11-21-2014

The 5th grade students put on some awesome presentations yesterday. Using a program called Togul they were able to create maps of a country related to their heritage.  The maps were made of words and each word is a link to more information about that country.  Creating these projects took a lot of effort from the students and the teachers.  Special thanks to Michelle Fiorini for providing major support.

Here is a primer for teachers on Minecraft, so you can have a conversation:
http://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?article=Minecraft+A+primer+for+teachers&articleid=218&category=ISTE-Connects-blog

Thanks to Dr. Ehrhardt and the school board for providing the awesome lunch for us on Tuesday.  The subs were enough to feed an army and almost enough for our staff!  jk :)

Interesting graphic differentiating between "on Task" and "engaged":

Thanks to the 5th and 8th grade teams for organizing the reward trips today.  This is a great way to reinforce the positive behavior and academic performance displayed by most of our students.

Interesting article on Homework:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/debunking-homework-myths-ben-johnson?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-debunk-homework-myths-blog-image

Basketball is in full swing, thanks to Dan, Matt, Tim and Nicole for working hard to help our student athletes grow and learn, showing great sportsmanship and athleticism.

6th grade put on some spectacular poetry presentations yesterday.  Who would have thought that Johhny Salazar and I would have shared an affinity for "Ickle me, pickle me, tickle me too"  Robert Frost has nothing on Shel Silverstein.

Since I am talking about 6th grade, how great is it to have Lauren Dunne back at Benjamin!  Welcome Back!

Thanks to Pat for working on getting all of our Parcc data set-up in the computer, it is a tedious thankless job, but necessary  and much appreciated.

Malcolm Gladwell interesting talk on why you might NOT  want to go to Harvard, Princeton...it's 20 minutes but interesting look at data if you want to watch something over break.

I want to thank everyone for the hard work you have put into helping students, I hope you get to relax and spend time with family and friends, you deserve it.  I am thankful to be working with so many wonderful educators and support staff.  Happy Thanksgiving!

At the beginning of the year I mentioned that you would have access to supplementary materials from our Project"Words of" Wisdom resources.  I didn't want to overwhelm anyone so I am sending out the instructions to sign up for an account now:  If you sign up you will be able to look at supplemental materials/activities that go with the announcements and you will be sent special individual announcements from time to time:  Here are the Instructions:

Hello Benjamin Middle School staff member,

We are excited to inform you that our school recently became part of one of the nation’s oldest and most respected character education programs. Project Wisdom has been helping students make wiser choices since 1992 and has been implemented in more than 19,000 schools across the nation.

Results from a third-party evaluation

With proper implementation, the Project Wisdom program creates:

·        More positive school climate.

·        Fewer incidents of bullying.

·        Fewer discipline referrals.

·        Improved teacher morale.

·        More focus on issues of character.

·        Increased social-emotional competencies.

Please register for this exciting online resource that has already been purchased for you.

You will have online access to all these resources:

·        Professional support sent by email. Includes a weekly Just For You message: a concise message written to foster professionalism, promote ethical and caring leadership, boost morale, and improve classroom management.

·        Featured easy-to-implement lesson plans that build character and social-emotional competencies. Great discussion generators, plus literature-based activities for elementary and follow-up activities for each core academic area for secondary.

·        Best practices and uplifting stories shared by educators for educators.

·        Access to the daily messages that will be broadcast over our school’s PA or in-house television system.

·        Student journal pages that work well for discipline referrals, classroom management, and advisory.

·        And much more . . .

Here’s how you register. It’s quick and easy.

·        Go to ProjectWisdom.com
Click on register

·        Key in the following:

o       Your Project Wisdom School ID: 22593

o       School Zip code: 60185

That’s it! As per the license agreement, this invitation is extended only to educators at Benjamin Middle School. Please honor this license agreement.

Questions: Team2@ProjectWisdom.com

11-14-2014

Three ways to improve student writing:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/3-strategies-improve-student-writing-ali-parrish?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-3-strategies-to-improve-student-writing-list-image


Thanks to Melissa for running a wonderful Veterans Day Assembly.  What a great way to get the students to think about why we honor the men and women who fought for our country on this day.

Also thanks to Melissa and Mark for the outstanding work of the Choir and Band students.

Next week in honor of American Education week the Board of Education will provide a lunch on Tuesday the 18th, the PTA will be providing a breakfast on Wednesday the 19th, and parents will be visiting on Thursday the 20th.  Thanks for putting the "education" in American Education Week, we couldn't do it without you.

70 Best Apps for families(there are three pages) click on the bottom
http://www.parents.com/fun/entertainment/gadgets/best-family-apps/

Because you can never have enough food, we are also having Birthday Treats for November and December birthdays on Thursday.

Thanks to Melissa L and Nicole for putting together the smoothie and cupcake sales this week.  One supports Honor Flight Chicago and the other our Pom Squad, both took a lot of time and effort, which is appreciated.

9 tips for using you tube in teaching:
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/teaching-with-video-9-tips-teaching-youtube/



A huge thanks to Lauren Sarno for all of the hard work she has done in the 6th grade, thanks to her hard work the 6th grade students have not missed a beat.  Now she will be helping assist students in different grade levels before taking over for Danielle in 8th grade.

Lynn is an Art Production Factory!  In addition to these awesome dessert ceramics, she has student shoe sketches in her hallway.  Lynn has also been using "green screen" technology in her classroom, ask to see some of her videos!

Thanks to the everyone for helping to organize the computer updates with Greg and Ellen.

Daniel Pink on what really motivates us.  11minute running time:

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Oscar Wilde

"When you catch a glimpse of your potential, that's when passion is born.” -Zig Ziglar

11-7-2014

I want to thank Nicole for going into the classes for Second Step.  Teaching the whole child including SEL is especially important at this pivotal age.

Here is a free math game that is getting good reviews for students in grades first through sixth that mixes game-play and math skills.  It is based out of Canada, but could be used for extra practice.
https://www.prodigygame.com/Login/

Thanks to Michelle S for putting together the Staff Spirit Wear Order.  Orders are due a week from today. I will be sporting these looks:

Good luck to our Chess Team as they compete in one of their big chess tournaments this weekend.  Pat has the list of rooms that will not be used, which consists of the art, science and computer rooms along with a few others.  

Thanks To Colleen, Alex and Student Council for providing the Teacher Survival kits before parent teacher conferences last night.  They were a great idea and a great pick me up.  I probably shouldn't have eaten the trail mix, cough drops, mints and Tylenol all at once.  :)

Speaking of student council I look forward to attending my first Benjamin Dance tonight!  Chaperon spots are still available.

Here is a great book recommendation website.  It works like netflix, you type in the name of a book that you really like and it spits out other similar books based upon your taste.  

http://www.yournextread.com/us/

Make notes come alive with Notability:

http://www.gingerlabs.com/

I wanted to thank Laura and Steve for doing a great job in the Directions Classroom.  The students are really flourishing under their guidance and will be more integrated into our school soon.  

Don't forget to pre-order your $1Smoothie and help send veterans to a Chicago Honor Flight.  Thanks to Melissa L for organizing this and our Veterans Day Assembly for Tuesday.  

Great Poster for Digital Citizenship:

I want to say thanks to all of the teachers for pushing forward with all of the tech initiatives this year.  It has been exciting watching the discovery process as students and teachers see what is possible once problems are overcome.  Thanks for your persistence!

Let the cooking begin!  We will be getting an oven to make cooking for our celebrations and other occasions cheaper and easier.  Please let us know if you prefer Melissa's choice, Pat's choice, or Ellen's choice for our new appliance:

On Tuesday night the PTA will be hosting a meeting and a session on internet safety at Benjamin.  Details below:

How You and Your Family Can Use The Internet Safely.

Presented by: Dave Chiesa, DuPage County Sheriff Detective

Tuesday, November 11
7:00 to 7:30 p.m. PTA Meeting
7:30 to 8:30 Internet Safety

Kid President's Pep Talk Specifically for Teachers

Thanks to everyone for the outstanding job that you have been doing with parent teacher conferences.  The overwhelming majority of parents that I have talked to have been extremely positive about the high level of teaching and professionalism shown by our staff.  Keep up the great work.  

If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.

Tom Hanks