Mechanics Grove School

October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month and we would like to bring more awareness to our learning community about it. Myelomeningocele is the most severe and common form of open spina bifida. It occurs when the fetal spine and spinal canal fail to close completely during the first four weeks of pregnancy, causing a fluid-filled sac containing part of the spinal cord and nerves to push through an opening in the back.

As most of you know and understand, the first day for buses is always a bit delayed as we are being sure to check every child as they get on and off the correct bus. Unfortunately, our Thursday After School Club buses took even longer than expected. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding. We are working with the bus company to ensure that the routes are not taking as long as they did this week and will be in touch with any necessary changes that might be made.

If you would like to receive alerts from our bus company with updated departures and arrivals, please visit: busbulletin.com/parents (find Mundelein Area Schools when prompted for a district).

We are collecting candy for troops overseas. Bring candy November 2-4. Our school can get up to $200 for bringing in candy!

Let’s beat our 2021 record of 476 pounds of candy!

Save the Date! Join us on November 2, 6 - 7:30pm for our annual Día de los Muertos celebration hosted by Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee!

Enjoy fun family activities, pan de muerto, y chocolate , and so much more!

Families are welcome to bring a photo of a loved one who has passed to add to our community ofrenda as we honor and remember those who remain in our hearts.

Don’t miss our raffle featuring Mundelein Park District passes, a Julio’s Tacos gift card, and more exciting prizes!

We look forward to coming together to celebrate our roots, culture, and our beautiful multilingual and multicultural community.

We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

SIGN UP HERE!

Student-Led Conferences are November 19th and 23rd!

Student-Led Conferences

Mechanics Grove School is proud to announce that we are conducting Student-Led Conferences for our Fall conference times. As a Leader in Me LEGACY school, students are celebrated as leaders regularly. Student-Led Conferences are a way for students to practice their leadership skills, the 7 habits, and Leading the PACK. Please see below about details that outline the conference in detail.

Definition of Student-Led Conferences

A Student-Led Conference is a conference with parents led by the student. Students lead parents through a discussion of their work and established academic and social goals. The process includes the teacher facilitating several conferences at the same time. The student directs the conversation focused on their work and classroom behavior.

Philosophy and Purpose of Student-Led Conferences

The process of communicating the progress of students to parents must involve students in a meaningful way. For a discussion of student work to be relevant, accurate and complete, students need to be meaningfully engaged in the process. Having students lead a conference with parents is a way to maximize their involvement. The involvement of students in the conferencing process promotes three elements essential to improving student performance in school:

· Relevance; why we are teaching what we are teaching to students

· Responsibility; making the student more responsible for learning

· Reporting to parents how students are progressing in learning

Roles and Responsibilities of Student-Led Conferences

Successful Student-Led Conferences require changes in the roles that teacher, student and parent have played in traditional parent conferencing.

Teacher Role: To organize the conference environment and to guarantee success. This includes guiding portfolio collection and training students and setting up the conference spaces. The teacher becomes a guide and observer of the conferencing process.

Student Role: Through all stages of the student-led conference process (preparation, implementation and evaluation) the student becomes the key participant. The student becomes responsible for working with the teacher to identify strengths, identifying learning needs and collecting evidence to validate learning. The student practices self-reflection.

Parent Role: Parents become partners in learning when students lead a conference. The opportunity for parents to have one-to-one time with their child focused on learning and achievement is important to the conferencing process. The parents' role is to listen.

Please note that a Student-Led Conference is NOT a time to discuss new concerns that the teacher or parent has regarding the student. These concerns should be discussed prior to the conference via phone or email. The best thing that a parent/teacher can do is respect the need for the student to lead the conference time.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

SIGN UP HERE FOR YOUR STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE TIME

Comprehension

Strong readers think actively as they read. They use their experiences and knowledge of the world, vocabulary, and reading strategies to make sense of the text and know how to get the most out of it.

What Good Readers Do

• Draw inferences- good readers are able to “read between the lines” and draw inferences about a wide range of hidden meanings, such as why events are unfolding as they do, why characters behave in a certain way, what the characters are thinking, and what might happen next.

• Self monitor- During reading, good readers learn to monitor their understanding, adjust their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text, and address any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they have read.

• Form mental images-Good readers often form mental pictures, or images, as they read. Readers (especially younger readers) who picture the story during reading understand and remember what they read better than readers who do not create a picture in their mind.

• Summarize and retell-Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in the text and then put it into their own words by retelling, verbally or in writing.

Summarizing can help students to:

-Identify main ideas orally or in writing.

-Connect the main or central ideas orally or in writing.

-Learn to weed out unnecessary information.

-Remember what they have read.

The ability to have a grasp on one’s emotions and actions can be difficult for children. They need guidance from us as educators and other school personnel to be able to assist them with learning and practicing how to regulate.

Self-management is the ability to recognize and regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a productive and safe way to reach goals personally and professionally. Self-management is critical to learn at a young age and will follow an individual into adulthood that works directly to enhance one’s emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and overall well-being.

Some examples of self-management skills include:

• Emotional regulation

• Stress management

• Time management

• Goal setting

• Self-motivation

• Organization

Ways to help students improve their self-management skills include:

• Utilize visual schedules to establish routine.

• Utilize timers.

• Practice coping strategies so students are able to improve and eventually implement using them on their own.

• Have students recognize and name their emotions.

• Break down large tasks into smaller ones to be more manageable.

• Have students keep work, daily supplies, etc, in designated areas.

• Model and reinforce positive behavior.

These things may come naturally to us but need to be modeled and practiced with students so they are able to carry out these strategies on their own. With this, students will be able to grow, adapt, and become successful and strong leaders in their personal and academic lives.

Mechanics Grove School’s Student Lighthouse Council is honored to invite Active Duty Members and Veterans to our school. We will be hosting a light breakfast of coffee and donuts on Wednesday, November 11th at 7:45 am for our special guests. At 8:00, guests will join a classroom to read a picture book to students. We will provide the books! We will conclude our morning with a tour of our amazing school. The morning should end by 8:45.

We ask that our Active Duty Members and/or Veterans are a family member or close friend of a current Mechanics Grove student(s). The student(s) will also be invited to join their special guest for donuts.

If you or a friend or family member are an Active Duty Member or Veteran and can attend the breakfast on November 11th, please complete this form by Friday, November 6th.

In the event the rumor of a threat or the direct observation of a threat occur in any of our schools, the school team immediately initiates an investigation and involves law enforcement as warranted. Our school officials are trained in the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines, widely recognized in school systems as CSTAG. While the threat is investigated, the person(s) identified as making the threat are sought out, isolated and supervised early in the process.

There are typically three possible outcomes that could occur. Please see the attached document for the outcomes.

We are asking families to please help us by keeping toys and other personal items at home, including stuffed animals, fidgets, NeeDohs, squishy toys, and similar items. While we know these are fun and comforting for our young learners, they have increasingly become a source of distraction and conflict during the school day.

Please help us by checking backpacks and reminding your child that toys should stay at home unless specifically requested or approved by their teacher. We appreciate your partnership in helping us keep our classrooms, bus lines, and buses safe and focused on learning!

We are committed to providing students with a positive and enjoyable dining experience. As part of our ongoing effort to support the needs of our school community, we are partnering with Whitsons Culinary Group to gather feedback on our foodservice program. We invite students, families, faculty, and staff to participate in a brief survey and share their experiences and perspectives. Your feedback will help us better understand what is working well and identify opportunities to further enhance our meal program.

Take the Survey: https://xmp.insight-surveys.com/s/fall-2026

Your input will help us:

• Assess satisfaction with our current foodservice program

• Enhance the meal experience for students, families, and staff

• Enhance the overall dining experience throughout our schools

The survey will be available from October 26 through November 6 and should take only a few minutes to complete. Responses will be collected by Whitsons and shared with our school administration as we work together to continuously improve the program. We encourage everyone who participates in our school meal program to take part. Your feedback is important and greatly appreciated. Thank you for helping us create the best possible dining experience for our school community.

McTeacher Night - November 5

Join us for our McTeacher Night on Thursday, November 5, from 4-7pm at the McDonald’s on Lake Street! 20% of all sales will be donated back to the PTO! D75 teachers and staff will also be selling apple pies for $2 each or 3 for $5. Stop by for dinner and help support our schools!

McTeacher Night Flyer

PTO Meeting - November 12

Join us for our November PTO Meeting on Thursday, November 12, at 7:00pm in the Carl Sandburg MPR! We’ll share school and PTO updates, discuss upcoming events and committees, and have time to get questions asked and answered! Please note that this month’s meeting is on a Thursday instead of our usual Wednesday. All D75 families are welcome—we’d love to see you there!

Box Tops for Education

November is a great time to earn Box Tops while shopping for holiday gatherings! Many products you may already be purchasing qualify for Box Tops, and every eligible purchase helps support D75 schools. You can support our Welcome Center, which provides essential items to families in our community, by donating eligible items. It’s a win-win: shop for Box Tops-eligible products, scan your receipts using the Box Tops app to support D75 schools, and donate eligible items to help local families!

If you haven't already, download the Box Tops app, search for District 75 PTO Mundelein, and use code PNKN0SEQ.

November Box Tops English Flyer

Volante de Box Tops de noviembre – Español

Want to Get Involved with D75 PTO?

The D75 PTO is always looking for families who would like to help with events, fundraisers, committees, and more! Complete our short Volunteer Interest Form and let us know how you’d like to get involved.

Volunteer Interest Form

D75 PTO-Sponsored Events

Our 2026–2027 PTO-sponsored events are now listed on our website! Visit the events page to see what’s coming up and mark your calendars. Interested in volunteering? Keep an eye out for volunteer sign-ups for our November 16–20 Book Fairs and school conference meals! We look forward to seeing our D75 families throughout the year!

D75 PTO-Sponsored Events List

Spirit Wear Update

Our Spirit Wear store closed after Brat Fest on October 9, and orders are now in production! Spirit Wear is expected to arrive approximately four weeks after the store closing. Once orders are received, they will be sent home with your student.

If you need to make alternative arrangements for receiving your order, please email d75ptotreasurer@gmail.com by November 5.

D75 PTO Discount Cards – $20

Save money while supporting D75! Our 2026–2027 Discount Card features 26 local businesses and is valid through September 1, 2027. Purchase yours today and enjoy local savings while supporting our schools!

Purchase Your Discount Card(s) here!

Learn more about the Discount Card

11/3- Tuesday After School Clubs

11/5- Thursday After School Clubs

11/5- PAJAMA DAY since we brought in so many donations for the Welcome Center!

11/5- McTeacher Night at McDonalds on Lake Street (4:00-7:00pm)

11/9- 5th Grade band Performance (6:00pm at MG)

11/10- Tuesday After School Clubs

11/11- Veterans Day event at MG (morning)

11/11- Early Release (students dismissed at 11:05am)

11/12- Thursday After School Clubs

11/12- PTO Meeting (7:00pm at CSMS)

11/17- School Board of Education Meeting (6:00pm at District Office)

11/19- Student Led Conferences (5:00-8:00pm at MG)

11/23- Student Led Conferences (12:00-8:00pm at MG)

11/24-11/27- NO SCHOOL

Do you want more information about your student?

Text the word YES to 79041 to receive text message notifications from their school. Click here for more information.

RevTrack: this document has details. For help with payment and balances, please contact Patty DeLozier, pdelozier@d75.org or 847-949-2700 ext. 2014.

PowerSchool: directions for parent accounts is HERE If you have any questions, contact Diana Solis via email dsolis@d75.org.

Teacher contact info: our staff list is on our WEBSITE.

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MG Digital Suggestion Box

Mechanics Grove Website

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Community Events

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