CSMS Newsletter

Click on the Tiger above for the Weekly Announcements

It’s a great day to be a Carl Sandburg Middle School family member! We had an incredible week at Sandburg! Our students enjoyed an inspiring and energetic presentation from Terrance Lee Talley, whose powerful message about kindness, resilience, and making positive choices really resonated with our students. His visit reminded us all of the importance of lifting each other up and being a positive force in our community. We got each others backs!

This week, we are looking forward to connecting with you during Parent-Teacher Conferences. These meetings are a valuable opportunity to discuss your student’s progress, celebrate successes, and partner together to support continued growth. Thank you for taking the time to meet with our teachers — your involvement truly makes a difference! Feel free to say hello when you are there. I love speaking with you.

Please note our schedule for the upcoming week:

• Wednesday, October 22 - Regular School Day (Parent-Teacher Conferences 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

• Thursday, October 23 - No School (Parent-Teacher Conferences)

• Friday, October 24 - No School

• Friday, October 24 - MASC Halloween Dance

We’re also excited to wrap up the week with some fun! The MASC Halloween Dance will be held Friday evening at CSMS, giving our students a chance to enjoy some music, friends, and school spirit before the weekend.

We appreciate your continued support in helping make Carl Sandburg Middle School a great place to learn and grow.

Let’s make it a great week, Tigers and Tiger Families!

Dr. Andrew Vondran

We are excited to share that our 8th grade students will be attending Career Navig8 Lake County 2025 on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at the Lake County Fairgrounds (1060 E. Peterson Rd, Grayslake, IL 60030).

Carl Sandburg Middle School will participate in the 10:00–11:15 AM session, where middle school students will explore a variety of hands-on career booths and activities led by local professionals. This event is designed to help students begin thinking about future career interests and pathways as part of our ongoing commitment to college and career readiness. Students have completed a Career Interest Inventory done via School Links.

This is a great opportunity for our students to connect their classroom learning with real-world applications and begin to envision the many possibilities ahead. More information can be found here.

Attention CSMS Family- it's not too late to get involved in our 9th musical Moana Jr.! If your middle schooler wants to get involved in an amazing experience, we'd love to have them join our ensemble cast for Moana Jr. Rehearsals start this week, and the performances are at the end of February. Please reach out to Mrs. Gupta mgupta@d75.org if you're interested!

Construction continues at CSMS. It has been moving along quickly. We are so lucky that our TNN Special Report was done. Please check out this video to get an inside look at the project.

Please click here for updates on the project.

Thank you for all the support.

The Sandburg Fall Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences are set for Wednesday, October 22, from 5 - 8 pm & Thursday, October 23, from 12- 8 pm. All Sandburg staff will be offering twelve-minute individual conferences during these times. Please note that there are no walk-in conferences; all appointments must be conducted in person.

Conferences are by appointment only and need to be scheduled via our online conference appointment system. This scheduler will OPEN on Wednesday, October 8th at 9 am and CLOSE on Monday, October 20th at 12 pm. For instructions on how to book a conference with any of your child’s teachers, please refer to the enclosed registration guide. Once the online schedule has been closed, you will NOT be able to make an appointment.

Please be aware that students may have several subjects with the same teacher. Only one time slot is available per teacher for each student. If you're meeting with multiple teachers, we suggest avoiding back-to-back appointments.

If you require more time with a teacher, feel free to discuss arranging an additional meeting on another date. If you are late and miss your scheduled conference, you'll need to reschedule it for a different time.

For assistance accessing the system or scheduling an appointment, please reach out to the main office at 847-949-2707.

CSMS will host the book fair this week in the library. If you would be willing to volunteer your time to help the Book Fair, please sign up here: http://signup.com/go/KoksOgB

Come on out and support the D75 STEAM Foundation's Tacos and Trivia Night! Join us for Julio's Tacos, some friendly competition, and a lot of great auction items and raffle prizes at the Lure of the Local exhibit at the Archer Business Center. Tickets are available now so get yours while you can!

https://auctria.events/d75steamfoundationtrivia2025

This past week, our students had the privilege of hearing from Terrance Lee Talley, an inspiring speaker who had everyone laughing, reflecting, and feeling motivated. His message encouraged empathy, kindness, and the importance of having each other’s backs. Terrance reminded our students that even small acts of support can make a big difference in someone’s day

MASC will be hosting it's Halloween Dance on Friday. This is open to all students from Carl Sandburg, West Oak, and Freemont Middle School. We can't wait to see you there.

Box Tops (flyer attached)

Forget the scissors, download the app and enter code PNKN0SEQ (District 75 PTO Mundelein), scan a receipt with a Box Top eligible item, and you'll earn 50 Bonus Box Tops, a $5 value! There are monthly bonus opportunities too, so watch the Box Tops (and $$) add up for our schools! Last year we raised $801.70 and we are hoping to crush that this year.

PTO Meeting

Our November PTO Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November12th at 7pm at Carl Sandburg in MPR and all D75 Families and Staff are invited.

MHS is hosting a virtual session for families to learn more about AI and how to support their students. P The event will take place Oct 29th and there is an RSVP link to participate. See attachment for more details.

District 75 has established a Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC). A BPAC is a state-required committee when a district or school has a bilingual education program, including a Dual Language program. The purpose of this state required committee is to help facilitate communication between the bilingual parents and the district and to provide opportunities to discuss/provide input on the Dual Language and Multilingual programs. This district-wide committee is composed of families and community members whose children are enrolled in the Dual Language or Multilingual Programs, D75 teachers, Parent Coordinators from each school, and the Director of Linguistic Programs.

The BPAC meets regularly beyond the required four times per year. BPAC plans for family engagement, family education, and cultural events to support the multilingual community. The group creates specific goals each year based on identified family needs, discusses multilingual programs by building, suggests additional topics for upcoming parent education programs and reviews the district’s annual TBE/TPI application.

Please consider joining our BPAC and attending the meetings.

BPAC MEETINGS

Greetings! BPAC is excited to host a Dia de los Muertos event at MG on 11/3 at 6pm. Attached is the flyer.

Please check out our LMC Padlet and see what #D75 reads

This is your place for Tiger Sports updates.

Basketball and Cheerleading are underway. More information will be posted here next week.

Here is the schedules for Boys Basketball and Girls Basketball.

There are many activities for your student to enjoy at CSMS. Here is a breakdown of some of the clubs we offer here. We also run an activity bus that leaves school at 4:30. We want our students to be involved here at CSMS. Please keep checking here for updates on clubs.

Flag Football start Tuesday, August 28th and goes until October 29th. Please see Ms. Gigiano with any questions: bgigiano@d75.org.

Gaming and Chess Club will start in October and run on Tuesdays and Wednesday right after school. Please see Mr. Skura or Ms. Quint with any questions: eskura@d75.org or gquint@d75.org.

Homework Club: The club meets in the library on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM for a dedicated time when students can get help with homework and projects, or just find a quiet place to work. Students are required to sign a permission slip that they can get the first time they attend the club. Any questions, please see Mrs. Quint: lquint@d75.org.

Art Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday after school. This club start this week. You need parent permission to attend. Any questions, please see Mrs. Shirley: lshirley@d75.org.

Community Service Club is running this year. The club will meet on Wednesdays start September 3rd. Please see this flyer for more information. See Mrs. O'Malley or Mrs. Seibt with any questions: jomalley@d75.org or nseibt@d75.org.

Gardening Club aka the Terra Tigers are run by Mrs. Seibt. Please see her with any questions: nseibt@d75.org.

After School Choir will start on September 3rd. Please see Ms. Freeman with any questions: bfreeman@d75.org.

D&D is a tabletop role playing game run by the GM (Game Master, Mr. Fink) and played by player characters (your students)! Together the GM and player characters weave a fantastic story of heroism, adventure, and intrigue. Your students will have to work together building critical thinking and social skills to solve complex puzzles, defeat foes, and save the world from disaster. Playing through a world of my design, your students will gain confidence and life skills as we explore the world of Ruhass. Any questions, please see Mr. Fink or Mr. Spoden: mfink@d75.org or cspoden@d75.org.

There is also the Musical, Dance Ensemble, Band Practice Club, and Color Guard. If you're interested in these clubs, please reach out Mrs. Gupta: mgupta@d75.org.

French Club, a new club this year which will be led by Madame Adrienne Hugo, if she looks familiar it is because she used to teach kindergarten at Washington.. Check out this video from Madame Hugo to learn more about the club

NJHS meets Monday mornings in Mr. Shrank's room from 8:15 - 8:40. Meeting dates are the following:

• October 20th
• November 3rd
• November 17th
• December 8th
• January 12th
• January 26th
• February 9th
• February 23rd
• March 9th
• April 6th
• April 20th
• May 4th
• May 11th (LAST MEETING)

See Ms. Gigiano bgigiano@d75.org or Mr. Schrank tschrank@d75.org for details.

Turn up the fun—join Mariachi Club!

Join us on Tuesdays after school in the choir room!
Don’t miss your chance to make music that’s full of energy, tradition, and fun! Learn to play instruments like guitars, vihuelas, and guitarrons, jam with friends, and experience the powerful sound of Mariachi. No experience needed—we’ll teach you everything. Just bring your enthusiasm and a willingness to try something new!

• Meets: Tuesdays, 3:30–4:45 PM (September–May)
• Directors: Carol Holck, Ashley Oropez, Matt Fink & Lauren White
• Permission slip: Pick up in the MPR or follow CSMS Mariachi Permission Slip Form 25-26 to complete the Google Form
• Questions? Contact Mrs. Holck at cholck@d75.org

Fremont Library offers tutor.com for free to all Fremont Public Library cardholders. Tutors not only assist in English, but also Spanish. They cover just about any subject you can think of and can assist with walking students through their homework assignments. Students or parents simply scan the homework with their phone and upload it to tutor.com, and a live tutor can get on a video call with them and walk the student through their homework.

Everyone in D75 belongs to the Fremont Public Library, you just have to stop in to get a library card. Let me know if you need any assistance in using this valuable resource.

Thank you Marissa Moravec for informing us of great resource in our community.

Peer Tutor Club from MHS is offer free tutoring on certain evenings at the Fremont Library for ages k-8th grade. Please see the flyer below for the dates and time.

We have some amazing artist here at CSMS. Please check out the CSMS Funky Art Gallery.

Check out Carl Sandburg's YouTube Channel. Here you can find the projects done in the multimedia classes as well as CSMS's famous TNN episodes.

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.

This section has a few links that can be helpful if you need anything:

Website

Power School

Student Handbook

Year long calendar

October 2025

21 - Boys Basketball @ Neil

22 - Career Navig8 Lake County 8th Grade

22 - Parent Teacher Conferences 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

23 - Parent Teacher Conferences Noon to 8 p.m. (No student attendance)

24 - No student attendance

24 - MASC Halloween Dance @ CSMS

🍎 My School Menus - is now ONLINE

🍎 Step-by-Step Instructional Video

🍎 Mundelein District 75 Online Menus

🍎 Access the RevTrak website to pay for school meals for your child.

Carl Sandburg Middle School is committed to success, prepared for a future of possibilities.
Live the Tiger CODE. Community. Ownership. Discovery. Effort.