Field Flash

Dear Field Parents and Guardians,

We hope your family has had a nice week! It was nice a connect with some of our families on Tuesday night as our parent-teacher conference kicked off this week, and we look forward to seeing more of you next week on Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you to our PTO for coordinating dinner for our staff, as well!

A few reminders:

• Please follow the rules of the road when driving for drop off - our school is in a neighborhood and we want to be sure we are being good neighbors with our parking and driving! This is especially important regarding driveways. You cannot block resident driveways - not even for just a moment and not even if you are in your car. Thank you!
  

• Please no dogs on school property at drop off or pick up! Thank you!
• Please be sure you call the main office as early in the day as possible if your child is not taking the bus home.
• Please check in with your children to ensure they are not bringing toys with them to school - this includes Pokemon cards, games, trinkets, or other small items.

I also wanted to share some resources with you all. The ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza is heart wrenching. In a recent administrator newsletter from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), state superintendent Dr. Tony Sanders shared the following items, which I found helpful in navigating these conversations at home with my own children.

The National Association of School Psychologists has a downloadable flyer called Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Families and Educators, strategies for each grade level, and suggested talking points.

From Common Sense Media, an article called How do I talk to my kids about violence in the news? reminds us to get a sense of what children know before launching into an explanation, by using open-ended questions, like “What did you hear?” or “What do you know?” and “What do you think about it?”

I hope these resources are helpful to you, if your children have questions at home.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Dr. Courtney Goodman

Principal

(847) 318-4383

All trimester 1 report cards will now be made available to view digitally this school year through the District’s parent portal! Instead of receiving a paper copy, parents will access their child’s report card at their own leisure and convenience. The trimester 1 report card will be available to view on December 1st at 8am. After viewing online, you will be asked to digitally sign off that you have viewed your child’s report card. To be sure you can access this report card, please follow these directions for how to login. We hope this will allow parents better access to their child’s educational achievement.

If you would still like to request a paper copy or are unsure of how to login, please contact the main office secretary or building principal for assistance prior to December 1st.

Field School will celebrate Halloween on Tuesday, October 31st in the afternoon. Please review this handout for more information about our plans. Special thank you to our PTO room parents who will spearhead our classroom celebrations.

This year’s annual Trunk-or-Treat event is on Friday, October 27th, from 6:00–7:30 PM in the staff parking lot. Sign up to decorate the trunk of your car and pass out candy to Field families!

The PTO needs to know by 10/20 (today!) whether they have enough cars (at least 20) to host the event. This can be minimum (buying a car kit off of Amazon & some bags of candy) or maximum (having games and a theme!) effort, but it is ALWAYS fun for the students.

Consider participating in the upcoming Blood Drive in honor of a Field family's younger child Maja! See information in the flyer below:

V-Show is a parent written and produced show that has been running since 1953! Each year it raises money to fund things like playground equipment, classroom programs and audio visual equipment. There are big and small ways to get involved on stage, acting, singing or dancing, or off stage with sets, techdeck, advertising or tickets. It’s a great way to give back to the school, meet other families, and have a lot of fun.

What is the District 64 Science Olympiad?

The District 64 Science Olympiad for grades 4-5 is a morning of science and engineering challenges in an Olympic event format. Students select from one of five events: egg drop, rubber band catapult, structures, mystery box, and aerodynamics.

Who Participates?

Interested District 64 fourth and fifth grade students from all five elementary schools can participate in the Olympiad.

The event will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2024.

How Can Parents Be Involved?

To ensure a successful event, PTO is looking for a team of coordinators who will organize Field’s event (mystery box). The event coordinator(s) performs four tasks: (1) creates teams for the event, (2) communicates event guidelines to teams signed up for the event, (3) sets up the event either the night before or the morning of the event, and (4) runs the event on the day of the Olympiad. Interested in being a coordinator? Sign up here.

We’re also looking for coaches! Coaches need not be science experts. They simply need to learn the event alongside the children and use common sense ideas to guide them. Coaches must clear the criminal background check prior to starting any practices. Coaches need to be available to practice with the students on their team. Want to coach? Sign up here.

Student registration begins October 16th. More information about that is linked here.

We are excited to start offering a way for families to securely track the exact bus location to monitor where their child is during the morning pickup and afternoon bus drop-offs. Starting Monday, October 2nd, 2023, families can use the Zonar MyView app to see the live location of their child's bus.

As we begin using the software and app, this improvement to our transportation process will only be available to the families of bus riders at Field Elementary School and Lincoln Middle School. The rest of the schools will be added later this school year. We ask that once families download and use the app, they fill out this feedback survey so that the District Office can monitor how the app rollout is going.

Follow the attached directions to set up the Zonar MyView app.

• If you need help finding your child’s bus information - this document shows you where you can find it in the Parent Portal.

The Zonar MyView app can be downloaded at the Google Play Store on Android devices and the App Store for iOS:

1. Navigate to:

· The Google Play Store at: https://play.google.com/store from your Android device; or

· The App Store at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app from your iOS device.

2. Tap Install or GET.

Field shares photos of what's happening around our building on Instagram - you can follow us @field.d64 to watch #180daysofFieldFun!

• Tuesday, October 24th: Parent-teacher conferences from 4-8pm
  

• Thursday, October 26th: Parent-teacher conferences from 4-8pm

• Friday, October 27th: Field Nest #2 (as your child about this unique community building)

• Tuesday, October 31st: Halloween parade and class parties (see information above)

PTO Membership

It’s never too late to join! PTO membership is available for purchase year-round. Please consider supporting the PTO by purchasing a membership, which supports a variety of programs and activities for students and teachers: Back-to-School Bash, VIP & Me Dance, Spring Carnival, and classroom parties; assemblies and field trips; teacher grants; equipment and facility improvements, etc. Plus, it’s a great way to stay informed about what's happening at school and connect with other parents as well! PTO members receive access to the PTO directory and a yard sign.

Visit the PTO website to join today!

Update Family Information

A friendly reminder to please update your family information (i.e., new homeroom teacher, etc.) on the PTO website!

Spirit wear

Grade-Level T-Shirts

Grade-level t-shirts are on sale now - sales close tomorrow, 10/21 at 11:59 pm! Please log-in to your PTO account to purchase. Each shirt is $10.00 and your child’s class color will stay the same throughout their time at Field. Students wear their grade-level t-shirts during spirit days and on field trips.

Headbands

Limited time only - possibly the only time this school year! Get your Field Phoenix headband to wear with your spirit wear. Great for children AND adults! Sales close on 10/31. Each headband is $20.

More spirit wear will be available soon!

From the library to the park district, our communities of Park Ridge-Niles have lots to offer, even virtually. For information on all the latest happenings, be sure to check the Community Info & Events webpage.

Website: www.d64.org/fie
Location: 707 N Wisner St, Park Ridge, IL, United States
Phone: 847-318-4385
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fieldparkridgeniles/?fref=ts
Twitter: @fieldd64