We have another change on our custodial team! I am pleased to announce that our night custodian, Erick Castaneda, has accepted a position with the District 62 maintenance department, where he will be working with Mr. Mark. To fill the vacancy, please join me in welcoming back Mr. Chris Santis, who will be our new night custodian. I thank Eric for his hard work while he was in that role and wish him the best of luck working at the district level. We are excited to have Chris back on the team!
Please read the following updates below:
Online Parent-Teacher Conference Sign-Up:
- Today your children brought home a letter outlining the conference sign-up process. Beginning tomorrow, Oct. 28, you will be able to go to https://terrace62.youcanbook.me/ to register for one 20-minute conference time with your child's teacher on either Nov. 20 or Nov. 21. You will find the teacher's name, see the available time slots, and then you will be able to choose the time you want from those choices. Just fill out the information that is asked of you, and you should be good-to-go. An email will follow confirming your time. If you have any problems or do not have access to a device or the Internet, please contact the main office on Monday, and Mrs. Manna will be able to schedule you in for an available time slot.
Halloween:
- As Halloween is approaching, I wanted to remind you how the school day will proceed on Tuesday, October 31, 2017:
- Please remember that it is a half-day institute day, and dismissal will be at 12:00. There will be NO SCHOOL for kindergarten students on Oct. 31.
- The school-wide parade for grades 1-5 will begin promptly at 10:30 in the gymnasium, and if weather permits, we will also parade outside. Parents, please do not arrive earlier than 10:25.
- Kindergarteners (both a.m. and p.m.) will have their parades on Monday, Oct. 30. Morning kindergarteners will parade at 10:15, and afternoon students will parade at 1:15. Please look for information to come home from Mrs. Schaefer about your classroom celebrations.
- Costumes may not contain: weapons of any sort, blood, cigars or cigarettes, and we should not be able to see any student’s bare stomach. In addition, please ensure that costumes are age-appropriate for school and are not overly scary. Masks may be worn only during the parade, but they may not be worn during the school day.
- Due to past concerns related to clowns, the district is again prohibiting students, staff, and parents from dressing up as clowns for any school celebrations. A letter about this from our superintendent was sent to you last week.
- Classroom parties for grades 1-5 will begin roughly at 11:00. Parents and volunteers, it is important that you follow the guidelines communicated in the Terrace handbook (and D62 BOE policy) as it relates to food items. Candy, sweets, or any other food items ARE NOT permitted for Halloween or any other celebrations during the school day. Your child is welcome to bring in pencils, erasers, and any little non-food items to share with their classmates. However, should you send food to school, it will not be distributed and will be returned to you. Your child’s teacher will give you more information about this.
Crossing Guards:
- If you or a neighbor is willing to be a crossing guard, the DPPD is looking for volunteers. If you know of someone interested, please contact me so I can point you in the right direction. Thank you. =-)
PTC Updates:
- The next PTC meeting is November 13th at 6:30 p.m.
From our local Brownie Troop: Second Grade Brownie Troop 45223 will be collecting Toys for Tots donations from October 01 - November 01. If you would like to participate in this awesome charity, please bring a new, unwrapped toy to Terrace between October 01 - November 01. There will be a collection bin near the front lobby of the school.
School Volunteer Info:
Attention Volunteers! Please fill out the online volunteer application if you do not currently have one on file. In order to volunteer at school during the day or at any school function (field trips, popcorn day, etc), you must have an application on file. If you are not sure if you have completed one, please email Mrs. Lopatka at [email protected], and she can check for you. You may also apply online at the following website by clicking here.
Please read the following reminders:
Arrival Parking Lot Safety: Last week we had three unfortunate incidents in our parking lot during morning drop-off. Two different students were almost hit by cars running to their lines and a third fell in the middle of the parking lot running to the line-up area while cars were driving through the lot. These incidents were due to the fact that people are dropping their children off in the middle of the parking lot rather than coming through the front circle despite being asked many times over the years not to do so. In the interest of student safety, we are now putting cones at the north end of the parking lot to prohibit cars from entering to just drop off. Families will have to drive through the front circle to drop off. If you feel you need to park and walk your child to his or her line, please park on the west side of Westgate to do so. We apologize if this is an inconvenience to you, however, the safety and well-being of our students is our number one priority above all else. I spoke with the Des Plaines Police, and this change was thought to be an excellent idea. Thank you for understanding.
Dismissal Parking Lot Safety: Please remember that the safety and well-being of our students and staff are our #1 priority. After school you are welcome park your car in a designated spot in our lot and walk to the front to pick up your child. Or, you may drive through the front circle and pick up your child in the pickup line. DO NOT double park your car in the lot and ask your child to run over to your car. I have personally seen students do this and nearly get hit by a car in the lot. Please listen to and work with our traffic supervisors. We need you working together with us to ensure students and staff are safe. Thank you so much.
WeatherBug:
Please download the WeatherBug app and set Terrace as your home page. Here are the directions to download:
- Open the app, and tap the WeatherBug icon in the upper left corner to expose the main app menu.
- Select “Sign in”
- At the bottom of the login screen, tap “Sign up” and either login using your Facebook account or by creating a WeatherBug account.
- Then go back into the main app menu and select “Communities”
- Tap “Terrace Elementary School” – the plus sign should turn into a check mark – hit “Close”
- You should see the Terrace Elementary School Community card.
Internet Safety:
Families, as your children are getting older and are having more exposure online, a host of questions can arise about Internet safety. If you would like to learn more about what your children may be doing or what you can do as a parent/caregiver to protect them, please click here to read more.
Additional Notes:
- If you are on Facebook and would like to see what is going on at Terrace, be sure to check out the Terrace Facebook page. Pictures are regularly posted to better give you an insight into all the great things that go on at school each and every day. Remember to click the "like" button so our updates appear regularly on your feed. Or, under the school address near the top left of this page, you can click Facebook, and it will direct you straight to the page.
- It is important for us to have a current email address and phone number for you at all times. If you want to ensure that you receive emails and notifications from Terrace and D62, please make sure our office has your most current email and phone numbers on file. If you send us your contact information, I ask that you please write very neatly so we can make sure we are entering the correct information in our student information system.
Have a wonderful weekend!