Principal's Update 09-21-2012

International Day of Peace was Friday, September 21st. Willow Creek students celebrated it this year by participating in the "Pinwheels for Peace Project." Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Art teachers. It was established to be a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. The project was quickly embraced by students and an entire school community and by millions of art teachers, teachers, parents, children and adults who desire peace in our world. The first Pinwheels for Peace were installed on Sept. 21, 2005. Since then, it has grown from 500,000 pinwheels planted the first year, to three and a half million pinwheels in 2011!

Willow Creek art teacher, Michelle LaCombe, led the way for our school to participate this year and had the students of Willow Creek create pinwheels in art class for us to display in the front yard of our school. One class of 6th grade students helped her set-up the pinwheels on Thursday morning. The students placed the pinwheels in our yard in the shape of a peace sign. The pinwheels were on display all day Thursday and Friday. Many neighbors of Willow Creek stopped to view the students' beautiful display and enjoyed seeing their public acknowledgement of this international effort. For more information regarding the Pinwheels for Peace Project and International Day of Peace visit:

http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/pinwheelsforpeace/home.html.

This past Thursday, Willow Creek students also participated in an all school Fire Drill. The purpose of the drill is to ensure that all students and staff know exactly how to respond in the event of an emergency. Teachers discussed the procedures for the drill ahead of time and the drill was announced to the school prior to the fire alarm being pulled. Our students did an excellent job exiting the building quickly, quietly, and in a straight line. All students took the drill seriously and we discussed with them that having emergency drills to practice what we do in the event of a fire is one of the ways that we ensure that our school rule of "BE SAFE" is not only followed by students but by the adults as well, as it is one of the ways we make sure we keep students safe. We will hold three more fire drills throughout the course of the school year. Our next drill will be held in October in conjunction with the Woodridge/Lisle Fire Department.

I strongly recommend that families take the time to discuss and practice an exit plan with their children in the event of a fire at home. Now is the perfect time to piggy back off of our conversations at school with conversations about what to do at home. Below are links to some useful websites for talking with children about a home fire exit plan and resources for creating and practicing a plan.
http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/family.html

http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=406&itemID=17735&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fact%20sheets/Escape%20planning/Basic%20fire%20escape%20planning&cookie%5Ftest=1

http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/big-kids/at-home/fire-prevention.html?gclid=CODl373KyrICFao7MgodyB8A6A

Please note the dates for this coming week:
Monday, September 24th: School Board Meeting @JJH, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 26th: PTO sponsored ProKids Assembly, 1:45 p.m. 
Friday, September 28th: Willow Creek Fun Run
9:00-9:30 a.m.         4th Grade
9:30-10:00 a.m.       6th Grade
10:00-10:30 a.m.     Kindergarten AM Class
10:30-11:00 a.m.     2nd Grade and 1/2 Wiese
11:00-11:30 a.m.     3rd Grade
1:00- 1:30 p.m.        1st Grade
1:30-2:00 p.m.         Kindergarten PM Class
2:00-2:30 p.m.         5th Grade

Our students whose names were drawn for "Positive Paws" this week are pictured below!