Rockdale School District 84

Who's ready for some Attendance Madness?! Starting Monday, March 17th, our Rams will be going head to head in a tournament to be the homeroom with the BEST attendance. Classes have been ranked, #1 through #16, based on their February homeroom attendance, and they will compete in a single-elimination tournament to have the top attendance in the school from March 17th through April 17th. The homeroom with the highest present percentage for the week will advance to the next round. The winning homeroom will receive a PIZZA PARTY! We know that some of our Ram Families have gotten hit hard this cold and flu season, and that illness is out of our control. Students need to be fever and vomit free for 24 hours before they can return to school. We want all of our Rams to be healthy when they come to school! Remember: Every day counts! Do your best to be at school every day!

Our Varsity Girls Volleyball team is competing in regionals this morning! Good luck to them as they face off against Fairmont!

Hello, Ram families! Every year staff, parents, and 4th-8th grade students are asked to take the 5Essentials survey, which is a survey created to identify strengths and areas of growth in all Illinois schools. This is an opportunity for you to provide feedback on how you think Rockdale is doing! Please take the time to fill out this survey using the link below. Your feedback is valuable to us so we can continue to grow and help our students be as successful as possible! As an added incentive, if Rockdale gets 50% of parent participation on the 5Essentials survey, all students will receive a prize! If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Ms. Darlin. Thank you in advance for your participation! https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/login/

Track and Field season starts next week! We're excited to see our Rams take to the track and compete. Parents, please plan to attend the Parent Meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, March 11th at 5:30 PM in the gym. You can enter through Door E (the ramp door). If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Hamilton or Mr. Hamilton.

Our 6th-grade students had an exciting experience on Friday, February 28th, when they visited the Field Museum in Chicago, IL! The students took a trip back in time as they viewed fascinating fossils and artifacts from the past. Highlights included Egyptian mummies, a collection of rare textiles, rubbings, bronzes, and ceramics from ancient China, as well as the impressive Sue T-Rex dinosaur. This is another great enriching learning experience that the students seemed to really enjoy! Thanks to Mr. Domenico, Mr. Olson, and Ms. Ramirez-Reyes for planning and executing such a wonderful field trip!

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the family of James "Smokey" Planinsek for their generous donation to the Rockdale Athletic Department. Smokey coached JV and Varsity Boys Basketball at Rockdale for over 30 years. To honor Smokey's legacy, we have dedicated our new scorer's table to him. Thank you, Smokey and the Planinsek Family!

On Wednesday, February 19, our middle school students had the opportunity rock climb at Vertical Endeavors in Glendale Heights! Shout out to Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Olson, Mr. Domenico, Ms. Lee, and Ms. Reyes for bringing this awesome opportunity to our students!

On Friday, February 7th, our 8th graders displayed their exhibits for their historical artifact museum. Students conducted research about the historical events surrounding their artifact, then created an interactive museum exhibit with informational videos and interactive light-up boards to display their research throughout the first half of the year. Our 8th graders did an amazing job presenting their research to other students and their families! Shout out to the Middle School Teachers, Mr. Olson, Ms. Lee, Mr. Domenico, and Mrs. Murphy, for supporting our students with this project!

On Friday, February 7th, our 8th graders displayed their exhibits for their historical artifact museum. Students conducted research about the historical events surrounding their artifact, then created an interactive museum exhibit with informational videos and interactive light-up boards to display their research throughout the first half of the year. Our 8th graders did an amazing job presenting their research to other students and their families! Shout out to the Middle School Teachers, Mr. Olson, Ms. Lee, Mr. Domenico, and Mrs. Murphy, for supporting our students with this project!

On Friday, February 7th, our 8th graders displayed their exhibits for their historical artifact museum. Students conducted research about the historical events surrounding their artifact, then created an interactive museum exhibit with informational videos and interactive light-up boards to display their research throughout the first half of the year. Our 8th graders did an amazing job presenting their research to other students and their families! Shout out to the Middle School Teachers, Mr. Olson, Ms. Lee, Mr. Domenico, and Mrs. Murphy, for supporting our students with this project!

Good Afternoon Rockdale Families, If your child is a middle school student who plans on attending the Vertical Endeavors rock climbing PE field trip taking place on Wednesday, February 19th, please make sure to have permission slips and $15 turned in to the office no later than Tuesday, February 18th. You must also sign the online waiver for your child to attend. Please make sure you are putting your child's name on the waiver. After the waiver is complete, you will be sent an email confirmation to the email you put down on the waiver. Your waiver will be listed as pending until that email is confirmed as well. Attached is the waiver link: https://app.rockgympro.com/booking/f/ba4566ffab314b37939de2aa38b6de10 If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Hamilton: bhamilton@rockdale84.org Enjoy the long weekend!

Get those cheesecake orders in soon, because time is running out to support our Student Council! Rockdale Student Council is partnering with Cheesecake by James to raise funds for new recess equipment and for our 8th grade graduation breakfast in May. Be sure to get those orders in by Monday, February 10th! Payments of cash or check are accepted. Cheesecake pick-up will be Wednesday, February 12th and Thursday, February 13th from 3:00-7:00 PM at Rockdale School. Thank you for supporting our students!

Good Afternoon Due to the possible ice storm tonight, we will NOT be having Boy's Volleyball Practice tomorrow morning! Please reach out with any questions Thank you Mrs. Shear and Mr. Mooney

***Girls Volleyball UPDATE - Today, February 5*** Due to the upcoming weather we will be ending practice early today. We will now end at 5:00pm. Students will still be picked up at Door C.

Rockdale School's Book Fair starts today, February 10th, and runs through Thursday, February 13th! Stop in and shop during this week's Parent Teacher Conferences on February 12th and 13th, send your student with cash or fill their eWallet, or shop online through February 23rd! More information can be found at our school's Book Fair site: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/rockdaleelementaryschool

We're just 6 days away from another Scholastic Book Fair here at Rockdale School! Starting February 10-13, students will be able to shop the Book Fair in our Media Center. Students can be sent with money, or you can set up an eWallet for them to shop cashless. Students will be coming home this week with more information. Families, you can stop by when you're here for Parent Teacher Conferences on February 12th and 13th from 3:30-7:30 PM. We're looking forward to seeing our students with more books in their hands! Thanks Ms. Walls for giving students and families the opportunity to shop with Scholastic! Not able to make it to the Book Fair in person? Want to keep shopping for more books? The Book Fair will be open online from February 10-23! Check out our school's page for more information: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/rockdaleelementaryschool

Our Rockdale Rams have been busy this weekend! The Varsity Boys Basketball team competed at regionals this morning. The Varsity Girls Volleyball team is competing in the Bulldog Invite at Brooks Middle School this afternoon. 7th Grader, Ahmed A., participated in the inaugural ILMEA Junior Choir at the Peoria Civic Center. He was one of 150 students selected from all over the state-there were 10,000 auditions! 5th Graders, Jaxson B., Yuri C., Joey O., and Eduardo R., and 6th Grader, Jennifer Z., were also in Peoria singing in the ILMEA All-State Choir. Like Ahmed, they were selected out of lots of auditions all over the state! Way to go, Rams! We're so proud of all the amazing things you're out there doing!

Rockdale School District 84 is hiring a new crossing guard! To apply, please complete the application process outlined in the job posting at the link below: https://www.illinoiseducationjobbank.org/Job-Posting/162921/Crossing-Guard/job-details

Happy New Year, Ram Nation! We hope you're enjoying your break and getting plenty of rest in preparation for the second semester! We are so excited to see all of our students back in the building on Tuesday, January 7th! Save the date for Friday, January 10th when our Student Council will be hosting their "Let's 'Glow'" dance for 5th-8th grade Rockdale students! More details will be sent home when students return next week.

Boys basketball practice for Monday, December 30 has been cancelled.