Longfellow Log

• Monday, April 26th - 30th 4th Grade IAR Testing
• Monday, April 26th - In person students will be at school until 3:00 (2:30 on Wednesdays)
  
• Monday, May 3rd - 6th - 3rd Grade IAR Testing
  
• Friday, May 7th - Remote Learning Planning Day (No School for students; see below)

• Beginning 4/26, students need gym shoes for their PE days

• No Dogs are allowed on school property
• If students ride a bike or scooter to school, please remind them to walk it once they hit the campus
• Playground is closed before school and immediately after due to the volume of students

If using the cul-de-sac drop off in the morning, please remember that in order to keep our students safe and an orderly process the following needs to be adhered to:

- Pull all the way up to the front by the main playground

- Students should exit on the playground side

- Drivers/parents should not be getting out of the car; this holds up others and is not safe

- These things apply even if you feel you are running late

• Lunch will take place in the classrooms.
  
• Students with home lunch will keep their lunches in their backpacks.
  
• Lunches will be delivered from the lunchroom to each classroom.
• No Nuts allowed. Please also follow your classroom teachers' allergy list if there are further classroom restrictions.
• Lunch options will be: pizza kit or sandwich. There are also two options for milk: chocolate or white. Students will share choices with teacher first thing in the morning.
• Students will not be talking while eating and in most rooms will eat in a staggered fashion (those facing one way will eat/ others will do something quietly and then reverse before going out to play.)

Dismissal

• Homerooms that enter at 8 will dismiss at 2:50.
  
• Homerooms that enter at 8:05 will dismiss at 2:55
• Kinder and 3rd (due to their specials' schedules at the end of the day) will dismiss at 3:00.

Wednesday's Dismissal

• Homerooms that enter at 8 will dismiss at 2:20.
• Homerooms that enter at 8:05 dismiss at 2:30

You may purchase a yearbook at yearbookforever.com;

Orders due by April 24th; Here's a little promo video:

https://youtu.be/nUW3EWzrCb8

There's one week left to shop the spring book fair! Proceeds support PTO programs, and our partnership with Anderson's Bookshop also makes it possible to bring in authors for virtual visits.

Shop at abcfairs.com through April 30, and remember to select "School Pick-Up" at checkout for free shipping.

Teacher wish lists: https://www.abcfairs.com/longfellow-elementary-oak-park

Recommended titles: https://sites.google.com/view/longfellowbookfair/home

Longfellow will be hosting a Virtual Science Fair this year! Longfellow students of all ages will be invited to carry out a science project and submit it to be presented for the whole school to see, virtually (no trifold needed!). Look out for more details in the WHAL and the Longfellow Log the first week in May! Any parents or students interested in helping with organization, please email Joe Matise (vp_enrichment@longfellowpto.org).

We are now planning for the 2021-2022 school year and would like to know more about your elementary-aged child from your point of view. Creating class lists for the upcoming school year is a complex process that has several stages. For this initial stage, we want to provide an opportunity for our families to provide us information about your child.

To access our brief form, please click the following link: Longfellow Student Profile Form.

The placing of students in classrooms for next year is such an important decision and we use multiple criteria to inform that decision. These are some of the criteria we use in making our decisions:

• Gender/race/ethnicity balance
• Balance of performance levels
• Balance of students with special programming (Special Services, ELL, Title I, etc.)
• Balance of high behavioral needs
• Balance of varying social skill and work habit levels
• Equitable class size across grade level
• Equitable access to school resources for programming needs.

Please trust that with your additional information, we will make the best placement decision for your child. Due to the nature and complexity of this task, we cannot reduce the process to simply accepting requests for specific teachers. Please be aware that requests for specific teachers will not be considered in this process.

Completing this form is optional. If you wish to complete it, please do so by the end of the day on Monday, April 26, 2021.

District 97 will utilize its last Remote Learning Planning Day on Friday, May 7. There will be no student learning on that date.

The Illinois State Board of Education has permitted each school district to utilize up to five Remote Learning Planning Days during the 2020-21 school year. These days provide staff with additional professional learning and collaboration time in support of hybrid learning.

***Please help our office staff by completing this each morning to alleviate them from having to make calls and so students can head to class with their teacher.

It is critical that each morning, families complete the self-certification email by 7:15. Health certifications must be completed every day before hybrid learners arrive to school. Elementary students must have their certification completed by 7:15 a.m. and middle school students must have their certification completed by 8:15 a.m. Please see the linked PDF for full details. Highlights of what you can expect are included below.

Information about CrisisGo and resources to help families are available at https://www.op97.org/updatecenter/crisisgo.

District 97 will continue its nut-safe expectation this school year when we transition to full-day in-person learning. The exclusion of nuts will be adhered to throughout the school day, which includes lunchtime and snacks. This is an important measure to protect our students with life-threatening allergies, as the lunchroom may not be the only space used for meals while we are adhering to COVID-19 safety measures.

Please check with your child's teacher for other allergy considerations in the classroom. We appreciate your help in adhering to this preventative measure.

Two parent information sessions were held in January to discuss acceleration opportunities in District 97. Please click the links below to view the recordings.

• Single Subject and Whole Grade Acceleration
• Early Admission to Kindergarten and First Grade

Information about the District 97 Accelerated Placement Program, including definitions and timelines, can be found at http://www.op97.org/acceleration.

If interested, your first step is reaching out to the homeroom teacher and discussing it together. Second step is emailing Ms. Jefferson (ajefferson@op97.org) and Mrs. Sullivan (csullivan@op97.org)

We are continuing to provide social-emotional wellness check-ins this fall. The District 97 school psychologists and school nurses collaborated to offer access to virtual mental health wellness checks at each school. Parents may sign up children for 25-minute Telehealth sessions where they can access an open ear for their sources of stress and learn self-care and coping strategies. Students may attend up to three sessions per trimester and may then be referred for other school-based supports if needed. If your child is experiencing an immediate mental health crisis, please do not use this service and instead call the Thrive 24hr Crisis Hotline at 708-383-7500. You may also refer to this local resource guide provided by the Community Mental Health Board of the Oak Park Township.

How can my child access this service?

• The virtual sessions will occur during school hours.

• Use this Longfellow Wellness Sign-Up Link to book open slots. The appointment page will open within your own calendar. (If you do not have a Gmail account, you may contact rneubert@op97.org). Prior to the appointment, you will receive a link for the video call or other access information.

• During these unusual times, we need to partner with you to ensure your child arrives at the correct video link during their scheduled time and returns to their classroom Zoom after the appointment. Please remember to coordinate with your daycare providers if applicable.

• We will inform your child’s teacher, so your child will be excused from class.

• Please book appointments by the night before the appointment (at the latest) and not on the day of the appointment.

District 97 will host three new Virtual Parent University sessions in April to help families learn strategies for collaborating with school administrators, teachers and staff to support equity and student success.

The sessions will be facilitated by Reesheda Graham Washington, principal consultant of RGW Consulting and CEO of L!VE 2.0.

The events will be held April 10, April 17 and April 24. Descriptions of each session and sign-up links are included below.

“Coalition Building for Elementary School Student Success” (Elementary School) - Saturday, April 10, 10 a.m. to noon

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: April 24 Parent University

This two-hour, Zoom-based workshop will unpack the significance of whiteness as a social construct, as well as articulate its impact on students’ success in school and beyond. Additionally, this workshop will explore the intersections of identity and learning, and the value in cultural intersectionality in teaching and learning. There will be time set aside in this session to respond to the expressed felt needs of parents who wish to acquire strategies for developing cultural agility in their students.

District 97 is holding a Virtual Step Up Summer Program for students in Grades 1-8 (students who are in kindergarten through seventh grade during the 2020-21 school year). The program will run July 26 through Aug. 5, 2021 (8:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. OR 12 pm. - 2:30 p.m.).

Summer Step Up is designed to support any District 97 student that could benefit from revisiting grade level standards from the previous year. Additional information and sign up forms will be shared by schools in May 2021.

District 97 families are invited to join our upcoming Virtual Parent-to-Parent Series, which will be facilitated in partnership with the E-Team of Oak Park. Events will be held:

• Wednesday, April 29, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The sessions are designed to build community among District 97 parents and guardians and provide support as we navigate hybrid learning. The intention is for parents/guardians to attend all three sessions to help build a consistent community, but if you cannot make the first session you may still attend the others. Please let us know your availability in the registration form so that we can plan accordingly.

The deadline to register is Tuesday, Feb. 16. To sign up, please visit https://bit.ly/D97ParentCircles.

Next Meal D97 Meal Distribution: Tuesday, April 27th
April Breakfast/Lunch Menus
Meals will be provided free of cost this fall to any District 97 student in need. Each bag of food will contain five breakfasts and five lunches.

Meal distributions will be held every Tuesday, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Longfellow Elementary School (for Julian and feeder schools), 715 S. Highland Ave., and Brooks Middle School (for Brooks and feeder schools), 325 S. Kenilworth Ave.

D97 Breakfast/Lunch Menus - April 2021

ajefferson@op97.org.

708-524-3060

@AmyJefferson97

csullivan@op97.org

708-524-7825

@MrsSullivand97

Website: www.op97.org
Location: 715 S Highland Oak Park, Il 60304
Phone: 708-524-3060