Sleepy Hollow Elementary School

Week of November 2, 2026

SHES Updates

Sleepy Hollow Elementary School Families,

We hope you and your family had a memorable Halloween weekend! Thank you to all the Halloween parade spectators and volunteers who brought smiles, joy, and the spooky magic of Halloween to our students last week. We are extremely grateful to our SHES PTC for organizing a special visit from the Sleepy Hollow Headless Horseman. Please see below for SHES and D300 information and announcements.

In partnership,

Kari Littlehale, Principal

Ashley Patterson, Assistant Principal

Melvin Caldwell, SSS

November 3 Election: SHES is a Polling Location

Sleepy Hollow School will serve as a polling place for the Illinois General Election on Tuesday, November 3. District 300 schools have served as polling places in previous elections, and this year continues that practice. Please note that under Illinois law, If the county board or board of election commissioners chooses a school to be a polling place, then the school district must make the school available for use.

As student safety remains our highest priority, this polling location will be strategically placed within the school to ensure voters do not come into contact with District 300 students while in the building.

As in the past, the district is working with local police to increase overall security and regulate traffic around the school campus. Additionally, a uniformed police officer will be assigned within the voting area to ensure the safety of the campus and maintain a separation between our school population and the voting public. Lastly, we will have Central Office administrators on site to support the building.

Please note: Student absences will be considered excused November 3 if a parent or guardian has safety concerns regarding the use of their child’s school as a polling place.

If you have any questions, please email Dr. Przybyla at Joseph.Przybyla@d300.org or contact Mrs. Littlehale.

Conferences: November 23 and 24

Parent-teacher conferences will be taking place on November 23 and 24. This year, the sign up will be online using PTC Wizard. The following information will help you to make this as smooth a process as possible:

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled via the web at https://app.ptcwizard.com/shes300/login.
Use your username in PowerSchool Parent Portal as your username (all lowercase) and password to access the PTC Wizard account for scheduling.
Conferences will occur on Monday, November 23 from 11:00 AM- 8:00 PM
Conferences will occur on Tuesday, November 24 from 8:00 AM until 1:00 PM
You have from Friday, November 6 at 10AM through Friday, November 20 at 12 noon to schedule your conference.
If you have problems registering from the online directions, please contact the office at 224-484-4900 or email Mrs. Dawn Hall (Dawn.Hall@d300.org) can assist you.
If you do not have online access, the office can manually schedule your child’s conference for you.
If you are interested in conferencing with a support service person (speech, EL, social work, interventionist, or special education teacher) please reach out to the classroom teacher to determine if they would prefer you to schedule a separate meeting with them or have them join the conference with the classroom teacher.
If you require a translator, please contact your child’s classroom teacher to request this support.
New this year the SHES Special teachers (P.E., Music/Orchestra, Art, Skills for Success, STEM, and Band). will host an open house style format for conferences. All the special teachers will be located in the gym and available for any parent to stop in and discuss your child's progress. If you would like to schedule a specific time to meet with a special teacher please reach out to that teacher directly. Below you will find more information about each teacher:

Music and Orchestra- Heidi Meuth- Nov 23 and 24 (heidi.meuth@d300.org)
PE- Rebecca Meyer- Nov 23 and 24 (8-11 AM) (rebecca.meyer@d300.org)
STEM- Julie Larson- Nov 23 (julie.larson@d300.org)
Art- Randy Mitty- Nov 24 (randall.mitty@d300.org)
Skills for Success- Stacey Mitchell- Nov 24 (stacey.mitchell@d300.org)
Band- Mike Storer- Nov 23 (2:30-4:00 PM) (michael.storer@d300.org)

Parent-teacher conferences play a vital role in the success of children. We strive for 100% participation in conferences and look forward to seeing you.

Other Helpful Tips

Multiple Schools: If you have children in more than one school, each school has its own unique URL address for PTC Wizard. The username and password is the parent’s PowerSchool Parent Portal username (all lowercase), but the web address will be different for each school.

Switching Schools If you are scheduling conferences for multiple schools, you will need to close the web browser between sessions when switching between different school URLs.

District Employees: District employees who are also parents should use their PowerSchool Parent Portal username (not their district login) as both the username and password to access the Parent site in PTC Wizard.

Forgotten Username/Password: Parents who do not know their PowerSchool Parent Portal username or need a password reset should contact the SHES main office directly.

pdf

insert_drive_file

PTC Parent Directions - English 2026-27.pdf

PTC Parent Directions - Spanish 2026-27.pdf

26-27 PTC Parent URLs.docx

Download

9.0 KB

November Key of Excellence Focus: Integrity

For the month of November, Sleepy Hollow is focused on the Quantum Learning Key of Excellence: Integrity. The key of integrity is when we match our behaviors with our values. We demonstrate our positive personal values in all we do and say. We are sincere and true to who we are as individuals. We will be on the look out to praise and celebrate students who demonstrate this key!

Veterans Day: November 11

We would like to honor and thank all the veterans related to Sleepy Hollow students and staff at the Veterans Day Assembly scheduled for 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 11th.

If you have a Veteran in your family who would like to attend, please RSVP to this event by completing this Google Form. It is important that we know who will be in attendance, so we can plan accordingly. Please complete the form by Friday, November 6th.

All students are asked to wear red, white, and/or blue to school on Tuesday, November 11th.

If you have any questions, please email sarah.skrabaczfuchs@d300.org.

Summary of Events

7:30 a.m.- Breakfast for Veterans

8:10 a.m.- Veterans Day assembly in the gym

9:10 a.m.- Veterans Day Fun Run outside (immediately following the assembly)

9:40 a.m.- Veterans visit classrooms (for those interested)

6:00 p.m.- 5th grade Veterans Day Program

Scholastic Book Fair: November 6-13

Dear families,

Get ready—the Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school! This is a great opportunity to build your child’s home library with new books they’ll dive into again and again. The easiest way to let your child shop the Fair independently is by creating an eWallet. It’s easy to set up and easy for others to add funds. Create an eWallet and you’ll also have the opportunity to contribute to Share the Fair - the giving program that supports students at our school who need help buying books. Consider participating so that no child leaves the Fair empty-handed!

Here’s everything else you need to know about the Book Fair:
Dates: November 3- November 13

Location: SHES Library

Family Shopping Event: November 12 4:30-6:00 PM

For full details, and to create an eWallet, visit our school’s Book Fair homepage:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/sleepyhollowelementarysch

Students may pay with cash, check, card, or eWallet. Checks can be made out to SHES PTC.

More than ever, we need to get students reading. Studies prove that children with more books at home have higher-level reading skills and attain more years of education overall. Lastly, this is a great opportunity to be a Book Fair volunteer! When you give your time, it helps make our Fair an unforgettable reading experience where every purchase benefits our school directly.

Happy reading,

Kari Littlehale
Sleepy Hollow Principal

Speed Stacks in PE

In the first week of November, we will begin sport stacking in PE. Sport stacking is an exciting sport where students stack and unstack 12 specially designed cups (Speed Stacks) in predetermined sequences. Students race against the clock for faster times and race against each other in relays. Our school will also be participating in the annual World Record STACK UP! event during the third week in November. The World Record attempt is for the “Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations”. The goal is to beat the current record of 784,036 people Sport Stacking. Your child will be counted in this RECORD-BREAKING ATTEMPT!

If you are interested in getting a set of Speed Stacks and/or a Stack Mat and timer for your child(ren), see the attached flyer below for information about purchases. The order date deadline is December 1. Please note, all students will be provided with speed stacks in PE to participate. No purchase is required.

pdf

insert_drive_file

Speed Stacks Letter.pdf

Download

580.8 KB

Lost and Found

Attendance

If your student(s) will be absent, please make sure to call or email the attendance office by 8:00am. This helps us keep attendance accurate and ensures all our Sleepy Hollow students are safe and accounted for.

Call 224-484-4920 or Email attendance.shes@d300.org or Natalie.Chapa@d300.org

When calling please include your student’s:

Name, Grade, ID Number and a valid reason for the absence
CLICK HERE to review information on excused and unexcused absences.

*For any changes in dismissal, please notify the teacher AND the school office. Teachers do not always have the opportunity to check their email during the day.*

Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

SHES drop off and pick up procedures are linked here.

Our front parking lot is reserved for buses. Students may only ride as passengers to their assigned bus routes. Students with play dates or alternative dismissal plans are not able to travel via bus on a different bus route. It is unlawful to drive past our parked buses during arrival and dismissal as they have their stop signs displayed. Thank you for your patience and understanding to prioritize safety each day.

Thank you for waiting in the brief line to either use our "kiss and go" lane or park in an open spot. If you do plan to exit your vehicle and meet your child on the property, we ask that you walk to end of the parking lot first and avoid cutting through the car lanes. We want to keep everyone safe! Students are expected to dismiss directly to their dismissal plan. We appreciate our community's support in ensuring that students refrain from playing in separation of their pick-up designee so that we can safely release students after each school day.

Thank you for also being mindful and careful of community members when driving students to and from school. It is critical that the speed limit is maintained to keep pedestrians safe as many travel on foot on the edge of our streets surrounding our school. In order to assure student health and safety, animals are not allowed on school property, except in the case of a service animal accompanying an individual with a documented disability. Thank you for your help in ensuring student safety and well being with this expectation, especially during our arrival and dismissal times.

Throughout the school year should there be a change in your child(ren)'s dismissal plan, we ask that you contact our main office and the classroom teacher.