Greeley Greeting

Dear Greeley Families,

I hope you’ll take a moment to read about a unique and exciting experience we had at Greeley last week when members of the ARC Leadership Team visited several of our classrooms. We are thrilled to share some of the positive feedback our staff and students received—it was a wonderful celebration of the strong literacy work happening across our school!

This week, we are also excited to welcome our PTO Book Fair to the building. We hope you’ll join us for some in-person (or online) shopping opportunities. Every purchase directly supports our students and staff through the generous work of our PTO.

Most sincerely,
Principal Kopinski

December

• Thursday, 12/10: Trimester 1 Report Cards Released
• Wednesday, 12/17: Winter Sharing Performance, 6-7:30pm at Skokie School
• Monday, 12/22-Friday, 1/2: Winter Break (No School)

January

• Monday, 1/5: School Resumes
• Thursday, 1/15-Friday 1/30: Winter Benchmark Assessments (MAP, mClass, Aimsweb, SSIS)
• Monday, 1/19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No School)
• Thursday, 1/29: Pioneer Room Open House 9:30am (Third Grade Families)

February

• Monday, 2/16: Winter Benchmark Assessment Results Released to Families (Powerschool, OTUS)
• Thursday and Friday, 2/26 and 2/27: Parent Teacher Conferences (No School)

March

• Friday 3/6: End of Trimester 2
• Monday, 3/9: Start of Trimester 3
• Thursday, 3/12: Greeley PTO STEAM Night
• Wednesday 3/18: Progress Reports Released to Families in Powerschool
• Friday, 3/27: Half Day for Students (11:30am Dismissal)-Teacher Institute PM
• Monday 3/30-Friday, April 3: Spring Break

• Monday 4/6: School Resumes
• Tuesday, 4/7: Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) Testing Begins for Grades 3-4
• Tuesday, 4/7: District Chorus Concert 7-8pm
• Tuesday, 4/14: Winnetka Public Schools Foundation (WPSF) Carlson Event 4:30-6pm at Skokie
• Wednesday 4/22: Greeley Strings Concert 6:30-7:30pm
• Tuesday, 4/28: 5th Grade Orientation at Skokie School (4th Grade Families) 5:30-7:00pm

Last week, Greeley had the privilege of hosting the ARC Leadership Team for a full day of learning. The team—which included the Vice President of Professional Development for the American Reading Company, our Assistant Superintendent of Innovation, Teaching, and Learning, K–6 principals, our Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA), and K–6 literacy coaches—joined us to observe ARC resources in action across our school.

I’m sharing this because we spent time in several Greeley classrooms conducting learning walks, and the leadership team had wonderful things to say about what they saw. Their reflections highlighted our strong vocabulary instruction, targeted feedback to students, the use of academic language, student choice, building stamina in reading and writing, small groups, clear learning targets, and the thoughtful, consistent implementation of ARC across classrooms.

This work is rooted in a clear purpose: to accelerate student growth in literacy so that every child becomes a confident, capable, and joyful reader and writer. It was affirming to see how our collective effort is already making a meaningful impact.

Below are a few photos of our students engaging with ARC materials this school year. We are excited to celebrate the tremendous work our staff and students have invested in bringing our new literacy resources to life in our Greeley classrooms!

Join us in celebrating the magic of books with Anderson's Bookfair Company! Our Greeley School librarian, Brenda Glenn, and our PTO volunteers have partnered with this wonderful independent book store to bring you a curated selection of books, including titles that support our reading curriculum, as well as titles focused on developing social and emotional skills. Every purchase benefits the Greeley Library, helping to enhance our book collections, technology and physical space.

Exciting changes! This year, students in kindergarten through third grade will NOT be allowed to bring money to school and therefore cannot purchase books during their class visit. All students WILL still visit the book fair with their class, during which they will peruse the book selection and create book wishlists. Students in fourth grade CAN bring money to school to purchase books while visiting the book fair with their classes.

Shopping Hours

There will be extended family shopping hours for family to come purchase wishlist items! Kindergarten through third grade will visit the fair with their classes and make their wishlists on Tuesday, December 9th or Wednesday, December 10th so that wishlists will be sent home before family shopping hours commence. Fourth grade will visit the fair on Thursday, December 11th during family shopping hours.

• Family Shopping Hours
• Wednesday, December 10th: 3:15 pm - 8:00 pm
• Thursday, December 11th: 7:30 am - 11 am
• Please note: If shopping during the school day on Thursday, only fourth grade students will be at the fair during this time. Younger students cannot be pulled out of class to shop with family.
• Before shopping during school hours on Thursday, please check-in with the office for a guest pass.
• Free gift wrapping on site!

Online Ordering

Online ordering is available for anyone! Books purchased online will be delivered Greeley School and distributed to your student.

1. Visit the Anderson's Bookfair Co Website
2. Add books to your cart
3. At check-out:
• Select "send to school for student pick-up" under pick-up options
• Enter Greeley as the school name
• Fill out student name/teacher name/grade in the box below payment and billing information.
4. Books will be delivered to Greeley and sent to your child's classroom

Teacher Wishlists

Gift our teachers books for their classrooms! Please look for the teacher wishlist poster at the fair! Teachers have personally selected books that they would love in their classroom. Books gifted to teachers will be fitted with a "donated by" sticker and can be purchased tax-free. Thank you for your generosity toward our wonderful Greeley teachers.

Student Illustrations

Students are invited to showcase their creativity by submitting an illustration inspired by books and reading! The artwork will be proudly displayed in the library during book fair week. Every student who submits an illustration will receive a coupon for a FREE bookmark at the book fair. Submissions on 8.5" x 11" and in landscape orientation, please. Please submit to Ms Glenn by Wednesday, Dec 3rd. We cannot wait to see your amazing creations!

Volunteer!

We are still looking for parent volunteers to staff the fair! Click here if you'd like to get involved.

Thank you so much for supporting the Greeley School book fair and sharing the joy of reading.

Questions? Contact our book fair co-chairs!

Emily LaMonica: emilyklamonica@gmail.com

Sarah Martinez: sarahdmartinez1@gmail.com

Our Greeley students are getting ready to shine at this year’s Winter Sharing, hosted at Skokie School! Here are some important logistics from the Greeley School Office:

• The all school concert event is Wednesday, December 17th from 6:00-7:30
• Parking is tight. Please plan to arrive early, and consider carpooling to ease traffic flow.
• Please enter at the main door and through the lobby, located on Glendale Ave.
• Students will remain with their families until Mr. Urquhart calls for students to join him on stage, approximately 5 minutes before show time. The show will begin with everyone performing. There is no supervision provided before the concert.
• Because the auditorium offers ample seating, families are welcome to invite as many loved ones as they’d like to attend, and there is no need to register.

The Related Arts team recently visited Skokie to plan seating, staging, and a few festive touches:

• All students will enter and exit through the audience to ensure plenty of smiling faces and waves to loved ones.

• Kindergarteners will sit at the front of the auditorium on the carpeted area to enjoy the show and then stand to perform.

• 1st–3rd graders will watch from the balcony when not performing, supported by staff to help ensure a smooth transition. There will never be more than two grade levels in the auditorium at one time, and students will be supervised by staff volunteers.

• 4th graders will be seated along the aisles, serving as warm and welcoming hosts for guests in their rows. These seats will be marked off, so please do not sit in an aisle seat.

• The lobby will be transformed into a winter wonderland featuring student artwork, thanks to our Art program. Families will also find photo opportunities on both lobby staircases to capture a special holiday moment!

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.

School Hours:

8:20am | Morning supervision begins

8:30am | School Doors open

8:37am | School promptly begins

2:10pm | Regular Extended Day Kindergarten dismissal (Monday-Friday)

2:45pm | Grades 1-4 & Stay and Play kindergarten dismissal (Mondays only)

3:15pm | Grades 1-4 & Stay and Play kindergarten dismissal (Tuesday-Friday)

Office Email: danarahkhem@winnetka36.org

Location: 275 Fairview Avenue Winnetka, IL 60093
Phone: (847)-446-6060