Labor Day Weekend - No School Monday

Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend - There is no School Monday 9/1! 

Spirit Friday

It's Spirit Wear Friday!  Wear your Blue Devils Spirit Wear T-Shirt to school today.

(If you're still waiting on your shirt...wear something blue.)

What is there to cheer about?!?!  There is no school Monday, we have a 3 day weekend.

Repeat after me - I LOVE SLEEP!!!!  Enjoy you weekend!

PES Parent Night Tonight!

Tonight at the PES Parent Orientation Night look for the Sign Up Sheets for Classroom Parties and PTO Events!  If you have children in both buildings, please do not sign up for the same party at both buildings. 

If you want to take a look at the Event Descriptions, they are listed on the Blog - look for the tab at the top of the page or on the Facebook page under "Notes"- click the "more" tab at the top to find "notes". 

There will be 3 classroom parties - Halloween (morning party) - Holiday - Valentine's

There will be 4 parent helpers - including the headroom parent.

 If you are unable to make it to the Parent Night, please send an email to peotonepto@gmail.com if you want to sign up for a party or an event, or with any questions.

PES Parent Orientation

PES Parent Orientation Night 8/28 (Thursday)!

Kindergarten: 6:00-6:30pm

1st Grade: 6:30-7:00pm

2nd Grade: 7:00-7:30pm

3rd Grade: 7:30-8:00pm

Be sure to look for the sign-up sheets for Classroom Parties and PTO Events!
To check out the Description of Events, check out the tab on the Blog at the top of the page under the blue box or the Notes on Facebook (Notes can be found by clicking on "More" at the top of the page.)

Bear With Us - Spirit Wear Orders Forms

Please have some patience with us.  The start of the school year is not only busy in general as students enter a new grade and classroom, but this year pretty much EVERYTHING is new to all of us! Even the old buildings we were so familiar with last year, are new to us this year with loads of new faces (students/faculty) and getting used to how everyone does things.  

I have had to post more updates/corrections/reminders than I normally would to be sure we are all on the same page. Thank you for rolling with the tide.  

With that being said...Spirit Wear Order Forms will be coming home. One thing was missing on the forms; it says there is a "Last Name Option".  That option only applies to Shirts & Hoodies and is $7 extra. 

KidStuff Books

KidStuff Books will be sent home in the next few days --- 1 book per family will be sent home at this time. There is a white order envelope that you can order more books if you have family or friends who want to buy one as well. This is a very profitable fundraiser! Each book is $25, but the PTO earns $12.50 on every single book sold.  There are many valuable coupons in the book that families use every day!

Things to know about KidStuff Books:

> The family that sells the most KidStuff Books wins $100 gift card! 

> For every 5 books sold, you receive 1 free book.

> This is not a sample book for you to keep. If you do not wish to participate, please return the book with your child's name to your child's teacher immediately. 

> No door-to-door sales.
> Money is due by September 12th.

Friendly Reminder Blue Book/PTO Email Blast

Just a friendly reminder to turn in the 2 PTO Slips:

> Blue Book Slip - Digital Directory 

> PTO Email Slip  - NOT the same as the School "Notify Me" 

This year has already started with the ultimate example that it helps to be connected in many ways to be sure we know about school changes that happen quickly.  Or to have quick access to contact a neighbor or classmate to ask for help if needed. 

For the PTO Email Blast you can also send an email to peotonepto@gmail.com and I will add you that way as well. 

Message From The Band Director Mr. Rusek

Mr. Rusek would like this special message passed along to the Band Parents due to some parents not getting notified prior to my post:

The band at PIC has started with lessons for the students, and the students are bringing home their instruments after the first lesson this week. The students will receive their materials in their lessons and more information will be available once they have their first lesson. For more information about the band program, you can visit the band website linked underneath the activities page on the PIC website. 

PIC Band Schedule Posted

For those students who are in Band - Mr. Rusek has posted the schedule on the school website. 

Here is a link to check it out!

https://sites.google.com/a/peotoneschools.org/pic-band/

PIC Parent Orientation Postponed

The PIC Parent Orientation is being postponed!!!  The new date will be Tuesday September 2nd.

There will be a school reach message sent later today stating the postponement and possibly an early release tomorrow. Once the district has determined the plan for tomorrow, a message will be sent. I just wanted to give you the heads up for tonight!

PIC Special Visitors

To kick off the 2014-2015 school year with PIC being the "big kids" of Elementary School, Mrs. Hiller invited some other BIG "kids" to come speak at a special assembly this morning. 

Thank you to the Joliet Slammers: Seth #25, Dave #44, & Travis #55 for coming out early this morning after playing a double header yesterday to speak with our students!

After an introduction, Mrs. Hiller opened the floor to allow the students to ask the Slammers some questions.

The kids had some great questions for the players! 

Seth is an Outfielder and Dave & Travis are both Pitchers!

A special thank you to Lori, host mom Deb and again the Slammers! 

Kindergarten 1st Day

It's always a momentous occasion for Kindergarten students 1st day of Elementary School.

Today is PES Kindergarten students 1st day.  We want to encourage all PES 

families with students 1st-3rd to tell the older children to make those little guys and gals feel welcome in this new journey!

This is a full day for all students.

"Everyone is in awe of the lion tamer in a cage with a half a dozen lions...

Everyone but a Kindergarten Teacher

Early Release Monday Due to Heat

ATTENTION 207-U  Tomorrow (8/25) School's will be released early due to heat!

Due to forecasted heat and humidity, we will be dismissing school early on 

Monday, August 25th. 

PIC Early Dismissal at 12:45 pm

PES  Early Dismissal at 1:30 

***  FYI from a parent that contacted the Tracy: Tracy Scharwarth with the Park District said Rec Care will be open tomorrow.

Please spread the word since I do not have everyone on the PTO Email List yet! 

PIC - Parent Orientation Night

PIC Parent Orientation Night 8/25 (Monday)!

4th Grade: 6:00-7:15pm

5th Grade: 6:45-8:00pm

There will be an information session and Staff Introductions in the gym for 

both 4th & 5th grade parents @6:45pm. 

> Be sure to look for the sign-up sheets for PTO Events & Classroom Parties! 

* PES Parent Orientation is 8/28 - A reminder will be posted prior to that event.

School Is In Session

School is in session! 

Enjoy the silence or the reduced noise for those who still have little ones that aren't quite school age yet!

Kindergarten Meet & Great Friday

Friday 8/22 Kindergarten Meet & Greet with their teachers!
Remember that first day when we took our babies to see their teacher and their classroom?

Enjoy this fun day! 

Frequently Asked Questions From Both Ice Cream Socials

Thank you to all of the families who came out to the Ice Cream Social's at PIC & PES!  The schools look great and the teachers/staff are excited for a new chapter to begin. Thank you to the PTO and the children who worked hard for us! 

In speaking with parents I just wanted to cover a few of the Frequently Asked Questions that I received.  And PLEASE fill out your PTO Email Blast slip when you get it in your Blue Folders and turn it in! This would be something that would then go to all families in an email, as opposed to just those who happen to spot it on Facebook or the Blog!

1)  Where do we wait if we are picking up a child? 

PIC Building - Wait across the street in the Green Garden Country Club parking lot until the buses have departed.  Then you may come across to line up in the same directions the buses were going to show your car tags and your children will be released from there.  If you do not have a car tag, you need to park in the lot on the west side of the building and walk in to the building to sign out your child. 

PES Building - Students being picked up by car tag will be dismissed from the main north doors.  The car rider line for waiting vehicles begins on Oak Street.  There is no parking on Mill Street. Cars will not be allowed into the school drive until the buses have completely pulled out of the drive and the chain has been moved.  Once vehicles enter our school’s main drive, parents will pull up to one of the three marked spots and the adults supervising this area will release the children to the waiting vehicles. If you do not have a car tag, there is a parking lot on the northeast corner of the drive that parents typically park in. They then cross the drive and the students are released from those northeast doors.

2) Lunch Accounts? You do not need to have money on your lunch account to get lunch. You do not need to give notice ahead of time on whether you are taking lunch on a given day. (PIC only had the 1st day survey to get an idea of that one day...no survey is needed at this time.)   Wise words from Mrs. Wuske: All students may purchase a lunch on their lunch account. Teachers will take a count in the morning at attendance. You may put money in students account on website or bring in cash or check.  

If you are having issues putting money on the lunch account, we can try to guide you. We'll figure it out together!

3) Email Notifications?  You can sign up through your Parent Powerschool and going to "email notifications" to have your child's grades emailed to  you on a daily, weekly, monthly basis as well as select an option to be notified when your lunch balance gets low.  

4) Is the "Notify Me" the same as the PTO Email Blast?  No.  The Notify Me is strictly a school email/text that should come when posts are made on the school site.  The PTO Email Blasts will cover both school and PTO information so we are all on the same page!  We want you to get to know us and know what we're doing for all of the kids! What's not to like??  hee hee

5)  PTO Blog vs PTO Facebook:  The PTO Blog and Facebook pages have the same information! The Blog is for people who do not like or want Facebook. The Blog is like a website, I post info, you can look for info. If you prefer the Blog, go onto our Blog Page, scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email in the "Follow By Email" box.  (I am not notified if you enter your email, only if you comment on a post - we aren't a business we just want you to have info)  When new posts are entered, you will receive the post in your inbox.  It could go to your Spam folder until your computer knows you accept those emails.  

6) Final observation!  We met a lot of great new people and it was awesome to see the district come together as one. The Board of Education came out, as well as Mr. Stein!  We saw the teachers working hard, the office staff/faculty/principals and students coming together to get the schools prepared.  Words cannot cover all of the hands that made this happen.  And I will end on this...men have better hair on a 99.9% humidity day!   Let a great year begin! 

First Day of School 1st-5th Grade

Back to school 1st-5th Graders! 

This is an Early Release and students WILL need to bring a lunch if they did not purchase a school lunch.

PES: 8:30-1:10 pm

PIC: 7:45-12:25pm

* Kindergarten students have a meet and greet 8/22 - First full day 8/25 for all students.

PES Ice Cream Social TODAY

TODAY (8/21) is the PES Ice Cream Social and School Supply Drop Off! 

Families with the last names beginning with:

A-K 2-3pm

L-Z 3-4pm

Students can meet their teacher at this time too! 

Office is open 7:45am-6:00pm if you want to drop off supplies during those hours.

Car Tags for those with a regular pick-up schedule can pick up those as well.

PIC Ice Cream Social TODAY!

TODAY (8/20) is the PIC Ice Cream Social and School Supply Drop Off! 

2:30-4:00pm

Students can meet their teacher at this time too! 

Office is open 7:30am-6:00pm if you want to drop off supplies during those hours.

Car Tags for those with a regular pick-up schedule can pick up those as well.

* PES is 8/21 (Reminder will come tomorrow)

Paperless: Email Blasts & Blue Book

Get ready Elementary Families!  The PTO is going to make the big push this year to be as paperless as we can be.  When you see our PTO pages come home in your brand spanking new Blue Folders, fill them out!  (Keep reading...It's worth it! You can even Share it.)

1) We want your email address for PTO Email Blasts. You are saying, "What is a PTO Email Blast?" (You'll learn I have a knack for mind reading.) An email blast is strictly allowing us to send you information relating to the school/community events or even messages that the Principals want to try to get to as many parents as  possible...quickly.  As we know, not all Facebook or Blog messages are going to be seen. But most of us have email!  Don't worry, we won't be sending email's on a daily basis. More of a weekly basis when things are busy, or every few weeks if things are calmer.  Last year they came in handy when the school was having short days for heat or winter related weather.  We just want to be sure we are all on the same page.  Even the school reach messages don't always go according to plan.  It's just another method of a back-up to our school. Trust me, I am way more interesting in email form! ;) 

2) We want you to get on board with the electronic Blue Book! What's a Blue Book you ask? (Remember, Mind reader here!) It's our school directory. Information about the Blue Book will be in the folders and to include both schools and all families, we want to eliminate printed books so they can be current and available at all times. We will have information for you to preview at our Ice Cream Socials!  Otherwise, you will get those in your Blue Folders on the 1st day of school. 

3) We want you to be able to feel good that we are working hard to be sure everyone is on the same page with us.  Let's give our kids the best year as we work together and go paperless!   

Ice Cream Social

I scream! You scream! We ALL scream for ICE CREAM! 

Stop screaming and come out to the PTO Ice Cream Social!

PIC: August 20th (Wed) 2:30-4pm 

PES: August 21st (Thurs)

Families with the last name beginning with:

A-K 2:00-3:00pm

L-Z 3:00-4:00pm

You may drop off school supplies until 6pm too! 

Board Of Education Meeting Tonight

BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING TONIGHT

August 18th, 2014 7:00PM

Peotone High School

PIC - 1st Day Lunch Survey

Parents of PIC - Please be sure you complete your 1st Day Lunch Survey by 8/16 if you intend to have your child eat a school prepared lunch!  Otherwise they will need to bring a lunch. 

This lunch is $2.45 and you can either put money on your students lunch account online or bring a check on that day. 

Here is the link:http://pic.peotoneschools.org/?PageName=LatestNews&Section=LatestNews&ItemID=340459&ISrc=School&Itype=News 

PIC Should Post Soon

From the PIC Building: Sorry for the delay! Mrs. Hiller said there were some tech issues and the teachers should be posting soon. Thank you for your patience!

Teacher Assignments

Find out today after Noon who your child's teacher is! 

Just go to peotoneschools.org - click on the Parent Powerschool Login on the left side of the page.

If you do not have access to a computer, you can call into your school's office after noon. 

Spirit Wear Chairs THANKS

YOU PEOPLE ROCK!  We hope this is the wonderful trend for the school year!  The PTO put the call out for volunteers for Spirit Wear and it's already done!  Thank you for your quick responses!  

Spirit Wear Volunteers

We are in need of 4 Volunteers for Spirit Wear! We need a Chair and Co-Chair (2 people for PES & 2 people for PIC) to process the Spirit Wear Orders (collect order forms/money), check them in when they arrive, and then getting them to the school to be sent home with students.  The plan is to allow for a Spirit Wear order to be completed in August.  After that, Spirit Wear orders will be determined during the year based on interest.  If you have questions or want to jump in to Volunteer: You can send a message through email peotonepto@gmail.com

I will be posting the upcoming PTO Events for you to see what is on our agenda this year! There will be sign up sheets available at each grade center's orientation night for those events and for classroom parties.  If you are unable to attend the Parent Orientation Night to sign up, you can email your interest starting THE NIGHT OF ORIENTATION.  We want everyone to have a fair and equal chance to sign up!  

So who wants to be the Spirit Wear Chair and Co-Chair?!?!  I know you want to... :)

First Day of School Photo Idea

First Day of School photo idea! It's never too late to start a 1st day of school photo tradition.  

Sign Up For Kindergarten Meet & Greet

Parents of Kindergarten students have you signed up for your

parent/teacher/child "Meet & Greet" on Friday (8/22)!?

You will sign up for a 15 minute time slot to meet with your child's teacher and check out their new classroom.  Hour's will be from 8:45am-3:30pm! 

* Instructions on how to sign up and your Parent Powerschool Passwords will be coming home soon if you haven't received them already.

Car Tags

For the parents that will be picking up children on a regular schedule there will be CAR TAGS!

For both PES/PIC, you will be issued a Car Tag which will allow you to pull up and your child will come to the car.  No need for parking!!! If you have children in both buildings, the tag will be the same. 

You can pick up your Car Tags during the Ice Cream Social, or up until 6pm.  

See previous post for the Ice Cream Social times and dates! 

PIC 1st Day Lunch Survey & Lunch Program

PIC Families- If you intend for your child to have the school lunch program on the 1st day of school (8/22), be sure to fill out the 1st Day Lunch Survey on the PIC Website under "latest news". The fee for lunch is $2.45-Ham Sandwich on Whole Grain Bun, Broccoli, Baby Carrots, Lite Ranch Dip, Apple Fruit Roll-Up and Milk. You will need to send a check or you can set up an account online. SURVEY IS DUE 8/16.

Families New To The Lunch Program: If you set up your lunch account online, 1) go to Peotoneschools.org - Click on "Pay Fees" on the left side middle of the page. 2) Next you will click on "Peotone Elementary Food Service" on the left side of the screen for your students in K-5th grade (PIC/PES buildings).  3) From there you can enter the amount you want to place on your child's account.

Starting with the 2nd day of school when children get to school the teacher's will find out who is ordering lunch for that day. You will not need to place orders online or prior to the school day. That is how the Food Staff will know how much food to prepare for each building.  The money then is deducted from their food account when the child takes part in the Lunch Program for that given day.  You may set up an email reminder when the fund needs to be replenished.

Update to Kindergarten Families Teacher Assignment

Good news for the Kindergarten families!  Mrs. Davis worked hard to get your personal codes mailed so you can log into your parent portal to get your teacher assignment! Therefore, you will not have to call the office on the 15th.  If you do NOT have computer access, then you will need to call the office to get  your child's teacher assignment. Kudos to Mrs. Davis for getting that done so quickly!  

Ice Cream Social

Mark your calendars!! 

The PTO would like to kick off the year with an Ice Cream Social!

You can also bring your children's school supplies and drop them off while you're there.

PIC: August 20th (Wed) 2:30-4pm 

PES: August 21st (Thurs)

Families with the last name beginning with:

A-K 2:00-3:00pm

L-Z 3:00-4:00pm

*** The office of both buildings will be open until 6pm for parents who want 

to drop their supplies,  but can't make it to the Ice Cream Social. 

For the working families who wonder why this event is during the day and not at night: This time the students are given an opportunity to meet their teacher and teachers are only required to be in the building until the end of the school day, according to their contracts.  Also keeping in mind, this is a PTO sponsored event, not a school function like the Orientation Night. Hope this helps answer some questions! :)

Update for Kindergarten Parents - Teacher Assignments

The Kindergarten families will be calling the office on August 15th to get their teacher assignments from the office staff.  Details will be in the letter about when to call. Mrs. Davis has a letter going home to explain that and the "Meet & Greet".  

** 1st-5th grade families see the previous post about teacher assignments if you missed it. 

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...Fees & Teachers Assignments

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

1) Registration Fees are due on or before August 22nd if you have not paid yet.

2) On August 15th @ Noon online - check your child's teacher assignment! 

"Don't ever be afraid to start over. It's a brand new opportunity to rebuild what you truly want."

- Jarrett Payton (son of the great Walter Payton)

5 Things To Know...

1) There is a job opening for Peotone Jr High - Cafeteria Server - 11:00-1:00
For more information or to apply, contact:  http://www.peotoneschools.org/?DivisionID=16940&DepartmentID=17945

2) There are only 17 days left until most students (1st-5th grade) return to school on August 22nd. 

 Kindergarten students (PES) have a meet and greet that will take place on Friday (8/22). Info will be mailed to you on how to sign up. Kindergarten students first full day is on Monday (8/25).

3) 5th Grade Calculators: REMINDER: all 5th grade students will need a calculator for math class.  If your child did not order one at the end of the school year, please make sure that you have a TI-34 Multiview calculator included in your back to school supplies! 

4)  PIC Intramural Sports Kids:
Any student who plans to participate in the after-school intramural sports at PIC during the upcoming school year will need to have a current Sports Physical on file at the school. Intramurals will begin in October. Sports physical forms can be found under the Parent Information link on the district home page under "Health Services".

5) School Supplies: (Click on Supplies under "Latest News" for PES/PIC)

Pre-K: http://www.peotoneschools.org/?PN=Pages&SubP=Level1Page&L=2&DivisionID=17225&DepartmentID=0&SubDepartmentID=0&PageID=26169&ToggleSideNav=

PES:  http://pes.peotoneschools.org/

PIC: http://pic.peotoneschools.org/