Dear Emerson Families,

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

All the Best,

Tessa

Next Week

Monday April 8 - Solar Eclipse Viewing Event

Tuesday April 9 - Boys Volleyball VS Grove

Tuesday April 9 - Emerson PTO Meeting

Thursday April 11 - Boys Volleyball VS Iroquois

Thursday April 11 - D64 Jazz Fest @ Lincoln

On Monday, April 8, 2024 all of North America will experience an eclipse of the sun. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks any part of the sun. This is the first time since 2017 a solar eclipse will be visible on a path across the entire continental United States.

The eclipse in Park Ridge will be a deep partial (with magnitude 93.5%) beginning at 12:51 p.m and mid-eclipse at 2:07 p.m. To participate in this event, our school has organized a structured, supervised viewing opportunity for students.

Safety during the eclipse viewing is our top priority. Looking directly at the sun is unsafe. Because the sun will never be totally covered during our eclipse experience, students will be required to wear special eclipse glasses during the entire time they are outside. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun. We have purchased NASA-endorsed, eclipse-safe viewing glasses for all students and staff.

Because of these safety concerns, other precautionary measures will be taken to protect students:

• P.E. classes during the eclipse event will be held indoors.
• Students will have indoor recess during the time of the eclipse.
• All students participating in the eclipse viewing are required to have a completed permission form. At this point, if a student is missing their permission slip, they will view televised coverage
• Students will follow a revised schedule for this date in order to accomodate the viewing of the eclipse.

The Lost and Found is OVERFLOWING. Please have your students stop by the tables and racks to collect their belongings. Thank you!

Report Cards for Trimester 2 are now available through the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Please see the instructions below. If you do not have printing capabilities and would like a hard copy of your student's report card, please email the main office at em-secretaries@d64.org.

Emerson Middle School will host a Career Day for 8th graders on Wednesday, May 15! The purpose of Career Day is to expose students to a variety of careers in order to jumpstart their thinking about the future. We are currently recruiting parent volunteers to speak to homerooms (30 students) for 15 minutes. Parents will rotate to 4-5 homerooms. In addition to sharing information about your career, each session will include a few minutes for student questions. Career Day activities will occur between 8:40-11:20 a.m. If you, a family member, or friend is interested in volunteering to speak about a career, please complete this form by Friday, April 12.

Emerson PTO is taking orders for this year’s 8th Grade T-shirts. These shirts will be for the 8th graders only and will include all the 8th grade names on the back side. Shirts should arrive in early May and the school will designate a day at end of the school year when the students will be encouraged to wear these.

Please be sure to order your shirt ASAP and no later than April 19 (deadline moved up), abc indicate in your order how you want your student's name displayed on the shirt. Shirts cost $14.00 each and sizes range from Adult Small to Adult 3XL.

Purchase your shirts on the PTO website:

https://emersonmspto.membershiptoolkit.com/packet/4092

Please contact the PTO with any questions at ems.pto.64@gmail.com

The Mirror Ball

Friday May 31st 7pm-9pm

Emerson MPR

$30

Dance and party the night away,

reflect back on our time at Emerson and

look toward the future!

8th grade students buy tickets

on the PTO website at:

8th grade Mirror Ball tickets

Please contact the PTO at ems.pto.64@gmail.com with any questions

Join us to view two short films that will take us into the heart of the battle for water justice.

“WORLD OF WATER” PROGRAM

Doors open at 5:30pm

Park Ridge Community Church

Film watch parties are free ($8 suggested donation).

Advanced registration is highly recommended.

View the complete festival schedule. Watch the film trailers.

See you there!

April 9th - Math Room 113, LA Room 109

April 11th - Math Room 209, LA Room 109, Misc Room 203

In ASSP, you can get help in math, language arts and miscellaneous (science and social studies) with a teacher from 3:05-4:00 PM. Come to ASSP if you need to:

• prepare for a test

• get questions answered from your homework

• review a concept that you missed or confuses you

• finish that writing assignment

Emerson Green Team and Go Green Park Ridge https://www.gogreenparkridge.org/ would like to invite you to our bi-annual Forest & Woodland Clean-Up event on Saturday, April 27th from 1-3pm.

Over the past 4+ years we have partnered with local organizations such as the Wilderness Scouts/Princesses, Boy/Girl/Explorer Scouts, church groups, various Chamber of Commerce members, local businesses and other special-interest groups totaling more than 1,700 volunteers.

Help us contribute to our ecosystem’s health by spending a couple of hours outside, getting some fresh spring air, cleaning up the environment and serving our fantastic community.

Registration information for Worlds of Wonder 2024:

• Registration will open at 12:00 pm on Tuesday, February 20th, 2024.
• WOW registration will close on Monday, June 3rd, 2024.

More information about enrollment fees, schedules for the sessions, and course descriptions will be shared soon. Plus, any time information is shared, it will also be posted to the Worlds of Wonder page.

This month we celebrated Women’s History Month in our extended homeroom. Students had the chance to look at women who have left a historical impact in society and share what they learned by making a Biography Banner. These banners are on display in the hallways of Emerson.

During the week of March 11-15th, students completed the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) which assesses progress of students in grades 3-8 in meeting the Illinois Learning Standards in English language arts and mathematics. Students' attendance and preparedness was crucial for a successful testing week.

Dear D64 Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. It’s hard to believe we are in the final stretch of the school year, and we’ll soon be promoting our 8th graders to their respective high schools!

For the past six months, we have been taking a hard look at our Master Facilities Plan and the needs our students and staff have now and in the future. Through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and our architects, we have identified areas where our safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting our current and future needs. Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering doing major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.

The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path we will take forward, and to be transparent about our needs, we are hosting the following community engagement events, where I will lay out the issues we face and our proposed solutions. Each one of these sessions will include time for Q&A. If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP so we can plan and have the proper setup.

We have also designed a webpage that provides information, past presentations, and other useful tools that we want to share with you. To help our community better understand the state of our facilities, we have made video tours of our buildings, the first one of which is a look at Lincoln Middle School. Those resources can be found at d64.org/2024proposal. As we continue exploring this possibility, you can always reach out to me directly with any questions at bcollins@d64.org.

Our schools are community resources that have existed for nearly 100 years (Roosevelt, Field, and Lincoln will all turn 100 soon), and we want to protect our buildings, protect our children, and preserve our future.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ben Collins
Superintendent
Park Ridge-Niles District 64

Here is this week's Vocal Music Notes newsletter. Have a good Friday and wonderful weekend!

The Emerson PTO is very excited to announce our first annual Flower Power Fundraiser open now through May 15!

Beautify your garden and support our local ecosystem. In return the Emerson PTO receives 50% of the sales which means that your support helps fund many of the wonderful activities our students enjoy including socials, fun events outside of school, beautification of school grounds, classroom supplies, art and music programs, staff appreciation efforts, and more.

Important things to note:

• Sales are online only;
• All orders are shipped directly to your home for a shipping fee of $6.99;
• Orders are shipped after April 1;
• Products include bulbs, seeds, and seed mats that grow into the beautiful items you see on the website.

We very much appreciate your support of our first annual Flower Power Fundraiser. Happy planting!

Please help us celebrate all our wonderful teachers and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week on May 6 - 10

Just go to the PTO website membership toolkit or use the link below to donate your desired amount to be used on the teachers during that week. We will try to shower them with little treats and gifts all week with your help!

https://emersonmspto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/275012

We are also looking for items to be raffled off. Please contact Jiyonaubey@gmail.com or Christy Shebuski- clshebuski@gmail.com for drop off.

Lakeview Bus Lines is actively hiring school bus drivers for their Niles facility. Experience is not needed for this position, their team of trainers will teach and train you to be a licensed and certified School Bus Driver.

Perks

• Starting pay $35/hr
• Healthcare benefits for full-time employees
• Paid vacation
• Flexible work schedules

Apply online at sunrisebus.com or scan the QR code on the attached flyer. Call to schedule an interview at 630-442-1004.

Email: em-office@d64.org
Website: https://www.d64.org/ems
Location: 8101 North Cumberland Avenue, Niles, IL, USA
Phone: 847-318-8110