally ate someone else’s cookies at the train station. They really enjoyed the graphics for this clip. After that, they finished their class novel, Brandon Brown Versus Yucatán! Please congratulate them on this accomplishment. To further enrich students’ understanding of the Mayans, the class watched clips from PBS Nova’s “The Mayan Metropolis”.

Student Devices

All student devices will be collected by the last day of school in order to take inventory. Devices will be available to students in ESY and Adventures as needed and then recollected on the final day for maintenance and updating in preparation for next school year. Thank you for your help and understanding.

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Register for the 2023-2024 School Year
Registration for the 2023-2024 school year is open for all students (returning and pre-registered). Email notification was sent to the primary contact on record with the District March 17, 2023. Additionally, families will receive notification via regular mail. Contained within the notification is a unique “snapcode” that parents will need to login. Please phone 847-446-9400, with any questions. Additional information and login to the portal can be found on the District website.

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Donate Your Unwanted Classroom Supplies (Mrs. Beaver)

With all of the spring purging of supplies etc. during construction, we wanted to highlight an organization in Evanston that takes art/school materials (construction paper, binders, post-its, packs of staples, markers, pencils, pencil pouches, notebooks with just blank pages, loose paper, bins, totes) and re sells some of their donations to keep materials from landfills. They also have an area in the corner of there shop that has materials free for teachers.

They can have anything from file cabinets down to pens and pencils there. All teachers are welcome to take from this free pile. Also, if teachers buy items for their class, they receive a 25% discount. They do appreciate a call with the type of materials that you wish to donate first. https://www.thewasteshed.com/donate

NEW EPISODE of Winnetka Voices

Episode #7: Tips on Supporting Young Readers & Preventing the Summer Slide

Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent, speaks to middle school reading specialists Sheri Johnston and Suzanne Savard about how to best foster childrens’ literacy during the summer months. Along with summer reading recommendations, they provide tips on what may support your child to grow in confidence in their reading skills–whether they are an avid or reluctant reader. You may be surprised by how simple and natural supporting your child’s literacy during summer break can be.

Listen here:

Winnetka Voices is a podcast hosted by The Winnetka Public Schools, featuring candid conversations on issues relevant to education and shared resources to support our students and families.

Adventures in Learning: Animal Care Opportunity

ATTENTION all rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, reptiles, birds and other small animals! Winnetka's Adventures in Learning - Animal Care Class is looking for small animal volunteers to help our students learn about their care. If your child's small animal is due for a brief break this summer, please email Anna at animal.care.adventures@gmail.com. If it is time to pass your pet on to another loving family, we can also try to arrange adoptions.

Sincerely,

Michelle Cooney and Larry Joynt

Principal and Assistant Principal