ENSC Family Notes
February 29, 2016
Middle School Update
The architects continue to work with the East Noble Middle School staff to design flexible learning spaces for students and staff. Administrators and teachers have visited other schools to gather ideas and suggestions for the building.
We continue to plan on a ground breaking in late July or early August with occupancy in August of 2018.
ISTEP Week
The original purpose of the ISTEP test was to provide teachers and parents with a snapshot of individual student progress. This information was to be used to provide additional support to students. Student centered!
Over the years, the test has moved from being student centered to school/district/teacher centered creating a high stakes test that determines future employment and raises for teachers. In an effort for schools and teachers to do well, the test often drives instruction.
ENSC believes education should be student centered with an end goal of providing curriculum and instruction that prepares students for success after high school.
So, what should you and your child be doing to prepare for the test, just get a good night's sleep, eat breakfast, and treat each day as a regular school day.
eLearning
Why eLearning for ENSC students?
East Noble School Corporation believes it is important to keep students engaged in their learning with consistency and at a level that supports mastery of the standards. Is eLearning a solution for that challenge? We believe yes.
When weather prevents the district from safely transporting students to school, our choice is eLearning or cancellation. When using eLearning, students are still engaged in their learning and staying on course for mastery of standards. If we cancel, most students will use the time to sleep, watch TV, play video games, watch movies, etc. While ENSC believes "play" is good for our students, we also believe eLearning on cancellation days keeps students engaged in their learning and at the same time, allows students some time for play.
Some people have expressed their belief that face to face instruction with teachers is better than eLearning. Absolutely, hands down, no question about it!! When the district is faced with weather conditions that are unsafe for bus transportation, we are faced with the choice of eLearning or add a day of school at the end of the school year. We do believe keeping students engaged in their learning with their current standards is more valuable than adding days at the end of the school year.
Something to think about, if we did not use eLearning this winter, we would be adding five days to the end of the school year making our last student day June 6 instead of May 27.
Technology Notes
As we enter into the last grading period of the 2015-2016 school year, the East Noble Technology Department would like to remind you of some important dates and information concerning laptops for students in grades 5-12.
- Current 8th and 12th grade students are able to purchase their machines to keep at the end of the year should they choose to do so. The cost to buyout the laptop this year is $75. Any student interested in purchasing their laptop must pay to purchase the machine no later than Friday, April 22. APRIL 22 IS THE ABSOLUTE DEADLINE FOR PURCHASE. Students should take cash or check for the purchase amount to their school’s office by this date to reserve their machine.
- All 8th and 12th grade students—even those purchasing their laptops—will be turning in their devices on May 26. Students MUST report damages to their machines prior to this date! We have had many instances of students turning devices in that last day having never reported damages, and in many cases, the amount of damage exceeds the value of the machine. Please look at your child’s device and encourage him/her to report any damages you see as soon as possible. The Student/Parent Agreement Form that is signed off on during the registration process states the following:
I/We understand that I/we must report all device damages or the theft/loss of the device to the building designee within one school day. In terms of laptops, should a machine be turned in at the end of the lease having damages that have not been reported and that damage is deemed greater than the replacement cost of the device, it will be the responsibility of the student to pay the buyout cost of the device.
- Any 8th or 12th grade students that need access to a machine over the summer because of online classes, remediation, or credit recovery may rent a laptop to use during the summer months. The cost to rent a device is $50, and students interested in this option should notify their offices and bring $50 in cash or check by Friday, May 20. A reminder will be sent about this over the coming months.
- East Noble is once again stepping into an exciting endeavor. In years past, a large number of parents voiced the desire that their children be allowed to keep their laptops over the summer. In an effort to meet the needs of the many students who participate in online classes, summer school, credit recovery, and summer AP/Pre-AP courses, the district is going to once again allow students currently in grades 6-7 and 9-11 to keep their laptops over the summer. In addition, this year, students in 5th grade will be allowed to keep their machines over the summer! More information concerning this will be sent in early May.
Unsung Hero
Have you ever thought about what takes place in a 100 year old building at 3:00 a.m. in the morning?! Well one man knows the answer to that better than anyone else. Chris Ramsey is the middle school’s 3rd shift custodian and is our Unsung Hero of the week. Chris has been working at the middle school since 2006 and is the man behind the scenes that makes everything ready for staff and students the next morning. He is almost a figure of imagination as he is only seen by a few early risers to school each day. Yet, without Chris’s efforts and pride for the middle school our building wouldn’t be fully prepared for each school day.
Chris’s main duties include cleaning all of the bathrooms, locker rooms, staff lounges, stairways, some classrooms, and securing the building each night. Chris is a good leader as well. He helps the rest of our custodial staff with his vast knowledge of how things are supposed to be done. Thanks for everything you do Chris to make East Noble great!
ENSC Strategic Planning
Building Notes
East Noble Middle School
Next week we will begin the first round of ISTEP testing so it always important to remember some great testing taking tips and strategies. Parents, make sure your child gets plenty of sleep during the week of testing, eats a good breakfast each morning, and gets to school on time. Students, during testing don’t forget to underline important information, answer all questions completely, show all your work to get full credit, and pay attention to the time and pace yourself. While taking the language arts portion, remember to scan the questions being asked, underline important words in prompt, use paragraphs and write neatly, and always re-read your answers and check for any mistakes. SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!
The seventh grade math students have been working on a variety of mini projects using the skills learned so far this year. Recently students found the surface area of a barn and then the cost to paint it. They also designed their own pizza parlor including the unit rate cost and everything included. These mini projects are leading up to the landscape project where the students will design the entrance to the new middle school. The project will be judged by community members and leaders.
Seventh grade language arts students have finished reading The Outsiders. Students have enjoyed learning the many lessons that the story presents: fighting never solves anything, it is what is inside a person that is more important than what is on the outside, family is important, and of course, STAY GOLD.
Seventh grade science students are concluding their physics unit with two big projects. Students are designing roller coasters and building them out of paper. These coasters will have plenty of twists, turns, loops, and other surprises as students manage potential and kinetic energy as well as forces of gravity on a marble that will complete the journey down a paper track. Following the construction of these paper roller coasters, students will once again be diving into the world of structural engineering for our annual bridge building project. Students use the computers to design, test, and eventually build bridges to withstand a load. Students’ knowledge of compression, tension, and torque will help them create a sturdy bridge in reality. The record is 70+ pounds before the bridge collapsed. Who knows how strong this year’s top bridge will be? Projects like these are great examples of what STEM is focused on in today’s science classrooms.
Seventh grade social studies students just finished studying The Golden Age of Islam. We looked at advancements the world made in medicine, education, banking, and trade during that time period. We are now moving on and just starting to look at and discuss the six major African kingdoms.
Avilla Elementary
ELearning took center stage this week at all East Noble Schools. Families and staff worked together through it all with OUR students in mind. OUR students did a great job of sending emails with questions that they had on assignments throughout the three days. Staff did an excellent job of having lessons of value as we begin the home stretch of the school year. Assignments were turned in using various methods and will continue to come in on Monday. Students without access to internet will be able to work in the library after school until 3:30 several days this upcoming week.
ISTEP testing will begin on Tuesday and will continue through the week. Thank you in advance for preparing your child for this big week! We know that they will do their best on each and every test. Please make sure each evening your child is able to get outside and be a kid! They will need to get a good night’s rest and a good breakfast before school this week.
This Thursday will be Camouflage Day! Please have your child were her/his favorite camo gear and donate $1 to Honor Flight. The NEHS has set a goal to send four veterans to Washington D.C. this school year on Honor Flight. We have raised almost $1000 toward this goal. The donation for each veteran to be able to experience Honor Flight is about $500. We are half way to OUR goal. Please help us make Honor Flight a reality for as many veterans of WWII in OUR area a reality.
North Side Elementary
The short week due to weather was a good one at North Side. Sixth graders are in the final stages of going to JA Biztown and several candidates are vying for the title of Mayor of Biztown with marketing campaigns that have taken over the intermediate wig of the building. In other news, students school wide were celebrated for being hard workers and good citizens on Monday. The weather caused eLearning for three days in a row which tested students and staff alike in their ability to keep school going strong even with a major snow storm. The staff did a great job preparing lessons and providing timely support to students.
Rome City Elementary
The 4th graders at Rome City have been learning about forms of energy. So, this week Miss Haley from the Limberlost Public Library helped the class conduct an experiment to answer the question, how can we show the transfer of heat energy?
Third graders loved using the SeeSaw app. It is a great way to use technology and share their work. This week one way third grade Romans used the app, was to practice and compare superlative adjectives. They took a picture in the classroom and labeled it with the correct for of the adjective.
South Side Elementary
South Side’s update comes from our pre-school classroom this week: Preschoolers here at South Side took full advantage of the snow we’ve had by using cooperation to build snowmen. Building snowmen also helps to focus on body parts, sequencing, and lots of weather science when they realized he was getting much smaller and finally disappeared. We’re focusing on nursery rhymes and fairy tales right now as well. Preschoolers love the rhyme and repetition of nursery rhymes. We love Humpty Dumpty so we have been using rulers as straight edges to make bricks for walls. We drew and cut out Humptys, cut him into pieces (after his great fall), and put him back together with Band-Aids which was great fine motor work. We also practiced reciting the rhyme while bouncing on a therapy ball and having a great fall onto a mat. They loved that! We love using the SeeSaw app to share pictures of these event with our parents. It’s a wonderful way to share what’s going on with our students’ parents, especially for our students with communication challenges.
Wayne Center Elementary
Student Council started their Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser this week. Students are able to collect money for the American Heart Association. In return, students have the opportunity to collect rubber puppies on a lanyard as well as some awesome prizes! All permission slips and donations are due on March 1st. We are excited for our Jump Rope for Heart event on the 8th!
Our fourth graders are working hard on taking care of their millipedes. They are doing a great job of taking care of them and making sure all of their needs are met. They are working on making observations of their millipedes, so that we can conduct our science experiments!
Our TinCaps reading program for students in kindergarten through sixth grade is coming to a close on Monday, February 29. Students have been reading and working on reaching their reading goals. Students who meet their goals are able to earn a free game ticket to a TinCaps game. Our school’s game night is April 15, and we look forward to having lots of our students and their families at the event!
East Noble High School
We are on the final leg of the 2015-2016 school year with the last trimester just starting this past week. E-learning has been a big part of the week with 3 cancellations due to weather. E-learning provides a great alternative to making up school days at the end of the year. Not all school corporations have this luxury and we should be thankful for it. Teachers have had many conversations with students over assignments in order to help them with whatever they might need to do the assignments.
With that said, a little look into the science department at East Noble High School. March is a busy month for the science department. March brings ISTEP testing, Science Olympiad and Science Fair as 3 major events. Any student who has taken Biology will take the ISTEP science test. This includes those who are currently in Biology and those who took Biology Trimesters 1 and 2. If you are wondering what will be covered on the test, you can access the information on the DOE website located at the following link: http://www.doe.in.gov/assessment/istep-grade-10
The other 2 events in March are competitive events. They are very different from each other yet offer opportunities for students to compete at the highest level against other science students from around the state. Many parents look for scholarships in athletics yet completely overlook the scholarships, awards and job offers offered through academic competitions. East Noble students have won as much as $60, 000 dollars in such competitions, received recognition nationally for their efforts and even had college and job offers due to their science work. Make sure to take advantage of these in the future.
One of these competitions is Science Olympiad. In this event, there are 23 contests. Some of these are building and engineering events such as robotics, airplane construction, bridge building. Others revolve around a variety of tests in Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics. The East Noble team will take 13 individuals to Purdue at Calumet on March 5th. The group has been preparing for this competition for the last few months and look to earn a repeat trip to the State Science Olympiad at IU-Bloomington on March 19th. Good luck team!
Science fair is another competition. This will be held at Trine University on March 19th. Students from all grade levels from East Noble will be presenting their work. Students in grades 4-12 can earn a trip to the state science fair to be held in Indianapolis in April. Good luck to all East Noble Science researchers. The projects that have been selected to advance are truly amazing and should represent East Noble very well.
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