Greeley Greeting

Dear Greeley Families,

What a wonderful week it was at Greeley! Thank you to all of our families who joined us for Go to School Night and our PTO Fall Family Fun Fest. I loved seeing so many of you in our classrooms, connecting with teachers, and then back together on Friday evening enjoying time as a community.

A special thank you to our incredible staff for the time, thought, and care they put into making Go to School Night such a welcoming and informative experience. I also want to thank our amazing PTO and volunteers for creating such a fun and joyful Fall Family Fun Fest! Seeing our playground filled with students and families laughing, playing, and enjoying one another’s company was a wonderful way to end the week.

I am so grateful to be part of a community that continues to show up for our students, our school, and one another. I hope you enjoy this week’s Greeley Greeting!

Warmly,
Lindsay

September

• Thursday 9/17-Wednesday 9/30 Fall Benchmark Assessment Window Open

October

• Thursday 10/1: Hearing and Vision Screening, Parent Teacher Conference Portal Opens
• Friday 10/2: Greeley Spiritwear Day
• Wednesday 10/7: Winnetka Parent Institute 10:30am at Skokie School (Exploring Innovamat: A Fresh Approach to K–4 Mathematics)
• Friday, 10/16: Kindergarten Monarch Migration
• Monday 10/19: Benchmark Assessment Data Released (Powerschool and Otus)
• Thursday and Friday 10/22-10/23: Parent Teacher Conferences
• Tuesday 10/27: PTO Pumpkin Showcase
• Friday 10/30: Greeley Ghost Dance

November

• Tuesday 11/12-Thursday 11/14: PTO Bookfair

Our kindergarten students are deeply immersed in their study of monarch butterflies, and their learning is extending far beyond the walls of the classroom! Whether I see students in the lunchroom, at recess, in the hallways, or during a classroom visit, I am continually amazed by the facts, observations, and excitement they eagerly share about monarchs and their incredible life cycle and migration.

Last week, I had the opportunity to join Ms. Jaksic’s class for a particularly special moment as students released monarch butterflies they had watched hatch and develop. This was authentic, experiential learning at its best—students were not simply reading about a butterfly’s life cycle or migration; they were observing it firsthand, caring for living creatures, and then becoming part of their journey. As the butterflies took flight, the students sang songs they had learned and wished them safe travels on their upcoming migration. It was a joyful and meaningful culmination of their learning!

The experience will continue with one of our favorite kindergarten traditions, the Monarch Migration, on Friday, October 16 at 9:15 a.m. Kindergarten families are invited to join us, and interested community members are also welcome to gather outside near the kindergarten playground as our kindergarten students bring their learning to life by “migrating” around the playground themselves!

These are the experiences that make learning memorable--when students can wonder, observe, experience, and participate in what they are learning.

Thank you to everyone who shared feedback about this year’s Winter Sharing! Based on the strong preference from families to holding Winter Sharing at Greeley after school, we are excited to host grade-level Winter Sharing performances on Wednesday, December 16.

Our first performance will begin with Kindergarten at 4:00 p.m., allowing us time to safely dismiss all students at the end of the school day before welcoming families into the building. The auditorium will open at 3:45 p.m. for Kindergarten families.

Each grade-level performance will last approximately 20 minutes, with time built into the schedule for families to exit the auditorium and for the next group of families to enter and find their seats. We have structured the tentative times to allow grade levels with the most common siblings (grades 2/4 and 1/3) to be back to back with one another to ease transitions.

Tentative Winter Sharing Performance Schedule

• Kindergarten: 4:00 p.m.

• Grade 1: 4:30 p.m.

• Grade 3: 5:00 p.m.

• Grade 2: 6:00 p.m.

• Grade 4: 6:30 p.m.

We look forward to welcoming our families to Greeley for this special tradition and celebrating the joy of the season together!

The Winnetka Public Schools is reviewing how instructional technology is used across our K–8 classrooms, including during the school day and for learning at home, and we want to hear from parents and caregivers.

Your feedback through this brief anonymous survey will help District leadership better understand families’ perspectives and experiences as we work to establish clear, consistent expectations across grade levels and strengthen the resources and guidance we provide to families.

If you have multiple children enrolled in The Winnetka Public Schools, please respond based on your eldest child’s experience. Please complete the survey by October 2, 2026.

School Hours:

8:20am | Morning supervision begins

8:30am | School Doors open

8:37am | School promptly begins

2:45pm | Grades K-4 dismissal (Mondays only)

3:15pm | Grades K-4 dismissal (Tuesday-Friday)

Office Email: danarahkhem@winnetka36.org

Location: 275 Fairview Avenue Winnetka, IL 60093
Phone: (847)-446-6060