ENSC Family Notes
January 26, 2015
eLearning...Again
Five school days have been cancelled due to weather. Of those five only one has been used for eLearning. There are other districts in the area that have used eLearning for all of their cancelled days. They have received equal criticism for eLearning. There are a few elements of eLearning that are critical to ENSC.
1. All students should have access to the lessons on the cancelled day. If we provide only internet based activities, 15 percent of our students do not have the ability to be engaged in their learning on the eLearning day. They are then forced to complete their work to the best of their ability during several school days, staying after school, going to wifi access areas in the evenings, or simply taking zeros on their work.
2. Provide relevant lessons that maintain continuity of learning. Lessons should be primarily a continuation of what is happening in class. Ultimately leading to success on testing in the spring. When school is cancelled and we do not use eLearning, student learning is disrupted and time is lost before testing. While testing is not our primary reason for existence or district belief, it is a critical expectation from the state and our success is, unfortunately, measured by the spring tests.
3. Skill and drill does have a place. Skill and drill type activities do have a valuable place in our schools and are effective at helping students master concepts and standards. Some of this as a part of an eLearning day is fine, just not 100 percent.
4. Self directed, independent learning is a priority. Students are not fully dependent on a teacher in the classroom nor should they be fully dependent on their parent for engagement in eLearning activities.
As we have not reached the half way point for winter and have used all of our built in days, we need to consider "what next" if not all eLearning. We have families who have already indicated they will not be in school if we use spring break. If we miss additional days, should we use Saturdays in February and/or March? Should we use spring break? If spring break, do we use eLearning and if that is a yes, can we safely send home iPads for our K-4th grade students for two weeks?
Thank you all many times over for your efforts with helping our students be successful in their education!
School Board Meeting
- Chris Mettert and his Show Choirs will be performing for the Board.
- A presentation from Kelty, Tappy Design.
- Public Hearing on the high school mechanical projects.
Riley Week
This week begins Kids Caring and Sharing for Riley Children’s Hospital. The student council is hosting a variety of events and one of those activities is Dine to Donate at the Kendallville Applebees. If you would like to help with this important fund raiser, please consider eating at Applebees on Tuesday, January 27. With the below coupon, 15 percent of your bill will go to Riley Children's Hospital AND you will recieve a $5 coupon for your next visit at Applebees!
All Star of the Week
This week’s All Star of the week is Ned Ragan. Ned came to East Noble as a part time bus mechanic after retiring from Dietrich’s Garage. In addition to repairing and maintaining our buses, Ned also is one of our substitute bus drivers. He is here each morning to help get buses going when they struggle to start on those cold winter mornings. While Ned normally drives extra-curricular buses only, he has also been known to drive a couple short, in-town elementary routes when needed so that students are not left to stand out in the cold. Ned is a caring, hard-working employee and can be counted on to help in any way needed.
Have a great week!
BUILDING NOTES
Alternative Learning Center
Mrs. Fraze started off the week with a great MLK presentation for the students. The students enjoyed her stories of personal experiences from living in a time of such change and impact on our society.
The students are continuing to work hard and make progress toward graduation. Some students have already finished the hard work and completed their graduation requirements and are prepared for what's next. Congratulations to Jack, Krista, and Michael! Good luck to them all moving on to greater things!
Avilla Elementary
On Martin Luther King Day OUR students learned a bit about his life from Miss Limberlost Shelbi Carmichael. Ms. Carmichael met with each grade level and talked with the students about Dr. King’s life, what he stood for, and about goal setting. Students learned that goals are not easily met and working hard to achieve their goals is a must. Many students shared goals that they have for the remainder of the school year, next year, and in their future after high school. Students are now putting their dreams on paper hands. Each student will have a dream posted for all to see! Thank you to Ms. Ackerman for taking the time to put this together.
This past Tuesday evening OUR PTO sponsored a skate night! Over 190 skaters did their thing and well over 200 students and families attended. We are very blessed to have such a great PTO and a great community supporting all of OUR kids. Thanks to all those that put this together and thank you to everyone for attending!
This coming Tuesday night will be Panther University at 6:30. Each grade level will be presenting information about technology in the classroom and at home. OUR goal is to help OUR families be able to help OUR students will school work at home. We hope that all can attend. We will be including ways to help the kiddos on ELearning days.
East Noble High School
Mastery Algebra 1 is proving to be a very successful program. We currently have about 60 students who were able to stay on the fast-track this year and will be taking the Algebra ECA in February. These students really worked hard to master each curriculum indicator as it was presented. As a result, these students will be able to take an extra course during the third trimester that they would not have been able to do without the mastery program. The Regular track students who will complete the program in May are really putting in the extra effort and completing remediation activities outside of class. We are proud of the work put in by our math team and the response of the students has been great.
This coming week is Riley week! There will be lots of fun activities happening at the high school. Students will be participating in Hat Day, Wear Red day, and the Riley Wagon. Also going on is dine to donate at Applebee’s on Tuesday, January 27th. There is a flyer that must be given to the server so that 15% of the bill will go to Riley Children’s Hospital. The Friday after Riley Week, Friday Feb. 6th, East Noble is having a talent show - Collage. There are usually over 20 performing acts. Always a very cool show! The cost is $5, doors open at 6:30 with the show beginning at 7:00. ALL proceeds benefit Riley Children’s Hospital.
East Noble Middle School
It was another busy and exciting week at the Middle School. Seventh grade students have begun reading the always popular novel The Outsiders, and 8th grade students work with the short story Raymond’s Run to identify allusions. In science, students have been studying the Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment. Social studies has been consumed with the Constitutional Convention. Students simulated the convention representing the wants and needs of different states during the simulation.
The middle school played host to two amazing sporting events this week. In their final home game, the girls hosted a Cancer Awareness night. Through ticket sales, donation, and a contribution from the athletic department, over three hundred dollars was raised for cancer research. On Thursday, the boys played host to arch rival Dekalb. The stands were packed, and the ENMS pep band performed adding to the outstanding atmosphere. During halftime of the 8th grade game, the ENMS dance team performed. Both nights showed off our great community and schools
North Side Elementary
This week at North Side staff were wrapping up midyear Acuity testing and continuing midyear mClass testing. In art, second graders were completing projects that integrated math standards involving telling time and learning about Salvador Dali. Music class featured a focus on percussion instruments as students got to bang on some bongos and work on their rhythm. PE class was all about floor hockey (keep that stick down).
Staff worked all week to collect pictures of students celebrating success. As our final push comes for ISTEP+ North Side wants to highlight the hard work our students have been putting in and get them in the right frame of mind for the high pressure test (feeling confident, not pressured).
Angie Sibert came on board as instructional coach with the hiring of her replacement in second grade, Mrs. Emily Dick. Mrs. Sibert and Mrs. Dick are both getting their feet wet in their new roles and working extremely hard to help the students of North Side reach their best! North Side welcomes both of them to their new roles and wishes them well.
Rome City Elementary
Rome City students in Mrs. McKibben’s and Mrs. Roger’s 4th grades classes learned how to create their own QR codes this week in tech class. Students watched a short tutorial created by Mr. Yoder then created their own QR codes. Student’s codes contained facts that they had learned about MLK this week. After creating their codes and emailing them to Mrs. Huelsenbeck, students scanned various codes around the library as well as classmates code.
Miss Haley from the Limberlost Public Library visited with both Mrs. Friend’s class and Miss Zolman’s 1st grade classes this week during tech class. Students are learning about economics and the public library is lending a hand with a money project. Each student is trying to earn (through good behavior) enough money to “buy” a ticket to a movie. If their behavior and work ethic is exceptional they may even earn enough to buy a treat.
The Noble County Community Foundation, Inc. and its supporting organization, Community Initiatives, Inc. recently awarded a grant to Rome City Elementary for $1,700 to assist with the cost of a school wide study of the Italian culture. Students will learn about the geography, language, music, sport, food, dance, literature, and art of Italy. This will include lessons about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tarantella, marionettes, Pinocchio, opera, gondolier boats, and more. Pictured presenting the gift is Margarita White Noble County Community Foundation Program Director and accepting the gift is Jennifer Stohlman Rome City School Art teacher.
South Side Elementary
South Side Elementary Receives Grant!
The Noble County Community Foundation, Inc. and its supporting organization, Community Initiatives, Inc. recently awarded a grant to South Side Elementary for $1,641 to assist with the cost of a school wide study of the African culture. Students will learn about African art, food, dance and famous people. Pictured accepting the gift are South Side Elementary teachers Taylor Tipton, Melissa Spencer, and Sylvia Bloomfield and presenting the gift is Linda Speakman-Yerick, Noble County Community Foundation, Inc. Executive Director.
Wayne Center Elementary
Wayne Center was recently named a Title 1 school, and as a result, two additional staff members were added to the staff to work with our students and staff. Title 1 is a federally funded grant program that is designed to provide supplemental educational assistance in order to raise student achievement. Kari Ruse has joined our staff as an instructional coach. She will be providing in-class assistance to students and staff as well as ongoing professional devleopment for staff members. She will split her time between Wayne Center and Rome City. Mary Woehnker joins our staff as a Title 1 assistant, and she will be providing direct assistance to students in order to help promote reading with all the grade levels. We would also like to welcome to our staff Nicole Freiburger who works in the morning preschool program along wth many other duties throughout the day, and Korynn Wible who works across the grade levels providing remediation and enrichment. We welcome these smiling new faces to the Wayne Center team and are excited to have them share their expertise with staff and students.
Math Bowl preparation has begun at Wayne Center. Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are gearing up to compete on February 27th in Hamilton. The team is coached by Terri Bollman, second grade teacher, and Beth McDonald, first grade teacher. The students practice and work to perfect their math skills on Thursdays after school. We wish them well in the weeks to come as they prepare for the competition.
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