It was great to see all of those smiling faces as students returned from spring break on Monday. We were able to surprise them with a newly painted cafeteria upon their return. Thank you to our amazing custodial team that worked tirelessly over break to rejuvenate the building for the last stretch of school! Thank you also to our parent volunteers who helped organize this year’s Hatch Coffee House event. It is always thrilling to have our young authors sharing their work and the work of their favorite authors with their peers and community!
Don’t forget! Family Math Night and our annual Science Fair are next Thursday evening from 6-7pm in the cafeteria and gym. It’s a two for one deal-Math and Science in one fun-filled evening! Please see the attached flyer for details.
Student Council is sponsoring Hatch’s participation in the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry's annual “Can Do Community Challenge” during the month of April. We will be taking in donations of non-perishable foods, toiletries, and monetary donations. Donations should be brought to your child's classroom. Thank you!
The yearbook deadline has been extended until April 16th! Please use this link on attached flyer.
3rd grade Gears-Up with OPEF during Library!
This week our 3rd grade classes started participating in the Geared Up LEGO engineering program to help the children learn about simple machines in a hands-on way during their library time. This program is provided free to the classes by the nonprofit Oak Park Education Foundation (opef.org). If you would like to volunteer to help, the foundation is always happy to welcome anyone from LEGO newbies to engineering professionals. Working in teams of two, students will be engineering the simple machines with LEGO motorized mechanisms, and testing what happens when they change variables. For example, one project has students experiment to determine which cart will roll further down a hill, a heavier or lighter one. They also test bigger or smaller wheels to see how they affect the speed of the cart. Students make predictions, build carts and a ramp, measure weights and distances. They learn first-hand about friction, mass, moving energy and efficiency. And the collaborative projects also promote hands-on problem solving and teamwork skills. Learn more at opef.org/programs/gearedup
FREE Hands-On Coding Opportunity at the Oak Park Public Library
So many of the students here at Hatch had a great time when we celebrated Hour of Code in January and again at the Oak Park Public Library for Code Fest that the Oak Park Public Library is now offering a variety of free coding opportunities with Code Play Learn. Be sure to sign-up quick as these experiences are sure to fill up fast as they are open to anyone in Oak Park! Please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Howe if you have any questions.
Saturday, April 14: Maze Meeting Room
Saturday, April 28: Main Storytime Room
Save The Date: Hatch Career Day! Tuesday, May 22nd, 6:30pm
The Hatch PTO Diversity Committee is planning a 2-part event that will provide our students with a fun and tangible experience designed to foster a connection between their daily studies and the jobs they dream about. During the day, participating classrooms will be visited by adults from various careers. And at night, the whole family is invited to share a pizza dinner and learn from 3 very interesting people in our community including a bona-fide aerospace engineer aka rocket scientist!
Call for Career Day Volunteers!
We need YOU during lunchtime on Tuesday, May 22nd! We invite you to sign up to help welcome our guest speakers and escort them to their planned classrooms. You’ll get a chance to listen in on these very exciting presentations! We are looking for folks who can be available for 1 shift either between 11:30am - 1pm or 12:30pm - 2pm. Also, if you or someone you know loves what they do (in any field) and would be available to spend an hour with us as a Guest Speaker on 5/22, please let us know! Both signups here: http://bit.ly/HatchCareerDay.
PTO Reminders
HELP LABEL STUDENT ART: Please help Ms. Klemp get ready for Hatch's Spring Arts Fiesta, a celebration of art, music and the Spanish language program at Hatch. Volunteers are needed during the month of April to label student artwork, which will be for sale. Additionally, volunteers are needed in early May to help decorate the auditorium and hallway. Sign up here. Questions? Email [email protected]
PRUNE THE HATCH ORCHARD The second annual Pruning Event is Sunday, April 8, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.. Plan to stop by, get some fresh air, and help out. Instruction will be provided. Bring your own shears or loppers.
PARENT TEACHER BASKETBALL GAME – SATURDAY, April 14 from 3–5 p.m. at Brooks Elementary School. Don’t miss the fun and a half-time performance from the Hatch Conga Club. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for kids. Cash or check only. Look for volunteer sign ups coming soon..
TIGER CASH Order forms came home this week. The next deadline to order gift cards (and help support the PTO) is Friday, April 13. Families who order for the first time will also be entered for a chance to win a Subway gift card.
Need a form? Find it here.
OPEN CHAIR POSITIONS IN PTO. Consider volunteering as Movie Matinee Chair, Fun Fair Chair, or PTO Babysitting (shadow next year, co-chair 2019-2020). Please contact Beth at [email protected] if you are interested or have any questions.
OPEN HATCH PTO BOARD POSITIONS for 2018-2019 School Year. (All board positions are two years). If you are interested in joining the PTO Board and want to learn more, please contact current co-presidents Kristen Lee at [email protected] or Chris Liskiewitz at [email protected]. You may also contact any current board members using contact information listed in the Hatch directory or at HatchPTO.org. To run for a position, please add your name to the sign-up to declare your intent to run. Nominations will be taken until the April 17 PTO meeting, and voted on at the May 15 PTO meeting. Positions are:
Co-President: Shares responsibilities and tasks with current Co-President. Tasks include, but are not limited to, preparation of agenda and facilitation of monthly PTO Board meetings, monthly PTO general meetings, attend district-wide PTO Council meetings. Provide leadership and support to other PTO Board members and event chair-people as needed.
Co-Treasurer: Shares responsibilities with current Co-Treasurer. Maintains and reconciles the financial records of the PTO, prepares information for our accountant prior to tax filings, proposes and facilitates the annual budgeting process, makes timely deposits and pays the PTO bills.
VP, Volunteers: Coordinates with event chairs to solicit volunteers for PTO and other school events. Currently this is done with a web-based sign up program combined with paper notices that are distributed to families that do not receive email communications from the school. Occasionally phone calls and personal requests are necessary to secure adequate staffing of events.
Secretary: Responsible for taking minutes during the monthly board meeting and general meeting. Presents the minutes at the next PTO meeting for approval and provides to the administrator for posting on the website. Coordinates the creation of an Annual Report.
NEXT PTO MEETING – Make plans to attend the next PTO Meeting on April 17. Come hear from a D97 School Board member about a potential new equity policy, and ways you can provide input about it.