1/14/2022
It’s been a whirlwind of a week with another shift to remote instruction! Our office staff has taken this time to catch up on contact tracing and review and revise our systems for the most efficient safety mitigation and staffing solutions possible. Our goal is to safely keep our students in school as much as possible during this current surge. Thank you for all of the emails expressing love and support to our school staff. This has been an especially challenging time for us all and your encouragement and patience as we do our best to support our children has been critical to our continued success. Thank you also to our amazing teachers for their hard work in making every day a valuable learning experience for our children. We are Hatch strong!
As we plan for students to return on Tuesday, it is very important we have the most updated information on student vaccination. If your child is fully vaccinated and you have not already submitted a copy of their vaccine card, please send that to Nurse Rossi asap. Our SHIELD results this week showed 6 more positive cases on top of cases reported by parents from outside testing. We are grateful that so many of our students are able to skip quarantine and stay in school because they are fully vaccinated and symptom free! Our typical SHIELD testing day is Monday. Since we are off this coming week on Monday, the district is trying to work with our provider to identify a different day for us to test at Hatch. Our provider’s staffing has also been affected, but we will do our very best to work out a testing date during the coming week.
WINTER WEATHER REMINDERS: With winter officially upon us, we want to share a few important updates/reminders for families:
*NEW in 2021-22: District 97 believes it is important for students to have opportunities for physical activity and play time during the day—even during the cold winter months. This winter, students will be permitted to go outside for recess when the wind chill or temperature is 15 degrees or higher. The district utilizes the Wind Chill Chart developed by the National Weather Service.
- It is important that students dress in warm layers when cold temperatures are expected. Students should remember to bring hats, gloves/mittens, scarves, coats, snow pants and boots. It is recommended that families label these items with their children’s names,
- Our staff will carefully monitor students while outside and take the necessary steps to ensure students are appropriately clothed/prepared for the cold weather, watching out for signs of frostbite and other cold-related issues.
- In order to preserve our classroom pods and COVID-19 safety protocols, schools will not be able to allow students to enter their buildings early in cold weather. Please arrive at the designated time and ensure that students are dressed in warm layers.
Second Step: This week our first graders are wrapped up the Second Step unit on empathy and all other grades are starting or continuing the emotion management unit. Kindergartners learned that they feel feelings in their bodies and that they can be detectives and look for clues in their body to understand how they might be feeling. Our first graders practiced showing care and concern and our second through fifth graders continued in their emotion management unit and learned about managing strong feelings like anxiety. All grade levels have home links that can be checked out if you’d like to extend what they are learning at home.
Kindergarten- We Feel Feelings in Our Bodies
First Grade- Showing Care and Concern
Second Grade- Introducing Emotion Management
Third Grade- Introducing Emotion Management
Fourth Grade- Managing Strong Feelings
Fifth Grade- Managing Anxiety
The Hatch Reading Olympics: This year, 5th graders have the opportunity to team up in a group of 3 (drum roll please...) to compete in the Hatch Reading Olympics! Each group will be responsible for reading 9 books and they will go head to head with other Hatch 5th graders to answer questions about the books. The Hatch Reading Olympics will take place on April 7th at 8:30 AM and will take place over zoom. The winner of the Hatch Olympics will then go on to compete in the regional Reading Olympics competition on April 26th at 1:30. The book list can be found here, and we have multiple copies of each book in the Hatch Library. Happy reading, everyone!
Just a reminder that this Monday, January 17th, there will be NO SCHOOL for students in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank you!
D97 Updates
Parent Information Session - Early Admission to Kindergarten/First Grade
For families who are seeking early admission to kindergarten or first grade, the district will be hosting a Virtual Parent Information Session on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The session will include a presentation that outlines the process and requirements. Click here to view the event flyer >
For more information about the process for early admissions, please visit
https://www.op97.org/teach-learn/acceleration/early-entrance.
Information about Acceleration Opportunities in District 97
Looking ahead to the spring, District 97 is preparing to implement the Single Subject and Whole Grade Level Acceleration process for students eligible for acceleration in the 2022-23 school year.
District 97 believes that all students should be challenged and supported to develop to their maximum potential. For students who demonstrate they may benefit from accelerated placement, we provide opportunities to participate in an instructional setting that is usually reserved for students who are older or in higher grades than the child. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Single subject acceleration
- Whole grade acceleration
In accordance with the Illinois Accelerated Placement Act, District 97 has continued to refine procedures to ensure equitable access to acceleration opportunities for all students. New this year: all students who are grade eligible to take the Illinois Assessment for Readiness (IAR) must participate in the assessment in order to be deemed eligible for acceleration. The IAR is a critically important measure in determining the mastery of grade level standards and must be considered by the school team along with other sources of data.
Referrals for single-subject and whole-grade acceleration will be accepted from March 1 to May 15 of each school year. The general process is outlined HERE.
Information about the District 97 Accelerated Placement Program, including definitions and timelines, can be found at http://www.op97.org/acceleration. We will send additional communication to families as we near the opening of our referral and application windows next year. Additionally, Family Acceleration Night will be held Wednesday, February 7, 2022, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This information session will provide an avenue for families to share questions as well as receive information about the acceleration process. Please find additional information in the information session flyer.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us by visiting our Let’s Talk page (bit.ly/D97LetsTalk) and clicking the button labeled “Acceleration.”
Reminder: Stay Home When Sick!
Staying home when sick is essential to keep COVID-19 infections out of schools and prevent spread to others—regardless of vaccination status. Symptoms that should be monitored daily by ALL District 97 staff, families and students are:
- Fever (100.4 or higher)
- New cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue from unknown cause
- Muscle or body aches from unknown cause
- Moderate/severe headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea