ENSC Family Notes
November 3, 2014
eLearning and Students
Tuesday is election day.
As you know, Tuesday is election day. This is an opportunity for voters to vote "yes" or "no" on the MS/HS projects. Please remember you will be voting on a "project." The footprint is only an example and, as stated in last week's Board meeting, a location is still being researched. Safety is a huge priority for our Board. If the voters vote yes for the project, I am certain the final land selection will have the safety of students as the top priority.
If you have any final questions about the project, please feel free to contact Ann Linson at alinson@eastnoble.net or 347-2502.
Cancelled Board Meeting
All Star of the Week
Jo Flowers is this week’s All Star. Jo has been a fixture at Avilla Elementary since fall of 2000. She first served as an Instructional Assistant and has been the “Face of Avilla” as our secretary since fall of 2003. She issues bandages, ice packs, checks, answers, and smiles on a daily basis. Her loyalty to Avilla Elementary School is obvious in that she can be found here each day way outside of the normal business hours. She knows our students and our families and is a valuable resource to all. Thank you Jo for all you do to serve the students, parents, and staff of Avilla Elementary School.
Building and Curriculum Notes
Avilla Elementary
This past week Avilla celebrated a very successful Red Ribbon Week! A special “Thank you” goes out to OUR STAR group and advisers, Mrs. Cowley and Mrs. Kerr. The students and staff enjoyed four days of special attire to remind students to “Stay drug free”. As you can see “Twin Day” was a success in 6th grade.
Today, OUR 4th graders are sponsoring a Blood Drive at Avilla. Avilla 4th graders are inviting one and all to consider donating at the Avilla Blood Drive from 2:30-7:00. Mark your calendars! Tis the season for giving. To sign up online: Go to www.redcross.org, then click on the tab Donate Blood, put in our sponsor code: avillaelem! We’d LOVE to beat OUR goal of 40 appointments!
Panther University was this past Tuesday evening. OUR guests were treated to a magic show and everyone there had a great time. Parent/Teacher Conferences were held this past Thursday evening. We want to thank parents for attending. As we continue to move forward as a school it is very important that we continue to communicate and work together for the good of all of OUR students. Thank you to the PTO for the snacks for the staff!
East Noble High School
ENHS students have had quite a fall season in terms of extra-curricular success. Whether it’s individual or team success, our kids are learning that hard work combined with talent will get you better results than talent alone. Thank you to all the Knights and their coaches and sponsors who have provided a lot of exciting memories this fall. Soon our winter season kicks into full swing, and the tradition of excellence will continue to grow. It’s an exciting time to be a Knight fan.
When you talk about seasons of the year – you think of fall, spring, summer or winter. In education we are experiencing an additional season right now…testing season. Two weeks ago, 400 tenth and eleventh graders tested for the PSAT. Last week we had over 200 students take the Accuplacer test to be eligible for dual/college credit. And we ended this week with ECA (ISTEP) testing for our 200 retesters. While all this testing is exhausting for the students, the end results are so valuable. Students have the opportunity to practice the SAT, receive remediation opportunities, and earn college credit. Speaking of college credits, did you know that we have over 350 students (almost 1/3 of our school) earning college credits this year?
This year we have also expanded our online learning opportunities for our students. Mrs. Dewitt has issued over 100 credits with our online learning and credit recovery labs. Online learning is a great opportunity for students to stay on track for graduation as well as additional coursework.
East Noble Middle School
Teachers and students geared up for the first e-learning day of this school year. We took time this week ensuring that every student had the materials he/she needed to successfully complete the dynamic lessons and activities created for them.
Seventh grade held their honor breakfast, after re-scheduling from last week's fog delay. Both grades students explored careers, college majors, and colleges on the Indiana Career Explorer website.
In athletics, winter sports began their preparation with basketball tryouts. Blue and Gold teams were selected by the end of the week. We wish our basketball teams the best for their upcoming season.
North Side Elementary
It was an unusual week at North Side that included parent-teacher conferences, eLearning day, and Title One parent night. The turn out for conferences was tremendous. The staff was engaged all night talking with parents and exploring how to help students succeed.
Teaching staff continued their journey this week in implementing Indiana's new college and career readiness standards. The new standards require a new way of teaching more text at deeper levels. Staff used the professional development day on Friday to keep growing in their understanding of how to meet the new standards. Many teachers throughout the building have already begun implementing new strategies such as "close reading" and lessons with increased "depth of knowledge."
Rome City Elementary
Pumpkin Fantasyland is always a much anticipated field trip for kindergarten. Mrs. Owen's and Mrs. McCarville's classes were fortunate to have clear skies as they ventured to Ligonier where they observed skillfully crafted displays of pumpkins, gourds, and squash all transformed into uncanny representations of U. S. presidents, story book characters, and other widely recognized and admired individuals. The kindergarteners also had the opportunity to experience the thrill of navigating through a darkened straw maze that required flashlights for visual aid as they entrusted the help of their peers to guide them along.
Wednesday our classrooms were filled with individuals of various professions such as firemen, hairstylists, veterinarians, lawyers, doctors, and many more as students participated in Career Day. It was great to see such ambition among our students.
There was quite a buzz of excitement generated throughout our school as Thursday neared an end. Students were preparing to take home their iPads and laptops, some for the first time. The many hours of preparation and practice will surely prove their worth with a successful e-Learning day.
South Side Elementary
South Side hosted the Mad Ants this week at our Trailblazer University Celebration to launch the Get Fit Challenge! The Ants challenge Trailblazers to be active outside of school to win game tickets to a Mad Ants game.
South Side’s fall festival was also a great success last Friday. With pork burgers and hot dogs, a giant bounce house, lots of games, crafts by the Kendallville Public Library, and a haunted hallway organized by none other than East Noble Theatre; it was certainly a fun family night! To top things off, Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Smith played a game of egg roulette at the end of the night to celebrate our Trailblazers raising $1000 to support a local Knight family facing illness.
This year, South Side brought back an annual elementary Halloween tradition: The Costume Parade! Pre-school through first grade dressed up in their Halloween costumes and paraded the halls and around the building showing off their trick-or-treat duds. Some parents even stayed to watch the parade go by.
Our grade level update comes this week from 5th grade: Students in fifth grade have been busy researching information on their laptops. This research will be used for their Expository Essays. They are ready to inform their audience on many different vacation destinations! Fifth graders also just completed a project in which they planned a vacation somewhere in the U.S. Students planned the route they would take, things they would do on their trip, and calculated miles traveled, as well as expenses for food, gas, and lodging. Students also wrote a “Daily Journal” about their trip that included places visited. This past week was also College-Go week! Staff and students dressed up each day to show their spirit for going to college. Each class also decorated their door for a contest.
Wayne Center Elementary
Parent/Teacher Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to extend the lines of communication between home and school. Many, many parents have met with their child’s teacher or teachers this week. P/T conferences are an excellent way to keep parents informed of their child’s progress academically and socially. They also supplement grade cards by focusing on each child’s strengths and weaknesses. Meeting with parents also allows the teacher to find out if there have been any changes at home that could impact their child’s progress. For instance, have you moved, had a new baby, changed jobs or shifts, loss of a relative or pet, had a significant illness in the family? Even small changes affect how well a child performs at school. Family involvement with the school provides for shared responsibility for your child’s success. If you have not had an opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher, call to schedule a time. Even if things are going well, it is helpful to stay in touch by email, texting, phone calls or notes. Thank you to all of the parents who have attended conferences so far and we look forward to meeting with all parents very soon.
Students in Mrs. Shepherd’s Functional Life Skills class participate in Community Based Instruction each week. Community Based Instruction (CBI) is used for teaching in real life settings. The students travel to the YMCA for swimming to practice social behaviors, dressing and undressing, exercising and learning to be confident in and around the water, following directions and interacting with classmates. Another favorite spot to visit is Wal-Mart. Skills that are practiced there are making and following a list, counting money, using manners, following a recipe and purchasing the needed ingredients to make it. CBI is enjoyable for the students and helps teach them the skills they will need to use to live independently one day.
Alternative Learning Center
This week the students have been meeting with Mrs. Justus to discuss plans for trimester 2. Some students will be returning full time to the high school and not attending the ALC at all for trimester 2. Other students might split their day between the ALC and the high school, depending on class schedules and credit needs. The goal of the ALC is to offer students an alternative educational setting where they can work at their own pace and earn countless credits toward graduation, so the student population looks different every trimester, in order to meet the needs of several East Noble students each year.
The week ended by celebrating October birthdays for staff and students, then having our first e-learning day.
East Noble School Corporation
Email: alinson@eastnoble.net
Website: eastnoble.net
Location: 126 West Rush Street, Kendallville, IN, United States
Phone: 260-347-2502
Facebook: facebook.com/eastnoble
Twitter: @ENobleSchCorp