greetings illinois family, continue to practice the high frequency … · 2017-05-02 · during...

SECOND QUARTER NEWS

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Kindergarten/First 2

Second Grade 3

Third Grade 3

Fourth Grade 3

Fifth Grade 4

Sixth Grade 4

Middle School 5– 6

Thompson 6

EarlyAct 7—8

Specials 9—11

Artist of the Month 12

It’s hard to believe that we have started the final quarter of

the year! We started the 3rd quarter with an awards assem-

bly to honor the accomplishments of our students for the

first half of the year. It was so nice to be able to hand out so

many awards to our hard-working students! We followed

that with our second semester parent-teacher conference

day. Thanks to so many parents who attended in order to

find out how to help their student(s) academically. The

home-school connection is one that is vital to student suc-

cess and we appreciate all that you do to continually extend

your child’s learning at home. It was also a month in which

our students learned about the many influential African-

American leaders that came before them and shared a vari-

ety of important facts, songs, pictures, stories, dances, and

fashion at our African-American History program. Stu-

dents even performed at our second annual “live museum”

to share knowledge about important African-Americans in

history. Thanks to our Parent-Teacher League, parents

and students also had a wonderful time eating dinner to-

gether and dancing all evening at the Family Sweetheart

Dance! We begin the fourth quarter with our 3rd through

8th grade students taking the PARCC assessment. We are

confident that our students are poised for success on the

test and will continue to work hard at the academic chal-

lenges that lie ahead in fourth quarter as well! As spring

break and the warm weather approaches in the final

months of the school year, please remind students to re-

main diligent in their studies in order to maximize their

academic growth! We look forward to a wonderful fourth

quarter!

Principal’s Corner Greetings Illinois Family,

As the weather begins to warm up and students are actively outside en-joying the fresh air while engaging in physical activities, let’s not forget to also have them exercise their minds.

1. Continue to have your students read (materials of their enjoyment) for 20 minutes a day.

2. Continue to practice the High Frequency Words. All words in a giv-en set must be read with minimum flaws within a given time frame.

3. Continue to practice fluency in Mathematics with Addition/Subtraction & Multiplication/Division Flash Cards. The less think time students have when responding to equations will greatly in-crease their modality for engaging in Mathematical Processing.

4. Journal Writing: encourage your child(ren) to keep a journal of their days' experiences. This will help foster a joy for writing and positive self-expression.

5. Visit the world-class museums in and around the Chicagoland area - The Du Sable Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium, Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, the Art Institute, and a host of other brain-engaging activities.

The education of our children is a holistic experience; it becomes more difficult when the work is left solely to the schools without the efforts of our parents and community.

"A system is perceived whole whose elements 'hang together' because they continually affect each other over time and operate toward a common purpose." - Peter Senge

So, it is our 'Common Purpose' to educate all of our children well. Thank you Illinois Family. It is truly an honor to serve as your princi-pal. And remember, there is always time to come out and volunteer. Go WOLVES!

During third quarter, we celebrated the 100th day of school! To celebrate, we made t-shirts with 100 dots and participated in various centers that in-

volved “100!” We are so proud of our students for being 100 days smarter.

First grade also went on a field trip to Bellaboos Play and Discovery Center. We participated in activities around the theme “manners!” We learned how to set a table properly, made petit fours, and drank tea! Aside from learning about manners, we were able to play in the train room, construction room, water room, art room, and dramatic play area! The first grade students had a wonderful time at Bellaboos!

On March 2nd, we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday! We enjoyed having Mrs. Green’s sixth grade gifted students visit our class and read Dr. Seuss books with us!

As we begin the fourth quarter, our students will gain more responsibilities to become second grade ready. For example, students will have to read all assessments independently. We look forward to a successful fourth quarter and please continue to work with your child at home!

KINESTHETIC KINDERGARTEN

FABULOUS FIRST GRADE NEWS

2 Illinois School News

We celebrated Black History month by learning about a new African American hero/leader every day in class. We also com-pleted our own Black History projects with our families, in which we researched an African American hero/leader, collected pictures of them, and wrote a journal about what they did for people. Our class also participat-ed in our schools Black History assembly by singing an African hello song & reciting a poem.

We celebrated Friendship Day by discussing how we can be a good friend, engaging in activities that allowed for us to work together cooperatively, & sharing treats with one another.

We finally reached the 100th Day of School! Oh how ex-

cited we were!! We had so much fun rotating through Centers with the first graders. We did all kinds of group activities

working with numbers all the way to 100.

We took a field trip to Bellaboo’s Learning & Discov-ery Center. There, we took an etiquette class & we learned more about how to work together coopera-tively in the construction room.

We are so proud of ourselves & all we’ve achieved. Now we’re ready for a small break and some good weather!! So hello Spring Break here we come!!

So much has gone on in the New Year, where do we begin! The month of February was very busy for us!

What a busy time it has been for the second grade students at Illinois! We hit the ground running in the third quarter with many activities that strengthened our brains! We explored many nonfiction topics to celebrate the wonderful things during the winter months. We learned how to keep our teeth and mouths clean for Dental Health Month. We researched famous African Americans for Black History Month, paying particularly close attention to inventors and scientists.

Other great nonfiction topics second grade scholars have been studying quite closely are habitats and the animals that live there. We can identify many characteristics of the rain-forest and the animals that live there. We researched an ani-mal of our choosing that lives in the rainforest and created awareness posters for them! We are becoming great analyti-cal thinkers and applying “detective” work to our spying of text evidence. We are also becoming great writers. Our fa-vorite writing activity this year revolved around Setting. We

created adjectives for setting pictures and we spied around the room, creating fantastic stories that took place in those various settings.

During the third quarter, the second grade Math Detectives gathered and represented data on tally charts, picture and bar graphs. They wrote and solved 2-step addition and sub-traction number stories. They are becoming experts at round-ing numbers to the nearest multiple of 10. They have begun to explore multiplication by creating rectangular arrays. Our scientists have learned how fossils are formed over time. They used clay to create a model of an imprint fossil. We are now learning about the major systems in the human body. So far, we’ve read about our skin and examined the shedding skin of a snake! We looked at the 206 bones of Mr. Bones, who can’t move because he has no muscles. Lastly, we checked our pulses to see how often the strongest muscle in our bodies (cardiac/heart) beats. We cannot wait to see what lies ahead in fourth quarter for us!

Illinois School News 3

SECOND GRADE NEWS

FLUENT FOURTH GRADE NEWS

We cannot believe that third quarter has come to a close! Fourth grade students have been hard at work. Test tak-ing strategies and mastering fluency skills have helped us prepare for the PARCC and Tera Nova tests.

Fractions were a large part of third quarter and the fourth graders persevered and challenged themselves in math! The laptops are a great tool that the fourth graders have are comfortably utilizing.

Writing and editing skills are an important skill during the third quarter. We have also worked on theme, point of

view, and inferencing. We have learned the culture, land-marks, and history of the United States regions. Science has been electric! Electricity and animal adaptations were the focus of third quarter.

Our fourth graders plan on ending the year with positive attitudes and continued pride in our school!

Go Wolves!

During this quarter, the students have been working on identifying the theme of a story and com-paring and contrasting text. The students read fairy tales and identified the similarities and differences. They were also exposed to different folk tales and fables to discuss the theme or lesson of the story. We read a variety of informational text and the students are in the process of writing their own. The students have also spent a great deal of time preparing for the PARCC tests.

Both classes worked on projects for Black History Month. Mr. Schleicher’s class researched places in Af-rica and designed a poster with all of their findings, while Mrs. Duh’s class researched famous African

Americans and created a file folder of the information that included a portrait of the person, creating a poem and a time-line of events.

TERRIFIC THIRD GRADE NEWS


PARCC!!...

…is here!! But that’s fine because the fabulous fifth graders are ready!! Math and Reading will be a walk in the PARCC for us!!

In Reading, we are ready to use all the skills and strategies that we have learned and been practicing! Our stamina is strong, so bring it on! The results of

our practice tests have shown that we are ready!

Our vocabulary skills have grown – we are not afraid of new words because we know how to decipher them using context clues.

Our writing skills are better because of the practice from our expository essays. We are ready to write about anything we read about! And…

Our African-American History presentations were absolutely awesome to wit-ness!! Everyone did such a wonderful job with both display boards and Power-Point shows. Our public speaking skills are growing by leaps and bounds; every-one was excited to present – and it showed. Nice job!!

Math? Bring on the PARCC and Terra Nova! We have been honing our skills and working on our speed and stamina. Fractions and decimals have been our focus during this quarter.

In Science - We have been lucky to have the Matteson Library come in twice with STEM activi-ties! We created a zoo and made pipe cleaner birds balance on the tip of a pencil. We also prac-ticed our public speaking skills by presenting our science fair projects. Great job all around! The NGSS science test was a breeze due to all the practice and studying we did.

Coming up… Studying the rainforest in reading, the Holocaust in social studies, getting ready for Illinois Expo

FABULOUS FIFTH GRADE NEWS

For the third quarter, our sixth graders have continued to absorb the Digits cur-

riculum and everything that it has to offer. The students like doing their home-

work and their Study Island assignments on laptops. In the third quarter, stu-

dents have developed their thinking with the concept of integers. They continue

to work hard and share their work, both in oral and written forms as we prepare

for the PARCC Test.

I can’t wait to see what the final quarter of the school year brings!

SENSATIONAL SIXTH GRADE NEWS

Sixth Graders are finishing the school year well. The third quarter was amazing! Stu-dents have studied African Civilizations, African American History, & Ancient China.

We are learning about World War I, World War II, the Great Depression and reading a new novel, “Bud, Not Buddy.”

We look forward to our learning experience!


MARVELOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH NEWS

Seventh graders are wrapping up Digits objectives that include making conjectures about decimal expansions, com-

paring the percent of numbers, and using real world math problems to explain how to find

the purchase price and selling price of items.

We are preparing for the PARCC test and will begin working on two-step equations, solving

inequalities, and measuring angles.

Eighth graders are diligently working on their lessons to create a foundation for the be-

ginning of high school. The upcoming topics will included transformation, interior/exterior angles of a triangle, fre-

quency tables, Pythagorean Theorem, and surface area/volume of cylinders and cones.

MARVELOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL ELA NEWS Seventh and Eighth graders successfully finished their novels during 3rd quarter. They enjoyed reading their selected books and did well with their final essay and/or test. Prior to taking the PARCC tests, we spent a couple of weeks reviewing literary skills like theme, main/central idea, vocabulary, and writing answers to textu-al evidence questions. Students continue to improve on their vocabulary skills, writing, and comprehension. I ’m expecting great success on the PARCC test this month and the Terra Nova test in early May.

Happy Spring!

The school year has rushed by with lots of learning and information being absorbed. The seventh grade social studies class has just finished the American Revolution and is beginning its journey into the United States /Illinois Constitution. Please remember that this test must be passed with a 70% or better and is a requirement to pass middle school.

The eighth grade social studies class has been traveling through history and is getting ready to end World War I. The rest of the year will be spent on the Jazz Age, Great Depression and World War II. Meanwhile in reading, we are beginning our new novel called Unbroken. This new novel takes place during WWII from a Japanese perspec-

tive of the war. It was made into a movie that is currently in theaters. It’s been a great year filled with learning experiences but much more to go before the end of the year!

MARVELOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES NEWS


MARVELOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS to Jordan Moore-Stone who TOOK THE GOLD at this year's Regional Science Fair on Saturday, March 18th. Jordan studied the affects of temperature on tears when an onion is sliced. Congratulations on a 1st Place effort, Jordan!

MRS. THOMPSON’S NEWS

The “Unique to You” February curriculum topic was titled, “What Makes This Place Spe-cial?” Students used maps to explore geographical and human-made features of various regions of our country.

The “Unique to You” topic for the month of March was titled, “Making Waves”. Students explored sources of light and sound and

movement of light and sound through different types of matter.

Students continue to improve their keyboarding skills by using the EduTyping program. Other computer based programs that help the students with their spelling, math, and reading skills are used every day in the classroom and in the computer lab.


UNITED WE STAND AGAINST BULLYING PUPPET SHOW

Beautiful writing can bring a smile to your face at the thought of a perfect day. Words can inspire you to be your-self, take you to another world, or touch the depths of your soul as it tries to make sense of pain. The stories and poems created by Illinois School students are amazing.

The Young Authors Conference recognizes this talent. Sponsored by the Illinois Language and Literacy Council, along with the Illinois Reading Council, it is a celebration designed to honor exceptional writing by students. The confer-ence provides an opportunity for young writers to meet published authors and to hear how the authors themselves create the characters and stories that have become their books.

We are proud to announce that the following students are our Young Authors Illinois School building representatives for 2017. These wonderful wordsmiths will be recognized at the end of the year Awards Ceremony:

Ximena Casas, 1st Grade, “A Perfect Day”

Acacia Morton, 4th Grade, “Be Yourself”

Zoe Drigo, 6th Grade, “Me”

Bianca Junious, 6th Grade, “Charlotte”

Chase Cobbs, 7th Grade, “As the Tears Drop”

Zion Ogunlola, 8th Grade, “Hide and Seek for Happiness”

Acacia Morton was selected by the District as one of the Matteson 162 Representatives and will attend the Young Authors Conference in May at Illinois State University. Let’s give a standing ovation to all of our awesome authors!

DID YOU KNOW THAT WOLVES CAN DRAW?

Illinois School doesn’t play around when it comes to bullying, but an anti-bullying puppet show is always fun, funny, and informative. As part of our year-long campaign against bullying, Kindergarten through fifth grade students were treated to a high energy puppet show that taught them how to understand, prevent, and stand up against bullying. The audience was laughing and singing along as they interacted with their puppet friend, Maxine, as she stood up to Taylor, the school bully. Rocks Cry’n Out Puppetry performed two engaging, yet educational, puppet shows which were made possible through a grant from the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). Throughout the years, the NCJW has generously funded mini-grant requests from Illinois School teachers for books, equipment, and enrichment programs. This performance is just one more way Illinois Wolves make our school some place to howl about!

AWESOME YOUNG AUTHORS

At Illinois School they do! Two Illinois School Wolves have earned 2nd place recognition at the regional level in the Economics and Financial Literacy Poster Contest sponsored by Econ Illinois. There were over 900 entries in the contest. Fifth grader, Christina Agunloye and third grader, Andre Samuel were both a howling success! Their posters demonstrated excellent understandings of the economic princi-ples: “Specialization & Trade” and “Choice & Opportunity Cost”. In April, Christina and Andre will be honored at a reception and will receive a monetary prize for their outstanding illustrations.


Third and Fourth Grade Gifted students honored Archimedes and also celebrated Albert Einstein’s birthday on 3.14 also known as PI Day. This was the 30th celebration of this special day that honors the mathematical constant PI. It repre-sents the ratio of a circle’s circumfer-ence to its diameter. The students

measured the circum-

ferences and diameters of various cir-cles to determine PI. They learned that PI is constant no matter the size of the circle. Students have been practicing memorizing PI to the 100th digit. They also ate their favorite piece of pie. I don’t know which was more fun for the students, calculating PI or eating pie?

WANT PI?

To celebrate Black History Month, students of Illinois School toured our “Living Museum.” In the “Living Museum” students portrayed a variety of famous African Ameri-cans that came to life to recite a short biography of himself/herself. Our famous African American students consisted of fifth through eighth graders. We also had fourth grade tour guides. The library would like to thank all

those who helped make the “Living Museum” a success.!

The Illinois School Library would al-so like to invite everyone to our sum-mer reading book fair. The fair will be open May 15th through May 23rd. The theme of the book fair will be Happy Camper Book Fair, where the students will have “S’more fun with books!”

S’MORE FUN WITH BOOKS!

MUSIC

MS. LACEY’S COUNSELOR’S CORNER


As a parent, we eventually come to the realization that “Don’t talk to strangers” needs to be refined. Things such as, “Who qualifies as a stranger?” and “When is it ok to talk to a stranger?” need to be explained. We don’t want to scare our children but we do need to educate them in order to foster their “street smarts”. Here are some ideas that may be help-ful in presenting the topic at home.

The National Crime Prevention Council (www.NCPC.org) sug-gests that a stranger is anyone that your family doesn’t know well. These people can include the next door neighbor, a coach, a teacher, the mailman, mom’s friend from work, the person walking by you on the street, etc. Teach your child (no matter what age) that there are “safe strangers” that are appropriate people to approach if there is a problem or an emergency. These people may include teachers, police, fire-men, principals, the local librarian, or a neighbor.

The following are helpful hints in helping to keep your child/children safe:

-With your child, come up with a list trusted people

-Remind your child that if they are confronted by a stranger to “Yell, Go, Tell”. Yell “NO!” and go to a safer place (a neigh-

bor’s house, into a store or public place, into the house). Have them tell their story so the authorities can be alerted

-Show them safe places

-Teach children to trust their instincts. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not right!

-Encourage your children to play with others and never walk alone. There is power in numbers.

The following can be valuable resources for you and your fam-ily:

www.ncpc.org

www.mcgruff.org

www.parents.com

The Safe Side video on stranger safety- www.thesafeside.com

STRANGER SAFETY!

This past quarter, our Kindergar-ten and first grade students have been introduced basic musi-cal notation and for in-strument families, we have concluded with the

strings and will introduce percussion.

Second and third grade students have contin-ued their knowledge of musical notation, rhythm, and were introduced to the musical staff. We also focused on the history of Blues music and identifying the Blues sound.

Fourth through sixth graders became better versed in reading notes on the musical staff. They were im-mersed in R&B music for this quarter, in its history, identifying sounds and instrumentation.

Seventh graders studied Blues, R&B, song form, and song writing.

Our Illinois Inspirational Choir lived up to their name as they inspired audiences at both the Illinois/Sauk school and District Holiday Concert in December. We are looking for-ward to future engagements this spring and accepting new choir members.

We are almost done! Our students are in-creasing their typing speed with EduTyping, learning the fundamentals of Word and Power-Point, and our second graders are researching information online.

Students are able to participate in coding with their accounts in https://studio.code.org. We finally have Windows 10 on our PCs as well as our Kodu Game Lab. Sixth graders are able to experiment with creating worlds to share with others. Please make sure that your child completes two full EduTyping lessons at home.

Our class is truly “springing” into Tech!

ART COMES IN MANY FORMS


The last Health and Fitness Night will be held on March 31, 2017. This has been a great col-laboration between Student Council, the Art and P. E. Departments. A big thank you to our parent volunteers; without your time and talents, Health and Fitness Night would not be a success. Mr. Thompson provided virtual reality and drone rooms, Mr. Wilson was our circuit trainer, Mr. and Mrs. Lytle demonstrated karate, Gerald Green, LaMar Greer Sr., and Nate Tate coached basketball, and finally, Nia Green was our Zumba instructor for the parents.

Wow! Thanks again for a wonderful year. Salon Artists Gallery hosted our March art show titled, Shades of Inspiration. If you have not seen the amazing art work, please stop by the gallery before the last day in March. Illinois School is also on the SAMBA: Let Them Eat Jazz Festival website under Salon Artists Gallery (www.CSJazzFestival.org); you may see your family or your child’s artwork online from the opening reception. Mrs. Rallins and Mrs. Daniels were awarded a grant from the Olympia Fields Education Commission. This grant will be used to fund Fiber Arts for upcoming visual arts and social studies collaborations. The Artist of the Month for March is Puppet Master Dave Herzog. His hand made marionettes are funny, spooky and wacky. They are displayed in the front hallway gallery. Dave Herzog will be visiting the school in May to share the fine art of puppet and marionette making with the Illinois School art students. Small workshops will be held in the art classes for that day. A big thank you to Mrs. Travis for her support and dedication to the art department. Mrs. Travis choreo-graphed the African dance performed by the Sankofa Dancers, and spent many late afternoons helping the stu-dents in the Fiber Arts class sew their Dashikis. She also taught us the art of wrapping a proper Gele. The art department would like to also thank Emmanuel and Josephine Boafo, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Baker for providing the African attire and artifacts for the display case during the month of February. It truly takes a village!

INTO TECHNOLOGY


¿QUÉ PASA EN LA CLASE DE ESPAÑOL? During third quarter, the students across the school have been working with Survival Question #5: ¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?) We call it a survival question because it is one you really need to know in order to “survive” in a Spanish environment. The word CUANTOS really means how many. The students are learning to understand all the “how many” questions, with all the variations piling up, ask and answer the different questions in first person or third person (he/she). The students are also using TIENES (you have) and TENGO (I have) to talk about the amount of family members in their household.

In addition to this question, the upper grades are utilizing close reading, translating, and comprehending chapter 5A from the high school Spanish book and will start the conjugating verb “to have” soon.

And… We have a date! El Restaurante Mejicano is coming back! Save the date. On May 16th, we will transform the cafeteria into a Mexican Restaurant and the only way to eat is … if you order the food in Spanish! Last year we had a blast and this year promises to be as good if not better.

Hasta la vista!

Last Week to Order the Yearbook!

$17

Don’t miss this opportunity

The Yearbook 2017 looks AMAZING!

Send the money in an envelope with your name

and your Homeroom Teacher’s name.

FINAL WEEK— YEARBOOK IS ON SALE NOW!

IMPORTANT DATES March 31 Report Card Day April 6 Washington D.C. Parent Meeting (6:00 p.m.) April 7 Culver’s Fundraising Day! (Eat at Culvers & Earn Money for Illinois School PTL) April 12 Illinois PTL Meeting (6:30 – 7:30) April 13-18 Illinois / Huth Washington D.C. Trip (Depart: 5:00 p.m.) April 14-21 Spring Break – NO SCHOOL April 26 District 162 Fine Arts Festival April 27 Illinois Career Day (8:30 – 12:00) April 21 Illinois Parent-Teacher League Meeting (6:30—7:30) April 28 Illinois 4th – 8th Grade Dance (2:30 – 5:00) May 1-5 End of Year Terra Nova Test May 5 Illinois Student-Staff Basketball Game at Huth (6:30 - 8:30) May 11 Illinois / Huth NJHS Induction at Huth (6:30 – 8:00) May 12 Illinois / Huth 8th Grade Great America Trip May 15 Huth Step-Up Day (Illinois visits at 9:45) May 17 Illinois PTL Meeting (6:30 – 7:30) May 18 Illinois Curriculum Expo (6:00—7:30 p.m.) May 22 District 8th Grade Hall of Fame Dinner (Matteson Holiday Inn – 6:30 p.m.) May 24 District-wide Spring Band Concert (GSU at 7:00 p.m.) May 26 Illinois Carnival & Field Day (8:30 a.m.—1:30 p.m.) May 26 Huth/Illinois 8th Grade Dance at Huth (6:00 – 9:00 p.m.) May 29 Memorial Day—NO SCHOOL May 30-Jun 1 Early Dismissal (1:25 p.m.) June 1 Illinois 8th Grade Awards (12:30 – 1:15 p.m.) June 1 8th Grade Graduation at Tinley Park Convention Center (7:00 p.m.) June 2 Illinois Grades K—7 Awards Assemblies (8:00 a.m.) June 2 Report Card Day & Last Day of School (10:45 a.m. Dismissal)


greetings illinois family, continue to practice the high frequency … · 2017-05-02 · during...

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