The Way of the Wildcat

COMPASSION: The Ntambo (lion) is one of our Silas Willard Wildcats. The lion represents the incredibly important skill of demonstrating compassion. For the purpose of our monthly focus we are going to define compassion in the following manner:

• Caring about each others’ needs

• Showing kindness when we can

• Desiring to help people in need

We will focus on the demonstration of compassion or visible acts of compassion among students and staff. Students and staff who are caught being compassionate will earn a leaf to place upon the compassion tree in the foyer of the front hall. These leaves will be added to our compassion tree!
Those that go above and beyond in demonstrating compassion will earn a red heart. Once nominated, Dr. Springer will announce these compassionate acts of the heart the following day-on the morning announcements, call the student down to complete their heart for the compassion tree, make a great phone call home, and provide the student with a prize!

At the very end of the month, we will have grade-level dance parties for all of our students who have demonstrated compassion throughout the month. Additionally, our tree will be full of leaves and hearts to remind us of our students' and staff's demonstration of compassion.

Dr. Springer is also guest reading books about compassion in classrooms across the school. We will be wearing orange every Friday in September to recognize our focus on compassion!

Thank you for following our arrival and dismissal procedures. We are able to get students into school on time and dismissed from pick-up in less than 10 minutes each day! A few things that would help the process run even smoother are found below:

• There is absolutely NO exit from the west parking lot onto Fremont St. This is a one-way entry into the parking lot that must then exit onto Fifer St.
• Parents picking up students from kindergarten will need to remain on the grass outside of the doors. Please remain in the grassy area for pick-up.
• Do not leave cars parked and unattended in the "U" area. Remain in your car and we will call for your students.
• Pull ALL the way up in the "U" area. Trust the process and follow the staff members' guidance in the "U" area pick-up. If a staff member is asking you to pull up or motioning for you to pull up, simply do so. We are all doing our best to get you in and out of arrival/dismissal as quickly and safely as possible.

We will be having school safety drills over the next couple of weeks to ensure that everyone is aware of our procedures for emergency situations. These are regularly required drills that take place each year.

School Pictures will take place on Wednesday, October 12th! Interstate Studios will be here to take our student and staff photos. More information to come in the near future!

We will be having a Scholastic Book Fair at Silas Willard, starting on the 18th of October. This will be open the firstr night of Parent Teacher Conferences on October 20.

Please join us on either October 20 or October 25 for parent/teacher conferences. More details will be provided in the near future!

Do you want an activity pass for your student to attend CUSD #205 home activities and athletic events free of charge? If so, you will need to request an activity pass. Please contact the school office at 309-973-2015 to request an activity pass. Once passes are provided to the school, the office will distribute passes to those who have requested them.

Please go to https://silas.galesburg205.org/ to check out our website! You will find our Silas Willard Parent Calendar linked at the bottom of the page with upcoming events and activities at Silas Willard!