January Newsletter

Important Dates

January
6 School resumes

9 Five Schools, One Book Assembly

13 Fun Lunch Orders DUE (please note the date change)
14 District Spelling Bee 5:30pm @ KHS (note a change in time)
20 No school - MLK Jr. Day
21 Fun Lunch Orders DUE

22 Fun lunch - Reams Hot Dogs (please note the date change)
23 PTN meeting 6pm


February
5 Fun Lunch
7 Kindergarten concert

8 Kindergarten Registration (25’-26’)
12 Family Knight Out
14 Valentines Classroom Parties

14 End of Trimester 2
17 No school - Presidents Day

19 Fun lunch
20 PTN meeting 6pm

28 No school - Kane County Teacher Institue Day

Upcoming Five Schools, One Book 24-25 Top 10 Facts... 

1. What is Five Schools, One Book? The goal of Five Schools, One Book is to build a community of lifelong readers and we know families play an essential role. To support this goal, EVERY EC-5 learner in Kaneland will receive their very own book. Families will be encouraged to set aside time and develop a special reading routine so they can read and discuss the book together. 

2. There will be a Kickoff Assembly on Thursday, January 9th to launch the 5 Schools, One Book program. 

3. At the Kickoff Assembly, every EC-5 learner in Kaneland will get their very own book to take home and keep FOREVER! 

4. The program starts on January 9th and ends on January 31st. Raffle opportunities will be held on January 17th, 24th, and 31st. 

5. 1st-5th grader learners can earn raffle tickets by completing various activities that go along with each chapter. They simply read the chapter, complete the activity, fill out the back of the raffle ticket, and return it to school before that week’s drawing. Raffle tickets will be sent home with their new books on January 9th! 

6. Early Childhood and Kindergartener learners can earn raffle tickets by completing three activities in a row on their choice board and returning them to school. Their Choice Board can be folded and put directly in the drawing basket to be entered in the weekly Friday raffle. 

7. Everyone will receive a calendar with important information and due dates. (There will be a Grand Prize Culminating Activity announcement the week of January 13th.) 

8. In December, weekly videos were released revealing clues that are hidden around each building. Classes worked together to try to solve the puzzle to learn more about the book. 

9. Did you know students can visit the Escape Room at KMAC which is centered around the book. It is a fun and engaging way to dive deeper into the book and work collaboratively with others.  

10.  Teachers will be our actors in the kickoff assembly to introduce the book to our students. We are looking forward to reading together! 

Expectation Walks

It's time for our annual mid-year expectation walks to remind students of the expectations throughout our school.  Students will participate in these walks when we return from break on Thursday and Friday. 

Stations will include:

Bathroom

Exiting the Building

Hallway

Lunch/Recess 

Whole Body Listening

These stations will be facilitated by 5th-grade students and staff members. Feel free to ask your child the expectations for each of these areas as another review opportunity.

Final Data Collection for SIP Goal

We are in the final stretch of our School Improvement Goal focused on written responses to instructional-level texts, ensuring students answer questions by supporting their responses with text evidence and making connections. Based on the mid-point data our SIP Team has decided to modify our goal to 50% growth or 85% proficiency by February.  We will aim to meet our original 60% goal by May with continued practice and another check-in assessment.  We are proud of the students and teachers for all their hard work and dedication to this goal. 

Ways to support your child at home: 

Read passages together, ask open-ended questions about the text, encourage them to identify key details, use visual aids if needed, practice different question types ("who," "what," "when," "where," "why"), and provide positive feedback while helping them to find answers within the text

E-Learning Information and Reminders

This school year, should an Emergency Day be called due to inclement weather, Kaneland School district will be using e-Learning days in lieu of non-attendance days (snow days, cold days, or extreme heat days). The following are the guidelines for how learning will continue on the e-Learning Days in order to keep the learning progression continuing for all students. 

• The District will provide a regularly scheduled school day on emergency days via a e-Learning platform if the inclement weather is called prior to 8:00 pm the evening before. Students should access the Google Meets link for each class using the Canvas system.  Classes will be held according to the regular school day schedule with all Google Meet links posted at least 30 mins prior to the class session. 

• If inclement weather is called after 8:00 pm or the morning of the day, the district will have a traditional snow or extreme heat day with no classes and the session will be made up at the end of the school year. 

• Please use this link for resources for Google Meets

• THIS Google Meet resource

Please read the following document to understand more about E-Learning expectations for each grade span.

Delta Dental Assembly (K-2nd Grade)

The Delta Dental Assembly is scheduled for February 4th for our Kindergarten - 2nd Grade students. This assembly is an educational program called "Land of Smiles," which is a free, interactive presentation put on by the Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation that teaches young students about the importance of good oral hygiene habits through fun characters and activities, aiming to promote regular dental checkups and proper teeth cleaning techniques.

Click Here For More Information

A.C.E - After Class Enrichment
A.C.E is a FREE after-school program for John Stewart students! It is open to all students from Kindergarten to 5th grade (half-day kinders are welcome to come back at the end of the school day). Students will have the opportunity to choose 2 different A.C.E. classes for the four weeks it is held! One class is for the first two weeks, and the other is for the final two weeks.  Mark your calendar for the upcoming A.C.E Dates: (Correction) Wednesday - 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26  

Click Here: A.C.E. Parent Survey