Woodland School District 50

Wishing our Wildcat Family a happy and healthy Spring Break! Here is the weekly newsletter with highlights from the March Board of Education Meeting and other important reminders: https://www.smore.com/n/e28a4

Celebrating Women's History Month with a wonderful panel of speakers today at Woodland Intermediate. These incredible women leaders shared information about their life experiences and provided helpful tips and suggestions for overcoming challenges. They connected their path to leadership with the people who inspired them, and the things they were passionate about. They also shared meaningful advice about knowing your own worth and not letting others opinions hold you back. Women's History Month Panelists: Kristina Whitmore, Vice President of Operations Northwestern Medicine Judge Randie Bruno, 19th Judicial Circuit Court Dr. Lanée Walls, Woodland Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Holly Kim, Lake County Treasurer Detective Kelly Hansen, Gurnee Police Department, Woodland SRO Moderator: Michelle Mallari, Assistant Principal at Woodland Intermediate Event Organizers: Pam Valkenaar and Jessica Pierson

Today is World Down Syndrome Day, 3/21 Natalie and her teachers are wearing pretty cool shirts to raise awareness about World Down Syndrome Day, and we have seen LOTS OF SOCKS throughout our schools. People are encouraged to wear silly/crazy/colorful socks on WDSD to get people talking. The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, “I’m wearing them to raise awareness of Down syndrome”. The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome. For World Down Syndrome Day 2024, the call to action for people around the world is to End The Stereotypes.

Mr. Taterka (WMS Assistant Principal) led a great seminar today for 6th graders on the topic of Bullying Prevention. The presentation was designed to provide an overview of what is considered bullying, expectations at Woodland Middle School, and things that everyone can do to help prevent bullying in our learning community. The students were then asked to personally reflect on examples of times when they were impacted by bullying, or when they witnessed other bullying behaviors among their peers.

Asking our #LifeintheW community to help us welcome Kathy Jayko to the team! Kathy Jayko is Woodland’s new Student Information Systems and Data Manager as of January 2024. Kathy will be replacing Paul Fegley upon his retirement at the end of this school year, but the position has been updated to include new duties and responsibilities to adapt to the changing needs of district technology and innovation. Ms. Jayko has over 18 years of experience supporting data and technology in Johnsburg School District 12, McHenry School District 15, and Lake Zurich District 95. Kathy holds herself to a high standard in the areas of accuracy, confidentiality, and organization. Welcome Kathy!

Wildcat Volleyball Conference Champions for the boys too! 8th Grade Boys Green - 1st Place 7th Grade Boys Green - 1st Place Way to go Wildcats 💚🏐

Look which two teams faced each other in the final game to play for the Conference Championships - Woodland White and Woodland Green! Congratulations to 8th Grade Girls White for 1st Place, and to 8th Grade Girls Green for 2nd Place. Wildcat Volleyball can't be beat! 🤍💚🏐

Just when we thought we were done celebrating our super smart students and Pi Day, we received a submission from Woodland Elementary that needs to be shared. Mrs. Tieman's 3rd Grade Advanced Math students participated in a Digits of Pi competition. 1st Place: Vivi, 329 digits of pi! 2nd Place: Nishi, 106 digits of pi 3rd Place: Logan, 79 digits of pi Great job Wildcats! #LifeintheW

Introducing the brand new Woodland Wildcast - A #LifeintheW Podcast!!! This is the very first episode and we are so excited to share it with you. https://woodlandwildcast.podbean.com/ Host: Dr. Robert Machak, Superintendent of Schools Guest: Anna Chang-Yen, Board of Education President Topic: Reflections on the development of Woodland School District's Five-Year Strategic Plan, a plan that focuses on the people that make up our #LifeintheW learning community. Thank you to the Woodland Middle School Jazz Band for providing us with music for our Wildcast, and to the 4th grade class at Woodland Intermediate who open the Wildcast with enthusiastic cheering - "Let's Go!" Please let us know what you think. What other topics would you like to hear about on future episodes? Send Feedback to Bhagstrom@dist50.net

Taking Pi Day in a different direction, let us welcome you to McGinn's Pizzeria! Ms. McGinn's 3rd grade Challenge Math class celebrated a fraction of their Pi Day by making fraction pizzas. Students had a great time working with equivalent fractions to create the perfect pizza pies. 🍕

Even more Pi Day fun from Elementary! 1st grade buddies from Mrs. Van Anrooy's class visited their 3rd grade friends in Mrs. Bogdala's class for Pi Day! They read a story together, made a pie project and did some writing about what Pi Day is all about! #LifeintheW

2nd grade students in Mrs. Wilinski's Art class learned a little bit about Pi, and a lot about drawing during a Pi/Pie lesson today. They talked about how math is used in many subjects including Art. They learned to draw their favorite slice of pie by using shapes such as rectangles, ellipses, as well as curved and straight lines. Thank you for sharing this excellent Wildcat artwork with us!

We are feeling 🍀LUCKY🍀 to have such wonderful High School mentors spend time with our Woodland Elementary students each week. This week the high school students planned St. Patrick's Day themed crafts and activities! #LifeintheW

Representing #LifeintheW at the Illinois Association of School Boards Lake Division Meeting! Thank you to Dr. Hannigan & Samantha Cook for your presentation about generational communication and the power of blending traditional and digital media to engage diverse age groups.

Thank you to Mr. Dawlidowicz from the Operations & Facilities team for training future carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and mechanics at Woodland Primary! Kindergarten Students in Ms. Gleich's class received hands-on instruction while learning all about tools and tool safety during their construction unit. #LifeintheW

Congratulations to the WMS Science Olympiad Team for placing 3rd at Regionals, and moving on to STATE for the 6th season in a row! The varsity team won medals in 15 events, with four 1st Place medals. Good luck at State! #LifeintheW

More than 140 readers came to show Woodland Elementary students that Readers are Leaders! The readers talked about how reading is important in their careers, and started conversations in the classroom to spark a lifelong love of reading, storytelling, and creativity. Thank you for spending some time with our Wildcats today! #LifeintheW

Ramadan Mubarak! Mr. Aablouche shared photos from the Arabic Club meeting at WMS where the students were preparing for Ramadan. During this session, the group explored new Arabic words, practiced Arabic writing, and discussed the importance of cultural traditions related to the month of Ramadan.

Woodland Middle School Career Talks! The Spanish Language Arts Team invited parents and community members to come to school and talk with some of our 7th Graders about their careers. They talked about what they do day-to-day, but also talked about how they got started in their career. They shared tips and suggestions about the types of skills students can begin working on now, and different fields of study or career paths to explore in high school and beyond. Thank you to the guest speakers for inspiring our students, and for demonstrating the strength of our community by having many different people serving in a wide variety of careers. Not all of the guest speakers are pictured here, but here is a list of some of the careers that were represented: -ICU Nurse -Photographer -Police Officers -Mechanic -Firefighters -Business owner -Community engagement director for a non profit -Developer of business/finance -Speech pathologist -Federal contracting officer for U.S department of Veteran Affairs/15 year experience in the Marine Corps -Assistant Principal (Woodland Elementary) -Local Family Owned Business -Realtor

School Social Work Week, March 3 - 9, 2024! Please join us in recognizing the impactful work Woodland social workers do to create positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environments for our students. School social workers play a pivotal role in enhancing the well-being and success of students across the nation, and here at Woodland. Thank you for taking care of our #LifeintheW Family!