Early Childhood Center and Riverdale School

AApril

Early Childhood Center and Riverdale School
                   News
              September 2018

Dear Parents and Guardians:
         As the Principal of the Early Childhood Center and of Riverdale School. I extend a
warm welcome to everyone as we began a new academic year. The staff and I take great
pride in the outstanding research-based curriculum and instruction offered to our youngest
learners from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. This year our district theme is
“Empowering Every Child.” Parents I encourage you to become involved by volunteering or by
visiting our school when you can. We invite you to attend our annual Open House for
Riverdale School on August 28, 2018 and Early Childhood Center @Harriet Tubman on
September 5, 2018, or one of our other family night activities during the 2018-2019 school
year. Teachers will share valuable information regarding the curriculum, school events,
classroom policies and procedures, volunteer opportunities, and details about homework
during our open house. Help your child be as successful as possible this year by getting
involved.

In addition, I strongly encourage all parents to take the time to visit our new location, Harriet
Tubman at 333 E 142nd Street Dolton Illinois, We also encourage parents to visit our district
web site at www.district148.net and select Early Childhood Center or Riverdale School. The
school website contains useful resources and important information regarding district and
school policies and procedures. There is also a calendar of events for the entire school year
so you can reserve dates early in your busy schedules. Please remember to refer to our
school website throughout the year for the latest information.
As educators, we recognize the importance of parental involvement in the success of our
school and we enjoy a strong relationship with our Parent/Teacher Organization (Parent
Café’) and with our community partners. The invaluable support of this shared partnership
has generated thousands of dollars in additional funding for educational programs and
support materials that has allowed us to maintain our high level of educational programming.
The presence of volunteers in the classroom allows us to reach more students through
individual interactions during learning opportunities.

When the family and the school come together with high expectations for student conduct
and achievement, students demonstrate greater success as positive and confident learners.
I urge you to support our school, our teachers, and our programs. Again, welcome to the Early
Childhood Center and/or Riverdale School. It is our pleasure to serve the district, the
community and our most valuable assets, the children. I look forward to working together as
a partner in your child’s exciting and successful learning experience.

Striving for Academic Excellence for all Children

Shinora Montgomery, Principal
Early Childhood Center and Riverdale School

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER AND RIVERDALE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2

                            CUBBIE NEWS!

    The Early Childhood Center @ Harriet Tubman

We welcomed or first students to the new and remodeled Early Childhood
Center. We are excited to welcome our students and families to our new
location and look forward to our continue success developing District 148’s
youngest learners.

                            Parent Educator/Family Support
                                     Ms. Cannon
                                     Ms. Sherman
Dear Parents,

We have hired a new Parent Coordinator Ms. Nakia Cannon. She will collaborate with our
current Parent Educator Mrs. Candice Sherman. As the parent coordinator and parent
educator, they will work to build strong relationship with parents and community as well
as social service organizations. They will serve as facilitators for parent and community
concerns and issues. They will both conduct parent meetings and events around topics
of concern to parents while providing continuous assistance to families as needed.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at (708) 849-9848 with any concerns you may have
regarding your child or your family's well-being. They will be conducting home visits for
those parents who lack transportation. They are encouraging parents to attend meetings
or other family support events during the school year, as your involvement is what keeps
our early childhood program strong. You may also volunteer to assist in your child's
classroom at any time, or as a chaperone for field trips. We love volunteers at ECC! As a
partner in helping your child achieve their highest potential,

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER AND RIVERDALE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3

                                 ROCKET NEWS
Kindergarten – Ms. Monroe/Ms. Kovalik
The kindergarteners have started their journey on discovering and learning. Already a
few short weeks in and we have met new friends and have started to learn new and
amazing things. We are currently working on our PBIS strategies (being respectful,
responsible, and safe). We have started to form our classroom social contract in order
to work together harmoniously. We are also working hard on learning how to spell and
write our first and last names, recognizing our letters and their sounds, mastering our
fine motor skills, and recognizing our sight words to become strong and fluent readers.
The kindergarteners are currently learning about the life cycle of both, the apple and
the pumpkin and we will be visiting an apple orchard/ pumpkin patch to learn even
more facts that are interesting. This is definitely going to be an incredible year filled with
fun, fond memories, and an abundance of learning!
~ Ms. Kovalik and Ms. Monroe

1st Grade
Noted physicist Albert Einstein believed that “Imagination is more important than
information.” This statement exemplifies the learning process in first grade where we
will explore our possibilities this school year, while mastering early skills in reading,
language arts, and math.

2nd Grade
Second grade students are building upon skills learned last year. Daily lessons are
more complex than before and expectations are higher. We will further develop our
reading comprehension by using "who, what, where, when, and how" concepts.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER AND RIVERDALE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4

                              ROCKET NEWS

3rd Grade – Ms. Toney/Mrs. McPherson
Third grade has begun unit one in Ready Gen core curriculum focusing on character
traits, actions, and motivations in this unit of study. Embedded within the Ready Gen
Reading portion of the program are Science and Social Studies concepts. In Math,
we are working on place values up to the ten-thousandth place. Students will be able
to write numbers in standard form (12,563), expanded form
(10,000+2,000+500+60+3), and word form (twelve thousand, five hundred, sixty-
three). Language Arts and Math homework is assigned Monday through Thursday.
All homework is a review. Homework should take no more than 20-30 minutes to
complete. Parents, please sign up for Class Dojo to see real-time notifications about
classroom happenings and to check your child's behavior.

4th Grade – Mrs. Merriweather/Mr. Chadwell
Our fourth grade students are off to a spectacular start. Students have become
accustomed to routines and expectations. We are expecting a record turnout for our
2018-19 Back-to-School Night and we are looking forward to a wonderful school
year.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER AND RIVERDALE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 5

                                      We would like to take this time to welcome the
                                      new staff to The Early Childhood Center and
 Upcoming Events                      Riverdale School.
September 3, 2018                     Early Childhood Center
Labor Day - No School
RIVERDALE SCHOOL
                                          Shea Cotton – PFAE
EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER
                                          Bonita Hill - PFA
September 5, 2018                         Ebony Weary - PFAE
ECC @Tubman School                        Tiekka Neely – Paraprofessional PFA
Back to School Night                      Rhonda Austin-Holcomb – Paraprofessional PFA
6PM to 7PM                                Claire Palacz – Itinerant
                                          Crystal Briney – Co-Taught Teacher PFAE
September 7, 2018                         Adrianne Cox – Psychologist
School Improvement - Noon Dismissal   Riverdale School
RIVERDALE SCHOOL                          Raquel Davis- Music
EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER                    Justin Moore – P.E.
                                          Tracee Crump – 2nd grade
September 21, 2018                        Jarasha Holman – 2nd Grade
First Quarter                             Alexus Sykes – Administrative Assistant
Progress Report

September 25, 2018
                                            Nurse’s Corner
School Board Meeting                             Sheila Andrasco
District Office                         Parents and students:
7 PM                                    To ensure your child’s health and safety, please
                                        inform me of any severe allergies, surgeries,
September 28, 2018                               ndrasco
                                        accidents,  or new health problems that occurred
School Improvement - Noon Dismissal     during the summer months. Students, with the
RIVERDALE SCHOOL                        exception of students with asthma, may not self-
EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER                  medicate with prescription or over the counter
                                        medications. If a child, by order of a physician must
October 5, 2018                         receive medications in school, please contact me to
Field Trip - County Line Orchard        learn our district procedure for taking medication
EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER                  while in school. You will receive information on
                                        vision and hearing screenings along with dental
October 16, 2018                        cleaning information later this year. Have a healthy
Picture Day                             and safe year!
RIVERDALE SCHOOL

October 18, 2018
Picture Day
Early Childhood Center