Dear Families,

 

Summer is off to an exciting start here in District 58! Summer school and middle school sports camps began last week, many book clubs met for the first time, and students have already begun their summer learning and enrichment programs. We are excited to support such a wide variety of fun this summer!

 

As students started completing their Summer Learning Charts, a few parents and students have asked if they are filling them out correctly. For your convenience, please click here to view a photo of a sample reading log. This chart is just a simple tool to help you keep track of and celebrate all your reading and math practice this summer. Remember, 20 minutes a day of reading and 10 minutes of math practice will feed your brain all summer long! Be sure to visit www.dg58.org/summer to review our summer learning expectations and view more summer learning opportunities.

 

We look forward to connecting more with our students over the summer and to celebrating our students' hard work when they return from summer break. Thank you to everyone who is helping to make these opportunities possible for our students. Have a wonderful summer!

 

Sincerely,

 

Kari Cremascoli, Ph.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Hillcrest donates $8,000 to

future inclusive playground

Lester's third grade Brownie Girl Scouts recently made more than 17 Cuddle Comfort blankets and pillows for hospitalized children at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

 

The project's idea originated from one of the Girl Scout's personal experience: she recently had a surgery and received a similar cozy blanket afterward, which brought her much comfort. To give back, she asked the troop to make blankets for their service project. Nice work, girls!

 

Thank you, Troop Leader Kelly Dahle for providing the photo and information!

A Pierce Downer fifth grader demonstrates the Sphero's capabilities with first graders.

What happens when you teach fifth graders how to code with creativity? As Pierce Downer fifth grade teacher Kelly DeMarco discovered, AMAZING things! 

 

Using an Education Foundation grant, DeMarco purchased several Spheros, which are small, white spherical robots. Her students spent fourth quarter learning how to program (or code) the Spheros to move and behave different ways.

 

At the end of the school year, the students hosted a Sphero Showcase Day, during which they demonstrated their final Sphero coding projects with students in other classes and administrators.

 

"I was truly amazed and impressed by all that the students have accomplished," said Superintendent Dr. Kari Cremascoli. "Their ingenuity, creativity and collaboration was eclipsed only by their engagement and passion for their work. It was so wonderful to see how proud they were of all they had accomplished through this project." 

 

Read the whole story and view more photos here.

 

This year, Grove preschoolers learned a lot about numbers, colors and exercise by singing and dancing to the song "Count to 100!" while holding colored water bottle "weights." They celebrated the end of a great school year by performing the song for their parents.

Preschool teacher Mrs. Nancy Hildreth and her kindergarten helper, Andy, directed the performance. Andy is one of Mrs. Hildreth's former students. He enjoyed singing "Count to 100!" so much last year, that he asked to help lead this year's performance.

The students did a great job!

El Sierra's gym proudly displays two DuPage County Earth Flags, signifying the school's dedication to recycling and sustainability. Last month, El Sierra received yet another impressive flag: the DuPage County Water Quality Flag. El Sierra is only the third school in DuPage County to receive this designation. 

 

Representatives from DuPage County and SCARCE, a local organization dedicated to environmental issues, presented the Water Quality Flag to El Sierra during an all-school assembly on May 27.

 

"Thank you El Sierra for being such wonderful stewards of water and the environment!" said Kay McKeen, founder and executive director of SCARCE.

 

Learn about El Sierra's water conservation efforts and view photos here!

Planning a visit to the Downers Grove Museum this summer? When you visit, you'll notice that District 58 is featured!

 

Hillcrest second graders studied Downers Grove's history this past school year. Their teacher, Lauren Moravecek, helped them design mini-replicas of historic Downers Grove places and people. When put together, the replicas created a mini museum!

 

The Downers Grove Museum was so impressed with the second graders' work that they invited Moravecek's class to display their projects at the museum all summer long!  Nice work!

If you visit the Starbucks on Main Street this June, be sure to check out the walls! It's adorned with artwork from our very own Henry Puffer students. Nice job, students!

Featured artists:

The Board of Education held a Regular Meeting on Monday, June 8 at the Administrative Service Center. Read the Board Briefs to learn highlights from the meeting.