Help us spread kindness this holiday season to men, women, and children by donating NEW mittens, gloves, socks, and hats to keep their hands, heads, and feet warm this winter.

We will be accepting donations all week long from December 17, 2018 through December 21, 2018. Students can bring their donations to their classroom where there will be a collection box.  Donated items will be bagged up with a personal note and donated to the District 54 Community Closet.

We are planning our very first Kindness Week during the week of December 17, 2018. Our theme is “Kindness”, and there will be a variety of events for students to show kindness and experience kindness.  Every event that we are undertaking is something that benefits others.  In doing so, we get the opportunity to help those in need, which in turn makes us happy.  Events include service trips to Feed My Starving Children for students in grades 3-6, a mitten drive organized by our K-2 students, buddy activities where primary students partner with intermediate students, and our annual Winter Singalong on Friday afternoon.

Please note that each day is also a spirit day. Don’t forget to show your spirit!!

On Monday, December 17, 2018, there will be a Homeroom Kick-off!  Show your team spirit by wearing sports gear!

On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 3rd and 4th grade will be doing a service trip to Feed My Starving Children.  Wear orange on this day!

On Wednesday, December 19th, 2018, Kindergarten, first, and second grade will be doing a Staycation.  5th and 6th grade will be taking a service field trip to Feed My Starving Children.  Wear crazy socks and a motivational shirt on this day!

On Thursday, December 20, 2018, students will be participating in Shine Buddies Activities and making cards to spread kindness.  Wear pajamas on this day!

On Friday, December 21, 2018, we will have our annual sing-along.  The best way to spread holiday cheer is singing loud for all to hear!  Wear festive holiday clothes and accessories today!

Some things that students can do to spread kindness at school are smiling at 25 people, slipping a nice note in a friend’s backpack or parent’s bag, complimenting five people, picking up 10 pieces of trash, learning something new about a friend/teacher/parent, hugging your friend, saying a morning greeting to 15 people, stepping up for someone in need, holding the door open for someone, writing a Thank You note to someone that helped you, giving thanks to 10 people that help you, and carrying an item for someone without them asking.

You can also spread the kindness at home by inviting a friend to play, smiling at 25 people, making a wish for a child in another country, giving your friend a high five, complimenting five people, being kind to yourself and eating a healthy snack, decorating five hearts and giving them to friends, entertaining someone with a happy dance, lending a pencil to a friend, helping someone up if they fall down, thanking someone who has helped you, and creating your own kind deed.

You can also see these ideas and schedule for Armstrong’s Got Kindness Week in the Armstrong’s Got Kindness Flyer that will be coming home with students.

You can also help us spread kindness this holiday season to men, women, and children by donating new mittens, gloves, socks, and hats to keep their hands, heads, and feet warm this winter.  We will be accepting donations all week long from December 17, 2018 through December 21, 2018. Students can bring their donations to their classroom where there will be a collection box.  Donated items will be bagged up with a personal note and donated to the District 54 Community Closet.

District 54 is once again excited to host our annual Multicultural Event in collaboration with the Schaumburg Park District. Our event will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Community Recreation Center (CRC) in Schaumburg. During the event, student groups have the opportunity to give performances that reflect various cultures.

If you are interested in performing, please complete and submit the online Performance Interest Form no later than Monday, December 17, 2018. More information can be found on the Performance Information Flyer.

If you have questions about the Performance Interest Form or the informational meeting, please contact Nancy Hellstrom at 847-357-5068 or Nicole Lumpp at 847-357-5072.

Here is a parent update on behalf of PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) at Armstrong School.  Kids start developing their sense of self as babies when they see themselves through their parents’ eyes. Your tone of voice, body language, and every expression are absorbed by your kids. Your words and actions as a parent affect their developing self-esteem more than anything else.  Praising accomplishments, however small, will make them feel proud; letting kids do things independently will make them feel capable and strong. By contrast, belittling comments or comparing a child unfavorably with another will make kids feel worthless. Choose your words carefully and be compassionate. Let your kids know that everyone makes mistakes and that you still love them, even when you don’t love their behavior.  This is from the article “Nine steps to more affective parenting”

It has been a busy week at Armstrong! Our fourth grade students had their music performance on Thursday evening, and the theme was celebrating 200 years of Illinois history.  Their performance connected music, social studies, and art. Students even decorated the gym with prints of Illinois they created during art. You can read more about the Illinois Bicentennial here. Our second grade students had the chance to take a field trip to see The Nutcracker today.  Thank you to our PTA for supporting this trip for our students!

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. Please click on the link to take the survey.  The parent survey will be available online through January 18, 2019.

The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete and is available in English and Spanish. Note: the survey will time out and you will need to start over if you don’t finish in one sitting.

If you have more than one child, you may complete the survey for each child. You will be asked to select your county and then your child’s school. Be aware that there are often schools with the same or similar names in the state of Illinois.  Neil Armstrong School is in Cook County.

The state is not providing hard copies of this survey. If you do not have access to a computer, you can visit the Schaumburg Township District Library or call your child’s school and we will let you use a computer at the school to take the survey.

The survey is administered by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago on behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education. If at least 20 percent of parents at a school complete the survey, a supplemental parent report will be generated and shared with schools. We are hoping to meet the target this year in our schools.

A similar survey will also be administered to teachers and to students in fourth grade through sixth grade. District 54 students will take the survey at school before winter break.  The start date has changed from what was previously stated.  The survey for students will now be available beginning December 11, 2018.  You can review the questions asked of students by visiting this link.

Students will log in to the survey with their student ID and birth date. Student identities will be confidential. Teachers or administrators will never see individual responses to survey questions and will only receive aggregated information, such as the total percentage of students who agree homework assignments help them learn the course material.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact 5Essentials Client Services at (866) 440-1874 or 5essentials@nulluchicago.edu.

Parents/guardians will be able to view report cards online this trimester currently on the District 54 Infinite Campus Parent Portal. We want to ensure that all of our parents have access to this early viewing of the report card, so it is  highly encouraged that you sign up for the District 54 Infinite Campus Parent/Student Portal. The portal is a website and app where parents and guardians can view their children’s grades, assignments, immunizations, test scores, demographic information and report cards. If you have not previously logged on to the portal, contact our office at 847-357-6700 for instructions on how to obtain a secure Campus Portal Activation Key.

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.

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.