Principals' Newsletter - February

We hope this newsletter finds you well and soaking up some sun in early February!

The month of February brings with it a sense of excitement and love, as we celebrate Valentine's Day. Let us take this month as an opportunity to spread love and kindness within our school community. Small acts of kindness can go a long way in brightening someone's day, so let us make an intentional effort to show love and kindness towards one another.

This past month, we have been busy at the school with a variety of school and community events that could not have been pulled off without our AMAZING staff, students, families, and FORS!

• The Spelling Bee competition took place on January 18, 2024. Over 40 students participated from grades 4th to 8th. We are so proud of all of our students and congratulations to our 7th grade winner, Siri Nelson!

• We appreciate all of you who participated in Coffee with the Principals on January 26, 2024. Your insights, thoughts and suggestions help us enhance our school community.

• The Quarter 2 Awards Assembly for students in 5th to 8th grade took place on January 26, 2024. Students received High Honors, Honor Roll, and four special awards for Citizenship, Leadership, Perseverance and the RAMbassador award.

• The Bilingual Advisory Committee (BAC) officers met on January 29, 2024. We invite the school community to attend, meet other families, and learn about a variety of topics that support our EL community.

• The Day of Service and Chili Cook Out was on January 27, 2024. We appreciate all of our volunteers who helped move, organize and beautify our school. Also, congratulations to Jen Franklin who won the Chili contest for a second year in a row!
  

• The annual Ravenswood RAMpage Dodgeball Tournament on February 2, 2024 was a huge success! Shout out to Todd Mesch for organizing, Mr. White for hi MC skills, and all who participated to help support Ravenswood's Sports Programs!
  

Thank you for your continued commitment to our school's values and mission. Wishing you all a joyful month.

We'd like to take a quick moment to remind you of the Chicago Public School's policy regarding dogs. Respectfully, dogs are not allowed on the school premises including the playground. Unfortunately, some of our community members have been using the playground as a dog park on the weekends and excrement has had to be cleaned up on multiple occasions on Mondays.

Kindly, please refrain from from bringing your dogs to the playground. Also, if you see dog owners with their pets on the playground, please call 3-1-1 and request CPD to come to the school to address the situation.

After School Programming

We are excited to continue after school enrichment opportunities for students in K to 8th grade. If you would like to enroll your child in one of the academic and/or ELL programs below, please reach out to Ms. Mejia at samejia1@cps.edu

Programs that will are open to enrollment:

• Academic and ELL support for 5th & 6th with Mr. Fish (T &TH)
• Academic and ELL support for 1st to 3rd with Ms. Peterson (T & TH)
• Academic and ELL support for 4th grade with Mr. Cantorna (T & W)
• Academic and ELL support for 6th to 8th grade with Mr. Zavala (M-Th)
• Academic support for 4th-6th with Ms. Gaby (M, W, Fri)
• Academic support for 7th-8th with RMS teachers ( T, Th)

Partner Programs registration closed:

Our Winter/Spring Partner Programs are full. We appreciate all of you for registering your child(ren) in these fun activities.

If you are have any questions, please reach out to our afterschool coordinator, Ms. Mejia at samejia1@cps.edu

During inclement weather (extreme temperatures, rain showers, blizzard, etc.), Ravenswood will implement its indoor arrival protocol. The CPS Weather Guide is referenced when making this decision.

During this protocol, orange flags will be raised outside of Door 2, Door 7, and Door 8 to inform students of indoor arrival starting at 8:25am.

Lastly, Paulina and the alleys will not be blocked during indoor arrival protocol. For the safety of our students, Paulina and the alleys will remain blocked during regular drop off and pick up. This practice was approved by Alderman Matt Martin's office.

The doors below have been assigned to grade levels for a safe entry into the building.

Inclement Weather Arrival Protocol:

• Gym Doors: 5th-8th
• Door 2: K-2nd
• Door 7: 3rd-4th
• Door 8: PreK

Please see the following updates and action items:

• 2/8: LSC application Due, find more information HERE
  

• 2/8: Q3 Progress Report sent home with students from 1st to 8th grade
• 2/9: Teacher Institute Day; No School for students
• 2/12: LSC meeting, 6:15pm
• 2/16: Principal Coffee Hour, 9:00am
• 2/19: President Day, No school for students
• 2/27: Bilingual Advisory Committee (BAC) Meeting, 9:00am

Volunteering at Ravenswood

• Interested in volunteering, click HERE

ASPEN Parent Portal

• Aspen Excused Absences: Parents and guardians can now submit and track student absences electronically. Here is more about this new feature: E-Absence Flyer.

Ravenswood Rambler

• Use this LINK to subscribe to the Ravenswood Rambler and stay on top of upcoming school events.

Ms. Paredes and I are requesting your feedback. Please take a moment to provide us with some constructive feedback regarding our leadership thus far. The Google Form is anonymous and will be used to make shifts in our leadership for the remainder of the school year. The feedback form can be found HERE.

Carolina and I are grateful to be part of this AMAZING community of students, staff, families, and community members. We look forward to continuing our work in partnership with you all and supporting, sustaining, and enhancing Ravenswood!