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MUSTANG MONTHLY NEWS Pleasant Hill Elementary School

1N220 Pleasant Hill Road

Winfield, IL 60190

Phone:630-682-2100

Attendance:630-682-2101 ONE TEAM ONE GOAL

Fax: 630-682-2366 Principal: Mrs. Christine Frederick

District Website: www.cusd200.org Assistant Principal: Ms. Kathie Bossier

October 2014

October 2 Vision & Hearing Rescreen 10 Run-A-Thon Pledges Due 12 Coachlite Roller Skating Family FUNdraiser 5-7 PM 14 Parent Teacher Conferences

15 Reflection Projects Due 16 Parent Teacher Conferences 20-24 Scholastic Book Fair All Week 24 Run-A-Thon Prize Day 31 Halloween Parade and Parties 1:30 Parade 2:00-3:00 Parties

Dear Pleasant Hill Families,

I have enjoyed getting to meet all of you and your children! We thank every-one who was able to attend our curriculum night and PTA picnic. We had a great turnout at both events and it is wonderful to begin a new year with great communica-tion and a community get together! At curriculum night I am sure you heard your child’s teacher share all about what your child will be learning, what a typical day looks like, and what the best way to contact your child’s teacher is throughout the year. The home-school connection is very important and we always welcome the op-portunity to discuss your child. Please make sure you sign up for Parent/Teacher conferences if you have not done so already. On September 26

th we had Institute Day which provided the staff the oppor-

tunity to work as a grade level team on analyzing the scores of the local assessments that were just completed in math and language arts. Within our Professional Learning Community we planned for the best program to meet our student’s learning needs. This was a time for looking at instructional supports available within the classroom and answering the questions, “How will we respond if our students have not met their goals? What will we do if students already know the information?”. Reports for ISAT went home for students in grades 3,4,5 at the end of September. As we analyze the results and make plans for increased student achievement we will be sharing with you what we are targeting and what we can do together to maximize stu-dent learning. The staff at Pleasant Hill are committed to excellence and strive to help each child reach their maximum potential.

Thanks, Mrs. Frederick

Parent/Teacher Conferences If you have not signed up for a conference time yet, please call the office so they can help you choose an available time slot. Our conference nights are Tuesday, Oct. 14th and Thursday, Oct. 16th beginning at 3:45 PM - 8:00 PM.

Halloween Party Information

Friday, October 31st

1:00 Parent party helpers arrive and enter through

door 2 (LLC).

All parents who are assigned to the Halloween party will pick up their official badges in the LLC.

1:15 Parents with badges will be released to the class- room for party set-up.

1:30 Halloween Parade

All parents are invited to position themselves

around the perimeter of the school to enjoy the

wonderful parade of costumes. Please position

yourself closest to the building.

2:00 Party

3:00 End of Party

Parents who were assigned to the party

will be permitted to take their child(ren) at

the end of the party time, but will not be able to take “friends” unless a note from the other

child’s parent has been received. You will be required to

sign your child(ren) out before leaving. Teachers will

have a sign out sheet available in their classrooms.

Costume Parameters: Violent Free Weapon Free Gore Free

Car Numbers

For the continued safety of our chil-dren, please call the office to get an official car number if you pick your

child up from school, even occasion-ally. The car line moves so much

more efficiently when numbers are in place. If you’ve lost your number, please call the office and we will be happy to replace it. If you need an additional one for a second car, we

can provide that as well.

Did you know that our school is a No Idling

Zone and the law prohibits the us of hand

held cell phones while driving? The state of

Illinois has designated all school areas as no idling zones. We have signs posted as re-

minders not to idle.

STRATEGY SPOTLIGHT

Now that Pleasant Hill families are back into the “swing of things” in school and

students are reading to learn, it is a great time to talk about non-fiction text

strategies.

The non-fiction genre is comprised of any text that contains information that is

factual. Our science and social studies text books are great examples of non-

fiction. However, our school library and classroom libraries offer many more

options of non-fiction text.

A popular non-fiction pre-reading strategy that can be used with non-fiction text

is called SCAN.

S=Survey the Headings

C=Capture the Captions

A=Attack Bold Face Words

N=Note Questions at the End

SCAN is a pre-reading strategy that can be used with our social studies and

science text to help understand the internal text structure and features of non-

fiction text. When students Survey the headings they are able to quickly read the

heading of each section to know what they are about to read. Capture the

captions, reminds readers to not only read the paragraphs, but the text beneath

photos, graphs, and diagrams. Attack bold face words, reminds students that

words in bold print are important words or vocabulary words to be emphasized in

the reading, as well as can sometimes be found in the glossary or index of a text.

Note questions at the end, reminds the reader to answer the questions posed at the

end of a selection for better understanding of the text read.

Once a reader performs the components of SCAN, they have set the stage for

non-fiction reading, where facts are to be learned and synthesized.

Happy Reading!

By Nicole Miller, School Social Worker At Pleasant Hill, we use the Second Step curriculum in kindergarten, first, and fourth grades to teach students about listening, focusing, self-talk, being assertive, empathy, respect, calming strong emotions, and problem solving. Keep an eye on the principal’s newsletter each month to learn more. This month, we focus on Whole Body Listening or “Give me 5” Listening.

Listening is one of the very first things we talk about every year when we start school. Your child’s classroom may have different pictures or phrases but this is the picture we use in Second Step. It shows all of the parts of the body involved in being a truly good listener. Listening with our eyes helps us to notice important clues, like the pictures in a book or the body language of the person speaking. Using our brain to think about what others are saying helps us “focus our attention” and remember directions. Using whole body listening helps others to feel cared about and re-spected. Listening with our eyes and brain help us to learn, make connections, come up with questions, and remem-ber. When we listen, our brains get smarter, whether we are listening to a math lesson or listening to what our friend did over the weekend. Challenge your child to list all the body parts involved in listening when you have something important to tell them at home!

Fall Parenting Seminars—Topics and Dates Now Available

The district is offering another series of seminars addressing the challenges of being a parent in today’s world. These sessions will address some of the issues that parents struggle with as they attempt to pro-

vide the guidance and nurturing necessary to move their teen toward young adulthood. Sessions are

free and open to everyone.

October 16th - Wait Until Your Father Gets Home!

October 21st - Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, Oh NO! Social Media: What a Parent Needs to Know

October 23rd - They Just Have Low Self-Esteem! October 30th - Why Doesn’t My Child Get Any Birthday Party Invitations?

November 6th - You Can’t Stay Home Again!

November 13th - A Whole New World: From the Neighborhood Corner to the Unknown Chat Room

District 200 Parenting Seminar: Wait Until Your Father Gets Home! October 16th, 12:00-1:00 pm, WHEATON Community Center

Ever have on of those days when nothing that you do seems to impact your child’s behavior? Are you

wondering what to try next? Join Dr. Michael Maniacci, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, as he discusses how to effectively and efficiently handle these problematic situations before Dad gets home.

Global Handwashing Day is Wednesday, October 15th. Please join us as we educate our students and staff

on the importance of handwashing.

Wash

AFTER using the bathroom, sneezing, touching the nose, playing with an animal, playing outside,

playing with toy that other children use, or touching anything soiled with body fluids or wastes.

BEFORE AND AFTER eating, cooking, or otherwise handling food

ANYTIME hands look, feel, or smell unclean

Best way to wash

Use warm, but not hot, running water. Run the “cold” water first.

Avoid shortcuts. Use soap. Wash the front and back of both hands. Remember to clean under nails.

Wash for at least 15 seconds. (This is about how long it takes to sing the alphabet song.) Rinse well.

Dry hands with a fresh paper towel or an automatic dryer. Then use the towel to turn off the faucet.

District 200 School Nurses

As the weather starts to change, please make sure your

child dresses appropriately. It may be chilly in the morn-

ing and warm in the afternoon or vise versa.

Don’t forget, November 2nd is daylight

savings time.

Remember to turn your clock back 1 hour.

Community Unit School District 200 Administration & School Service Center

REMINDER: FOODSERVICE INFORMATION

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

This is a reminder that a student will not be allowed to charge foodservice items during breakfast/lunch service if there is a

negative balance greater than $12 in that individual’s account. Subsequently, they will not be fed a meal if they have a negative

balance of greater than $12 in their account. However, if a student brings cash on a day of service, they may purchase a meal,

even if they have a negative balance in their account.

There are two ways to pay for student lunches. The easiest is by logging on to www.mylunchmoney.com or accessing the site

from the District’s homepage at www.cusd200.org. You must know the student’s District 200 identification number to obtain

your child’s specific information. Once you have logged on, you may check your child’s account balance and/or deposit money

into his/her account. The other way is to send cash or a check payable to CUSD 200, to school in an envelope marked with the

student’s name, ID, and grade.

School Absence Policy

The Illinois School Code requires attendance to be reported as follows:

Kindergarten students who are absent from class more than 30 minutes are reported absent for the

entire day.

First graders who are absent for 76 to 195 minutes will be considered absent for 1/2 day. More than

195 minutes equals a whole day absence.

Second through fifth graders who are absent for 16 to 165 minutes will be considered absent for 1/2 day. More that 165 minutes equals a whole day absent.

While school absences are hard to predict and control in most cases, we only ask that to the best of your

ability your child comes to school everyday. If they are not able to attend, please call the attendance line 630-682-2101 before 9:30 AM.

Thank you

Wheaton-Warrenville Community Unit School District 200 Developmental Screening

Wheaton-Warrenville Community Unit School District 200 offers numerous free screenings throughout the school year for

children birth through 5 years of age who are residents of District #200 but who are not yet eligible for kindergarten classes.

The purpose of this screening is to determine if the child’s development is on target with age expectations. A screening can be

completed in two ways. First, parents can access the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ-3) on the Jefferson Early Child-

hood website (http://www.cusd200.org/jefferson). Click on “Developmental Screening”. When that form is completed, the

parent will be called with the results and any necessary follow-up can be discussed. Another way that parents can access a

screening is to call (630) 682-2109 and request a paper copy of the ASQ-3. If it is determined that a face-to-face screening is

required, children come in to Jefferson Early Childhood Center for approximately one hour to be screened in the areas of

speech, language, hearing, vision, motor skills, play skills and conceptual skills. These screenings are not designed to deter-

mine if a child is ready for kindergarten. Parents with questions regarding kindergarten readiness are encouraged to contact the

elementary school that their child will attend.

Face-to-face screenings are by appointment only and are scheduled on various Mondays throughout the year. Since appoint-

ments book up quickly, we encourage you to initiate the developmental screening process sooner rather than later.

WINFIELD FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

OPEN HOUSE Saturday ~ October 4, 2014 from 9 am - 12 pm Winfield Fire Protection District Station 1 27W530 Highlake Rd. on the corner of Highlake & Winfield Road

LEARN FIRE SAFETY MEET FIRE FIGHTERS CLIMB IN A FIRE ENGINE SEE SPARKY THE FIRE DOG ENJOY A FREE HOT DOG and ICE CREAM TOUR THE FIRE STATION LEARNS SOME POINTERS ON BEING SAFE