Einstein » Archive by category 'Principal's Message'

A minute with Mr. Martelli

Posted Monday, March 12th, 2012 by Mr. Burback

Dear Einstein Community,

Good morning! We hope all of you are enjoying the spring-like weather recently.  Click the link to the right for the March edition of The Hoot.  As you know, last week our third through sixth graders took the ISAT. They worked so hard to show all they know…we are very proud of them! Today we have our last day of testing and tomorrow only our fourth grade students will be tested in science. Thank you again to our PTA for providing our students with healthy snacks during ISAT testing…this was very beneficial to our students.

Last week you received your child’s second trimester report card. I am confident you had the opportunity to reflect on the successes with him/her and even discuss ways to move forward for the 3rd trimester. As a staff, we are pleased with the progress our students have made this year and are now gearing up for even more learning between now and the end of the year.

Here are some upcoming events to be aware of:

a. Wednesday, March 21st is our 2nd Annual March Madness basketball night from 6:00-8:00.

b. Wednesday, April 4th we have our 3/4 grade Multicultural Fine Arts evening from 6:00-7:00.

c. Tuesday, April 10th we have our Science Fair from 7:00-8:30.

d. Thursday, April 26th is our Celebrate Reading & Writing Night, along with our book fair.

Have a wonderful week and if we don’t see you…have a wonderful Spring Break as well!!

Sincerely,

Chris Martelli
Principal
Einstein School

 

A minute with Mr. Martelli

Posted Friday, March 2nd, 2012 by Mr. Burback

Dear Parents:

Students in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be taking the state required achievement tests from March 5th through March 13th.  Students in all of these grades will be tested in reading and mathematics.  Additionally, students in 4th grade will be taking a test in science. These tests are a part of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) program.  You will receive information specific to your child’s performance on the state test he or she took in October, 2012.  As a school, we will review the results of these tests to assist us in making instructional decisions that best meet your child’s needs.

You can help your child to do his or her best on the test by:

  1. making sure that your child attends school on the days of testing;
  2. making sure your child gets a good night’s sleep the night before testing;
  3. making sure your child eats a good breakfast the morning of testing;
  4. making sure to remind your child to ask his or her teacher questions if he or she does not understand the test directions;
  5. making sure to remind your child that you have confidence in his or her ability to do his or her best; and
  6. making sure to let your child know not to worry about the test – just do the best he/she can.

If you have questions or would like additional information about the test, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or the office.

ISAT Schedule

Monday, March 5 – Reading
Tuesday, March 6 – Reading
Wednesday, March 7 – Reading
Thursday, March 8 – Math
Friday, March 9 – Math
Monday, March 12 – Math
Tuesday, March 13 – Science (4th grade only)

We look forward to sharing the ISAT results with you in the fall.

Sincerely,

Chris Martelli                     Maribel Taboada
Principal                              Assistant Principal

 

A minute with Mr. Martelli

Posted Friday, January 13th, 2012 by Mr. Burback

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year!  We hope everyone had a relaxing time with friends and family over the holiday break.

We have continued to focus on the literacy here at Einstein and based on our most recent data…it shows! Using the MAP results we have an ISAT predictor that indicates how well our students are predicted to do on ISAT. Using the MAP data our fall to winter scores increased more than any other school in the district when it comes to meeting and exceeding on ISAT. We had a lot of room to grow…but this is great news. We had almost an 8% increase of students predicted to meet or exceed on ISAT. Only three schools in the entire district had increases above 6%. This is a testament to all the hard work you do with your children at home and the strategic changes we’ve made here at Einstein to better serve our students. In addition, we were second in the district for students predicted to meet or exceed their growth targets in Reading! This too is excellent news. Congratulations to everyone who is putting so much effort into seeing our students be successful! These MAP reports will be sent home to parents during conferences. If you have any questions about the MAP data we have sent home, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the office at 630-736-2500.

With the weather conditions continuing to be cold, I know many more parents have been driving and picking-up their kids to and from school.  Our morning and afternoon pick-up/drop-off line at the Kensington Circle in back of the school has been long, but we ask that parents who use Kensington to follow the posted signs. These signs are there for everyone’s safety and we ask you please not compromise the safety of our students by not following the posted signs. If it indicates there is no parking, please do not park in that area. We all recognize this makes for a long line of traffic; however, we can assure you that within just minutes you will be able to pick-up your child while at the same time ensure everyone’s safety. We greatly appreciate your cooperation as your child’s safety is our highest priority. We will do our best to monitor this situation. However, if you notice parents compromising the safety of our students by not following the posted traffic signs, please don’t hesitate to contact our office and we will take the steps necessary to keep our students safe. We understand you don’t want your child in the cold, but please be respectful of everyone who is here to pick-up their children. With everyone’s cooperation we can ensure safety and get everyone home as quickly as possible. Thanks again for your cooperation in this matter.

Lastly, we want to congratulate all of our students who performed in the holiday assembly at the end of the month in December…they did a fantastic job! I also want to congratulate our staff for generating over $1,100 dollars for our “Giving Tree.” This was something new for us this year. Instead of providing each other with gifts during the holiday season, we made donations in the names of teachers. We will use these funds to support our students who need healthy snacks or don’t come to school having had breakfast. This is done in the spirit of giving to our students in need and hoping that through these efforts we can provide a better experience for our students here at school. We hope all of you enjoyed your holiday break and we look forward to a wonderful 2012 here at Einstein School!

Sincerely,

Chris Martelli                   Maribel Taboada
Principal                            Assistant Principal

A minute with Mr. Martelli

Posted Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 by Mr. Burback

Dear Parents,

Our students and staff want to first thank all of our parents who volunteered their time during our PTA sponsored Holiday Workshop.  The kids had a wonderful time shopping for items for their friends and family. Our breakfast on Saturday was also very well attended!

We have just finished our second round of MAP testing. You will be re3ceiving this information when we get back from the winter break in January. Unfortunately, an issue was discovered with how our fall MAP assessments were scored for our kindergarten and first grade students. To correct this issue going forward, MAP has already made an updated version of the tests available to us. Additionally, MAP re-scored all affected students’ test results and the reports that are available to us. As a result of this issue, it is possible that your child’s score may have changed. NWEA has determined that re-scoring your child’s test will provide us with the most accurate score possible that can be used alongside other observations and evidence from the classroom to better understand the needs of your child. If you are the parent of a kindergarten or first grade student, you will receive a letter from NWEA explaining this issue.

Other events we have this upcoming week include: Our Early Childhood winter performance will be next week on Wednesday, December 14th from 6:00-7:00 here at Einstein. That same night we have our STAARS at the Village Hall in Hanover Park. If your child will be recognized you have already been notified. Lastly, our Fine Arts Winter Fest (1st and 2nd grade Art Show and Musical performance) is Thursday, December 15th from 6:00-7:00.

We hope all our families will have a joyous holiday season with friends and family.  This is the time we can all reflect on the year gone by and celebrate what we’re thankful for and the successes we’ve experienced.  We, as a school, are very thankful for the wonderful staff we have the opportunity to work with and the extremely supportive parent community we serve.  With our combined efforts we have seen tremendous growth and success for both our students and our school.  Thank you for a wonderful 2011 and we’ll see everyone in the New Year!

Happy Holidays,

Chris Martelli                          Maribel Taboada
Principal                                  Assistant Principal

Winter Festivities

Posted Friday, December 9th, 2011 by Mr. Burback

Dear Einstein Community,

With our first snowfall comes some winter reminders! Tomorrow we have our Holiday Workshop Family Shopping Event and Pancake Breakfast with Santa from 9:00-12:00 here at Einstein.  Tickets are $4.50 at the door for breakfast or just stop by to shop for free!

Our Early Childhood winter performance will be next week on Wednesday, December 14th from 6:00-7:00 here at Einstein. That same night we have our STAARS at the Village Hall in Hanover Park.  If your child will be recognized you have already been notified.

Lastly, our Fine Arts Winter Fest (1st and 2nd grade Art Show and Musical performance) is Thursday, December 15th from 6:00-7:00.

We hope to see many of you this upcoming week.  If we miss you, have a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,

Chris Martelli
Principal
Einstein School

A minute with Mr. Martelli

Posted Monday, October 24th, 2011 by Mr. Burback

Dear Parents,

At your parent/teacher conference we took the opportunity to share with you how your child is progressing both academically and behaviorally thus far in the 2011-12 school year.  Below is a list of the reports you should receive during conferences.  If for whatever reason you did not receive these reports, please contact our office and we’ll get you the reports immediately.

Kindergarten – Illinois Snapshot of Early Literacy (ISEL) & MAP
1st & 2nd grade – MAP
3rd – 6th grade – MAP & ISAT

Additionally, you received a goal setting sheet for your child. These goals are set with the classroom teacher after evaluating your child’s MAP information. We feel it is very important that kids understand their strengths and weaknesses throughout the school year. Students take great pride in moving towards their goals and eventually accomplishing them!

Although not directly linked to the curriculum, we also wanted to share the many extracurricular clubs we’ll be offering this year. All of these clubs are wonderful opportunities for students to expand their talents outside the classroom. It is crucial for students to feel a connection to their school in a variety of ways…and these clubs give our students another reason to enjoy their time here at Einstein. Mr. Steffan runs our  Patrols and Mrs. Gray runs our Production Club. If students are already part of these clubs these students will combine to form our new Student Ambassadors run by Ms. Gasner.  These students will be given additional responsibility throughout the school and viewed as the student body leaders within our school. As we look to give our students a more visible role and creating opportunities to take on leadership roles, this club will help facilitate this goal. Mrs. Mortensen and Ms. Daubach will be running our Roots and Shoots again this year. The mission of Roots and Shoots is to foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment. H.O.P.E. will be run by Ms. Taylor for students in grades 4-6. During this club students will participate in service-learning that is dedicated to helping those in need.  We’ll have Rockin’ Readers Theatre for 4th-6th grade students again this year and are providing, thanks to some of our wonderful Einstein parents, a Chess Club during the lunch hour.

On Monday, October 31, we will be celebrating Halloween by having our Annual Costume Parade and Halloween Room Parties.  In choosing an appropriate costume for your child, please adhere to the following guidelines:

• Students are able to change into their costumes by themselves
• No costumes depicting excessive violence (no fake blood please)
• No weapons of any kind (squirt guns, plastic swords, etc.)
• Keep make-up to a minimum (there is only a short time given to students to get into costumes, so save the best for trick-or-treating)
• NO ONE MAY WEAR MAKE-UP TO SCHOOL IN THE MORNING (Kindergarten students are the exception)
• Be certain that your child can see through his/her mask

You will receive an additional letter later this week that will have additional details regarding the Halloween celebration later this month.

Lastly, I wanted to share that our enrichment times for students during the lunch hour are going very well. We believe the experiences our students are getting in art, music, and PE are very beneficial. However, we’ve had some concerns that the enrichment doesn’t give our first and second grade student’s adequate time to eat their lunch. Our specials teachers and I are examining what we can do in order to continue to provide excellent experiences for our students while at the same time give them ample time to complete their lunches. In the meantime, thank you for your understanding and support and we’ll keep everyone posted. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the office.

Sincerely,

Mr. Martelli                   Mrs. Taboada