Week 25 Newsletter

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The Grove Grizzly A Note from the Office Spring Conferences The electronic conference sign-up for our spring parent/teacher conferences will be made available to parents this coming Wednesday, February 28th. Conferences will be held after school in the afternoon and evenings of Wednesday, March 21st from 4-8 p.m. and Thursday, March 22nd from 3-7 p.m. Please note, the electronic system that is being used for parents to sign-up for conferences this time is a new system and will be used by every school throughout the district. It has some great new features and what we hope will be a user-friendly format for parents in scheduling for multiple students. The system is called “Meet the Teacher”.   The number of spaces available for this conference period is more limited than the fall window, as a conference may not be needed for every child at this time. With that said, we continue to value your support and communication and will try our best to connect with parents who would like to communicate regarding their child's progress.    CogAT Assessments for 2nd and 5th Grades The CogAT Testing window for our 2nd – 5th Grade students is opening on Monday. Parents with students in those two grades can access the official CogAT assessment letter in the Virtual Backpack. Students completed practice tests over the last few weeks in order to become familiar with the format of the test and the types of questions that they would be presented with during the assessment. I encourage parents to ensure that their child(ren) get a good night sleep and have a healthy breakfast next week while the assessments are taking place.   Family Reading Program Update We had an awesome celebration of reading today with our pancakes and pajamas!! It is hard to believe that we are getting ready to enter into our final week of the Family Reading Program. Our reward for this coming week will be a movie on Friday. Our staff has decided to provide students with some choice in the movie that they watch next Friday. As a result, classroom teachers will communicate with students and parents early on in the week as to which movies will be offered at each grade level and then students and parents can choose which one the student will watch on Friday. Grade level teachers will show different movies in their classrooms, so students will report to the classroom within their grade level where the movie they choose is being shown. We will still be offering the original movie we chose of Big Hero 6, but also wanted to provide students with the opportunity to choose something else as well if they are interested! The suggested reading for The Wild Robot this week for families is to read through the end of the book, which is Chapter 80!       Upcoming Dates Monday, February 26th – Friday, March 2nd – CogAT Assessments for 2nd and 5th Grades Tuesday, February 27th – Petition Request Deadline for 2018-2019 School Year Tuesday, February 27th – Guest Speaker for Parents on How to Raise Resilient Children featuring Jacqueline Rhew, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium Thursday, March 1st - Deadline for Kindergarten Pre-Registration for next school year Thursday, March 1st – Week #5 Reading Logs Due for Family Reading Program Friday, March 2nd – Movie Reward for Family Reading Program Monday, March 5th – Spring MAP Assessments Begin Tuesday, March 6th – Marking Period 2 Report Cards Sent Home to Parents Tuesday, March 6th – Board of Education Meeting, 7-9 p.m. @ BHS Saturday, March 10th – 4th and 5th Grade Speech Tournament Saturday, March 10th – Orchestra Solo and Ensemble Concert, 8:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.     Great Grove Reads Wish by Barbara O’Connor Charlie (Charlotte) Reese has made the same wish multiple times everyday for as long as she can remember.  Whether she found a feather and stuck it in the ground, or skipped a stone on calm water or blew out a candle; it has always been the same wish. Until recently, Charlie has lived in Raleigh N.C with her mother and older sister. Her father, Scrappy, has been in and out of correctional facilities because of his bad temper. Charlie has a bit of her father’s temper in her and when she gets angry her first instinct is to fight. That’s better though than being like her mother who stays in bed all day and doesn’t talk to anyone. When social services decides that Charlie needs to stay with her aunt in Colby it is the last place Charlie wants to be. This is hill country and to Charlie that is lower than low. Then she meets Howard, a boy with an up-down walk who is smart, nice and self confident. When she discovers a stray dog that she names Wishbone she is sure that he is meant to be her pet. Through all of her new experiences and people that she has met Charlie starts to see the world differently.  Maybe her wish will come true after all. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grove-Avenue-School-Library/330160290370450 The Race Is Over!   Thanks to all of you who clipped and collected Box Tops for the Spring Collection at Grove! You helped our school raise over $619.00 in the four weeks! That means that you submitted 6,197 Box Tops and this is totally amazing! Our school has collectively made over $1000.00 from Box Tops for the 2017-2018 school year!  Thank you for all of your hard work! Grove rocked it! The following classes are the winners and those prizes will be coming soon!     1st Place Pizza Party   Breckan -824 Box Tops                      2nd Place Donut Party  Solorio - 526 Box Tops                     3rd Place Trinkets     Parker - 459 Box Tops Grove’s Tae Kwon Do enrichment program starts Wednesday, March 7th​. Open to all students. Sign up by Friday, March 2nd. $40 includes a t-shirt. 100% of the proceeds go to Grove! Register Here

Week 24 Newsletter

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The Grove Grizzly A Note from the Office I know that the tragedy that occurred in Parkland, FL is at the forefront of everyone’s mind this weekend. Our thoughts will continue to be with the students and families impacted by the shooting. A tragic event such as this always causes us to pause and consider our own procedures and practices, as our students’ safety is always our top priority. Should you have any questions regarding those procedures and practices, please feel free to contact me. I know that Dr. Harris also sent out a message to our community earlier today explaining that we work continuously with local law enforcement agencies to create and adjust crisis plans, as well as, conduct drills with our students and staff. He also shared a resource for parents with tips about how to talk with children should they have questions or concerns. I have included a link to an additional resource in English and a resource in Spanish for parents as well.      Family Reading Program We had a great week filled with the excitement of both the STEM Challenge Reward and the Coding and Lego Play Day! Our long weekend this weekend is a great opportunity for students to get some extra reading in, which will be celebrated this week with our Pajama and Pancake Day on Friday!! The suggested reading for The Wild Robot this week for families includes reading through Chapter 66.     6th Grade Parent Orientation Night Each year the two middle schools provide an evening program for parents with a child moving to sixth grade. The orientation night is designed to provide an introduction and overview of the opportunities and programs available at middle school. In addition to learning about middle school programs, parents will have a chance to meet staff members and tour the schools. The programs will run from 6:00-8:00pm. Station’s night is Tuesday, April 10th, and Prairie’s program is Wednesday, April 11th. More information will be coming home from the middle schools in the coming weeks.   Kindergarten Pre-Registration is Now Open!! Pre-Registration for any kindergarteners who will be starting in the fall is now open! For children who turn five-years-old on or before Sept. 1, Barrington 220 offers a standard half-day kindergarten (am, pm as needed) as well as four optional programs: Kindergarten Enrichment  Kindergarten Chinese Immersion Program Kindergarten Chinese Immersion + Enrichment Program  Kindergarten Spanish Dual Language Program   For important dates regarding kindergarten registration, detailed information about our programs, and resources and videos about kindergarten and the registration process please go to: https://www.barrington220.org/kindergarten   To get started with the registration process, please click on one of the links below: Instructions/Online Pre-Registration (English) Instructions/Online Pre-Registration (Spanish)   Upcoming Dates Monday, February 19th – No School, President’s Day Tuesday, February 20th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, February 20th – Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 p.m. @ BHS Wednesday, February 21st – Deadline for PTO Box Top Contest Wednesday, February 21st -Bridging the Digital Cultural Gap, Parent University, 6:30-8:00 p.m. @ GRC Thursday, February 22nd – 5th Grade Beginning Band Concert. 6:30-7:30 p.m. @ Station Middle School Friday, February 23rd – Pajama and Pancake Day for FRP Week #4 Reward Monday, February 26th – Friday, March 2nd – CogAT Assessments for 2nd and 5th Grades Tuesday, February 27th – Petition Request Deadline for 2018-2019 School Year Tuesday, February 27th – Guest Speaker for Parents on How to Raise Resilient Children featuring Jacqueline Rhew, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium Thursday, March 1st - Deadline for Kindergarten Pre-Registration for next school year Monday, March 5th – Spring MAP Assessments Begin Positive Claw Award  Week of January 26th  Week of February 2nd  Purchase Spring Break Travel Gift Cards!    Helping raise money to support our school is easier than you think!  Simply order gift cards through the Great Lakes Scrip Center Program (www.shopwithscrip.com) each month and Grove will receive a percentage back from each card purchased!   Gift cards can be used for your own daily shopping and on Spring Break Travel!  Some popular gift cards that are available:   Disney Vacations Southwest Airlines Delta Airlines American Airlines Avis Budget Hilton Hotels.com Four Points by Sheraton - Chicago Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts Grand Geneva Resort - Lake Geneva Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark Airbnb Groupon   Grove Family Enrollment Code: 4386953B56688 Orders will be due Friday, February 23rd and the cards can be picked up in the office on Friday, March 2nd.  Make checks payable to Grove Ave PTO and drop off in the office.  Envelopes should be addressed to Shop with Scrip Coordinator.  If you would like the cards to be sent home with your child, please email elvmahoney@yahoo.com.     On to the Finish Line!   Our Grove classroom horses are now starting their final week with Parker coming from behind and into third place! Anything can still happen, so please remember to clip and collect your Box Tops as the horses are headed straight to the finish! The horses in the top three positions this week are: 1st Place: Breckan 295 Box Tops 2nd Place: Solorio 322 Box Tops 3rd Place: Parker 251 Box Tops We have collected 3,184 Box Tops! It's been amazing to see this many Box Tops coming in week after week. Way to go Grove!

Week 23 Newsletter

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The Grove Grizzly A Note from the Office Happy Snow Day!! We hope all of our students enjoyed the snow day and took advantage of the opportunity to play outside in the snow building snowmen, snow forts, sledding, and maybe even having a snowball fight! Hopefully, they also took advantage of some extra time to read for the Family Reading Program!   As a result of our snow day on Friday, the school year will now be pushed back to end with our last day of school on Wednesday, May 30, 2018.   Family Reading Program We are now in our third week of the Family Reading Program!! Our Week #2 reward of the STEM Challenge that was scheduled for Friday will now take place on Monday. We will have our Week #3 celebration this coming Thursday since there is no school on Friday. We hope families are enjoying reading The Wild Robot together as much as we are enjoying talking about the book and hearing about it from students!!  The suggested reading for this week for families includes reading through Chapter 51.     Kindergarten Pre-Registration is Now Open!! Pre-Registration for any kindergarteners who will be starting in the fall is now open! For children who turn five-years-old on or before Sept. 1, Barrington 220 offers a standard half-day kindergarten (am, pm as needed) as well as four optional programs: Kindergarten Enrichment  Kindergarten Chinese Immersion Program Kindergarten Chinese Immersion + Enrichment Program  Kindergarten Spanish Dual Language Program   For important dates regarding kindergarten registration, detailed information about our programs, and resources and videos about kindergarten and the registration process please go to: https://www.barrington220.org/kindergarten   To get started with the registration process, please click on one of the links below: Instructions/Online Pre-Registration (English) Instructions/Online Pre-Registration (Spanish)   Petition Requests Over the last several years we have had a small number of requests for students to attend a school other than the building to which they have been assigned by the school district based on location of their home/residence within defined attendance area boundaries. Parents/guardians who feel they have a compelling reason to submit a transfer request, should complete the district's Transfer Request From and submit it to the attention of Dr. Craig Winkelman, Assistant Superintendent of Operations and K-12 Schools, prior to February 28, 2018. The form and information about the transfer request process can be accessed at the following web address:              https://www.barrington220.org/domain/3641   Upcoming Dates Monday, February 14th – STEM Challenge from FRP Week #2 Reward Tuesday, February 13th - Kindergarten Dual Language Information Meeting in Spanish, 6:30 p.m. @ Sunnyhill Wednesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Parties for 1st– 5th Grades, 1:00-2:00 p.m., Kindergarten parties 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 15th – End of Second Grading Period for Elementary Thursday, February 15th – Coding and Lego Play Day Reward for FRP Week #3 Friday, February 16th – No School for Students, Institute Day for Staff Monday, February 19th – No School, President’s Day Tuesday, February 20th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, February 20th – Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 p.m. @ BHS Wednesday, February 21st – Deadline for PTO Box Top Contest Wednesday, February 21st -Bridging the Digital Cultural Gap, Parent University, 6:30-8:00 p.m. @ GRC Thursday, February 22nd – 5th Grade Beginning Band Concert. 6:30-7:30 p.m. @ Station Middle School Friday, February 23rd – Pajama and Pancake Day for FRP Week #4 Reward Tuesday, February 27th – Petition Request Deadline for 2018-2019 School YearA Note From the Office   The Box Top Race Continues!  Our Grove classroom horses are getting really competitive and the horses in top three positions this week are: 1st Place: Breckan 341 Box Tops 2nd Place: Solorio 249 Box Tops 3rd Place: Clark 212 Box Tops Keep cutting and collecting and thank you for all of your support! We have collected 2,560 Box Tops already! Two more weeks to go!  Way to go Grove Grove’s Tae Kwon Do enrichment program starts Wednesday, March 7th​. Open to all students. Sign up by Friday, March 2nd. $40 includes a t-shirt. 100% of the proceeds go to Grove! Register Here Purchase Spring Break Travel Gift Cards!   Helping raise money to support our school is easier than you think!  Simply order gift cards through the Great Lakes Scrip Center Program (www.shopwithscrip.com) each month and Grove will receive a percentage back from each card purchased!   Gift cards can be used for your own daily shopping and on Spring Break Travel!  Some popular gift cards that are available:   Disney Vacations Southwest Airlines Delta Airlines American Airlines Avis Budget Hilton Hotels.com Four Points by Sheraton - Chicago Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts Grand Geneva Resort - Lake Geneva Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark Airbnb Groupon   Grove Family Enrollment Code: 4386953B56688 Orders will be due Friday, February 23rd and the cards can be picked up in the office on Friday, March 2nd.  Make checks payable to Grove Ave PTO and drop off in the office.  Envelopes should be addressed to Shop with Scrip Coordinator.  If you would like the cards to be sent home with your child, please email elvmahoney@yahoo.com.