Bulldog Bulletin 
Telephone: (847) 870-3868
Absence Line: (847) 870-3869
Twitter: @D23Ross
September 10, 2021
Volume 3
A Message From Your Principal
Dear Ross Families,

We appreciate and thank you for your virtual and/or in-person attendance earlier this month at our Parent Night Event. We hope you enjoyed the format and feel as if the event gave you some insight as to why our school is such an awesome place for learning. The night was a great way to kick off our partnership towards a successful year together.

There are some very exciting opportunities headed your way. To begin, our parents are invited to join us virtually for a couple of extremely informative tech nights in the coming weeks. We have two different tech nights related to Seesaw that are scheduled for September 13 and 21. If you're interested in joining us virtually for either of the events, please be sure to RSVP via the calendar below.

Next, you'll remember that we tried to begin the school year with our D23 Family Movie Night prior to the start of the school year. Unfortunately, it needed to be rescheduled. Well, the time is nearly here for our rescheduled Family Movie Night date. On Friday, September 24th at 6:45 PM in the field behind MacArthur Middle School, we will be gathering as a community to enjoy Pixar's Monsters University. Concessions will be available but please plan to bring your own blankets for seating. A huge thank you goes out to the D23 PTO for partnering with District 23 in sponsoring this wonderful event.

Additionally, we are proud to announce that our goal to keep students in school can be supported by an optional screening and testing process currently being planned for District 23. Through a partnership with the Federal and State governments, the SHIELD Illinois program is now available to all schools in Illinois, free of charge. This 3rd party laboratory analysis uses the SHIELD saliva-based test developed by the University of Illinois. More information can be found HERE. We hope to launch weekly screening and on-demand testing to monitor local community spread, identify presymptomatic or asymptomatic cases, and assist in making informed quarantining decisions. It is our goal to begin on October 1st. Participation is optional but requires parental consent. Please complete this form if you are interested in your child participating in this program. More information and details will be shared as it becomes available.

As we head into mid-September, I want to remind families that it is always a great idea to pack extra masks in your child's backpack and/or lunch bag. We are noticing that many student masks are breaking as they transition to wearing them in the hallways between lunch and recess. It never hurts to have a few extra masks around just in case.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Dr. Craig Curtis

P.S. Please click on the link at the bottom of the page that allows you to "View Entire Message".
Raving About Ross
Spectacular 2nd Graders
Second Grade began the Second Step Social Emotional Learning program this week. We learned how to get good at something new. At the end of the lesson students shared an example of something they are good at. This student shared that Mrs. Davies has helped her get good at running by giving her lots of opportunities to practice. 
Thriving 3rd Graders
Over the last few weeks, third graders have been working on their first science unit, Power of Flowers. Here, they’re demonstrating how hungry bees pollinate while searching for nectar. This activity is a yearly favorite. 
Supporting Our Bulldogs
The 2nd and 3rd grades are participating in technology "bootcamps", where they are learning all about their iPads. The Bootcamp topics include: 
  • Spa treatment for iPads
  • How to take care of iPads
  • Being safe online
  • How to use Self Service
  • How to use Google Drive
Thanks for Attending Parent Night
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to review our Virtual Parent Night Presentations. Our staff members spent a great deal of time ensuring the presentations were engaging and informative, so we hope you enjoyed them and feel as if they gave you some insight as to why our school is such an awesome place to learn. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to your child's classroom teacher or our Ross office staff.
Bulldog Beliefs Expectations
At Betsy Ross, we pride ourselves on being respectful, responsible, and safe at school and within the community. Our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, which we call the Bulldog Beliefs, focuses on rewarding students for making positive choices and celebrating the successes we achieve as a team.

As a result of their positive behaviors, students have an opportunity to be randomly "caught being good" throughout the school day. If they are, they may earn a Bulldog Buck. Has your child mentioned earning any Bulldog Bucks? They keep these in their desk at school and can trade them in once per month to earn prizes from our Bulldog Belief Reward Menu. This month's menu is pictured below.

Additionally, Betsy Ross students are challenged about every six weeks by working toward a new goal. This month's goal is raising a quiet hand and waiting your turn in class. Each classroom will fill out a Google Form as a class and have a discussion about how they do toward this goal on Fridays weekly. Our goal is to earn a score of at least a "2" on the form 80% of the time. If we achieve our goal, we'll earn a special prize at the end of our challenge.
New SEL Program - Second Step Elementary
We want your child to be successful in school and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, children also need skills to take on learning challenges, make good decisions, manage strong emotions, and get along with others.

Over the past couple of weeks, we are excited to have begun Second Step, a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve children's social-emotional skills. Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help children both in and out of school. Four units will cover the following:

  • Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting: Children learn how to pay attention and manage distractions, develop a growth mindset, and apply goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives.

  • Emotion Management: Children learn how to identify and label emotions and use emotion-management strategies--including stress management for older students--to calm strong feelings.
  • Empathy & Kindness: Children learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly, have empathy for others and take others' perspectives, and recognize kind acts and empathy as important elements of building and maintaining relationships.
  • Problem-Solving: Children learn how to identify and state a problem, recognize if a problem is an accident, and use the STEP problem-solving process:
  • S: Say the problem
  • T: Think of solutions
  • E: Explore the outcomes
  • P: Pick a solution

If you have any questions about Second Step Elementary, please don't hesitate to contact Dr. Curtis or your child's teacher for more information. Thank you for your support as we work to build a safe and supportive school community.
Second Step: Try This At Home
  • 2nd Grade Families: Ask your child to share with you what they’re good at and how they became good at it. Share with them something you’re good at and what you did to practice and try hard, and whom you asked for help.

  • 3rd Grade Families: Ask your child to explain what happens in their brain when they learn something for the first time.
Lockdown Safety Drills
Under the Illinois School Safety Drill Act, all public schools are required to conduct a variety of safety drills annually. Drills practiced include (3) fire, evacuation, (1) shelter-in-place, (1) bus evacuation drill, and (1) law enforcement/lockdown drill.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing will be implemented to the greatest extent possible during all safety drills. Some drills may be modified and not be practiced in full as they would in a typical school year.

This year, lockdown drills will be discussed in the classroom, where teachers will explain the purpose of the drill and the procedures that would follow in the event of a real emergency. District 23 schools conduct one lockdown drill annually, which will include the presence of the Prospect Heights Police Department. This year, lockdown drills will be discussed in the classroom, where teachers will explain the purpose of the drill and the procedures that would follow. A brief video will demonstrate how students and staff would respond in the event of a real emergency. Our video is designed to be an age-appropriate video demonstrating the teacher turning off the lights, locking the door, and moving staff members, acting as students, to a point of safety within the classroom setting. The first lockdown drill video presentation at Betsy Ross School will take place in October. If, for any reason, you do not wish your child to view the lockdown drill video, please contact Dr. Curtis at (847) 870-5151 or [email protected] before September 30th.
Upcoming Events

September 13: Parent Tech Night: Seesaw Family (6:30-7:30) RSVP

September 14: School Board Meeting (7:00 @ Sullivan or Virtually)

September 16: Non-Attendance Day (No School)

September 21: Parent Tech Night: Seesaw Class (6:30-7:30) RSVP

September 22: D23 Vaccination Event (3:00 - 8:00 @ Mac)

September 23: PTO Meeting

September 24: D23 Family Movie Night (7:00 @ MacArthur)

October 8: Ross Picture Retakes
District News and Updates
Important D23 Information
Vaccination Event - 9/22/21
@ MacArthur Middle School 3:00-8:00pm
Our goal to keep students in school can be supported by an optional screening and testing process currently being planned for District 23.

Through a partnership with the Federal and State governments, the SHIELD Illinois program is now available to all schools in Illinois, free of charge.

This 3rd party laboratory analysis uses the SHIELD saliva based test developed by the University of Illinois. More information can be found HERE.

We hope to launch weekly screening and on demand testing to monitor local community spread, identify presymptomatic or asymptomatic cases, and assist in making informed quarantining decisions. It is our goal to begin on October 1st.

Participation is optional, but requires parental consent. Please complete the form below if you are interested and willing to have your child participate in this program. More information and details will be shared as it becomes available.
District 23 Media Release Reminder
Online privacy and safety are matters that PHSD23 takes very seriously. The District also takes seriously the need for our students to create a powerful digital footprint for themselves. In order to take part in this endeavor, it is necessary for them to share their learning and work with the world. So that a child’s voice may be celebrated and their work made known, children and/or their school projects may be photographed or video recorded. Sometimes the school may need to identify students in a school picture, give recognition for their work, or simply acknowledge students for participating in a school activity.
Unless parents sign a disapproval letter, pictures and student names may be reproduced for community newspapers, school publications, and may appear in video productions or on district/school/class Internet websites. Letters of disapproval requesting that students’ pictures not be reproduced in media school publications or websites are to be sent to the Office of the Superintendent, Prospect Heights District 23, 700 N. Schoenbeck Road, Prospect Heights, IL 60070. A new written parent request is to be sent at the beginning of each school year to avoid any misunderstanding.
PTO Update

Welcome back, District 23! The D23 PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) wishes you a fantastic and healthy 2021-2022 school year! Thank you all for your past support. Many of you have generously volunteered your time, donated items, attended fundraising events, collected Box Tops, shopped through Amazon Smile, contributed financially, and supported us throughout the years. Your involvement makes all the difference in our district and we hope you will stay just as dedicated in the upcoming school year. Any help you can provide is always appreciated. Our PTO consists of members with children across all schools in the district. You can meet some wonderful people by getting involved. Please consider joining us for our PTO General Meetings. Here is a list of our future meeting dates:
  • Thursday, September 23th
  • Thursday, November 11th
  • Thursday, January 13th
  • Thursday, March 17th
  • Thursday, May 12th

If you'd like to check out our PTO website, please feel free to click here.
Community Partnership Resources
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