3-1-2024

 Michelle and Carrie hosted the Caudill Party for select 5th and 6th grade students. One of the activities was listening to author Megan Freeman who gave the students insights on writing.  

Thanks to April, Morgan, Elena and Danielle for participating in the music position interviews.  I know the extra time is hard to come by but I appreciate everyone’s efforts.

Thanks to Nicole Johnson for finishing the hefty task of completing all of the Access testing. It was A LOT of work and I appreciate the hard work Nicole put into testing and servicing the students.

Thanks to Morgan for putting out the March band schedule.  I am sure the teachers appreciate her organization and communication that makes a complicated system easily accessible by all staff to stay informed.  

Newspaper Club celebrated their Hard work on the latest edition of the Tiger times Thursday after school. Jessica throws my kind of parties...ice cream and Bugs Bunny cartoons were the order of the day.  

Pretty great article on unplugging in the classroom. 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/unplugging-technology-classroom

Thanks to Dr. Woell for putting together the "field trip" today for staff to see different possibilities for our upcoming renovation. I'm looking forward to the bus ride, last one on the bus is in charge of attendance!

Thanks to Todd and Jana for leading our district's CPI refresher today. What a treat to have our own staff able to do this in house!

Just a reminder to make sure you sign in and out in the office for the Institute Day PD Hours. (Bus riders it will be there  by 7:30am) You must put your IEIN number on the form.  

One of my goals is to start researching and sharing ways that CHAT GPT and other AI can help and contribute to our classrooms.  Here is an image on how you can check student writing  to ensure they are not using AI.  

The Girls Basketball team has had a very busy short week with away and home games as well as practice! Thanks to Mr. Baker and Mr. Tylk for coaching and motivating the lady bengals to give their best.

Thanks to Mrs. Budinger who stepped up to help two of our students meet their unique STEM needs by planning some activities that matched their abilities and interests.

I know lunch duty is often a thankless task. Thanks to Bill, Sue, Chris, Joe, Jim, Jen, Jessica, Lynette, as well as Lori and Carrie who often sub for lunch duty. I appreciate the effort put into not only making sure kids eat, get cleaned up and are safe at recess, but also the effort the staff puts into building positive relationships with students...all students that make the classroom management aspect of lunch duty easier in the long run.  

"If we have a choice between being right, and being kind -- be kind, and we’ll always be right!" Chris Boyd

"Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." -- Henry David Thoreau

"To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear." -- Mark Nepo

2-23-24

 Hey Guys, was trying to catch up on some work last night so no regular blog this week. But here is a video on how stress can be good for you.

If the inserted video doesn't work click the lank below

https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend

2-16-2024

 Thanks for everyone's hard work on Wednesday's early release.  Shout out to Chris F and Melissa F for completing the training for proctoring the CogAT online this year.  

How to guide students in self-reflection during a project.  (pretty great article with some impressive videos)

https://spencerauthor.com/reflection-pbl-process/

Bravo to Melissa L, Danielle and April for getting cast and crew ready for an outstanding performance at the Theater Preview Monday Night.   The school board and Benjamin families were impressed!

Check out this cool piano video!

Looking forward to Kerry K coming back from her leave on Tuesday.  She has been popping in the last couple days to get prepared.  Also want to thank Jamie B for doing an outstanding job taking over the resource position the last few weeks. 

I'm working on finishing up 2nd observations, and beginning work on summative evaluations.  Please send me your domains 1 & 4 reflections when you can.  If you have questions please let me know.  

NJHS ran a super impressive bake sale on Valentines Day to raise money for charity.  Thanks to Jessica and Jen H for everything they are doing with NJHS!

How teaching builds entrepreneurial skills.  

Building Entrepreneurial Skills in your students.

I appreciate the hard work that Vanessa and Greg do for our technology needs everyday.  I know I personally just dumped a huge pile of work on Greg with our online CogAT testing tech needs and Vanessa is always so efficient in hands on problem solving for everyone.  Thank you!

Student Council has had a very impressive Spirit Week this week.  Thanks to Colleen and Alex for making it happen.  

Presidents Day is coming up.  I hope everyone enjoys there three day weekend and you can start with this super cute Presidents Day video from our 5th grade music students.

 “Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?”

-- Frederich Nietzsche

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." -- Mark Twain

"If I had to describe myself in one word, it would be 'bad at following directions.' " -- Matt Roller

2-9-2024

 Thanks for everyone's participation in the staff learning meeting on Wednesday.  I appreciate everyone's contributions to our SIP.  

Matt and Dan have had a game filled week with the girls basketball team.  I appreciate the hard work and effort they put into coaching and supporting the girls.

Megan P brought in  several author's to talk with her 7th grade students for World Read Aloud Day!

Jen V and her 8th grade students gave back to the community by making food for the Carol Stream Firemen.  

 

Student Council is hosting a great spirit week next week. 

February 12th- NFL  Jersey Day

February 13th- Pattern Day- clashing is encouraged.

February 14th- Red, White and Pink Day

February 15th- Pajama Day-red, white and pink colors if possible.

February 16th- Hat Day

Making Every Lesson Count

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c47c0b3e17ba324ad0c9d7f/t/64b3f6b8cd3730794afbf858/1689515705526/MELC.pdf

Thanks to Carrie L for all of the hard work she is putting in to making the LMC a place to be for students.  

Thanks to Kim for sending the club supervisors their Activities Account totals.  Please see me if you have any questions or think there are any errors.  

I appreciate the improvement Evelyn has made in working with Elise to make Lunch work efficiently and how quickly the  PO's get submitted.  We still need HR teachers assistance in reminding students to sign up for lunch.  

Enhancing retention in the classroom.

With the bells and intercoms going down early in the week and then Saaspass yesterday I think people might relate to this: 

I appreciate Colleen and Alex helping to coordinate the rotary food drive with our student council.

Thanks to Sherry for putting together the Taco Bar for Friday.  The days when everyone comes down to the teachers lounge and eats together are the best days.  

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own." -- Paulo Coelho

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear. After that, fear has no power, and fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free." -- Jim Morrison

"My dad always said that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard enough." -- Katee Sackhoff

2-2-2024

 I am very happy to announce that April Tepe will take over the assistant to the principal role next year.  She is very excited to display and develop her leadership skills to help our school community.  

Thanks to Nicole for moderating our data meetings and organizing and sharing our notes. As always our complex discussions on students just helps us all learn, grow and work together.

Jen V has been busy this week delivering cookies with her healthy cooking 8th grade students to staff and  first responders as well as working with Lisa and Janice to earn another donors choose program for the health curriculum.  Way to go!

Thanks to Dr. Filas, Evelyn and Leslie for being quick and efficient with the PO system.  Being able to have confidence in it's efficiency makes all the difference.  

Lets make sure we are keeping up with parent communication in relation to student learning.  Communicating both positive praise and concerns strengthen our ability to help our students.  

Thanks to all teams for allowing me to come in this week and have discussions on the school improvement plans.  I appreciate everyone's efforts towards our goals.

I appreciate Nicole johnson's efforts to get our EL students access testing completed.  It is a big job!  Thanks to Vanessa and Greg for their tech assistance as well.

Please make time to take the 5 essentials survey this month.  I appreciate Kim working with team leaders to get students their state ID for taking the survey.  

Thanks to Michele S, Sue B, Lori E, Holly H, Nicolett M and Michele D for everything they do to help our students and teachers on a daily basis.  We couldn't do it without you!

6 Ways to Capture Student Attention in Class

getting student attention

Melissa, Danielle and April are working hard with our Newsie cats and crew to get ready for their big day coming up soon.  I am getting excited to see our talented students put on an amazing show!

Groundhogs Day!

"Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get." -- George Bernard Shaw

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." -- Henry Ford

"The power is in you. The answer is in you. And you are the answer to all your searches: you are the goal. You are the answer. It's never outside." -- Eckhart Tolle