Monday Morning Memo

Monday, September 5, 2022

Monday Morning Memo---9/5/22

Welcome to...

Kelly Capp--Permanent Substitute at Stanton

Krystal Halek--Custodian at Stanton

Thank you Katie Jalove-Filippelli for sharing your "student-view Skyward" slides with me to use for FLEX. You saved me a ton of time and it's much appreciated!

and

Thank you Veronica Kretz for getting us the fox hand sanitizer holders!!

and

Thank you David Roat for being so kind and understanding when I need endless help with systems questions re: Amplify, and for helping with my broken technology.

and

Thank you Laura Livesay and Liz Anderson for your guidance with Student Council as I learn the ropes. I know I have big shoes to fill!

and

Thank you to the ELA teachers for your persistence and patience as everyone navigates the new curricular resources, digital programs, double blocks...etc...One step at a time!

and

Kudos to Sarah Groebe for starting the year off strong with her Sheltered ELA program...you have lots of great things planned while we work out the kinks with the benchmarking program!

and

Thank you to Mike Sementa for helping organize a bunch of student data for the SST agendas.

-From Stephanie Kaye (Instructional Coach at Stanton)

Melanie S., Thank you for being the yin to my yang. Your constant support and can-do attitude is amazing!! I appreciate your efforts to transform our classroom into a home-like atmosphere by helping to create curtains for our room. I am so excited to see what this year will bring for us, and I am beyond thankful to have you by my side through it all!

and

Sue R., Thank you for joining us during a crazy busy first week! I am appreciative of your love of reading with our students. They will continuously grow with literacy with your gift of reading!

and

Don, Russ, Tim, Eddie and Kent, Thank you ALL so very much for all the heavy lifting, extra assistance and help to get our ECSE class up and running! We are forever thankful!!

and

To the entire preschool team-Teachers and Paras, Thank you for being ONE TEAM ALL IN. One week down and....how many more to go? You all have been so incredibly welcoming and supportive, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

and

To Lotus Cafeteria Staff: ECSE is SO THANKFUL for going above and beyond assisting our classroom this week. Your efforts have helped to make our first week back at school run smoothly and so successful! We are so appreciative of your help, smiles and suggestions for meals and snacks for our little ones.

and

To Mike-Technology extraordinaire: I am incredibly thankful for all of your assistance getting us up and running this week. Your suggestions, tutorials and guidance helped ease the transition into our first week back at school. I appreciate your time, your words of wisdom and your quick response to every email or request ( I know I kept you busy!)

-From Erin Donovan (Early Childhood Special Education teacher at Lotus)

The 5th grade team would like to recognize the hard work, leadership and caring that Katie Jalove-Filippelli has provided this year to the entire team. You have been our rock and have made the start of the year an amazing experience. Thank you for all you do, you are amazing!

-From the 5th grade team

Thank you to EVERY person who has made my first week with kids possible! Thank you to Natalie, Matt, Lynn, Ellie, Fiona, Molly, Erica, and Paula! All of you have been into my classroom at some point to assist and many of you have been in daily! I truly mean this, Linda and I could NOT have made it through this week without all of your help!

and

Thank you to the whole Preschool team and to all the aides who have been extremely flexible as we navigated scheduling and staffing changes all while trying to get through the first week of school. I know it's been a lot of unknowns and I really appreciate all of your patience and understanding.

-From Michelle Magness (PreK teacher at Lotus)

To the Stanton Guiding Coalition for providing leadership during our Grade Level Team Times this week!

and

Kim Mack and Meghan Reimers for handling a difficult situation!

and

the Para Sensational 7 Squad for all you do!

-From Jeff Sefcik (Principal at Stanton)

Thank you Mike for getting Kim and I QR codes and Google Usernames for our kids to sign in to Chromebooks. You Rock!

and

Thank you to Emily Reczek for letting me take her kiddos on Wednesday.

-From Victoria Miller (STEM teacher at Lotus)

Shout out to Nicole for making an AMAZING calm down corner board for our class.

and

Shout out to the 4th grade team for being so welcoming and awesome to work with!

and

Shout out to Ryan for helping a student's transition down to him for math be so welcoming and accommodating.

-From Cortnee Snell (Special Education teacher at Lotus)

Thanks to Niccole Culbertson for representing our team on the Guiding Coalition. Thanks a bunch to Cassie Curtis for being our PBIS team rep, too!

And, to Walter Nickles and Rich Bressett... I'm looking forward to working with you both as a Social Studies team this year!

-From Liz Andersen (7th Grade Social Studies teacher at Stanton)

Shout out to Gina Crosthwaite and Mollie Herchenbach for being so kind and donating a water bottle and circuiting one of my students names on it!

Also thank you to Amanda Lorenz for donating some clothes to one of my students as well, seeing the smile on her face when she told me about all the new clothes was priceless!

Thank you to my amazing third grade team for always being supportive and coming with open minds. I’m so incredibly lucky to work on a team with you all!

-From Vicki Alper (3rd Grade teacher at Lotus)

Thank you to Gina Crosthwaite for her attention to detail and keeping things in confidence. You are always appreciated!

and

Much thanks to Kim Jacobs-Leable and Sharon Preskill for going above and beyond to always put the needs of students first. I am grateful for your ongoing efforts.

-From Mary Santi (Special Education teacher at Lotus)

Thank you to Kim Mack and Meghan Reimers for handling a TOUGH parent situation...after hours!

and

To Jill Becmer and Leah Falster for handling a difficult parent situation, too!

I know it's not easy and the grace and professionalism you all showed is truly appreciated.

-From Heather (Luckiest Superintendent in the World!)

Please send me your kudos for colleagues each week! I'll happily post them in this section!

Here's a link to all the ideas gathered for the HOW and WHY of the Friz 5...I'll keep adding as great ideas come forward.

I saw LOTS of the Stanton staff doing a Personal Greeting at the Door last week! THANK YOU!!!

Help Needed!!!!

We have a Lotus family in need. In particular, we are in need of:

New or gently used GIRLS' CLOTHING

Shirts: 10/12 or 14/16

Pants: 7/8

Shoes: size 5

Outerwear and winter gear also needed!

Please direct the items to me and I'll make sure they get in the right hands.

THANK YOU!!! 💗

Board of Education Vacancy

I'm sad to let you know that the amazing Nannette Kiesgen has decided to step down from the Board of Education. Nannette gave so much time and energy to D114 in many roles but especially as a Board member. We'll formally accept her resignation at the September meeting then move forward with seeking a candidate. HOWEVER, if you know of a D114 resident who may be a good candidate, please let me know so I can informally reach out to them. Candidates must, on the date of their appointment, be citizens of the United States of America, 18 years of age or over, residents of the State of Illinois and the school district for at least one year immediately preceding their appointment, and registered voters. Please reach out with any questions!

SPIRIT WEAR!!!

If you'd like to purchase Lotus/Stanton/D114 spirit wear, please check out this link!

The store will be open until September 19, and we have been guaranteed that orders will arrive by mid-October. Please contact Kristie Paul with any questions.

THANKS!

Here's a link to an amazing article about the impact of speaking about our students entitled with IEPs and their superpowers.

Challenge--can you work on saying:

"Students with IEPs"

"Students entitled with IEPs"

"Students in an ILP class"

instead of

"SpEd kids"

"Special Ed students"

"ILP students"

Language matters...to our students, and to US!

AND...

Check out PBIS World! This site is awesome for identifying strategies to use to support challenging behaviors! Thank you to Nicole Brinkman for this share! You simply click on a behavior, and the site pops up strategies! Here are sample screens...

If I click on "Anxiety"...and there are LOTS more as you scroll down...

The site takes me here to things to try...and there are LOTS more as you scroll down!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback! Erica and Stephanie are sending out Lotus- and Stanton-specific supports, but I'll also post the link to a folder containing them all here so they are easy to find, everyone can see everything, and you're reminded to check them out!

Thank you to Katie Jalove Filippelli and Victoria Alper who have stepped up and volunteered their time for the EAFL Board. Katie will be our new Stanton Representative and Victoria will be our new regional representative. Cathy Jawnyj will now be our Vice President for certified staff. We welcome them to the team and we are so excited to have them as a part of the team.

Mark your calendars! Our first union articulation meeting will be on Wednesday, September 21. We are excited to have a chance to all meet together. Our meeting will be held at Stanton and further information will follow.

Finally, if you are a new staff member and did not get an EAFL t-shirt, don't forget to email your shirt size to maureen.devoss@foxlake114.org.

Have a wonderful week!

See below for Curriculum Night dates!

September 8-- PTA Meeting at 7PM in Lotus room 222 (STEM Room)

September 18--Board of Education Meeting at Lotus at 7PM

October 6--Day of Service--details coming soon!

Curriculum Nights

All from 6-7 PM

Sept 6 (PreK & 2nd)

Sept 8 (1st & 4th)

Sept 13 (Kinder & 3rd)

Sept 15 (Stanton)

2022-23 Fencepost Standards all grades, all content areas!

22-23 Second Step Pacing Guide--UPDATED!!!

PBIS World--NEW ADD! This site is awesome for identifying strategies to use to support challenging behaviors! Thank you to Nicole Brinkman for this share!

2022-23 Early Release/Professional Development Planning Calendar

2022-23 Assessment Calendar

2022-23 D114 Calendar

2022-23 Parent/Student Handbook

Shared folder of resources

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!

D114 Family Update

Work Order Request

Technology Support Request

-Thank you, Kelly Roland, for passing this along!

Let's make this an amazing 4-day week!

-Heather 💗

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Monday Morning Memo 8/29/22

Shout out to Gina Crosthwaite and Victoria Alper for staying after school to help me reorganize my classroom for number corner and helping me get ready for the beginning of the year. It was so much appreciated. You guys rock!

--From Caitlyn Fenton (4th grade at Lotus)

To Erica Barraza for helping with all the little things

and

Kim Leable for lending Melissa and I some Back to school decor

and

Cheryl Schuck, Chris Brown, Deb Miller, and Linda Rasmussen for checking in on me and keeping me on task the past few day

and

Our amazing kitchen staff for the food this week

and

Lisa Huck for making sure our kiddos had PE times.

-From Colleen Robinson (Paraprofessional at Lotus)

I have to give kudos, like, shout from a mountain top kudos, to Norm! He has been working so hard, has been so helpful, he got a HUGE piece of furniture into the counseling office like a magician... He's just so valued and I thought he should know!

-From Meghan Reimers (Counselor at Stanton)

Jill Becmer for her work on the opening day slides and music!

and

David Roat for his help with tech and sound set up!

and

Norm for the ____________________ fill in the blank! Too many thanks to list them all!!

and

Kim Mack and Meghan Reimers for all their work on Community Building and Calm Classroom!!!

-From Jeff Sefcik (Principal at Stanton)

Thank you to Ellie for sharing our Second Step pacing guide! This is extremely helpful for specials and PE because now we can apply that in our class and stay on track with where the students are!

and

Paula & Sue deserve a HUGE shoutout for everything they do for us! The packet of important information was extremely helpful! Thank you for going out of your way to ensure the students are safe and well taken care of and the staff have everything they need to make this happen!

-From Amber Mysliwiec (PE teacher at Lotus)

Thank you to the AMAZING Food Service Staff for 3 great days of Teacher Institute Meals, and a great beginning with our Students.

You prove we are ONE TEAM, ALL IN!

and

Thank you Russ for keeping everything clean when you were by yourself all week, and making sure our kitchen and cafeteria was clean and tidy.

and

Thank you Norm and Cari for taking care of our kitchen and cafeteria as well, your hard work does not go unnoticed.

and

Thank you to Sue, Paula, Jill and Michele for always making sure Parents get the menus, a la carte permits and everything our Students need. The food service is always appreciative of all your hard work and help.

and

Thank you to Cheryl Schuck for helping me communicate with Kindergarten teachers for ticket distribution. In between your thousand things to do, you always find a way to help others. You are appreciated!

-From Georgette Franco (District Food Services Coordinator)

Thank you to all members of the Stanton Staff for an awesome start back and for making our students feel so loved and excited to be back!

and

Thank you to Stephanie Silverman for spending the first day back to school with us and helping to make everyone feel comfortable in a new role.

and

Thank you to Kim Mack and Meghan Reimers for being the best team ever and jumping right into supporting Stanton!

and

Thank you to Stephanie Kaye for being behind the scenes with every resource and every initiative that is taking place.

and

Thank you to Cathy Jawnyj for all of your support and for meeting with me.

and

Thank you to Katie Jalove for supporting the fifth grade team, your efforts do not go unnoticed.

and

Thank you to Jill Becmer and Michele Burgess for all of their help getting schedules ready, planning the first day kickoff, organizing meet and greet, and being the first contact students and parents have when they come in.

and

Thank you to Norm for getting Stanton ready to go and running from one project to the next project!

and

Thank you to Jamie Smeigh, Lisa Shannon, Lemar Wilson, Katie Jalove, Kim Mack, Ryan Hochman, Rich Bressett for helping to mentor our new staff members.

-From Rachelle Peters (Assistant Principal at Stanton)

Thank you Karen and Yvette for the awesome job your doing in the Stanton kitchen. Couldn’t do it without you guys.

-From Sue Giandonato (Kitchen Lead at Stanton)

Thank you to Russ and Linda for taking my counter out and painting, so I could have a reading area with space for my number corner :) Thank you Mike for adding more cord to my phone, so it could be closer to my desk. I know you all had a lot to do this summer, but you were all patient with me and got it done quickly!

and

Thank you to everyone who has helped me the past few weeks! Thank you to everyone that has stopped by to ask if I need help or check in to see how the day was going. Special thanks to my 3rd grade team for making me feel welcome! Gina and Sherry deserve an extra shout out for coming in over their summer to help get my room together :) Thank you so much for hanging with me during your summer! Kudos to Anna, Teri, Kelly, and Vicki for sharing documents with me to help me feel ready for Meet and Greet! Thank you to everyone for their patience and understanding :)

-From Mollie Herchenbach (3rd grade at Lotus)

Thank you Norm for all your help in setting up our offices this week! Especially going over and beyond to deliver the mammoth couch to Meghan's office ! We really appreciate it!

and

Thank you to Katie Jalove for answering questions and sharing your wealth of knowledge and insight on PBIS, Second Step and the mentor program!

and

Thank you Stephanie Kaye for your ALL support so far and taking the time to answer questions and for your assistance in helping us find a new home for some of our unneeded furniture!!

and

Thank you to the cafeteria staff--for feeding us the most AMAZING meals last week--and especially for your smiles and kindness!

and

Thank you Meghan for joining our team! I have so appreciated your kindness, enthusiasm and sense of humor the past few weeks and I am looking forward to a wonderful year of us supporting staff and students!

and

Thank you to Jeff, Rachelle and Lynn for helping me get acclimated so far! I am so grateful to be back among a team of supportive administrators!

and

And to THE ENTIRE STANTON STAFF-Thank you for making me feel welcome my first week! I am truly grateful for all your encouragement and support and I am looking forward to an amazing year with you all!

-From Kim Mack (Social Worker at Stanton)

A huge thank you to the amazing Kitchen staff at Lotus and Stanton for the delicious breakfasts and lunches served last week. A special shout-out to Georgette Franco for always going above and beyond to make sure everyone has what they need.

and

Thank you always to Sue Pinkawa who, amidst one hundred things going on, graciously fills requests and follows up to make certain that everything is complete.

-From Mary Santi (Special Education teacher at Lotus)

I wanted to thank Cathy Jawny and Cheryl Shuck for all of their help and support with a student in my class. You both are so amazing!

A huge thank you to Don for hanging my bulletin board, I know how busy you are and I’m so appreciative of all you do!

-From Jen Groot (1st grade at Lotus)

Thank you to :

*David and Mike for all your help with set up for Monday's opening day!

*Georgette, Sue, Yvette, Karen, Sonia, Penny, Ysenia, and Hilda for all you did to provide such amazing meals for us last week.

*Jeff, Lynn, Matt, Natalie, and Rachelle for being available to greet everyone at the door on Monday to kick off the Friz 5 in action!

*The 1st grade team--thanks for making me laugh HARD during our Dilly Bar debate.

*Mo DeVoss for being my Dilly Bar buddy at Lotus!

*Mollie Herchenbach and Brittney Miller for the 🍍 gift and being ninjas to sneak it in my office.

*Matt Peters for being a good sport with Omega Man at Friday's assembly...

-From Heather (Luckiest Superintendent in the World!)

Please send me your kudos for colleagues each week! I'll happily post them in this section!

Here's a link to all the ideas gathered for the HOW and WHY of the Friz 5...thanks for adding your awesome thoughts at our opening day!

Here's a link to the full TNPT study about the Opportunity Myth and the big 4 moves that we control to helping more kids learn at the highest of levels. I'm guessing you'll see the connections to the Friz 5:

I can't WAIT to see how we all bring the Friz 5 to life as we each do our part to

BELIEVE!

INSPIRE!

and

ACHIEVE!

We're truly all in this together, so reach out with questions, to ask for support, and to share celebrations along the way.

Maintenance Requests

When you need anything done in your space, please use this WORK ORDER REQUEST to enter it. This is how we track and assign all the jobs we need done, so please use it. THANKS!!!

Staff Lunch Updates for 22-23

Last year with all the shortages in the food service, prices have been spiking so this year everything is already more expensive.

We have the need to increase the price of our a la carte from $1.25 to $1.50.

Adult meals ("student lunch for adult") and teachers lunches (salads and sandwiches) will go up $0.10 from $3.50 to $3.60.

Welcome back Staff! Your EAFL Board hopes everyone has had a great first week of school.

New Members- If you did NOT receive your black EAFL T-Shirt, please email Maureen DeVoss at maureen.devoss@foxlake114.org with your size. We need to order one more batch of shirts, since we were out of most sizes. We will have you geared up in no time.

All Members- We are looking for a new regional representative to sit on the Union Board with our team. This member would be a part of the decision making board, and their role would be to attend a regional meeting in Libertyville once a month, and meet with the board and Heather once a month. This is open to anyone who would like to volunteer their time and leadership.

Also, please be on the lookout for an email this week with information to help with loan forgiveness and retirement opportunities. It is never too early to start planning.

We hope everyone has an amazing second week of school.

Monday, August 29--First Day of School for PreK!!!! 💗

Monday, September 5--District closed for Labor Day

Curriculum Nights

All from 6-7 PM

Sept 6 (PreK & 2nd)

Sept 8 (1st & 4th)

Sept 13 (Kinder & 3rd)

Sept 15 (Stanton)

2022-23 Fencepost Standards all grades, all content areas!

22-23 Second Step Pacing Guide

2022-23 Early Release/Professional Development Planning Calendar

2022-23 Assessment Calendar

2022-23 D114 Calendar

2022-23 Parent/Student Handbook

Shared folder of resources

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!

D114 Family Update

Work Order Request

Technology Support Request

I got this text from one of Taylor's teachers and it absolutely made my whole heart smile! I'm going to commit to sending one positive "something" to a family/student each day to pay it forward.

Note: This teacher LOVES flamingos, thus the emoji! 🦩

I hope it's a really wonderful, happy, and fulfilling week for you! THANK YOU for all you do every day to make our schools places that SHINE for our kids!

-Heather 💗

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Monday Morning Memo 8/22/22

I'd love to send Kuddos out to Stephanie and Katie - for being so welcoming to me and new staff. That goes for Kathleen and Brian as well. I've felt so welcome to the team!!!

-From Veronica Kretz (5th Grade at Stanton)

Thank you to everyone on the Kinder and First grade team for welcoming me to your amazing worlds. I am so grateful to work with all of you.

and

Thank you to Natalie and Cary for helping put my room at Lotus together. It looks fabulous.

and

Thank you Lynn Smolen for answering all my questions and being so supportive.

and

Thank you Jen Groot for being so proactive with a new student that has a lot of needs. Your passion does not go unnoticed.

and

Thank you to Natalie and Rachelle for all the kind words you have said to me over the past week. I really appreciate it.

and

Thank you Erica Barraza for everything. I am so grateful for your guidance.

-From Cathy Jawnyj (K/1 Case Manager at Lotus)

Thank you to Deb and Cheryl, two wonderful paraprofessionals that go above and beyond! Thank you so much for all the help you have already given the first grade team, you are making the start of our year extraordinarily smooth. We are blessed to have you.

and

Thank you to Don, Russ, and Tim for always being willing and happy to help in any way necessary (Even when I make changes 50 times). I know you have lots of projects going on but you are always willing to lend a hand. You are all great assets to the Lotus team and we would be lost without you.

-From Cary Scarpino (1st Grade at Lotus)

Please send me your kudos for colleagues each week! I'll happily post them in this section!

Welcome Week

Please see the FINAL version of the Welcome Week schedule linked here. I'll send out the final version later in the week.

To be ready for opening day on Monday, 8/22:

*Please email me your "walk up song" or the song our theme for the year--BELIEVE! INSPIRE! ACHIEVE!--makes you think of.

*Please email me a picture or pictures from your summer.

*Please BRING a hard copy picture of the most important child in your life. The picture needs to be no bigger than 4" X 6". If you can't bring a picture...don't worry, we have a plan B!

Maintenance Requests

When you need anything done in your space, please use this WORK ORDER REQUEST to enter it. This is how we track and assign all the jobs we need done, so please use it. THANKS!!!

Staff Lunch Updates for 22-23

Last year with all the shortages in the food service, prices have been spiking so this year everything is already more expensive.

We have the need to increase the price of our a la carte from $1.25 to $1.50.

Adult meals ("student lunch for adult") and teachers lunches (salads and sandwiches) will go up $0.10 from $3.50 to $3.60.

COVID Updates

We are starting this year in a "back to normal" way!!!! With the CDC's reduced guidelines, we are now waiting for IDPH and LCHD guidance. For now, here's what we know:

*We will "deep clean" all spaces and buses situationally.

*We will have both rapid tests and weekly PCR testing available for staff or students who request one. We will NOT have any required weekly testing.

As always, as or when things change, I will keep you posted.

Monday, August 22--WELCOME BACK! All staff celebration at Lotus AM and building based time PM--see Welcome Week schedule linked above!

Tuesday, August 23--see Welcome Week schedule linked above!

Wednesday, August 24--Workday AM, Meet and Greet PM (Lotus 12-2, Stanton 1-3) 👍

Thursday, August 25--First Day of School K-8!!!! 💗

Monday, August 29--First Day of School for PreK!!!! 💗

Curriculum Nights--format TBD

All from 6-7 PM

Sept 6 (PreK & 2nd)

Sept 8 (1st & 4th)