Ridgewood February 2025 Newsletter

Vision: Academically, socially, and emotionally preparing today's students for tomorrow's world.

Mission: Ridgewood Elementary School will work collaboratively to provide a rigorous, standards-based, student-centered learning environment for all.

Core Values: Achievement, Equity, Integrity

March 5th - 11:30 Dismissal, Teacher In-Service

March 10th-14th - IAR Testing for 3rd & 4th Grade

March 14th - End of 3rd Quarter

March 19th - Report Cards Sent Home

March 24th-28th - Spring Break

Each Day We Strive To:

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Safe

Ridgewood School will complete at least 25 paws on our school paw chart by giving their "Best Yes." How will we do this? If students are asked to do something, they will respond with an acknowledgement such as yes or ok and give their best effort on the task. Every 5 best yeses in the classroom will equal one golden paw on our hallway chart. When we reach 25 golden paws, we will celebrate with a Super Hero Day!

WHAT: Ridgewood Students will participate in a ST Math challenge competing against all grade levels to see which class has the most puzzles achieved on ST Math. The challenge will start January 13th and go through March 6th, In addition, we will also be competing against the Rock Island Center for Math & Science to see which school has the most puzzles achieved on ST Math. The overall winning class at Ridgewood will be announced as well as which school achieved the most puzzles.

WHY: This challenge will help each of us grow in Math while having a fun and friendly competition.

HOW: The amount of puzzles will be counted weekly to see which classes are in the lead. The top classes will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hallway. In addition, we will count the number of puzzles weekly to see which school has the most. We will also track which school is the lead on the bulletin board in the hallway.

WINNING CLASS: There will be a weekly winner and an overall winner at the end of the competition. The weekly winner will get to display the ST Math trophy in their classroom. The class with the most puzzles at the END of the competition will have a celebration where they will get 3D JiJi keychains made by John Deere and Chipper Ice Cream Sandwiches from Whiteys!! But wait, that’s not all, there will be a special visit from JiJi at the celebration!! Get to solving those puzzles and cheer on your classmates!! Let’s have some more FUN!!!

WINNING SCHOOL: There will be an overall winner at the end of the competition between our two schools. We will partake in an assembly on March 6th to announce the winner. JiJi will be present at the assembly. If Ridgewood wins the competition, Ms. Peterson and Mr. Von Thun will get a pie in the face at the assembly.

Let’s get solving those puzzles.

Go Ridgewood!

Thank you to everyone who attended our Skate City Night! We had a great turnout. Students had a great time skating. Ridgewood raised money that will help support our field day at the end of the year. Thank you for helping to support such a great event.

Third and Fourth Graders will be taking the Illinois Assessment of Readiness Test March 10-14. The IAR Test is a computer-based assessment for all students in Grades 3 - 8 that is designed to measure students' progress toward the Standards in ELA and Mathematics. During testing, 3rd and 4th graders will be leaving their Chromebooks at school to make sure that they are fully charged each day. Thanks for all of your help and support!

Check out the Ridgewood Spring Apparel Store. The deadline to order is March 9th.

The Illinois 5Essentials Survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school.

Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.

To take the survey, please go to https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/?target_name=parent. The survey will be open until March 28th. Thank you.

Our district holds Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC) meetings every third Thursday of the month at 5:30 PM at the Glenview Library.

BPAC members must be parents or legal guardians of children enrolled in a TBE program or Transitional Program of Instruction, transitional bilingual education teachers, counselors, and representatives from the community.

We would love to see you there!

Thank you to everyone who attended our PTO informational meeting. We have a few people who are interested in taking the lead to get a PTO up and running again at Ridgewood. We will be working behind the scenes to get the organization up and running. If you are interested in supporting the PTO in future events, be on the lookout for future meeting dates. Thank you for all your support!

When dropping off and picking up your child in the drop off/pick up lane, please stay in your car so that the car line keeps moving. If you are looking to get out of your car, please park in an available spot or along the street. Please do not pass along the left side after you have dropped off or picked up your child. This can be dangerous, as we have students that could be crossing in the crosswalk or students that could be getting out of vehicles. Thank you for your cooperation!