Take Home Tuesday

Dear Sward Families:

It amazes me that it is already time for our Fall Family Conferences!! Below, you will find the instructions on how to register to reserve your time slot within the Skyward Family Access system. If you need assistance or have any questions, please call the Sward main office at (708)423-7820. We encourage each family to register for a conference with their child's classroom teacher. If you would like to meet with other teachers that your child sees throughout the day, such as PE, Encore, or Interventions, we ask that you limit it to 2 additional teachers per child. This will then allow accessibility for others to meet with these teachers as well.

This year, you will have the option of meeting with your child's teacher in person, virtually, or via a phone conference. Please know that these meetings are scheduled back to back so it is important for the meetings to start and end on time.

We are looking forward to meeting with you next week!

Your partner in education,

Mrs. Candy Kramer

Sward School Principal

Tomorrow- Wednesday, October 5- is a Districtwide Late Start Day. There are no clubs before school tomorrow since all of the staff will be involved in meetings. School begins for students tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

Our D123 Family Conferences will be held from 5:00-8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 13 and from 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 14. Families can schedule in Skyward Family Access from now until 10:00 p.m. on October 10. When you go into the system to schedule, you will have 3 options: in-person, virtual, or telephone. Conferences are 15 minutes in length and scheduled back to back. All conferences MUST end at the proper time in order for the teacher's next conference to begin at the correct time. The scheduling of these conferences is completed on a first come first served basis. Once you have scheduled a conference, you will receive an automated confirmation of the time slot you have registered for. Families will be able to schedule conferences with their child's homeroom teacher and PE teacher. If your child currently receives Literacy Intervention Services, Math Intervention Services, English Language Services, or Special Education Resource Services, you will be able to schedule a conference with their specific teacher. If you would like to schedule a conference with one of the Encore teachers (Art, Library, or Music) those will only be available via virtual means or telephone, since our Encore team is shared with other buildings.

If you need assistance scheduling your conference, please call the Sward main office at (708)423-7820.

Additional resources you may find helpful:

• [VIDEO] How to Schedule Family Conferences as a Parent

• [DIRECTIONS] For Families

• [DIRECTIONS] For Families - Spanish Version

The deadline to purchase device insurance has been extended to October 14. Although this is not required, it is highly recommended. Please click HERE for additional details. If you need assistance, please contact the Sward main office at (708)423-7820.

If you will be volunteering at the Fall Party, please come to the office to get your ID scanned. Even if you scanned your ID last year, we will need to do it again this year.

The annual D123 Leaf Raking date has been scheduled for Saturday, November 12. Mark your calendars if you would like to participate in this wonderful event. More information will be coming out soon.

If your child is in fourth or fifth grade and participated in the IAR tests last spring here at Sward (as a third or fourth grader), the results will be coming home with your child today. If you happen to have a sixth grader who attended Sward last year, they will receive their results report today from OLHMS to bring home.

Please remind your children in grades 1-5 to charge their Chromebooks every evening before they go to sleep. It is important that the Chromebooks (just like the children) come to school in the morning prepared and ready to go.

It's that time of year again... time to enjoy taffy apples! Yum! Click here for a copy of the PTA Affy Tapple sale form. Mark your calendars: Order forms are due October 7 (no late orders will be accepted). Pick up will be Wednesday, October 19 between 3:30-6:30 p.m. in the Sward faculty lounge. All orders must be picked up by an adult (no orders will be sent home with students).

The Sward Student Council has started a sock drive for the month of October. Please click here for additional details. If you would like your child to participate, please send them with a new pair of socks (or 2) and they will be donated to local homeless shelters and people in need.

Each year, on Unity Day, we come together to share a powerful message and pledge to be Bully Free. We hope our message is strong enough to last throughout the year and always. This year, District has a week long set of themed days to correlate with Unity Week. Please click here to check out the themes for the week of October 17-21.

When you "catch your child" using real life math outside of school, please send a photo and statement of explanation to ckramer@d123.org . Check out this example of two Sward Eagles trying to determine if they have enough money to purchase the books they'd like to order from the Scholastic Book Order form with the help of their toy cash register. The photos and explanations will be added to a "Math Outside of School" bulletin board for all to see.

Please click here for the Spirit wear order form. Orders are due by Thursday, October 6.

Sward now has our very own Twitter handle. Throughout the weeks, you will see postings of exciting things happening throughout our building. It is always fun to have a glimpse into the learning or our students. Be sure to check us out at @D123Sward or scan the QR code to the side!

Parents of Preschool, Kindergarten, and Transfer students be alert that an exclusion alert letter will be going home today if your child is not in compliance with Health Examination and or Immunization state requirements. The deadline to submit the requirements is Friday October 14th. If the completed health forms or immunizations are not received by that date, your child will be excluded starting Monday October 17th until requirements are met.

Parents of children ages 3-7: Click HERE to check out this fun opportunity.

• Wednesday, October 5- Districtwide Late Start (school begins at 9:30 a.m.)
  
• Wednesday, October 5- PTA Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, October 6- Hat Day... wear your favorite hat today
• Monday, October 10- No School- Indigenous Peoples' Day
• Thursday, October 13- Student Early Dismissal- Students get dismissed at 11:30 a.m. (lunch is NOT served on this day)
• Thursday, October 13- Family Conferences 5:00-8:00 p.m.
• Friday, October 14- No School for students due to Family Conferences. Family Conferences will be held from 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

Website: d123.org/sward
Location: 9830 Brandt Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL, USA
Phone: 708-423-7820
Twitter: @d123sward

Email: ckramer@d123.org
Website: d123.org/sward
Phone: 708-423-7820
Twitter: @MrsKramerD123