Last Thursday (February 8) marked the 27th annual African American Youth Achievement Awards Ceremony! This longstanding celebration honored 33 District 65 students and eight District 202 students who are keeping the visions and legacy of African American pathfinders and pioneers alive on a daily basis.

All recipients are Black students who excel academically in their classrooms or socially in extracurricular activities. Recipients excel in character, civility, community service, leadership, scholarship, or sportsmanship. See the full list of recipients on our website, or watch the recorded ceremony on YouTube. Way to turn up the J-Factor, and congratulations!

This past weekend marked Lunar New Year, a celebration that begins with a new moon and lasts until the next full moon. Dewey Elementary held its first Lunar New Year celebration last week with two student assemblies and a family event! Third and fourth grade students dressed in red, which symbolizes good fortune and joy, and performed individual and group dances. 

At the middle school level, Chute’s Asian Eagle Alliance Club decorated the library to celebrate! The club was started just last year and has already fostered connections and inclusivity school-wide. To those who celebrate, we wish you a happy, belated, prosperous Year of the Dragon!

Our district-offered bilingual education opportunities for students will grow next year with the start of our Dual Language program in middle school! Building upon the success of our TWI program, we’re excited to expand our bilingual programming and to provide a continued pathway for our students to become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural global citizens.

Dual Language begins in sixth grade at Bessie Rhodes next year and there are limited seats available to this year’s fifth grade TWI graduates through our selective enrollment lottery. In this session, learn more about the Dual Language model, what is the research behind the model, and what curriculum will be used in Dual Language classrooms.  

TWI parents/caregivers and their students, particularly current fifth graders, are invited to join District 65 next week for a night focused on the Dual Language Middle School Program at D65. Light refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Details:

WHEN: Thursday, February 22, 6-7 p.m.

WHERE: Dr Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, 3701 Davis St., Skokie

Two spectacular students spelled their way to sweet victory last week! Congratulations to Cecily and Jack for winning the English and Spanish District-wide Spelling Bees, respectively. To get to the District bee, 4th-8th grade students from across the district won their classroom competitions and then a school-wide spelling bee composed of classroom winners.

After 17 rounds, Cecily, a sixth grader from Haven, clinched first place by correctly spelling “garth.” This word means a “small yard or enclosure,” according to the dictionary.

The following day, Jack, an eighth grader at Chute, won the Spanish spelling bee. After 13 rounds, Jack won with the word “docena,” which translates in English to “dozen.” Fun fact: Jack was also last year’s champion in the English bee!

Both students will move on to a regional competition. Congratulations to our winners and all of our participants!

D65 students are officially 100 days smarter! Across the district last week, many of our kindergarten students celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up or doing activities centered around the number 100.

Our youngest elementary school students engage in play, work on skills ranging from social emotional learning to literacy, and learn from a diverse group of peers and teachers. Hear from our kindergarteners and their teachers on what school is like in District 65!

Registration is open for new D65 students, including incoming kindergarteners, and applications for our selective enrollment schools and programming is now available. Children must be five years old on or before September 1, 2024, to register for kindergarten and are assigned to an attendance-area school based on their residency address. 

Every month through March, our registration team hosts meetings about the kindergarten registration process. The next one is scheduled for February 21 at 6:30 p.m. Find details and access the Zoom link

Additionally, all current 5th grade students are required to register for 6th grade. The registration team has emailed instructions to all 5th grade parents with information about the required registration process, which is open until March 22, 2024.