Elementary School

The celebration of new Woodland teachers/staff continues! Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Courtney Odden to the #LifeintheW! An alum of Woodland, Courtney is excited once again be a Wildcat and give back to the community she loves.

We’ll continue highlighting our new staff members over the next few weeks, so keep those welcome wishes coming! 💚

As we get further into the start of the school year, we’re excited to introduce and celebrate some of our new Woodland teachers! Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Linsey Ryan, who is starting her first year as a full-time Woodland teacher after serving as a long-term substitute last year.

We’ll continue highlighting our new staff members over the next few weeks—so keep those welcome wishes coming! 💚 #LifeintheW

Ms. Oballe’s 1st grade class was practicing their letter and spelling. They went on a hunt around their classroom to find words that began with the letter “i”.

The Woodland Board of Education met last night, and the Family Coordinator's led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance. Find a summary of highlights from the meeting in the Woodland ROAR Report for Friday, Aug. 29: https://secure.smore.com/n/106fz
In this edition you can also learn about:
Wildcat Calendar & PTA Events
Saturday Study Hall & Homework Help
Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting, Sept. 11
Special Education Parent Resource Group, Sept. 17
AND MORE!
To learn more about Woodland's Family Coordinators, please visit the district website: https://www.dist50.net/page/woodland-family-coordinators

REMINDERS!
💚 The Friday Early Dismissal Schedule Starts Friday, Aug. 29.
💚 Woodland D50 is closed on Monday, Sept. 1 in honor of the Labor Day holiday.
Friday Early Dismissal Schedule:
Primary - 12:40 p.m.
Elementary - 1:00 p.m.
Middle School - 1:45 p.m.
Intermediate - 2:30 p.m.
School Year Calendar
English - https://5il.co/33x56
Spanish - https://5il.co/3mg8p

Here are Woodland we are so excited to have our Wildcats back in the schools! Mrs. Ryan’s 1st graders are having a great start to the school year. Today they learned about lions and wrote down some of their favorite lion facts. #LifeintheW 🐯💚

Safety in the W! Woodland Elementary had their first scheduled fire drill today to practice safe school evacuations with the students and staff. Great job Wildcats! #LifeintheW

To kickoff the 2025-2026 School Year, all Woodland staff members gathered at WMS for an opening ceremony on the first Teacher Institute Day. The keynote speaker was a former Woodland student, Curtis Szajkovics, a Systems Engineer and Flight Controller at Firefly Aerospace. His keynote address was all about cool lunar missions and the impact teachers have on students! As part of his presentation he even had a slide about one of his former teachers who is still a teacher at WMS. Curtis thanked Mr. Whiteaker for igniting his interest in science and technology and for always putting up with his ridiculous questions. It was a great moment for Mr. Whiteaker to learn about the impact he had and to reunite with his former student. This is what #LifeintheW is all about!
This story was also shared in the Woodland ROAR Report this morning. In case you missed it - https://secure.smore.com/n/1ntsy
The Daily Herald also did an article earlier this year about Curtis and the “Blue Ghost” lunar lander mission he was part of! https://www.dailyherald.com/20250113/news/gurnee-native-reached-for-the-moon-now-hell-be-steering-spacecraft-to-lunar-landing/

Join the #LifeintheW Team! Woodland D50 is hiring a Network & Systems Infrastructure Engineer to join the Technology Department.

To check out this listing, and other available positions, please visit:
https://www.applitrack.com/dist50/OnlineApp/default.aspx

Ok Wildcats... Where will we see you this week?! We have several Back to School events for you and your family to enjoy, and we will be at the Gurnee Police Department's Back to School event for the community!
Join us for these events:
💚 INTERMEDIATE Popsicles with the Principals, 8/12, 3 - 5 p.m.
💚 ELEMENTARY Popsicles with the Principals, 8/13, 3 -5 p.m.
💚 WMS Back to School Bash, 8/14, 3 - 5 p.m.
💚 Safety Stars & Dilly Bars, 8/15, 5 - 7 p.m.
#LifeintheW

It was a busy morning at WMS for the Medication Drop Off Event!
The Health Office teams are on a break right now, but you have another chance to visit them today (Aug. 11) from 3 - 7 p.m.
More info: https://www.dist50.net/article/2309455

The Woodland ROAR Report for Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 - https://secure.smore.com/n/qftju
In this issue:
From the Desk of Dr. Machak
The Wildcat Calendar of Events
Teacher Assignments Available Later Today!
Join us for Gurnee Days this weekend
Free Adult Education Classes at Woodland
Join the Parent Mentor Program
Quick Links
Have a great weekend Wildcats! #LifeintheW

Join us for Gurnee Days this weekend!
We are excited to once again represent #LifeintheW at the annual Gurnee Days Festival Aug. 9 & 10, 2025! Team Woodland will be joining in the community celebration throughout the weekend.
We would love to see our Wildcats at Viking Park this weekend. Stop by and say hi, and maybe even get a photo with Wiley!
See the full schedule of events: https://www.gurneeparkdistrict.com/gurnee-days/

Back To School preparations are underway!
Today District and School Administrators worked on our "Wildly Important Goals" under the guidance of Maria Fleming from FranklinCovey Education. We worked through The 4 Disciplines of Execution for Educators to identify measurable and meaningful ways to support Woodland staff and students in the 2025-2026 school year. It was great to have the full team back together as we get ready for the year ahead! School starts in a little over two weeks!
#LifeintheW

New Board Member Michael Senol Takes Oath of Office
Michael Senol was appointed to the Woodland Board of Education in July 2025 to fill the vacancy created when Gari Matsey resigned. Mr. Senol took the Oath of Office at the July 24, 2025 Governing Meeting and then took his seat at the Board table. Congratulations to Board Member Senol, and welcome to the Board of Education!
For a summary of other highlights from the July Board Meeting, please review this report: https://secure.smore.com/n/anvzw

We know many of you are still in “Summer Mode”— but here at Woodland, we’re already buzzing with excitement as we prepare for the new school year! Official Back to School Communications will start in early August, but we wanted to do a quick check-in to let you know that we are thinking of you.
Please "Save the Date" for these upcoming Back to School and Community Events. We hope to see you there!
https://secure.smore.com/n/yrs2wv

This information was sent by Text and Email on July 23 at 3:30 p.m. If you are a current Woodland parent/guardian and you did NOT receive a text or email with this message, please reach out to Brooke Hagstrom by email at BHagstrom@dist50.net. I can try to help troubleshoot before the school year starts so that don't miss anything!

📣 Make sure your child is ready for the school year!
Registration must be complete in order to access class schedules, teacher assignments, and transportation info (once we open this feature in Skyward).
✅ Already registered? You’re all set!
📝 Still need to register? Log in to your Skyward Family Access account to finish.
Need help? Step-by-step instructions:
📄 English: https://5il.co/2lr0d
📄 Spanish: https://5il.co/2lr0h
📞 Questions? Call us at 847-596-5682 or 847-596-5683.
Let’s get ready for an amazing year! #LifeInTheW

Woodland D50 Board of Education Appoints New Member to Fill Vacancy
Read the Announcement HERE: https://secure.smore.com/n/43s7n

If you stop by the Educational Support Center you’ll see a new smiling face! Help us give a warm welcome to Ms. Gallegos, our new ESC receptionist. We’re so excited to have her on the Woodland team! This is #LifeintheW

Reminder: Woodland will be closed on Friday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! 🎇