ENSC Family Notes
June 2, 2014
Added School Board Meeting This Week
1. A discussion over the 1028 hearing. The Board will reveal the potential maximum cost of the project, the potential maximum annual payments, and the potential maximum number of years to pay for the project.
2. A discussion over the referendum process. This will include discussion over ENSC not being the entity to force the project to a public vote.
The meeting will be held at the East Noble School Corporation Central Office and being at 6 p.m.
ENMS Update
After meeting with financial and legal advisers, along with listening to the input of the community for the past eight months, East Noble School Corporation is seriously considering not forcing the middle school project to a referendum vote as indicated earlier. At this point, the Board is hearing very little opposition to the proposed project. By listening to the public and not forcing a referendum, money is saved with lower interest rates, lower construction costs, people currently hitting the tax caps will continue to benefit from the tax caps, and construction could begin about 6-8 months earlier. What the Board is primarily hearing up to this point is if taxes will not increase, then they don't care about the cost.
If the public decides they want to vote, they may start the referendum process. Nothing stops that option.
The Board does understand that having a location will be important if they are not going to force the vote. They will have the area narrowed down for the 1028 hearing on June 11, 2014.
The community is encouraged to attend both the June 4 and the June 11 Board meetings and provide any input.
ENHS Band News
End of School Year
The year brought strength and development of technology integration and other frameworks for academic success for our students. I watched and listened to many excellent student success stories, classroom innovations, and new building initiatives that support students and staff. In addition, much work has been done to move toward building a new middle school. There were too many extra-curricular successes to name.
Our staff make a positive difference every day. That difference is translating to an increased awareness of the quality of East Noble School Corporation. With our posted teaching openings, we are receiving many excellent applicants for the positions. That is wonderful for our future.
This most likely will be the last Weekly Notes for the school year and I want to take this last opportunity to thank you for your support of East Noble School Corporation and the support your give your child(ren) everyday. Thank you!
Have a wonderful summer. The first day of school for students next fall is August 7. What for information about online registration beginning mid July.
Ann
ENSC 2014-2015 Calendar
Kid President and Summer
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13919/5-things-that-make-summer-awesome.html
Building and Curriculum News
Curriculum Notes
ISTEP scores were released for most 3rd-8th graders on Friday. We are still waiting for scores on students who took the IMAST assessment, Large Print test, or students who moved in between the two test cycles. A notice came home last week with an access code so that you can view your student’s scores. It is important that you access the scores reports for several reasons.
· Looking at the reports lets your student know that this test was important.
· When reviewing the answers that your student provided, you may discover a scoring error. Since the Applied Skills test is scored by people, it is possible that a mistake was made. We receive several rescores each year resulting in higher scores for students.
· The site also has activities and resources that were selected for your student based on his/her score. So if you are looking for some summer activities for your student, they are right there for you.
If you did not receive a letter and your student was not part of one of the groups listed above, please contact your child’s school and we will be able to generate a new letter or print the report for you.
Alternative Learning Center
Another big week at the ALC! We have conducted numerous exit interviews this week and have a few more to complete. I don't know the official number from past years but I'm going to say the number of ALC students to graduate this year may be a record. Congratulations and best wishes to all East Noble graduates, and especially to the ALC graduates, as they will always have a special place in our hearts.
On a personal note, this will be my final weekly notes, as I will be leaving East Noble at the end of the year to pursue ventures outside of education. It has been a pleasure to be a part of East Noble Schools and I will always remember my time here fondly. You have a great district and a great community and I am very thankful that I was able to be a part of it. I'll look forward to seeing many of you at graduation! Have a great summer.
Avilla Elementary
A week filled with fun learning activities for all grade levels. Please take a look at OUR video to get a quick peek at just a few of the cool things happening this past week at Avilla!
East Noble High School
Members of the ENHS Interact Club traveled recently to the Fort Wayne Airport to welcome the returning soldiers of the Honor Flight. Honor Flight is a volunteer program that takes WWII vets to Washington DC for the day to see the monuments dedicated to the “Greatest Generation Ever”. Students and staff in attendance were humbled by the display of patriotism and pride shown in the faces of the grateful service men and women and their families and friends. If you ever get the opportunity to attend this event, it is well worth the time.
This week our students participated in the 2nd Annual Bike-A-Thon. We shut down Knight Drive and set up a track for students of all abilities to ride their modified and non-modified bikes. Kids were determined to raise money to purchase handicap accessible playground equipment for the Kendallville Parks Department. They exceeded their goal and raised over $1,500.00. Students from Avilla and Wayne Center joined in the festivities and helped grow this annual tradition.
Our newly formed Unified Track Team competed at Warsaw HS this Saturday and qualified for the State Competition. Disabled athletes scores are combined with their non-disabled partners’ scores to determine the ranking in the track and field events. The East Noble squad was able to secure a 5th place ranking, high enough to move on to the State Competition.
East Noble Middle School
Seventh grade social studies students are designing their own version of CBS’s Amazing Race. Students pick 5 locations around the world that were studied during their 7th grade year. Each location will have a challenge that needs to be completed based on an item of geographic or historic significance for that location. Language arts students are finishing their Chain Reaction “50 Acts of Kindness” activities this week—including a new mural on the walls by the library.
Eighth grade students are wrapping up the year with finals and final projects. Algebra students took their ECA this week and language arts classes are working on a biography project. Math students are designing 21st century learning spaces for the new middle school.
The 7th and 8th grade choirs had their final concert for the year in the auditorium on Wednesday. There were many soloists. The 7th and 8th grade bands are getting prepared for their final concert which will take place on Tuesday, June 3rd. The concert will feature many soloists for both grade levels and starts at 6:00. It will be in the gym here at the middle school. The cadet guard will be performing with the 8th grade band.
Awards ceremonies this week included Archery Awards on Monday and the Annual Middle School Awards Night at East Noble High School on Thursday evening. Many of our students were recognized for their academic and extracurricular achievements throughout the year.
North Side Elementary
First grade enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo on Thursday, May 22. Prior to going each child picked an animal from the Fort Wayne Children’s zoo to study. Students researched their animal to create a nonfiction writing piece. The part was they had their IPods to record their day and their animal. Click on the short videos of our day: http://youtu.be/kC0KnAc3ebs and http://youtu.be/sbiSz-f4dxg
The fourth graders at North Side traveled to Archbold, Ohio, Friday, May 30th, to tour historic Sauder Village. While there, we learned all about life in the Black Swamp region in the 1800s. The students were so excited to have the opportunity to experience the daily lives of our ancestors while visiting with the costumed guides in historic homes, farms, gardens and community shops. In addition to learning first-hand how our ancestors once lived, the students also had the unique chance to live life like the Native Americans once did by cooking foods over an open flame, grinding corn into flour, and reliving the life of a Native American family inside a real wigwam, even bartering for goods by “trading” beaver pelts with the fur traders who lived in the region and set up shop at the Trading Post. The fourth graders were able to make many historic connections to one of our class novels, The Sign of the Beaver. The children had a wonderful day at Sauder Village. Not only did they bring home many great memories of our class trip, but they also brought home some goodies from the General Store to share with their families.
North Side third graders are improving their fluency and speaking skills by participating in reader’s theatre skits. This unit of study began by having students watch readers theatre on YouTube. They also listened to the storybooks for each skit to have an understanding of the characters and plot. The students have learned six very important elements of fluency: stress, rate, intonation, expression, phrasing, and integration. They know that to make the character “come alive” in the story and to be entertaining to listeners, they must use all of these elements. The children have also learned the importance of speaking in a loud, clear voice so others can understand them. Students have practiced their skits daily with their group members. Next week, third graders will be performing their reader’s theatre for parents, followed by a celebration with cookies and punch! We hope you enjoy the video. Kelly has done a great job managing the fact sheet assessments. http://youtu.be/aHlp5oQ30aA
Rome City Elementary
What a busy week at Rome City! This week our 5th & 6th graders began an academic challenge called Survivor. Teachers mixed 5th and 6th graders into teams and gave them academic challenges each day. The challenges tested their problem solving skills, team work skills, and ability to learn from each other. The students are loving their academic challenges. Survivor continues through this week.
The cafeteria was full on Friday morning with dads and grandpas. Students had a chance to enjoy donuts with dad to honor the male role models in their lives.
Friday was also German Day. Mrs. Stohlman applied for the Cultural Diversity grant and was able to engage students in the German culture through art, physical activities, food, and music. Students celebrated Germany in an assembly hosted by the Jay Fox band.
Congratulations to the Rome City students who participate in the East Noble Mile Invitational on Friday night. Mike Klein received first place and Austin Liepe received second place. Way to go runners!
South Side Elementary
It has been a big week at South Side! We started the week with pre-school graduation. It was great to host our pre-school families, look at our little Trailblazer’s growth charts for the year, and celebrate their growth in every way. This week, South Side also held our first ever Kindergarten Graduation Commencement Ceremony. Before the ceremony began, families visited the photo studio to get cap and gown pictures taken of their students. Once the ceremony began, our Kindergarteners entered the stage in full cap and gown attire to the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance.” Families stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance with their graduates, and each Kindergartener was awarded for their accomplishments in their first year of school. We all enjoyed a slide show of memories from the year, and the Kindergarten classes sang several songs for their audience, led by Mr. Johnston and Mrs. Mettert. What a great way to spend an evening, and begin a new tradition!
This week, South Side also celebrated the hard work students put in all year to master the skills required to give their best efforts on the ISTEP test. Parents and staff worked together to coordinate a cookout for more than 250 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Students enjoyed a picnic on the lawn and some much needed play time in the beautiful weather! I was so proud of our Trailblazers. Despite the large number of students using paper plates and cups; there was nearly no garbage left to pick up when we were finished eating. They showed such excellent responsibility and citizenship in picking up after themselves! That is precisely why we can enjoy events like this! Our kids show such great character!
Wayne Center Elementary
What an eventful week we had at Wayne Center! On Tuesday, students who reached a 3,000 minute reading mark were invited to an after school Game Night! Students had so much fun decorating bookmarks, hats, and hacky sacks. The gym was transformed into different activities for them to participate in, too! Their favorite station may have been the snack, where they got to decorate a cookie to make it look like a baseball by using icing and Twizzlers!
On Friday morning, we got to have our Field Day. The students had a blast participating in all of the different stations. They even got a little wet during the sponge toss rotation! The 6th grade vs. staff kickball game didn’t disappoint either! The action packed game was a great send-off for our 6th graders! On Friday afternoon, we had our annual Talent Show. We had over 15 different acts throughout the program ranging from singing to a magic show to a gymnastics routine. The students put a lot of hard work and effort into their performances! They did a great job!!
Lastly, our sixth grade band combined with the North Side and South Side bands to perform for family and guests Thursday night. They gave an outstanding performance under the direction of band instructor Jim Swartzlander. The students demonstrated for their parents the types of music they could play at the beginning of the year to what they can do now . . . and what a difference it is! The sixth graders are far past playing “Hot Cross Buns” and are now playing more complex music like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Great job, sixth graders!
The last week at Wayne Center will be another exciting one for our students. Tuesday we will have a schoolwide celebration for students for achieving our goal of reading for 1,000,000 minutes. We have some fun activities planned for them including a visit from a local author and high school baseball players. We will round out the week with our end-of-the year awards program where we recognize each student for his/her accomplishments. Sixth graders will also end the year with a skating party and special luncheon. It’s been a great school year!
East Noble School Corporation
Email: alinson@eastnoble.net
Website: www.eastnoble.net
Location: 126 West Rush Street
Phone: 260-347-2502
Facebook: facebook.com/eastnoble
Twitter: @ENobleSchCorp