The Bears Blast

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Dear Howe Parents,

School is in full swing, and the crisp fall weather has officially arrived! By this point in the year, classrooms have fully established expectations, and students are developing a strong sense of their role as learners within their classroom communities.

Our reading program continues to engage students with rich vocabulary and meaningful stories, helping them grow as confident readers. This month, we will hold a full-school assembly to recognize students for their positive engagement in learning—a celebration of the effort and commitment we see each day.

As students enjoy time outside, we’d like to remind everyone about the importance of following playground expectations to help keep recess fun and safe.

We are also excited about upcoming events:

• PTO Trunk-or-Treat – Friday, October 17

• 2nd & 3rd Grade Music Concert – October 23

In addition, please remember that all students must be in full compliance by October 15, as required by Illinois law, in order to remain in school. Please see the notes below from Mrs. Ramirez for more details.

Finally, with the shift toward cooler fall weather, we encourage families to send children to school with proper outdoor clothing to stay warm and comfortable during recess and arrival/dismissal times.

Thank you for your continued partnership in making Howe a safe and supportive place for every child to learn and grow.

Warmly,

Chris Anderson
Principal, Howe Elementary

Dear Parents:

As required by the Illinois School Code and the Illinois Department of Public Health, please note the following health requirements.

Kindergarten or a New Student

• Proof of health examination, including health history to be completed by the parent

• Proof of required immunizations

• Proof of eye examination

• Proof of dental examination

Failure to comply with these requirements by the end of the day on October 15th, or 30 days following registration for the first-time registrants, of the current school year will result in the student’s exclusion from school until the requirements have been met.

Notices of missing records have been sent home with your child. If your child has an upcoming appointment, please send an appointment confirmation to sramirez@bpd3.org. If you have questions, please contact our Health Clerk, Mrs. Ramirez at (847) 599-5351.

Thank you.

PBIS at Howe Elementary

At Howe Elementary, we use PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) to build a safe, positive, and supportive learning environment where every child can grow and succeed.

PBIS is about teaching, modeling, and celebrating positive behaviors in every part of the school—so students know exactly what is expected and how to do their best.

Our Howe Expectations

At Howe, we focus on four simple expectations that guide student behavior in classrooms, hallways, playgrounds, and beyond:

⭐ Be Respectful – Treat others the way you want to be treated.
⭐ Be Responsible – Take care of your learning, your belongings, and our school.
⭐ Be Safe – Make choices that keep yourself and others safe.
⭐ Be Ready to Learn – Come prepared, stay focused, and give your best effort.

How PBIS Works at Howe

1. Teaching & Practicing – Students learn what expectations look like in all areas of the school, and staff model and practice them with students.

2. Recognizing Positive Behavior – Staff notice and celebrate when students demonstrate our four Howe expectations.

3. Support & Reteaching – If a student struggles, staff respond with consistency and support to help them learn from mistakes.

How Parents Can Support PBIS at Home

Families play a big role in reinforcing PBIS! Here are some easy ways to support your child:

✅ Remind your child of the Howe Expectations – Ask them what it looks like to be Respectful, Responsible, Safe, and Ready to Learn at school.

✅ Practice at home – Have your child show you what each expectation looks like:

• Respectful – using kind words at home, listening when someone else is talking.

• Responsible – helping with chores, taking care of their belongings.

• Safe – walking inside, wearing a seatbelt, following family safety rules.

• Ready to Learn – packing their backpack, getting a good night’s sleep, and being on time for school.

✅ Connect school and home – Celebrate when your child shows these expectations at home, just like we do at Howe!

Parents,

Please utilize the Parent Portal to stay up to date with your child's progress. Grades, attendance, and other school communication can be found here. It is a valuable resource for our parents.

If you are not connected through your Parent Portal account in PowerSchool, you can always reach out to the main office with any questions. (847-599-5362)

October

7 - SIP Day; Early Release 1:45pm

9 - PTO meeting 5:30pm @Howe

13 - No School; Indigenous People Day

16 - Fire Drill with Fire Department support

17 - Trunk or Treat - PTO

20 - Board Meeting 6:30 @BPMS

23 - Music Concert 2nd and 3rd grade 6:30pm @HW (doors 6pm)

31 - Halloween

Dear Howe Families,

The Howe PTO would like to officially welcome all our new and returning families to the 2025-2026 school year! Now that we are well into the school year, we want to take a moment to introduce ourselves and share a little about who we are.

We are a nonprofit group made up of dedicated volunteer parents, guardians, and staff committed to supporting the educational and recreational needs of our students. Our goal is to promote open communication and foster a strong sense of community between administration, teachers, and families.

If you’re wondering who is part of the PTO — that’s you! If you’re reading this, you are already a valued part of our school community. We warmly invite you to join our monthly meetings, which can be attended in person or virtually. Your participation and ideas are always welcome!

This year, we’ve already kicked off with some exciting events, and it has been wonderful to see so much support and participation from all of you. Thank you for your enthusiasm and involvement!

We also kindly ask that you take a moment to fill out a quick survey to share your feedback and ideas. Your input is invaluable as we plan future activities and initiatives. If you provided an email at any of our events, please rest assured that we will only use it for specific communications related to PTO activities. Most updates and information will be shared through Class Dojo.



Looking ahead, our next big event is Trunk or Treat on October 17th, 2025.

More details will be coming soon!

Thank you once again for your time, support, and commitment to making this a fantastic year for our students and community.

Warm regards,
The Howe PTO Team

Fundraising survey link

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Thank you for your support!

Visit our website at: PTO | Howe Elementary School (bpd3.org)

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/669660500900200/

Our students need to be at school everyday! Please help us in fighting Truancy as a team. We need to teach our students the importance of their education as well as learning the lifelong skill of showing up. School becomes increasingly difficult the more a student is absent, which reduces confidence and brings anxiety. Let's help them succeed by sending them to school everyday.

Howe Families,

A child's attendance at school has one of the largest impacts on their development for so many reasons. First, we are teaching them the importance of an education by making it a priority to attend daily. We teach them routines that they will carry through life, such as being punctual, present and focused on a purpose. Also, looking at our district's trends, attendance has become an area of concern and focus, as we have had a large increase in absences since recovering from schools being closed down. The truth is that we have to recover from this trend and make school a priority again. Below is a comparison of the percentage of students who are Truant as compared to the state average. Truancy is defined as the problem or situation of children being absent from school regularly without permission. (Cambridge) The numbers in the chart mean the following, based on our current student count of 375 students. If we have a truancy rate of 30%, that equates to saying that over 113 students attending Howe school have been absent a minimum of 9 school days. That is 1,017 school days missed (113 X 9). That is 6,610.5 hours of instruction (1,017 X 6.5). When students return after just one day of being absent, we know that it can be hard to catch up and not get frustrated because they missed the day before. We need our students in class to receive all of the support that we have prepared so that they grow as much as they can each day.

At the end of the year, we are required to submit all absences to the state, regardless of being excused, or not. Our goal is to reduce the number of students who are absent from school. This does not mean that we want, or expect students to attend students if they are ill.

As you can see from the chart above, we focused on this last year and saw a significant decrease in our truancy rates. I challenge our community to continue to improve and beat the state percentage this year.

Students will be recognized for Perfect Attendance during each of our monthly celebrations.

Reminders for what you can do at home to help with having students ready to come to school and learn each day is to start with creating regular routines for bedtimes. Help them turn screens off an hour before their bedtime so that their bodies unwind and are ready for rest. Get them up at a regular time and make sure you feed them breakfast, or that they participate in getting breakfast at school each day.

Thank you for your continued partnership in your child's education.

Daily Schedule:

Students enter: 8:55-9:05 AM

School Day begins: 9:05 AM

School Day ends: 3:45 PM

SIP Day Schedule (Early Release; The first Tuesday of every month):

Students enter: 8:55-9:05 AM

School :Day begins 9:05 AM

School Day ends: 1:45 PM

Reminder about making adjustments to your child's transportation.

Parents/Guardians must call the office BEFORE 3:00 PM if you are planning to pick your child up and they normally take the bus. There are a lot of moving parts at the end of the day and this must be arranged ahead of time. If you show up at the end of the day and ask to take your child home, we cannot pull students from the bus because it causes major delays in our end of the day systems which will not be permitted. They will be sent home on the bus. We appreciate your support in helping us get our students home safely.

Each month, the district has an early release day for our buildings. This means that at Howe, we dismiss 2 hours earlier at 1:45 PM. When our students leave, our teachers receive Professional Development to look at teaching practices and review building data.

During the school day, we change things up completely for our students. We focus on community and team up with Buddy Classrooms where our students can meet new friends and learn with other teachers. We start the day off by having a full-school assembly to review expectations, discuss our progress and celebrate all that is going well in our school. For the rest of the day, they have opportunities to do many activities, which include buddy reading, math games, SEL activities, Team Building, and Specials. They even eat lunch and have recess together. It is a chance for them to do something different and to do it with others.

Parents/Guardians,

We have received reports from our bus drivers and the church that we have some families parking in the church parking lot and walking across to pick up their child(ren) during dismissal. This has caused some alarm from drivers not being able to see pedestrians when they are crossing between the buses. Please be sure not to cross in between any buses and only use crosswalks around the building to access the building.

In case you didn't hear, we wanted to make sure you heard that Howe School has moved from a Comprehensive status on the Illinois School Report Card to the status of Commendable. The staff of this building are amazing and work very hard to provide the best education for your children everyday. It takes a team to reach this status, which includes the support of our families. Congratulations to our community. We should be proud.