Benjamin Broadcast

Dear Benjamin Families,

We hope your child has had a

great start to the 2015-16 school

year. Our students are working

hard and learning many new

things.

We are about half way through

the first trimester of this school

year. Parent Teacher Confer-

ences will be held on Friday,

October 23rd, between 8:00-

4:00. If you have not already

signed up for a conference for

your child, please contact our

office, and we can help schedule a

time for you.

Our classroom parties will be

held on Friday, Oct. 30th. Please

do not park in the bus lane and

lot behind the school, as the bus-

es will be entering that area prior

to the end of the day. Thank

you for your help with this.

Please contact our office at (309)

557-4410 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Marlys Bennington

benninmm@unit5.org

Happy Fall!

FALL CLASSROOM PARTIES

Students may wear appropriate, non-violent costumes for our fall classroom parties on Fri-

day, October 30th. Please do not send your child with a costume that is violent, shows blood,

is gory, or one that would scare other children. As a school, we reserve the right to ask a child

to remove a costume that we deem inappropriate for school. Your child may also choose not

to wear a costume for the party, which is alright, too. Thank you for your help in making our

fall parties a success, as well as a fun time for both students and staff. Students should bring

their costume to school in a bag or backpack. They will be given time to change prior to the

2:30 P.M. party.

McLean County Unit District 5

October 2015

Volume 6, Issue 2

News from the Nurse 2

Drop off/Pick up Proce-dures

2

GROWL Winners 3

Music Concert Infor-mation

3

Chess Information 3

Calendar 4

Spirit Week Pictures 5

Inside this issue:

Inside Mornings

Once the weather turns cold, students

will wait in the gym for the start of our school day. Students should

bring a book to read or some other work to

quietly complete. Stu-dents may bring e-

readers, if they have one. They may not use apps or games during this time. Thank you for helping your child to have something to

read.

Wednesdays are

designated as Spirit

Wear Days. Students &

staff may wear

Benjamin Bear clothing

or orange & black.

Congratulations to Mr. Bosquez!

Congratulations to our Head Custodian, Mr. Robert Bosquez! He is the winner of the 2015-

16 Those Who Excel Excellence Award in the Education Service Per-

sonnel category. He will be recognized at the Those Who Excel Din-

ner and Awards Banquet on October 17, 2015. Mr. Bosquez has

been a part of the Benjamin Elementary Staff since our opening

over 5 years ago. Not only does he keep our school clean and beau-

tiful, but he also treats our staff and students with respect and care.

He knows our students well and enjoys interacting with them each day. He goes above and

beyond in his efforts to help any student, staff member, or parent. We are proud of Mr. Bos-

quez, and we are thankful that he is a Benjamin Bear!

As we enter the influenza season, I would like to remind you of the guidelines for school attendance when

students are ill. The 2015-2016 McLean County Unit District No. 5 Elementary Handbook (p. 26) outlines

the times when children should not be in school. These times include when students are experiencing:

A fever within the last 24 hours

Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours

A frequent or disruptive cough or other sign of an acute respiratory infection

Any contagious illness such as “strep throat” that requires antibiotic therapy. Once a

student has been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medications and on

antibiotics for 24 hours, he/she may return to school.

Any undiagnosed skin rash. A student with a rash may attend school upon presenting a physician’s note

stating the rash is not contagious.

Pronounced lethargy or fatigue that interferes with participation in learning activities.

For further information on the influenza type and season, please click on the link below.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

NO MEDICATION…may be administered at school without the proper medication form completed and signed

by PHYSICIAN and PARENT. This includes OVER-THE-COUNTER and PRESCRIPTION medications. Cough

drops containing menthol also require a note from the doctor. The only exceptions are for asthma and

emergency epinephrine medications.

To access the proper form please go to: http://www.unit5.org/Page/252, medication form.

Please be aware that head lice (pediculosis) may be present in the schools at any time. The Unit 5 policy

for this can be found in the handbook p. 27. This policy is in line with recommendations of the Illinois

Department of Public Health.

Thank you for helping us to have healthy children at school!

News from the Nurse ~ Mrs. Jan Murray

Thank you to the PTO for the

soccer goals! Our students

have already enjoyed them so

much!!

We are also enjoying the 30

laptops purchased by the

PTO. The students love using

them for their learning!!

For safety, please do

not have your child

walk to Blackstone

Rd. to be picked up

after school.

Page 2 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 6, I s s u e 2

Student Council 2015-16

Congratulations to our new Student Council Members: Ryan Tamm, Aarti Srinivasan, Grant Stevenson, Sarah Talbott, Beck-

ett Weber, Reith Kohli, Katie Heger, Grace Rebholz, Aditi Srinivasan, Camry Fisher, Savanna Skinner, Corey Arbuckle,

Shruthi Vudaru, Devin Diaz, Ram Paramatmuni, Abby Baumann, James Douglas, Sri Muppuru, Bryson Baird, Wes Carter,

Rocky O’Shea, Anne Mayotte, Nina Osborne, Anna Percy, Srividya Nalladdhighal, Raj Esakimuthu, and Shria Chauhan.

August GROWL Winners

Upcoming Music Concerts for 2015-16

Congratulations to the fol-

lowing students who were

our August GROWL win-

ners:

Aidan Heinle (PE

Delveaux), Abigail Honzel

(PE Delveaux), Chase Fish-

er (PE Myers), Avani Rai

(PE Myers), Gia Lenin

(KD), Nick Rosenlund

(KD), Colton Carpenter

(KF), Lauren Welchel(KF),

Emmett Roeder (KH),

Wesley Pranger (KH), Riley

Barrett (KL), Nihal Mal-

lipudi (KL), Rachel Thomas

(1A), Ryan Tamm (1A),

Vedant Thakur (1G), Boden

Becicka (1G), Lincoln Hoo-

ver (1S), Ashia Jain (1S),

Rishan Hameed (1H), Em-

ma Pollitt (1H), Mia Mon-

tague (2F), Connor Eardley

(2F), Ethan Lelm (2G), Ri-

ley Perschall (2G), Sam

Barrett(2K), Jacob Smith

(2K), Paige Benedict (2V),

Aden Gilbert (2V), Taylor

Hartley (3C), Abhinav Jin-

ka (3C), Reed Hoover(3G),

Sristi Ganta (3G), Mia Be-

dell (3P), Andrew Wong

(3P), Hailey Hasty (3P),

Sara Puvvala (4C), Anish

Deshpande (4G), Noah

Haggerty (4G), Tanner

Dowd (4R), Cadence Geiser

(4R), Takara Brown (4S),

Treyton Miller (4S), Justin

Baehr (5G), Emberly

Mathey (5G), Srividya Nal-

laddhighal (5J), Reagan

Wolenhaupt (5J), Ethan

Hoover (5L), Michael

Canales (5L).

They celebrated with a piz-

za party with Mrs. Ben-

nington on Wednesday,

September 23, 2015.

How does a Benjamin Bear

receive a GROWL? GROWLS

are earned by going above and

beyond our expectations in

the areas of respect, responsi-

bility, or safety. These are

important behaviors that will

allow them to become success-

ful adults.

Each month, two students

from each class will be drawn

from all of the GROWL win-

ners from that month. These

students will be rewarded with

a pizza luncheon with the

principal. They also receive a

GROWL medal. We hope to

recognize quality character in

many of our students through-

out the year

6:30 P.M., & 3rd Grade @ 7:30.

November 24 – 2 pro-grams – 5th Grade @ 5:30 P.M. & Chorus @ 7:00 P.M.

April 28 – 3 programs – Kindergarten @ 5:30 P.M., 4th Grade 6:30 P.M. & Chorus 7:30 P.M.

Here are the dates for our upcoming music concerts this year. All Benjamin music con-certs are held at Normal Community High School at 3900 East Raab Rd. in Normal.

November 12 – 3 pro-grams – 1st Grade @ 5:30 P.M., 2nd Grade @

3rd-5th grade Chorus is being held on Wednes-days after school this year. They are already working hard. We are looking forward to an-other great year!

Reminders

Please save your Box

Tops, Labels for

Education, and My

Coke Rewards. Then

send them to school.

These items help our

school raise money

and/or buy

equipment for our

school. Thank you!

Page 3 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 6, I s s u e 2

Chess Club 2015-16

If your 1st-5th grade child is interested in playing Chess this year, please attend the mandatory

Chess Club meeting on Thursday, October 8th at 7:00 P.M. in the Benjamin Cafeteria. The Chess

Club flyer and registration form are available on our website, as well as outside of the office. If you

have questions, please contact our Chess Sponsor, Ann Groonwald at ann.groonwald@gmail.com.

Unit 5 will implement 14 Late Start Wednesdays this year, which will have

all students arriving one hour later than regular school start times. Elemen-

tary schools will start at 9:45 A.M. on these days. Transportation pick up

times will run one hour later on these days than on regular days.

The purpose of Late Starts is to allow Unit 5 staff members to meet for 90

minutes of job embedded professional development and collaboration,

which will improve classroom instruction, enhancing the learning opportuni-

ty for students, despite the state’s financial crisis. Research supports ongo-

ing, sustained, results oriented collaboration.

This common meeting time will allow teachers to: continue training in litera-

cy practices and assessments, develop student achievement goals driven

by data, collaborate in the development of instructional strategies, develop

common course assessments, analyze assessment data to guide instruc-

tion, collaborate on differentiating instruction for students, and enhance

classroom technology integration through training.

October Late Starts: October 14 & 28

Benjamin Elementary School 6006 Ireland Grove Rd. Bloomington, IL 61705

http://www.unit5.org/

Domain/9

Oct. 2nd Progress Reports Sent Home

Oct. 5th 6:30 P.M. PTO Meeting in the IMC

Oct. 6th 3:30-4:15 P.M. Student Council Meeting

Oct. 7th 4:30 P.M. Normal West Homecoming Parade

Oct. 9th 7:00 P.M. Normal West Homecoming Football Game

Oct. 12th No School - Columbus Day

Oct. 14th 9:45 A.M. Late Start

Oct. 20th 7:00 P.M. District Strategic Planning Meeting at Chiddix

Everyone is invited.

Oct. 23rd Parent/Teacher Conference Day

Oct. 26th School Picture Re-Take Day

Oct. 28th 9:45 A.M. Late Start

Oct. 30th 2:30 P.M. Classroom Parties

Oct. 31st Daylight Savings - Turn Your Clock Back an Hour

Nov. 9th 6:30 P.M. PTO Meeting in the IMC

Nov. 12th 5:30 P.M. 1st Grade Music Concert at NCHS

6:30 P.M. 2nd Grade Music Concert at NCHS

7:30 P.M. 3rd Grade Music Concert at NCHS

Benjamin Calendar

Phone: 309-557-4410 Fax: 309-557-4511

Benjamin Mission Statement The Benjamin Bear community will educate and empower all students to be proactive leaders.

McLean County Unit District 5

Late starts during the 2015-2016 school year

Homecoming Spirit Days