CICS Prairie is a wonderful place to learn and grow! Prairie has an exciting new partnership with Palmer Park where students are able to participate in a multitude of sports and enrichment activities after school as well as take space to work with their peers on school work! Learn more at cicspraire.org
CICS West Belden celebrated its 20th Anniversary this year! West Belden has been a Distinctive campus from our very first day! West Belden has been featured by Move this World for amazing implementation of Social, Emotional Learning! Learn more at cicswestbelden.org.
CICS Irving Park is an awesome, powerful community – the classrooms and students are so vibrant! A really fun feature on this campus is the rainbow top, where students are welcomed to school every day with brightness and joy! Enrolling now at cicsirvingpark.org
Does this classroom look familiar? You may recognize it from The Today Show! We are so proud of this feature on our Social Emotional Learning practices, watch it here if you missed it and learn more at cicsbucktown.org! https://www.today.com/video/how-chicago-teachers-are-using-social-emotional-learning-in-the-classroom-121685061629
Art in Motion was designed to promote Community, Creativity, Love, and Excellence – and you can see it in our amazing, colorful classrooms! Learn more about Art In Motion, and the exciting updates at our school – aimchicago.org
Our Distinctive network is made up of 9 incredible and unique campuses! All of our schools share our core values – we are committed to creating joyful and personalized learning experiences for every child. Each Distinctive Schools campus has a unique community and feeling. We want to give you a look inside each campus – stay tuned this week for Distinctive campus highlights!
“By mastering social-emotional skills early on, students have what it takes to embrace challenges for a lifetime,” says Jessica Kull, Principal and School Director at River Heights Academy. Thanks for the great article @MetroParentMagazine! https://www.metroparent.com/sponsored-content/social-emotional-learning-academic-learning-connect-at-river-heights-academy/
Chicago families- check out this webinar from the CDC Foundation and Chicago Department of Public Health! This webinar is for parents with children ages 0-11. It will discuss the COVID- 19 vaccine and resources for transitioning to a “new normal." It is informed to keep informed so our students can stay safe and healthy. Totally free, sign up here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/power-to-the-parents-webinar-tickets-344781529837
COMMUNITY. CREATIVITY. LOVE. EXCELLENCE. At AIM, we create a safe space for every student to be themselves. We embrace and celebrate each other's differences and build strong relationships through arts education. Enrolling now at aimchicago.org!
Our CICS West Belden campus is featured in this great piece about Learner Profiles from @nextgenlearning! "the goal is to include more than just where the students are performing and consider who they are, what inspires them, and how they best learn so that they can take the wheel and drive their own learning." https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/getting-to-know-you-learner-profiles-for-personalization
We are so proud to be partnering with @RightAtSchool for our Chicago campus summer camps! Right at School provides fun and engaging programming- right at school! We're so happy to have these amazing educators working with us this summer!
Wishing you a very Happy 4th of July! Distinctive Schools network offices will be closed on Monday and Tuesday next week. All Distinctive Schools campus buildings will be closed the week of July 4, allowing our campus teams some well-deserved time off this Summer. See you on Wednesday! #BeDistinctive!
We would like to extend a huge CONGRATULATIONS to our 8th grad graduates! The ceremony was beautiful and we are so grateful for the chance to celebrate these scholars with our amazing PEC community!
Distinctive Schools is closed today in honor of Juneteenth. As an organization, we will honor the importance of this day in American history. In solidarity with our staff, families & students, and aligned to a growing number of companies across the country, we close our office and campus doors for a day of remembrance and response to systemic racism, and to commemorate our commitment to continued progress in our own equity work as an organization.
We will continue to cultivate an organization together that focuses on inclusivity and solidarity across all lines of difference in our world. We hope you will take a moment to reflect, honor and observe this historic day.
Wishing a wonderful Fathers’s Day this weekend to all of our Distinctive dads, dads-to-be, father figures, grandfathers and those who are simply grateful for their own dads – we thank you for the integral role you play in raising and educating the next generation of leaders, scholars and creatives.
DCP Harper Woods hosted a Father's Day BBQ and it was a huge success! Thanks to all the dads, father figures, family members and students who attended- great times and food had by all!
With a day to honor Distinctive Dads right around the corner – we’re celebrating the importance of FAMILY and all parents! We’re excited to share that we will offer 12 weeks of fully paid family leave for full time, benefits eligible staff members expanding their family! We are committed to the mental health and wellness of our staff and celebrating our team in all stages of their lives. #ALLin #WeAreDISTINCTIVE
We have FANTASTIC plans for the summer at PEC! Things are going to look even better outside our building – construction is starting soon, and we cannot wait to share more! Tuckpointing coming soon, we’re ready!
We are thrilled to highlight future educator and Distinctive alumni – TY LEE! Ty, a graduate of CICS Irving Park Class of 2018, was recently selected to receive a Golden Apple Scholarship to support his journey to becoming a teacher! Congratulations, Ty – we are so proud of your accomplishments! We would love to hear more from our alumni – please reach out to media@distinctiveschools.org with your alumni celebrations.
Have you seen DISTINCTIVE SCHOOLS on the CTA? Our bus ads are rolling, and there are posters on platforms! If you're just finding us – we're glad you're here! Learn more about each of our campuses here: https://bit.ly/MeetDS_CTA
