THIS WEEK

This past weekend we had a death in our immediate family. My stepdaughter passed away in an accident on Saturday. I will be in this week as much as I can, but not at all on Wednesday and Thursday. If you need anything please call our school office and if they can't help you they will direct you to someone who can. Thank you for your understanding and I hope you all have a good week.

THANK YOU PTO

Today our students were treated to an exciting assembly thanks to our terrific PTO. The Bubble Guy visited our school and wowed the students with wonderful bubble tricks!!! Make sure to ask your students about it!

Also, tonight our PTO has scheduled the showing of Ratatouille for our movie night at Prairieview. Doors open at 6:30 with no one being admitted after 6:45. All students should be picked up at 8:45.

Please remember that Monday, January 28th begins the new lunch ticket policy. Please call the school with any questions. Have a wonderful weekend!

CHANGES AT ELIZABETH IDE

There are a couple of changes that will be taking place.

First, our Iowa testing has been rescheduled due to a backorder of the first grade testing booklets. Instead of the week of February 11th, first and second grade testing will take place the week of March 3rd. Students who are absent during testing week will be able to take the test the following week.

Second, the district is implementing a new lunch ticket policy as of Monday, January 28th. Any student who forgets their lunch ticket will be sent down to the office for a ticket and an IOU slip for $2.25. A list of these students will be kept in the office. If a student has 3 outstanding lunch IOUs and comes down for a fourth he/she will not receive another ticket. We will call the student's parents and/or guardians and they will need to bring either money or a lunch to the office. If you have any questions about this policy please call the school.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of the week!

PREVIEW NEXT WEEK!

Monday, January 21st - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No School

(Have a great weekend)!

Tuesday, January 22nd - Board Meeting at 7:00 @ PV - Straight A Recognition in the gym

Friday, January 25th - January Birthday Students have lunch with the Principal

Friday, January 25th - Movie Night - Ratatouille at PV

Saturday, January 26th - Market Day @ LV 11:00 - 12:00

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

There is no school on Monday, January 21st in celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968), was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A Baptist minister by training, King became a civil rights activist early in his career, leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helping to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, raising public consciousness of the civil rights movement and establishing King as one of the greatest orators in American history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

Dr. King demonstrated all seven pillars of the Character Counts program and is a great role model for our students. To help your children learn even more about him, click on the link below to go to a fun and interactive website.


http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/martin-luther-king-jr-day/index.html

A NEW INITIATIVE - RTI

Last summer, the Illinois State Board of Education filed revised state special education regulations, establishing a new service delivery model known as Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is a systematic, research and data-based method for identifying and resolving students’ academic and/or behavioral difficulties. The focus of RTI is to provide effective early interventions for struggling students. These interventions must be research-based and matched to the student’s needs. The student’s progress is monitored to determine the effectiveness of the intervention that was put in place. Each district must implement RTI no later than the 2010-2011 school year.

Our district has formed an RTI committee comprised of our school psychologists, administrators, reading specialists and teachers. This Wednesday we will be going to our next intensive training day. The committee is attending several such days, as well as meeting together to apply what we've learned to our district. By doing so we will be more than capable of implementing this new initiative in a timely and efficient manner.

CHARACTER COUNTS! SURVEY RESULTS

I would like to thank all of the parents, students and faculty members who participated in our Character Counts! surveys. The results have been summarized and can be read at the following link http://www.ccsd66.org/PDF/CCSurveySummary_Results.pdf . The results show that although Character Counts! is a worthwhile program, bullying still takes place in our district with the majority being verbal. The Character Counts! committee will be researching various programs that can be integrated into our schools to help prevent this problem from occurring. Thank you again for your help with this very important issue.

WELCOME BACK!!!

Can you believe it our holiday break is over! It was very quiet and lonely here so I'm glad everyone is back today. It's nice to hear the student's and teacher's once again. Below are some upcoming January events, please feel free to call us with any questions.

Wednesday, January 9th - PTO Meeting at 3:45

Thursday, January 10th - Vision/Hearing Screening

Monday, January 21st - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Friday, January 25th - Movie Night