The Newsletter of the Kaneland School District District News December 17, 2014 In this issue: District News Kindergarten and Literacy Fair John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School Board/Superintendent Salutes Elementary School News KME Math Lab KST Teamwork and Technology Elementary Spelling Bees KSS L to J Assessments KBK Gingerbread Man Exchange Project Regional First Lego League Competition Winners Middle School News Holiday Jazz Showcase High School Holiday Concert Tonight Kindergarten and Literacy Fair – The annual Kindergarten and Literacy Fair will be held on February 21, 2015, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Kaneland High School. This is a special day for all incoming kindergarten students to register for the upcoming school year and enjoy engaging stations and community booths. The fair will include a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog, craft stations, movie and game stations, Meet the Teachers station, seven academic game areas and up to 20 local business booths. Come out and collect ideas to prepare your child for kindergarten as well as getting to your know your community. We look forward to meeting the Class of 2028. This event is meant to be attended by incoming kindergarten students and their parents, so we encourage families to attend without siblings in order to focus on this big milestone with your child. Kaneland Arts Initiative The Diary of Anne Frank John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School – In August 2014, the John C. Dunham STEM partnership school opened on the campus of Aurora Attachments University. There have been approximately 150 3rd - 8th grade students Please see the attachments section for a complete list. enrolled for the school’s inaugural year. These students have been chosen from the applicants representing the member districts of West Aurora 129, East Aurora 131 and Indian Prairie 204. Teachers at the school will represent all partner districts. The development stage has been marked with collaboration between business, public school, higher education and non-profit professionals. The completed course of study will infuse manufacturing, engineering and design principles into the student learning experiences. Students will learn in an integrated environment that has a curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics and the Illinois Pathways Project. After exploration through the summer and the fall, the Kaneland administration was given direction by the Board of Education in October to file a formal Letter of Interest in participating in the partnership beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. This letter does not bind Kaneland to participation but has allowed administration to dig deeper into the operations, finances and curriculum at the STEM school. The recommendation based on this information will be presented to the Kaneland Board of Education in January for a vote on participation moving forward. Board/Superintendent Salutes – Two Kaneland teachers have attained National Board Certification. Our congratulations to: Elsa Glover, 7th Grade History, Harter Middle School Kristi Purnell, Extended Day Kindergarten, John Stewart Elementary Now more than ever, teachers are feeling the pressure to prove themselves in a constantly changing education landscape. National Board Certification is the highest mark of professional accomplishment. It allows teachers to hone their practice, showcase their talent in the classroom, and demonstrate their dedication to their students and their profession. National Board Standards come to life through the four components of the certification process: a content knowledge assessment; reflections on student work samples; classroom video and analysis; and documentation of the teacher's impact as a teaching professional. We commend Elsa and Kristi in their pursuit of excellence and congratulate them on this accomplishment. Elementary School News KME Math Lab – RtI Math at the elementary level offers a math lab for students to hone their math skills. These first grade students are learning number sense on their iPads. KST Teamwork and Technology – Mr. Wolf's third grade and Miss Pokorny's first grade met to partner read. The third graders were very excited to help the first graders read. The goal is to have the third graders teach the first graders how to create book reviews using the app Tellagami. Elementary Spelling Bees – During the past month, we had the pleasure of hosting the school spelling bees. Each school’s top 30 spellers came together and competed to advance to the district spelling bee as well as the regional spelling bee. Please join us in congratulating the following top three spellers from each school: John Stewart Elementary Leo Anderson 1st place Mia Kane 2nd place Caden Mitchell 3rd place John Shields Elementary Emily Sigrist 1st place Jake Bianco 2nd place Liam Cannon 3rd place Blackberry Creek Elementary Matt Manugas 1st place Jacob Gagne 2nd place Daphne Rodriguez 3rd place McDole Elementary Brian Beattie 1st place Caleb Hwang 2nd place Jenna Soucie 3rd place Please save the date and join us at the district spelling bee on January 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. We look forward to seeing the top 10 spellers from each school compete for the district trophy. A special thank you to the teachers who dedicated extra time coordinating the school bees this year: Sarah Linden, Jenelle Mance, Stephanie Kokes, Emily Owen and Samantha Maurer. KSS L to J Assessments – What is your all-time best, and how do you celebrate it? That is a question many of the teachers are asking their classes with the implementation of Dr. Lee Jenkins’ L to J model of assessing. Dr. Jenkins has philosophy on education is that traditionally we are giving kids the “permission to forget” when we have them do things like rote memorization on spelling tests. Kids know they can study a list one week and forget it for the new list the following week. With the L to J model, students are assessed on questions from the previous grade (usually 1-3 questions) as well as a random selection from the current grade (usually 5-7 questions). By doing this, kids are forced to retain the information from the past as well as learn the new information from present lessons. The results at John Shields Elementary have been great. All around the school you can see the great student work. The best part of the L to J process is that everyone contributes! There is no singling out students or traditional bulletin boards showing the success of individual students. This can often lead to stress and negative feelings from those students who may be struggling with a given concept. Instead, L to J anonymously measures the whole class’s success and tracks the progress over time. Last week alone, we saw some many students achieving an All-Time Best for their class! Keep up the good work kids!! KBK Gingerbread Man Exchange Project – Mrs. Momich's kindergarten class participated in a Gingerbread Man Exchange Project with Mrs. Daley's second grade class in Westchester, Pennsylvania. Thanks to a Facebook and the blog community, over 300 classrooms participated in the exchange project. Mrs. Momich's students read and compared different versions of the gingerbread man, had a gingerbread man hunt and wrote a letter about the hunt. The students created their own gingerbread man and sent them with their letters to the students in Mrs. Daley's class. Mrs. Daley's class also made gingerbread men and sent them to Mrs. Momich's students. Both classrooms enjoyed connecting their learning. Regional First Lego League Competition Winners – Sean Liu, Jack Gusinde and Matt Vogt competed with two other members of their Lego Robotics Team last weekend in the Regional First Lego League Competition. They took home the Regional Champions Award! They will be going to the State Competition in January at the University of Illinois. Each team competes on four levels, and the challenge is different every year. This year the challenge was "to find a better or more innovative way for someone to learn." The 1st level is running a robot of their own original design through a series of missions. The 2nd level is presenting the technical aspects of their robot design to a panel of judges and answering questions. The 3rd level involves demonstrating good teamwork by responding to a random task assigned by the judges. Finally, the 4th level is presenting their research project idea to answer the challenge of an "innovative way for someone to learn." Sean and Jack's team created a game using a format based on Minecraft and Skylanders that could be used in the classroom to teach about pollution. Their idea is “using gaming in the classroom makes learning feel like play”. Thank you to Ms. Kokes for giving Sean her thoughts on teaching about pollution in the classroom and using gaming as a learning tool. The team used her ideas in writing their technical paper. See the Brick Kings’ photos in the attachment section of this KCN. If you are interested in learning more about the First Lego League Robotics competition, here are some helpful links: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2014fllworldclass Middle School News Holiday Jazz Showcase – Harter Middle School students did an outstanding job at their Holiday Jazz Showcase on December 15, 2014. High School News Holiday Concert Tonight – The Annual Kaneland High School Music Department Holiday Concert is tonight, December 17. This concert will include performances by each of the Kaneland High School music groups, choral and instrumental. It is one of our most popular events and features many holiday classics as well as some fun and contemporary works. Each year we end the concert with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. It is a great event for the whole family. The Kaneland High School Music Department Holiday Concert December 17, 2014 7:00 p.m. in the Kaneland High School Auditorium Kaneland Arts Initiative News The Diary of Anne Frank – The Kaneland Arts Initiative is so very thrilled to announce the cast of the 2nd Annual Winter Theatre Production, the Staged Reading of "The Diary of Anne Frank," directed by Diane McFarlin. Mrs. Frank - Lynn Meredith Mr. Frank - Peter Lopatin Mr. Van Daan - Doug Orlyk Mrs. Van Daan - Trisha Mills Anne Frank - Betsy Mills Margot Frank - Sabrina Massa Peter Van Daan - Mace Jendruczek Mr. Dussel - Patrick Murphy Miep Gies - Samantha Martin Mr. Kraler - Robert Murphy Performed in Kaneland High School's Black Box Theatre, "The Diary of Anne Frank" is a unique telling of the traditional book read in classrooms all over the United States. Director Diane McFarlin is presenting this work as staged reading, meaning the actors will have their scripts with them at all times. She has been in contact with the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and will facilitate a talkback following the show. Performances are on January 23, 24 and 25, 2015, in the Kaneland High School's Black Box Theatre. Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:00 p.m. and the Sunday performance is at 2:00 p.m. Tickets will go online soon, and prices are $10 for adults and $8 for students/senior citizens. Tickets purchased at the door will be $12 for adults and $10 for students/senior citizens. More information can always be found on the Kaneland Arts Initiative website, http://www.kanelandartsinitiative.org. KAI can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. KCN Information The KCN is published every two weeks during the school year. Submissions should be e-mailed to [email protected] and must meet the guidelines. Submissions will run for ONE week. If you wish to have something run for consecutive weeks, you must resubmit it on a week by week basis. Attachments are included as space allows. Items relating to school and district events are given priority. Community flyers should be sent to the schools for inclusion in the Virtual Backpack. Attachments The following attachments are available on-line by clicking on the link below the list: Superintendent Press Release Fox Valley Career Center Open House 1/7/15 Brick Kings Lego League Regional Lee Murdock Concert 1/3/15 Be Super Event 1/18/15 Project KC Flyer Attachments are available here.
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