ENSC Parent Notes
September 16, 2013
Hello All
Last week's school board meeting included Board approval of the 2014 budget. Last Friday was the official count day and based on that day's enrollment, the state projected budget for the first six months should be solid! That is good news as we move through the school year. The next hurdle will be enrollment for the second half of the school year.
The State continues to discuss the future of the Common Core. While I do not know what the outcome will be, the conversation continues to lean toward an Indiana "revised" version of the Common Core. Superintendent Ritz has stated that we will continue with the current ISTEP test in 2014 with plans for a different assessment in 2015. I will keep you posted.
Current Contact Information Needed
Grade K-8 Progress Reports
Grade 5 and 6 Laptops
It is important that families continue to reinforce the importance of Internet safety with their children and monitor their child's use. As a school district, students are reminded daily of the importance of safety on the internet, and being smart digital citizens. Something that continues to be in the forefront is reminding students that everything they do on the Internet is recorded and cannot be deleted! If they choose to post something through the Internet, most importantly social media, this information is not private and can and will be fowarded on to someone else!
Please remember, the schools want to work with families and support any rules parents make for their child with the use of their laptops at home! Please feel free to contact us if there is anyway we can help you.
Rose Hulman Homework Help Line
This website has information for you: http://www.askrose.org/
Hunting Season Arriving
Big Brothers/Big Sisters Needs You!
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Noble County is actively looking for people to help them with their School Buddies program.
They currently have School Buddy openings at Northside, Southside and Rome City Elementary Schools in the East Noble School District.
Check out www.AnnLinson.com with a link to additional information. You can also contact Kristen Johnson at kristenworks@yahoo.com for additional information.
A Few Websites to Check Out
The Curiosity Machine for STEM activities: http://www.curiositymachine.org/
Ten Tech Terms Everyone Needs to Know: http://tinyurl.com/kjt6a6u
Thank you to Donna Mossburg for sharing the below:
Following is a link for a free pass to select museums all across America on September 28th. It's sponsored by Smithsonian magazine. Several museums are in our area.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=printm
This week's Super Heroes are Rome City's Jessica Buhro and Melissa Young
Jessica Buhro and Melissa Young are definitely Super Heroes! These ladies resemble the Wonder Twins. They can finish each other’s sentences and work side by side as if they are twins, all while transforming lessons for every student’s ability that walks through the Title room.
Students love to visit the Rome City “Wonder Twins.” Activites in the Title room are always hands on and enganging. Students write books, make invisible messages, work on various computer lessons etc.
The support these ladies give the students is amazing, yet they are always eager to support the teachers with whatever is needed as well. Their eagerness to help all children learn through all the different learning styles is commendable. Rome City is proud to have “Wonder Twins” supporting our students.
As Always....
You can follow me at my Twitter PLN @ALinsonEN or my ENSC Twitter account @ENobleSchCorp. You can also follow me through my website: AnnLinson.com
Have a wonderful week.
Ann
Building News
Avilla Elementary
We are gearing up for a very exciting week at OUR school. OUR 5th graders will be heading to Camp Potawatomi on Wednesday and staying overnight. Students, parents and staff cannot wait to get there and challenge themselves during all the fun activities. On Friday we will be welcoming grandparents and the EN Academy to OUR school. We are very excited to show both groups all of the neat learning experiences OUR kids have each and every day. Mr. Pine will be sharing a little about OUR No Excuses University program with the EN Academy. Members of the Academy will also be looking in on classrooms to see what OUR East Noble Schools are doing in the classroom.
The following week will be very busy for OUR students and staff as well. We will be hosting a statewide two-day BURST training. We will be welcoming administrators on Monday and teachers on Tuesday. We look forward to showing them all how AWESOME East Noble Schools are!
North Side Elementary
This week third grade students at North Side kicked off their science unit on sound. A huge thanks to Miss Leah from the Kendallville Public Library for investigating the 5 senses with both classes. The students played 5 senses Bingo and used all 5 senses to create objects using magic noodles.
In class the students investigated how the loudness and pitch of sound changes when the rate of vibration changes. They conducted an experiment creating a drum out of a can and plastic wrap. Next, they placed rice on top of the drum. Then, they placed the can on top of a speaker and played music at different volumes. They recorded what happened to the rice at different volumes and pitches in the music.
The students are very excited to learn more next week in science. They will be constructing an ear with Miss Leah. In class they will be researching how instruments are made in preparation to make their own recycled instruments!
Rome City Elementary
Roman families and staff enjoyed a fun-filled evening last Tuesday night despite the heat. The annual picnic was originally scheduled to take place at Kelly Street Park, but was moved to the school due to the weather. Approximately 100 people filled the cafeteria for hot dogs and a carry-in dinner. Everyone enjoyed getting to meet Mrs. Green and mingling with each other. After dinner students braved the heat and enjoyed a game of kickball, blowing bubbles, or just playing on the playground. A big thank you goes out to staff members from the YMCA for providing the outdoor activities.
South Side Elementary
With progress reports coming this week, and 6th graders preparing to bring laptops home, the school year is in full swing! Our grade level update is from the 3rd grade this week:
We are wrapping up unit 1 in math and our students took the first unit assessment last week. We are focusing on problem solving and working on the steps to solve problems every week. We are brushing up on our addition and subtraction facts prior to our focus on multiplication.
This week, with the help of Julie Becker, we spent time setting up iPads with Airwatch and downloading educational apps.
In writing our focus has been on personal narrative including focusing on just a small moment. We use the Six Traits of writing and are incorporating those into the writing process.
Our social studies focus for the first few weeks is in developing an awareness of where we live in the world. We are focusing on our location on planet Earth.
As part of the Daily Five, we are setting up routines for Read-to-Self, Work-on-Writing, Read-to-Someone, and Word Work. We have been assessing each student using the IRI. During University Time, we are working on fluency which includes performing a reader’s theater for the third grade classes.
Looking forward to another great week! Go Trailblazers!
Wayne Center Elementary
It was an exciting evening for our sixth graders Thursday night! They were able to take home their laptops for the first time this school year.
At the meeting, East Noble technology coach Lance Yoder gave an informative presentation to students and parents stressing the importance for all to be good digital citizens. He spoke about such things as what a digital footprint is and how our footprint is permanent, how to safely download items from the internet and what malware is, how parents can support their child at home, and how the laptop is a learning tool. The sixth graders were then presented with a certificate honoring them for mastering the digital citizenship and technology skills they learned the last several weeks and received their laptops to take home. Fun door prizes were also given to the students.
Alternative Learning Center
It has been another great week at the ALC! We welcomed two new students AND AWARDED 13, YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT, 13 MORE CREDITS this week!!! The credits that were earned this week bring our total for the trimester to 26!!! There are several students on the verge of another credit, so we should be well past the 30 credit mark by this time next week. The winner of our latest Character Counts drawing is Shantel Stollar. Shantel was recognized for responsibility for her commitment to her education. Shantel is working hard this year and is looking forward to graduating in the near future.
East Noble Middle School
Mrs. Joy’s 7th grade Social Studies class has been studying population this week and collecting data from charts, graphs and maps to compare statistics around the world. On Wednesday, we took a day to remember 9/11, taking a virtual tour of the memorial museum and discussing changes since the attacks. Friday will be a Current Events day and students will get the chance to research a current event and share it with the class. We will also be talking about the conflict with Syria.
The math classes have been applying the different operations to integers and learning how integers are actually used in many ways every day. With the recent temperatures in the middle school many are longing for the days of negative temperature degrees.
In language arts class we have reviewed the elements of plot and internal and external conflicts. We have read many great short stories in class and have learned many new vocabulary words from those stories. It won’t be long and we will begin reading The Hunger Games, a favorite among the students!
East Noble High School
Having a comprehensive high school means that we provide students access to a variety of subjects every day. Having five different subjects to concentrate on in one day can be both challenging and rewarding. Challenging in the sense that kids today are exposed to more sophisticated content than ever before. Yet rewarding in the sense that it helps them receive a well-rounded education.
The Project Lead the Way courses in Engineering and Biomedical science continue to be well liked by students. The Principles of Biomedical Science class has been completely overhauled. They recently completed a forensic science unit as part of that revision. The Human Body Systems course has its highest enrollment yet at East Noble and will be conducting their first DNA fingerprint activity. Biology classes are making their way through biochemistry and will be beginning cell biology soon. The honors Biology classes just finished choosing the topics for their research projects they will be developing through the year.
English 9 Honors classes have been reading about adventures in The Odyssey. Students designed a postcard to send home to Ithaca, written in a unique voice for Odysseus. Some were romantic: “Dearest Penelope, I am trying to make it home to you, darling.” While some were more comical: “Honey, I won’t make it home for dinner tonight…”