I hope everyone is doing well. Please read below for a few updates and resources.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Katie
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Talking with Students about Race - We are a multicultural and multi-racial school, which is a wonderful strength. Our goal is to have students develop strong relationships with one another and learn with and from each other. Part of this is learning empathy and increasing our understanding of one another and individual experiences. To do this, we have to be introspective and open to dialogue that can be difficult. The current news and divisions in our society, speak to this. Talking about race and its impacts is essential to building student understanding and empathy of the world around them. As a parent these conversations may come easily to you or may be difficult to know where to begin, so I wanted to provide resources to assist any parents who wish to explore and have these important conversations at home.
Talking Race with Young Students
Your Kids aren't too Young to talk about Race - Resource Round Up
Age by Age Guide to Talking to Kids about Race
Book Recommendations to Read with Students-
Questions to Accompany New Kid by Jerry Craft (This book is available for the next five weeks. You can access it by visiting the CPS Libraries website. To log in, click on “Students,” and type the username: cps and the password: cps. (Age Level 8-13)
Something Happened In Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard (Age Range 4-8)
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham (Age Range 8-12)
Debate Finals Update - Congratulations to our Debate students! Three teams made it to the State Championships: Mina W. - Triniti W (6th Grade), Ingrid P. - Clara S. (6th Grade) and Sean C. - Sinan H. (7th Grade). Sean and Sinan made it to the quarter finals. They have been debating the issue of selling arms to Ukraine, Taiwan, or Saudi Arabia. Well done on your hard work, preparation and debating skills!
Principal Evaluation Committee Meeting - Please see attached for the agenda for the upcoming Principal Evaluation meeting. The majority of the meeting is closed session, but public participation components are included. The meeting is Monday, June 1 at 5PM. Login information is included on the agenda.
CIWP Committee Agenda - Please see attached for the CIWP committee agenda. The meeting is Thursday, June 4 at 8AM. Login information is included on the agenda.
Skinner North Virtual Talent Show - We are so excited to share this.https://youtu.be/p_4Ap8dHbPM
Positive Parenting During a Pandemic - Ms. Jacobson will be hosting a parenting workshop "Positive Parenting During a Pandemic" on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm. The workshop will cover topics and strategies from Positive Discipline, for which Ms. Jacobson is a Certified Parent Educator. If you are looking for some new way to engage with your child and/or are struggling with your discipline strategies during this difficult time, please register for this workshop. You can register for the meeting here, and a Zoom link will be sent to you once you have registered.
Message from J@School - Mr. Stephen here. Its been a couple of months since our worlds have changed and we truly miss the opportunities we've had this year to interact with you and your wonderful children throughout what became one of the most interesting school years in Chicago Public Schools history. There is no replacement for the time we got to spend at Skinner North with everyone this year, but to help us try and maintain that connection we built with you all this year the J@School Skinner North is back with another video for you and your families. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QEEql22dK3822MDk1M-FXoyy--mzO6Zd/view?usp=sharing
We hope you take the time to take this small peek into our lives, listen to some stories and poetry, participate in an arts and crafts activity, and in what is the most important use of the internet in our opinion, check out some really sweet dogs. We'll be doing our best to get a weekly video out to everyone as the virtual school year winds down and can't wait to be able to see you all in person again. Until then we hope you stay healthy, safe, and happy!
From the Wellness Committee - (See image file)

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