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Dear Eisenhower Families,
First, let me start by saying that it was wonderful to see so many of our families at last night's Family Literacy Night. We had a great time seeing the children enjoy the station activities. It was also good to see so many of our families connecting with one another.
Also, thank you once again to all of our families that completed Finn's Mission, learned hands-only CPR, and donated to the American Heart Association's Kids Heart Challenge fundraiser. Our school community raised $17,860.92!
As we move into our third trimester, I just want to spend a little time stressing the importance of making reading an enjoyable and fun experience with your child. On that note, how we model learning is more important than what we are learning. When dedicating 20-minutes each night to reading, it is important to remember that we want our children to experience success and, more importantly, enjoyment with the time they spend with us.
Yes, recognizing sight words, correctly pronouncing letter sounds and putting them all nicely together to decode a multisyllabic word is what we strive for in order to produce fluent readers. However, it is within this highly complex sequence that we especially want to impart comprehension for the enjoyment and pleasure of reading.
When reading with your child, take a few moments to scan the text and find words that you know they may find of a particular challenge. Be prepared mentally to provide wait-time (patience) to allow them the opportunity to decode (sound out) the word. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to provide assistance, take a moment to properly pronounce the individual and/or combination sounds. Let them hear you pronounce the word correctly and then ask them to pronounce it back to you. Upon completion, have them finish the sentence and ask them what they think that word means. If they are having difficulty with describing what the word means, please provide them with a context clue from the sentence and/or visual in the story. Please remember to follow up with your own explanation of the definition as well as share additional synonyms for that word. It is very important that you use rich and descriptive language while discussing any spoken or written language. The connections they make will astound you, as well as their own social and academic language usage.
However, as these learning moments connect you to your child, so to does your disposition. Remember, to share stories with them. Take turns reading, using plenty of intonation, developing character voices, pointing to pictures, and, most importantly, laughing. The most powerful encoding (learning) occurs when there is a positive emotion tied to it, whether it is love or laughter, and I know we all want to share both of these during every moment of our child’s life.
When you have a moment, if you would please take the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey helps with our strategic planning and school improvement process.
2025 Illinois Supplemental Parent Survey
Link to survey: http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/
Your Eisenhower Family
Attendance Absent Line Reminder:
With the amount of illnesses rising, we ask that you please call our attendance line
(847) 870-3876 if your child is sick or will not be attending school for the day. Please do not Seesaw your child's teacher regarding absence/attendance information.
Luke Lambatos, Ed.D., Ed.S.
Principal, Eisenhower “IKE”
(847) 870-5040
*Please see the link below for additional information about all of our outstanding specialists.
In this edition:
- See what we are learning in EC, Kdg. & First Grade
- Enjoy our Home/School Connections
- Please take the Five Essentials Parent Survey
- iPad Collection Spring Break
- Check to see what our Community Partners are planning
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