Milne Grove Messenger
November 2019
Highlighted Dates to Remember (see linked calendar for full schedule of events)
1st Trimester Ends: November 8th
No School-Veteran's Day: November 11th
9:30 Late Start: November 19th
Family Reading Night At Milne Grove: November 22nd
Parent Teacher Conferences: November 25th & 26th
Students Not in Session - November 25th - 29th
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Principal's Page
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on November 25 & 26; both evening and morning hours are available. This is a wonderful opportunity to ask any questions that you have and hear first-hand how your child is progressing.
New this year, we will offer sign up for Parent Teacher conferences through links the teachers send out through ParentSquare, but feel free to contact our office with ANY questions or problems.
We are happy to schedule a time for you if technology is not your thing.
This is the only formal conference that we will offer throughout the year, though I encourage you to contact your child’s teacher whenever you have questions or concerns.
If you would like to conference with me, I have plenty of times available – please call or email to set up a conference time!
Milne Grove is pleased to announce that the Illinois State Board of Education has recognized us as a ‘Commendable’ school. This rating demonstrates our achievement on the state’s accountability measures which included the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), the 5-Essentials climate survey, and our school’s attendance. We continue to work on making MG an ‘exemplary’ school; that would put us in the top ten percent of schools in the state. Our school improvement plan and district strategic plan outline many goal areas for this to help make this dream a reality.
Thank you for all of your support!
Jaime Koziol
Parent Square
Our School is using ParentSquare!
We are very excited for the new school year and we hope you are too! We want to share with you that this year we’ll be using ParentSquare for all school communication with parents/guardians. It will be the place where you receive all information relevant to your child. It’s the easiest way for you to see what’s going on at school and in the classroom. Better yet, should you need to contact us, you’ll be able to send a direct message from ParentSquare.
ParentSquare provides a simple and safe way for everyone at school to connect.
With ParentSquare you’ll be able to:
- Receive all school and classroom communication via email, text or app
- View and download photos
- View the school and classroom calendar and RSVP for events
Easily sign up to volunteer and/or bring items
The best way to use ParentSquare is by downloading the free mobile app for iOS or Android. You received an invitation via email. Simply click on the link to activate your account (it’ll take less than a minute). You can also use ParentSquare on any device.
Tips
- Activate Account – Click the link in your invitation email/text or sign up on ParentSquare.com or via the ParentSquare app.
- Download App – It’s easy to stay in the loop with the ParentSquare app. Download it now from the App store or Google Play.
- Set Preferences – Click your name in the top right to visit your account page and set your notification and language preferences.
- Get Photos & Files – Click ‘Photos & Files’ in sidebar to easily access pictures, forms and documents that have been shared with you.
- Appreciate Posts – Click ‘Appreciate’ in your email/ app or website to thank a teacher or staff for a post. Teachers love the appreciation.
- Comment or Reply – Click ‘Comment’ in app or website to privately ask a question about the post that your teacher or school sent.
- Participate – Click ‘Sign Ups & RSVPs’ in the sidebar to see available opportunities. Click bell on top to check your commitments.
- Join a Group – Click ‘Groups’ in the sidebar to join a group or committee at your school to participate or to stay up-to-date.
- Find People – Click ‘Directory’ in the sidebar to find contact information for teachers and parents (not available at all schools).
- Get in Touch – Click ‘Messages’ in the sidebar to privately get in touch with staff, teachers and parent leaders.
Mrs. Jaime Koziol, Principal
815-838-0542 x2104
Mrs. Cindy Dragosh, Secretary
815-838-0542x2100
Notes From the Nurse
I would like to remind everyone that it is cold and flu season. Please keep your child home if they are complaining of a sore throat, cough, have a fever, headache, or any other flu like symptom. Not all children with the flu will have a fever, so listen to your child’s complaints and keep them home when they do not feel well.
Preventing the spread of germs is important and keeping sick children separated from well children is a great way to prevent the spread of illness. Remind your child to wash their hands, not to share food or drinks and to keep from touching their face if at all possible. Coughing and sneezing into a tissue or the bend of their arm is also important. The staff at Milne Grove is working hard each day to keep the environment a healthy and safe place for your children. We all need to work together for prevention to be effective.
Mrs. Gilkerson, RN
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 815-838-0542 ex. 2106 or at sgilkerson@d91.net.
PTO News
11/1- Second Box Tops contest begins
11/2- Family Freesale at MG from 9am to 2pm
11/8- Chuck E. Cheese D91 outing from 3pm to close
11/13- Metropolis Coffee Fundraiser Begins
11/16 Bingo at KG from 11am to 2pm
11/20 PTO meeting at MG 6:30pm
11/20 Mangia Pizza Night
Don’t forget to keep clipping AND scanning those Box Tops! November 1st is the beginning of the second classroom Box Tops contest. If you have any questions on the new scanning process just email us a d9.pto.info@gmail.com. Every little bit that you clip helps towards supporting our children throughout the year!
On November 2nd we will be having a Family Freesale day at Milne Grove from 9am to 2pm. Children’s clothing, shoes, and outerwear as well as baby clothing and maternity clothes will be available. We are taking donations of these items that are in good and usable condition right up until the event!
As the weather is getting colder we still want to have fun and we’ve planned some events that we can do indoors so mark your calendar for our Chuck E. Cheese night on November 8th and our BINGO afternoon at Kelvin Grove November 16th from 11am to 2 pm. Both of these events are enjoyable for the whole family to participate in so look for more information to come!
Just in time for the holidays we will be sending home a new fundraiser for the Metropolis Coffee Company on November 13th. For yourself or for gift giving this fundraiser offers a variety of products to purchase including our own special Hornet’s blend! Orders will be due when we return from our Thanksgiving Break on December 2nd. If you have any questions please contact zofia.pto.d91@gmail.com.
Also as an early reminder when we return from the break we will be having the Holiday Shop at both schools during the week of December 2nd to December 6th. The students enjoy coming thru the shop every year to buy their own special gifts for their family and friends and we wouldn’t want anyone to miss out!
November 20th is our PTO monthly meeting which will be held at Milne Grove at 6:30pm….and don’t worry about having to cook dinner that night and miss it because it’s also our Mangia Pizza night! A lot of our events involve lots of planning and volunteers and we would love to
hear your thoughts and opinions!
We sent a survey out to our D91 families during the last school year and many requests were
for Winter Wonderland. This event will be happening on December 14th at Milne Grove. This
event is a great opportunity for our students and their family members to have a lot of fun with
raffles, games, crafts, and prizes! If you have students looking for volunteer hours this is a great
way for them to earn some so please let us know! We will also be grateful for any donated
baskets, gift cards, etc for our raffle prizes. If you have any suggestions, questions, or
comments please contact us at d91.pto.info@gmail.com!
Like the D91 PTO on Facebook!
The Latest from the LRC
Family Reading Night
Join us on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd for Family Reading Night! We are hosting a special performance by Clothespin Puppets. The puppeteers will present their version of several favorite children’s books. It’s a night of fun and literacy in one. Save the date and watch for more information soon.
Book Notes
We have begun reading this year’s state Monarch Award nominated books. Students will vote for their favorite Monarch book in March. This winter we will be offering the Bluestem Bunch, a book club for third graders based on the state award program for grades 3-5.
Scholastic Book Fair
Our recent Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! We were able to get hundreds of books for the school libraries at no cost with the proceeds from your purchases! Many thanks also to the students who supported our change drive and helped us get even more books - Scholastic matched their donations with books for children in need.
Pumpkinpalooza / Food Drive
Pumkinpalooza had many great entries - check my webpage for winners. Our FOOD DRIVE RUNS THRU NOV 15. Please continue to send in food items for Bags of Hope and the Lockport FISH pantry.
Reading Programs
Book It by Pizza Hut is currently underway, see my webpage for monthly forms.. Six Flags Read to Succeed will begin in December.
Volunteer Corner
Thank you to Heather Jerz, Linda Hozjan, Kathleen Kesteloot and Krystal Ramirez for their help with library tasks this month!
Mrs. Tumino
ltumino@d91.net ~ 815-838-0542, x2122Physical Education Feats
In the month of November students will continue to get their exercise in on Work Out Wednesdays and enjoy themselves on Fun Fridays!
Our students have been showing great sportsmanship during their PE classes. Many classes have gotten to Superstar in PE for following all directions, working hard, having fun and showing outstanding character!
Just a reminder that all students in 1st-3rd should have gym shoes everyday. With the changing weather, it is important that each child has the proper gym shoes for class. Students with sandals, flip flops rain boots or winter boots are not allowed to participate in PE. Kindergarteners should have gym shoes on their scheduled PE days.
-Mrs. Draper
Please contact Mrs. Draper at kdraper@d91.net with questions about what your child is learning in gym!
Annual FISH Pantry Food Drive
Bags of Hope Weekly Food Donation Pledge
3rd Grade
ELA:
Please continue to read with your child each night for 20 minutes.
Math:
Please work with your student on fact fluency for addition, subtraction, and multiplication each night. If you would like additional resources for fact practice, please visit the math page of the third grade website.
You can use the Go Math link to review lessons at home and assist with concept questions during homework. Go Math Website
Science:
We are currently working on our force and motion unit.
Social Studies:
We are currently working on our civics unit. Please continue to work with your child on his/her vocabulary words throughout the week.
We look forward to seeing you at parent teacher conferences!
Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
The Third Grade Team
Mrs. Georgopulos, 3rd grade teacher, rgeorgopulos@d91.net
Mrs. Lyons, 3rd grade teacher, jlyons@d91.net
Mrs. Steed, 3rd grade teacher, csteed@d91.net
Mrs. Visser, Reading Specialist, avisser@d91.net
Mrs. Fiday, Special Education Teacher, lfiday@d91.net
Mrs. Phillips, Reading Aide, bphillips@d91.net
Mrs. Jerz, Math Aide, hjerz@d91.net
2nd Grade
Reading
Discuss characters, setting, problem and solution
Discuss the sequence of events in a story
Practice spelling and vocabulary words nightly
Science
- We will continue with physical science. Our next chapter is Building Blocks of Matter.
Social Studies
Chapter 2, Working to Meet our Needs
Students will learn: how to make choices about needs and wants, how people can trade goods and services within their communities, and how you can save money and use banks
Math
Continue to practice addition facts
Chapter 4 skills: break apart tens and ones to add, regrouping with 2 digit addition, and problem solving
Mrs. Bolte, 2nd grade teacher, mbolte@d91.net
Miss Podwika, 2nd grade teacher, kpodwika@d91.net
Mrs. Visser, Reading Specialist, avisser@d91.net
Mrs. Fiday, Special Education Teacher, lfiday@d91.net
Mrs. Phillips, Reading Aide, bphillips@d91.net
Mrs. Jerz, Math Aide, hjerz@d91.net
1st Grade
Superkids Reading Program:
Spelling and reading words ending with -- “le”, “er” and “ed”
Read and spell new memory words
Understand literary and informational text
Read and understand new vocabulary
Language and Writing:
Focus on writing complete sentences
Identify what an opinion is
Writing an opinion paragraph
GO Math:
Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
Add and subtract within 20
Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction
Counting backward to subtract
Using a ten frame to add and subtract
Social Studies
Celebrate and learn about Veteran’s Day
Learn about the First Thanksgiving and how we celebrate today
Science
Class activities to strengthen understanding of seasonal patterns we see in the day and night sky
The First Grade Team
Mrs. O'Halloran, 1st grade teacher, mohalloran@d91.net
Mrs. Stanly, 1st grade teacher, lstanly@d91.net
Mrs. Visser, Reading Specialist, avisser@d91.net
Mrs. Fiday, Special Education Teacher, lfiday@d91.net
Mrs. Phillips, Reading Aide, bphillips@d91.net
Mrs. Jerz, Math Aide, hjerz@d91.net
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is working hard with the letters, sounds, and sight words! We are learning the Jolly Phonics letter sounds and motions. Students are starting to apply the skills to read and write words. The Kindergarteners have also begun to blend 3 letter sounds to read words (cat, sip, ten). They have loved being “detectives” when searching for memory words in their library books and classroom books. You can help your child at home by working on their words each night, practice writing the sounds they hear in words and by reading to them everyday.
In Math we have been working on the comparing, recognizing and matching the numbers 0-10 to sets. In the coming weeks we will be going on to numbers and sets to 20. You can help your child at home with Math skills by practicing proper number formation, oral counting to 50, and comparing both sets and written numbers using our vocabulary words more and fewer.
The students have really enjoyed working with manipulatives in the classroom as well. In Science we will be exploring the signs of Fall Weather.
We are thankful for the opportunity to teach your child and for your wonderful support.
The Kindergarten Team
Mrs. Adams - sadams@d91.net
Mrs. Visser, Reading Specialist, avisser@d91.net
Mrs. Fiday, Special Education Teacher, lfiday@d91.net
Mrs. Phillips, Reading Aide, bphillips@d91.net
Mrs.Jerz, Math Aide, hjerz@d91.net
Early Learners Preschool
Upcoming Events:
Week of November 4 – The Early Learners will be introduced to the letter “N” and the theme will be Native Americans. They will be making Native American headdresses and vests for our fall program. The Early Learners will also be introduced to the color brown and the number 5.
Week of November 11 – The Early Learners will be reviewing the letter “T” and the theme will be Thanksgiving. They will be decorating Thanksgiving special cards. The Early Learners will also be introduced to the number 6.
Week of November 18 – The Early Learners will be introduced to the letter “X”. They will also be introduced to the square shape and the number 7.
Week of November 25 – NO SCHOOL but scheduled HOME VISITS Monday & Tuesday, November 25th and 26th.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, November 11th, NO SCHOOL, Veteran’s Day
Monday, November 18th, Field Trip To White Oaks Library in Lockport.
Thursday, November 21st, Fall Program at 2:40p.m. to 3:00p.m.
Friday, November 22nd, Family Fun Event at Milne Grove School at 6:30p.m.
Monday & Tuesday, November 25th & 26th, NO SCHOOL, Scheduled Home Visits
Wednesday - Friday, November 27th - 29th, NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving Break
See below some tip sheets found on the Illinois Early Learning Website.
The PK Team
Miss Robin, PK Teacher, rtorkelson@d91.net
Miss Sonya, Bilingual Liaison, spederson@d91.net
Miss Ginte, PK aide, gjonikas@d91.net
The Speech Spot with Mrs. Barker
Many parents of preschool aged children wonder if their child is developing at the expected rate, especially in the areas of Speech & Language development. If you are a parent of a young child, you might want to consider having your child participate in a Preschool Screener. Lockport Area Special Education Cooperative (LASEC) provides a free developmental screening program, called the DIAL for all preschool aged children, ages 3-5, years residing in DIstrict 91. The DIAL screenings occur in local preschool classrooms, at Milne Grove and LASEC offices periodically throughout the year. The remaining LASEC screening dates are November 19, 2019; December 10, 2019; January 16, 2020; February 11, 2020 and March 24, 2020. Please call LASEC at 815 838-8080 or go to www.lasec.org to schedule an appointment.
All parents are encouraged to have their young child screened but particularly those whose child is exhibit the following.
Language
Difficulty following directions or answering questions
Difficulty establishing and maintaining eye contact
Speaking using only single words or two word combinations
Communicating using gestures more than words
Has a history of frequent middle ear infections
Has difficulty learning new concepts such as colors, numbers, shapes
Speech
By age three your child is:
Unintelligible to familiar people
Producing vowel sounds but very few consonants
Not using the sounds /b, p, t, d, m, n, w, h/
Leaving off beginning or ending consonant sounds (e.g.”pi” for “pig”, “a” for bat)
Repeating the initial sound in a word (m-m-m-mommy; or stretching out sounds in a word (sssssss-eee)
Showing signs of frustration
By age four your child is:
Not producing the sounds /k, g, f, s/
Not producing consonant cluster (says “poon” for “spoon” or “boo” for “blue”)
Substituting sounds with airflow /s, sh, f, ch, j/, with the sounds /b, d, p, t/
Unintelligible to familiar people
Showing signs of frustration
Contact Mrs. Barker at jbarker@d91.net for more tips and tricks to aid in your child's speech and language development!
Relationship Roundup with Mrs. Reynolds
This month’s topic: Forming Secure Family Attachments
When children feel secure, a world of possibilities opens up! Unfortunately, building a secure and trusting relationship with your child is harder than keeping a strong lock on the front door. But there are many benefits to children who have secure attachments. Children who feel secure tend to be happier, kinder, and more trusting of others. They have better relationships with parents, siblings, and friends. They do better in school, stay physically healthier, and have more fulfilling relationships as adults.
Parenting for a secure attachment requires being sensitive to what children are feeling. Parents need to help them label, understand, and manage their feelings. When your children are young, begin giving them a wider ‘feelings vocabulary’ so they understand feelings beyond happy, sad, and mad. Children benefit from being able to recognize when they are frustrated, excited, nervous, confused, embarrassed, shy, and disgusted. Introduce new feeling words when your child is ready for a better way to describe his/her feelings.
As parents, we can help children manage their feelings by encouraging them to use deep breathing. In Morning Mindfulness at Milne Grove School, we’ve introduced balloon breath, calm down cocoa, and figure 8 breathing. Many people use music to change their mood. Explore different genres of music with your children and talk about how the different songs make you feel.
While it’s important to help your children label and manage their feelings, it’s also important that your children feel listened to. It’s important that they think you really understand how they feel, or as psychiatrist Dan Siegel says, it’s important that they “feel felt.” It’s important that your child feels you understand his feelings, you love him and understood him, too! This means making sure your child gets the message that his/her feelings are okay. Even when your child acts out, it’s not condoning poor behavior for you to acknowledge that your child has a certain feeling.
Your child will feel secure when he is confident that you completely accept him. Your child needs to know you love her to matter what. You can disapprove of negative behavior, but always love the person. When your child feels loved and accepted, your child carries the confidence that comes from a secure attachment.
Check out the blog at http://mrsreynoldsmilnegrove.weebly.com/ and contact Mrs. Reynolds at mreynolds@d91.net!
Art
During the fall months, Milne Grove artists are currently working on the following projects:
All Milne Grove art students will progress into painting and the color wheel - with a focus on primary and secondary colors. Kindergarten’s first official painting will focus on the color, line, and shape found within a rainbow. Students will also learn to mix and blend the secondary colors and add white to their colors to create tints. First grade students will be working on a printmaking lesson which focused on positive and negative space and the fall color scheme - inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Nature Art, and the Fall season. Second grade will be starting a portrait landscape showing depth in inspiration of Sir Joshua Reynolds and his royal portraiture. Students will learn how to draw their face in correct size, shape, proportion and spacing. Third grade students have recently completed an outrageous dream bedroom design inspired by the work of interior designers; students pushed their creativity by mapping the ultimate room with interesting layout, simple symbols, and much personal detail.
All students will also be completing artwork critiques - verbal, written, with peers, and using stickers/tokens that will motivate conversation about their artwork and the work of others.
If you have any questions regarding your child’s art class, please feel free to check the “Art Pages” on the school website, or do not hesitate to contact me directly anytime. Thank you in advance for your support of the Art Department at Milne Grove. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in any way and have a great year!
Mrs. Cravens
Technology
In technology class Kindergarten and 1st grade have started to learn how to use the keyboard by playing on Typing Club Jungle Junior. Jungle Junior teaches children to associate each letter on the keyboard with the correct finger while improving alphabet recognition, dexterity, and familiarity with technology. 2nd grade has been working on building a Jack-O-Lantern in Google Slides. Students are learning how to copy and past items, draw their own shapes, and type sentences that describe their pumpkin. 3rd grade has been working on a fall poem in Google Docs. Students are focusing on formatting options like font size, font style, color, bold, italics, and underline. Please visit Mrs. Lakics’ website for more information and ideas- mrslakicstechnologyclass.weebly.com.
Mrs. Lakics
Digital Citizenship Family Activity
Topic: Sites I Like
Music Notes
To Contact Mrs. Randolph K-8 Music & KG Chorus Director
Email: srandolph@d91.net PHONE: 815-838-0737 ext. 1140
Parent/ Teacher Conferences: Please sign up through the web. Students are requested to attend
conferences with parents/ guardians.
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: All Students in Grades K-5 & KG Chorus will present “Holiday Road
Trip” (a musical featuring songs of the season) on Tuesday, December 17 at 10 am &1:15 pm in
the Kelvin Grove Gym (enter Door # 1). The Kindergarten and First Grade will perform two songs
on the stage to open the musical. Second through Fifth Graders and KG Chorus will present the
entire musical in the gym on the floor in front of the stage. Auditioned Chorus members will be the
cast. Morning Kindergarten will perform during the 10:30 am show and the afternoon
kindergarten will perform during the 1:15 pm show. Students are to wear nice clothes for this
performance.
WEDNESDAYS (8:05-8:30 am): 3 rd Grade FREE RECORDER CLUB to earn stickers to pass
assigned recorder songs. Enter Main Door at 8:05. Do not come early. (CHECK WEB PAGE
BEFORE YOU COME FOR DAYS LAB IS CLOSED.) No appointment needed. Advanced
students will earn recorder award at the end of the year. Advanced students earn the opportunity to
use music computers and pianos.
Check the music web page: We are encouraging families to sing along with the videos throughout
the D91 music web pages. Click on tabs for each grade for homework, music, class pictures and
other information. Grades 4-8 receive email through Google Classroom for homework, and will be
using Hapara, Quizlet, Quizstar, and other web sites and youtube videos for students and families
to learn and share music together. Students are to put graded worksheets in their music portfolio
(3-ring binder) behind Chapter 2 Theory or Chapter 2 History and have homework completed by
class time each week ready to be graded. Their portfolio should have five tab dividers labeled: 1-
Notes; 2 – Theory; 3 – History; 4 – Classical Is Cool; 5 – Music; and save the portfolio (binder)
through 8th grade.
MUSIC CALENDAR:
Parents are needed to help decorate and set-up for the Christmas Program. Please return the form
to Mrs. Randolph if you can help! This year we are decorating the stage starting in November.
F. Dec.13 3pm (Old Gym closed to 10pm Dec.17)(Parents & Friends help decorate program)
M.Dec. 16 During school morning Christmas Program practice
T. Dec. 17 10 am & 1:15pm Christmas Program (Grades K-5 & Chorus) KG old gym
MUSIC FUNDRAISERS: Crystal Music Instruments (flute, violin, glockenspiel, drum) $20 Each;
$5 Hornet Magnets (c. 125 left); $5 Hornet Fathead Stickers; $20 Hornet Tervis Tumbler (only 1
left); Old Country Western Records. Any left will be on display for sale during Parent Teacher
Conferences at Kelvin Grove. Send money to D91 Music (Attn. Mrs. Randolph) to purchase them
before conferences.
SAVE TABS FOR MUSIC! Please bring metal tabs from soda and other cans to school in a ziplock
bag or large mouthed container and have students put in large white buckets in the hallw
Want to Volunteer for the Holiday Program? Return this Form!
Substitutes Needed!!
Order Your Yearbook Today! Only $18
See Link Below & Enter Yearbook ID Code 13213820
You can also send a check payable to Lockport District 91 / MG Yearbook to the office!
For More Information on Milne Grove School:
Email: jkoziol@d91.net
Website: www.d91.net
Location: 565 East 7th Street, Lockport, IL, United States
Phone: 815-838-0542
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milnegrove/
Twitter: @milnegrove