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Volume 15: April 2014

Celebrating Diversity with Children's Day / Book Day!

Distinctive Schools is proud to launch a new initiative to celebrate diversity and engage families in reading and literacy. Día, which means “day” in Spanish, is a community-based, family literacy initiative across the United States. Its goal is to link children to books day-by-day, día-por-día.

"Día: Children’s Day/Book Day" was founded by Pat Mora, a poet and author of books for children, teens, and adults. At all five Distinctive Schools campuses, we have provided every kindergarten through grade 3 classroom library with copies of Ms. Mora's bilingual picture book, Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros. In addition, each K-3 classroom will raffle a copy of the book to a student in the class.

Read more in English | en Español...

Commitment Spotlight: Ethics & Integrity

In the final installment of our series on Distinctive Schools' six Core Commitments, we look this month at "ethics and integrity," with a focus on a stellar volunteer at CICS Bucktown.

For nearly five years, Chicago attorney Sandra Murphy (pictured at right with Bucktown students) has volunteered her time to teach Bucktown students about government and the constitution. She recently led students on a field trip to learn more about City government, including a visit with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

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Parent Profile: Cecilia De Los Santos

This month, we interview Cecilia De Los Santos, whose son Jafeth is a kindergarten student at CICS Prairie.

Ms. De Los Santos describes the support that teachers and administrators at the school provide to bilingual families, as well as strategies she uses at home to support Jafeth's academic growth.

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News from the Schools

CICS Bucktown is engaging students with new classroom technology.

CICS Irving Park highlights activities celebrating diversity.

CICS Jackson students are learning to play tennis.

CICS Prairie students held a fundraiser to provide toiletries to Chicago area homeless people.

CICS West Belden 5th graders stage the annual musical.