The GaGa Pit is here! Last year our graduating class came up with the idea of giving a gift to the school. They wanted something that all kids could enjoy and decided on a GaGa pit as their goal. They designed and carried out a fundraising plan with the help of their teachers, and our amazing PTO helped us to upgrade to a larger size so that more students could enjoy. A group of current and former Hatch Tigers even helped construct the “pit” with the help of a few supervising adults after school. We are so proud of our students and grateful to our staff for empowering young minds to work together to reach a goal and give back to their community! Special thanks to Ms. Wrenn who coordinated all efforts and brought her tools to help facilitate the entire project! If you’d like to learn more about how the game is played, please see this list of Gaga Ball Rules or the Gaga Ball Rules Video.
Thank you so much to everyone that attended the book fair this week and to all the parent volunteers who made the experience possible. It was so great to see the kids so excited about the great books!
Today we hosted visitors from Francis Xavier Warde School in Chicago who came to check out our amazing foreign language program. Our Spanish teacher, Ms. Nieto, is a member of an informal group of educators who share, collaborate, and offer ideas and strategies for each other to reflect on and improve their teaching. As part of this collaboration, other educators wanted to see for themselves the high level learning activities our young language learners are participating in each week. Welcome!
Please be sure to complete this year’s Illinois 5Essentials Survey! This is a unique opportunity to not only provide feedback to the school and district, but to support Hatch on a larger scale. School-level reports will be generated if at least 20 percent of parents respond to the survey. It should only take approximately 10 minutes to complete. If parents have more than one child that attends the same school, they may elect to participate multiple times. For parents with children enrolled in multiple schools, we recommend that they participate in the survey for each school. Mann School has once again challenged us to a competition around parent participation, so please help us reach our goal. We are currently in 2nd place!! Thank you for your support!
To take the 2018-19 Illinois Parent Survey Visit: http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/
The next event in Superintendent Kelley's community café series will take place on Thursday, Jan. 24, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Buzz Café (905 S. Lombard Avenue). Learn more about the community cafés
The Hatch Steel Band students have been working hard on preparing for the Steel Band Winter Concert. We hope you can join us in watching their upcoming performance on Thursday, December 13th at 6pm.
One Book One School is coming! Starting in January, the entire school will be reading the same book at home! Order forms for the book, as well as more information, was included with your child's report card. Please be sure to return your order form by December 19th! Forms are available here and if you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Howe.
On Friday, November 30th, we had 27 5th graders compete in the Hatch Reading Olympic Competition! The teams of 3 all read 9 books over the past few months and answered a series of questions about the books. The winning Hatch team, made up of Olive Tepfer, Sara Issel, and Kate Kjarsgaard, competed this Wednesday at the Oak Park Public Library against 11 other River Forest and Oak Park Schools. Great job to everyone that participated!
We celebrated over 20 birthdays during the month of November by having the students with birthdays in November pick out a brand new birthday book to add to the Hatch Library. Be sure to check out their excitement here. Also in December, we’ll not only be celebrating December birthdays, but also those with birthdays in June as December is their half birthday. If you haven't already, please be sure to contribute to the Birthday Book fund. For more information on the Birthday Book Program and how you can donate please click here!
Report Cards come home today! Please be on the lookout!
Over the past week there has been an increase in stomach ache and vomiting. If your child has a stomach ache, please consider keeping her/him home for the day.
If you child vomits, she/he can return to school if:
- No vomiting for 24 hours and eating a regular diet
- No fever for 24 hours WITHOUT fever reducing medication.
Sarah Mendez
Hatch School Principal
1000 N Ridgeland Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 524-3095
PTO Reminders
- Thank you to Bryn Poulton and Sharon Morgan for chairing the Winter Book Fair and to Mrs. Howe for reading to students and promoting the event.
- Reminder the PTO Gingerbread Workshop is tonight at 6:30 p.m.
- Help support the PTO in our restaurant fundraiser Next Week with Thai Oak Park Express. 20% of sales from December 10-16 from 4:30-9 p.m. will benefit Hatch but you must mention Hatch when ordering. Thai Oak Park Express is at 250 Chicago Avenue. Takeout, delivery, dine-in.
- Get your Hatch wear! New Hatch gear is available for order at www.blue84spirit.com/IL1599