Pennoyer Family Newsletter - 11/10/23

Pennoyer Families,

I truly missed being around Pennoyer this week and working with students and our staff, but I wanted to share a little bit about the conference I had the opportunity to attend along with our leadership team.  The focus of the professional development centered around building our capacity as a school to develop social emotional learning supports and interventions at every level for every student to be successful and promote positive behavior and academic growth as well.  We have so much to share with our staff and a clear road map ahead to elevate the culture and climate at Pennoyer for all of students, faculty members, and families.  The whole experience was validating and invigorating, as it thoughtfully aligned with our vision, mission, and values and where we want to take Pennoyer moving forward.  

I'm excited for next week and some great nightly events we have planned before our Thanksgiving Break!  I hope to see a lot of our parents/guardians come out on Wednesday night, November 15th for our Monthly Parent Night Meeting at Pennoyer from 6:30-7:30pm.  We'll be meeting in the MPR.  This special presentation will focus on safety and our Crisis Plans with myself, our social worker Mrs. Slawson, and Norridge Police Department Deputy Chief Wayne Schober.  Click HERE for more information.  

Finally, I want to wish everyone a happy Veterans Day for this coming weekend.  We certainly honor all who have served and their families that have supported and sacrificed alongside them.  We are grateful to you all.

School Information and Reminders:

*Please remember that after school each day, we must close our playground to students and families in our back lot.  Students should not be playing with any equipment out there as well.  This is due to safety and supervision constraints and working to get our students dismissed in a safe and timely manner.  Please understand and help us keep your children off the playgrounds after school and not playing with the equipment.  Our supervisors are out there monitoring pick up and then need to leave and lock up the gate.  Thanks for your support with this!

Want to get involved, volunteer, or have ideas for our school...Check out the PTC Link!

We Celebrate at Pennoyer!

This week, our celebration is all about the incredible spirit of our Girls Volleyball teams and the program this year.  Led by Coach Chrastka and Coach Torossi, they have both done any amazing job elevating girls volleyball to another level.  This season has been more than just about volleyball, and the feeling has been infectious across our school.  Both the JV and Varsity players have put so much into being a part of these two teams at Pennoyer.  They have dedicated real time and energy into learning the game, improving, working together, and being champions of a positive spirit.  The program has taken on "theme" days at home games that so many fans, fellow students, and staff have gotten into and supported.  It all started out with our opening home game of the season where it was "Wear Pink" to bring the focus to breast cancer awareness month.  The teams banded together with the coaching staff to raise money and donate to this important cause.  From that day on, there was everything from "Neon" to "Black Out" days.  These girls and their coaches have been focused on so much more than just wins and losses, and we couldn't be more proud of how incredibly they've represented Pennoyer...#PennoyerPride.

What’s Around the Corner?

• SAVE THE DATE - Wednesday, November 15th from 6:30-7:30pm is our next Pennoyer Parent/Guardian Night.  This session will focus on the very important topic of school safety and student support as we focus in on where we're headed with Pennoyer's Threat Assessment and Crisis Plans.  This is open to all of our PreK-8 parents.  This presentation and nightly event will be run by Mr. Greenberg, our social worker, Mrs. Slawson, and Deputy Chief Wayne Schober of the Norridge Police Department.

• Pennoyer STEAM Night is coming up on Thursday, November 16th from 6-7:30pm.  We hope our families and students can join us!  It's going to be so much fun and educational at the same time.  Check out this flyer for more information.  

• End of Trimester 1 is Friday, November 17th.  Final grades and comments will be posted in Skyward on December 1st after 4:00pm.

• Friday, November 17th is a half day of school at Pennoyer.  Students are dismissed at 11:30am.

• Check out this flyer and support Pennoyer with a special Panera fundraiser on November 16th we're collaborating on!

Sincerely,

Adam

Pennoyer Principal

agreenberg@pennoyerschool.org