Viking Voice

Yesterday, Dr. Chung sent out an email to families about our plans for instruction in January. Preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students will hopefully return to in-person instruction on January 11th. Select students in second-fourth grade will also return to Swartz on the 11th. Parents of those students have been sent an email communication explaining more details. If you have any questions or would like to change your child's learning plan from hybrid to remote or remote to hybrid, please email ssmith@saltcreek48.org.

Our staff had so much fun delivering our "Get Your Hands on a Good Book" bags. We hope your child loved it too! A huge thank you to FTC for providing the funds for the bags. We also want to thank the White family for the adorable Viking sticker. A huge shout out to Mrs. Schellhorn, Mrs. Ross, and Mrs. Gallagher who put hours into assembling these bags and creating the student keepsake. We hope you and your child(ren) curl up over winter break to enjoy their new book!

We are excited to announce our winter break reading challenge!

We challenge our Salt Creek students to read 15 minutes a day and our Swartz students to read 20 minutes a day over10 days of winter break. Students can record their reading on the reading challenge sheet included in their gift bag. Students who achieve their goal will earn a free Hamburger Happy Meal from McDonald’s in Oakbrook.

If you take any pictures reading over winter break and want it posted on our website, send them to Mrs. Monroe as well. We hope you “Get Your Hands on a Good Book” and enjoy reading over break!

Congratulations to second grader Philly Grollo for his artwork being chosen for the Hilton Holiday Card Contest! What an amazing honor! This is the 17th year that we have partnered with Don Hill and the Oakbrook Terrace Hilton. Every year, the hotel chooses one card to use for their holiday card. The card selection committee said this year was especially difficult to chose a winner! All of the artwork submitted was very well done and creative! Congratulations, Philly!

Thank you for another great Wellness Wednesday! Students had a wonderful time sharing their favorite books, going on scavenger hunts, drawing snowmen and other characters, painting, and playing games with their classmates and teachers! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Sick of making dinner every night? The FTC has a solution for you! For the month of January, every MONDAY, will be a dine out at Gulliver's! Order take-out or a meal to go! A percentage of the order will go directly to the FTC!

Congratulations to Ms. Aulisa, Albright Middle School's Principal, for being named the Illinois Principal Association's DuPage County's Middle School Principal of the Year! This is an incredible honor!

We are very impressed with the learning that has been taking place in STEM class this year. The students have really done an amazing job of going through the problem solving/inquiry-based learning continuum. We recognize that learning this is difficult in a remote learning setting. Starting on January 4th, we will have a new instructional plan for our STEM class. Instead of students having STEM twice a week, students will have STEM 5 times a week for 4 consecutive weeks. All STEM classes will be live allowing students to meet with Mrs. Williams during every STEM time. We will be starting with 4th grade students in January. Below are the units of study and the tentative months of instruction. We are very excited about this change!

The units of study and order of grade-level instruction are as follows:

4th Grade: Energy: Collisions (Rockin' Roller Coaster) (January)

3rd Grade: Forces & Interactions (Save the Zoo Animal) (February)

2nd Grade: Properties of Matter (Save the Popsicles!) (March)

1st Grade: Animal Adaptations (World Traveler) (April)

Kindergarten: Weather & Climate (Build a Shelter) (May)

Since Mrs. Williams will be teaching an entire grade level at one time, students will not be receiving weekly STEM instruction until it is their grade level's month for instruction. The time that used to be STEM, will now be a time for your child to catch up on missing assignments, practice reading or math skills, or participate in other specials. When it is your child's turn for STEM, we will be providing a STEM kit for your child, so that you have all of the materials you need for the unit at your fingertips!

Your child's teacher will update the landing page to reflect this new change in the schedule. If you have any questions, please reach out to Sarah Smith.

Please follow the directions below to access and sign your child's report card online. We are asking that ALL kindergarten-fourth grade families sign the report card electronically. PLEASE SIGN YOUR CHILD'S REPORT CARD BY TODAY!

Check out our new COVID-19 Information page on our website. Stay up to date with the latest Salt Creek School District 48 COVID-19 metrics by visiting:

https://www.saltcreek48.org/page/covid-19-information.

Would you like to recognize a staff member in Salt Creek School District 48 that deserves some extraordinary recognition for something they have done in our school district to make a difference for others? Please fill out this form to have this staff member recognized for their amazing accomplishment.

Although our students are currently in remote learning we are asking that parents still report to the school if their child is experiencing a COVID-like symptom. The Illinois Health Department (IDPH) considers all of the following COVID-like signs/symptoms: Fever of 100.4 or higher, headache, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nasal congestion, nausea, fatigue, muscle or body aches, shortness of breath, new loss of taste or smell.

In addition to reporting any COVID-like symptoms to your child's school, I also wanted to remind parents that our district has an obligation to notify the DuPage County Health of any confirmed COVID-19 cases or possible exposure cases within our school community, even during remote learning. Please report to the school if anyone in the household has tested positive for COVID-19 or was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Confidential information regarding the COVID-19 positive or probable cases, including the individual's name and other personal identifying information, will not be shared with anyone but the health department.

If someone in the household has tested positive for COVID-19, is identified as a close contact to someone that has tested positive, or is experiencing a COVID-like symptom, please leave a message on the attendance line at your child's school. The nurse will then follow-up to gather the information required by the health department, discuss next steps, and answer any questions you may have.

Any District 48 family can pick up 5 days worth of meals (breakfast and lunch) at Albright Middle School at Door 2 on Tuesdays from 1:00-1:30 and 2:30-3:00. You can also pick up meals on Wednesdays from 11:00-4:00 at any District 45 school. THERE WILL BE NO MEAL PICK UPS DURING WINTER BREAK! If these times do not work for you, please contact the office, and we can arrange a different time for you to pick up the meals. Menus for December and January are linked below.

1/11: Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade Return to In-Person Instruction

1/13: Wellness Wednesday

1/18: NO SCHOOL

1/27: Wellness Wednesday

Our libraries are still lending books to students! Check out this video from Mrs. Ross to see how to check out some of your favorite books.

Need tech support? Please call the office or fill out our Google Form.

Sarah Smith, Principal

ssmith@saltcreek48.org

Sarah Monroe, Assistant Principal

smonroe@saltcreek48.org