Message from 02/10/2023

  • Posted February 13, 2023

2/10/23

 

Thank you to all the families who attended our conferences this week.  Our dedicated teachers worked long and hard to prepare for the many conference meetings and deliver high-quality instruction to students daily.  We truly appreciate your time and partnership as we do our best to meet the needs of all our students! Hopefully, you were able to take a little gallery walk of the amazing student-designed BHM door decorations and projects while visiting for conferences. Thank you also to our amazing PTO for the delicious conference lunch provided to our staff. 

 

Please complete this Family Conference District Survey to provide District 97 and your school with feedback about your experience at conferences. We will use this data to reflect on our family conferences to meet the needs of students and families better. If you have multiple children, please complete one survey per child. Please do not include specific teacher names in the survey. If you have specific feedback for teachers, please get in touch with them directly.
 

One Book, One District: Elementary Edition: We hope everyone enjoys reading Maya and the Robot! Make sure to check out the website for reading schedules, family activities, read-aloud, and more. We also have a fun playlist you may want to check out! Happy reading, everyone. We are celebrating One Book, One District with a culminating event… STEAM night at The Main OPPL (Oak Park Public Library)! March 2nd, 6 - 7:30 pm.

 

Our next “Coffee with the Principal,” in collaboration with the PTO, will be next Friday, February 17th, 8:00-8:45 am in the cafeteria. Please sign in at the main office, and feel free to stay 5 or 45 minutes as your schedule permits. See you then!

 

Please be sure to complete this year’s Illinois 5Essentials Survey! This is a unique opportunity to provide feedback to the school and district and support Hatch on a larger scale. School-level reports will be generated if at least 20 percent of parents respond to the survey. We are already at 11%!  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. Thank you for your support!

 

CELL PHONE/MOBILE DEVICES: OFF and AWAY DURING THE DAY!
Reminder: Cell phones/Mobile Devices are not to be used during school hours. This includes calling parents/guardians due to illness, requesting items to be dropped off, etc.
  • Students can ask a teacher to use the classroom phone or the phone in the main office if needed.
  • Parents can call the main office to relay any urgent messages.
Cell phones are to be turned off upon entering the school building and not used until the dismissal bell rings. Our School Board Policy 7:190 - Student Behavior, Prohibited Student Conduct, #5, addresses cell phones during the school day. Also, Board Policy AP5 - Administrative Procedures - Electronic Devices provides guidance. More Information regarding practices and procedures at Hatch can be found here. 
 

Second Step (K lesson 16, 1st- 5th lesson 15)

Emotion management continues to be our theme this week! Our kindergartners, second graders, and third graders learned about managing anger. Our first graders practiced self-talk to calm down.  Fourth graders learned how to handle put-downs, and fifth graders learned how to avoid assumptions.  Next week we will begin teaching the Child Protection Units as part of Erin’s Law which is an Illinois state law that requires all public schools to implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program. All families received information about this curriculum via email from District 97 in late January. Students will learn about personal safety, touching safety, and assertiveness. For more information on Erin’s Law, please go to https://www.erinslawillinois.org/. Below are the home links for this week’s lesson:

Kindergarten-  No Home Link
Second Grade- Managing Anger
Third Grade-  Managing Anger
Fourth Grade-  Handling Put Downs
Fifth Grade-  Avoiding Assumptions

 

4th and 5th Grade Parents/Guardians: 4th and 5th grades will be starting recorders in February. We are using the “Angel Soprano Recorder” brand. If your students already have one of these recorders in a blue case, they can bring it to school to use it. Please order a recorder through the school store using the link below. The fee for a recorder is $6. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Duran. Thank you! Order a Recorder!
 

Sarah Mendez
Hatch School Principal 
1000 N Ridgeland Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 524-3095

 
 

D97 Updates/Reminders:

 

In honor of Black History Month, our school and district will be celebrating the remarkable lives, histories, and contributions of the Black community. We'd love to hear how you and your family are celebrating, too! You can share your Black History Month stories, photos, and videos by tweeting (@OakPark97, using the hashtags #MyD97 and #OakPark97) or emailing [email protected]. 

 

Please see this flyer for the DePaul Family, and Community Services March Community Talk on Addressing Bullying.

 

Process for Reporting Positive COVID-19 Cases to D97 Schools

If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, they must complete the following steps:

  1. In order to notify the school nurse and receive a return-to-school date, families/staff must complete the confidential COVID-19 Positive Case Notification Form as soon as possible following the positive test. Information provided will also be shared with the Oak Park Department of Public Health. 
  2. Families must continue to report student absences via the school attendance line, and staff must enter their absences in Frontline.

To see the rules for isolation and quarantine, click here. Additional resources are linked below.