1 Volume 7, Issue 6 January 30, 2015 NEWSLETTER: February 2016 Graymont Grade School Newsletter Dear Parents and Students, There have been a few changes to the website this month. The Lunch and Breakfast Menu have been combined to allow you to print out your own copy at home. In addition, we have added a direct link to Flanagan-Cornell Unit 74’s athletic webpage. It will take a little looking once you get to their page, but you can download the most updated athletic schedules. Teacherease has replaced Jupiter. If you have not received your login and password to check out your students grades and much more, please contact the office. The next PTO event is the annual soup supper, which will be held Friday, February 19 th. Please check out the website for more information. The Scholastic Book Fair will be going on during the soup supper and it offers opportunity to purchase children’s books and other items which also generates funds for the school. We look forward to everyone coming to support our students and the PTO by attending the supper and book fair. I appreciate the continued parental and community support shown to our school. I thank everyone who stays involved and dedicates time to helping make our small school an excellent place to learn. I encourage you to visit and see the great things that are taking place at Graymont Grade School. Sincerely, Todd Bean P.S. - Please read the following information about the 5Essentials Survey that will be administered to teachers, students, and parents as required by the Illinois State Board of Education again this year School Environment Matters: Graymont School Administers Illinois 5Essentials Survey to Help Improve Student Learning Students, parents and teachers weigh in on school climate and learning conditions Graymont School will join the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) in providing a unique opportunity for teachers, students, and parents across the state to have a role in improving their schools. Between Feb. 1 and the end of March 2014, teachers, students and parents will be asked to take a 15-minute research-based survey to help identify strengths and weaknesses in their school’s climate and learning conditions.Illinois State Board of Education

2 The Illinois 5Essentials SurveyThe Illinois 5Essentials Survey (Organizing Schools for Improvement) provides a comprehensive assessment of school organizational culture with actionable reports to help drive school improvement on five indicators or “essentials”: Effective Leaders Collaborative Teachers Involved Families Supportive Environment Ambitious Instruction Illinois 5Essentials generates data that helps schools target resources and make decisions that help accelerate learning and test score gains. Illinois 5Essentials also demonstrates that teachers and students can play a crucial role in school reform: What they share about their schools reliably predicts whether those schools are likely to improve or stagnate. Based on 20 years of research conducted by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research in more than 400 schools, the 5Essentials have been shown to be strongly predictive of school improvement. Schools strong in 3 to 5 of the Essentials are 10 times more likely to improve student learning than schools weak in 3 to 5 of the Essentials. Those differences remain true even after controlling for student and school characteristics, including poverty, race, gender, and neighborhood characteristics. Strength on components within the Essentials also correlates with increased teacher retention, student attendance, college enrollment, and high school graduation.University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research On behalf of the Illinois School Board of Education, UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago is providing Illinois 5Essentials to schools statewide. Teachers, students and parents may complete the Illinois 5Essentials Survey online. For more information visit: Impact