Thank you to Erica Barraza for doing a "Fish Bowl" with 3rd grade. We loved watching you teach! Your passion for teaching is evident and contagious. Bet Lines was an engaging activity and we are excited to continue to use them in the classroom. Come back anytime, the students love you!
-From Kelly Roland
Kudos to Nurse Lora Viers for coordinating and communicating all Covid related issues!
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Kudos to our teams as we settle into our weekly meeting routines and to Cathy and Stephanie for leading the work!
-From Jeff Sefcik
I have a shout out for Mary Santi. Thanks for being so awesome at communicating with me when I can use your room. You have gone above and beyond to make sure I know when it’s available. Thank you!
-From Cortnee Snell
Huge shout out to David Roat for linking our Destiny program to Clever so our students can check out ebooks easier.
-From Betty Cwiak
To the 6th grade team for being proactive and initiating relationship building interventions with their students beyond that asked of in MTSS meetings.
-From Grant Chapman
Thank you to all the grade level teams for being so welcoming and vulnerable during your team meetings. It's inspiring to see all the hard work that goes into your 15 day plans and then be able to pop into classrooms and see it come to life. #stopcollaborate&listen
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A big thank you to Shar Wade, Gina Crosthwaite, Stephanie Blanchard, Amanda Lorenz and Chris Francke for subbing so that we can get IRLA screening done! Thank you Matt and Natalie for being the MVPs in the biggest game of human tetris EVER so that we can get sub coverage!
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Thank you to Matt & Natalie for subbing so that I could micro-model BET Lines. Kudos to Matt for taking over a math class so the teacher could keep screening and I could observe! Thank you to Natalie for subbing in the library on Friday so we could steal Gina for screening! You're both amazing examples of ONE TEAM, ALL IN!
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Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to complete my coaching survey! I love, love, love reading all of your responses and understanding a bit more about who you are and how I can support you. If you didn't get a chance to fill it out, and would still like to, it is linked below.
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Huge kudos to the Kinder team who are more than half way through meeting their goal of 100 books in a month! 57 books and it's mid September! Just WOW!!
-From Erica Barraza
Thank you to our amazing nurse Lora Viers for persevering during this difficult time. She never skips a beat managing covid protocols, injuries, and communicating with parents.
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Thank you to Stephanie Kaye for leading our work bridging ELA into all content areas and leading our staff through the teaching and learning cycle. Thank you so much for sharing engagement structures too!
-From Rachelle Peters
Thank you Mike Fefferman and Lisa Amposta for helping out in the gym on Friday to assist with the students waiting for the bus.
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Thank you Samantha Maentanis for coming over from Stanton and subbing in our 1st grade classes. It was awesome to see you jump right in and start making connections with the students. Thank you Rachelle Peters for arranging her to help at Lotus. Truly one team!
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Thank you Maureen DeVoss, Natalie Molidor, Emily Welsh, Erin Donovan and Misty Madula for having your students demonstrate the Disaster Drill to the FLFD. You and your classes were amazing!
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Thank you to all the bus drivers for adapting to the new drop off procedures this past week. Drop off went a lot smoother and student behaviors improved tremendously. Thank you Andrea DeMatteo for assisting with this process.
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Thank you Victoria Miller for assisting the teachers with MAP testing and offering training.
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Thank you Erica Barraza and Amanda Lorenz for working with the staff to get all of their students screened and for even subbing in classes to make it happen.
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Thank you Gina Crosthwaite for being flexible with your schedule this past week and helping out where we were short handed.
-From Matt Peters
Shout out to Vicki! You would never know she’s a first year teacher. She’s just amazing all around! Even though we’ve only been co-teachers for 3 weeks, it feels like we’ve been doing this for years. It’s been an amazing year so far! We are so lucky to have her!
-From Cortnee Snell
To all the bus drivers for pitching in when we were short a driver on Friday, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Could not do it without you! 
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To Sue, Jill, and Michele, THANK YOU for getting the information out to the families so quickly, I appreciate all you do!
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Thank you to Mike Fefferman for staying late to get the Bus 1 kiddos home!
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Thank you Matt, Natalie, Rachelle for helping me with arrival and dismissal.
-From Andrea DeMatteo
Please send me KUDOS to give shout outs to colleagues! I LOVE to put them in the Monday Memo! 🎉
At our Opening Institute, I asked everyone to share ideas for how to support our amazing staff--it was the exit ticket. The Administrative Team read every note, and we created this document to capture the common themes we observed. THANK YOU to everyone who shared ideas. Please know that we are working to make sure we use this data! Your ideas are ALWAYS welcome on this, so keep them coming, please.
Bond Sale
I'm thrilled to report that we just completed the sale of the bonds that will allow us to do LOTS of capital improvements---most notably the installation of air conditioning at Stanton during the summer of 2022. At the end of June the interest cost was estimated at 2.2% and it came in at 1.93%. Our debt service payment will be around $570,000 annually where we were originally anticipating about $700,000.YES!!!! Major thank yous to Mary Taylor for all your behind the scenes work on this!
Vaccine/Testing Mandate--MAJOR UPDATE
We are moving forward with O'Hare Labs for surveillance testing. Here are key updates:
*Surveillance testing will launch the week of 9/20/21. This is "opt in" for all students and for vaccinated staff. It is mandatory for all unvaccinated staff, per the mandate issued by Governor Pritzker.
*Samples will be collected using a swab either in the nose or in the mouth. We can get access to a very small number of saliva spit tests, and I need to know ASAP if any employee is requesting one. These will not be available for students unless there are specific situations where this accommodation needs to be made.
*We will only test once each week on Tuesdays. More than this cannot be implemented at this point due to kit scarcity and the delivery/pick up timelines.
*Test kits will be available for pick up each TUESDAY. Staff samples can be done onsite on Tuesday and returned right away or at home on Tuesday and turned in on Wednesday morning.
*Student kits will be sent home on Tuesdays and collected on Wednesday morning. The samples will be picked up each Wednesday morning with results back within 24-48 hours.
*Staff will have access to their results online. Students' families will as well. Our nurses will have access to a portal showing who tested and results.
I'll send out a separate email ASAP with all the details and a sign up link--O'Hare has a specific form that has to be completed by employees. As always, please reach out with any questions or with suggestions. We're all figuring this out together.
Please contact Heather immediately if you have questions about what is required or if you are unwilling to test using a swab method.
Current Local COVID Data
D114 Internal Data
9/10/21 Data Update
CDC thresholds and local data for Lake County
D114 Local Zip Codes Data from Northwestern University COVID Dashboard--ALL DATA INCLUDES ACTUAL AND PROBABLE CASES!
Teaching & Learning
-September’s iReady Goals
Be thinking about how you can encourage your students to create goals around proficiencyrather 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!)
Be present and walk around when students are working on iReady paths. Check their lessons and
time on task. If you see yellow or red flags, check in with students on these lessons. Flags are an
indication that they need some reteaching with a teacher.
-September’s Formative Assessment (updated bi-weekly)
60 Second Strategy: A quick formative assessment tool that encourages all students to
participate in discussions and gives the teacher instant feedback.
Video on how this works Cards are linked here
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.
- This Week’s Tip: Take time to provide specific feedback to
students.
-Community Builder:
3 A’s - Appreciation, Apology, Aha: As a quick, daily closing activity, students gather in a circle and
share an appreciation of one of their peers, an apology, or a light bulb moment. The teacher
models the activity by sharing and then asks for volunteers to speak.
-Weekly Cheer/Silly Sport/Brain Break:
The IEA new member event at Lindy's Landing on Thursday has been cancelled.
If you are interested in purchasing any IEA gear: ShopIEA.org: Shop the Back-to-School store Aug. 30-Sept. 13! All new apparel designs for teachers, ESPs, higher ed and retired members!
We are looking forward to our articulation meeting on Wednesday, September 29th. Keep an eye for an agenda coming soon.
Lotus Updates!
*Parent letters will be going home this Friday explaining what PBIS is and how to sign up.
*Trimester 1 Raffle Prize will be 1 Flying Turtle Sit Skate (all students can enter at any time through Clever under Raffle.
* PBIS Lotus Store is open every Wednesday!!!
September 21--Board of Education Meeting at Lotus or Via Meet at 7:00 PM
September 29--EAFL Articulation Meeting--agenda coming soon!
Link to D114 Business Office Share Folder
*check here for documents most frequently used/requested
Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this
folder!
This week, let's try to keep perspective on the idea above...we all go through our journeys differently. My goal for the week is not to look at things as I would see/do them but to try to really understand where the other person is coming from. How about you?
I hope it was a wonderful weekend!
Heather
