Principal's Corner & Newsletter

December 2025

We had a wonderful return from Fall Break! Our Lions came back happy, energized, and ready to learn. With just two weeks left before Winter Break, let’s continue to keep our attendance strong.

This week, students participated in our Quarter 2 Assembly, where we celebrated their accomplishments and reinforced our school-wide safety motto: See something, say something!

Thank you to all of the families who joined the SEL Parent Workshop on 11/19 with our MTSS team. We appreciate you showing up, learning with us, and partnering to support students with managing anxiety and stress at home. We are also grateful to the families who attended our LSC meeting and our open safety forum. Your engagement and partnership truly strengthen our school community.

As the cold weather sets in, our Lost & Found is filling up again. Please label your child’s coats, hats, gloves, and boots so we can return items more easily. We also appreciate your patience during dismissal as we help students gather their belongings and bundle up before heading outside with the snowy weather. 

Support our student, West W, who will be joining ABC 7’s Ryan Cheverini to share his prediction for the upcoming Bears game on Monday, December 8th. Catch him during the 5 o’clock ABC newscast in the Sports segment. If you’d like to cheer him on, come out to the studio- 190 N State St. Chicago, IL 60601. West would love to have your support. All are welcome! We are so proud of him! 

There is a lot happening in December! Be sure to read all about it.

With appreciation, 

Principal Adams 🦁💛

🗓️ Upcoming Dates

December 9th- LSC Meeting 8:30am (once per year there is one LSC meeting during the school day)

December 12th- PK 104 Field Trip | K-5 Field Trip | PK 106 Grandparents Day

December 15th-December 19th- Holiday Spirit Week

M- Holiday Pjs | T- Festive Flannel | W- All Wrapped Up | F- Festive Friday

December 16th- 8th Grade Rummage Sale

December 17th- Holiday Music Performance 4:00pm-5:30pm

December 19th- NJHS Winter Carnival 

December 19th- End of Q2 | Grades due (Report Cards go home in January)

Winter Break December 22nd-January 2nd | Students return Tuesday, January 6, 2026. 

 

🦁Lion Culture

December Lion's Lowdown

📚Intervention Updates- Ms. Reyes

Happy December Lenart Families! As we begin to wrap up 2025, there are so many things to celebrate! Small groups are rolling here at Lenart and we are proud of the progress students are making getting targeted support. Quarter 2 ends on Friday, December 19, which also wraps up our second cycle of interventions. When we come back from Winter Break, we will begin a new cycle with fresh content to be covered and begin preparing for middle of the year (MOY) assessments.

Gifted Updates- Ms. Martin | Check out the December Gifted Newsletter

Genius Hour Goal: To provide an opportunity for challenge, rigor, enrichment and independent investigation for high performing students based on readiness, preference and student interest. This is a new initiative here at Lenart. We have identified the top 5 performing students based on STAR 360 BOY percentile ranks in ELA and Math. The first roll out has begun with the top 5 students in ELA grades 3rd-8th. Students are pulled out during intervention time to work on genius hour projects with our gifted coordinator, Ms. Martin. Projects will be presented at Humanities Night on Thursday, February 12, 2026. The next roll out will be for our top 5  math students in each grade. 

 

🐝Schoolwide Spelling Bee

Friday, January 16th. Qualifying students will participate in our school Spelling Bee. Stay tuned for more details from Ms. Martin. 

 

📋Attendance Team

Congratulations to 5th grade again for the highest attendance in November! 5th grade will have the opportunity to participate in a Wonder Workshop and Innovation Lab. For December, we have another attendance incentive to promote coming to school daily and on time! 

 

💬LSC Elections

LSC Relations is excited to announce that adult LSC candidate applications can now be completed electronically and are available in both English and Spanish on the LSC Elections Page. Adult candidates are still required to bring in two pieces of identification to complete their application process. LSC student applications must still be completed on paper. If you are interested in running for the Local School Council (LSC), please apply with this DocuSign link. Applications must be submitted by January 20, 2026 at 3 P.M. CST. You can find your eligibility here. Please reach out to Ms. Reyes via email at [email protected] with any questions.

⛔Safety Reminder

Please help us keep our students safe by avoiding double parking, refraining from entering the staff parking lot, and keeping traffic flowing smoothly during arrival and dismissal. You should pull all the way over during arrival and dismissal to ensure traffic runs smoothly. Whenever you need to enter the building, use Door 1, sign in with Mr. Carl, and check in with Ms. Fleming for next steps. This procedure is in place to ensure the safety of our students, as we cannot allow anyone to walk through the building without following this process.

📵Cell phones

For student safety, students are not permitted to use cell phones, Apple watches, or other tech devices during the school day nor during early arrival or after school. Cell phones should be put away and turned off during the day. Classroom teachers will inform you if they are collecting cell phones vs. if students should leave them turned off in their bookbags. The school is not responsible for any lost or stolen personal items.  

🫑Healthy CPS 

We are a healthy CPS school which means we celebrate with fun instead of treats. For student birthdays, please do not send cupcakes/cake. You are welcome to send goodie bags with items for students to take home. Doordash orders and uber eats are prohibited for students. This poses a safety and allergy risk for students. We also want to ensure we are prioritizing instruction instead of locating students, delivery drivers, and the name on the order. 

💲School Fees

School Fees are past due October 1st. Click here to pay now. If you need to complete a waiver, please see the attached letter. 

📋Amazon Wishlists

Want to support our teachers? Here are their Amazon Wishlists. 

♥️OST Programs Continue Through December 12th. 

Questions, please contact AP Stewart [email protected]

Our first session of OST Information. : 

Dates: September 29th- December 12th

Times: 2:45pm-4:00pm 

Dismissal: Door 1

Rainbow Club: Room 211

CJML: Room 304

Cheerleading (non-competitive): Auditorium

Broadway: Auditorium & Room 303

Chess Scholars: Room 211

Music Start: Room 211

Student Voice Committee: Room 308

Sports: Field & 2nd Floor

STEAM Explorers: Room 211

🏁Sports- Mr. Givens, Sports Liaison 

Winter Sports are rocking and rolling. We offer Winter basketball and competitive cheerleading. Friendly reminder that the $25 Winter Sports Fee is due as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns regarding payments, please reach out to our clerk, Ms. Fleming.

Come on out and support our Boys 7th/8th basketball team at their first game! They play this Saturday, December 6th, 9am vs Wacker Elementary at Englewood STEM High School (6835 S Normal Blvd, Chicago, IL 60621, USA)

💛BHCCT

BHCCT presented our Quarter 2 Assembly on December 1st. Students were recognized for participation in fall sports and for earning student of the month for August, September, October and November. It was heartwarming to hear students cheering for one another!

 

As a new award, coaches recognized one student from each sports category for exemplifying the spirit, strength, and character of a true lion—courageous, committed, and driven to excel with a Lion Heart Award. Our Lion Heart Awards for this fall went to: 5th/6th Girls Volleyball - Gabriella G.; 7th/8th Girls Volleyball - Leah S.; 5th/6th Soccer - Jah’ir D.; 7th/8th Soccer - Damian C.; Girls Cross Country - Rosalie S.; Boys Cross Country - Ari T. Congratulations to all of our hardworking students!

 

The Lenart Leader of the Month for November was also announced. Congratulations to our middle school math teacher Ms. Smith!

 

AP Stewart and Principal Adams took this opportunity to review our LIONS Expectations reminding everyone about the high expectations we have for all our students and urged everyone to look out for the safety of the entire school by reminding students and staff: “If you see something, say something.”

 

💙Counselor- Ms. Daley

This is an exciting time of the year! Our children will have time away from school and more time with family. Many families have holiday and winter events planned. A lot of students are looking forward to gifts and treats. We should embrace these times and hold onto the wonderful memories of our time together.

 

The excitement can also bring frustration and maybe this time of year brings thoughts that make us sad or disappointed. Remember to take time to rest and recharge. Give everyone the space they need to unwind and reach out if someone wants to talk. If you are struggling through the holidays, get the help you need. Reach out to whomever you are most comfortable with. Maybe it’s family, friends, clergy, mental health professionals, or someone else. Remind your children that it’s ok to feel unhappy or disappointed during the holidays. It happens a lot. After spending some time with your unpleasant feelings, do what you can to make yourself feel better in whatever way works best for you. Usually, just being with loved ones who give us the space we need and the ears to listen is enough. Wishing peace, health, and happiness to all for the holidays and the coming year.