Lincoln Weekly News

Lincoln Early Learning Center houses the preschool programs for three school districts: Fremont District 79, Hawthorn District 73, and Mundelein District 75.

⬅️ Check out the Table of Contents on the left for the latest news from your district.

Please note that you will need to open the newsletter from your browser in order to see the table of contents.

Dear Lincoln Early Learning Center Families,

Welcome back! We hope all of our families had a wonderful and relaxing Spring Break. It has been so nice to see our students back at school, ready to learn, play, and reconnect with their friends. We especially enjoyed the warm weather at the beginning of the week, which allowed us to spend extra time outside. Our students loved being back on the playground, exploring, moving, and enjoying the fresh air together!

Paraprofessional Appreciation Day
This week, we celebrated Paraprofessional Appreciation Day and want to recognize our incredible Lincoln paraprofessionals. They play such an important role in supporting our students and classrooms each day through their care, patience, and dedication. We are so grateful for all they do to help our students learn and grow!

Upcoming Parent Events

STARNET is offering two upcoming family webinars.

• April 22 webinar 6:30-7:30 on Our Trip to Successful Toilet Training. We will have translation in Spanish available at this webinar.
• Another family focused event is "Supporting Your Child's Sleep Health" with Dr Andrea Roth, author of the book: The Essential Guide to Children's Sleep. The first session will be on May 12 and a follow up session will be held on June 23, both 6:30-7:30 pm. We will have translation in Spanish available for these webinars.

Registration is at starnet2and6.org Please be sure to review the flyers below for more information about these events.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. We look forward to a wonderful spring filled with learning and growth!

Warm regards,

Katie O’Brien
Principal, Lincoln Early Learning Center

kobrien@fsd79.org

Kim Stergios
Building Assistant Supervisor, Lincoln Early Learning Center

stergiosk@hawthorn73.org

Absences

If your child will be absent from school because of illness, doctors’ appointments or vacation, please contact us at Lincoln at 847-949-2720. Please notify the school office by 9:30 a.m. the day of the absence to leave a recorded message regarding your child's absence. Keeping track of all the students on a daily basis is a huge task and we greatly appreciate your prompt attention.

Medical Forms

Annual Physical Examinations are required within the first 30 days of entering preschool. All forms can be emailed, faxed, or brought in with your student. If we do not receive your child’s physical, your child will be excluded from school and cannot return to school until submitted. Per IL State Law we must have a child’s physical by October 15 or within 30 days of starting preschool.

Illness and Injuries

Please remember that any child with a fever should stay home until they have been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medication, for at least 24 hours.

Students should also remain home if they are experiencing vomiting or diarrhea. Students may NOT return to school for at least 24 hours after the last episode.

The health office must have current telephone numbers for parents and designated emergency contact persons. Please select your emergency contacts carefully. This person should be familiar with your child, your family routine, and be available to transport your child home if necessary.

Please pre-plan for a telephone call from the health office. If your child becomes ill at school, you are responsible for picking up your child within 30 minutes of the call.

Medications

All medications, feeding, and treatment supplies are to be supplied by the parent per school policy.

Doctor’s orders for medications, feedings, and treatments are required at the beginning of each school year. The school nurse will not accept or administer any medications (including over the counter medications) or perform nursing services or treatments without a doctor’s order.

Any questions related to the above health office guidelines should be directed to the health office staff.

Lincoln Health Office

Holly Palo

847.949.2720 ext.1503

Change in Dismissal

Please contact América Lanuza (lanuzaa@hawthorn73.org) or Danielle Garcia (dgarcia@d75.org) at the Lincoln Front Office(847-949-2720) if there are any end of day changes throughout the school year. Teachers may not always be able to pick up their phone or check email throughout the day, so it would be best to call the front office with any changes. América and Danielle will relay any changes to the classroom teacher after you contact them. Please contact the main office by 10:00 a.m for the morning session and 2:00 pm for the afternoon session for any changes in regards to a child's dismissal procedures.

As a reminder, if your student is in our Tri-District classroom, they will follow the arrival and dismissal times below:

• AM: 8:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
• PM: 12:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m

Please review the Hawthorn School District 73 section for information about important dates. Please review your home district section for any other information.

We Want Your Feedback: Take Our Community Survey

Your feedback matters! If you have not yet done so, please take 3 minutes to complete our community survey to share your feedback, including your level of satisfaction with the District.

The survey will close on April 20 and final results will be shared on our website www.fsd79.org.

2026-27 Registration Open for Returning Families

Returning families can register through the TeacherEase Parent Portal. Please complete registration by May 1 to ensure teacher assignments and bus routes are available before the start of school. All students must be verified as district residents. If your address cannot be automatically verified, the district will contact you for additional documentation.

Students entering Kindergarten, 2nd grade, or 6th grade should review required health forms on the Health Services page of the District website. Student Fees are not due at the time of registration and will be posted to your TeacherEase account after June 1. Families who may need financial assistance can apply for Free/Reduced status beginning July 1.

Quick Steps:
Log into TeacherEase → Miscellaneous → Online Registration → Select student(s) → Complete required information

Report an Absence

If your child will be absent from school because of illness, doctor's appointments, or for any other reason, please report it to the school office by 9:00 a.m. on the day of the absence by completing the form linked below. While the online form is preferred, you may also call in the absence to the front office at 847-949-2720.

April 10 - No School - Preschool Screening

May 8 - No School - Parent Coffee for parents of kindergarten-bound families

June 4 - Last Day of School

June 5 - Park Playdate

Give a Shoutout to Your Favorite Teacher! We’re launching a new Hawthorn Shoutouts campaign to celebrate our incredible educators — and we want your help! Families are invited to submit a short video of their child thanking their teacher or staff member and sharing something special about them.

Selected videos may be featured on our district social media channels and in future newsletters.

April 10 - No School - Parent Involvement Event - See the flier below.

May 25 - No School - Memorial Day

June 2 - Last Day of School

PTO Updates

Box Tops (Flyers Below)

A new month means a new chance to earn money for our school through Box Tops for Education — plus monthly bonus opportunities!
It’s easy:
Buy participating products
Scan your receipt in the Box Tops app
Earn funds for our school
Want to double the impact? Donate those same items to our Welcome Center to support local families. That’s two wins with one purchase!
Download the app, opt in for the Monthly Bonus, and start scanning today.
View the participating product list here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FcgSIFxaxXJ431NrCFfcbxzCsK7e4vOp/view
Thank you for supporting our school and community!

Camp Duncan Lou Malnati's Pizza Card Fundraiser (Flyer Below)

We’re excited to officially kick off our Lou Malnati’s Pizza Card Fundraiser! This fundraiser helps support our current 4th-grade students so they can attend Camp Duncan next year—for FREE.

Goal: Each 4th-grade student is asked to sell 15 pizza cards at $16 each to cover the full cost of camp.

Incentive: The class that sells the most pizza cards will win a special visit from Tropical Chill!

Sales Dates: April 1 – April 14
Order Online Only:
https://d75-pto.square.site/product/camp-duncan-pizza-fundraiser/KL5TBT7R65UOPBHP4ZUVISUH?cs=true

Don’t have (or know) a 4th grader? You can still purchase pizza cards and have them sent home with your student or pick them up. Every purchase helps support a student and brings them one step closer to attending Camp Duncan at no cost.

PTO Board Nominations (Flyer Below)

Interested in getting involved? PTO Executive Board nominations are now open. Each position is voted on yearly. Any parent, guardian, or D75 staff member may nominate themselves for a position on the D75 PTO Board, provided they will be part of D75 during the 2026–2027 school year.

We are currently seeking candidates for Co-Presidents and Co-Facilitators at all schools (Washington, Mechanics Grove and Carl Sandburg).

Nomination Deadline: May 12 at 9 PM
Voting: May 13 at our final PTO meeting

Nomination Link: https://forms.gle/xpp45FFBZXggZhqn8

April 10 - No School - Preschool Screening

May 22 - Last Day of School

May 26 - Park Playdate