Letters from Limestone Walters

Dec. 1st : Wheel Spin Day!

Dec. 4th: PTO Meeting @7pm

Dec. 6th: House Tree Donations DUE!

Dec. 7th: Winter Concert (5th-8th) @6pm

Dec. 9th: Santa Breakfast & Tree Raffle 9am-11am

Dec. 11th-12: Volleyball Tryouts 3pm-4:30pm (see below for more information)

Dec. 13th: 8th Grade LCHS Visit 9am-10:45am & House Shirt/Competition Day

Dec. 14th: 4th-5th Grade Field Trip 9am-12pm

Dec. 15th: Wheel Spin Day!

Dec. 18th: Christmas PJ Day & Board Meeting @6pm

Dec. 19th: Ugly/Christmas Sweaters & Holiday Program (K-4th Grades) @5:30pm

Dec. 20th: Deck Yourself Out for Christmas , End of 2nd Quarter & 1:20am dismissal

Dec. 21st-Jan.3rd: No School! WINTER BREAK

Jan. 3rd: No School! Teacher Institute

Jan. 4th: School Resumes

December's Cookie and Bookie

Cookie: Raspberry Linzer Cookie

Bookie: A World of Cookies for Santa: Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around the World by M.E. Furman

• A World of Cookies for Santa takes readers across the globe to see all the treats that await Santa on Christmas Eve. Head to the Philippines, where children leave out puto seko cookies and ginger tea for Santa; jet to Russia for a honey-spice cookie; then set out for Malawi for a sweet potato cookie! When you've returned home, the journey's still not over—M. E. Furman provides recipes for children to bake some of Santa's cookies for themselves.
  

ZOOM Read Aloud Event will be Sunday, December 17th @6pm. The link is emailed to parents by Sunday afternoon. Please fill out the form below to be emailed the link

We need your help in our drop off line as it has caused some confusion and slight delays:

• Make sure an adult (usually Mrs. Pitzer) is out before letting your students leave your vehicle.
• Please make sure your child exits the vehicle anywhere within the white box on the arrival map picture.
• Essentially anywhere where the sidewalk is accessible they may exit.
• This way several cars are unloading at the same time vs. some pulling all the way up to the main door which causes the line to stop and then get backed up.
• Please have your child ready to exit the vehicle.

This month Aramark's monthly limited time entrée will highlight flavors from Latin America with Hot Honey Chicken Biscuit Tostada. This dish features honey and will be offered Dec. 11th-15th. Students simply need to let their teacher know they want the monthly special.

Featured Ingredient: Honey

Did you know honey is considered a very healthy food? Honey is loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes (which are important for digestion), antioxidants, flavonoids and more. Honey has been around for thousand of years. In fact, it's as old as the honeybee! Many early civilizations used honey for medicinal purposes and slathered the sticky stuff on their wounds to help speed up the healing process. Well stores honey has no expiration date. Keep stored in an airtight container away from direct sunlight. Never store honey in a metal container, this can cause oxidation. Honey is fat free, cholesterol, free, gluten free, and sodium free.

It has been great to see so many of our students trying new foods and discovering new favorite meals.

In the event of inclement weather, you will receive a message from the school and information will be posted to local news stations. In the event of a school cancellation, please know this will be a snow day with no remote learning. To accommodate possible emergency days without adding days to the end of the year, there are 3 built into our school calendar. This allows us to hopefully be finished prior to Memorial Day and not add as many make up days to the end of the year.

Similar to last year we have 3 emergency days have been build into our calendar. This allows us to hopefully be finished prior to Memorial Day and not add as many make up days on to the end of the year.

The following Mondays we will not be in session unless an emergency day is used:

• Monday, May 6th
• Monday, May 13th
• Monday, May 20th

If we do have emergency days we will have session on the above Mondays depending on how many we need. Our other two emergency days will be after May 24th and May 25th.

Into Reading K-6

This month, K-6 students will be either be starting or in the middle of Module 4 at various time depending on the class. Below you will find the grade level essential questions and the social emotional/learning mindset focus.

Social Studies

This month, grades 4th-8th will be wrapping up Topic 2 and starting Topic 3. Topics can last anywhere from 5-6 weeks. Below you will find the graphic that shares grade level questions and social emotional focus.

It is time for Volleyball season! This is open to 5th-8th graders and they must have sports physical on file in order to be on the team. Below you will find more information about open gyms and tryouts. Games will start after winter break.

Open Gyms:

Dec. 4th: 3pm-4:15pm

Dec. 5th: 3pm-4:15pm

Tryouts:

Dec. 11th: 3pm-4:30pm

Dec. 12th: 3pm-4:30pm

Dec. 4th: Home Game vs. St. Jude @5pm

Dec. 5th: Home Game vs. Christ Lutheran @5pm

Dec. 6th: Away Game @ Rankin starting at 5pm *bus leaves at 4pm

Dec. 11th: Away Game @ Elmwood starting at 5pm *bus leaves at 3:45pm

Dec. 14th: Home Game vs. Pleasant Hill @5pm

Dec. 18th: Away Game @ Bartonville starting at 5pm * bus leaves at 4pm

Dec. 27th-29th: 7th/8th Grade Tourney @St. Thomas TBD

Peoria County Preschool Screening provides free developmental screening for all pre-school children (ages birth through five years of age and not enrolled in kindergarten) living in Peoria County outside District 150. The Screening checks all areas of development that include: vision and hearing, speech and language, behavior and social development, small and large muscle coordination, thinking and reasoning skills, and other readiness skills.

The purpose of this screening is to aid parents in answering questions regarding their child’s progress and also to identify those children who may qualify for a free preschool education in the public schools. An appointment is necessary and can be made by calling the Special Education Association of Peoria County offices at 309-697-0880, ext. 206. For children younger than 3, please call 309-672-6360 or 888-482-4300

The local screening dates for Limestone Walters is January 16th-17th

Miss Kunkel along with our band, choir, and general music students have been working hard for their upcoming concerts. You won't want to miss these evenings!

Thursday, December 7th is the 5th-8th grade winter concert for band and choir @6pm.

Tuesday, December 19th is the K-4th grade Christmas Program @5:30pm

You won't want to miss this terrific event set for Saturday, December 9th, 9am-11am. All tree donations are due by Wednesday, December 6th.

Lunch time read alouds are one of my favorite ways to build a culture of readers here at LW. On Wednesdays, I read picture books to all K-4th grade students and on Friday's I read the first chapter of a novel to all 5th-8th graders.

Readers thrive when they are surrounded by a supportive reading community. I curated this list over the last couple of years that covers a wide variety of ages, genres, topics, themes, etc. Your purchase means it will be shipped directly to the school, find its way into a classroom, and have a label with who donated it! Please make sure to include your name when purchasing.

Please feel free to share our list with family and friends! I can't wait to see where our farthest book comes from!

Our PTO meets the first Monday of the month at 7pm in the library. This is a great way to get involved in fundraisers and activities that support our school. If in person doesn't work for you, they also have a virtual Zoom option. The links are always emailed out closer to the date.

PTO updates:

BoxTops for Education--Remember to scan those receipts to earn credit towards a treat party for your childs' class! 6th grade is still in the lead with 4th grade moving into 2nd place. This is available to anyone including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc! Competition ends on November 30. See the attached flyer for more details.

Concessions Sign-Up for LW Boosters-- We are needing help with the concession stand for girls basketball games this year. Please use this link to sign-up.

Volunteer for PTO Sponsored Events-- Do you want to be involved with the PTO or would like more information? The PTO sponsors or helps with several things throughout the year and we need your help! Use this link to indicate where you'd like to volunteer. Please see the attached flyer for more information about LW PTO or attend a meeting on the first Monday of the month!

Remember

I remember writing individualized notes for all of my students and the increase in conversations we have had throughout this last month! Kids are why we do what we do every single day!

Gratitude

I'm grateful for opportunities to connect and get to know school board members. Our continued partnership is vital in ensuring LW continues to move forward!

Goals

• assist Mrs. Birkel in a fun activity with 6th-8th graders (stay tuned!)
• add to teacher evidence collections
• prepare for the second semester staff book study on Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
• gear up for 2024's Book Club! It will be the most epic one yet!

~Mrs. Stefanie Pitzer, Principal

Email: spitzer@limestonewalters.com
Website: https://www.limestonewalters.com/
Location: 8223 West Smithville Road, Peoria, IL, USA
Phone: 309-697-3035
Facebook: facebook.com/LWrockets316
Twitter: @lwrockets