12-16-2022

 The concert Wednesday Night was a great success with an absolutely packed house.  Congratulations to Melissa, April and Morgan for a job well done. 

 

Sherry had a great tamale party on Tuesday.  It's not just about the food but learning about the process and culture with a fun crafty activity as well.  There were also lots of parent volunteers on hand to lend a hand.  

I think everyone had a wonderful time at Ellen's retirement celebration.  Thanks to Lauren, Keriann, Michele D, April, Kim, Melissa L and Chris for making it a special event.  I know I speak for everyone when I say that Ellen will be missed.  

Building a strong staff culture takes work.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-positive-staff-culture-takes-work

The 8th grade was alive with the Sound of Music as they went to the Paramount theater and were able to see a wonderful show.  

Dec-a-door mania has hit Benjamin Middle School as dedicated students use their creativity and artistic talents and teachers hidden competitive side come out.  Can anyone beat Mrs. Falkos and her crew of 30 students?  Only time will tell.

Thanks to Colleen and Alex for not only organizing the Dec-a-door, the Toy Drive and the Spirit week, next week.  

Thanks to the PST team for meeting with WCCHS and their new special ed director.  Working together to help the transition for our students is so important.

Congrats to Nicole for completing the Dance and Cheer season. Best of luck to Matt and Dan as they finish up the boys basketball season and gear up for the girls basketball season. Also thanks to Bill and Marcia who do the book and clock for almost every game.  

Thanks to Josh for bringing his technological know how and some needed direction to our maker space club this year.  The kids have been having a blast.  

Thanks to Angela for taking all of the wonderful pics for our many events.  Also thanks to Tim, Frank, Isidrio and the night crew for their hard work during this busy season.  

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy breakfast and the wonderful WCCHS Choir on Friday morning.  Thanks to Dr. Woell and Solly for organizing this event and to our school board members for "being there" to thank you for a job well done.  

"If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped." -- Izaak Walton

"Choose to be kind over being right and you'll be right every time." -- Richard Carlson

12-9-2022

 I hope you guys had as great a week as I did.  I was lucky enough to do  pop-ins in almost every classroom this week.  It is awesome to see the excellent staff and diverse teaching strategies and activities our students experience.

Thanks to Nicole and Todd for presenting our mandated trainings on Monday.  We appreciate the time that went into the planning of this important information.  If anyone has any follow up questions please do not hesitate to reach out to either of them.  Specific make-up information will be sent out soon.

Just one article in this weeks blog:  The 10 most significant studies of the year.  Check it out.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/the-10-most-significant-education-studies-of-2022

Jessica brought in a great speaker through Zoom to her newspaper club! Joe Hogan, Producer of Retro Report "How to Fact-Check History," talked with the students about fact checking.  If you have never checked out Retro Report it is a pretty cool website with short educational videos connecting history, science and government to the present.  Check out this great free resource:  https://www.retroreport.org/education/

Thanks to all of the work that staff has been doing meeting about the academic and SEL needs of some of our students.  Trying different approaches and working together as a team = success!

Kerry and Kendra did a beautiful job working with their students on  Kuhn's Tree Farm.  The really cool thing is that people have been randomly and without asking adding random ornaments to the tree!

Best of luck to our 8th grade team as they take their students on the ice skating reward trip.  I'm sure students will enjoy this fun activity they earned through hard work this first trimester.  

Thanks to the people that have replied about 2nd observations.  Check your calendars and let me know.

Please remember to keep using Fish Slips as a positive reinforcement with students.  We will be doing another drawing right before winter break.  

It's  a busy week next week!  I am looking forward to the final home basketball game on Monday and choir and band assembly and concert on Wednesday as well as our Flannel Celebration with Ellen.  These are only a few of the events taking place!

Are you ready for the Student Council Holiday Dec-a-Door contest? How many winners? 

"Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing." -- Tom Waits

"Never let your fears be the boundaries of your dreams. Happiness is a direction, not a place." -- Sydney J. Harris

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” —Jack Handey

 

12-2-2022

 Looking forward to seeing the choir and band perform at the Sweets with Santa on Saturday at Evergreen.  Thanks to Melissa, April and Morgan for working with the PTA to make this happen.

Guiding students to be independent learners.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/guiding-students-be-independent-learners

The Big Benjamin Chess Tournament is also this Saturday.  Good luck to Mauricio as he leads this event for the first time.  Huge thanks to Bill and Joe as they are helping to work the event.  Thanks to NJHS and Student Council for finding a few student volunteers for concessions. Thanks to Ellen for doing some data entry for me.  Thanks to Leslie for helping me getting the monetary aspects of the tournament taken care of.  Finally I appreciate the maintenance staff for all the set-up and clean up that this event requires.

I am so appreciative of the hard work that our ELA Curriculum Resource Committee is doing.  Tough conversations, working through materials (in your free time lol) and keeping an open mind to change does not an easy committee make.  

Which of these 4 habits is keeping you from being a great communicator

https://blog.ed.ted.com/2017/11/14/which-of-these-habits-is-keeping-you-from-being-a-great-communicator/

Very excited to have Kerri Snyder come over from Evergreen and take over for Ellen Trush after winter break.  She is doing a stellar job covering the leave position at Evergreen and we are happy that she will continue to be an asset to the district.  

I appreciate Todd and Nicole presenting the mandated trainings at our next meeting staff learning meeting.  This training is mandatory for all staff members.  

If you are on cycle please reach out to me and schedule your second formal observation.  If you are doing an alternative please make sure you are progressing with your goals.  Everyone continue to look at your student growth goals.  

Congrats to Dan and Matt as the JV and Varsity BB teams travelled to Schaumburg Christian and came away with one basket victories!

Getting students excited to revise their writing.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-steps-to-get-middle-school-students-excited-about-revision

Thanks to Colleen and Alex for sending out the information on the Student Council Door Decorating Contest, Toy Drive and Spirit Week.  Please review this information with your students. 

Once we hit December things can get crazy with interruptions and excitement in the anticipation for winter break.  So please stay vigilant in following procedures with students,  keep supervision tight and lets all keep an academic focus until we do get to break.  

"Treat the cause, not the effect." -- Edward Bach

"The future will be different if we make the present different." -- Peter Maurin

I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet.

Rodney Dangerfield

11-18-2022

 Thanks to Bill and Marcia for doing such a great job on the scoreboard/book at all of our home basketball games.  It's nice not to have to worry about that!

Thanks to Jessica and the NJHS workers who were selling concessions at the game Thursday night.  Learning service skills and raising money for charity and having fun!

Building a culture of gratitude in your classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMPrYiQZ2M

Thanks to Melissa for organizing the field trip to the Art Institute Friday for the 7th grade!  It is such an awesome place for appreciating some of the great works of Art!  Thanks to the 7th grade team and other chaperones for making this happen.  

5th grade is also having a home reward trip for their students.  Celebrating our student successes is an important part of what we do!  

Thanks to Ellen for organizing the Turkey dinner....both for students and for staff!   It was great to have a special lunch for students and it is always great and so important for all of us to eat and laugh together!

Thanks to Chris F, Melissa L, Angela and Kathy H for all their help in putting together our board appreciation presentation.  

Thanks to Dr. Woell and the school board for their wonderful Sporty's salad bar dinner in appreciation for American Education Week. 

"Except for love there is no greater gift other than the gift of growth" — Marshall Goldsmith

Thanks to Julie for running the BPAC Meeting on Wednesday night.  Building relationships and giving advocacy to our EL families is so important.  

Keep reminding your students of our coat drive.  Carol Stream Rotary already picked up a whole bin full of coats.  This is running through January and all coats get delivered locally.

Repeat yourself in class that much?  Try this article for some help to get kiddos to listen the first time.  

https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-strategies-improve-students-listening-skills

The PTA meeting was well attended Thursday Night.  They are a great partner with our school.  Please consider signing up to attend the next meeting.  

Thanks to all of you for everything you do for our students.  I think we are really hitting our stride this year and the reason is YOU!  Keep encouraging the students and each other to keep our light shining!  Enjoy your break.  

"Whenever you fall, pick something up." -- Oswald Avery

"If you are on the right path you will find that invisible hands are helping." -- Joseph Campbell

"The more simple we are, the more complete we become." -- Auguste Rodin

 

11-11-2022

 I'm super excited for the Veterans Day Assembly.  Please remember to keep your 2nd period kiddos.  I will be calling students down right around 9:05am.  Melissa and April have been working hard to make this event a great celebration for those who served in our armed forces.  

Thanks to Kim for her late night work during conferences this week.  It really helps me out and is much appreciated.  

5 ways to get teens to open up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqDz4UarQTo

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom...hopefully all of your Zoom conferences went well.  We will send out a staff and parent survey to analyze the need for keeping Zoom for next year or moving back to in-person for all three nights.  

Did you sign up for the Turkey Day Lunch?   Wednesday the 16th is the date, don't miss out.  

5 ways teachers can maintain a professional online presence.  

https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-to-maintain-a-professional-online-presence

American Education Week is next week.  Time flies when you're having fun!  Monday we will have Sporty's Salad Bar for lunch courtesy of Dr. Woell and the school board.  

Put your dancing shoes on.  Student Council's first dance is Friday, November 11th.  This dance is for 7th and 8th grade Benjamin students only. It will be from 6pm-8pm.  If you want to join the celebration we can always use more chaperones.  Thanks to Alex and Colleen for their work putting this together. Also thanks to Lynette for her work in helping with decorations.  

Ed Tech Tools to connect students to a global community.

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60090/7-edtech-tools-to-connect-students-to-a-global-community

Don't forget that the Wellness Fair is tomorrow morning in the small gym.  

Thanks to Michele Davis for sharing one of her students Outsiders video, it was informative and entertaining.  Her students do a great job!

April Tepe had her 7th grade students racing their tractors for her Out of the Silo IMSA Stem Class.  they were fully engaged!

 

Jessica had the whole school asking me and other staff what their greatest fear was today.  I love how the scavenger hunt/quizzes get these students motivated! Hopefully they don't use this information against us 😂

I have been impressed with Mauricio's initiative in figuring things out for our chess team and upcoming tournament on December 3rd.  I may be reaching our for some additional help on that day if people are interested in earning some extra $$.  

Our basketball and cheer teams have three home games this week!  Thanks to coaches and supervisors for burning the midnight oil!

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." -- Albert Einstein

"Sing like nobody can hear you, dance like nobody can see you, and love like you've never been hurt." -- Dick Van Dyke

“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

Elmer Davis

11-3-2022

I want to thank everyone for staying late and discussing your students at Parent Teacher Conferences tonight.  These meetings are so important to helping the kiddos all year long.  Parents and teachers working together to help students with frequent communication being the main ingredient.  Let's do it again on Monday! (4pm-8pm)

Thanks to Angela and Danielle for their excellent Snack Time Podcast discussing Nearpod.  If you have some time it is well worth your effort and you may find a new resource that can make your teaching life easier.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1741124/11573242

Graphic Novels and Middle Schools a great combination!

https://heavymedal.slj.com/2022/11/02/graphic-novels-middle-school-a-newbery-medal-combination/

Institute Day reminder, tomorrow from 8:00am -1:30pm.  We will have the sign in and out in the office. Please make sure you have your iein number. The institute agenda was sent in an earlier email.  I also sent everyone a link, for those that need it for curriculum mapping.  If you would like to see some maps that are completed or near completion ask Chris and Melissa in 5th grade if they would share their documents with you as a great example.  We need to make progress on the maps this year.   We will have donuts and coffee in the lounge first thing tomorrow morning.  

Just a reminder that our Veterans Day Assembly is this Friday.  It will run approximately from 9:15am to 10:15am.  Morning Double Assembly (33 minute classes)  I'm looking forward to this great assembly!

How productive struggle fires up learners!  Great video about hitting that sweet spot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEaJ_VASrR0

Mauricio Mejia is our new chess coach.  He currently coaches some kids in Naperville and had his first meeting with our kids last night.  If you happen to see him on a Wednesday night say hello.  We will be hosting our annual big tournament again on Saturday December 3rd.  

Thanks to Tim and the custodians for getting ready for conferences with a very quick turnaround time with a 4pm start.    We would also like to welcome new custodian Ester to our building as we say goodbye to Maria.  Ester is working with Maria this week.  

Language that encourages learning in Middle School.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/language-that-encourages-learning

We will be working with the Carol Stream Rotary on a coat drive from November 7th-January 25th.  We will have announcements advertising this and will have a bin at the front of the building.  This is a worthwhile cause with coats, hats, gloves being delivered weekly to local families in need.  

Morgan Martin has been doing a wonderful job with the the band students.  I get to listen to them at their morning practices before I go out for bus duty!  I have also been impressed with her parent communication via emails of important upcoming events.  Keep up the great job Morgan!

Sherry had a great day of learning with her Day of the Dead Celebrations.  I also love how she takes advantage of parent volunteers in her classroom!

Thanks to Chris for covering the office in the morning and for everyone for offering to pitch-in and help yesterday with both of our secretaries out! #thebenjaminway #bengalpride

"Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working." -- Henri Matisse

"At first, people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago." -- Frances Hodgson Burnett

Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.

George Carlin

10-28-2022

The buses going home after school were pretty empty Thursday! With art club, jazz band, Newspaper Club, Project Lit, maker space club and basketball all taking place after school it was a very busy place with great opportunities for students!

Thanks to Colleen, Alex and student council for putting on a great spirit week this week. It was great seeing the students and staff get into the halloween spirit.

Guiding students to ask great questions.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/guiding-students-to-ask-great-questions

Thanks to Joe H for covering the Chess Club practice on Wednesday night. We do have a coach hired and over 20 students showed up for the first practice.

Thanks to 8th grade for facilitating a schedule for the high school 8th grade testing this week.

Why students should write in all subjects,

https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-students-should-write-all-subjects

Looking forward to the first home basketball games Friday night! Special thanks to Rich Feffer for coming back to do the scoreboard and Marcia for staying to do the book. Also thanks to the supervisors (can't find the sign-up genius so I don't know who it is)

Thanks for all of your hard work in getting ready for the start of parent/teacher conferences next week. The first dinner will be provided by the PTA .

Choir had a great time performing at the Wolves game last Friday Night!

I stop by teams before November 4th to answer questions you may have on the curriculum map and data analysis work you will be doing on Institute Day.

Thanks to Melissa, April and Danielle for working hard on auditions this week. I look forward to seeing the cast list on Friday evening.

How do you know you are a person that has lived a life and not just a brain ....The Boltzmann brain paradox,

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-boltzmann-brain-paradox-fabio-pacucci

I wanted to pass along a story I was told this week from a staff member. In Joe's PE class he picked Elpida and Jonathon to be the captains for the class and pick teams for their activity. This was a great experience for both kids but Jonathon had a huge smile plastered on his face. When Kendra asked him if he liked being captain he said "Yes, its the first time I've ever been chosen to be captain in my whole life!" Don't forget, the small things that you do everyday for kids can have a huge impact on them!

"Technology has replaced a lot of things in the classroom. 

It will never replace a smiling teacher greeting kids as they walk into class."

by 

@SteeleThoughts

 and 

@ToddWhitaker

"The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see everyday." -- Erwin Schrodinger

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing and be nothing." -- Elbert Hubbard

'Steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self." -- Albert Camus

10-21-2022

 The PE department received some new cardio equipment!  Thanks to Dr. Salamone for securing the grant to make this happen. 

 

Thanks to the PTA and Lunchroom supervisors for helping to supervise the very popular Ice Cream Treat Day on Thursday.

4 Ways to shift the focus on learning and not on grades.

Everyone please do a test run on Zoom.  If you have not used it recently you may need an update that will require Vanessa's help.  We need to get this done before Parent Teacher conferences so please do this next week.  

Tuesday evening we had a great turnout for our district Multi-cultural Night.  Thanks to Betty and the rest of the ML team for making it a fun night for many of our district families.  Also thanks to Angela for being on hand to take a variety of event and green/screen photos.

Best of luck to our Choir as they are singing at the Chicago Wolves Game tonight.  With families the Benjamin Squad is 60 strong!

We had an awesome sports awards ceremony on Wednesday night to honor our Fall student Athletes.  Thanks to Kerry, Dan, Courtney, Bill, Matt and Joe  for all of their hard work and special shout out to Matt and Joe for winning back to back conference championships.

Melissa and I want to thank you for your thoughtful Boss's Day/Principal Appreciation  gift.  I am sure it will be put to good use.

Thanks to the social studies teachers for attending Wednesday's after school meeting and talking briefly about the new standards.  I am going to be asking all teachers to start chipping away at the curriculum maps starting at the November 4th institute.  More details to follow.  

Setting the bar high for all students and helping them meet the goal

https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-asset-based-approach-instruction-and-assessment

Thanks to Megan P for arranging for 4 authors to Zoom with our 7th grade students this week.  What a great experience to get students excited about reading.  

"The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles." -- William Penn

"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going." -- Irwin Corey

"So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?" -- Hunter S. Thompson