3-25-2022

 Sherry had 4 periods of a spanish fiesta on Thursday!  What a great celebration.  Having parent volunteers and lots of food made it a real school community event.  

Thursday the 5th grade class had a special Zoom with two Weather Meteorologists from Texas to talk about Hurricanes.  This ties in with their social studies and ILAR units.  Great to have real experts talking with the kids to keep them engaged in the content.

Thanks to Dan, Matt and Nicole for doing a great job at the sports awards on Wednesday night.  The kids were able to celebrate and be recognized for a great winter sports season.  

How the Arts can be the foundation for teaching!

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58668/how-arts-practices-can-be-the-foundation-of-teaching-and-learning

I got a chance to sub this week and was able to see Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Falkos, Mrs. Seeman, and Mr. Feffer do a wonderful job of interacting and supporting their students in a variety of fun and engaging activities. I had a great time and learned some things!

Subbing for teaching assistants also reminded me once again how important to our school they are.  Just as an example being in Courtneys class a couple times this week  I was able to see Carrie lead a whole class math review in preparation for a test and Gina and Carrie work individually with students for  the entire period.  Thanks to all of our teaching assistants for what they do each day.  

Another day at Starbucks...

When we get back from a well deserved break we have IAR testing.  Please remember to log into your pearson access next account today and check your roster.  Also we will have paper and headphones for students that need them.  

I was able to celebrate the end of the chess season on Thursday with the team.  Thanks again to Rich and Joe for filling in this season to help supervise.  Two chess masters were also spotted at the party challenging the students to a match. 

Thanks to Mrs. Kuehn and Mrs. Youngwith for their work on getting the PE departments donor choose golf program funded in just one week!  I know Joe and Jen are excited to get this project started.  

Jessica and Jen have done a great job working with NJHS on collecting books for Africa.  Now they will need help lifting the boxes of books!

Let's be proactive and preventive this Friday while teaching our students and supervising them during their downtime.  With everyone focused on doing their best I'm sure we will have a great last day before break.  

I was lucky enough to attend the Evergreen musical tonight.  What a great show to an absolutely packed house.  Josh (tech), Renee (artwork) and Ruth (musical conductor) put on a great show of singing and dancing with their theme "We can Make a Difference" !

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gJ4sY5WG8a2eG7LAHy_un3aKwFh9za__/view?usp=sharing

I hope everyone enjoys some downtime next week before we hit the home stretch to the end of the school year. 

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory,

Fredrich Engels

For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.

Anon

3-18-2022

 I am pumped up for today's (and this weekend's) performance of Annie! I have heard their rehearsals and they sound awesome!  Thanks to April, Danielle and Melissa for the work put into the production.  Also thanks to Bill Wadman and Joe Hauser who will be helping backstage, as well as thanks to everyone signed up to supervise.  

Sherry has another STEM parade video and they keep getting better.  Thanks to Sherry, Angela and Megan P for making this such a fun and engaging project for students.  Watch til the end as there is a surprise. 

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

Kerry's class did a leprechaun hunt with her students.  Following footsteps around the building leading to a treasure.  What a fun and engaging activity for her students.

Sam will be piloting a new check-in program with a couple 5th and 6th grade students.  He will check in with them 1st period starting Monday.  If successful we will add a couple 7th and 8th graders to the list.  Thanks to Alex for the idea and for getting Sam set-up to do this.

Building argumentation skills in math.

Please make an extra effort to be in the hallways next week so we can be proactive on shutting down off task behavior before break.  

I am looking forward to awards night Wednesday Evening for our basketball teams.  Thanks to Dan and Matt for their hard work for a successful season.

How to optimize working memory.

March Madness is taking over Benjamin!  8th grades fun adventure has kicked off and we also have the equally exciting March Madness of Poetry with Mrs. Peterson.  Something for every interest!

Please make sure you log into PAN next week to make sure things look right for your testing class.  We do not want to wait until the morning of testing to find out someone is missing or any other mistake.

Thanks to the 5th grade team for administering the CogATs this week.  They will help in our placement and our ability to challenge students.

The student art looks great all over the building.  Thanks to Lynette and her art students for brightening up our halls.  

Nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim. 

 James Garfield

The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.

Catherine Ponder

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

Mark Twain

3-11-2022

 Good Luck to Dan Matt and the girls basketball teams in the tournament this weekend. Go Bengals!

Also want to wish our chess team good luck in their state tournament this weekend.  Thanks again to Rich and Joe for helping out with practice and tournament supervision.  

8 Evidenced based tips to spice up your lectures

https://www.edutopia.org/article/8-evidence-based-tips-make-your-lectures-more-engaging-and-memorable

The sun will come out....soon!  Next week is tech week, thanks to Melissa, Danielle and April for their continued hard work and dedication to working with our theater students in getting ready for Annie. Please let them know if you can help with supervision for the performances next weekend.

Thanks to Jen and Joe for being flexible with the gym space and for bringing in guest speakers Teen Decision for our 8th grade students. 

Thanks to Greg for presenting the IAR information on Wednesday for our staff.  I will send the schedule out next week and you should have the manual as it was placed in your mailbox.  

Best strategies for small group instruction

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-what-are-the-best-strategies-for-small-group-instruction/2021/11

I am looking forward to the Caudill Party on Friday.  Thanks to Michele for celebrating our students passion for reading.

Thanks to Jen and Jessica for leading NJHS in their book drive for Africa.  Please keep promoting it with your kids.

 5th grade team will be conducting the CogAT testing with their students next week.  This data helps us with proper student placement and gives us information on student performance.  

Congrats to Angela and Danielle who presented their awesome podcast at the DuPage County Instructional Coaches Meeting recently.  We are really lucky to have them as part of our team!

A simple process and template for student podcasting

https://blog.tcea.org/simple-process-template-student-podcasting/

If you are doing an alternative evaluation this year please make sure that you are continuing to work on getting all forms and documentation turned in.  Please see me if you have any questions.  

A huge thanks to the Master Schedule Committee Meeting who met for the final time on Wednesday.  I appreciate the two years of service given to this committee.  I will be going to teams to present some schedule changes for next year that should help student services be implemented while reducing pull out of academic and special classes.  

"Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time." -- Edward Bernays

"It's terrible to lie in chains, to rot in dungeon deep, but it's still worse, when you are free, to sleep and sleep, and sleep." -- Taras Shevchenko

"I don't like the saying keep your friends close and enemies closer. I want my enemy on a different planet." -- Wanda Sykes