Principal's Update 11-14-2014 and 11-19-2014

I hope everyone had a Great Thanksgiving and enjoyed a few days to give thanks with family and friends! Thank you to all of our parents who attended Parent/Teacher Conferences! The Willow Creek Staff appreciates the time to connect personally with parents in order to work together to meet students' needs!

The last two weeks before Thanksgiving flew by and were busy weeks at WC!

Willow Creek students who are in 1st and 2nd year Band participated in their first concert of the year. The students were excited to perform for their families and show off their progress so far! As always, Mr. Payne and his students worked hard to prepare for the concert, which was a success!!



Students who were lap winners or raised the most money for the Fun Run back in September received their pizza lunch reward on Friday, November 14th! Thank you to all families who helped raised funds for this event! All of the money goes directly back to our school during our upcoming PTO events such as the WC Roller Skating Party and Movie Night!



The first PTO sponsored assembly of the year was on Monday, November 17th! This year, all of the assemblies will fit with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) theme! Monday's assembly was entitled "World of Robots."



We celebrated our students of the month from the month of October on the Wednesday before break. These students were chosen either by their teacher or their classmates for this honor. Individuals who are nominated for Student of the Month have demonstrated an ability to follow the school rules, be caring citizens, and show academic responsibility.

October students of the month were as follows:
Kindergarten: AM- Jennifer Curran
                          PM- Trey English

1st Grade: Boots- Damian Segura
                   Cannis- Carly Bleau

2nd Grade: Armstrong- Isabella Sandu
                    Mack- Nathan Bunzell

3rd Grade: Leonard- Hailey Imrisek
                    MacNeil- Bailey Mongello

4th Grade: Chapman- Reilly Renchin
                    Durkin- Kaley Bretwisch

5th Grade: Buchholz- Alyssa Deschamp
                   Wilkinson- Peyton Horazy

6th Grade: Driessens- Taylor Horazy
                    Keogh - David Roman

                   
Thursday, November 20th was the last day of our Session #1 after school clubs! The students who paritcipated in the clubs enjoyed an excellent experience, and we are looking forward to our next session starting up at the beginning of January. Permission Slips for Session #2 will be going home with students the second week in December. A huge "Thank You" goes to Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Chapman, and Mrs. Hector who sponsored our clubs in the Fall!

Our entire school participated in our November Bulldog Groups on Friday, November 21st! The topic in October was personal space and our November topic followed the October topic seemlessly. The lesson was about students keeping their hands and feet to themselves at school. We discussed that giving a friend a high five, hand shake, or fist bump are appropriate ways that students can touch their friends at school, because those are all examples of opportunities that a friend can signal they are okay with it and they can appropriately recipricate. Students were reminded of the "Be Safe" expectation of the Willow Creek Way, which means that students should never be touching anyone else unless it fits the criteria listed above. The groups also discussed what students should do if they want to get someone's attention and how they should appropriately respond if someone puts their hands or feet on them. Students were given different scenarios and had to practice responding according to the guidelines that were discussed in the lesson.  

Willow Creek also participated in American Education Week during the last week of school before break! The students enjoyed dressing up each day to participate in the celebrations! As a school, we took time to specifically thank our support staff members who truly enable our school to run smoothly and meet the needs of our students!  

On Sunday, November 23rd the Willow Creek Chorus performed before the start of the Chicago Wolves Hockey Game! The students did an excellent job and they had a great time enjoying the game with family and friends following their performance! A special "Thank You" goes to Mrs. Hector who made this event possible!