Team Leader Day

Hooper team leaders gathered on August 11th to develop School Improvement Goals in the areas of Reading, Math, and Social Emotional Learning.  We strive to meet the needs of all learners.  Goals include extending the time spent in guided reading, engaging students in novel studies, and helping them develop a love of reading for fun and for information!  In the area of social emotional development, we are creating more leadership opportunities for students.  For example, older students will assist younger students at bus dismissal time, help out in Early Childhood P.E. classes, organize service learning projects, become tour guides, and become Book Buddies with primary classes.  Younger students will have responsibilities within the classroom and grow into school ‘jobs’.  These opportunities will help us recognize all the leaders in our school!

 

 

Summer!

Summer is here and I hope you are enjoying your family vacations and summer activities!

We are busy preparing for the upcoming school year.  Some exciting changes for next year include the use of Twitter and Facebook to communicate with families!  Follow us on Twitter:  @HooperJaguars1

We will begin ‘tweeting’ in late July, early August!

Summer is also a great time to catch up on some good reading!  I am currently reading ‘The Leader in Me’ by Stephen Covey and Sean Covey to get some ideas on how to create a school culture of leadership.  For fun, I am reading the historical novel, “The Girl With the Blue Tattoo’.   Fascinating book! Let me know where your family has traveled  or what books you are reading by emailing me at pplanic@district41.org or by replying to this blog post!  See you in August!

 

 

 

Aaaahhh, Summer!

We are winding down a very successful school year!  Some of our accomplishments this year include:

• Parent Volunteers helping in and out of school.  Research shows that when parents get involved in schools, student achievement increases!
• Community outreach:  In addition to donations for needy families, we have Kiwanis Club members volunteer at Hooper.  We also have a retired teacher  from the community volunteer in 1st grade.  A Lake Villa church group has generously donated snacks for our kids and they are purchasing much needed recess equipment!  A group of teachers (and principal) formed a team to participate in the Lake Villa Library Battle of the Books (the student team won and it was so much fun!).
• Our 6th grade Student Leadership Team have conducted fundraisers/donations for Save A Pet, Luke 3:11 Share Center, and Feed My Starving Children.
• Building team leaders report that teachers and students have successfully implemented Chromebook use.  The students and teachers love Google Classroom and the websites that assist students in researching, learning, and practicing skills aligned to our curriculum and Common Core standards.
• Student recognition:  We have recognized students from every grade level at our trimester Hooper Hero assemblies and through our Positive Performer program.  In addition, we recognize students monthly at the Board of Education meetings.
• Our students continue to perform above the national average on the NWEA MAP assessment.

Thank you for all of your support this year!  Enjoy a restful and safe summer!

Dr. Pat Planic

P.S. Send your summer vacation postcards to Hooper School:  2400 E. Sand Lake Rd.  Lindenhurst, IL  60046    We love to see where our students are traveling!

Volunteer Appreciation

We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers.  To honor our volunteers, we will have a Volunteer Appreciation ‘celebration’ on Tuesday, May 24 at 9:30 a.m. here at Hooper School in the Library.  If you have volunteered in any capacity this year, please come to help us give you a quiet moment to recognize your important work!

Our Hooper volunteers make our world go round!  Our PTO volunteers offer hundreds of hours for Casino Night, Book Fairs, Teacher Appreciation events, Movie Nights, and Family Fun Nights!  These events raise money for our school and district to purchase classroom supplies, field trips, equipment, etc.

Our Hooper parent volunteers and community volunteers come to Hooper School to work with small groups of students, listen to students read, xerox materials for classroom teachers, donate supplies, help with projects, and generally support our teachers and staff.

We love our volunteers!

 

Science Night & Medieval Faire

On Thursday, May 12, Hooper’s 5th grade team has planned an exciting Science Night and the 6th grade team will be presenting their Medieval Faire!  Both events are from 6:00-7:00 p.m.

5th grade students and their parents will participate in cooperative Science activities that apply concepts learned this year.  6th grade students have been working hard on their Medieval Research and have learned much about Life in Medieval Times, Castles, Black Death, and customs.  They are looking forward to sharing their knowledge!

“Leader in Me” School Visit

Thank you to the students, staff, and administrators at Kipling Elementary School in Deerfield and Mechanics Grove Elementary School in Mundelein for inviting District 41 principals and teachers to attend their Leadership Days 2016!   During these school visits, we were able to see the “Leader in Me” model in action!  The “Leader in Me” model teaches students and staff the 7 habits of effective learners as they relate to leadership, culture, and academics.  It was impressive and inspiring to see students of all ages advocating for themselves and others by demonstrating the 7 Habits.

• Habit 1: Be Proactive
• Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind
• Habit 3: Put First Things First
• Habit 4: Think Win-Win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood
• Habit 6: Synergize
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

 

 

Open House and Family Involvement

Our students, teachers, families, and volunteers have been very busy this month!  Early Childhood through 4^th grade Open House is Tuesday, April 12^th!   The students are so proud of all they have learned this year and are excited about sharing with their families.  Kindergartners and their families will be participating in literacy centers in their classrooms during Open House.  Third graders and their families will write a poem together.  Fourth graders will present and show off their inventions at the Invention Convention, held during Open House!  All families will be able to visit our PTO Book Fair to celebrate their love of reading!

There are other ways we involve community members and families at Hooper School also!   Dr. Lynette Zimmer, Superintendent of District 41 schools, has been training her new Great Pyrenees puppy, Jeep, to be a therapy dog.  Jeep has now been introduced to all students at Hooper School!  We look forward to having Jeep come more often!

We also have Kiwanis Club members and retired community members volunteering at Hooper.  These volunteers listen to students read aloud to help improve students’ fluency.

Third graders are busy working on posters for an Earth Day contest, sponsored by the Village of Lindenhurst.  Com Ed representatives will visit third graders for Earth Day to help them plant a tree to beautify Hooper School!

Involving families and community members makes Hooper a special place to learn!

Thank you for your support!

Dr. Pat Planic

Class Placement 16-17

It’s that time of year when we begin building classes for the 2016-2017 school year!   Our goal in this process is to best meet the academic, social and emotional needs of your child(ren).  We try to create classes that are balanced in areas such as learning styles, gender, academic achievement, emotional and social development and behavior.

We highly value parent input in this process.  If you would like to share information about your child that would help us, please  fill out the attached ‘Parent Input’ form and return it to the office by Friday, April 8th.  Please do not request specific teachers. Forms that request a specific teacher  will be returned.

We strive to create the best learning environment in every classroom.    Thank you for your help in this process!