Dear Emerson Families,

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families!

All the Best,

Tessa

Next Week

Monday April 22 - 8/7 Boys Volleyball VS Holmes

Tuesday April 23 - 8th Grade Maine South Musical Field Trip, 8/7 Boys Volleyball VS Lincoln

Wednesday April 24 - Emerson Beginning, Cadet and Jazz Band Concert

Thursday April 25 - Symphonic, Concert and Percussion Ensemble Concert, Choir Elementary Tour Field Trip

Friday April 26 - Emerson Music Assembly, Emerson/Lincoln Combined Chorus Clinic

We are quickly closing in on the end of the school year. With the warmer weather and vacations, here are a few quick reminders for reporting the attendance of your student:

• Attendance should be phoned in daily by 8am
• Attendance messages can be called in 24 hours a day/7 days a week
• Emailing the teachers does NOT replace letting the office know that your student will not be attending school. The absence still needs to be called in to the office.
• A phone call is required if the student will be more than 5/10 minutes late.
• If you are picking your student up early, this information can also be left on the attendance line.
• Students are to be IN THEIR SEATS in their homeroom by 8:05. The only door they will be able to enter through after 8:00 is the main door. This may result in your student being tardy to Homeroom. Doors open for entry at 7:55. Please have your student on school grounds by 7:55 to ensure arrival to class on time.

Please call the Emerson Office Attendance Line at 847-318-8110 and press 1 to report an absence or late arrival.

A local Rainbows peer group was recently initiated to provide a safe space for students in 1st - 8th grade to share their experiences associated with loss of a loved one and/or a changing family dynamic due to divorce, deployment, etc. Trained facilitators help encourage communication while identifying, navigating and discussing feelings amongst the group. A second session of the program will begin in September of 2024. Each session is 12 weeks long, meeting weekly in the evening for 1 hour.

Please note, we are looking for more volunteers to help facilitate these peer groups. Teachers will receive CPDU credits! Any interest or questions please contact Justine Karl, 847-340-1741 or Phyllis Lubinki, 312-659-6226

Please fill out this Google form to sign up and/or to be added to our communication list."

Rainbows Student Peer Group Sign up

The Lost and Found is OVERFLOWING. Please have your students stop by the tables and racks to collect their belongings. Thank you!

Dear Parents and Families:

Get Ready! The Scholastic Book Fair is coming our way (YAY!). Choosing their own books empowers kids and inspires them on their journey to becoming lifelong readers. AND—as always—every purchase at the Fair benefits our school.

Students can visit before or after school during fair hours. They may visit during the school day with a pass from a teacher (but NOT during lunch/recess).

Hours

Tuesday, April 30

7:35-8:00 AM

3:00-3:30 PM

Wednesday, May 1

7:35-8:00 AM

Thursday, May 2

7:35-8:00 AM

3:00-3:30 PM

We will send out photos of the fair so that students can preview materials before their visit. They can also browse the online flier (paper copies available in the LRC and main office) and shop our Virtual Book Fair website. All orders ship directly to your home, and shipping is free for book orders over $25. Need book ideas? Check-out these book blurbs.

When students buy from the Book Fair, some of their purchase money comes back to our school in the form of books! To pay for items, students can bring cash or use our Virtual Book Fair website to set-up a cash-free payment option called eWallet. This is a convenient digital account that your student can use for shopping at our Fair. Grandparents, friends, and others can contribute, too. Sorry, students cannot bring a credit/debit card unless it has their name on it. Please make sure to factor in our local tax rate (10.25%) when you estimate cost.

We’d like you to know upfront that even though the money loaded to your eWallet does not expire, there is no change given for remaining funds. The amount loaded must be spent at the fair, Scholastic's website, or donated to our school’s All for Books collection. To donate funds directly to our LRC book collection, visit the Emerson eWallet. Any size donation is greatly appreciated!

We’re excited to celebrate our love of books together at the Book Fair. Hope to see your students there!

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Contreras

EM Library Information Specialist

Please be sure to check your email for an important message sent on Monday of this week from Mrs. Shulman regarding Promotion and the End of the Year. Here are a few brief points:

• Promotion will be held on June 5th at 6:30pm at Maine East High School in the Auditorium
• SEATING IS LIMITED! EXTRA TICKETS ARE LIMITED! Due to capacity restrictions in the Auditorium, students will receive 4 tickets which will be distributed to them in school on May 22nd and they will be responsible for bringing them home.
• If you have extra tickets that you know you will not be using, please return them to the office so that we can pass them on to those looking for extra tickets.
• Extra tickets will be distributed AFTER June 1st. ONE extra ticket will be set aside per family if you are added to the list. If you wish to be put on the list for an extra ticket, please email Melissa Arnos at marnos@d64.org. If there are additional tickets remaining after everyone's request for one is fulfilled, they will be distributed accordingly, on a one by one basis.
• If someone in your party will require accessible seating at the ceremony, please email Melissa Arnos at marnos@d64.org
• Gowns and ribbons will be distributed in homeroom on May 22nd. There are NO caps, only gowns.

Please email the Emerson Office at em-secretaries@d64.org if your student DOES NOT plan to attend Maine South High School for the 24/25 school year. Please include the name of the school that they do plan to attend. In order to facilitate a smooth transition of records at the end of the school year for our 8th graders, we will separate these files and notify the district office that they will need to be transferred elsewhere. Thank you for your assistance.

The deadline to order 8th grade shirts has officially closed, however, PTO ordered some extras. Please place your order on the PTO website or by using this link below while supplies last:

https://emersonmspto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/249262

BACKGROUND

Judith Snow, a 25-year Park Ridge resident and dedicated member of the League of Women Voters, gave selflessly of her time and talents. She was a courageous and ethical leader. Her many friends and colleagues described her as conscientious, decent, dutiful, full of integrity, honorable, and principled.

When Judith Snow died unexpectedly in 1995, the League of Women Voters created the Judith L. Snow Memorial Fund. The League donated this Fund to the District 64 Elementary Learning Foundation, which created the Judith L. Snow Ethical Leadership Award to honor the memory of this outstanding citizen of Park Ridge, as well as the mission of the Foundation.

PURPOSE

The Judith L. Snow, Ethical Leadership Award, fosters awareness and respect for ethical behavior in a leadership role among District 64 8th-grade students. Award recipients will be recognized at the end-of-the-year celebration, as well as be presented with $250. The award is presented annually to one or two 8th-grade students at each middle school who demonstrate “ethical leadership."

Ethical leadership is defined as knowing your core values (Think Emerson SOARS and Lincoln ROARS), as well as having the courage to live by them in all parts of your life in service to the common good. It aligns your internal beliefs and values with your external behaviors and values for the purpose of advancing the common good. Ethical leaders are principled and lead with:

INTEGRITY*SELFLESSNESS*DEPENDABILITY*CARING*FAIRNESS

ELIGIBILITY

All D64 8th Grade students are eligible for the award. Members of the staff and student body should encourage any student who has demonstrated ethical leadership to consider submitting an application. Any student applying must secure a recommendation from a teacher or staff member, as well as a non-District 64 community member (coach, clergy, charitable organization leader). Student Application templates and recommendation forms are available online on the Emerson/Lincoln website.

SELECTION

Applications will be evaluated, and the award recipients will be announced at the end of the school year. The name of each award recipient will be engraved on the Ethical Leadership Award plaque displayed at each school. A monetary award to be used by the recipient as he or she chooses.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicant’s ethical and leadership skills, focusing on the following behaviors:

• Conduct within an organization or group.

• Demonstration of dependability, respect from/to others, giving to others, integrity, and teamwork.

• Involvement in an activity or activities demonstrating an understanding and implementation of ethical leadership.

• Recognition as an ethical leader by others.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Student Application Template

Teacher Recommendation Form

Community Member Recommendation Form

The Mirror Ball

Friday May 31st 7pm-9pm

Emerson gym

Dance and party the night away,

reflect back on our time at Emerson and

look toward the future!

The dance is for 8th grade students only.

Students should "dress to impress" (school appropriate attire required).

Tickets can be purchased for $30 on the PTO website under "Join PTO & shop" or at:

Order 8th grade Mirror Ball tickets here

Please contact the PTO at ems.pto.64@gmail.com with any questions regarding The Mirror Ball or 8th Grade Shirts.

April 23rd - Math Room 113, LA Room 109

April 25th - Math Room 209, LA Room 109, Misc Room 203

In ASSP, you can get help in math, language arts and miscellaneous (science and social studies) with a teacher from 3:05-4:00 PM. Come to ASSP if you need to:

• prepare for a test

• get questions answered from your homework

• review a concept that you missed or confuses you

• finish that writing assignment

Emerson Green Team and Go Green Park Ridge https://www.gogreenparkridge.org/ would like to invite you to our bi-annual Forest & Woodland Clean-up event on Saturday, April 27th, 1- 3 p.m. at the Forest Administration Center (NE corner of Devon and Dee). The cleanup will take place in the woods on the SouthWest corner of that same intersection.

Long pants & sleeves, hard-soled shoes, hat, a reusable water bottle, and gardening gloves are all recommended.

Also, bring a 5-gallon bucket (if you have one).

Plastic bags and gloves will be provided.

We hope to see you there!

Registration information for Worlds of Wonder 2024:

• Registration will open at 12:00 pm on Tuesday, February 20th, 2024.
• WOW registration will close on Monday, June 3rd, 2024.

More information about enrollment fees, schedules for the sessions, and course descriptions will be shared soon. Plus, any time information is shared, it will also be posted to the Worlds of Wonder page.

This month we celebrated Women’s History Month in our extended homeroom. Students had the chance to look at women who have left a historical impact in society and share what they learned by making a Biography Banner. These banners are on display in the hallways of Emerson.

During the week of March 11-15th, students completed the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) which assesses progress of students in grades 3-8 in meeting the Illinois Learning Standards in English language arts and mathematics. Students' attendance and preparedness was crucial for a successful testing week.

Dear D64 Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. It’s hard to believe we are in the final stretch of the school year, and we’ll soon be promoting our 8th graders to their respective high schools!

For the past six months, we have been taking a hard look at our Master Facilities Plan and the needs our students and staff have now and in the future. Through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and our architects, we have identified areas where our safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting our current and future needs. Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering doing major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.

The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path we will take forward, and to be transparent about our needs, we are hosting the following community engagement events, where I will lay out the issues we face and our proposed solutions. Each one of these sessions will include time for Q&A. If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP so we can plan and have the proper setup.

We have also designed a webpage that provides information, past presentations, and other useful tools that we want to share with you. To help our community better understand the state of our facilities, we have made video tours of our buildings, the first one of which is a look at Lincoln Middle School. Those resources can be found at d64.org/2024proposal. As we continue exploring this possibility, you can always reach out to me directly with any questions at bcollins@d64.org.

Our schools are community resources that have existed for nearly 100 years (Roosevelt, Field, and Lincoln will all turn 100 soon), and we want to protect our buildings, protect our children, and preserve our future.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ben Collins
Superintendent
Park Ridge-Niles District 64

Here is this week's Vocal Music Notes newsletter. Have a good Friday and wonderful weekend!

PORTILLOS - Dine to Donate

Join the Emerson PTO for dinner on Wednesday, April 24 from 5-8PM and 20% of the proceeds will be donated. Mention Emerson PTO or use code PORTILLOS20 with your order. See you there!

Teacher Appreciation Week Donations

Please help us celebrate all our wonderful teachers and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week on May 6 - 10 Just go to the PTO website membership toolkit or use the link below to donate your desired amount to be used on the teachers during that week. We will try to shower them with little treats and gifts all week with your help!

https://emersonmspto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/275012

We are also looking for items to be raffled off. Please contact Jiyonaubey@gmail.com or Christy Shebuski- clshebuski@gmail.com for drop off.

The Emerson PTO Flower Power Fundraiser

NOW OPEN through May 15! Beautify your garden, strengthen our local ecosystem, and support the Emerson PTO, which receives 50% of the sales. Products include bulbs, seeds, and seed mats that grow into the beautiful items you see on the website. Sales are online only and orders are shipped directly to your home for a shipping fee of $6.99. Use the link below to order:

Order FLOWER POWER Here

Lakeview Bus Lines is actively hiring school bus drivers for their Niles facility. Experience is not needed for this position, their team of trainers will teach and train you to be a licensed and certified School Bus Driver.

Perks

• Starting pay $35/hr
• Healthcare benefits for full-time employees
• Paid vacation
• Flexible work schedules

Apply online at sunrisebus.com or scan the QR code on the attached flyer. Call to schedule an interview at 630-442-1004.

Email: em-office@d64.org
Website: https://www.d64.org/ems
Location: 8101 North Cumberland Avenue, Niles, IL, USA
Phone: 847-318-8110