The Wildcat

• Dates to know
• Food drive information
• Volunteer Information
• Spell Bowl
• Parent book club
• ILEARN Checkpoint Information
• Cold Weather Information
• Highland Highlights Newsletter
• Absenteeism Information
• Food Bank Information
• Tutoring at the Library
• Extracurricular
• Cafeteria Information
• Arrival and Dismissal

Student Council Spirit Week-see below

Monday, November 17th-Spell Bowl competition @ 5:30pm

Thursday, November 20th-PTO meeting @ 2:30pm

-PTO meeting 2:40PM in the library.

Student Council/K-Kids Food Drive Nov. 3rd-Nov. 21st.

12/8-12/11 Holiday Treasure Santa Shop (during your students library time)
12/0- Hot Chocolate With Santa 5pm-7pm

Hot Cocoa with Santa!
Join us Tuesday, December 9th from 5–7 PM for a magical evening filled with Christmas cheer and special guest appearances!

$5 per child (Johnston families only) includes hot cocoa, a holiday cookie, and a photo with Santa!

RSVP early for a special Christmas surprise with your tickets!

Plus — Santa’s Shop will be OPEN in the library for families to shop together!

Don’t miss this holly jolly night — Santa’s coming back to Johnston!

Sign up genius for volunteers coming soon!

Holiday Treasure Santa Shop is almost here!
Students will shop Dec 8–11 during library time for special gifts for family and friends!

Preview the shop: https://2422280.holidaytreasures.com/
Volunteer here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0549ABAD28A7FDC61-60013643-santa

Help us make this holiday event a success!

We love our volunteers! For our children's safety, we always have to scan the license of our volunteers before they can be in classrooms, go on field trips, or any other activities. Thanks for all you do for our students and staff!

Mason Frederick

Niko Corona

Emily Roytan

Gretchen Bishop

Brayden McDonald

Ellie Villagomez

Bellamy Avina

Tre Sanchez

Leilani Milla

Isabel Hernandez

Gracelyn Mueller

**Practies are Tuesday/Thursday after school (2:30-3:15)

• • 📖 Chapter 6: What Kids Need

    Here, Haidt shifts toward solutions by highlighting what children do need to thrive: connection, challenge, independence, real-world play, and a sense of meaning. He argues that a healthy childhood is built on experiences that stretch kids just enough to help them grow. These include risk-taking (in safe environments), in-person relationships, service to others, and free time away from screens. The digital world often undermines these needs by offering comfort, stimulation, and escape—but not growth. Haidt encourages parents to intentionally rebuild these foundational aspects of childhood.

    Reflection Questions:

    • Which of the five key needs (connection, challenge, independence, play, and purpose) are strong in your child’s life right now?
      
      

    • Which one could you focus on improving this month?

    
    

  Anyone can access it here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk2iNrwl0pdy-TG4SObKStZgXvXlmC91b
  

Or download a digital copy or audiobook through the library app, Libby.

Mark your calendar for an in-person book club meeting on December 11th to discuss the book about halfway through the "virtual" book club. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/NYD3q8HecauB9Erz8

Your child brought home their ILEARN Family Portal Access code today with instructions on how to access their ILEARN scores. You can also find the instructions here: https://indiana.portal.cambiumast.com/content/contentresources/en/INDIANA%20FAMILY%20PORTAL%20BROCHURE%20FOR%20FAMILIES.pdf

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Fall is here bringing cooler weather. Please make sure your student is wearing appropriate clothing and bringing a jacket for recess. Please also make sure to keep some chapstick in their backpack. This is a time where it can be difficult to distinguish between Allergy Symptoms. Cold Symptoms, Covid Symptoms, and Flu Symptoms. Some suggestions on how to navigate through the season are:

1. If your student has a known Seasonal allergy, prevention of these symptoms are possible with Allergy Medication.
2. Covid is still lurking around, symptoms are Headache, Fever, Cough, Sore Throat. If your student has Covid type symptoms, doing a home test can be helpful with preventing the spread in school.
3. Influenza is typically characterized by sudden onset of chills, body aches, fever, and respiratory symptoms.
4. When in doubt, reach out to the nurse for help!

Chapped Lips are also on the rise in the health office!

Believe it or not, I am already seeing quite a few students with chapped lips. Chapped lips are actually caused by the cool outdoor weather and artificial heat in our homes and school. We naturally lick our lips when our lips feel dry, thus causing chapped lips. With chapped lips, prevention with the use of chapstick is the best way to avoid chapped lips. I strongly recommend a simple non-flavored chapstick. Plain old vaseline or Aquafor is great! I do not recommend flavored chapsticks because they contain an "alcohol based flavoring" and only leads to further dryness. I know, the flavored ones are more fun, but it will only make matters worse. Using chapstick not only prevents chapped lips, but it also allows the skin on the lips to heal by providing a barrier to lip licking.

I am wishing you all a wonderful cozy fall season!!

Yours In Health,

Cheryl Progler, RN

Just a reminder that we try and have our students go outside each day to run around and get some fresh air. With our weather changing (day to day!), please be sure your child has outerwear so that he/she is comfortable outside.

If you are in need of any items, Mrs. Jennings has several gently used coats and a few pairs of boots looking for a new home. Some sizes are limited but hopefully, we can find something to fit your needs. These coats and boots are for school-age students who attend Johnston Elementary. Please contact her at 219-923-2428 if she may be of assistance.

Did you received the first edition of the Highland Highlights Newsletter? Check out all the exciting things that are happening at all of our School Town of Highland schools!

https://www.highland.k12.in.us/page/highland-highlights-newsletter

Through the above link, people can subscribe to the Highland Highlights if they did not automatically receive it in their inbox, as well as view previous editions.

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Families,

This year, your child will participate in ILEARN checkpoints as part of Indiana’s statewide assessment program. These checkpoints help provide valuable information about student progress and growth throughout the school year.

Please see the attached document from the Indiana Department of Education for more details about the purpose of these checkpoints and what you can expect. We encourage you to read through the information carefully.

If you have any questions after reviewing the attachment, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank you for your continued support.

3rd grade ILEARN Checkpoint Guidance for Families.pdf

4th grade ILEARN Checkpoint Guidance for Families.pdf

5th grade ILEARN Checkpoint Guidance for Families.pdf

Please remember that students must go home first after school and are welcome to return to the playground after checking in with an adult. Alternatively, an adult can meet them at the school and accompany them to the playground.

Please note that we do not provide staff supervision on the playground outside of school hours.

We love having our students enjoy the playground after school hours!

As we head into the Thanksgiving season, we want to ensure that our community is aware of the local food distribution events hosted by the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. Please see the following images for more information on events in our community.

We now provide access to live tutoring for LCPL cardholders at tutor.com/lcplin (also found on our databases pages).

Tutor.com allows students to get live help from a tutor in almost any subject from kindergarten through college. Students interact with tutors via an online whiteboard where they can send text, upload documents, graph equations, and more. Students and tutors do not interact through video. Creating an account is optional but allows students to save their work and access the transcript for their session.

Tutor.com receives 150,000 applications from prospective tutors. Applicants are thoroughly vetted with state and federal background checks, subject matter exams, and their ability to interact effectively with students on the platform. Only 1.2% of those who apply are accepted and sessions are reviewed daily by monitors to assess tutor performance.

Tutors may be requested from 4:00-11:00 pm, 7 days a week (except for major holidays). The wait time for a tutor to respond is under a minute. Spanish-speaking tutors are provided for core curriculum subjects and help with job applications.

In addition to tutoring in subjects from math and reading to business and world languages, Tutor.com provides many resources such as test prep, citizenship prep, parent coaching, student study skills, job seeker support materials, video lessons, and more.

Students writing papers may upload their work and receive help with grammar, punctuation, structure, theme development, and citations within 24 hours.

Pack 297 Meets at American Legion Post 180 in Highland two Monday's a month at 6:30 - 7:30 pm. They are a family pack who welcomes both boys and girls.

Breakfast is $1.75

Lunch is $2.25

You can find both menus here: https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=2809100435083594&page=menus

Birthday treats can be purchased through the cafe ONLY: https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/schools/sth_2809100435083594/catering/Updated_BDay_Treat_form_3.21.24.pdf

Go here for free/reduced lunch (this needs to be renewed yearly): https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=2809100435083594&page=lunchapps

• Doors open for students at 7:35 a.m. daily. Students who eat breakfast at school will be allowed entry beginning at 7:20 a.m. Anyone arriving after 7:50 a.m. will need to buzz and come into the main office to sign in.

• Cars will enter the parking lot off Duluth Street (right turn only) and follow the curve to drop off students. Please pull up as far as you can and drop all your students off at one time. Have your children ready with their backpacks, lunch money, hugs, and kisses, so that when you stop they may exit the car quickly, and we can keep the drop-off line moving. The line can become backed up onto Duluth Street very quickly which causes safety issues for our parents, as well as other drivers.

• Please drop off curbside only. Avoid dropping children off where they have to cross the street, this is extremely dangerous. It will be your responsibility to cross them if you choose to do this.

• Please be mindful of other drivers and walkers. We know many of you have to get to work, and we want all children to be able to enter the building safely and on time.

• Doors C and B will be utilized for entrance as usual. Drop-off is-K, 3, 4 at Door B, and 1 and 2 at Door C.

• 5th graders and Lifeskills class will use Door G.

At the end of the school day, the following doors will be used for dismissal:

• Grade K will exit through door J (FIVE minutes before the rest of the grade levels)

• Grade 1 will exit through door C (main doors)

• Grade 2 will exit through door B

• Grade 3 will exit through door J

• Grade 4 will exit through door I

• Grade 5 and Lifeskills class will exit through door G

• Bus riders will exit through door J (a few minutes prior to the remainder of the school being dismissed where the buses will be waiting).

Cars may enter the parking lot off Duluth Street and follow the curve to pick up or park in the parking lot to walk up to get students.

We would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation as we strive to keep our Johnston families safe.

Please don't hesitate to contact us in the office for any ideas, thoughts, concerns, or words of encouragement! We are all part of this large extended mix of wonderful people we affectionately refer to as our Johnston Family.

Email: aharring@highland.k12.in.us
Website: https://www.highland.k12.in.us/o/jes
Location: 8220 5th Street, Highland, IN, United States
Phone: 219.923.2428
Facebook: facebook.com/johnstonpto
Twitter: @harrington_jn