Each summer, our incredible educators don't just hit pause — they press play on growth, innovation, and excellence. This week, hundreds of passionate staff members came together for one purpose: to become even better for our students. 

From brand-new tools to deeply human practices, our sessions covered it all 👇

🔹 PLC Team Leader Training sharpened leadership, collaboration, and student-centered strategies that drive real school transformation.

🔹 Preschool Teachers backward-planned the Beginning of the Year using Creative Curriculum — ensuring inclusive, developmentally appropriate experiences for all students, especially those with special needs.

🔹 Digital Innovation Came Alive with training in Lumio, Google Classroom, and GoGuardian — giving teachers powerful new ways to deliver interactive lessons, monitor devices, and make learning personal.

🔹 Character & Connection took center stage in our trauma-informed classroom sessions, blending Positive Psychology with SEL to create strength-based, emotionally rich learning spaces.

🔹 Literacy Acceleration Strategies showed teachers how to break down barriers to grade-level reading — using scaffolds, fluency drills, and immediate feedback to unlock student potential.

🔹 Support for Multilingual Learners helped staff identify real-world strategies to lift every voice and empower academic language growth.

🔹 Math Fluency Workshops equipped educators to build foundational number sense and procedural confidence — essential keys to long-term success.

🔹 Interactive Classroom Walls? YES. Teachers reimagined their classroom space as a learning tool that scaffolds content, builds community, and reflects the beauty of every learner.

🔹 The Pyramid Model helped preschool staff promote inclusion, prevent challenging behaviors, and lay the groundwork for social-emotional growth.

🔹 Amplify & CKLA Deep Dives gave teachers hands-on time to read texts, write objectives, build text-dependent questions, and plan rich writing tasks — so kids can engage deeply with content.

🔹 Enrichment for All redefined what it means to stretch students — without overwhelming teachers or adding busywork. Just smart, meaningful, daily practices.

🔹 Science Assessments were reimagined with authentic performance expectations and research-backed rubrics — designed by teachers, for teachers.

🔹 mClass & iReady Diagnostic Training helped staff dig deeper into student data to match instruction to individual needs — boosting growth in decoding, fluency, and comprehension.

🔹 Time-Smart Reteaching Strategies gave practical solutions to make Tier 1 instruction more accessible for all learners — because every minute matters.

🔹 Special Education Staff dove into our new IEP system, Embrace, gaining confidence to streamline documentation and support student success.

🔹 Social Sustainability & SEL invited educators to look inward and outward — nurturing personal well-being, enhancing teamwork, and equipping students for success in life, not just school.

Cicero District 99 believes growth is intentional, support is year-round, and greatness is built together. This is what happens when you invest in excellence. Help us celebrate the hard work and heart of our educators! Let's show the world what's possible when you choose to lead!