Carleton Washburne

We are excited to host the 1st annual Washburne Roller Skating Party this Friday, January 31st from 3:30-4:30pm. The Washburne Gym will be transformed into a giant Roller Skating Arena! The students just completed their KW Unit on Roller Skating, so they are all ready to show off their moves!

Skates will be provided and Crumbl Cookies & Chick-Fil-A will be served. We hope the afternoon will bring fun for all!

Parents: PLEASE consider volunteering to help set up the Arena & Cafeteria from 2:00-3:15pm OR chaperoning the Party from 3:30-4:30pm. Thank you!

Where: Washburne Gym

When: Friday, January 31st

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

RSVP: Please register your child ($25 before Wednesday 1/29 at 5PM) so that we can plan for food ordering. Want to join us at the last minute? Please bring $30 CASH ONLY at the door.

We want to thank our PTO and our KW team for planning this event. As always, we are so thankful to partner with our parent community.

Take Care and Be Well,

Andrew Fenton & Ben Horwitz

Carleton Washburne Principal & Assistant Principal

Winter Conferences will take place across the district on Thursday, February 20th and Friday, February 21st. At Washburne, parents will be able to schedule individual conferences with each of their child’s trimester two teachers, either in person or remotely via Zoom. Sign-ups for conferences will begin on Monday, February 3rd.

Families will receive an email this week with specific login instructions to schedule your child’s conferences.

8th grade families can sign up for a 15 minute scheduling conference with staff from New Trier using this LINK. These conferences are an optional opportunity for families to discuss classes for 9th grade. Conferences will be held on Monday, February 10th from 1:00-6:00pm in the North Gym. Families will still need to complete registration through PowerSchool to select courses for next year.

If your child has an IEP, you received an email from your child’s case manager with a separate sign-up link. Please use that link to make an appointment, not the link listed here. If your child has a 504 plan, please use the link listed here.

On February 10th, parents can go directly to Washburne’s athletic entrance (off Elm St.). If your appointment is during school hours, we will send your child to meet you in the gym.

Please reach out to Mr. Horwitz with any questions, and for more information on the transition to high school, please visit the New Trier Incoming Freshman Page.

This April, we will be hosting Ben Tracy to Washburne and Skokie. He will present to students during assemblies at Washburne and Skokie and to parents in the evening. The date is shifting from February 11th, as previously shared, to April 15th. We will share the date and time in the upcoming weeks. As you will learn on Ben Tracy's website, he discusses topics of online safety and digital citizenship, as well as cyberbullying, the impact of social media on mental health as well as positive ways to use social media. He has spoken in schools across the country, and challenges students to build a culture in school that is respectful and kind.

In this section we will be shining the spotlight on our Related Studies program and all the wonderful opportunities available to our Washburne students.

¿Qué pasa en la clase de español?

7th Grade students have been working hard to speak and write with more grammatical accuracy in Spanish. They have been practicing verb conjugations in the present tense and will soon use these skills to talk about their family and communities. Throughout this unit, students will be able to describe the different places in the community, enhancing their interpersonal and interpretive abilities.

8th Grade students have been working on talking about their pastimes and the things they do in their free time. They have been strengthening their interpersonal and interpretive skills by having daily conversations with partners about their preferences and interests.

We are excited to continue building their proficiency and production of the wonderful Spanish language!

Boys Volleyball registration is now live on the District Web Store.

Boys volleyball is an interscholastic sport, and we will play against the other New Trier Feeder schools. It is open to any 7th or 8th grader. We will have two days of tryouts on Tuesday, January 28 and Wednesday, January 29 from 3:30-5:00pm. Students wishing to try out need to be registered online and have a current copy of a physical or medical clearance form on file at the school. Boys should plan to wear athletic clothes, shoes, and have knee pads for the season.

We will round out the week with practices on Thursday, Jan. 30 from 3:30-5:00pm and Friday, January 31st from 7:00-8:00 AM.

Please contact Andy Becker at AndyBecker@Winnetka36.org for any questions.

Unleash your creativity and get ready to design and build like never before! The Washburne Robotics Club is back, and we’re kicking things off on Wednesday, January 29th for a 16-week journey, culminating in our final meeting on May 21st.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Time: Wednesdays, 3:30 PM - 4:40 PM – the perfect after-school adventure!

• Dates: Trimester 2 & 3 – let’s conquer those winter blues with some serious robotics fun!

• Location: The CW CoLab, Room N102 (Mr. Selgrat’s Room) at Carleton Washburne School

• What to Expect: Collaborate to build and program robots, choose our own paths as a club, and sharpen your creativity and problem-solving skills along the way.

No experience? No problem! Just bring your enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to participate. Join us as we innovate, create, and explore the exciting world of robotics together.

Don’t wait—sign up today on the District Web Store and let the adventure begin!

Skokie and Washburne Families - Now that 2025 is here, it is time to save the date for our annual dance marathon benefiting Lurie Children’s Hospital! The event will take place on Friday, March 14th from 3:30-5:30pm. There are plenty of ways for parents to volunteer, so look out for information about that from the PTO. For now please save the date and encourage your child to start fundraising. If we raise funds at the rate we have been since 2019, we should easily pass $250,000 cumulatively raised! Yes, a quarter of a million dollars! Unbelievable!

This link provides information about how the money we raise helps LCH.

PTO Contacts: Lauren Osborn and Melisa Twomey

Washburne Contacts: Rachel Hirsh, DeAnna SeLander, Tracy Silverman, and Melissa Yeoman

Skokie Contacts: Rachel Falender and Gina Wild

Advisory Fundraising Links

• Friday, January 31st: Washburne Roller Skating Party 3:30-4:30pm
• Tuesday, January 28th: D36 School Board Meeting @ 7:15pm
• Monday, February 10th: New Trier Scheduling Conference 1pm-6pm
• Thursday & Friday, February 20 & 21: Winter Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School
• Friday, March 14th: Skokie/Washburne Dance Marathon

As the District launches its Strategic Planning process, we are conducting a survey in partnership with Studer Education. Your feedback will guide our work as we identify the greatest areas of need to best support our students and families through their K-8 experience.The survey takes about 10-15 minutes. Please complete a separate survey for each of the schools your children attend.

The Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey can be accessed here:

Winnetka Public District 36 – Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey

To maintain confidentiality of the Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey, our partners at Studer Education will be administering the survey, managing the data collection, and aggregating the data to provide results reports to leaders.

Season 3, Episode #6: Open-Mindedness, Consistency & Embracing Change: Best Practices in Safety, Security & Communications

Dr. Kelly Tess chats with Department of Communications, Safety & Security leaders, Mr. Ray Finnerty (Director of Safety & Security in his first year in the District) and Ms. Kate Hughes (Director of Communications in her tenth year in the District). A retired police officer and former publicist seem to be an unlikely team–and what purpose does this Department serve? Mr. Finnerty shares how he has enhanced safety and security practices with the support of the Winnetka Police and Fire Departments. Ms. Hughes shares how the District’s communication strategies have evolved to align with current best practices, serving as a model for other Districts, as well as garnering six awards from the National School Public Relations Association between 2023-2024 and a record 65 awards from the Illinois School Public Relations Association since 2015.

Winnetka Voices is a podcast hosted by The Winnetka Public Schools, featuring candid conversations on issues relevant to education and shared resources to support our students and families.

Listen here:

Apple Podcast

Amazon

Spotify

iHeart

The District offers regular sessions for families to learn more about a variety of topics. View the entire 2024/2025 schedule here.

Up Next:

From Washburne to New Trier: A D36 Parent's Guide to the New Trier Transition

February 12, 2025

9:30 A.M.

Location: Carleton Washburne School RC

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:

RSVP here

If you missed it, view videos from past sessions:

• Insights on K-8 Literacy Programming in The Winnetka Public Schools

• What to Know About the Otus Parent Portal

• AI Literacy Lessons for Grades 5-8

• Understanding the IEP and 504 Processes: From Referral to Eligibility and Services (with Ms. Denise Matthews, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion, and Ms. Jackie Schwartz, Director of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion)

• Acceleration Applications Overview with Assistant Superintendent of Innovation, Teaching and Learning Dr. Becky Mathison

• Preschool/Kindergarten Family Information Night (with Winnetka Administration and Sue Stolzer, Early Childhood Assessment Team Lead from TrueNorth)

Benchmark assessments are valuable tools that provide a snapshot of student progress at a point in time. These assessments help teachers to identify areas where students are excelling and where they may need additional support. They can also inform instructional decisions by providing data that can be used to tailor teaching to meet each student's unique needs and strengths. Benchmark assessments are an important component of progressive education, which recognizes that students learn in different ways and at different rates. By using benchmark assessments to inform instruction, teachers can provide a more individualized approach to learning that supports each student's academic growth and personal development.

Academic benchmark assessments for literacy and math will occur three times this year for students in grades K-8. The Winter Benchmark Assessments start on January 6th and conclude on January 24th. There are four platforms the district utilizes to gather student learning information; aimswebPlus, mCLASS, NWEA MAP, and SSIS. Benchmark data will be available in Otus beginning January 31, 2025. In order to allow for the data uploads to take place and to provide parents with consistent access to student data, please be aware that the Otus Parent Portal will be inaccessible January 6-January 30.

Building Data Team meetings to review the Winter Benchmarking data will occur February 3-14.

For help with understanding what questions you can answer in Otus, access Otus for Parents.

Additional Otus Parent Resources

Kindergarten students who are not currently enrolled in Stay & Play will have the opportunity to register for the 2nd half of the year after 8:00 am January 6th through this link. Please note that the registration period ends January 31, 2025 and will remain closed for the remainder of the year. The rates are prorated below. If you attempt to register before the 6th, you will receive an Item Unavailable message. After purchasing Kindergarten Stay & Play registration, your child will be able to begin their attendance in the program the following Monday so the schools can plan accordingly.