Parents: Please Save These Dates!
2025/2026 Winnetka Parents Institute Schedule
Empowered to Think: How Progressive Math Classrooms Build Confidence, Curiosity, and Community
September 10, 2025
9:30AM
Location: Washburne RC
Join us for an engaging and participatory Winnetka Parent Institute focused on how our evolving approach to math education aligns with the District’s Portrait of a Graduate and progressive educational tenets. Grounded in approaches like Building Thinking Classrooms, this session will showcase how collaborative, thinking-rich environments empower students to become confident problem solvers, persistent thinkers, and effective collaborators.
Through firsthand experience with the kinds of tasks students encounter in today's classrooms, you’ll learn how instructional strategies are intentionally designed to promote the 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice and develop positive math dispositions. We’ll also connect these shifts to Winnetka’s curriculum review and pilot process, highlighting how we’re identifying programs that both challenge and support all learners while staying true to our progressive roots.
Interested:
Learn, Communicate, Partner: Generative AI Literacy for Parents, Caregivers and Community (Amanda Bickerstaff, AI for Education CEO)
September 22, 2025
5:00 PM
Location: Skokie Auditorium
In this session, parents, caregivers, and community members will explore the transformative world of Generative AI in education and discover how AI is reshaping learning. We'll address common myths, discuss ethical considerations, and provide strategies for supporting your child's AI literacy. Through interactive demonstrations and focused discussion, you'll learn to effectively partner with your children as they navigate AI-enhanced learning environments and leave equipped with the knowledge and confidence to embrace educational technology while fostering responsible AI use at home and in the classroom.
Interested:
Progressive Tenets in Action: Whole Child Approach
October 15, 2025
9:30 A.M.
Location: SK Community Room
Join the first in a three-part series that will explore the District’s Progressive Education Tenets. Learn about what a Whole Child Approach means and how it comes alive in our classrooms.
Interested:
Progressive Tenets in Action: Experiential and Meaningful Learning
November 12, 2025
9:30 A.M.
Washburne Cafeteria
Join the second in a three-part series that will explore the District’s Progressive Education Tenets. Learn about what Experiential and Meaningful Learning means and how it comes alive in our classrooms.
Interested:
Differentiation: What is it and how can I tell if my child is having a differentiated experience?
January 21, 2026
9:30 AM
Location: Washburne RC
Join this session lead by the Dept of Innovation, Teaching and Learning to learn a bit about what differentiated instruction is, the conditions needed in order to implement, and what it looks like in action in District 36 classrooms.
Interested:
RSVP here
From Washburne to New Trier: (Paul Waechtler, Principal)
A D36 Parent's Guide to the New Trier Transition
February 11, 2026
9:30 A.M.
Washburne RC
Carleton Washburne School, 515 Hibbard Rd
Join Paul Waechtler, Principal at the New Trier High School Freshman
Campus, who will discuss the New Trier freshman placement process and the efforts made to ensure a smooth transition to high school. A Q & A will provide an opportunity for parents to learn more about how to best support their child(ren) as they prepare for their New Trier experience.
Interested:
Not Quite Little Kid, Not Quite Teenager: The Developmental Progression of the Middle School Child
March 11, 2026
9:30 AM
SK Community Room
Join Principal Cooney and Assistant Principal Castillo-Oh (The Skokie School) and Principal Livingston and Assistant Principal Horwitz (Carleton Washburne School) for an informational session focusing on the ins and outs of the growing middle school child. We will spend time exploring both the academic and social-emotional needs appropriate to 5th-8th grade children, how they change over that four year span, as well as the neurological changes that contribute to these needs. Parents with current middle schoolers, or soon-to-be middle schoolers, are encouraged to join us for an engaging, encouraging and educational hour together.
Interested: