Principal's Corner & Newsletter

January 2026

Hi Lenart Families,

We are off to a fantastic start in 2026! Our first week back from winter break was full of positive energy, smooth transitions, and strong engagement from our students. It was wonderful to welcome everyone back and see our school community jump right into learning. Staff participated in an underground spirit week where one of the days we dressed like students while another day we drank out of anything but a cup!

January is an exciting and important month as we look ahead to events like the school Spelling Bee and MOY assessments, which help us reflect on student growth and plan next steps. We are looking forward to all the learning, celebrations, and growth to come. Thank you for your continued partnership. We cannot wait to share all the greatness ahead!

Q2 report cards went home on Friday along with honor roll certificates, attendance certificates, attendance letters, and failure notices. Please check your child’s bookbag. 

With appreciation, 

Principal Adams 🦁💛

🗓️ Upcoming Dates

January 13th- 14th: Star360 & iReady MOY Testing 

(Students with IEP/504 will be testing throughout the week given individual and group testing requirements)

January 13th: LLP Meeting virtual

January 16th: Schoolwide Spelling Bee

January 19th: No School MLK Day

January 20th: LSC Meeting @ 3:30pm Library | Virtual 

January 22nd: Parent Book Club 5pm Library

*Save the Date! Humanities Night- February 12th 4-6pm*

🚨MOY Testing

Middle of Year STAR 360 and iReady School-wide Testing will be held on Tuesday, January 13th and Wednesday, January 14th. If your student is a diverse learner and has a testing day that is scheduled outside of the school-wide testing day, you should have received a notification on Wednesday with their testing dates. If you did not receive a notification, your student will test on the school-wide testing dates. Please ensure that your child is at school at 7:45 am. Any students that arrive after testing has begun will have to make-up their test at a later date. 

🦁Lion Culture

January Lion's Lowdown (Want more dates? Check out our school’s website with the calendar)

📚Intervention Updates- Ms. Reyes

In preparation for MOY testing, I meet with primary students each morning to review our small group expectations as well as practice skills centered around number sense and place value. Third graders are continuing their work with fractions. While our fourth and fifth grade intervention groups are focusing on targeted math skills that are areas of growth.  Once cycle 3 rolls out, I will be sending home bi-weekly updates on student progress for students being pulled for extra math support. MS students are continuing to have WIN (What I Need) intervention differentiated on skills based on data. MOY data will guide new grouping and practice skills. 

LSC Elections:

Reminder, the last day to run for the LSC Election is January 20, 2026 at 3pm. Along with the online application, two (2) valid forms of ID must be scanned and received in the Lenart Main Office.

Gifted Updates- Ms. Martin

The January newsletter will be posted on the website soon. Ms. Martin is continuing to lead our Genius Hour for students enrolled in the program. We look forward to sharing more during our Humanities Night! 

🏁Academic Competitions

Science Fair- We are so proud of our students who qualified for the Southside/Central Schools Regional STEM Exhibition that will take place on Saturday, January 17th at Carver Military Academy at 9am. Congrats to Leah, Janae, Rowan, Barnaby, Aniya, Hannah, Peyton, and Todd! Please be on the lookout for an email from Ms. Doyle as well as a paper copy. 

 

NHD- Our historians have been working extremely hard on their National History Day projects that focus on an event in history around the theme Revolution, Reaction, and Reform. We are close to the end with the final project showcase and judging being on January 30th. If you are interested in judging the final projects please reach out to [email protected]. This week students have finished their research, have a full annotated bibliography in MLA format, developed a working thesis, and are beginning to outline their projects. They will show all of this amazing work in one of the following formats; exhibit, performance, documentary, paper, or website.

 

Project Soap Box- A BIG Good Luck to Our Project Soapbox Winners!

On Saturday January, 10th Lenart students will be presenting their passionate activism speeches at the City Showcase at Malcolm X College with students from all over the city.  We are so proud of our Lions sharing their ROAR with others from across Chicago!

Peyton- Female Body Standards

Rowen- Adultism and the Importance of Student Voice

Todd- Half My Village is Gone: The Importance of Community 

Ranee- Sinophobia

Leah- Food Apartheids

 

🐝Schoolwide Spelling Bee

Friday, January 16th. Qualifying students will participate in our annual school Spelling Bee. Congratulations to our classroom winners: Isaiah (1), Benicio (2), Cayden (3), Lydia (4), Benjamin (5), Carter C(6), McKinley (6), Michaela (7), Rowen (8).

 

📋Attendance Team

Our attendance rate is on the decline with tardies hitting us hard. Help us bring our attendance back up. Students have been enjoying our attendance incentives. This month the class with the highest attendance percentage will enjoy a student choice activity of either a movie afternoon or a staff vs. student competition. Students also completed their attendance survey this past week to give us a better understanding of what is the root cause. Attendance is vital to every scholar’s success at Lenart Regional Gifted Center. School attendance is one of the most important predictors of academic success. Research shows that chronic tardiness leads to a drastic decrease in instructional time. To put it in perspective, a student that is only 30 minutes late every day will lose an equivalent of 88 hours of instructional time for the school year.

 

⛔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. 

📚Parent Book Club

Based on your responses, we are excited to announce that our first in-person Parent Book Club meeting will take place on Thursday, January 22 at 5:00 pm in the Lenart Library.

For our first book, we will be reading The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Families are asked to please purchase and bring a copy of the book to our first meeting. You may purchase the book using the following Amazon link HERE.

To make our first gathering welcoming and enjoyable, we will also be hosting a snack potluck. Families are encouraged (but not required) to bring a snack to share. We are looking forward to meaningful conversations, shared learning, and connecting with one another. Thank you again for your interest and participation-we’re excited to begin this journey together.

💲School Fees

School Fees are past due. 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 

Fall OST Programs were completed in December. Our academic competition teams are still taking place. 

Chess- Tuesdays

CJML- Mondays

• Upcoming Competitions: 
• CJML Competition will be held on January 31st at Whitney Young High School
• Greater Chicago K-12 Chess Championship will be held on February 21st at McCormick Place (South Building)

SVC- The Student Voice Committee met with Principal Adams this week to ask clarifying questions about the power they have to be change agents moving forward in semester 2.  They asked questions surrounding curriculum, social emotional learning, and physical structure.  We are so proud of their strong voices! SVC will reconvene during the next OST session. 

We are so proud to offer a diverse range of After School Programming to our K-8th grade students. This year we have partnered with many different programs to bring something special for our students. Questions, please contact AP Stewart [email protected].

 

Families interested in signing up students should complete THIS interest form no later than Sunday, January 18th, 2026. AP Stewart will notify families on their acceptance in OST programs by Friday, January 23rd, 2026.

 

WINTER/SPRING OST DETAILS:

Dates: February 2nd, 2026 - May 1st, 2026

Times: 2:45p-4:00p

Dismissal: Door 1

 

WINTER/SPRING OST PROGRAMS AND DAYS:

Mondays

Smart Art led by CPS Vendor

Books and Board Games led by Ms. Martin

Chicago Junior Mathematics League (CJML) led by Ms. C. Smith

Choir led by Mr. Bravo

 

Tuesdays

Chess Scholars led by Ms. Daley and CPS Vendor

Broadway led by Mr. O'Connor

Let's Code It led by CPS Vendor

 

Thursdays

Student Voice Committee led by Mr. McCabe (bi-weekly)

Rainbow Club led by Mrs. Daley (bi-weekly)

🏁Sports- Mr. Givens, Sports Liaison 

Winter Sports are in full swing!. Coaches will continue to share game schedules and times as they frequently adjust based on standings and schools. 

Practice Schedule

Boys Basketball- Mondays & Tuesdays

Girls Basketball- Wednesdays 

Cheer- Mondays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays 

SOMETHING TO BUILD UPON (TUITION-BASED)

The fee-based after school program will continue throughout the school with our partner- STBU! Please contact Tania Muhammad with any questions. Email- [email protected] | Website link

 

💙Counselor- Ms. Daley

All classroom teachers are implementing our SEL curriculum weekly called Second Step. MS is continuing their weekly sessions with Success Bound activities with Counselor Daley. Additionally, I push into classrooms for 4-5 weeks in grades K-5 to implement counseling lessons with students throughout the year. We also are offering other SEL resources to students. We have mini groups that take place during the day called SS Grin as well as partner programs like Act and Adapt. Want more information? Please reach out to Ms. Daley.  

The January SEL Newsletter is now online. Make a resolution to focus on your mental health this year with Erika’s Lighthouse Mental Health Recharge Tool. We shared it with all staff to use in classrooms and for our own mental health. Try it for yourself and with your children at home or anywhere on your phone. It’s an easy way to take a mental health break anytime, anywhere.