Principal's Update 02-14-2014

Last weekend, the JJH Chess Team competed and took second place in the  SDEAA Conference Chess Tournament! Two Willow Creek 6th Graders, Kyle Leonard and Amber Moca, in addition to multiple former Willow Creek students who are now at the JJH, competed as members of the JJH Team! Congrats for all of their accomplishments, as this is the third year in a row that the team has had a podium finish! Way to go Willow Creekers!!

On Tuesday, District #68 hosted its annual Spelling Bee. Two students from Willow Creek participated in the district bee, 5th Grader Kailey Ferguson and 6th Grader Amber Moca. Both students did an excellent job representing our school!




All students participated in Jump Rope for Heart this week. Students enjoyed rotating through stations where they participated in different jump rope or heart healthy activities! They also learned various facts about maintaining a healthy heart while at each of the stations. Every student received a red duck for their participation in the event! Thank you to Mrs. Bailey for organizing and facilitating the event! 




The Student Council sponsored a candy lip sale this week. The sale was a huge hit and the students also enjoyed participating in the "Love Your Career Day" that the Student Council sponsored as well! We had a wide variety of careers represented by our students including a Principal, Zoo Keeper, Cook, Artist, Hair Stylist, Fire Fighter, Soldiers, Teachers, Athletes, Doctors, Nurses, Dentists, Veterinarians, Olympians, Police Officers, CIA Agents, and a President!!  I was so impressed by the students' goals and aspirations and am so happy that they are thinking forward towards college and careers!





 

Our Service Club is still collecting supplies for soldiers through Tuesday. Students can bring in supplies on Tuesday to be included in the items that will be sent on later this week. Again, the list of items that are needed is posted on the Peachjar. Thank you to everyone who has already donated!

This year, our PTO has sponsored a series of assemblies related to Health and Fitness. Our next assembly is coming up this Friday! The PTO will also be sponsoring the "Plunge Into Fitness" challenge where students in kindergarten through 8th grade can earn a free weekday pass to Raging Waves Waterpark this summer! Students need to complete 25 hours of exercise and keep track of their activity on a log between now and April 14th in order to earn the pass! I have included links to the exercise log and a flyer with more information for parents to access online.  Paper copies will also be sent home with students this week!

Students in grades 2 and 6 will be participating in the CoGat Test this week. Students will take the tests in their classrooms with their teacher. The results of these tests will be used as one piece of information for evaluating students for the Gifted Program. Please make sure that students in these two grades get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy breakfast this week in order to help them do their best on these assessments.

ISAT Testing is also right around the corner. Students in third through sixth grade will participate in the ISAT Tests again this year. I will be sending a letter with more information for parents regarding the tests the week before we begin. In addition, llinois is among a group of leading states participating in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) - an internationally-benchmarked assessment of applied knowledge designed to measure the new Illinois learning standards. PARCC will replace the ISAT and PSAE in 2015. Before the PARCC test is administered statewide next year, field tests will be conducted this spring.  This is really a "test of the test" to see how well it works and whether there need to be any adjustments prior to the 2014-15 school year.

All Woodridge School District 68 schools will be participating in the field test this spring with various grade levels in each school taking different parts of the assessment. By doing so, students will take an additional two to six hours of testing this spring depending on content area, the PARCC component, and the grade level. The field test will not generate student-level scores. District 68 is looking forward to the opportunity to become more familiar with PARCC, which is aligned to the new Illinois learning standards. Third graders at Willow Creek School will be taking one component of the English Language Test and fourth grade will be taking one component of the Math Test. Both grades will complete these test during the designated testing window which is the last week of March before leaving on spring break. More information about the transition from ISAT to PARCC can be found on both the district website and ISBE website.

Upcoming Dates to Remember:
Monday, February 17th: NO SCHOOL, President's Day 
Tuesday, February 18th - Friday, February 21st: CoGat Testing for 2nd Grade and 6th Grade 
Tuesday, February 18th: Donations for Soldiers for the Service Club Collection Due 
Wednesday, February 19th: Elementary Band Concert, 5:30 p.m. Dinner, 7:00 p.m. Concert
Friday, February 21st: PTO Assembly, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, February 25th: The Digital Age- Parent Information Mtg., 6:30 p.m. @ Meadowview School
Thursday, February 27th: Roller Skating Party, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Friday, February 28th: NO SCHOOL for Students, Teacher Institute Day
Monday, March 3rd - Friday, March 14th: ISAT Testing 
Tuesday, March 4th: Math Curriculum Presentation for  Willow Creek parents by Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott @ 6:30 p.m. in the WC Library, PTO Meeting @ 7 p.m. in the WC Library

Check out the picture below of an a.m. kindergarten student whose name was drawn in the "Positive Paws" raffle this week! The group photo of students in other classes will be coming soon!