Elementary School

The celebration of new Woodland teachers/staff continues. Please join us in giving a warm #LifeintheW welcome to Jaci Farstead! Recently, we visited Mrs. Farstead’s class at Woodland Elementary where she and her students were working hard on Geography and labeling maps with continents and countries. Teaching has been a dream of Mrs. Farstead her whole life and she is very excited to bring her passion and dedication to Woodland and our Wildcats!
We’ll continue highlighting our new staff members over the next few weeks, so keep those welcome wishes coming! 💚

The Woodland D50 Board of Education will meet on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. Please note: The meeting starts at 6 p.m., but the first item on the agenda is a closed session. The public meeting will begin immediately following the closed session when the Board of Education returns to open session at approximately 7 p.m.
Watch on Woodland Live: https://www.youtube.com/@woodlandlive9671
Agenda: https://5il.co/3q5ua

This was a busy week of training for Woodland's Parent Mentors! They are ready to join their partner teacher in the classroom starting next week. This morning they had a meet and greet with the Principals and presented their versions of a "Perfect School" and explained how they will lead with their head, heart and feet.
It's not too late to join the program! If you are interested in supporting students and teachers in the classroom, please fill out this parent interest form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjAwrBarPnAZTFRRFPKUYibYKS-VFx6rxBB9_6nbg3rsr96Q/viewform

Thank you for attending the first Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting of the year! We had a great turnout to hear from Martha Lucía Aristizábal, a bilingual therapist from Warren Township Youth and Family Services. The topic was “How to help your children prepare for the start of the school year.” While the adults were engaging in the discussion, students were busy crafting with Woodland Dual Language teachers! Thank you to the United Way, Community Trust Credit Union, Starbucks, Jewel Osco, Waukegan Park District and Tacos El Norte for donating prizes and materials for this event. #LifeintheW
Save the Date for the next BPAC Meeting - Nov. 6
https://www.dist50.net/o/dist50/page/bpac

REMINDER: School Picture Day is Coming Soon!
Order in advance using the link you received from your school principal.
Elementary - Sept. 17

Middle - Sept. 18

Intermediate - Sept. 19

Primary - Sept. 24 & 25

Arigatō! Elementary students had special visitors from Japan today. A group of Japanese graduate students are studying to be teachers and they are visiting the United States through a program at the College of Lake County. The future teachers taught Woodland students the art of origami and answered questions about schools in Japan. Many students were excited to hear that soccer and Fortnite are also popular in Japan! #LifeintheW

The Parent Mentor Program is growing, and having tons of fun while doing so... Please join us for a quick information session to find out how you can be part of the Parent Mentor Program this year!
Sept. 9 - Primary, 8 - 8:30 (Champions Gym)
Sept. 9 - Intermediate, 9 - 9:30 a.m. (Rm W230)
Sept. 10 - Elementary, 8 - 8:30 a.m. (Rm 123)
https://www.dist50.net/page/parent-mentor-program

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/