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

Student Portal - TLC Schedule

Happy Friday, Eagle Community.

These March weeks are action packed here at Emerson! Team Sports/Volleyball, Fine Arts/High School Musical Jr. and Standardized Testing/Illinois Science Assessment (8th) and IAR are currently top of mind among students and staff, in addition to the core academics and electives. Testing-related, we ask you to please support your child's success with timeliness and a little extra eye on nourishment in the weeks leading up to Spring break.

In the "I wonder what it's like to be a middle schooler in the lunchroom" department, ask your kids to share more about the pretty impressive array of culinary options made available by Quest Foods. You may find them sharing more info than "how was your day?" if your kids are like mine. Top sellers are the meal combo of the day (#1 is the taco combo), Chicken Caesar salads, pizza of course and the staple of the menu, truly exceptional chocolate chip cookies. I have sampled one or two, and as of this week have established a firm personal policy not to enjoy these too often because... they're terrific. While I do encourage milk accompaniment, I can't say many students have taken my suggestion to heart, but they'll continue to have me smiling and chirping at them while I'm here for Tessa Shulman until early May. During lunch, the staff and admin circulate, maintaining a level of decorum, recognizing the lunch periods are important social times for the students, I really appreciate how involved the teachers are in connecting with the students and over-seeing the lunchroom as supervisors during this time. The students respond well when their most central role models are so highly involved and visible. Yesterday this included a quick speed walk outside and maybe a few eye-rolls, which didn't stop anyone!

Thank you for your support in middle school!

Dr. Needlman

Interim Principal

Emerson Middle School

To begin registration, please visit your PowerSchool parent portal at ps.d64.org. This applies to both students returning to Emerson AND to our incoming 6th grade students. Once logged in, please click on “forms” on the left hand side, click on the “enrollment” tab, and then begin completing the forms for the 2025-2026 school year. If for any reason you can not log in to your parent portal and you have tried resetting your password, please contact the main office at 847-318-8110 or you can email em-secretaries@d64.org for assistance.

Once registration is submitted, you will receive an invoice from the District Office within 3-5 days. Please note, this is NOT a registration approval. You will receive a separate email confirming registration approval. If you have any questions regarding the registration process, please email the Administrative Secretary, Melissa Arnos at marnos@d64.org. She will be happy to assist you.

Has your student recently lost their Winter Coat? How about a single shoe? Maybe even their fifth pair of gloves or their PE Uniform (with their name on it, none the less!)? Come peek in the Lost and Found while you stop in to see High School Musical, Jr! this weekend! You never know what you may find!

To Parents/Guardians:

The Illinois 5Essentials school climate survey for parents opens today! I am pleased to invite all parents to participate and would like to encourage you to share your thoughts. The survey should take about 20 minutes or less to complete.

The survey focuses on the five “essential” areas that research has shown are key components for school success: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved Families, Supportive Environment, and Ambitious Instruction.

Your participation will help us understand the conditions at our school and guide improvements. Your identity and individual survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child. The 5Essentials Survey is sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and was developed in collaboration with the University of Chicago.

Three helpful tips before you enter the survey:

• Please focus on your experiences during the current school year.
• Take care to select the correct school and community (you’d be surprised how many schools in Illinois have the same name)!
• If you have a student at more than one school, we invite you to complete a survey for each location.

Please visit this link to begin: https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/

The survey will close on March 31, 2025.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping to improve the environment for student success in District 64.

Sincerely,

Tessa Shulman

Principal

Emerson will host a Career Day for 8th graders on Wednesday, May 14th! 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 - 20 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 Thursday, April 17.

February was an exciting month in Physical Education, as students engaged in Pickleball, Badminton, and a week dedicated to net games. These activities provided valuable opportunities for students to develop their understanding of game rules, demonstrate sportsmanship, and participate in safe and active play.

As we move into March, we begin the final trimester of the school year with new activities. This month, students will participate in Archery, Teacher Choice activities, and continue with their fitness center rotation. These experiences will reinforce key skills, including rule adherence, sportsmanship, and safe physical engagement.

The 7th and 8th Grade Girls’ Volleyball season is approaching its conclusion, with the Conference Tournament set for mid-March. For schedules and updates, please visit the Girls’ Volleyball Athletics page. Meanwhile, 7th and 8th Grade Boys’ Volleyball tryouts took place during the first week of March. Additional information can be found on the Boys’ Volleyball Athletics page.

Our intramural program continues to offer students opportunities to stay active after school. Sessions run from 3:00 to 4:00 PM, with an activity bus available at 4:00 PM for transportation. For details on upcoming activities, please click here.

Students in need of a new PE uniform may purchase one with cash or online via MySchoolBucks. T-shirts and shorts are available for $7 each. If you have any questions, please contact your student’s PE teacher.

We look forward to another great month of activity and engagement in PE!

Spring is just around the corner, and what better way to welcome it than by supporting Emerson Middle School through our Flower Power Fundraiser!

Shop Online: https://bit.ly/EMSflower

Now through May 15

Orders ship after April 1 (directly to your home, $6.99 shipping fee)

Products include: Bulbs, seeds, and seed mats

50% of all sales go directly to the Emerson PTO to support student events, classroom supplies, arts & music programs, staff appreciation, and more!

Your purchase helps our school bloom—thank you for your support!

DINE TO DONATE AT CHIPOTLE PARK RIDGE!

SUPPORT D64 BOPA

BAND & ORCHESTRA PARENT ASSOCIATION

TUESDAY, MARCH 11
5:00 - 9:00 PM
Chipotle
119 S. Northwest Hwy, Park Ridge

USE PROMO CODE: 4MK68BD

or show the attached flyer

For Questions, please contact:
Christine Erickson bopa64@gmail.com

Emerson students were busy the month of February in extended homeroom. We celebrated International Mother Language Day by recognizing all the different languages spoken in the homes of Emerson students. Our Emerson community speaks 22 languages from 25 countries. The top 5 languages spoken are Polish, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, and Ukrainian.

Students also completed the Illinois 5Essentials Survey this month. The 5E Survey is a research-based school improvement system that identifies 5 indicators that lead to improved outcomes. The 5 indicators measured in this survey are as follows: effective leaders, collaborative teachers, involved families, supportive environments, and ambitious instruction. This survey gives students, teachers, and parents an opportunity to provide feedback about their experiences at Emerson. This feedback will help us make improvements at Emerson over time. The students demonstrated patience getting through this survey.

On a final note, with the completion of Trimester 2, we recognize our students who went above and beyond to act safely and be responsible for their learning and behavior. Core and elective teachers have selected a student or two to be recognized in a WEMS segment that will air Friday, March 14th. It is important to encourage all our students to follow the SOARS Behavior Matrix by showing respect, offering empathy, acting safely, being responsible, and showing self-regulation and self-awareness at Emerson Middle School.

Please click the link below to see who our SOARS ticket recipients were for the month of February!

As a reminder, the state deadline for 6th grade dental exams is in May. If you have not already done so, please upload your completed dental examination form to PowerSchool. An exam dated after 11/15/23 will fulfill the requirement. If you need to schedule an appointment, please do it now to ensure completion by the deadline. Thank you!

Monday 3/10 - Math Room 301, LA Room 109

Tuesday 3/11 - Math Room 301, LA Room 102

Thursday 3/13 - Math Room 301, LA Room 109 Science/Social Studies Room 207

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

• 8th grade Promo Party “Midnight in Paris” Friday, May 16th 7-9 pm. Tickets will go on sale now. https://emersonmspto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/321507

• Emerson PTO March Dine to Donate is at Fry Chicken’ Fries located at 8439 W Golf Road in Niles. Show the attached flyer or mention Emerson PTO with your order and 20% will be donated. The Dine to Donate will be ALL DAY on Thursday, March 13th. Stop by and grab lunch, dinner or both!

• Save the date for our next Pickwick Movie Night featuring Minecraft on Thursday, April 3rd at 6:30PM. Look for more details next week!

• Our friends at the Park Ridge Library have recently launched their strategic planning process, which cannot happen without input from the community. Please take a few minutes to respond to our online survey. Your answers will help the Library formulate a plan for the next four years, so they can continue offering programs, services and materials that work for the whole community.

• Spiritwear Store Great Present ideas! There are sales posted every week with flat rate shipping regardless of order size. Check out our updated store.