CENTRAL MARCH NEWSLETTER

Fourth graders will be traveling to Chicago the middle of April to visit the Shedd Aquarium and Sears Tower.  Our day will start at the Shedd Aquarium.  Students will apply their knowledge from our oceanography study as they view Shedd Aquarium and the underwater world it opens up to them.  We will see a Dolphin exhibit and a Coral Reef exhibit which will provide a different perspective for the children in which to see the ocean.  The children will then be able to “travel” to different parts of the world to see the underwater wildlife found in places around the globe.

Our day will end with a magnificant view of Chicago, as children go to the Skydeck at Sears Tower, 1,353 feet above ground!  We are hoping for a clear day so we can see four states – Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan, in addition to all of the other sights we can see from that vantage point.

Central School's fourth graders went on their annual field trip to Springfield, IL in March.  Both children and parents had a wonderful time.  The tour started off with an exploration of New Salem, which is representative of what New Salem was like when Abraham Lincoln was there in his early years.  We had a beautiful day to check out the buildings and get a “lay of the land.” 

Next, we headed in to the city of Springfield to investigate some government and historic sites.  We were lucky enough to see our politicians in session at the New State Capital.  Children were able to compare the New State Capital to the Old State Capital.  They noticed quite a difference. 

The Illinois State Museum gave the kids quite an overview of Illinois, both past and present.  To learn more about Lincoln's life, children visited Lincoln's home, Lincoln's Tomb, and Lincoln's Presidential Museum. 

Lincoln's Presidential Museum was the highlight of the trip for most.  The kids enjoyed the Union Theater where they experienced the show “Through Lincoln's Eyes.”  A state of the art special effects presentation gave an overview of Lincoln's life from birth to death.  They also enjoyed “Ghosts of the Library” which uses Holavision to examine artifacts found in the library.  The host/historian describes the collections and the discoveries made.  The collections include actual objects that Lincoln and others had touched and used throughout history.

We want to thank all of the parents who took time out to accompany us on this trip.  Without our strong parental support we would not be able to experience all that we do while in Springfield.  We also want to thank PTO for their continuing support of our trip.  We appreciate their dedication to our students and families.  We would also like to thank Mr. Meisner and Mrs. Mannel, who also contribute to our field trip in their own special way.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone!

THIRD GRADE

Mrs. Alfano’s kindergartners are reading buddies with Mrs. Andrews’ third graders. In celebration of Dr. Suess’ birthday, all the students had the opportunity to eat green scrambled eggs with some cubed ham and wash it down with lemonade. There were some yucks, but a lot more yums!

The third graders have successfully completed their state tests! They worked very hard. When not testing, the students were at different centers throughout the week. At the art center, the kids created ISAT insects. They are very creative Hopefully you will be able to see them on March 16 at our Open House. Here are picture of 3^rd Grade Insects:

       

ART NEWS

This has been a colorful month! We have been learning about warm and cool colors and working on using the primary colors to make the secondary colors. Kindergarten, first and second graders made imaginary space friends in both two dimensions with paint and three dimensions with clay. The third and fourth graders used oil pastels to create super heroes for social change. The fifth grades created artist trading cards that were traded with Shabbona and Waterman Elementary Schools. Fifth grades are now working on a mural that will be made of faces created with a printing block. This mural will be taken to Hand in Hand in downtown Rochelle Please stop in to see it! Thanks to Miss Goy, Mrs. Elson’s student teacher, who planned these wonderful lessons.

FITNESS CLUB

Fitness Club is a new addition to the activities at Central School. Students stay after school on Wednesdays to learn about nutrition and participate in fitness activities. They have worked on fitness stations, cardiovascular and strength for the upper and lower body. Boot Camp days are one of the favorite activities in Fitness Club. Recently they have used the inline skates being used in PE classes, to increase their heart rate. Fitness club will be ending on March 17. Come and join us!

Open House & Ice Cream Social

 Central School will hold their annual Open House on Tuesday, March 16 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. In conjunction with the Open House, the PTO will be hosting an Ice Cream Social from 7 – 8:30 p.m. Sundaes will be just $1.00 and come with a variety of toppings. A note was sent home asking for volunteers. If you would be able to help out with this fundraiser, please return your form to the school office. This will be a great time for all. Hope to see you at our Open House and Ice Cream Social!

Central Students Have a Ball During ISATs!

The Central students had a ball during ISATs (Illinois Standards Achievement Tests ). During one half of the day the students took their ISATs, and during the other half, they participated in fun activities. Many Central teachers created interesting and challenging games and projects for students to work on. Mrs. Elson and Ms. Goy, in art, had the students create ISAT bugs out of everyday items such as boxes, newspapers and tape. Ms. Hayden and Mrs. Queller-Zillis showed the students how to create and put together jigsaw puzzles using their own pictures. Mrs. Mannel and the students challenged each other to an UNO card tournament. Mrs. Kurz and Mrs. Chadwick helped them burn off extra energy in the gym by playing exciting games of Knock Out. The kids had such a good time, and kept asking the teachers “Can we take ISAT’s again next week? This was fun!”

On Friday, the ISAT students were rewarded with a candy bar and juice box, compliments of Nestle. They can’t wait to see what is planned for next year’s ISAT centers! Thank you to everyone who helped make our ISAT testing so much fun and a very special thank you to Nestle!

The pictures below show the students engaging in some of these activities:

Central School Students Read over 157,000 minutes in February!!

Central School students continue to work hard towards an all-school goal of 1,000,000 minutes by May. The students are learning about all kinds of subjects, including animals, planets, mysteries, and fantasy stories and finding authors they love to read! Each classroom also has a "Star Reader" who has worked really hard throughout the month on their reading calendar. With just a few more months to go, the students are very close to achieving their goal of 1,000,000 minutes. We are really proud of their work!

Here are the class totals and Star Readers for the month of February:

ISAT TESTING
The first week of March each year is designated by the state of Illinois for teststing. Students in grades 3, 4 & 5 are tested on math, reading, writing & science. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) measures individual student achievement relative to the Illinois Learning Standards. The results give parents, teachers, and schools one measure of student learning and school performance.

MAGIC WATERS TICKETS

Congratulations students and parents! It took a lot of reading but 106 students earned a ticket to Magic Waters by reading 6 hours or more. Parents and students – what a great job! Of the 353 students at Central from kindergarten to fifth grade, 94 will be splashing in the wave pool at Magic Waters this summer. Have fun, you earned it!

SPOTLIGHT AWARD

Central Elemenatary School would like to share some good news with our community. Our school was awarded a spotlight Award for the 2009 school year. The award signed by the State Superintendent of
Schools commends Central School for the progress and hard work of the students and the staff.

We have been honored with a Spotlight Award for closing the achievement gap with the following conditions during the 2009 school year.

• At least 50% of the students are from low income homes

• At least 60% of our students met or excedded standards in both reading and math.

• At least 50% of the students at Central met or exceeded standards in both reading and math in the two previous academic years.

• We had to AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) in 2009 and in the two years previous to 2009. (the standard for 2009 was 70% meeting or exceeding in both reading and math)

• 95% participation rate in state assessments for all students in each subgroup – Central has 2 subgroups.

• We must maintain an attendance rate of 90% or better

The administration and staff of Central School would like to celebrate and thank our students for their progress and hard work, our colleagues for their had work and dedication, and our parents for their hard work and support. It takes the whole community to support our students' success and progress. We are vry proud of our students and their accomplishments.