Hubbard Woods Family Newsletter

This week has been filled with exciting events at Hubbard Woods! On Tuesday, we celebrated the official Ribbon Cutting for our new playground. It was a joy to see the enthusiasm and excitement from our students as we unveiled this fantastic addition to our school.

In preparation for the new playground, we took time to review rules and expectations for using the equipment to ensure everyone can play safely while having fun. This also served as a helpful reminder of our general recess expectations, reinforcing the importance of creating a FUN and SAFE environment during recess.

Check out this video clip of “Any Turkey Can Tango” from our Thanksgiving Sing on Seesaw.

What do you see? What do you hear?

My answer would be joy. The joy in our auditorium with over 300 kids singing together is indescribable and makes our yearly Thanksgiving Sing a favorite of mine.

I could go on and on about their pitch and rhythm, their understanding of form, or their creativity in composing/arranging/curating the songs, but I want to focus on the social-emotional impact of singing together. A great deal of science tells us that singing together impacts both physical and emotional well-being. With this lens, I want to offer some thoughts about our upcoming Winter Sing.

What makes our Winter Sing such a special tradition is you. This is the Sing where you get to sit with your child(ren). This is the Sing where families get to make music together. This is the Sing that brings our community together in a unique way.

This is also the Sing where kids observe your interactions with music and with singing. I encourage you to:

• Sing loudly no matter your pitch.

• Sing happily no matter your mood.

• Sing confidently no matter your self-perception.

Our singing tells a story, not only about the content we share through our creativity and curation but also about ourselves—how we collaborate with and listen to each other. We hope that what you see and hear when you join us for our Sings transcends “Cute!” and brings you to “Wow...”

Sing joyfully!

Gary

We are very excited for the annual Winter Sing, which is based on the book "Toys Meet Snow," on Wednesday, December 18th! Here are the performance times by last name:
9:00 AM - A-G

10:30 AM - H-M

1:00 PM - N-Z

To expedite this process, please ensure you complete the pre-registration process.

Traditionally, students will sit with their families during the time their families are in attendance for their child's performance. After checking in, we will have parents of kindergarten and first-grade students pick up their children from their homerooms for the performance. Second to fourth-grade students will meet their families in the lobby at the designated time. If you have any questions, please reach out to Gary Wendt at garywendt@winnetka36.org.

We want to ensure a safe dismissal of students. In order to help us have a safe and orderly dismissal process, we ask that you please do the following:

• Stay in your car. Please let your child or the children you are picking up come to you.
• Please have students cross at the crosswalk.
• Please wait your turn, and we ask that you do not cut the car line.
• Please do not park in the bus zone or the crosswalk.

We appreciate your support.

In advance of holiday events, we strongly encourage all parents/family members to proactively make a visit to your school to get your ID (Driver’s License) registered in our Raptor System or fill out this form at your earliest convenience (one per guest). This system allows the District to conduct an immediate background check on visitors during school hours so we can ensure that all those within our school buildings are safe and clear to be there. This must be done for each event you are attending; previous Raptor registrations will not suffice for future events. By taking care of this in advance of a holiday event, you should experience a more efficient entry process. If you are unable to do this in advance, remember to bring your drivers license or state ID the day of the event and arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the event in order to register.

To expedite the process even further, please fill out this form (one per guest).

Kindergarten enrollment: Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2025, are eligible to enroll for Kindergarten.

School Admissions and age requirements are addressed in School Board Policy 7:50 School Admissions and student Transfers to and from Non-District Schools.

2-Step Process to complete registration:

• Step 1: Click here to begin the online new student registration process.

• Step 2: Contact Maria Perez via email marizperez@winnetka36.org or phone 847-446-9400 to schedule a time to drop-in with final verification documents.

• Complete BOTH steps of new student registration BEFORE January 17, 2025 and receive a $40.00 discount applied to your child’s 2025/2026 student fees.

We plan to go outside whenever possible for recess. Our rule of thumb is “when in doubt, we go out.” That said, the weather is getting colder and we ask for families to partner with us to ensure students are prepared to go outside. Our ask is that you take a look at the weather in the morning and send students with the gear needed to head outside even in the colder weather.

When is it too cold to go outside for recess?

Only in the event of very cold days will we not be going outside for recess. In the morning, we will closely monitor the temperature and if the “feels like” temperature falls at 10 degrees or below we will plan for indoor recess. That said, if the day is sunny and students have winter gear we may head outside for a few minutes of fresh air. Please check with your teacher or administrator if you have questions.

Below are resources we use as guidance for our district to determine if we are outside or staying inside for recess.

How do we monitor the weather?

We will use the Weather Channel to monitor the weather. This gives us our “feels like” temperature.

We use the ISBE windchill guide for guidance.

The Dimension of Belonging featured in December is “Known” and monthly observances include Human Rights Month, Hannukah, and Christmas. Learn more by reading the Belonging Means… Newsletter which features contributions from The Skokie School and the Department of Communications, Safety & Security.

The District offers regular sessions for families to learn more about a variety of topics. View the entire 2024/2025 schedule here.

Up Next:

Understanding the IEP and 504 Processes: From Referral to Eligibility and Services (with Ms. Denise Matthews, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion, and Ms. Jackie Schwartz, Director of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion)

December 11, 2024

9:30 A.M.

Location: The Skokie School Community Room

This informational session is intended for Winnetka parents who would like to learn more about IEP and 504 services and processes. Parents will be informed about the referral and eligibility process as well the support and services that the District provides to students in grades K-8. This information is intended to assist parents with making informed decisions for IEP and 504 support.

Interested:

RSVP for this event here

If you missed it, view videos from past sessions:

Insights on K-8 Literacy Programming in The Winnetka Public Schools

What to Know About the Otus Parent Portal

AI Literacy Lessons for Grades 5-8

• Tuesday, December 10th - Progress reports will be made available to parents of students in grades 1 through 4 through the Parent Portal. Parents of kindergarten students will receive their reports via email.

• Tuesday, December 17th - School Board Meeting at 7:15pm at Washburne

• Wednesday, December 18th - Winter Sing (info. above)

• Monday, December 23rd-Friday, January 3rd - Winter Break

• Monday, January 6th - School Reopens