All teachers, parents, guardians and students across Illinois have an opportunity to participate in the Illinois 5Essentials Survey: Organizing Schools for Improvement. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness and help us guide school improvement. For more information about participation in the Survey within District 54, click on the
5Essentials Survey Parent Letter that was sent home.

12We are excited to announce that the Windy City Bulls will be hosting a District 54 Takeover Night at their game on Friday, Dec. 14 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, and a portion of each ticket sold will be donated back to the District 54 Education Foundation’s Food 4 Thought program. Last year’s inaugural District 54 Takeover Night at the Windy City Bulls raised more than $4,000 to help the Foundation provide breakfast for District 54 students from financially struggling families, and we are hopeful that this year’s event will be even more successful!

The event will feature performances from District 54 students on the court prior to and throughout the game, as well as a District 54 Special Olympics basketball match at halftime.

The Windy City Bulls will host an assembly at the school that sells the most tickets to the game.  More information can be found in the District 54 Takeover Flyer.

Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

Snow has officially arrived, which is a sign we are entering the winter season! Please encourage your child to wear the proper outerwear for the change in weather.  We want all students to enjoy recess with their friends, stay comfortable in the chilly/wet weather and remain safe outside.

In order to help parents better prepare for the severe cold weather and snow we often get during winters in our community, we wanted to share with you the District 54 Severe Cold Weather Response Plan. Though District 54 makes every effort to keep our schools open and operational, circumstances beyond our control oftentimes dictate school closings.

Schaumburg Parent University (SPU) is designed to involve more parents in the life of the school, to strengthen family relationships, and to improve parenting skills that will ultimately result in improved student success academically, socially and emotionally. There is one more evening program scheduled for November. Please note that child care is always available.

Mindful Meditation on November 14

As part of our ongoing focus on student wellness, we invite parents and their children to join us in learning how to use the power of something super simple – your breath – to improve concentration, reduce stress, improve quality of sleep and help you handle your response (both emotional and physical) to outside circumstances and situations. Please bring your own yoga mat or a towel to sit on during meditation. This event will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on November 14, 2018, at the District 54 Professional Learning Center, 522 E. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg.  Please see the Mindful Meditation Flyer for more information.

The first trimester ends today, November 9, 2018. Everyone who has a parent portal account will be able to view his or her child’s report card online by November 21, 2018. All parents and guardians who have not previously created a portal account but have supplied District 54 with an email address should have received an email with a direct link to sign up for the portal. If you did not receive an email but would like to create a portal account, or if you are unable to access the parent portal and require a paper copy of your student’s report card, please contact our office at 847-357-6700.

Thank you to the many families who attended McTeacher Night on Wednesday, November 7th to benefit our PTA (Parent Teacher Association!  It is one of our favorite fundraisers because we get to see families connecting, students having fun together, and teachers enjoying the event together.  It is truly a whole community event, and we appreciate Sarah Dean for organizing it!

The Illinois State Board of Education annually releases school report cards that show how each school, each district and the state is performing on a wide range of educational goals. The 2018 report card information is expected to be posted on Wednesday, Oct. 31, on the state’s website. District 54 will also make it available on our school district’s website.

The Illinois Report Card Website contains results from the PARCC assessment, as well as information about student and teacher demographics, enrollment, district-level financial information. The report card also includes results from the 5Essentials survey, which was given to students in grades 4 through 8, certified staff and parents last year.

If you do not have access to the Internet or prefer to receive a hard copy, you may call the school at 847-357-6700. If you want copies of the report cards from more than one of District 54’s schools, please call the District 54 Community Relations Department at (847) 357-5027.

Armstrong has been recognized as a “Model PLC” school by the All Things PLC website.  According to the All Things PLC Website, “a Professional Learning Community (PLC) is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.” To receive this recognition, we submitted evidence of our collaborative practices, instructional and assessment systems, and student results over the past few years.  Armstrong is one of seven schools in District 54 and one of twenty-one schools in Illinois, and only about 200 schools in the US and Canada have received this recognition. You can view our school profile here. 

We are wrapping up another excellent week at Armstrong! Staff and students are nearing the end of our first school-wide 21 Day Challenge to promote gratitude and view life through a more positive lens. The challenge is 21 days because that is how long it takes to develop a new habit. We will be celebrating the final day of the challenge on Monday.

Today is Day 4 of our school-wide 21-day challenge.  Your child probably shared his/her excitement after our first Orange Frog Day last Thursday, October 4, 2018.  Check out the video below to see a few of the special moments that were created on Thursday.  It was the culmination of five weeks of training around the impact of happiness on success, and five habits that are proven to increase happiness: acts of kindness, journaling, gratitude, exercise, and meditation.  Students learned about each habit and selected one to practice every day for 21 days.  Positive psychology research from Shawn Achor finds that “your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral, or stressed.”  You can read more in the article “The 21-Day Happiness Challenge: Five Ways to Be More Positive” here.  Be sure to ask your child about the habit they chose and how they are practicing it every day… and please feel free to join us on this 21-day journey!