It is this time of year, every year, that has us counting our blessings and thinking about everything that we are grateful to have in our lives. This year, more than ever, is the realization of the importance of people and relationships we have established that mean so much. This is especially true of our Grove Family! We are so thankful for our wonderful students who bring energy and joy to our lives each day, even in the virtual setting!! We are also grateful for the work our parents are doing to support their children with logging on to Zoom each day, helping with assignments, and providing additional feedback to our students in the absence of our physical presence when we would be able to do those things ourselves. It is with gratitude that we thank you for your partnership in your child’s education and our daily efforts to continue each child’s growth and development. We wish everyone a healthy and meaningful Thanksgiving shared in a safe way with those with whom you love. We are grateful for each and every member of our Grove Community!!!
Grove Winter Cheer
The Grove Staff has been working to plan some fun and safe activities for students, as we now know that we will be in distance learning for a while and we want to provide some special things for our community to look forward to as members of our Grove family. Please see below for what is to come for our students!!!
Winter Spirit Days
Students and staff are invited to participate in a series of spirit days throughout the months of December and January. Most of the activities are being held on Mondays, however, there are a few weeks when we don’t have school on a Monday, so the spirit day will be held on the first day of the week when school is in session. We also have one day, pajama day, that is added in on the Friday to follow our all school winter musical, which is a Grove tradition!!
Monday, November 30th - Grove Gear All Year!! Wear your favorite Grove shirt or school colors!!
Monday, December 7th - West Coast Winter!! Do you wish you were somewhere warm? Dress like you are on the beach!!
Monday, December 7th - Staff Lip Sync in the morning announcements
Monday, December 14th - SOUP-er Sweaters!! Wear an ugly sweater or favorite warm winter sweater!!!
Thursday, December 17th - All School Virtual Winter Musical, 7 p.m.
Friday, December 18th - Long Winter’s Nap!! Wear your pajamas all day!!
Monday, December 21st - Winter is a Window to the World!! Wear or share something that represents your heritage, culture, holidays, or is important to you and your family traditions.
Thursday, January 7th - New Year, New Me - Dress to Impress in Your Best or Shiniest Clothes to celebrate the end of one year and welcoming a new one!!!
Monday, January 11th - Snow Day!! Wear all white or your favorite winter gear: hats, beanies, scarves, and winter socks!!
Tuesday, January 19th - Fleece or flannel? Dress in your favorite warm winter wear!
Monday, January 25th - Grove Gear All Year!! Wear your favorite Grove shirt or school colors!!
Students Cheer or Chant for Grove Spirit
All Grove students are invited to show off their school spirit by creating a cheer or chant to be submitted for the morning announcements. Student submissions will be shared once a week on Mondays in the morning announcements. Students and parents can submit their entries to this Google Form.
Grove All School Winter Musical
One long standing tradition at Grove is a winter musical. In the past, it was an all school event, however, in recent years our school has been so large that we were unable to accommodate the entire school at one time. As a result the last two years we held a 1st grade and 4th grade winter musical. Due to our current restrictions the grade level musicals are also on hold. As a result, we still want to do something special for our Grove students and families, and since we will be doing it virtually, we would like to include the entire school once again! We are currently working on putting together an all school winter musical for our families to watch virtually on the evening of Thursday, December 17th!!
Our Grove music teacher, Mrs. Boyer, has chosen a song for each grade and already introduced the song and started practicing it with students!! In order to record students and put together a virtual program for our community, we are inviting students to come as a class to BHS on the afternoon of either December 7th or December 8th to be recorded singing the song together (while wearing masks) on the outdoor stage that is currently set-up. Students will also stand 6 feet apart from one another during the recording. Each class has been assigned a tentative time slot (about 15 min. each) for the recording. Click on the link for the tentative schedule for the recording of classes! This may slightly interrupt some afternoon class activities, however, we feel that it will result in a special opportunity for our students and performance for our families, so we greatly appreciate everyone’s flexibility. Once recorded, the footage from each class in a grade level will be put together for a cohesive song for the grade level.
Additional information will be shared with parents directly from Mrs. Boyer with details for the day of the recording, however, we wanted to share this with families now, so they can start to plan accordingly. This is of course an optional activity for students to participate in, however, we hope many of our students will participate in order to provide this special event for our community!!
School Pictures Details
Grove Avenue student pictures will be taken on Tuesday, December 8th and Thursday, December 10th in the main gym from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Parents will drop off their students at the main office door where their child will be checked in and directed to the gym. Parents' please wait in your car for your student(s), pictures will only take about 5 minutes.
There will be two cameras set-up in the gym and students will walk in and stand on social distanced markings on the ground. When it is their turn, they will stand on a spot in front of the backdrop, take off their mask, and have their picture taken. They will then immediately put their mask back on and head out to their parents waiting in the parking lot.
Parents should sign-up for a specific time for their child to have their picture taken by using the link to the Sign-up Genius page for pictures. If a family is uncomfortable with having their child participate in picture day, we will work with the family to obtain another photo of the student that will be appropriate for the yearbook.
Pictures can be ordered online by visiting https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry. Use the online ordering code: 55791J. If you place your order prior to picture day, there is no shipping fee. If you place your order after picture day, you may incur a small shipping fee and your order will ship directly to your home.
1st-2nd and 3rd-5th Grades Art Clubs
Mr. Root shared a virtual art room for Art Club with students in their art classes on Seesaw as both an announcement AND in their "journal."
Art Club for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades will start on Tuesday, December 1st via Zoom!
Art Club for 1st & 2nd grades will start on Thursday, December 3rd via Zoom!
Students who are interested in being a part of Art Club, just join the zoom link at 2:45 (until 3:30). There is no sign-up. 1st and 2nd grades will meet every Thursday that we have school through mid-Spring! 3rd-5th grades will meet every Tuesday that we have school through mid-Spring! Students should be able to just click the special Art Club zoom button in the virtual art room, but if that doesn't work, Mr. Root also shared a code for the Art Club zoom in SeeSaw.
Grove Library Books
As we are doing school material swaps next week and the weeks after, this would be a great time to return your child’s overdue Grove library books. This would also be a good time to get some new books from our library as well.
Mrs. Banach recently sent out a listing of the books that are overdue to parents on each child’s account from our library. Please collect these books and drop them off when you come to the school to pick up the new materials. That way we can get the books into quarantine so they can be checked out to other students. If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Banach directly at rbanach@barrington220.org.
Barrington Giving Days
Barrington Giving Day provides necessities to children and their families within District 220 (Barrington Illinois Schools) who either qualify as low-income or are experiencing a hardship. These families that meet the criteria are sent invitations to attend Giving Day Events throughout the year. At the main event in December, they provide warm coats, snow pants, boots, hats/gloves, blankets, books, toys, household paper products, baby products, food and more. Barrington Giving Day is partnering with District 220 to help families during times of crisis.
Over 900 families, including over 1500 children, in our community are in need of our help. The more donations received, the more children that can be helped! It is the goal of Barrington Giving Day to improve the lives of those in our community that for whatever reason have experienced hard-times, and it is more critical this year than ever! Please see the attached flyer for details of items that are needed or how to help/volunteer with the actual event. There are collection boxes for donated items throughout the community, including boxes at Grove where donations can be dropped off.
This year, our school specifically is collecting new games for children. There is an amazon wish list to show which games are desired. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/32VNOWNAP8X44
BHS Winter Wonderfestival and Light Show
Our BHS Fine Arts students and staff were inspired to create something special for the community during this difficult year and to provide students with an opportunity to share their talents. In partnership with BHS, Student Council and parent groups, the fine arts department is designing a large-scale event which is fun, safe, and inclusive. Wonderfest will feature an extensive light show set to music (designed by our amazing tech students!), live outdoor performances by BHS students, video projections on the side of the building, and fun winter-themed decorations celebrating various groups, clubs, sports, activities, and each of the schools in our district...all of which will be experienced from the safety of your own car! You might even catch a glimpse of our very own BHS principal dressed in a festive and jolly holiday outfit!
The event will run on the evenings of December 11th - 13th. Tickets can be purchased through our box office link. You will notice that tickets are spaced in 15 minute increments as we anticipate wide community interest and we want to make sure Wonderfest is enjoyable and safe. The cost of tickets will be used to support the cost of the event itself.
Thank you for considering bringing your family to this safe, celebratory, and large-scale event celebrating our wonderful students and programs.
Social Emotional Support for Students
As our students continue to navigate our consistently changing landscape due to COVID 19, we are continuously considering how our children are coping and their overall mental health. Please know that our school and district are here to support our students who are struggling and may benefit from additional resources. Please see the attached letter regarding this and view the short video explaining how families can access the online META app that is also available to connect students with counselors while at home. Please also keep in mind that parents can contact our school based support directly by emailing our Social Worker, Mr. Walcott, at cwalcott@barrington220.org or our School Psychologist, Tonya Tompkins-Wisz, at ttompkins@barrington220.org.
Upcoming Dates
Tuesday, November 24th - 1st Trimester Report Cards Available to Parents in IC
Wednesday, November 25th - No School, Thanksgiving Break
Thursday, November 26th - No School, Thanksgiving
Friday, November 27th - No School, Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 30th - All School Spirit Day, Wear Grove Gear or School Colors
Monday, December 7th - West Coast Winter!! Dress like you are on the beach!!
Monday, December 7th - Grove Winter Musical Recordings @ BHS
Tuesday, December 8th - Grove Winter Musical Recordings @ BHS
Tuesday, December 8th - School Pictures
Thursday, December 10th - School Pictures
Friday, December 11th - Winter Wonderfest Light Show Drive-Thru Event @ BHS
Saturday, December 12th - Winter Wonderfest Light Show Drive-Thru Event @ BHS
Sunday, December 13th - Winter Wonderfest Light Show Drive-Thru Event @ BHS
Monday, December 14th - SOUP-er Sweaters!! Wear an ugly sweater or favorite warm winter sweater!!!
Thursday, December 17th - All School Virtual Winter Musical, 7 p.m.
Friday, December 18th - Pajama Day
Monday, December 21st - Winter is a Window to the World!! Wear or share something that represents your heritage, culture, holidays, or is important to you and your family traditions.
Tuesday, December 22nd - Winter Class Parties, 2:00-2:30 p.m.
December 23rd - January 6th - Winter Break, No School for Students
Thursday, January 7th - School Resumes
