Important Dates

Wednesday 10/8 - Walk/Bike to School Day

Thursday 10/9 - Special Lunch (Culver's)

Sunday 10/12, 11-12pm - Fall Hike & Trail Clean-up

Monday 10/13 - NO SCHOOL (Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day)

Wednesday 10/15 12pm - deadline to order Special Lunch for 10/23

Wednesday 10/22 - Chipotle fundraiser

Thursday 10/23 - Special Lunch (Jimmy John's)

Friday 10/31 9am - Costume parade on school blacktop (parents welcome to attend!)

Friday 10/31 - last day to order TreeRing yearbook with 10% discount

Principal's Corner

Walk/Bike to School Day

Elm School is participating in National Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 8th. Parents and students are all invited to walk/bike to school. This movement is aimed at inspiring our school community to come together in promoting health and safer routes for students to walk and bike to school. 

 

D181 Foundation Community Speaker Series

Announcing the Community Speaker Series lineup for the 2025-2026 season! Please join us on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:15pm for the Community Speaker Series fall event at Hinsdale Middle School. We are thrilled to welcome Ethan Kross, PhD, two-time National Bestselling author of Shift and Chatter, and an award-­winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top-­ranked Department of Psychology and its Ross School of Business. We look forward to connecting with our parent community.

Register HERE for Ethan Kross, PhD - Shift: Managing Emotions So They Don’t Manage You. Staying Regulated and Confident - a Guide for Parents and Kids.

 

Satchel Pulse Social Emotional Screener

Elementary students and teachers will once again participate in the Satchel Pulse Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener, a tool to help us monitor and improve the social-emotional skills of all our students. D181 first utilized this SEL screener in our elementary schools during the 2023-2024 school year after a successful pilot during the 2022-2023 school year. Teachers of students in grades KG-5th will complete the screener about their students, and students in grades 3rd-5th will complete the screener about themselves. SEL skills include developing healthy habits, managing emotions, setting and achieving goals, developing empathy for others, establishing and maintaining supportive relationships, collaborating with others, and making responsible and caring decisions. 

Satchel Pulse is a student-friendly screener with 25 simple questions, which will be administered during October and May. Students and teachers will complete the screener which includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making questions. Information gained from this screener will provide our school teams with additional insight to best support our students’ social, emotional, and academic growth. If you have any questions related to the Satchel Pulse screener, please contact Sara Olson at solson@d181.org.

 

School-Ready Behaviors

We’re excited to share that our students did a fantastic job this week demonstrating safe and respectful hallway behaviors! To celebrate their efforts, we raffled off one Bowser Bulldog reward per grade level—congratulations to our winners!

Library News

Book Character Pumpkin Contest 2025

Unleash your Maker Mindset to transform a pumpkin into any book character! Harry Potter, Pete the Cat, Fancy Nancy, Wild Robot, Dog Man...the sky’s the limit!

  • Real pumpkins will NOT be accepted due to our district allergy policy. Foam pumpkins can be found at stores like Target, Michaels or Hobby Lobby.

  • Participation is voluntary. Students choosing to participate must provide their own pumpkins and decorating materials. Yarn, construction paper, pipe cleaners, permanent markers, felt, paint, tacky glue or hot glue work well.

  • Students are encouraged to display the matching book or cover, if possible. Please make sure names are inside any personal books.

  • Students may enter as a family with siblings. The pumpkin will be judged with the grade level of the oldest sibling in the group.

Entries may be brought to the Elm Library from Wednesday, October 15th through Friday, October 24th. No late entries will be accepted. Voting will be the week of October 27th during library classes.

  • There will be one winner from each grade level. Winners will be announced on the morning announcements on November 4th and will receive a free book at our November book fair. Pumpkins must be taken home by Friday, November 7th.

  • Please fill out the entry form when you turn in your pumpkin.

Any questions, please email Mrs. Petersen at spetersen@d181.org.

Fall Hike & Trail Clean-up - Sunday 10/12, 11-12pm

Join fellow Elm families on a beautiful fall hike and trail clean-up on Sunday, October 12th, 11-12pm at Fullersburg Woods. Snacks and supplies will be provided, but please bring your own reusable water bottle and any allergy safe snacks for your family. Sign up HERE. 

Yearbook Ordering Now Open!

Purchase your yearbook now and save 10%! T​reeRing​ is a web-based yearbook builder that allows our school community to add, share, comment, and create the yearbook. The 2025-2026 school year will be our 12th year using this platform. All orders include 2 free pages that you can customize.
Visit the TreeRing website HERE and enter passcode 1014149644632589.
Hurry! The offer to save 10% ends October 31st!

Afterschool Enrichment - Chess Club

There are still spots available in afterschool Chess Club! Register HERE. 

Rotary Run - Thank You!

A big Bulldog THANK YOU to Alizeh and Haida Shamsi who represented Elm at the Rotary Run last Sunday. Alizeh took part in the mascot race and Haida rode in the tricycle race. They both represented Elm so well. Thanks, girls, and well done to all the other Elm runners!

Bowser Bash - Thank You!

Thank you for making the inaugural Bowser Bash a success!

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