The mission of North Elementary School is to maintain a safe, engaging, and rigorous school of integrity where all students grow to become future-ready respectable citizens who reach their full potential.

The vision of North Elementary School is to prepare our children for success as students, workers, and citizens by providing them with a world-class education.

At North Elementary, we believe that a positive learning environment must exist in order to ensure student learning and we expect that students will follow a set of Behavior Expectations. There are three behavior expectations that are posted in each room: Students will Be Safe, Be Cooperative and Respectful, and Be Responsible and Ready to Learn.

ClassDojo is a digital classroom management tool designed to help teachers improve student behavior and communicate more effectively with parents. Each student gets an avatar, which the child can personalize, and teachers create goals or behaviors to track, such as turning in homework, participating in class, or staying on task. Each student's points can be displayed via a smart board, and teachers can generate reports to send home to parents. ( http://gettingsmart.com/2014/08/parents-review-classdojo/ ) Class Dojo is used by each classroom teacher at North Elementary School.

Students are expected to be at school, on time, every day unless they are ill or have a doctor's appointment. Parents should call the school's line 1-224-303-2219 to report each absence and to give the reason for the absence, because school attendance is closely monitored. If a parent fails to call the school to inform of a student absence, then that absence will be considered unexcused. Three unexcused absences will result in a meeting with a member of administration.

When your child becomes ill at school:

It is important for all parents and guardians to have a "sick day plan' for their child(ren). A parent, friend, relative, or babysitter should be available at all times to pick up and transport your sick child from school. North School does not maintain an infirmary or sickroom where ill children can stay for extended periods of time. It is expected that a parent, guardian, or someone you designate will be able to pick your child up within a reasonable time frame being notified.

Please make sure that all emergency contacts are current as emergency contacts may be asked to pick up sick children from school, if parents are unable to be contacted.

When to call your child in sick:

• Please remember to call the office by 8:00 a.m.
• Fever of 99.2 or over
• Complaints of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea within 24 hours
• Pink, crusty, bloodshot eyes upon waking
• Skin rashes or skin lesions
• Sore throat, headache or body aches
• Unable to eat because of illness

All contagious diseases must be reported to the School Nurse.

(Including, but not limited to:)

• Chicken Pox
• Fifth Disease
• Head Lice
• Impetigo
• Influenza
• Ringworm
• Scarlet Fever
• Strep Throat
• Conjunctivitis (Pink eye)

School starts at 8:20 a.m. Students can arrive as early as 7:50 a.m. and breakfast will be served at this time. Students will be supervised on the playground after breakfast. Please encourage your child to eat breakfast at school.

Parents are responsible for getting children to school on time at 8:20 a.m. and pick them up at 3:03 p.m. For student safety it is important that parents not inhibit the flow of traffic by double parking, stopping, or parking in the staff parking lot. Please use street parking space when you need to enter the building.

If your child needs to leave early from school, we ask that a parent/guardian come to the main office to sign them out. We will call your child to the office for dismissal. When possible, advance notice of an early dismissal can help give teachers the opportunity to have your child ready and to prepare/gather any written work that your child may miss during his/her absence.

No toys, electronics (other than personal cell phone) or other personal items should be brought from home. All cell phones must remain off and in the child's backpack. The school is not responsible for any loss of personal items brought by students from home. If any of these items are brought to school and cause a disruption to the learning environment, the item will be held and returned to the parent.

Food items brought to school for classroom parties are to be commercially prepared and packaged. There will be classroom parties for the year under teacher's discretion. Holiday parties may include: Halloween, Winter Holiday, and Valentine's Day. These parties will be held the last hour of the school day.

If children should require medication during school hours, parents must pick up a medication release form at the school office. Medication release forms are to be filled out by a Doctor. No medications of any kind (including cough drops) can be administered without prior doctor permission and completion of the medication release form.

Please make any necessary arrangements (transportation, lunch, etc.) prior to school through the office. Any changes to your child's after school routine should be made through the office before 2:30 P.M. Office and classroom telephones are for emergency and classroom management use only. You will be given the classroom phone number by your classroom teacher. This should be used to contact the teacher to discuss your child's progress. Any other calls should be directed to the office.

Visitors: We encourage families to visit your child's classroom and be involved in their education. To visit the classroom during instructional time, parents need to make arrangements with the teacher ahead of time to check for availability for the teacher. Teachers are not able to stop and discuss a student's progress during instructional time. For the safety of our children, we require that all visitors (including parents/guardians) check in at the main office when visiting our school. This procedure allows us to carefully protect the safety of our school environment and to issue you a visitor's badge, a "signal' to our students that you have checked in with us.

Volunteers: Parent and community volunteers provide critical support to the important work of learning that takes place in our school each day. Individual classroom teachers will share their specific classroom needs for volunteers with the parents/guardians of their students. In addition to your child's own classroom, we welcome volunteer support to our school in many capacities. For safety reasons, regular volunteers to our school are asked to complete the district's volunteer process. Volunteer forms can be picked up in our main office.

To continue to build our school/family relationship please make sure at least one parent or guardian attend:

• Open House
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• Coffee with the Principal
• Reading Night, or any other special North events that are taking place

Other ways you could become involved are not limited to:

• PTO meetings/events
• Volunteer for field trips or class parties
• Volunteer in the classroom
• Volunteer to assist with lunch or recess

*Please make sure that you have filled out a volunteer form. Forms can be obtained in the school office.

Riding the bus is a privilege. Strict rules of behavior for students have been adopted by the school district in order to protect the safety of students. Safety is a priority at North Elementary School. The bus driver will issue citations to students who do not obey school bus regulations. If a student misses his/her bus after school, he/she is to report to the school office immediately. If you have bus transportation questions, call Illinois Central Bus Company (847) 249 - 4100.

1. Develop a partnership with your child's teachers and school staff
   1. Meet your child's teacher
   2. Get to know who is at your child's school
   3. Attend parent/teacher conferences and keep in touch with your child's teacher
2. Support your child academically
   1. Find out how your child is doing
   2. Make sure your child gets home work done
   3. Have child read at least 20 minutes a night
   4. Help your child prepare for tests
3. Get involved with your child's school
   1. Learn what the school offers
   2. Volunteer at your child's school and/or join your school's parent-teacher group.
4. Get informed and be an advocate for your child
   1. Ask questions
   2. Learn about your rights
   3. Let the school know your concerns
5. Support your child's learning at home
   1. Demonstrate a positive attitude about education to your children
   2. Monitor your child's television, video game, and Internet use
   3. Encourage your child to read
   4. Talk with your child
   5. Take your child to the local library
   6. Encourage your child to be responsible and work independently
   7. Encourage active learning