Monday, March 10th - REGISTRATION DUE for early bird discount

Tuesday March 11th - Thursday March 13th - Illinois Science Assessment (5th Grade)

Tuesday March 11th- Dine to Donate at Chipotle for Band and Orchestra (Flyer attached)

Monday March 24th-Friday March 28th - Spring Break, No School

Saturday, April 5th - Science Olympiad

After spring break, the Carpenter faculty works together on a very difficult but important process. At this time, we begin to create class lists for the next school year. It is a very long process that has many stages.

Because the placing of students in classrooms for next year is such an important decision, we use a very specific and detailed process for all children. We consider six criteria in making our decisions, with no one being more important than another. The following criteria are considered together as a whole before placements are made:

• The total number of children in all grade-level classes needs to be equal.

• The ratio of girls and boys should be balanced in each grade level class.

• Ability levels of students need to be balanced in each grade level class.

• Leadership skills and other affective characteristics need to be balanced.

• Students’ learning styles should be matched appropriately with teachers’ instructional styles.

• Some student combinations should be split for social or academic reasons.

If you would like to provide specific information about your child to assist in the homeroom placement selection, please submit a letter/email by Friday, March 21, 2025. That information might include the parents’ view of how the child learns best, the environment that seems to suit him or her best, peer social matches to possibly avoid (not always possible), and any other pertinent details. Such information will be considered as one component of our process, but the final decision about class assignments rests with the principal and the teachers. Even if you submitted a letter in the past, I'm asking if you'd like something to be considered for 2025-26, I would like a new letter/email as situations and individuals change.

Due to the nature and complexity of this task, we cannot reduce the process to simply accepting requests for specific teachers. PLEASE BE AWARE, LETTERS THAT CONTAIN TEACHERS’ NAMES WILL NOT BE GIVEN CONSIDERATION IN THE PROCESS. I ALSO ASK THAT YOU NOT PUT OUR TEACHERS IN AN AWKWARD POSITION BY ASKING THEM SPECIFICALLY FOR A HOMEROOM PLACEMENT. At times, they are not able to follow through on a request and I do not want them to feel responsible for not being able to follow through or for those requests to interfere with our other considerations.

Any letters received after Friday, March 21st will not be considered in the process. Please note that the teachers and I spend an inordinate amount of time on this particular process and we take it very seriously for all of our students.

Lastly, please note that once homeroom assignments are made and letters are sent in August, we do not accept requests for changes for all of the reasons stated above. So, please take the opportunity now to share your thoughts. If you have questions or feel you need to have a conversation with me that our letter method doesn't provide, please contact me as I'd rather have this conversation now than a complicated conversation in August.

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Regarding Registration/Leaving Carpenter? - if you haven't registered, please do so. Knowing our numbers of students is critical in making determinations on staffing and spacing for 2025-2026. If you know now that your child(ren) are not returning to Carpenter in 2025-2026, if you could email me that information, that would be great. Even though I don't want to hear that you are leaving, it too is very important for staffing/spacing purposes. I appreciate your cooperation.

Carpenter Elementary School

Currently on Exhibit through March 18, 2025

Triple Scoop’d Ice Cream

801 Devon Ave., Park Ridge

Our Art Representatives:

Grade 1

Hillevi Dalheim Evan Koh Sylvia MacArthur Connor McDonough Vida Petrovic Lucy Steffen

Grade 2

Brendan Kirkby Tommy McNelis Bella Moore Avery Rath Hana Xu

Grade 3

Dylan Cadiz Ella Huettinger Eliana Page Nicky Truty

Grade 4

Anna Andrusiak Oscar Kazarian Sawyer Lee-Wong Eliana Letizia John McNelis Nina Tebo

Grade 5

Max Biscaglio Bela Coffman Decker Foley Camille Lynch Colin Robert Genevieve Suh Sydney Yah

CHECK OUT THEIR WORK BELOW IN THE VIDEO!

Holidays To Acknowledge

We have an upcoming holiday that we will acknowledge in a few weeks. Below is some information that is meant to help build a better understanding of our community. This is just a snapshot and does not include everything about the holidays:

• Ramadan (Evening of Friday, February 28 through Sunday, March 30)
• Ramadan is a holy month of fasting, introspection, and prayer for Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. They break their fasts by sharing meals with family and friends. Eid-al-Fitr is at the end of Ramadan, also known as the festival of breaking the fast.
• What should you say to those who celebrate? The traditional Arabic greeting is Ramadan Mubarak, which translates to Blessed Ramadan or Happy Ramadan.
• Click here to learn more.

We know Ramadan will be starting soon and are checking if there are any families that need any accommodations during this time around eating, schedules, PE, recess, or anything else.