Thank you to Kindergarten for being so flexible with your schedules so we could finish up the diagnostics! The kiddos caught on to logging in so quickly! Great job!
andA big thank you to Matt, Natalie, and Cari Miller for subbing so that I can do a math demo lesson! One team, all in!
andA big thank you to Matt, Natalie, and Cari Miller for subbing so that I can do a math demo lesson! One team, all in!
-From Erica Barraza
Thank you so much to Kelly Roland for watching over me. While out on family business last Friday, Kelly made all copies, left notes, shared ideas and coordinated this week for me. I walked in Monday morning and my week was set! No worries. It was such a relief and time savings! Working Smarter, not Harder! Thank you Kelly! So happy you are part of my life!
-From Theresa Kovach
Also, kiddos to Michelle Magness and team! When asked if Third Grade could use the PreK sandbox to simulate a fossil dig....there were no questions asked! Of course we could! We also could use the PreK fossils and tools, whatever we needed to make the dig successful for the third graders. ONE TEAM.....ALL IN! It was a success! The third grade children experienced what it might be like to sift sand and brush fossils. Thank you Michelle and Team!
-From The Third Grade
Shout out to Maureen Devoss and Brittany Miller for jumping in to help a former student of theirs. They both saw he was having trouble in the hallway returning to my class so they immediately tried to help him calm down and transition appropriately. Thanks :)
-From Kelly Roland
I have one more kudos for Monday morning!
Thank you to all of our specials teachers for offering Wednesday enrichment times for our students. We really appreciate you all working with our schedules to find extra time to work with our kiddos. It has allowed us extra time to pull kids for quick reteaches or to make up work. Thank you again,
-From The First Grade Team
Thank you Victoria for helping get our first grade kiddos quickly logged into the computer program and helping keep them on track so we could make the most of our flex time! I appreciate you taking away from your own time to help us out.
-From Amanda Lorenz
Kudos to all the case managers for using slides to tell the story of students in IEP meetings. This is so important for helping parents understand the process. I would want this as a parent, and I sincerely appreciate you doing this for our kids and families in meetings.
and
To Erica Barraza for teaching a lesson in front of almost as many adults as students! WOW!
and
Stanton--6th and 8th grade teachers for the Second Step lessons I was able to observe on Wednesday. I'm SO impressed with what you're doing and how your bringing your personality to the program. NICE...can't wait to see 6th and 7th in action!
-From Heather
Several of the grade levels at Lotus have asked their Facebook communities to sponsor their class so that OUR kids can take home a new book (from Scholastic) each month?! ️
Here are my kiddos!!
Kudos to Kally and many other teachers for sharing this brilliant idea to find a sponsor for our classes. I was blessed to see how quickly people jumped on board. I have received so many personal messages with words of encouragement and their “why” for saying yes. Generosity is contagious and beautiful!
-From Tiffany Mihovilovich
Kudos to the teachers at Lotus for being flexible in allowing me to pull your students for vision and hearing this past week. Special thanks to Heather Pear and Stephanie Silverman for allowing me to use your room for the week!
-From Jessica Lanners
Jessica--thank YOU for getting these screenings done so early in the year!
Thank you to Georgette Franco and Rich Bressett for working the concession stand for the home volleyball game on Thursday!
and
Thanks you Michele Burgess for all your help with the PE locks... looking forward to a more streamlined system moving forward!
and
Thank you Jeff Sefcik for spending your own time and money to help some families in the area get donated furniture!
and
Thank you Kendra Smeigh for making awesome volleyball line-up sheets complete with our new logo and organizing the spiritwear!
and
Thank you Don Ukleja for installing our new gate for PE equipment storage, looking forward to more space for ease of access and keeping our "stuff" secure!
-All From Melissa Jakstas
Kudos to Theresa Kovach for coming up with an awesome idea to bring our unit to life. We had our 3rd grade kiddos act like paleontologists by digging for “dinosaur fossils” in the sandbox. The kids loved this! Double kudos for coming to school early and hiding all of the items in the sandbox... in a dress!
and
Kudos also to Michelle Magness for letting us use your dinosaur items to do this activity. Sorry for not finding all 80 of your toys!
-From Kelly Roland
Thank you Heather Pear, for sharing your knowledge of Handwriting Without Tears with us, and guiding us through beginning a THIRD new curriculum. We are so excited!
Thank you Heather Friziellie, for making sure we have the necessary materials to help our students learn!
- The Kindergarten Team
Happy to help, and KDG rocks! :) -From Heather
Thank you Sarah, Cari, Lynn, Bridget, sub Laurie (even though she may not see this), and everyone that has helped my KT friend stay safe at school!
-From Tiffany Tardio
Kudos to Heather and our D114 School Board for bringing art education back into the daily lives of our students. The love that our kiddos have for art is expressed in so many ways, including this gem I just found.
Thanks again for working together for our kiddos!
A Big Thank You to Christine Spittler for her thoughtfulness and generosity in donating high quality art materials.
and
Thank you, Jacob! Rearranging your cleaning schedule every Friday so the art room is cleaned after pottery helps a lot. Thanks for all you do!!
and
Don, your turnaround time on fixing the fuse for the kiln and getting us the towels was amazing, and allowed the firing to be completed. Thank you!!
-All From Gayle McManamon
Thank you to Michelle Magness for helping me out by always being my voice of reason and for the great ideas that she’s always willing to share!
and
Christine Spittler and Chris Brown- thank you for ALWAYS stepping up and for being there with me every single day! You two ladies are amazing!!!
-From Erica Bender
When you have a kudo to share for someone, please just email me and I'll include it here! The goal is to create system celebrations--so your input is truly welcome!
Business Office Updates
SAVE THE DATE!
Lotus and Stanton will be hosting health screenings through NIHIP on November 13th and November 15th.
The wellness program consists of three main components...
1. The comprehensive screening package (everything included is listed on the graphic)
2. Flu vaccinations
3. Additional test options
The best news is that the comprehensive screening package and flu shots are provided at NO COST to all employees and spouses on any district health plan.
The comprehensive screening package and flu shots are available on a self-pay basis to all employees and spouses not on one of the district's health plans.
Additional test options are available and will be covered at 100% for all BCBS PPO members. They will also be available on a self-pay basis to all others.
Additional information to come, but a flyer with information is attached to the Memo email.
Curriculum Updates
Using the Blended Program to Meet all Instructional Needs
A huge bonus of the Ready Math Curriculum is that the Tier 2 interventions and enrichments are embedded within the program. All students at Stanton and Lotus have completed the iReady Diagnostic. The diagnostic serves to pinpoint the skills each student needs to develop, group students by common learning needs, and gauges if students are on track to meet annual growth targets. The online instruction gives each student a personalized lesson plan based on individual assessment data, which allows every student to work within their zone of proximal development and build the next set of skills they need to succeed. The Ready Instruction helps teachers to lead effective whole class instruction, differentiate for small group instruction and provides an online virtual filing cabinet of instructional resources and differentiation tools.
Blending both of these programs together takes away the need to supplement with any additional resources in Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction. When developing your small groups and structuring your flex time for math, it is important to use the tools and detailed information Ready Math provides. Some tools for instruction when thinking about Tier 2 and flex time include:
-Using t Ready prerequisite lessons (on the Teacher Toolbox) for small group teacher-led differentiation.
-Using the Math Center Activities (on the Teacher Toolbox) or the Unit Games in the -Practice and Problem Solving book for small group student-led activities.
-Using the Independent Practice in the Student Book, the Fluency Practice in the Practice and Problem Solving book, the i-Ready Instruction lessons, or the Door 24® Plus iPad® mathematics fluency app for individual student practice.
-Using t Ready prerequisite lessons (on the Teacher Toolbox) for small group teacher-led differentiation.
-Using the Math Center Activities (on the Teacher Toolbox) or the Unit Games in the -Practice and Problem Solving book for small group student-led activities.
-Using the Independent Practice in the Student Book, the Fluency Practice in the Practice and Problem Solving book, the i-Ready Instruction lessons, or the Door 24® Plus iPad® mathematics fluency app for individual student practice.
-Using the pre-assessments and common formative assessments to drive your small group instruction or flex time
-Dividing students into groups based on their current understanding of the material and having the students complete station rotations allow the teacher to work with different groups of students to provide remediation, reinforcement, or additional challenges.
-Dividing students into groups based on their current understanding of the material and having the students complete station rotations allow the teacher to work with different groups of students to provide remediation, reinforcement, or additional challenges.
Just to give you an idea of the effectiveness of using the blended program in all areas of your instruction, I attached a study conducted by the Educational Research Institute. The study included 4,000 participants in 5 different states and across 24 different schools.
Also, please know that there will be training by ReadyMath on October 5 (Institute Day) about all this--data interpretation, using the resources to differentiate, and planning for intervention. If you need ANY help, please reach out to Erica Barraza, Matt Peters, or Heather---we are happy to help!
Rating Scales
It’s a new year, and with a new year comes new requests from parents and doctors for information about how our students are doing in the classroom! As a reminder, if a parent gives you a rating scale or any other document from a doctor and asks you to complete it, give it to Sarah Ferens first. We have to have a release of information signed within the last year on file in order to exchange any information with the doctor, and Sarah will make sure this happens. Once the release is on file, complete anything you are asked and give it back to Sarah, who will send it directly to the doctor. It seems like a lot of extra steps, but this is to respect our students privacy and protect you from any potential misrepresentation. If you have any questions, let us know!
Our fall articulation meeting is coming up on Wednesday, September 19th. Culver's Custard will be served and an EAFL member gift will be handed out... looking forward to having everyone together for our first meeting of the year! The agenda will be emailed out on Monday, please bring a copy to the meeting if you would like one for yourself.
The IEA provides tons of free professional development on a variety of topics. Both digital and in-person development sessions are offered. Check out the IEA Professional Development Calendar to see what might be of interest to you! IEA Professional Development Calendar Link
Education Support Professionals
The One Conference, specifically for ESPs is coming to Oak Brook October 12-13. Registration is due by September 21st. To register, or for more information, visit https://ieanea.org/events/iea-one-conference/
Melissa Jakstas, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Cathy Jawnyj, Region Representative
Kendra Smeigh, Stanton School Representative
Tiffany Tardio, Lotus School Representative
*check here for documents most frequently used/requested
Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this folder!
Blue Cross Blue Shield:
Guardian:
SEL Pacing Guides
Stanton:
Questions to Consider
Ok, this is another AMAZING TED talk. I’m becoming an addict.
Think about…
When have YOU shown grit?
How can we help our students show grit?
Watch it again...what’s the message you hear the second time you watch? (I mean it...I watched twice and got more the second time!)
Sept 19: Guidling Coalition Meeting--please RSVP if you can join!!!! Get ready to lead...ALL MEANS ALL! Tuesday at 3:15PM at Stanton
September 25: Board of Education meeting--7:00PM at Lotus
October 20: Rotary Trivia Night---funds raised pay for the December Neediest Children event! WE HAVE AN OPEN TABLE--PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN BE THERE!
October 26: RD Sayles Foundation event--more details to come (but it will be right after school with employee TLC to kick it off!)
So proud of my football player...thought I’d share this picture. He picked his number because I told him I’d hold up a huge poop emoji at Homecoming if he was #2...guess he accepted the challenge! And I guess I’ll be holding a giant poop up at Homecoming.
ONE TEAM...ALL IN
ALL MEANS ALL
Let’s make it a great week!
Heather
