ENSC Family Notes
October 19, 2015
ENSC Video
East Noble School Corporation believes it is important for our families, our communities, and the surrounding communities to have an understanding of East Noble School Corporation and what we offer to our students. A part of this process was to prepare a short video that introduces the viewer to the culture and environment of our district. Another tool that we are using is a Twitter hashtag. If you are a Twitter user, the hashtag #ENSCBecause....is being used to promote many of the great things happening in the district.
The video was released last Thursday and posted to YouTube and our websites as well as shared through social media. Since Thursday, we have received many positive comments from the community and the video has over 2,000 direct views on YouTube and over 4,000 reaches on Facebook.
If you have not seen the video, I hope you will take the time to do so today. It will take less than four minutes and is well worth the time. The video is ENSC - Good Things Are Happening and can be accessed through the link below.
eLearning Day - October 30
As you may remember, the plan this year is to use eLearning for all weather cancellations. The October 30 eLearning day is a "practice run" for this winter.
I do want to remind parents, that we want students to become independent learners and eLearning days are an excellent opportunities for students to continue to develop these skills. Students will be assigned work that addresses instruction that is currently happening in class and they will only be given technology activities which they are familiar and have used in class.
From the Technology Department - eLearning Information
With colder weather rapidly approaching, the chances of inclement weather and poor road conditions increase with each day. Because of this, East Noble has revved up its attempts to make certain that students and parents are prepared for eLearning Days. As you may remember, beginning this year, any cancelled day will be considered an eLearning Day, and teachers will have assignments posted for students by 9:00 AM on the cancelled day. With anything new or different, there are always questions that arise. On October 30, we will be having a planned eLearning Day so that teachers can participate in professional development activities. This day is an excellent opportunity for students and their parents to put into practice the skills that will be needed on an actual weather-related cancelled day. Should you need help on October 30 or any eLearning Day, we have pooled together several resource guides to assist you. These resources can be found on any school’s websites under the “Parents” link as “eLearning Information” or at http://www.eastnoble.net/parents/e_learning_information. These guides cover frequently asked questions and topics such as how to connect to your home wifi, how to access assignments on Canvas, and how to find eLearning assignments on K-4 iPads. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact your child’s teacher or any ENSC administrator.
Board Meetings?
Unsung Hero of the Week
Valerie Handshoe is our unsung hero this week. Valerie manages the lunch program at Avilla Elementary School. She has been part of the food service program at East Noble School Corporation for over 20 years. Valerie is just a kid at heart. She loves to decorate her kitchen for all the Holidays. Her favorite holiday is Halloween. Just take a stroll through her lunch line at this time of year and you will find, pumpkins, witches and scare crows (not talking about her staff) and spiders in their webs (fake). She enjoys seeing the children’s faces light up as they go through the lunch line. At Christmas time, she has presents hanging from the ceiling and the children are full of wonder at what surprise might await inside. She has helped with many Avilla carnivals, picnics, field days and also loves to make candy and caramel apples for the holidays. She makes food fun! Valerie has a lot of experience and knowledge in food service and in life. She does a great job managing the kitchen at Avilla. It is truly a sweet treat to have her in the Food Service Department.
Curriculum and Building Notes
Curriculum
Depth of Knowledge
Depth of Knowledge is also referred to as DOK. Depth of Knowledge is the complexity or depth of understanding required to answer or explain an assessment related item. The concept of depth of knowledge was developed through research by Norman L. Webb in the late 1990’s. Webb identified four distinct depth of knowledge levels. Level 1 includes basic recall of facts, concepts, information, or procedures. Level 2 includes skills and concepts such as the use of information (graphs) or requires two or more steps with decision points along the way. Level 3 includes strategic thinking that requires reasoning and is abstract and complex. Level 4 includes extended thinking such as an investigation or application to real work.
WHY DO WE NEED TO CARE ABOUT DOK?
Quality student assessment uses various levels of DOK to determine whether a student merely has entry level mastery of a topic or a more advanced level of mastery. In addition, our state and national assessments are now currently designed using various DOK levels. It has been reported that this year’s ISTEP will contain 55% of DOK 1 questions. The remaining 45% will be DOK Level 2 and 3 questions.
HOW DO ASSESSMENTS LOOK?
Students should be given many opportunities with DOK 3 and 4 questions? Below are some examples of the Depth of Knowledge levels.
East Noble High School
Math is often referred to as the language of science. It serves as the foundation for many STEM opportunities later on in life. STEM is the accromyn for Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics. Our math department recently implement a standards based approach to teaching Algebra. A cohort of teachers with common class time and common prep time. This allows us to present algebraic skills and concepts to students at an appropriate pace. This better serves the individual needs of the learner. Those students who master the concepts continue with additional lessons while those who may need additional support are able to receive it. Some students are able to master the material within two trimesters, while others are able to move through in three. The intitial ECA passing rates indicate this approach seems to have great success.
Some of you may have seen a familiar face within our halls. Mr. Bentz is a long time ENHS math teacher who recently retired. Although retired, Mr. Bentz has remained actively involved with coaching and student council. He’s recently added long term sub to his list of ENHS involvement, and will be with us for the remainder of the first trimester.
East Noble Middle School
Seventh grade Visual Arts students are learning color wheel placement by creating a painted design. They are working on keeping the negative space and the positive space separated by color placement. 8th grade Visual Art just finished 3D Masks and are beginning a Unit on Self Portraits. Students are challenged to draw what is actually in their line of vision, not what they think they see.
In social studies, seventh graders wrapped up the section that introduced the basics of economics. Eighth graders have been starting the Road to the American Revolution. Groups are designing dominoes made out of cereal boxes that organize their research over the events and acts that pushed the colonies to rebel.
Seventh Grade language arts classes are wrapping up their first novel study, and will be entering our study of the story, “Chain Reaction.” This book about Rachel Joy Scott, the first victim in the Columbine school shooting, and her “Ethics and Code of Life” inspired our FOR club and month of caring assignments that will be coming soon. Eighth grade language arts classes are entering a poetry unit, and will be analyzing the themes in poems and paired texts, and writing their own poetry portfolios for several weeks.
In science, both 7th and 8th grade have finished up the metric and graphing unit. In 7th grade we have moved on to geology. Currently we are delving into the world of rocks and minerals. This will progress into the rock cycle and plate tectonics in which we will study the workings of volcanoes and earthquakes. In 8th grade we have begun our lengthy chemistry unit that will last from now until Christmas.
Seventh grade Math students are taking a Cruise to the South Caribbean Sea! Seventh grade Pre-Algebra is working on percent’s, ratios, and proportions. They have been given the task of finding value size containers at grocery stores that aren’t the better deal. Eighth grade Pre-Algebra has spent the week as detectives trying to break open a case involving a string of robberies in the Middle East and solving equations to catch the robber! Eighth grade Algebra students are also studying percent’s and have been looking online comparing sale prices, studying real estate and commission, and even inventing new products to make and sell.
ENMS took at stand to STOMP OUT BULLYING on Friday, October 16, 2015, and wore blue in support of anti-bullying. As we move into October, Anti-Bullying Month, we will have different lessons in our NE time focused on this. Be on the lookout for random acts of kindness popping up through ENMS and beyond.
Avilla Elementary
OUR 3rd grade students spent some time at the pool this week. Students learned some pool safety as well as how to swim. We would like to thank the Cole YMCA for hosting OUR students again this year.
First grade visited the Fashion Farm this week. Students enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin, problem solving with a GIANT pumpkin puzzle, learning numerous facts about pumpkins, and had the opportunity to gut a pumpkin! They also worked on teamwork to get through a corn maze, straw maze, and a pitch black maze! They enjoyed a hayride through the pumpkin field to see the various steps of a pumpkin’s life and enjoyed a pumpkin donut and cider! Each classroom brought back a large pumpkin which they are going to carve after the students vote with tally mark on their favorite design! What a fun filled learning experience!
OUR 4th graders will once again be hosting a Blood Drive this year. The Blood Drive will take place on November 2nd so please save the date. Did you know that one pint of blood can save up to three lives? Thank you to OUR 4th grade students and staff for showing the pillar of Character.
North Side Elementary
Third grade Wildcats had a busy week this week. Thursday found third graders traveling to South Side Elementary to spend some time with Ronald McDonald and the Healthworks presentations. Students learned about creating healthy lives through healthy choices. In art third graders continued their progress on collaborative projects, learning art and social skills simultaneously. Elsewhere, PE teacher Mary Getts is helping to launch the NFL Play 60 initiative at North Side. Students seek to gain 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Teachers are working it into their daily routines and students are taking ideas home to be active for at least 30 minutes after school ends. The biggest news of the week was North Side, and all East Noble K-4 students, began taking their iPads home as East Noble continues in their journey of going 1:1 and committing to providing the best possible education to all students. Students were excited to be taking iPads home on a daily basis finally!
Rome City Elementary
This week, Rome City was a busy place to be. The Philharmonic visited and shared various instruments with students. Students were able to hear familiar songs and learn about the different sounds each string instrument makes.
Students in each grade who exhibited great Roman character were nominated by various staff members to receive the Rome City Student of the Month award. Students who received this honor will get to eat lunch with Mrs. Green and the teachers next week.
Mrs. Herber's class reviewed how they show responsibility at school in Character Counts class. They reviewed how to also be responsible at home. Next week they will be learning how to be responsible for other and to other.
South Side Elementary
South Side hosted our annual Pint Sized Hero Red Cross Blood Drive this week with huge participation from our families! We have some real heroes among us! Thank you to all of our families, friends of South Side, and community members who came in to donate blood this past Wednesday. You have modeled a valuable lesson for your children and our students. Thank you to our students who recruited our blood donors this year—you are our Pint-Sized Heroes!
Our grade-level update this week comes from our 6th grade team: South Side 6th graders have been incorporating writing skills and processes every day since the beginning of the school year. From constructing complete sentences and paragraph responses with text evidence in content areas to genre specific writing during writer's workshop, South Side's Class of 2026 is by and large a group of WRITERS!
Wayne Center Elementary
Wayne Center Tigers enjoyed their Fall Break and were roaring to get back to school. Classroom teachers reviewed the positive approach to positive behavior using the acronym ROAR. Wayne Center students show Respect, are Openly honest, Always caring and safe, and Responsible. ROAR Tigers!
Ronald McDonald came to Wayne Center to discuss the topic of bullying. Students were able to learn how to detect when a person is being a bully and what they can do to prevent bullying at Wayne Center. Ronald McDonald was a great guest and the students and staff enjoyed his visit.
On Thursday, Wayne Center third graders enjoyed learning how to stay healthy with a trip to South Side for Focus on Health. Students visited 6 health stations: Germ Stoppers, Heart Health, Cool Foods, Get Fit, Healthy Lungs, and Be Safe. “The purpose of the program is to impart health awareness and health education designed to meet the needs of the students.”
Hearing screening has been completed at Wayne Center for all Kdg., 1st and 4th graders. If your child did not pass the hearing screening, you would have received a letter stating that there was a concern. When a child is referred for any type of testing a hearing screening is conducted. If you have any concerns with regards to your child’s hearing, please contact the school secretary and we will conduct a hearing screening no matter what grade your child is in.
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