WINTER WEATHER UPDATE

Help us celebrate our gratitude this month by filling the MEYER GRATITUDE TREE!

On Thursday, we sent home a leaf-shaped paper with your child for them to write or draw what your family is thankful for. Please send the leaf back to your child’s teacher by Friday, November 14th so that we can include your leaf on our tree!

If you need another leaf, please contact your child’s teacher.

On November 5th, State Representative Kevin Olickal visited Meyer as "Principal for a Day." Rep. Olickal recorded Thursday’s Daily Announcements, read aloud to Ms. Saibert’s preschool class and Ms. Huynh’s kindergarten class, and helped out in Mrs. Castellini’s art class with Ms. Mpistolarides' and Zaccone’s students. Thank you to Rep. Olickal for being invested in our community, Skokie School District 73.5, and Elizabeth Meyer School!

As we head into colder temperatures, please send students to school in a jacket and appropriate outerwear for outdoor recess.

You may also want to start to gather appropriate outerwear for the winter, such as a warm coat, hat, gloves, scarf, winter boots, and snow pants.

As long as it is not raining, we will go outside for recess. In general, if it “feels” like 15 degrees or above, and it is not raining/snowing, we will go outside. Please see the Child Care Weather Watch chart that we use to guide our decisions.

This week we are working on “body is calm” at school. When our bodies are calm, we keep our hands and feet to ourselves, our body is still, and our voice is quiet. When our bodies are calm, we are in the green zone and ready to learn!

At home, discuss what times it is expected to have a calm body; maybe at the dinner table, reading a book before bedtime, while coloring a picture, or at the grocery store, library, or restaurant. Practice having a calm body during one of those activities. It’s okay to start small for 1–2 minutes and then try for longer amounts of time.

Put on your own calming music to help your child practice having a calm body!

Today was PAJAMA & STUFFY Day at Middleton! Check back next week for photos!

Great job, Bulldogs, for being respectful, responsible, and ready! Third grade will vote on our next Pride Paw celebration, which we’ll announce next week.

Best-selling author and illustrator Ben Clanton visited our Middleton 2nd and 3rd grade students this week! He shared his silly stories, including Narwhal and Jelly and Tater Tales with students. The event was filled with art, song, reading, and lots and lots of laughter.

Join the 5th Grade MATH FAMILY CHALLENGE! It’s as easy as… 1, 2, 3!

STEP 1: Scan the QR code to SOLVE the Math Word Problem with your family!

STEP 2: Take a picture of your work and send it to Mrs. McWherter at [email protected]. All entries: Please show your work, don’t just put the answer.

STEP 3: Take a picture of you and your family who helped solve the word problem for a chance to win 5 chances at the IMPOSSIBLE Shot! Winners will be picked at random.

The Middleton Yearbook Cover Contest is underway! Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade have been invited to participate in the annual Yearbook Cover Contest! Students will vote for the cover in December. Participation is optional. Completed forms are due to Ms. Beatrice on Friday, November 14th.

In the month of November, Middleton Bulldogs are focusing on BEING RESPONSIBLE. One thing we can do to be responsible members of our school community is to take care of our belongings and our learning spaces. Middleton Bulldogs will be talking all next week about taking care of our personal spaces, like our lockers and desks; remembering our personal belongings, like lunchboxes and water bottles; and taking care of public shared spaces, like our bathrooms. Champ may be on the lookout for responsible Bulldogs... see if you can get caught being responsible!

Middleton families, please be mindful that you are exercising patience and treating one another and all Middleton staff members with kindness and respect at drop-off and pick-up. We have very specific procedures for these times of day to keep everyone safe. A few particulars:

• ALL CARS: All car riders, in all grades, drop off and pick up along Madison Avenue. Cars will pull all the way down Madison in the drop-off zone along McNally Park.
• BUSES: Buses will pull into the Drake Alley circle at Arrival and Dismissal. NO cars will drop off or pick up students in the Drake Alley circle.

We are receiving and dismissing hundreds of students in and out of Middleton in a short period of time, and we can do that safely and efficiently if we work together. Our children are watching and listening to how we adults interact with one another. Let’s continue to work together to set a positive example. Thank you for your partnership!

If you are having someone pick up your child who is not listed in PowerSchool, you must provide us with their name in writing in order for us to release your child to them. If you would like to add additional people to your child’s school pick-up list in PowerSchool, please email your request to [email protected].

We are proud to announce that 19 of our 8th grade students will represent McCracken Middle School in the "FUTURE VIKINGS" Art Show at Niles North High School. The show, which includes middle school student art, will be on display now through Wednesday, November 12th in the Niles North lobby. The art show reception will be held at Niles North on November 12th. Congratulations to our 8th grade artists and Mr. MacBeth!

We are excited to announce that McCracken received a summative designation of EXEMPLARY for the 2025 school year by the Illinois State Board of Education. To earn the "Exemplary" designation, a school must achieve a score that places it in the TOP 10% STATEWIDE and also ensure that all its student demographic groups meet the performance standards. A school’s annual summative designation describes how well an individual school is meeting the needs of all its students. The designations recognize schools with strong overall performance across a range of academic and student success indicators. You can find more information about those success indicators on the 2025 Illinois Report Card Multiple Indicators of Student Success document. This designation can also be viewed on the Illinois State Report Card, including data visualizations showing school and student group performance data overall and at the indicator score level. We are proud of the collective effort of our students, staff, and school community and look forward to continuing to support all students in reaching their highest potential both academically and socially and emotionally at McCracken.

November is National Picture Book Month! Our librarian, Ms. Gammeri, gathered the many titles of staff members’ favorite picture books they cherished as a student or have continued to cherish as an educator and/or parent. She developed an interactive bulletin board with images of the picture books near the library where students can make educated guesses matching the books with McCracken staff members. The student who has the most correct guesses will win a fantastic literacy-based prize! Thank you for helping to promote the love of reading with your students.

Our 6th graders are buzzing with excitement after winning the weekly chart competition! They brought great energy, teamwork, and positive attitudes to earn their well-deserved win. Word around the Hive is that they’re making this middle school thing look easy—and having a blast while doing it!

Last week, our PBIS Redemption Center was in full swing, and our scholars cashed in their hard-earned Buzz Buck rewards for some fantastic prizes—think fidgets, healthy snacks, Special Recess passes, and more! Some lucky students even spent their recess enjoying open gym time or playing Nintendo with friends.
We’re so proud of our McCracken scholars for consistently showing positive behavior, effort, and school spirit. Keep up the great work—your buzz is what makes our Hive thrive!

Here at McCracken, we are proud to offer a variety of student athletic and enrichment programs. These programs allow students to exercise their strengths, tackle areas of growth, and socialize with peers. Be sure to sign your student up for one of our great extracurricular clubs or activities here at McCracken! Please access the McCracken Extracurricular Brochure HERE.