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