Change and Growing Pains
Have you ever wondered about how hard change is? When change comes it can be so disruptive to our routines, our way of life, and even our thought process. Sitting with the unknown can bring fear, worry, and concern. When it comes to our students, the same holds very true as they navigate middle school life, hormones, friends, social media, and the pressures of societal "norms." As the adults charged with making sure that they are safe (both emotionally and physically) and learning, it is imperative that we recognize changes in our students routines, attitudes, or just their daily interactions with others. We know that the changes are caused by something.
Most of the time these changes are positive! We see students getting an "ah hah" moment in class, we see them making reference to how to be an advocate for others, we hear them talking about how important the environment is and how we can save it, we see them returning money to the office that someone has dropped on the ground, we see them maturing into young citizens! With that being said, we have noticed some new behaviors that are not so positive that we need your help with in addressing. These new behaviors are dangerous to our students, both emotionally and physically. Here are a few of our presenting concerns with how you can help:
- Students are pantsing each other. We have talked to groups of students but it is becoming more widespread. Students think it is funny until it happens to them or until someone takes it way too far and students become exposed or they trip and fall. Please speak with your child and tell them to not participate in such behavior even if it has happened to them in the past. If it has happened to your child, we encourage him, her or them to speak to the counselor so that a restorative conversation may take place.
- Slumber Parties or Weekend/After School events with lack of supervision- Many events are happening with students over the weekend that are spilling over into the school week. Students are getting access to vapes and gummies. They are "hanging out" on other school property fields in Evanston when they should not be there. Additionally they are walking to the beach and playing which is so very dangerous due to high riptides. As we approach Halloween, and students may be participating in activities intended to be fun- please talk to them about safe behaviors (staying with a group, only eating candy that is sealed, not entering homes) and positive play (all children should feel safe and be safe during the play activity).
- Inappropriate use of social media and school technology- Please talk to your students and explain to them that we can see everything that they type on their school devices. We also get alerts when something is amiss. They should only be using their devices for school related work and projects. Regarding social media, I encourage all parents to read "The Anxious Generation" which I shared a couple of newsletters ago. The use of social media can be very detrimental to their health. Additionally, children must understand that they cannot take unauthorized pictures of people nor can they post pictures unauthorized- that can become cyber bullying- which is very serious. Please explain to them that colleges and employers review social media when determining college admissions, and jobs. It is hard to scrub the Internet clean, they must consider how that might impact them as adults. Ideally, their time with social media should be limited daily to 30 minutes.
We have conversations with students so that they learn how to navigate positive vs negative behaviors. We also engage them in Character Strong which is our SEL curriculum. Our goal is for them to practice healthy behaviors when they are not being supervised. We applaud our students who are growing and recognizing how important it is to be great citizens of Nichols. We also appreciate the partnership of the parents that we have worked with in the past, and the partnership of the parents who will also speak to their children about these concerns.
Student Drop off and Pick Up
Please note that student drop off for breakfast is 7:40 a.m. We cannot accept students any earlier than this as there is no adult supervision. If a student wishes to have breakfast they must enter at 7:40 a.m. and remain in the cafeteria until it is time to go to class. We open grade level doors at 7:50 a.m. Also, please make sure that you emphasize to your children that they should go straight to their destination after school for their safety. Days will be shorter and therefor it will get darker faster. If you are picking your child up please do not wait in areas on the street that are "No Parking" zones. This creates a huge safety issue and a traffic issue. Also, please do not stop in the middle of the street blocking traffic to drop off or to pick up.
Upcoming Dates
October 30th- ISBE will release school report cards at 9:00 a.m.
October 31st- Halloween
November 3rd- Daylight Savings Time Ends, Clocks go back 1 hour
November 5th- No School - Election Day
NU Men's Basketball Hosts D65 Family Night!
When: Friday, November 15th at 7PM
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena
Cost: $20 a ticket
Information: $5 per ticket goes to the D65 PTA one fund to support enriching academic opportunities + community engagement for all D65 students.
Buy Tickets: bit.ly/Nov15OneFund
If Cost is a Barrier: bit.ly/Nov15FreeTix
Sustainability Newsletter
Check out our October D65 Sustainability Newsletter https://secure.smore.com/n/tx8bn
Join us: D65 Climate Action Community Meeting on November 12 from 4-5pm on Zoom.
All are welcome to attend!
Questions about this topic? Please contact: Karen Bireta
Important End of Year Information
Please note that 8th grade graduation will either occur on June 3rd or 4th. We have requested a date and time, however, we are waiting for approval before we release the official date and time.The last day of school for K-7 is June 5th, for 8th grade it is May 30, 2024. 5th grade promotion ceremonies will be held on June 5th.
SAEBRS and Panorama Survey
Students and teachers recently completed the SAEBRS survey, which stands for Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener. This is designed to assess the levels of socio-emotional skills of students in those three domains. SAEBRS can be used to identify students who are at risk for social, academic, and emotional behaviors and indicates if a student is low risk, some risk, or high risk within these behavior subsets. By evaluating in which of the three specific domains a student is at risk, we can determine what type of support is most appropriate and which problem behaviors should be prioritized through intervention. Our teams will work together to determine interventions for those students in need. We are now approaching our Panorama survey, which the students will complete. Two of our School Work Plan Goals are centered around relationships, sense of belonging, safety, and socio-emotional health. The Panorama survey asks students to self-reflect on topics such as grit, growth mindset, and the level of interest a teacher takes in their long-term success, how often they help to engage them in thinking about their classroom experience, and also requires them to reflect on their personal learning. Both sets of data will be taken to the Student Services Team and to the School Improvement Team for analysis and school wide problem solving.
