Lincolnwood Elementary School

Hello Superstar Families-

We have had a great third week of the school year!

• Students are acclimating to routines, making new friends, and taking on challenges.
• Classroom communities are becoming stronger and working to embrace our STARS norms - being self aware, thinkers, allies, responsible, and safe.
• Students have also taken their first standardized math and reading assessments of the year. We were very impressed with how our Superstars tackled these with focus, a positive attitude, and relatively low stress/anxiety.
• Printed literacy and math assessment score reports will go home to families today - thanks for reviewing these and keeping them in perspective as one data point of many that will capture your student's academic progress.

We are so proud of our students and grateful to our wonderful educators.

We look forward to seeing you at Curriculum Night on 9/22, a great opportunity to see the spaces in which your students are learning and meet and connect with our staff.

In September and October, there are many additional opportunities to connect with and support the Lincolnwood community. More info on these is in our PTA Presidents' notes and other sections below.

Thanks for reading this newsletter and reaching out with any questions!

In partnership,

Laura & Kojo

Laura Pinsof, Principal

Kojo Sheppard, Assistant Principal

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Back to School Block Party and those of you who contributed for t-shirts, or have already jumped in to volunteer as Room Reps or to help with events throughout the year. Below are key updates from the PTA, but don’t forget that you can check the PTA website for updates anytime!

• Are you interested in being a Room Representative for your child's homeroom? Room Reps help educators organize events, manage communications and act as a liaison for information between school, PTA, and families. It would be great to have two Room Reps per class. Fill out this PTA volunteer form and check the "Room Rep" box if you're interested or send an email to Kerry Quiñones (keshurtz@gmail.com). We'd love to have you! We still need Room Reps for a variety of classes, particularly for our STEP classrooms, O’Connor, Zedelashvili, Mull, Alexander, Mitchell, Dobrin, but would welcome additional reps for the other classes too!

• Our first PTA meeting will be Tuesday, September 15th at 7pm in the library or you can join via Zoom. Everyone is welcome to join, and we’d love to see our new families!

• Register here for the Superstar Scramble. Our annual 5K and 1 mile walk/run/move-n-groove around the neighborhood will take place Sunday, September 27th from 9-11am. All adults and children in the community are welcome to join for a morning of exercise, community spirit, and fundraising for the D65 PEP Fund.

• Looking ahead to Friday, October 23 from 6-8pm, we’re excited to host Fall Fest, bringing a beloved Kingsley tradition to Lincolnwood! If you’re up for helping to plan this event, fill out the PTA volunteer form, or feel free to contact Katy Shapiro (katywshapiro@gmail.com) or Annie Sutula (anniesutula@gmail.com).
  
  

• Join fellow Lincolnwood parents on October 3rd from 7-10pm for an evening of music, food and fun at an Oktoberfest Superstar Social! All are welcome! Get your tickets here!

Receiving or Opting Out of PTA Communication

Now that the year is underway, the PTA will begin to communicate periodically with information about upcoming activities and events. If you would like to opt out of receiving these communications please complete this short form. All families who do not opt out, will begin receiving PTA communications.

Don’t forget, you can always find up to date PTA information at our new PTA website!

Annie Sutula & Katy Shapiro

Lincolnwood PTA Co-Presidents

Mon. 9/14: Right At School Discovery Clubs Begin

Tues. 9/15:

• 3:35pm: Lincolnwood Bike-a-Thon
• 7-8pm: Lincolnwood PTA Meeting - in the library or Zoom
• 7-7:30pm: Math Playground Parent/Caregiver Info Session via Zoom

Mon. 9/21: NO SCHOOL for Yom Kippur

Tues. 9/22, 5pm-7pm: Lincolnwood Curriculum Night

Wed. 9/23: NO SCHOOL for School Improvement Day

Fri. 9/25: RAS Discovery Club Registration Closes

Sun. 9/27, 8:30am-11am: Lincolnwood Superstar Scramble

Mon. 9/28: First Day of Books and Breakfast

Tues. 10/6 & Wed. 10/7, 4pm-7pm: Parent Educator Conferences (In Person or Virtual options)

Fri, 10/9: NO SCHOOL - conference week non-attendance day

Mon, 10/10: NO SCHOOL - Indigenous Peoples Day

• Crossing guards are now assigned to Colfax and McDaniel and Grant and McDaniel (moved from Bennett and McDaniel). Thank you for having your walking student use these intersections and for letting us know if you have positive shouts out or constructive feedback regarding our assigned crossing guards.
  
  
• We are very excited about all of the students who are biking to school and we recognize that our bike racks are CROWDED (this is really an understatement!). We have requested additional bike rack installation from the district - thanks for your patience as we wait for these to be installed.
  
  
• In accordance with the State of Illinois Bike Walk Education in Schools Act HB 4799) and City of Evanston requirements, Lincolnwood will be designating Tuesday, September 15th as our Bike, Walk, Roll to School Day. We recognize that we are a unique community with many walkers/bikers/scooters and a smaller but significant number of students who require bus or car transportation to school. With that in mind, we will use the day to generally promote active forms of transportation and safety for all. The day will end with an afterschool Cub Scout organized Bike-a-Thon for anyone who is able to join. See info below!

District 65 is partnering with researchers at Northwestern to co-design an after-school playful math club and where students, teachers, and researchers can play, puzzle, and build together.

Lincolnwood will host the Math Playground starting October 19 after school on Mondays through the end of May.

More info is below and a parent/caregiver info session will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, 9/15 at 7pm. This conflicts with the PTA meeting so if you cannot make it and want more info, do not hesitate to reach out to the project director, Jen Munson at jmunson@northwestern.edu.

Curriculum Night will take place on Tuesday, September 22nd from 5-7pm. Sessions 1 and 2 will be exactly the same, so you only need to attend one session per child. Here is the schedule for that night:

• 5:00pm-5:10pm: Families attending session #1 arrive

• 5:10pm-5:40pm: Session #1 (all K-5 classroom teachers presenting/hosting in their room)

• 5:40pm-5:50pm: Transition/Families attending session #2 arrive

• 5:50pm-6:10pm: Administration-led session & staff introductions in the auditorium

• 6:10pm-6:20pm: Transition/Families attending only session #1 depart

• 6:20pm-6:50pm: Session #2 (all K-5 classroom teachers presenting/hosting in their room)

• 6:50pm-7:00pm: Departure

Discovery Club Scholarships are available to qualified families - please reach out to Ms. Pinsof or Social Worker Anne Wildman for more information.

Lincolnwood encourages any interested parents to become approved to volunteer at the school! Staff will reach out about volunteer opportunities throughout the school year.

• There are two types of volunteers - limited (supervised) and comprehensive (unsupervised).
• Limited volunteers are only able to volunteer at school occasionally and must be supervised by school personnel at all times. Limited volunteers may not chaperone field trips.
• All interested Lincolnwood parent/caregivers are encouraged to become Comprehensive Volunteers if possible.
  
  

Here are the steps to take if you are interested in volunteering:

1. Fill out a Volunteer Form (Limited and Comprehensive)
2. Fill out a Background Check Form (Comprehensive)
3. Print and take this form to an Accurate Biometrics location. (Comprehensive)