Woodland Primary School

You know what is a great way to celebrate 100 days together??? Filling out a survey on how we are doing! We do our best each day to welcome your child to school, work with them to meet their potential and introduce them to a life long love of learning. But, we can always do better! We can't grow if we don't know the areas that we need to work on.

Last week I shared the background information on the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. Below is the link to take the survey and share your thoughts about Woodland Primary School and staff. The survey opened last week and we only had 1% of our families participate. In order for us to get a supplemental report and feedback results, we need to have at least a 20% participation rate.

Help us reach our goal!

2023-24 Illinois Supplemental Parent Survey

Link to survey: http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/

Opens Jan. 30, 2024 and closes March 29, 2024.

Valentine's Day Parties at Woodland Primary will be held on Friday, February 9th. If your child would like to bring in valentines for their classmates (optional, of course) they will exchange them on Friday, February 9th. If you don't want your child to participate in these activities, please reach out to your child's teacher.

Valentine Guidelines: Students may bring in valentines to exchange with their classmates, but they shouldn't have any food, candy, or gum attached. If trinkets are attached, they should be age appropriate and not considered a choking hazard.

***Please note that we don't have food, drinks, or candy sent in for the parties. Please don't send these items in. Any goodie bags or valentines sent in shouldn't contain any food or candy. The focus is on friendship, games, and crafts! The students will have a great time together!

2/8 PTA Meeting (Zoom link registration is in the PTA section)

2/9 Valentine's Day Parties at Primary

2/16 No student/staff attendance

2/19-2/20 No student/staff attendance

2/28 Wildcat Wednesday

2/29 WELE Come & Connect

As part of the Warren Newport Library Black History Month Celebration on February 17th the district will celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of black fathers by hosting a panel entitled, “Black Dads Rock!”. Panelists were selected from dads within our district and within the community. Through a lively discussion and Q&A, Black Excellence will be celebrated and myths about Black Dads dispelled. Discussion topics will include the impact of upbringing and parenting styles, their presence in and outside of the home, media influence, challenges, successes, as well as a day in the life of a Black Dad. Moderators will be Primary’s Equity Leaders, At Risk Coordinator, and middle school students.

February starts next week! Be sure to order your child's meals!

Kindergarten Breakfast Forms

EC/WELE Meal Forms

Research shows that when schools and families work in partnership, students hear and see that school is important from their parents and teachers and perceive that caring people in both environments are investing and coordinating time and resources to help them succeed.

I wanted to open up a couple of opportunities for you as a parent or caregiver to be a partner with us at Woodland Primary. I know that as a parent you have many responsibilities and commitments, so below are a variety of options in the hopes that one option might work for you. We want you to feel a sense of belonging and partnership at Primary.

Parent Volunteer Opportunities

1) Primary Parent Advisory Committee-we have a core group that has been meeting since last fall to discuss different topics from a parent perspective. Our meetings are typically on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. and are virtual. The more voices the more we can have a strong representation from all of our programs.

2) Materials Prep Crew-we are in need of a group of parents that would be able to come to our school on specified days to help us create center materials. Based on those that sign up we can determine what days/times might work for this. This involves cutting, gluing, laminating and most importantly, organizing materials for teachers to use in centers, purposeful play and for specific lessons. If you can help with this it would be so beneficial to our classrooms, our plan is to stock our centers with materials we can continue to switch out and meet our student's needs. We have all of the items, we just need help putting them together.

3) Library-we are looking for anyone that might like to come in to help shelve our books with our library assistant. It's a great way to support our library and the circulation demands. Anyone that has an hour here or there, it's a great way to help us.

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please fill out the form by Monday, February 26th. Every minute donated is very much appreciated!

Click HERE for the form!

It is with great sadness that I share about a loss to our Primary School family. Donna Schaefer, a paraprofessional in one of our Early Childhood structured classrooms, passed away earlier this week.

This loss has deeply affected our Primary staff as Mrs. Schaefer was a part of our Primary family since 2014, before that she subbed in our District 50, and has been an integral member of our team. I am sharing this with you because based on the age of our students, we will not be sharing this information with them, but some of our families may have worked with Mrs. Schaefer and we want them to be aware.

Mrs. Schaefer has had a positive impact on everyone she interacted with at Primary. She was directly working with students in Early Childhood, welcoming buses, working in Ms. Jenna’s classroom and lunch and dismissal duties. There are so many reasons she will be missed, her caring and kind personality, her dedication to students, and her positive attitude and flexibility are just a few. She will be remembered fondly by our staff.

If your family would like to send condolences to Mrs. Schaefer’s family, they ask that you send any cards to the Primary School in care of Trudy Schmid and she will see that they go to Mrs. Schaefer’s family.

We offer our greatest sympathy to all who are impacted by her loss.

It’s time for Kids Heart Challenge 2024 (formerly Jump Rope for Heart), our 12th annual fundraiser for the American Heart Association! Woodland Primary School is proud to be a part of this fantastic fundraiser in which students learn the importance of heart health. Over the past 11 years, our school has raised an incredible total of $108,821.01 for this worthwhile cause.

Some quick facts about this year’s fundraiser are listed below:

• You can participate in this year’s Kids Heart Challenge with or without making a monetary donation to the American Heart Association. EVERYONE can take the challenge!
• Our fundraiser will be 100% online this year, no traditional paper collection envelopes will be used, nor will cash or checks be accepted.
• We don’t hold a traditional “event” for Kids Heart Challenge at Primary, instead we use time during PE classes to learn about and participate in heart health related activities and exercises.
• Any “Thank You Gifts” earned by students will be delivered in late March/early April (aside from various “instant gifts”).
• Our school earns gift certificates for PE equipment from US Games (a PE equipment company) based on our school-wide donation total.
• If we raise $10,000 as a school, Mr. Kupfer and Mr. Mistrata will get a “pie in the face” by the top 5 student fundraisers during one of our Wildcat Wednesday Assemblies.
• The DUE DATE for all donations is FEBRUARY 15th, 2024.

Please visit www.heart.org/KHC to sign up to take the free challenge or make a donation today!

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Mistrata (cmistrata@dist50.net) or Mr. Kupfer (ikupker@dist50.net). Thank you!

Take a minute to see all of the wonderful things that are happening with our Parent Mentor Program. Click the picture below!

Thursday 2/8: February PTA Meeting at 7pm via Zoom. REGISTRATION is required.

Tuesday 2/13: Second Tuesday Fundraiser: Jimano's Gurnee 20% of sales ALL DAY will be donated to Woodland PTA.

Do you have an incoming kindergarten student for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year? Or, do you know someone that does? All of the information is located on our webpage HERE and in the special edition of Smore located HERE.

Spread the word-we want to welcome our incoming wildcats!

Woodland Primary School

Email: standerson@dist50.net
Website: www.dist50.net
Location: 17366 West Gages Lake Road, Gages Lake, IL, USA
Phone: 847-984-8702
Twitter: @StaceyJAnd