Final Blog

Joe, Marcia, Carrie and parent volunteer Justin Ohlinger have started track practices off to great numbers!  Mr. Ohlinger will be joining the team officially as an assistant coach sometime after break.

Danielle and Chris F  held the talent show tryouts on Thursday and had a bigger turnout then we have had in years.  I look forward to that assembly.  

Morgan Martin with the assistance of Alyssa Sutor had a great band field trip to Elmhurst University where they performed and had a clinic.  Learning, improving, fun!

Mrs. Anderson had many parent volunteers in for her 7th grade fiestas on Thursday.  Having parents work together with students and Mrs. Anderson created a community atmosphere with lots of food to enjoy while learning.  

Mrs. Erickson put on a very impressive NJHS badminton tournament Wednesday after school.  There were SO many students that signed up!  (common theme of this blog is our great student involvement)  Many NJHS student refs, parent and student spectators, an amazing bracket on the big screen with live results and the new sound system in full effect made for a great experience.  Thanks also goes out to Stephen for setting up the sound system and supervising concessions.  

I've seen Marisa Choate's students conduct several art critiques recently.  It is great to see them put care and effort into giving their peers productive feedback.

Thanks to the 8th grade team for having a team conversation to ensure consistency on how they enforce our school phone policy of off and concealed.  I think it is a strength of our small school that each team has the flexibility  to define the "concealed" part of the policy as long as it is consistent among all team members.  

I was very impressed with students and staff during our IAR testing.  Our attendance was very good and time taken per test overall saw improvements Thanks to Michelle F for getting the IAR Make-up testing complete.

Check out Krissy Campbell's student class work "We are Biologists" in the hall outside her classroom, it is another example of the great work she is getting out of her students with hands on, engaging learning activities.

The 7th grade team had their students in a frenzy over the three "mascots" they raffled off.  Hyping up the mascots to represent the qualities they look for in good students made them more valuable to the kids than raffling off a new car!   

Our teaching assistants have been knocking it out of the park with student support, flexibility and covering open teaching periods like the pros that they are.  I know we appreciate the great job they do to help our staff and students.  

Sherry, Angela and Megan P have done it again with another great STEM parade.  Watch the parade, stay for the outtakes!

Parade

We had our final Zoom meeting of the strategic planning process Thursday after school.  Dr. McGill and Perry have done a great job of leading our staff, parents, students and community members through this process.  Everyone has had a chance to give input and I am excited for next year as everyone will have a chance to contribute as "We live the plan".  

All good things come to an end...On August 28th 2014 I posted "Hi Everyone.  The Bengal Blog is something that I will send out each week to praise, send reminders and provide resources to the staff."  Twelve years and 378 blog posts later the Bengal Blog has run its course.  While I used to barely miss one or two weeks in a year writing the blog, you may have noticed the blogs have been coming very inconsistently this year.  To be quite frank when I miss writing the blog I feel additional stress and guilt from not hitting my own self-imposed weekly deadline!  Don't worry I will still be sending praise, reminders, and educational articles through email, in person and the old fashioned teacher mailbox.  I hope you all enjoy a well deserved week off and come back fully charged for our positive push to the end of the school year!

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent.   Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge 

"A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are built for" John A. Shedd

"It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it"  Steven Wright

"Now this is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."  Winston Churchill 

2-20-26

 Our Direction Retreat went well yesterday. It has been super impressive seeing everyone work together towards common goals.   Big thanks to Dr. McGill for his leadership in this process, his motivating presentations and for highlighting the positive ACT results of our 8th graders to the whole committee.  The message is still the same, we have great achievements and accomplishments and we will continue to work hard to get better!  

More Shout Outs!  (It takes a village)

Thanks to Sherry, Nicole, Michele Davis, Keriann, Mark, Lauren, Todd, Danielle, April, and Megan D for committing the day to this process and setting up lesson plans and rearranging commitments to contribute to this process.  

Thanks to Danielle and Vanessa for setting up the sound system and ensuring all of the tech was working.

Thanks to the custodians for getting the tables and Red chairs into the gym.

Big thanks to Solly, Leslie and Dawn for getting the tables set-up and most importantly making sure we were well fed with the food set-up.

Thanks to Jessica, Stephen, Chris and Jen H for adapting lunch duty with our 5th and 6th grade students to make it work in the Library (no small task)!

Thanks to Solly for securing all of our subs for the day and to Kim and Danielle for coordinating the subs into the right places and making sure they were set technologically.  

Finally, thanks to Alyssa, Rachel, Krissy, Kerry, Holly, Nicolette and Dan for all their work to “cover” open spots yesterday!  

I appreciate everyone's effort in our  Wednesday Subject Area Meetings, but even more so in your continued work with using student data to help your students everyday to help them achieve their best.  

Margaret has been the Fish Store Negotiator with many more students taking advantage of the Fish Store Thursdays! This is great to see positive student behaviors and actions rewarded.

Colleen Morgan did a great job of assisting the student council students as they sold hot chocolate Thursday and Friday!  The students were highly organized and used great marketing to sell their product to their thirsty peers!

I want to thank Carrie Liszka for the great job she is doing in the LMC.  Every once in a while I get the privilege of working in the Library all day and I leave exhausted but always happy at how busy with students the library is.  

Thanks to Megan D and Krissy for the continued hard work they have been putting in with the Bengal Cafe students both at Benjamin on Friday mornings and taking the show on the road at events like Ms. Choates art show.  What a great experience the students are having!

Thanks to April who had about 10-15 students in the building on Monday while we were enjoying Presidents Day to help paint the main backdrop for the musical.  

Congrats to Nicole Johnson who has worked with the EL team to complete almost a month of Access Testing.  This requires a lot of hard work and flexibility and I am always impressed with Nicole's work ethic.  

Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.

William James (1842 - 1910)  

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)  

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

1-30-26

 I want to thank the ELA team and Carrie L for coming together to organize the Caudill Reading Program and Celebration that will take place in early March.  

Speaking of Team Work, thank you to Kim, Margaret, Jen V, Nicole C, Kerry and April who all helped me deal with the Wednesday Afternoon Bus Situation.  I appreciate your willingness to pitch in and stay after dismissal. 

Thanks to Marcia, Stephen and Joe for "being there" at home basketball games to scorekeep and run the clock.  Filling in  these roles allow our after school activities to run smoothly.  

I appreciate Holly and Lana's extra effort in assisting a student with a task the student is trying to get better at.  Our ability to go the extra mile and work together is what makes our staff so great.

I would like to thank all of the 8th grade, Specials and Special Education Teachers who participated in the high school articulation this month.  I have received very positive feedback from individuals who participated.  If you have ideas about improving the process then please let me know as I will be meeting with the HS principal again in March.  

Before Students Can Thrive, Adults Must Survive: Why SEL Must Start with Educators

Our substitutes have really been sensational this year, even with special events, meetings and articulations we have been able to fill the needs.  Thanks to Solly for organizing the vacancies in Red Rover.  

I really enjoyed the new version of the Tiger Times Newspaper.  Thanks to Michele D and Megan D for organizing this and working with the kids on the new digital product.  

I will be working on the Wednesday Schedule for February this weekend but we will have a Staff Learning meeting on Wednesday, February 4th for those of you trying to work out your schedule for next week.  

Please read Greg's email on EVO migration.  So far this process has worked well with me (phone user) and has been easier than the SassyPass

Wrapping up your class with intention can be really powerful. These 5 activities bring #SEL and academic reflection together, so students leave feeling confident—and competent—on their learning journey.

If you are on Evaluation Cycle, two reminders.  Your Growth Goals are due next week.  Please make sure that you get them turned into me digitally or in my mailbox on my desk.  2.  If you have not dones or already we have to get a second formal observation on the calendar asap.  Please seek me out with some dates.  Alternative evaluation people, update me with your progress and timeline for submitting your Form 4 on completion of your project. Everyone, see me if you have any questions.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910

I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.

Mitch Hedberg 

1-9-2026

 It was great to see lots of students in clubs yesterday after school, between Josh starting the new session of Maker Space Club and Michele D and Megan D operating the new improved Newspaper club, we had lots of students exploring their interests.  Thanks to all Club supervisors for your time before and after school that allow students to explore their interests beyond the traditional school day.  

Thanks to April and Margaret for their continued effort with our Fish closet.  Securing and facilitating high interest prizes are an important part of this motivational process.  Please continue to look for opportunities to reward students with Fish Slips for "Being There", Making Their Day", Choosing Their Attitude" and "Playing".

Using feedback to drive student growth.

feedback to spur growth

I enjoyed our staff learning meeting on Wednesday.  Teacher self-care and reducing stress are vital for us being our best for our students, teammates and families.  Thanks for everyone's participation. Let me know if you think of ways that we can improve our school systems or procedures to help in these two areas.  

Congrats to our Varsity basketball team who won in the first round of the playoffs Thursday Night. Best of luck to Matt, Dan and our boys as they continue the playoffs on Saturday.  

We have a Board of Education Meeting on Monday Evening.  The meeting will be held in the Benjamin Multi-purpose Room as we will be honoring our 4.0 students.  Dr. Salamone will also be presenting on the Student Service department.  

On Wednesday evening we have our NJHS Induction Ceremony for our students.  Thanks to Jessica and Jen H for their preparation to make this ceremony special for our students and families.  

Three ways Magic School can help our EL students. 

Three ways Magic School can help our EL students.

 

Thanks to Mark Bradbury for leading our Washington D.C. parent meeting on Wednesday evening.  He always does a great job of highlighting the trip details and answering parent questions.  

I am very excited for the Benjamin Art Show that Marisa is organizing for Friday, January 16th.  It's exciting to have these opportunities for our students to show their artistic talent and creativity.

Dr. McGill and myself enjoyed our learning walk this week seeing our specials teacher's classes.  We will be visiting our special education teachers next week.  I think the Learning Walks have been a great addition to get our admin team in the classrooms together to see the great work our staff is doing daily.  

If you are on cycle this year please set-up your second formal observation with me soon.  

“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.”
― Elvis Presley

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t going away.”
― Elvis Presley