MPS & MIS Newsletter
March 2024
Principal's Message
Dear Families,
The days are getting longer and hopefully will soon be warmer, and we are excited for all that we have planned for April and May in Medinah. We look forward to finishing the year together strong.
The students at Medinah Intermediate School have finished the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) and we could not be more proud of how focused and hard they worked on these assessments. Fifth grade will be taking the Illinois Science Assessment in April to show us all they have learned in Science the past few years.
Our 2nd grade students will participate in the In-View Assessment. The purpose of the In-View ability test is to assess a student’s academic aptitude and thereby predict the student’s level of success in school. The emphasis in this test is placed on those cognitive abilities that are important in an educational program, such as problem solving, discovering relationships, evaluating, and nonverbal reasoning.
It’s that time of the year to register your students for next year. New student and kindergarten registration is now open. Children who will be five on or before September 1, 2024 are eligible for kindergarten for the 2024-2025 school year! Once registration is completed, families will set up an appointment to come into school with required documents and to receive information about next year. All returning students, please check your email or the district website for information on registering your students. Call the school office with any questions!
The 5Essentials Survey is open through March 29th and available at https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ . The Parent portion of the survey is approximately 25 questions and is estimated to take about ten minutes to complete. Please take a few minutes to provide feedback about each school that you have a child attending in Medinah. Your responses will help us guide school improvement.
We hope that you have a wonderful spring break with your families! We look forward to hearing about all the fun the students had over break!
Erin Berwick, Medinah Primary School
Natalie Czarnecki, Medinah Intermediate School
Upcoming Dates
3/25-4/1 💐Spring Break
Tuesday-4/2
School Resumes
Wednesday-4/3
- Paraprofessional Appreciation Day
Thursday-4/4
- Family Learning Night
Monday-4/8
- Solar Eclipse
Wednesday-4/10
- PTO Bingo Pizza Orders are due-Click Here
Thursday-4/11
- Early Dismissal at 2pm (Please call the office with pick up changes by 12:30pm)
Friday-4/12
- PTO Bingo Night @MMS
Thursday, 4/18
ART SHOW 2024-Preschool-5th Grade
When: Thursday, April 18, 2024
Time: 4:30-7:00 p.m.
Where: Medinah Intermediate School
Any questions please email the Art Teacher: grjuandiego@medinah11.org
Scholastic Book Fair 📖 during the Art Show at MIS 4:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Thursday-4/25
PTO Meeting @ MMS at 6:15pm
- BOE Meeting @ MMS at 7:00 pm
PRESCHOOL
Unit of Study: Balls
Students are curious and very interested in learning about a ball. We investigated different kinds of balls, how people use balls, what they are made of, what is inside them and if they can bounce. Children learn how natural forces, such as gravity and friction, affect the movement of balls; and they enjoy making balls, marbles, and other rolling objects change speed and direction.
Vocabulary: sphere, circumference, shorter/longer lengths, bounce, roll, bigger/smaller, force, gravity, circular, fast/slow speeds, wrecking ball, hollow, solid, distance
Literacy: We read a variety of books and compared how athletes play different ball games, and the equipment needed to play each sport. Students also drew a picture of their favorite ball and named/wrote the first letter they heard in that word.
Math: Students graphed their favorite ball and discussed which column had more/less. They also counted ping-pong balls and sorted them by color, as well as, sorting other ball types from smallest to biggest. Students also compared which ball bounces the highest and lowest.
Art: Marble painting - Children used their body to balance the marble while using a tray so it doesn’t fall off. Children got creative, and used their own artistic skills, by choosing colors or creating new ones by mixing them together.
SEL: Clues in your body help you identify your feelings. Students identified worry as an uncomfortable feeling. Boys and girls discussed why it is important to talk to a grown-up when they feel worried. Students also named and recognized when they or others are feeling frustrated. Sometimes feelings can be strong, but those strong feelings need to be managed by placing their hands on their tummy and saying “stop”, to help them remain calm.
KINDERGARTEN
Literacy: We read a lot of Fiction and Nonfiction texts. The children are doing a good job beginning to understand and recognize the different type of texts. We also had fun doing a March Madness book competition. The kids enjoyed listening to lots of stories and voting for their favorite book. The kindergarten students are taking off with reading sight words! Please continue to practice recognizing them at home. We appreciate your support!
Writing: We are becoming more and more independent with our writing! The kindergarten students are becoming more and more confident with writing and doing a wonderful job using their sight word knowledge to help them with both their reading and writing.
Math: Working on composing and decomposing numbers using number bonds and different types of math tools. We hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Spring Break!
FIRST GRADE
Literacy: We have been reading books with a theme of diversity. During this time we have been focusing on students recalling characters, setting, beginning, middle and end. We will be moving onto folktales where we will focus on distinguishing the problem and solution.
Writing : In writing we just finished our informational animal writings. We were reading informational books about animals, while taking notes on important information we learned. We utilized our notes in order to write a paragraph with an introduction, two facts and a conclusion. Now we are going to move onto writing biographies. We will start by writing an autobiography about ourselves.
Math: We are finishing Module 5 which focuses on place value concepts to compare, add and subtract. Students have been using their understanding of tens and ones in order to apply different strategies when adding and subtracting. We will be moving onto Module 6 which focuses on attributes of shapes while building on their place value skills.
Social Science: Currently we are in our History unit. During this unit students learn about timelines, comparing the past to today, and biographies. We will be moving onto our Behavior of Light Science unit. In this unit the big question we will be investigating is “why can't we see in the dark”.
SEL: We are in our Emotion Management unit. This unit goes over identifying our feelings, having strong feelings, ways to calm down, and utilizing self talk.
This month we are having so much participating in Book March Madness. Each day of March we are reading a new book, be sure to ask your child about the book of the day. We are excited to continue watching your child grow. We are so appreciative of the at home support in your child’s learning!
SECOND GRADE
Literacy: We are finishing biographies and students are presenting their biography projects on a famous person of their choice to the class.
Writing: Students will be researching interesting facts on a wild animal and writing an informative book.
Math: Students are learning addition and subtraction place value strategies within 1,000.
Science: We will be wrapping up properties of matter and learning about changes from heat.
SEL: Students are learning how to recognize and handle emotions.
THIRD GRADE
Reading: “Communities Then and Now”—; recount key details and determine main idea; distinguish reader’s point of view from that of the author; recount story details; explain how characters’ actions contribute to events; explain how a text’s illustrations contribute to the story; compare and contrast key points in two texts on the same topic
Writing: Narratives—identifying story structure, planning narratives, making storyboards, writing drafts, adding details to our writing
Math: Fractions as Numbers–Partition a Whole into Equal Parts; Unit Fractions and Their Relationship to the Whole; Fractions on the Number Line; Comparing Fractions; Equivalent Fractions
Social Science: Geography–Where in the world are we?; Continents and Ocean Identification; Landforms and Bodies of Water
Science: Earth Science–Weather and Climate; Processes and Impacts of Natural Hazards
As always, if there are any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask your child’s teacher!
FOURTH GRADE
Reading: Unit 6: Confronting Challenges
Skill Focus: using key details and main ideas when summarizing, forming inferences based on the text, and Greek Mythology.
Writing: Big Cheese Paragraph Writing
Math: Students generate equivalent fractions and equivalent mixed numbers. They decompose fractional units to find an equivalent fraction with smaller units and record their work with multiplication.
IAR Preparation: During our Science and Social Studies time, we have been transforming into detectives to solve practice problems for the reading and math IAR Test.
Great job IAR Testing students! We hope you all have a great Spring Break!
FIFTH GRADE
Reading: Unit 6 "Up Against the Wild" -Identify Key Events and Summarize, Compare and Contrast Two Characters in a Text, Determine How Characters in a Drama Respond to Challenges, Explain the Overall Structure of a Text, Compare and Contrast Two Stories with Similar Themes.
Writing: Realistic Fiction Essays
Math: Place Value Concepts for Decimal Operations
Science: Observing the Stars
Social Studies: Comparing the Colonies
IAR Prep: "Camp IAR" was a huge success!
Have a great Spring Break!
MPS LMTC
And the winner is........ CHEZ BOB by Bob Shea is this year's state-wide 2024 Monarch winner! Stormy by Guojing, our school's favorite, came in second place, and There's a Skeleton Inside You by Idon Ben-Barak came in third place.If you follow the following link, you can watch the official video that was sent out state-wide to announce the winning books, and if you look closely, you will see some familiar MPS faces making the big announcement. https://youtu.be/Z2xj0fED9wM?si=dhdO7SGG8ahe4JRj We are so proud that MPS was selected to make this big announcement!
Kindergarten has been working on estimating with a fun popcorn activity after reading the book, Popcorn by Frank Asch.
First grade finished the chapter book, The Treasure Tree and we discovered that we all have different personalities and all are needed to get along.
Second grade is learning about the Dewey Decimal System! Yup, the same system you all learned back in school! It still works even after 150 years!
Don't forget to visit the little free library on the Sunnyside St. side of the school. It has a new roof to keep the books safe.
MIS LMTC
Battle of the Books
The LMTC is very excited to be starting our 2024 Battle of the Books competition. The 4th and 5th graders have teamed up in groups of 2 to 4 and are ready to begin reading the four selected ‘battle books’. Throughout April, the teams will be busy reading the selected novels. During the month of May, the teams will compete against each other with trivia questions about the books. After the first three ‘book battles’, the top scoring teams will participate in the final round. The final round will take place in the gym on the last day of school with all of the MIS students and staff there to cheer the teams on. The champion team members will each receive a trophy and will have their names added to the Battle of the Books plaque that is displayed yearly in the LMTC. Good luck and happy reading to all those participating. Please contact the LMTC if you have any questions regarding the rules and regulations of this competition.
Bluestem Award
The Bluestem reading incentive has come to a close. We are excited to report that we had 115 students participate in this great reading opportunity! A special congratulations to the 5 students that read ALL 20 of the nominated books!!! We were pleased to be able to purchase Spanish editions of four nominated books in order to make this reading challenge more accessible for some of our students.We are extremely proud of every student that participated by reading some of the Bluestem Award nominated books for 2024. We are looking forward to celebrating the hard work of all the students that read 6 or more books at our Bluestem Celebration. They will be rewarded with fun games, prizes and a special treat to eat. Any student who read at least four nominated books was eligible to vote in the Reader’s Choice Award and be a part of selecting the 2024 Illinois Bluestem Award winning book. Long Distance and Shelter got the most votes here at MIS. Allergic came in 2nd and Chunky was voted 3rd place. Our votes have been submitted to the Bluestem Committee and will be counted along with all the other students who participated in Illinois. Be on the lookout to find out which book will win the prestigious Bluestem Award!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
Students and families will have the opportunity to shop our Scholastic Book Fair during the Art Show on Thursday, April 18th from 4:30-7:00 at MIS!
MUSIC
Kindergarten
-Began distinguishing between high and low pitches set an octave apart.
1st Grade
-Read, wrote and composed rhythmic patterns that contain quarter notes and pairs of either notes.
-Discovered a new pitch that is higher than so!
2nd Grade
-Worked toward mastering half notes by reading and performing in a variety of ways.
-Began to challenge ourselves by trying to hear and identify the pitch that is between do and mi.
3rd Grade
-Read, improvised, and identified rhythm patterns that contain the “blueberry” rhythm
-Finished working our way through the instruments of the orchestra by learning about the percussion family.
4th Grade
-Increased our melodic knowledge by labeling our lowest pitch low so and learning about note names in treble clef.
-Briefly began learning to play the recorder! April is going to be an exciting month!
5th Grade
-Discovered that our 2-beat “long-short” rhythm is actually a dotted-quarter note and one eighth note!
-Continue to add to Solfa Street by discovering a pitch higher than la.
ART
Students have been hard at work preparing for our 2024 art show!
Please see the weekly calendars for more information, and consider coming to support our art students!
Kindergarten: explored paper sculptures and a variety of bending and rolling techniques to create our paper snails, utilized tempera cakes to paint our “dragons love tacos” paintings
1st: compared symmetry and asymmetry in a variety of artworks and created symmetrical dragons; identified a illustrators role and created art based off of Princess and the Pea
2nd: identified a still life and designed a magic potion to paint; created self portraits
3rd: identified glaze as the paint that we use to color clay; designed a clay crown
4th: identified glaze as the paint that we use to color clay; designed clay fairy doors; referenced examples to curate our own mushroom houses
5th: identified value as a tool to help artwork appear 3-dimensional with our colored pencil castles; completed dragon eye projects and prepared them for presentation
PE
March Madness basketball is upon us in Medinah.
We have been working on ball handling skills and shooting objected into modified baskets at MPS. I use the acronym B.E.E.F. to teach proper shooting form. We played modified basketball games that works on passing, dribbling, ball control, and shooting.
At MIS worked on basic skills, rules, and game play and then participated in 3v3 game play. We played great playground games like around the world, knockout, and pig. Get outside with your student when the weather gets nicer and play some basketball. Our next unit will be volleyball.
HEALTH OFFICE
Just wanted to send a friendly reminder that Kindergarten students MUST have a completed vision exam and dental exam from the past 12 months on file in the health office by May 1st. In addition, all 2nd grade students must have a completed dental exam form from the past 12 months on file in the health office by May 1st.
If you have any questions or difficulties completing these state requirements, please reach out to our District Nurse, Renee Wesley at rewesley@medinah11.org or our Health office Assistant, Ewelina Korzeniewski at ewkorzeniewski@medinah11.org.
Have a great spring break and hopefully enjoy some warmer weather!