Monday Morning Memo: August 2021

Kudos to the Stanton Paras who furiously helped laminate and cut apart team building cards for the 6th grade team! It was very much appreciated!

-From Katy Gardner

I really appreciate the helpfulness of David Roat. I really appreciate how fast he is able to help with any computer issues and promethean board issues. Thanks for your time David! Kudos for always your timely responses and help! :-)

-From Dani McCarthy

Major kudos to Sarah Groebe for being so patient for the arrival of your cart...and for teaching from a cart this year. You and Kim Husko are truly appreciated for your flexibility!!!
-From Heather

Big hugs and many thanks go out to Chris Francke and Cheryl Shuck! Your flexibility and amazing teamwork made for a successful Meet and Greet and first 2 days of school for 16 first graders when terrible timing caused their teacher to be out of the classroom. You girls are the best!

and

And thank you, thank you to Kim Jacobs-Leable for being on top of her game and knowing her EL students, you are amazing. I am so excited to implement the behavior system that she shared with me.

and

And finally, a huge high five to my first grade teammates. We made it through the first full week!

-From Jenny Groot

Thank you to all of my amazing colleagues who offered to give me a ride or cover my class when I had a flat tire on Wednesday morning. I appreciate you!!

-From Natalie Molidor

A BIG thank you to Michael Szotek for helping me with some technology issues! You are appreciated more than you know!

-From Nicole Mild

Thank you so much to Russ Xhemaili for becoming a certified soccer official! Thank you to Matt Peters for all of your guidance along the way!

and

Thank you to Betty Cwiak, Karen Brnot, and Sue Giandonato for all of their help getting all of the Stanton yearbooks distributed to students! Thank you to Stephanie Kaye for putting it together!

and

Thank you to Michele Burgess for all of her help getting student schedules put together and classes input into Skyward!

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Thank you to Jill Becmer & Michele Burgess for getting all of the student mailers out and always being on the front lines!

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Thank you to Betty Cwiak for distributing all of the iReady workbooks to all of the math classrooms. This was a huge help!

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Thank you to Tim Yoder for all of his patience with Project Lead the Way training. It has been intense...but he continues to persevere!

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Thank you to Norm Fischer, Nick Pulley, and Sue Giandonato for always being so flexible and for keeping our school clean, safe, and welcoming!

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Thank you to Samantha Maentanis for being so flexible this week and jumping into several different classrooms.

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Thank you to our PBIS core team and PBIS reps for an awesome kickoff!

-From Rachelle Peters

Thank you so much to Emily Welsh, Cary Scarpino, Becca Strandberg, Mo DeVoss, and Erin Donovan for letting me observe your classroom for Grad School I am excited to learn from every single one of you! Thank you for helping me continue my education! You ladies ROCK!

and

Thank you Russ, Eddy, and Donny for everything you did to get our Gym ready for PE!

Love, Amber Mysliwiec

Thank you to:

Molly Goodsite for allowing me the opportunity to work with students and supporting your ELA class.

and

Katy Gardner and Lisa Shannon - it's been awesome getting to work with you and getting to know you both more on a personal level! I love hearing about the farms; thank you for answering my bazillion questions.

and

Rachelle Peters for continuously being there for me.

-From Stephanie Kaye

Please send me KUDOS to give shout outs to colleagues! I LOVE to put them in the Monday Memo! 🎉

Please check these documents for the most current information! These are internal documents only.

Vaccine/Testing Mandate--repeat info

As you are likely aware, yesterday, Governor Pritzker announced that vaccines or weekly COVID testing will be required for all school employees effective September 5, 2021. Click here to review the entire executive order. In discussing this with our District’s legal counsel, more specific language related to the vaccination requirements is as follows:

“Employees must receive the first dose of a two-dose vaccination series or a single-dose vaccination by September 5, 2021. Second doses of the vaccine must be received by 30 days after the first dose.” However, per Governor Pritzker, unvaccinated staff may continue to opt to not get vaccinated and, instead, test onsite weekly.

At this point and until and unless we are required to do so, this District has no intention of requiring its employees to be vaccinated. Vaccines are certainly encouraged, but we realize that there are lots of perspectives on the topic and want to respect them all.

We will offer free, onsite testing to all staff. SHIELD is set to launch after Labor Day, and we have Binex Now tests available now.

With the mandate now put into place, here are our next steps:

Vaccinated Employees:

Please provide a copy of your vaccination card to Sharon Preskill at Lotus or Lora Viers at Stanton on or before Friday, September 3.
Remember that you may access SHIELD testing once it becomes available, either for regular screening or in close contact situations.

Unvaccinated Employees:

You MUST be tested at least weekly starting September 7, 2021.
Starting Tuesday, September 7, please report to the nurse’s office at either site each Tuesday for a test upon arrival or as early in the day as is possible. Until SHIELD launches, we will use Binex Now for screening.
You may also test on Fridays as well as Tuesdays, as we will offer screening testing via SHIELD on Tuesdays and Fridays once the program launches.
You may also choose to test offsite over the weekend, but you must share the results with Sharon Preskill at Lotus or Lora Viers at Stanton by Tuesday morning each week.

To find a vaccination site:

Go to Vaccines.gov

Please contact Heather immediately if you have questions about what is required.

COVID Protocols

Information being sent to familes (and applies to all of us, too):

Although you are no longer required to self-certify your student each day before school it is still required that you keep your child home from school if they have any one COVID symptom and have them tested for COVID before returning to school. A test result from a testing agency or care provider is required (HOME TESTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED). STUDENTS PRESENTING AT SCHOOL WITH ANY SYMPTOMS WILL BE SENT HOME UNTIL A COVID TEST RESULT IS PROVIDED. Please note that tests are FREE at clinics, pharmacies and healthcare facilities.

Updated guidance from LCHD (also emailed to you on Friday, August 27)

Remote Learning Process When Quarantines Happen--key points shared with families in Weekly Family Updates. UPDATES INCLUDED...PLEASE READ!

SHIELD Testing Opt In

We anticipate SHIELD testing starting after Labor Day. Testing will happen on Tuesdays and Fridays upon arrival. More details coming soon!

Current Local COVID Data

8/27/21
CDC thresholds and local data for Lake County
Indicator
Low Transmission
Moderate Transmission
Substantial Transmission
High Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
144.72
7 Day Average Test Positivity Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than 10%
4.98%

D114 Local Zip Codes Data from Northwestern University COVID Dashboard--ALL DATA INCLUDES ACTUAL AND PROBABLE CASES!
Indicator
Low Transmission
Moderate Transmission
Substantial Transmission
High Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
179.4
7 Day Average Test Positivity Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than 10%
8.06%

Current Zip Code Vaccination Rate

Zip Code
% Fully Vaccinated
60020`
50.93%
60041
52.48%
60050
48.09%
60081
43.91%
Avg of D114 Zip Codes
48.85%

Current D114 Quarantine/COVID Positive Data
Category
Quarantined
COVID+
Students
17
2
Staff
0
0

Teaching & Learning

-September’s Goals

Please make sure your iReady rosters have all of your students. Email your coach with discrepancies.
Prepare students for their first diagnostic! Check out the premade, editable PPTs below.
Be thinking about how you can encourage your students to create goals around proficiency rather than time on task. I.E. Color a square in a ten frame when you pass a lesson & celebrate when you fill the ten frame! (Thanks for the idea, Kinder!)

We have done a great job at creating a system that supports the number of minutes students are supposed to spend on iReady weekly. With that being said, this year we will shift our focus from minutes to proficiency; quality over quantity! Keep in mind that the proficiency rate for lessons on iReady is %71.

Preparing for the Diagnostic PPT (Stanton)

Preparing for the Diagnostic Resources (Kinder)

Preparing for the Diagnostic PPT ( 1-5 )

Fall Diagnostic Testing Window -

Grades 1-8, August 30th-September 10th

Kinder, September 13th- September 24th

-September’s Formative Assessment (updated bi-weekly)

Check out this Twitter style exit slip!

Relationships Matter

-Building Relationships

Building relationships with students is by far the most important thing a teacher can do. Check out this section weekly for community/team builders and tips on how to create a trauma informed, culturally responsive environment that is equitable for all.

Quiz, Quiz, Trade Get to Know You Cards (editable)

-Community Builder

Mime Yourself: Have students get into pairs and without talking mirror each other’s actions. Specify who will be the leader to start, and tell students that without talking they should switch back and forth as to who has the lead. Suggest that students mime their favorite sport or outdoor activity.

-Weekly Cheer/Silly Sport/Brain Break

Brain Kiss: Students kiss their fingers & transfer the kiss by tapping their foreheads, “kiss your brain!”

Everyone should have received a survey on well being from the IEA to their personal email accounts. If you haven't yet, please go in and take a few minutes to fill out the survey. The link is below: IEA Survey

Calling all New Members! There is a new membership kick off at Lindy's Landing on September 16th from 5-7:30 PM. You should have received an email. It is free of charge to new members, so if you are interested in an evening on the IEA, please respond by September 9th. https://bit.ly/JumpInto2021. You can respond here or to the email, but also let me know if you are interested, and I can lead you in the right direction, and join you!

Fall PD opportunities

Educator Well-Being -- Offered in October. Eligible for eight clock hours.
Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences -- Offered in October. Eligible for eight clock hours.
Using Formative Assessments -- Offered in October. Eligible for eight clock hours.
Join the IEA Online Book Club – Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools -- October and November. Eligible for eight clock hours.
Finding Peace in a Busy School Year -- Offered in October; limited to 20 participants. Eligible for eight clock hours.

ShopIEA.org: IEA’s Back-to-School store will be open Aug. 30-Sept. 13.

Curriculum Nights--VIRTUAL

Lotus

6:00-7:00

Aug 30--PreK and 2nd

Aug 31--1st and 4th

Sept 2--K and 3rd

Stanton

Scheduled for Thursday, September 9th
Teams will record and share the google link with David by Tuesday, September 7th
David will post all recordings on 9/9 for families to view at their leisure
Creativity is appreciated so have fun creating and recording!!
make sure all important information is shared using the same format as a team