ENSC Parent Notes
September 9, 2013
Welcome to a new week.
Board Meeting Week
The next Board meeting, September 25, will be held at East Noble Middle School.
ISTEP to be released Monday
Please check my website, www.AnnLinson.com for information related to ENSC's stance on ISTEP results. In a nutshell, we do not believe the results for grades 5-8 are reliable due to the numerous computer interruptions created by CTB/McGraw Hill testing vendor. We will always wonder and ask "how much better would our students have done on the test, if these interruptions did not occur?"
Last Friday, students were provided a letter that gives logon information to access their ISTEP scores. Please look for that letter in your child's backpack.
Super Heros of the Week
East Noble Middle School is honored to have Mrs. Sandy Scare and Mr. Kevin Allison on our staff with a combined 20 years of experience here to ENMS. Sandy and Kevin are the heart of the front offices. They arrive every day ready to greet our students and visitors to East Noble Middle School. Each hero puts in the extra effort to work at school activities and athletic events. They possess the super power to read students minds and answer the phone calls as quick as lightening! The most powerful heroic attribute is their ability to read students minds. They are a great asset to our nurse’s station as well helping to make sure students are safe and treated well. Each hero allows for the office to run absolutely smooth and very well organized! We would like to thank both Sandy and Kevin for an outstanding job over the years and for years to come at ENMS. Thank You for being our heroes.
Website idea for the week.
This first one is an infographic with good digital citizen/digital manners information. http://tinyurl.com/pygtkn6
The second site is from edutopia (a great resource to follow on Twitter). "Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen." http://tinyurl.com/k87bqsk
By the way, a site I use often is www.tinyURL.com. This site allows me to change a long link into a significantly shorter link. I used the site for both of the above links. The first link in its original format was 79 characters long!
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Have a great week and always feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions you may haeve.
Ann Linson, Superintendent
Follow me on Twitter @AlinsonEN and also check out my website: www.AnnLinson.com
Building and Curriculum News
Curriculum News from Becca
As you start to settle in to the school year and a new routine, there are many teaching resources that you might find helpful to support your lesson planning.
- Teaching Channel – www.techingchannel.com - This site is full our videos on quality teaching techniques and ideas.
- NBC Learn – www.nbclearn – Free to Indiana teachers, this site is full of videos and news stories that are an excellent way to bring real world events into your instruction.
- Teachers First – www.teachersfirst.com - TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time
East Noble Middle School
East Noble Middle School was business as usual even after a day off!
In the classroom our students are busy working on sharpening their skills. Science classes are writing stories and making posters on inferences, predictions, and observations. 7th grade Art students just finished their Line and Pattern Unit with the Name Fish. 8th grade meanwhile are starting to make Mola style paper designs. Art club elected new officers and are in the midst of creating a huge pattern that will be used while making a mural in hopes to brighten up the new offices at ENMS. Math classes, students are working on measurement. In Social Studies, 7th graders are creating Climate Zone Inspired Superheroes using Hero Machine 3. In 8th grade they are studying the exploration of “the new world”, researching an explorer, and then eventually debating which explorer had the biggest impact on history.
Students in Language Arts are reading short stories and preparing for the upcoming novels, 7th grade- The Hunger Games and 8th grade, All of the Above. We are continuing to help our students become better digital citizens through various lessons and online experiences.
Finally, the 8th graders visited Stone’s Trace in Ligonier, for the Pioneer Festival on Friday, and came back with tons of new knowledge about the pioneer settlers of Noble County.
Avilla Elementary
The 6th grade students visited Camp Potawatomi for a day of team building on Friday. The students participated in several activities that challenged them both mentally and physically. All of the students participated in challenging group activities as well as individual activities. It was a pretty awesome sight to see the kids work together and solve a challenging problem presented to them. My favorite part of the day was when a very quiet student would step up and make a suggestion to the group and they would listen to that student and try the idea. OUR hope is that this will carry over not only in the classroom but in life.
East Noble High School
One of the things we stress to our students at the high school is the opportunities before them. We push them with the academic rigor in the classroom and encourage them to get involved in their high school experience. Whether it’s on the stage or on the field there are plenty of ways for kids to showcase their talents.
During the start of the fall season, we’ve seen tremendous effort and school spirit for one another. It’s great to see high school students supporting and cheering their peers. It creates a positive environment in our hallways too. Whether it’s sending positive messages across the Twitter channels or filling our stands with bright colors there is an atmosphere of family and togetherness.
Although we may not win every competition, we will always put our best foot forward and represent East Noble and with a level of Knight Pride that other schools only wish they had. We have a tremendous teaching and coaching staff that prepares and guides our kids through the ups and downs that competition brings. No matter the venue, the East Noble Knights will bring a valiant effort that make us all proud.
If you happened to be at the football game this past Friday, then you know it was Teacher Appreciation Night. Twenty one seniors each nominated a teacher who had a positive influence in their lives. There were teachers from the elementary, middle, and high school who were called to the field. Most definitely this illustrates that we are all a family. It’s not just a high school thing. We are all part of something much more important than points on a scoreboard. We are part of the lives of young people, and we influence them more than we realize.
North Side Elementary
Miss Ebert and Mrs. Sibert’s 2nd grade classes have launched Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Word Work. Their CAFÉ boards are already up with strategies posted. The students have enjoyed Launching 6 Traits and writing to a specific audience. Since success time starts later this month, their classes enjoyed Social Studies and learned about communities during the success block of time. Students learned how communities expand beyond Kendallville. They also learned about community leaders that help them within North Side.
The 5th grade students at North Side stepped back in time this week as they attended Camp Potawatomi for a vast variety of learning experiences ranging from Native American Studies, team building exercise, conquering the tower climb to pond studies. By far however, the highlight of the students’ day was their time they spent taking part as slaves in the reenactment as part of the Underground Railroad experience.
Rome City Elementary
Rome City students were given a Principal’s Academic Challenge this week. During an assembly Mrs. Green challenged the students at Rome City to achieve 80 % of their reading, math, and T.E.A.M. goals set by their teachers. Students meeting their goals at the end of each quarter will be able to celebrate with staff.
Each quarter students meeting the challenge will get to participate in a celebration for reaching their goals. The first celebration will be a Tailgating party during lunch. Students will get to Tailgate during lunch, play corn hole, do sidewalk chalk, bubbles etc.
During the assembly we discussed the importance of succeeding as a T.E.A.M.= Together, Everyone, Achieves, More. The more students and staff work together the more Rome City students will achieve.
South Side Elementary
South Side held our first PTO meeting of the year this past week with record turn out from both South Side parents and teachers alike! We have big plans for our upcoming Fall Carnival to be held on the evening of October 25th. Coming events for this week: our students prepare to meet the Red Cross in preparation for our October Pint-Sized Heroes blood drive event. SSES students will invite the adults in their lives to donate blood to save lives on their behalf.
Our grade level update this week is brought to you by the 2nd grade team: The South Side Second Grade is off to a great start this school year! We are excited to welcome Ryan Robertson to our staff this year, and the kids already love him too! Four square is becoming quite competitive among the students at recess with his extra coaching and tips!
Students are gaining independence, catching on to routines and learning new strategies very quickly in their literacy and math work. Students were very excited about the launch of University Time this week. They love mixing it up with a different class and teacher for part of the day! Second grade students have also been focusing on Character Counts, especially the pillar of responsibility. It happens to be the focus of our first writing project, a personal narrative about a responsibility they have.
Finally…drumroll please….iPads! Second graders are thrilled to use iPads for their first year! They are getting acquainted with the basics, and just like in their other academic skills, they are catching on fast! We are excited to work with this great group of kids!
Wayne Center Elementary
Sergeant Ron Galaviz from the Indiana State Police visited our school on Wednesday to talk to our fifth and sixth graders about digital citizenship and online safety. Sgt. Galaviz spoke to each class about being responsible while using any technology, not just student laptops. He described what cyberbullying is and how to address it, how anything that is done on a computer or phone leaves a digital footprint and the implications of that, and how to remain safe while online. Sgt. Galaviz gave concrete examples of appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology and how students can remain safe and responsible. His overall message to students is that we all need to be responsible users of technology.
Over the last several weeks students have been learning from their teachers about how to be good digital citizens, and Sgt. Galaviz reinforced that message to our students. It was an interesting presentation with a lot of good information for our students.
Alternative Learning Center
It has been a great week at the ALC. We welcomed three new students, awarded four more credits and had a visit from one of last year’s graduates! The credits that were earned this week bring our total for the trimester to 13!!! This year’s total is well beyond the 6 credits that had been earned at this point last year. Great job students!!! Such progress could not be made without the dedicated and caring team at the ALC. Big thanks to Super Heroes Fraze, Johnson, Ade, Clancy and Justus.