Parent Connection August 17 - August 21

Posted Date: 08/16/26 (09:48 AM)

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Illustration for Yankee Ridge Multilingual Parent Connection featuring a group of friendly wolves and educational symbols.

August 17 -August 21

A weekly schedule titled 'THIS WEEK AT YRM' with dates from August 17-21.

Three women, identified as YRM Admin, stand together for a staff spotlight photo.

A woman with dark hair and glasses smiles at the camera with a sunset over the ocean in the background.

Welcome Back, Yankee Ridge Multilingual Families!

Dear Yankee Ridge Multilingual Families,

Welcome back, Wolf Pack! I hope you had a wonderful and restful summer break. I was grateful for some time this summer to rest, relax, and enjoy special moments with my family. Now, I am excited and ready to begin another amazing school year with all of you!

This year marks the third year of Yankee Ridge Multilingual Elementary School being a multilingual school, and I could not be more proud of how far we have come together. Our growth and success would not be possible without the partnership, support, and encouragement of our YRM families. You are an important part of our Wolf Pack, and we are so grateful for you!

Over the past year, we accomplished so much together. We:

🌟 Received commendable recognition on the Illinois School Report Card
📚 Strengthened our French, Spanish, and English instruction
📈 Increased student growth and achievement in math on the NWEA MAP assessment
💙 Strengthened our schoolwide and classroom positive behavior and support systems
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Created more opportunities for families to be involved in our school community through events such as STEM Night, Literacy Night, Math & SEL Night, and Multicultural Night
🎉 Enjoyed special opportunities to come together as families and staff at our Welcome Back Picnic and End-of-Year Picnic
🐺 Benefited from the amazing support of our PTA, whose time, energy, creativity, and dedication helped make our school community even stronger
🌎 Engaged in collaborative work with parents and families to make our school more culturally responsive and reflective of the rich diversity of our students and families

When we look at all we have accomplished, one thing is clear: we are stronger when we work together.

Our students benefit when families and school staff partner together, celebrate together, and support one another.

As we begin this new school year, I look forward to creating even more opportunities for our YRM families to connect, learn, celebrate, and be a part of our school community. There is so much to look forward to, and I am excited about what we will accomplish together!

Stay Connected!

Please be sure to download the ParentSquare app so you can stay connected to all of the wonderful things happening at Yankee Ridge Multilingual Elementary. ParentSquare is an important way for us to share school news, events, reminders, celebrations, and opportunities for families to be involved.

Thank you for trusting us with your children and for being such an important part of our YRM community. Together, we will continue to learn, grow, celebrate, and shine!

I am so excited to welcome everyone back and begin another wonderful year with our Yankee Ridge Wolf Pack! 🐺💙

With gratitude and excitement,

Patricia Valente

Principal

Yankee Ridge Multilingual Elementary School

Urbana School District #116

Welcome Back, Wolf Pack! Let's make this our best year yet! 🐺

Kindergarten

The first day of school 1st-5th grades: Monday, August 17th

Kindergarten students with the last name beginning with A-L: Monday, August 17th

Kindergarten students with the last name beginning with M-Z: Tuesday, August 18th

All students: Wednesday, August 19th

Arrival and Dismissal

Arrival Procedures:

Doors open at 7:55am and school starts at 8:10. Students who are walkers and car riders will enter through Door #2.

Car riders should remain in their car until directed by staff. Drivers should not exit their vehicles. If your student needs assistance exiting the vehicle, please park on Eliot Dr. and use the crosswalk. Door #2 closes at 8:10.
For the safety and independence of all students, parents and guardians are asked to say goodbye at the entrance as families are not permitted to enter the building to walk students to their classroom lines.
Students who arrive after 8:15 will need to sign in at the main office and will be counted as tardy.
Students who qualify for bus service will receive a letter from First Student sharing the transportation information.

Dismissal Procedures:

School ends at 3:00 p.m. Please wait outside at dismissal time.

2:50 pm- Bus Students: Bus riders will be dismissed from door #1 to the buses.

2:55 pm- Walkers: Students that walk home will be dismissed from Door #4.

3:00 pm- Car Riders & Daycares: Car riders will be dismissed from Door #2. Please pull forward as directed by staff and remain in the car.

Visitor Policy

All visitors to school property must:

Enter through Door 1 and sign in at the main office. In the main office the visitor will document the purpose of the visit and location/staff member to be visited through the visitor log.
Provide valid identification upon request.
Wear a visitor badge/sticker visibly throughout the duration of the visit.
Sign out prior to leaving the building.

To maintain safety, privacy, and instructional integrity:

Parents and guardians are discouraged from visiting during non-instructional times, such as morning arrival, breakfast, lunch, and recess, unless serving as an approved volunteer or attending a scheduled meeting.

If you are interested in volunteering, contact Erika Diaz: ediaz@usd116.org

Download Parent Square App.

ParentSquare

Urbana School is now using ParentSquare to communicate with families. Families receive messages through the app, text or email. Families are encouraged to log into ParentSquare to activate their account. Please use the email or phone number we have on file in Skyward to register your account.

Please note: All families and staff will receive calls, texts, and emails, regardless of whether you create a ParentSquare account. However, by creating an account, you will be able to change your notification preferences, adjust your language preferences, and view all messages previously sent to you, as well as access other relevant information all in one place.

Download the ParentSquare app:

Apple iOS – App Store
Android – Google Play Store

PBIS - Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

What is PBIS?

“Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate. It also improves teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives.” (Center on PBIS)

PBIS places an emphasis on:

Teaching social behaviors in the same manner which academic skills are taught
Being proactive - pre-correcting to ensure positive behaviors are displayed
Modeling and practicing expected behaviors
Reinforcing expected behaviors
Building students’ self-esteem by stressing what students are doing well and what they are capable of achieving
Actively supervising to prevent problem behaviors

Five Elements of PBIS

There are five elements of PBIS: systems, data, practices, outcomes, and equity:

TSystems: the supports and systems to allow us to implement practices accurately and sustainably while using data to ensure better outcomes
Data: underlies all aspects of PBIS; helps us to determine practices, make decisions, progress monitor, layer supports and evaluate
Practices: how we interact with and support students in the classroom and throughout the school
Outcomes: ultimately we are trying to improve outcomes; these could include behavioral, social emotional, academic, positive school climate, fewer referrals
Equity: working alongside the school community to have high expectations for all, adapt practices to meet student needs, and disaggregating data by group to ensure success for all

CHAMPS - Classroom Management Systems

CHAMPS Framework

CHAMPS is designed to help staff:

Identify and teach expectations
Effectively supervise
Maintain a positive classroom environment

CHAMPS stands for:

Conversation - voice levels and rules for talking
Help - how students can ask for assistance
Activity - what the task is and how to do it
Movement - when and where is movement allowed
Participation - what engaged behavior looks like
Success - what success looks like and how to achieve it

Parent Teacher Association Updates

PTA - Announcements

Greetings! This is where you will find brief updates from the PTA on events, and volunteer opportunities.

First meeting will be September 9, 2026, 6:00-7:30. Free pizza dinner at 6PM and meeting from 6:30-7:30PM. Childcare and French and Spanish translation will be provided.

If you have any questions please email about the Yankee Ridge PTA : Email: yr-pta@googlegroups.com

Illustration of four cartoon wolves having a picnic, with text announcing 'Yankee Ridge Families Welcome Back Picnic!'

🐺 Welcome Back, Yankee Ridge Families! 🐺

ALL Yankee Ridge families are invited to our Annual Welcome Back Picnic!

This is a special time for families and staff to come together, reconnect, and enjoy time talking, playing games, and celebrating our wonderful school community.

Bring a dish or treat to share, a blanket or chair to sit on, and join us for:

🌭 Hot dogs

🥕 Veggie burgers

🎉 Fun & games

❤️ Friends & family

We can’t wait to kick off another amazing year together!

We are so excited to see our Yankee Ridge Wolf Pack! 🐺