Lincoln Families,

I hope you enjoyed the three day weekend. Personally, the extra day was much needed on my end! Despite the rapid shift in temperatures, it was a beautiful fall weekend that was made even better by a Chicago Bears victory and my St. Louis Cardinal barely squeaking into the baseball playoffs! Hopefully your family enjoyed the extra day as well. 

As we mark the 20th day of the school year and prepare to flip the calendar to October we do so continuing to learn, reflect, and grow into this remote learning experience. While each of us have been schooled in lessons of resilience, reflection, and personal growth, some of the greatest examples I’ve witnessed have come from your kids. Each day, your five-ten year old kids log into Zoom meetings, troubleshoot technology issues, engage with their teachers and peers, and submit assignments. From our youngest learners – who’ve yet to even step foot into Lincoln – to our fourth grade veterans, I am beyond proud of each of them for all their perseverance and over the past seven months. So for what it’s worth, thank you to each of you and our teachers for emulating a growth mindset culture that has enabled our kids to embrace this experience with open minds and hearts. Whatever lessons and adventures that lie ahead, I’m confident that will navigate them with grace, patience and open minds. 

This week marks our second school supply pick up.  Below is this week’s schedule. As in the past, pick up will occur under the tents on Franklin between 8:00am-2:00pm:

Tuesday, September 29 – 3rd Grade/4th Grade

Wednesday, September 30 – 2nd Grade

Thursday, October 1 – 1st Grade

Friday, October 2 – Kindergarten

Please be sure to return the backpack you already have at home and replace it with the newly filled bag and materials. The new bags will be on tables under the tents. Please leave the returned bag in the bins adjacent to the tables. 

School picture day is always one of my favorite days of the year. Like many other things, our official school picture day has been put on hold… but that doesn’t mean school picture day can’t happen! On tomorrow’s morning message, I’ll be encouraging kids to snap me their “remote learning” photo and send it to me on Seesaw. I’ll take these photos and put them into a video to be featured on Wednesday’s message that will allow our kids to see each other. 

I hope you enjoy this week. As always, please never hesitate to reach out if there is anything more I can do to support your kids and your family. Thank you for your unwavering support of our teachers and our Fine Fine School.

Stay safe! CG

Go Cardinals! 

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Calendar

Monday, 9/28:

• NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, 9/29:

• 3rd and 4th Grade Supply Pick Up

Wednesday, 9/30:

• 2nd Grade Supply Pick Up
• PTO Meeting – 7pm via Zoom

Thursday, 10/1:

• 1st Grade Supply Pick Up

Friday, 10/2:

• Kindergarten Supply Pick Up

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2020/21 – first PTO meeting of the year!

This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th at 7pm (via Zoom) and is being held to approve the budget for the 2020/2021 school year.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 827 2272 1956

Please email lincolnrfptopresident@gmail.com for the password.

Principal Appreciation Day – 10/23!

In order to show our appreciation to Mr. Godfrey and Mrs. Gerges, students will have the opportunity to write a thank you note or draw a picture for our awesome principals. During supply pick up this week you will receive two sheets of paper titled “We Love Our Principal“. Please have your student write a note or draw a picture in the open box. Please label who your note is for and SIGN your sheet of paper! These notes will then be returned during supply pick up the week of October 12th. The PTO will collect the notes and present to Mr. Godrey and Mrs. Gerges.

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Run for D90 School Board!

Want to take your school involvement to a higher level?

Run for District 90 School Board! If you are considering running for next year’s election (4/2021) or know someone who might be interested, please check out the Caucus website!

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Last year’s 2019-2020 yearbook for sale!

We have some of last year’s 2019-2020 yearbooks left, they are for sale in the webstore. The books are available on a first come first serve basis for $30/each. Purchase your 2019-2020 yearbook in the webstore.

If you have any questions please contact lincolnyearbookpto@gmail.com

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Green4Good – River Forest Tree Trails!

Hopefully you have been able to get out and enjoy the first beautiful days of fall using the Village of River Forest’s tree map activity – win three months of free curbside composting by submitting your entry by this Wednesday, September 30.

Did you know that the native garden at your school is part of something much bigger? West Cook Wild Ones engages residents and organizations in creating landscapes that feature native shrubs, trees, plants and grasses as a way to increase biodiversity in the Oak Park River Forest area. Explore your neighborhood using the West Cook Wild Ones Wildlife Corridor Map – each D90 school is found on this map!!

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Social emotional wellness

Here are this week’s SEL resources, courtesy of Ms. Gilmartin and Ms. Payton, our school Social Workers: 1) Family Mindfulness Schedule; 2) Mindfulness Exercises for Children.

Please contact them at any time with any questions or support they might provide to your family: gilmartinb@district90.org  or   paytons@district90.org

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Technology support

Thank you for emailing  powerschool@district90.org or helpdesk@district90.org with your technology questions/issues.  Please remember to include as much information as possible, e.g., Student Name, Teacher Name, School, iPad asset tag number, etc. Screenshots, links, websites and any other information regarding the issue is helpful. For example, my iPad/computer can’t connect to this website _________________ when I click on this link __________________. 

Additionally, if you have difficulty logging into your child’s special area classes, please be sure to reach out to that particular teacher to assist with any login issues. 

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The Library Lowdown

We have upgraded our library management system (LMS) and are very excited to share some of the new features with the students. These new features come in very handy in a remote environment where they are not able to choose books directly from the shelves.

Students now have the capability to “browse” by genre or topic in a very easy fashion. Additionally, they can search directly for titles/authors/subjects or explore main topic areas. Once they find a book they want, they can place the books on hold themselves. This past week, 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders learned about some of the ways to browse/search for books and how to put them on hold. This week in their backpacks, there is an easy-to-use instruction manual on how to do this that they can follow if they forget the process. We will spend more time ensuring that students have a long “want-to-read” list as this is what I will use to give them books for reading at home. I would appreciate your encouragement as well about putting books on hold. While I’m attaching the document here, it will be helpful for your student to keep the hard-copy instructions in a safe and convenient place to refer to in the future.

Normally, there is a two-week checkout period, always with the option to renew. Given the situation, that will be moved to three-weeks. This will limit the overdue email notices to account for quarantining time and twice-monthly backpack pickup.

In regards to returning the books, you have two options:

1 – they can be returned on your backpack pickup day – there will be bins outside near the backpack tables

2 – you can return them to the front of the school between 8:00 – 3:00 – there will be a container by the front door for books

While this is certainly not the ideal, we will work hard to give your child book choice and the opportunity to take library books home.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Brauweiler directly.

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All parents are invited to learn more about Cub Scout Pack 4067!

Cub Scouts is a year-round program for boys and girls in kindergarten through fifth grade that provides an opportunity to participate in fun activities like building and racing model cars, field trips, hiking, camping, geotagging, carving pumpkins, games and crafts. Families plan and do organized activities together focused on promoting character, physical fitness, responsible citizenry and leadership development. It’s also a great opportunity to make new friends within the community. Events planned for the next week include outdoor den level rain gutter regattas and a family camping trip to Warren Dunes, Michigan. Contact rfpack67@gmail.com for more information and to sign up now!

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