Blog Posts

Week 16 Blog

12/20/2018

Dear Waters Community,

As I reflect on this week filled with spirit, I want to thank everyone for their part in this successful week!

The “Lights Around the World” performance was an educational opportunity to learn about traditions and cultures throughout our world through song and dance. I hope that all of you learned something too! Thank you to the Fine Arts Team for your vision and production of the show. Each one of you have an instrumental role to make the show a success! Thank you teachers and staff for working diligently with your students to ensure everyone was prepared for the opening day. Parents, thank you for choosing to send your children to Waters School and supporting our school.

Tomorrow will be the finale to our spirit filled week! All students will have an opportunity to participate in our Winter Wonderland Dance. As a reminder, a suggested donation for entry to the dance is appreciated as the funds raised will go to the 8th Grade class trip. Don’t forget the photo booth! There is a $5 fee per photo. This too, is a fundraiser to help reduce the cost of the 8th grade class trip and helps to ensure that all 8th graders have an opportunity to attend.

As a reminder, the photo booth price has been changed.

Friday, December 21, 2018 will be Mr. Servin’s last day at Waters. While we are excited that he has taken a security position at Lane Tech, we are sad to see part of Waters family leave. Congratulations Mr. Servin on your new position!!!

A special THANK YOU to the Circle of Friends for all the support you have provided for many of our Waters families. While you have provided regular support throughout the year, you have helped families celebrate the season by providing gifts and basic necessities. Thank you for all you do!

As 2018 draws to a close, I want to thank all of you for your continued support! My hope for all of you is that you have a wonderful and blessed holiday season!

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
Waters Principal

Week 15 Blog

12/13/2018

Dear Waters Parents,

These last two weeks are flying!

Students are in their middle of the year (MOY) MAP testing. This assessment is a mid year pulse to verify if students growth is “on track” for their projected target goals. If you have any questions about your child’s mid year assessment, please reach out to your child’s teacher.

Our Arts department along with our classroom teachers have been busy preparing for our annual holiday performance.

The “Lights Around the World” performance opens on Wednesday, December 19, 2018.

A separate kindergarten performance will take place at 8:45 am on Wednesday only.

Wednesday, December 19th there will be two identical concerts, showtimes are 9:30 am and 1:45 pm. Wednesday’s performance will feature grade levels 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades.
I strongly encourage parents to attend the 9:30 am performance.

Thursday, December 20th there will be two identical concerts, showtimes are 9:30 am and
1:45 pm. Thursday’s concerts will feature grades 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th.
I strongly encourage parents to attend the 9:30 am performance.

Our Student Leadership Team has created a Holiday Spirit Week to add to the festivities. A Winter Wonderland Dance will be the culminating activity for week which is scheduled for Friday, December 21, 2018 for all students. There is a suggested donation for the dance to help defray the cost of our annual 8th grade class trip. Please refer to the information on the flyer for details. In addition, there will be a photo booth during the dance for $1 and/or $3 photo options.

Please check your emails for details on next weeks activities. You should have received an updated schedule from your homeroom teacher detailing Spirit Week .

Our monthly LSC meeting will be Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 4 pm. Please note this is a time change. Teacher leaders from the ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) will present a 15 week monitoring report as it relates to Waters CIWP (Continuous Improvement Work Plan).

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
School Principal

Week 14 Blog

12/6/2018

Dear Waters Families,

It was wonderful to see so many of you this past Saturday at the annual Artisan Craft Fair. We are also extremely grateful for the support of the Book Fair. The greater the purchases the greater the Scholastic bucks that go back to the classrooms! Stay tuned to learn about the things we were able to buy for our classrooms!

A gentle reminder to send your children to school with the necessary winter gear. Coats, hats and gloves are helpful to keep your children warm during outdoor playtime. While it is getting colder, recess is an important part of the students day. Outdoor recess is favored over being in the gym. Only in extreme weather conditions to we keep the students inside.

Further, please mark your child’s clothing with their names. We have a HUGE inventory in our Lost and Found cabinets. If your child is missing a mitten, hat or perhaps a boot, you may find it in our Lost and Found.

Students and staff are excitedly preparing for our annual Holiday Concert.
Please note there will be 5 concerts over two days!

Kindergarten will have their own concert on Wednesday, December 19th at 8:45 am.

Wednesday there will two identical concerts, showtimes are 9:30 am and 1:45 pm. Wednesday’s concerts will feature 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades.

Thursday, December 20th there will be two identical concerts.
Showtimes are 9:30 am and 1:45 pm.
Thursday’s concerts will feature grades 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th.

Waters Choir will be have their debut and will sing at all of the concerts.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Our Student Leadership Team has planned a Festive themed week beginning December 17. Check out the calendar of themed days! Stay tuned for details.

Have you heard Aspen is coming in January? Beginning in January, CPS will move to Aspen, a new student information system that will replace GRADEBOOK and you will be receiving emails to update your parent portal. This will also affect the Student Portal as well. We are excited about this new system but realize there will be some “bumps” along the way. Teachers have been in training on how to navigate the new system. More information to come.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kipp
Principal

Final November Update

11/29/2018

Dear Waters Families,

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break!

This week we held a surprise assembly to recognize our middle school teacher, Mr. Raman, as he was awarded “Teacher of the Year” in the Chicagoland area by the CRFC. We were thrilled that Mr. Raman’s family was able to join him for this special recognition. The foundation provides “Lawyers in the Classroom” experiences for the students on a regular basis. We thank Tiffani Watson, Education Director for joining us in the presentation of this special award. Congratulations Mr. Raman!! The standing ovation you received this morning was indicative of our staff and students pride in you!

This year we have had the “luxury” of increasing our paraprofessional support staff from 2 to 6. With this increase in staff comes additional benefits. Our support staff have specialty areas in arts, music, yoga, and physical education. I am happy to announce that during our Early Birds program, students will be engaged in music, arts, yoga and physical activity in addition to their daily reading time.   The Early Birds program is available from 7:15 am-8:15 am. If you are interested in this fee based program, please visit our school website; waterselementary.org under the Extra Curriculars tab.

Highlights from our LSC meeting:
Ms. Rivadeneira, 5th grade science teacher, presented on STEAM, a priority in our CIWP.   This thought provoking activity left the audience wondering…….which is exactyly the intent. This presentation was a snapshot of the work that teachers are engaged in during our weekly Grade Level Team Meetings (GLTM). This Professional Learning Cycle(PLC) which is inclusive of Next Generation Science Standards(NGSS) focused on thinking “inside the box”.   This presentation is a replica of instructional lessons and activities that students engage in the classrooms.

Additional topics included the proposed Dress Code and established protocols at Waters.
⅔ of the school community were in favor of the proposed dress code.   The LSC voted and the results are 5 Yes, 2 No and 1 Abstention. The school dress code and established protocols can be found on our school website. As a reminder, if you have a concern regarding your child, the first step is to reach out to your child’s teacher. You will find additional steps listed on the school website.   All staff’s emails are posted on the website.

As our fall sports season draws to a close, we are preparing for our Winter season of Basketball. Our 5th/6th and 7th/8th boys and girls basketball teams are in the midst of having tryouts. Several other programs are getting underway such as Battle of the Books teams, Science Gaming, Chess, Yearbook Club, Leonardo’s Workshop, Choir and CAPE classes. In addition, Right at School(RAS) has many additional electives for afterschool enjoyment.

Thank you to everyone who has supported “One for Books” promotion at the Scholastic book fair to ensure that all students are able to get a book. Did you know that the school is able to use “Scholastic Rewards” to purchase items for our classrooms with up to 50% of our book fair sales? When you send your child in to spend $10 at the the book fair, the school receives $5 towards the rewards. In the past, these rewards have been used to purchase new carpets, Dash and Dot robots for Digital Media, and easels for teachers. Thanks for your continued support and thanks to Hillary Prosser for organizing the annual Book Fair. The Book Fair will be open on Saturday from 10 am - 1 pm as well.

Have you begun your holiday shopping??? You still have time!!!
This Saturday, December 1, 2018, from 10 am - 2 pm, WatersToday(WT) is hosting our annual Artisan Fair at Waters.   This is a great way to support local artisans and check off your holiday list. Thank you to WT, Saskia Hoffman, Pinal Aral, and Clara Roccaforte for coordinating this event.

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
School Principal

Thankful in November

11/21/2018

Dear Waters Families,

The last two weeks, while short, have been filled with excitement and reason for thanks.

Thank You for taking the time last Wednesday to meet with your child and their teacher. We implemented the Student-Parent-Teacher conferences practice as an opportunity for your child(ren) to “own their learning.” This is directly related to Growth Mindset as laid out in our CIWP. By being the owner of their education, students take the responsibility and set their growth targets with personal investment. It was wonderful to see so many of you throughout the day.

Thank You to Robin Maclin and our wonderful parents for organizing a potluck luncheon to feed our staff last week. We were deeply touched and truly appreciated your kindness. The food was amazing!

As a Thank You for giving to our school and raising $100,000 during the Waters pledge drive ($15,000 over the goal!), several staff members and I participated in a Polar Dunk after school today (see video)! Special recognition goes to Leah Rieger and Jessica Kaune, WatersToday fundraising co-chairs for their enthusiasm and drive! Thanks for steering the Waters ship and making this happen!

Thank You to Darian Martyniuk and Mike Fourcher for organizing a community input meeting Tuesday, November 13 regarding the proposed addition to Waters School. It was a productive and engaging meeting that helped clarify some of the provisions for the proposed addition. Information on this project is limited. What has been confirmed is the new proposed location will be the northeast corner on our school grounds.

On Friday, November 16, Erica Smith, LSC chair, Jessie Novak (VP WatersToday), Pete Leki and I met with Alderman Pawar’s staff, officials from CPS, the Public Building Commission, and an architect working on the preliminary design for our new Annex. While many details of the design remain to be finalized, I wanted to share some of the main features of the project that have been decided. The location of the new three story annex will be the NE corner of the property eliminating the ‘big kid’ playground and surrounding greenery, connecting the new annex with the existing building which will include an elevator. The main building will receive a new roof, tuck pointing and painting. The interior of the current annex will be redesigned for classroom and additional meeting space. The South garden and play field have been designated a ‘no work’ zone. Play space, directly east of the gym doors, has been incorporated into the plan (they consulted with the landscape architects that designed the Welles Park nature play area but are open to other proposals). They will continue to update us on the schematic design process and likely schedule a community meeting to present the plans sometime in January.

Thank You to all Waters fall teams, coaches and parents for your hard work this season!
Our Girls Volleyball and Boys Soccer teams have fearlessly engaged in positive sport throughout the season. We are proud of our athletes for their determination and hard work this season! Thank you Coach Orlov and Coach Changet!

In recognition of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I’d like to extend my deep gratitude to you, the Waters community, for your continued support of our students, staff and elementary school. I, along with my staff, are grateful for a community who values education and supports the work we do. In closing, I reflect on what I am thankful for at Waters such as:

our staff and their dedication to their profession
our many volunteers for their passion and support of our school
our parents who support their children
our students for their eagerness to learn and their enthusiasm while doing so.
your support, encouragement and the opportunity to lead our staff in educating your children

Wherever your travels may take you this Thanksgiving break, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and friends.

Ms. Kipp,
Principal

P.S. LSC meeting Tuesday, November 27th at 4:00 pm. We hope to see you there. Our ILT is planning to share with you our work as a professional learning community.

November News

11/8/2018

Dear Waters Community,

November brings a month where there are many days of non attendance for students. However teachers are still teaching and it is important that your child be present for the learning. Please do not use this month to schedule family vacations! Did you know that being absent counts against us and our school rating? All absences, excused and unexcused are included in the SQRP (School Quality Rating Policy). Yes! Attendance is 20% of our school rating. Please help us keep our school rating at Level 1+. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Our network chief, Eduardo Cesario, last day was Tuesday, November 6, 2018. He has taken a position with Waukegan Public School District 60. We wish him well in his new position. Dr. Richard Smith is our interim chief. He is a retired CPS principal and district level administrator.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018, the district conducted an Instructional Core visit at Waters. The team was comprised of district level instructional support staff that visited 12 classrooms. The foci for the visit was to observe teaching practices that exhibit instructional rigor, aligned curriculum and enhanced teaching practices that ultimately will impact levels of student growth. Leaders debriefed with our team and shared that they observed students engaged in authentic learning, tasks that were aligned to objectives, and students positively challenging each others learning. All of these task are directly aligned to our CIWP. Congratulations WATERS STAFF!!!

There will be no classes/no school on Monday, November 12, Veteran’s Day and Wednesday, November 14, 2018 which is Student, Parent, Teacher conferences. This day is dedicated for you to meet with your child and their teacher. Your child will share with you what they have learned thus far and if they are on track to meet their growth goals. If you have not signed up for a conference time, please be sure to do so! Conference times are from 11:45 am - 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm.

Wednesday evening beginning at 7:00 pm at Mrs. Murphy’s and Son’s Bistro, please join us as we will celebrate the annual Pledge Drive. We thank the energetic team of WT who have been super busy promoting this important work. Did you know that these funds help pay for vital programs at Waters? Thank you to all for supporting our school financially!

On Wednesday, please be sure to stop by the AMAZING offerenda in the main hallway. Thank you to all the parents, staff and volunteers for helping set this beautiful memorial.

November 21-23 will be Thanksgiving Break. No classes/no school for students.

Our monthly LSC meeting is at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, November 27th. We will have a presentation from our staff on the intentional work we are doing in specific content areas. If you haven’t had a chance to join us at one of our meetings, please do! The presentations provide a window into what your children are learning at Waters school. In addition, It is expected that the LSC will vote on the schoolwide dress code at this meeting.

Sincerly,

Ms. Kipp
School Principal

Blog Post- November 1st

11/1/2018

Dear Waters Community,

It has been an exciting week at Waters! Each year, we celebrate school spirit and provide wonderful learning experiences through themed days, a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, Halloween Parade and Dia de los Muertos. We hope your children enjoyed this fun filled week! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out this week!

I am pleased to announce that Waters SQRP data has been released for FY18. Waters is a Level 1+. This is the highest rating that a school can receive in district 299. While our emphasis at Waters is about authentic learning experiences, we are held accountable for student performance. I would like to thank our staff for their dedication to planning, teaching and providing the children with rich learning experiences. I am also grateful that we have a supportive school community where education is a priority!

Our fall volleyball season has come to an end. Thank you Mr. Orlov for coaching our 5-8th grade teams and to all the parents who helped make this season a success!

A special shout out to Forrest Durnbaugh, a 6th grader, for his spectacular run at the City Finals last weekend. He placed 5th in his age group with a mile time of 6:09.18! What a great run.

As a reminder there is no school this Friday, November 2nd. Teachers will be engaged in professional development as it aligns with our CIWP.

There will be no school on Veterans Day, Monday, November 12th. Also, there is no school for students on Wednesday, November 14th as that is Report Card Pick Up day. Look for details from your child’s teacher for scheduling a conference time. Remember to bring your child to the conference! Our conferences are student led and they will be sharing what they are working on with you.

Thank you to all the families who have pledged to Waters Today! The annual drive is underway. Please look for the flyer that was sent home with students and for additional information in the Green Notes so you can join this annual campaign. We greatly appreciate the support for our school!

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp

Weekly Blog Post

10/22/2018

Dear Waters Parents;

I will be away from the school beginning Tuesday, October 23rd and will return to school on Monday, October 29th. There was a death in my family and I will be joining them during this difficult time. I will not be responding to email during this time. If you have an emergency, please contact the main office at 773.534.5090. I thank you for your understanding.

Please see the following schedule for our annual “Spirit Week” which will start this Friday with Country Western Day and ends next Thursday with Pajama Day. I look forward to seeing all of you next week for the Halloween Parade on Wednesday morning at 8:45am Fingers crossed for weather that allows us to hold our parade outside.

Please see our letter that was written last week regarding an expansion of Waters School and our ecology program.

Enjoy these beautiful fall days.

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
Principal

Waters Letter to Community

10/19/2018

Dear Waters Community,

Please see the letter below regarding the school addition and Water's School Garden.

Waters Letter to Community

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
Principal

October 18th Update

10/18/2018

We had a great turn out at our Local School Council Meeting on Tuesday night. Agenda items included a Growth Mindset five week update, Growth Mindset application in middle school science and an introduction to our work around Math Professional Learning Community. Thank you Mrs. Ballasch, Mrs. Vecchioni and Mr. Gil for sharing!

The proposed dress code was given to the Local School Council for review. The dress code will It will go to vote next month. Thank you to all families for your input and suggestions. You can view a copy here.

There has been a lot of activity regarding the future of our school garden and the proposed school addition. Earlier this week, exploratory drilling was scheduled without any notification to administration. An obvious concern due to physical education, recess and programs in the garden. In a concerted effort and many phone calls, Alderman Pawar and I were able to halt the scheduled work. A meeting has been set with CPS to discuss moving forward and adhering to specific protocols to ensure that a collective community voice is heard.   I, along with Alderman Pawar, are optimistic that there will be positive outcomes from this meeting.

I am working to ensure that we have accurate information as we move forward so that it can be shared with the school community. While I understand there are many opinions about the addition at Waters, I assure you, our growing neighborhood population, lack of Pre-K offerings, our leaking roof, our makeshift classroom spaces, lack of storage, office space for intinerant staff, teachers lounge, limited playground space, programs without designated space, are just a few of the reasons why Waters is on the approved capital improvement list.

Our fall sports season is well underway! I am so proud of our athletes and their enthusiasm!   Congratulations to all of our runners and Coaches Barlow and Herman, who just completed their fifth meet of the season.   18 finalist for City were announced this week and they will proudly represent Waters next Saturday, October 27, 2018 at Washington Park.

Athletes representing Waters are:
5th Graders- Madeline Herman, August McKinney, Jack Ranney, and Hunter Smith
6th Graders- Cecilia Barlow, Miles Barbick, Forrest Durnbaugh, Kelly Rodriguez-Olivera, Maddux Smith, and Timothy Zagar
7th Graders- Mallory Herman, Ismaias Medina, Diego Olivares, and Emmitt Singer
8th Graders- Alejandro Abundis, Nathan Bjurstrom, Ray Reshoft, and Frank Weinstock

Harvest Week begins next Friday with our annual pumpkin patch and petting zoo.  I look forward to seeing many of you volunteering during our Harvest Day Activities.

Thank you to our STEAM team for organizing our 2nd annual Cardboard Challenge. We had over 150 people attend and it was a great day of creativity!

Please note that there is no school for students on Friday, November 2nd as teachers will have a School Improvement Day.

Sincerely,

Ms. Kipp
Principal

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