DISTRICT NEWSLETTER

B o u rb o n n a i s E le m e n t a r y S c h o o l Di s t ri c t N o . 5 3
D IST R ICT N EWSL ETT ER
V o l um e 9 I s s ue 9
May 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Important Dates
2
PTA News
Literacy Center
2
2
Technology in the
News
Nurse’s News
3
School News
3
Upper Grade
Liberty Intermediate
Noel LeVasseur
Alan B. Shepard
Shabbona Elem.
Robert Frost
4
4
5
5
6
6
Local Ads
Superintendent’s
Comments Thoughts
and Ramblings
7
8
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
How do we motivate kids?
I have had many conversations with many parents and teachers in the past few months
about the challenge of motivating children. We have also discussed the idea of tying eligibility
for elementary school activities to scores connected to homework completion and other behaviors. With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to see what the experts say about motivation
in hopes of providing some help and direction for our teachers and parents.
So what does the research tell us? Daniel Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth
About What Motivates Us, identified three things that all of the research studies indicate are critical to motivating people. These three things are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. So, how does
this apply to our kids in the classroom? Or to teachers?
Lets start with homework. Pink would say to ask yourself three questions about the homework assignment. 1. Are you offering students any autonomy over how and when the work gets
done? 2. Does this assignment promote mastery by offering a novel, engaging task? (As opposed to rote reformulation of something already covered in class) 3. Do the students understand the purpose of the assignment? If the answer is no to any of these questions, consider reworking the assignment so that it promotes engagement rather than compliance. Try to turn
homework into homelearning.
To promote more autonomy, consider an occasional FedEx class period. During this session, students are allowed to work on a project of their choice. They are informed ahead of time
so that they have the necessary supplies to be productive. Then the next day, they need to
“Deliver” or present on what the worked on the day before.
This one is for home and school — avoid “if-then” rewards such as an allowance for doing your chores, or a prize simply for behaving. It is good to give your child an allowance as it
teaches them to save and budget. However, connecting this to the completion of necessary
task gives the child the wrong message. They have a moral and familial obligation to contribute
to tasks such as taking out the garbage, or setting the table. When you tie a reward to it, you
send the message that the only reason you do this is to get the financial compensation. It is a
case of combining two good things and getting less, not more. The same is true of regular rewards for positive behavior. The positive behavior does not become intrinsic as some programs
hope, but rather leads to the expectation of getting a reward every time you do what you
should. It also gets away from working towards mastery, because you are only doing things for
the carrot at the end.
Praise is an important and powerful tool. Carol Dweck, in her work on growth mindsets,
notes the importance of praising effort and strategy, not intelligence. Children that are praised
for being smart often decline to take educational risks due to the fear of not appearing smart.
Kids need to be praised for hard work and effort as these things lead to mastery. These kids are
also more inclined to take on new difficult tasks. You should also only praise people when it is
warranted. Kids will recognize overpraising and view it as insincere and dishonest. It also becomes another “if-then” reward and the praise becomes the goal, rather than mastery of a skill.
Now back to the question or idea of withholding one activity to try to get more compliance in another area. We need to look at what motivates people and that is autonomy, mastery, and purpose. So if we want more compliance with homework completion, neither withholding a desired item for non-compliance or rewarding students for improved compliance will make
any difference in terms of the level of compliance over time. What will make a difference is making the work more meaningful, giving the student some input into the process, and connecting
the work with mastery of a skill. If you are interested in reading more on this subject, I highly recommend the book by Daniel Pink
Reference: Pink, D. H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books: New
York, New York. 2009
Page 2
IMPORTANT DATES
June 3—Full Day– Last day for
student attendance
June 4—Teacher Institute
June 8-Online Registration Opens
in Skyward for Returning
Students
June 17th, July 9th, July 30
New Student Registration
See website for details
www.besd53.org
June 23, 2015—Regular Board of
Education Meeting
7:00 pm Admin. Office
July 28, 2015-Regular Board of
Education Meeting
7:00 pm Admin. Office
August 17-18, 2015 Teacher
Institute
August 19, 2015—Students first
day-Full day schedule
V o l um e 9 I s s ue 9
Parent Teacher Association
PTA Elections June 2nd!
PTA is seeking candidates for the 2015-2016 Board and Committee Chair
positions. All Board (President, Secretary, and Treasurer) and Committee
Chair positions are up for election. PTA is encouraging new members and
ideas! Interested candidates should visit the PTA website or PTA Facebook Page. Candidates will need to fill out a form that can be found on
our website/Facebook. http://www.bourbonnaiselementarypta.org
Papa John’s Fundraiser
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Papa John’s fundraiser in
March. We were able to raise approximately $800! Papa John’s said this
was their best turn out for any of their stores!
Top School Participation was SHEPARD
followed by LIBERTY & LEVASSEUR
Family Literacy Corner
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V o l um e 9 I s s ue 9
PTA cont.
Winning Teachers for Classroom Parties…Way to Go!
Frost: ADAMS
Levasseur: PIETRASZEWSKI
Liberty: AUSTIFF
Shepard: RIVERA
Shabonna: ROGERS and DULEK
BUGC: MOSIER, GAMBLE and MOULTAN
Teacher Grants
Mrs. Hammond’s kindergarten class is shown below with their new supplies from the PTA Teacher Grant Program.
It is exciting to see how much the PTA can give back to our students and teachers!
PTA Meetings
PTA meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month from 6:00-7:00pm at the Central Office located on John
Casey Drive next to BUGC and across from the Bourbonnais Library. The next meeting will be Tuesday, June 2nd.
This is an important meeting as we will be holding elections for officers and committee chair positions. Be sure to
follow the Bourbonnais Elementary PTA on Facebook and webpage at http://www.bourbonnaiselementarypta.org
for updates.
HELPFUL HEALTH INFORMATION
Summer is near & it is time to begin thinking about summer safety. The children are out and about enjoying the
beautiful weather! Let’s work together to keep our children safe. Here are some safety tips to keep in mind during
the summer months:
 Kids should wear a properly fitted helmet, elbow & knee pads when riding a bike, skateboarding or rollerblading.
Follow rules of the road.
 Use sunscreen even on cloudy days. Reapply every two hours and after swimming.
 Always be sure to drink plenty of water before, during, and after the activity is finished, even if you or your child
are not thirsty.
 Eat healthy snacks, such as fresh veggies (such as carrots and celery sticks), raisins, pretzels, low-fat yogurt,
fresh fruits (such as bananas, oranges, and grapes). Try freezing grapes for a different snack.
 While around water (pools, lakes, oceans, etc.) a parent/adult should stay close enough to reach the child at all
times and avoid distractions such as reading, playing cards, etc. Drownings happen quickly and usually silently.
 For more summer safety tips, visit http://cdc.gov/Features/SummertimeSafety/
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V o l um e 9 I s s ue 9
Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center
Wow, looking at the calendar I can’t believe it is already June! This is a very busy time
at BUGC. Team celebrations will take place on June 1st. There will be an all school award
and recognition celebration in the BUGC gym from 8:00 – 11:00 a.m. on June 2. Parents who
have a student receiving an award or recognition have been notified, all parents are welcome
to attend. The 8th grade will have their promotion dance at BUGC that evening from 7:00 to
9:00 p.m. June 3rd is 8th grade promotion practice. 8th grade promotion will take place
on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at Centennial Chapel beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Thank you for a wonderful and successful year!
Mr. Chamernik and Mrs. Magruder
Liberty Intermediate School
On Thursday, April 9, 2015, our fifth and sixth grade band and orchestra students performed to a
packed house! They played many fun and well rehearsed songs that were enjoyed by all. Thank
you to Mrs. Carroll, Ms. Crooks, parents and students for all of your hard work in getting ready for
this end of year concert. We had a really wonderful time!
D i s tr i c t N e w s l e tte r
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Noel LeVasseur School
LeVasseur School Telling The Story Of Willowhaven
Students in the fourth grade Academically Talented Program will begin a new unit in their enrichment experience. This unit will be unlike our others and will be a very exciting journey for us all! We are partnering with the Bourbonnais Township Park District to serve as consultants, telling the story of their nature
center, Willowhaven. Their goal is to explore and truly understand the wonder of this location and share
their thoughts through a short video which “tells the story” of Willowhaven as seen through their eyes.
The purpose of the video will be to attract others to seek out and enjoy this location. This project holds
tremendous value to each student through the experience of interviewing, nature exploration, video technology, storytelling and client relations.
There will be a few field trips so that students can tour the Willowhaven
facility and get a personal nature tour with the Nature Director. They will
also return to Willowhaven to capture footage of the facility to use in their
videos. Videos will be uploaded to a private Youtube site where they will
do their editing. In order to properly guide them through this experience
we have contacted a number of outside experts in the area of nature, marketing and video production. These individuals will visit the classroom
and work with the students throughout the project.
Alan B. Shepard Elementary School
“Where Learning is a Blast”
The ONU students from one of Dr. Spruce’s
Reading Methods classes came to Alan
Shepard to observe and learn. They observed a range of reading instruction in a
variety of grade levels at Shepard. Further
study of the Common Core standards took
place within their college experience. After
several weeks of study, they returned to
Shepard with lessons and activities prepared for small group instruction. During
their second visit, they implemented these
lessons and interventions which they prepared for the K-4 children. The strategies
they prepared were related to vocabulary, comprehension and phonemic awareness
instruction.
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V o l um e 9 I s s ue 9
Shabbona Elementary School
On April 17, 2015, our first and second graders performed their spring concert. They did a
wonderful job singing many songs associated with spring. Below are a few pictures of the
performance.
Robert Frost School…”Where Education Begins”
Bit of News from Mrs. Saldivar
It’s hard to believe that it is May already. The school year has gone by so quickly. The last day of school will be
Wedneday, June 3rd, and it is a full day. Report cards will go home on this day.
Do you have a child who will be five years old by September 1, 2015? If so, your child is old enough to attend
kindergarten. If you missed pre-registration in April, we will hold another pre-registration on Tuesday, May 19th,
from 2:00pm-7:00pm, at our Central Office located at 281 W. John Casey Road. You will need your child’s
county-issued birth certificate, a copy of your mortgage or lease with proof of current payment, and at least
two other current proofs of residency, such as utility bills.
Do you have a three or four year old who is delayed in any area of development? If so, we will hold screenings in August, for our at-risk pre-k program, Please call Robert Frost School and ask for Jeannie.
We hope that you enjoy your summer and we thank you for all of your support throughout the school
year.
During an Earth "Month" activity, students from Mrs. Adams' kindergarten class at Robert Frost were visited by
Mrs. Froning from the University of Illinois Extension program. The students made bracelets with beads on
them. Each colored bead was a symbol for different topics pertaining to taking care of the Earth.
Pictured Below: Mrs. Froning talking to the class and Jonathan Schafer making his bracelet
D i s tr i c t N e w s l e tte r
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Bo u r b o n n a i s Elem en t a r y S ch o o l Di s t r i ct N o . 53
281 W. John Casey Road
Bourbonnais, Illinois 60914-1395
Phone: 815-929-5100
Fax: 815-939-0481
E-mail: [email protected]
We’re on the web!
www.besd53.org
Preparing children to be responsible citizens, problem solvers, decision makers, and lifelong learners
The mission of Bourbonnais School District #53 is to:



Collaborate with staff students, families, and community;
Provide a safe learning environment with innovative instructional practices; and
Inspire all students to reach their unique potential as globally conscious learners.
SUPERINTENDENT’S COMMENTS, THOUGHTS, RAMBLINGS
Changes for 2015-2016
Here we are closing another
successful school year in
BESD#53. We have some exciting changes coming for the
2015-16 school year! First of
all I want to thank
Mr. Chamernik and
Mrs. Magruder for their leadership at BUGC the past three
years. We have transitioned
to a teaming concept, implemented co-teaching with our
special education students,
and implemented our 1-1
chromebook initiative under
their leadership. Both Mr.
Chamernik and
Mrs. Magruder are leaving
BUGC to pursue new endeavors.
Next year Jeff Gindy will be
the Principal at BUGC. He
will have an Associate Principal who we will name later
this month. We also will
have Officer Travis Garcia as
a new full-time School Resource Officer. Jeff has 20
years of Principal experience
in the district. Replacing Mr.
Gindy at LeVasseur will be
Jenn Longtin, the Liberty Associate Principal. She has
been a kindergarten teacher, media center director,
dean, transportation director, and assistant principal
in the district.
In reducing an administrative position to help balance
a shrinking budget from the
state Mrs. Saldivar, the Frost
Principal, will now split her
time between Frost and be-
ing the Associate Principal
at Liberty .
We are excited about the
future of BESD#53 as we
continue to balance our
budget while providing an
excellent education for all.
Sincerely,