ENSC Family Notes
August 18, 2014
Challenges
1. Never say "never." We are all surprised by what people do and say everyday. We even surprise ourselves with the choices we make or words we say. Quite often when we are young, we make comments that we "will never do that" or our child "will never do that." Surprise! We are all human and circumstances create moments of poor decisions. It doesn't make any of us a "bad" person.
2. There are two sides to every story. First, go back to #1. Second, we all want to believe our child/our students and what they tell us. Sometimes, what we hear is said with such strength that at times it is difficult to remember there are two sides to every story and we need to hold judgement until both sides are heard. This is true between parent and child or parent and ENSC employee.
3. Perception is reality. How you, I, a parent, a child perceives a situation, is reality to that person. There are minimal opportunities to explain intent and emotions when someone is speaking, emailing, or reacting to a situation. Email is the worst for most of us, myself included. It is very difficult for words to explain intent and tone without the writer providing background information and explanation. I have certainly been accused of incorrect tone in some of my email messages. How you relay a message to someone is always open to interpretation by the recipient and can be embellished when passed along to the next person.
As we move forward into the school year, these three ideas are important to keep in the back of our minds. We are all human and make mistakes, say and do things we don't mean, and are often misunderstood. In the end, all of us have a good heart and are focused on doing what is best for the students and families of ENSC!
ENMS/ENHS Proposed Projects Update/Referendum
Next Board Meeting
All Star of the Week
Ask any student, “What is the goal of coming to school?” and most would tell you it’s to graduate. Graduation is certainly a milestone in the lives of many students. It represents years of focused determination. Sometimes there are obstacles along the way that cause students to veer off their path. Teachers and staff help guide them along the way to that day when they get to walk across the stage. At the high school level we have four counselors who play a vital role in the process of getting kids thinking beyond high school. We believe in the power of relationships, so our counselors loop with their kids. They start connecting with the freshman and then they say goodbye to them as seniors. As many of you know, ENHS just graduated highest number of students in our history. Although the numbers are unofficial, it looks like we were able to graduate over 90% of this last cohort group. Certainly one person cannot take all of the credit…after all it takes a village, right? However, one person has consistently worked with this class all four years. She took them as scared freshmen four years ago, and sent them confidently on their way as seniors just two months ago. She’s helped kids with class schedules, relationship challenges, college applications, and everything in between. If that’s not enough she also serves as our National Honor Society sponsor, a Mentor sponsor, and she serves on one of our Academic Teams. Many people are truly unaware of the dedication that public educators have for our students. Ms. Salway is a perfect example of someone who cares and who is dedicated to the success of our kids, and we proudly recognize her as an East Noble High School All-Star.
Have a great week.
Ann Linson
@ENobleSchCorp
BUILDING AND CURRICULUM NOTES
Curriculum Notes from Becca
Text Dependent Questioning Needs to Be a Focus
One of the instructional shifts necessitated by the new standards is text dependent questioning. Students will be required to answer higher order questions while at the same time supporting the answer with facts, details, and inferred information from the text. Without planning we often don’t use higher order questioning, so as you plan your lessons, it will be important to pre-plan your questions to insure that you are meeting this requirement.
Often these questions are referred to as Socratic questions. Socratic questions focus on six types of questions: conceptual clarification questions, probing assumptions, probing rationale, reasons and evidence, questioning viewpoints and perspectives, probe implications and consequences, and questions about the question. You might find the question starters at http://changingminds.org/techniques/questioning/socratic_questions.htm valuable to store to your device or print out so that you have them handy as you ask students questions in class.
While higher order questions are important, don’t forget that students MUST be required to go back to the text to help support their answers.
East Noble High School
The Marching Band has been working hard all summer beginning their 2014 production. They have clocked in over 125 hours this summer, and in addition, have performed in four different community parades! They’ll perform for the first time at next Friday’s football game.
EN Travels took a group of 23 EN students, parents & teachers to Costa Rica this summer! EN Travels is a group organized by ENHS´ Spanish teacher, Abby Schmiesing and, although it is not sponsored/run through the school corporation, Ms. Schmiesing accepts only travelers that are affiliated with, and have a positive record with, ENSC. The trip was a wonderful success with 9 days spent touring the country, learning about the culture, educational system, bio-life, and the people of Costa Rica! To see pictures from the Costa Rica trip, and to learn about the upcoming trip to Europe, visit http://aschmies.wix.com/entravels or email aschmiesing@eastnoble.net !
East Noble Middle School
Students and staff have completed their first full week of school and things are going great! Students are happy to be back at school, and our staff is excited to be working with the kids. We all appreciate the beautiful weather and the cooler temperatures too!
We kicked off our annual fundraiser with Club’s Choice. All students are encouraged to sell at least four items. If ENMS students sell 2,300 or more items, they will be treated to an Egg Roulette Challenge between Mr. Deming and Mr. Cain. Which one will be wearing the raw eggs? (Hopefully both!) Students have through Tuesday, September 2, to sell. All forms are due Wednesday, September 3.
Physical education classes are off to a great start. They will start fitness testing on Monday, August 18.
Science classes are starting off the year with a look into Science in Our World. They are studying scientific method, creating physical models, and using the metric measurement throughout the course of this unit. The 7th grade math students have all participated in a pretest to determine what they have learned and remembered. After the pretest the math students have begun a search of an occupation they are interested in and what math skills and courses will be needed in the future for this occupation. Along with this they looked at the financial cost of the school and the salary of the occupation. Seventh grade language arts students are reviewing plot elements and are being introduced to the 6 + 1 Writing traits of ideas and organization.
Mr. Starkel is looking for runners for our cross country team. Volleyball tryouts will begin on Monday, August 18. Mrs. Rayle is sponsoring an art club on Wednesdays after school, and Mrs. Hazekamp is sponsoring a math club. There is so much to do! Get involved! Make friends! Have fun!
North Side Elementary
Rome City Elementary
The first full week went very well. Michael Cary, our music teacher, received a brand new trombone on Tuesday for his 6th grade band students. This is the third instrument Michael been able to have donated to our school. It was donated from Donorschoose.org and he plans on having an eager 6th grader play this trombone this school year.
The first graders have been very busy working on the six traits for writing! They have been using their new list books for keeping track of their fantastic ideas, their writing binders for keeping track of the songs they are learning, and their writing notebooks with clips to track their spots! Roman first graders are loving writing!
We ended our week with a college bound assembly. Students had fun at the assembly sharing career ideas, college ideas and learning the importance of the value of college. As each classroom in the building shouted and cheered on the college their classroom adopted, we ended the assembly knowing “after high school comes college.”
South Side Elementary
We had a great first full week at South Side. Teachers and students are well on their way in teaching and learning new procedures, and meeting new academic challenges. Our first grade team has been working on Good Fit Books, and completed a great activity using shoes as a demonstration: just as there is a shoe for every occasion and every personality, there is a book that fits each of us. Fourth grade has begun their discussion of STEM concepts through a team-building activity using solo cups. Fun and games can often mean serious learning!
Each grade level at South Side is developing a casual evening to meet with parents and get the ball rolling for success in the 2014-15 school year. This week, begins the first of these Success Nights as our third grade team meets with their students and families on the evening of the 21st. This is also an additional opportunity for parents to begin a 529 college savings plan for their children, and the Noble County Promise team will be present to help answer questions and facilitate registration for the program.
The South Side PTO also met for the first time this week to set the stage for all of the great activities our Trailblazer families will get to be a part of this year. The fall festival is always a favorite! We are in for a great year full of fun and learning!
Wayne Center Elementary
Morning meetings have begun at Wayne Center! As part of our initiative to create a culture of universal achievement, each class is conducting morning meetings by which students and staff have an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with one another while focusing on raising student achievement in a collaborative environment. For the first 25 days of school, staff members are following a specific schedule of morning meeting topics that focus heavily on procedures and expectations for students. The morning meeting time will also be spent on helping students understand the importance of post-secondary education, exploring career options, talent development, and learning about the university each class has adopted. The specified schedule provides consistency in expectations throughout our building so that all students are held to the same expectation.
This week Mr. Buhro, Dean of Students, wrapped up his annual bus procedure discussion with each class. Due to our rural location, over 90% of our students ride a bus to and from school each day. While we do have some students who are car riders, they will ride a bus at some point in the year for field trips or other school activities. Mr. Buhro reviewed a number of rules and procedures with the students to help keep them safe while riding the school bus.
Alternative Learning Center
With a week under our belts, all the students have settled in to our daily routine. We had our first four credits earned this week and a few more to be completed next week. Thanks to Ann, Jeff, Jenelle, and Deb for being a great staff and working with all the students to help them see progress and success on their academic journey. Knight and Sgt. Dixon visited for our first Safety Search and it went very well. We started ending our days with Newspaper Trivia to keep updated on current events. The kids enjoy the challenge and prizes they can win! It was a great week!
Avilla Elementary
OUR very own Dylan W. will be traveling to Alaska this week thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! Dylan will be traveling with his grandfather for a cruise of Alaska making stops in Juneau and British Columbia. Dylan visited his classmates in his LIMO on Thursday as his journey was just beginning. The cruise will last eight days and Dylan is most excited about seeing the wildlife that the state and Pacific Ocean has to offer.
As you can see, OUR students were very excited to see Dylan off and were very impressed with the limo. Many of OUR students had never seen a limo before let alone get to touch one or know someone that gets to ride in it. We all wish Dylan safe travels and can’t wait to hear his stories when he returns.
Back to School Night was a huge success once again for OUR students, families, and staff. Everyone was very excited for the new school year to begin. After visiting classrooms, families were able to enjoy ice cream sundaes in the MPR with all the fixings. The sundaes were being “dished” out by the East Noble Winter Guard. We would like to thank them for helping out with this so that staff could spend time with students and families in the classroom. The 6th grade used Back to School Night to take families photos! Families were given the opportunity to have a photo taken after visiting classrooms. As you can see, excitement was in the air for all.
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