Keeneyville School District

Keeneyville School District 20

5540 Arlington Drive E

Hanover Park, IL 60133

Phone Number (630) 894-2250

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December 16, 2016

Spring Wood Middle School Chorus Bringing Holiday Cheer!

Ignite the power and potential of each student!

As the 2016 calendar year comes to a close we hope that this holiday season is one filled with family, friends, and the building blocks of many great memories for years to come.

I hope you will agree that 2016 for Keeneyville District 20 has been a successful one. From the development of our new strategic plan to the expansion of educational and extra curricular programming to benefit our students, we have worked hard to provide quality learning and growth opportunities for all of our students.

We look forward to the learning ahead in 2017 and the many opportunities to support each child in District 20 toward reaching their maximum potential.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael Connolly

Superintendent

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Pick up a good book this Holiday Season!

by: Emmie Pawlak, Director of Teaching and Learning

As the holiday season approaches, there are excellent opportunities to put books into the hands of all students, from the youngest child at the Early Childhood Center to the oldest 8th grader at Spring Wood. Several organizations make lists of the best books for kids that were published last year. Here are several:

The New York Times has the Notable Children's Books of 2016 which lists new books for each age group.

Anderson's Bookshop lists books their managers think will win the Newbery Award in 2017. The Newbery Award is given every year to the best new children's book. The managers at Anderson's have guessed correctly for many years!

The Chicago Tribune also puts out a list for children . They highlight a book by most elementary students' favorite author: Mo Willems, of Elephant and Piggie, Pigeon, and Knuffle Bunny fame.

The Illinois School Library Association also puts several book lists together each year. They nominate multiple books each year and students across Illinois get to vote for their favorite. The Monarch Award goes to a book that is geared for students in grades Kindergarten to their grade. The list of nominees is here . The Bluestem Award goes to a book that is appropriate for students in grades third through fifth. The list of Bluestem nominees can be found here . The Illinois School Library Association also nominates books for middle school students. The Rebecca Caudill nominees can be found

here.

Whether you purchase these or take them out from the public library, time spent reading with children pays lots of dividends!

Keeneyville District 20: A Caring Community all Through the Year.

As we move through the holiday season, we are proud that our Keeneyville community of faculty, staff, and students come together in multiple ways to care for those in need. Here are just a few ways our community has shown its caring:

Spring Wood Middle School's 8th grade class supported veterans transitioning out of homelessness by donating household goods and personal items during a week long drive beginning on Veteran's Day. Items were donated to the VFW and Military Outreach USA through their 11-11-11 program.

Members of the Keeneyville faculty, staff, and parent community "adopted" District 20 children and families in need this holiday season and donated gifts to open on Christmas morning. This was a grass roots effort coordinated by Ms. Cotton, Ms. Nystrom, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Woods.

Annual food drives across the district collecting hundreds of pounds of non-perishable food for local food pantries.

Spring Wood's Dare to Dream club engaged in a fundraiser to support Feed my Starving Children and was successful in collecting over $150.

Spring Wood Student Council and Builder's Club sponsoring "No-Shave November" challenging male faculty and staff members at Spring Wood to grow out their beards while raising money to support kids with cancer.

We are truly proud of our caring learning community!

Keeneyville Penguins and Greenbrook Gators Reading and Learning Together!

by Ms. Amanda Aubry, Assistant Principal for Early Childhood Education

Hello, everyone! The Early Childhood Center and Greenbrook have started something new this year. One of the incentives for good behavior at Greenbrook is for the elementary students to read to the preschoolers at the ECC. We have had many students from the older grades come over and it's become a popular activity! Our preschoolers enjoy listening to the "big kids" read to them and the older kids enjoy "being the teacher" and engaging the little ones in the story. It has been a great experience for everyone!

District 20 holds preschool screenings throughout the year. The screening on December 20th is currently full for children 3-5 years old, but if you are interested in screening your child who is birth to 3 years of age, please stop by the Early Childhood Center on December 20th between 8:30-3:00 to fill out a questionnaire. From there we can put you in contact with a few agencies who work with children in this age group if it's recommended. Preschool screenings on March 6th and May 5th for 3-5 year olds will also have these questionnaires for birth to 3 year olds. If you are interested in signing up for a future screening, please contact Donna Rivard at 630-894-4008.

The weather is getting colder and we do still go outside to play as much as we can. At this time of the year, we only stay inside if it is 25 degrees or below (factoring in wind chill) or if it is raining. Please make sure you dress your children warmly enough in heavy coats, hats, mittens/gloves, boots, and snow pants for them to play outside for 30 minutes each day.

Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee Supporting the Diverse Learners of District 20.

By: Kim Cline, Director of Student Services

Keeneyville School District serves students and families from many cultures; but provides bilingual ELL services in Spanish and Polish based on the number of students in our district speaking those languages. A component of bilingual programming is having a Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC). We celebrate diversity and strive to meet the needs of our communities.

Mi Casa is Su Casa: Navegando el Sistema de Education Americano

W e know that parents and teachers have the same goal: the academic success of children. A good education will open the doors to a life of quality. Spanish bilingual teachers at Greenbrook Elementary School are offering a 4-week class on understanding the American school system. We invite parents to take part in the education of their children by first understanding the school system and sharing questions they have on how to best support their children. The presentation began on December 1, 2016 and will conclude on January 25, 2017. The class is done in Spanish and childcare is provided.

A Celebration of Tradition

Polish St. Nicolaus visits Waterbury School

On December 2, a group of Polish parents organized Polish St. Nick night. This event ties into the requirement of providing instruction in the history and culture of the country which is native to the land of students of their parents and in the history and culture of the United States. We are proud that students from the Early Childhood Center and elementary schools attended the event with their families. We had 100 people celebrating the St. Nicolaus tradition.

The evening included children's entertainment. St. Nicolaus presented gifts to the children. There was a DJ that played traditional Polish songs, which the children and families participated in. The event was presented in Polish, celebrating the tradition of St. Nicolaus.

Science Learning Comes to Life at Waterbury!

Tomorrow's Energy Learn in g Labs

By: Dr. Debbie Guzan, Principal

The DuPage Children's Museum was recently awarded a grant from the Subar u Foundation to fund Learning Labs in schools . Through this grant, Waterbury Elementary School 's third graders participated in Tomorrow's Energy Learning Labs on November 11th and 13th.

Tomorrow's Energy Today is a hands on, interactive program designed for students in grades three through five. This Learning Lab provides students with the opportunity to discuss many different forms and sources of energy and whether they are renewable or nonrenewable. Our students were able to act out an energy transfer chain, where they explored two states in which energy occurs, potential (stored) and kinetic (movement), as well as a carbon cycle. At five hands on stations , students discover ed properties of carbon dioxide, experiment ed with exhibit components that show how different forms of energy can be used to perform the same work and that no source of energy lasts forever , explore d what happens to an energy source when it is divided into multiple uses , investigate d alternative energy sources, and understoo d the process of refining switchgrass, corn, or sugarcane into a liquid biofuel and the way that can be used in engines as they are currently designed .

A big thank you to DuPage Children's Museum for providing this free program to us and to our parent volunteers who helped support each station.

December Board of Education Briefs

The Keeneyville Board of Education held its December Regular Board Meeting on Thursday, December 15, 2016. Board business included:

Approval of the property tax levy for the 2017-2018 school year.

A preliminary report from Studio GC Architects on the ongoing master facility planning process.
A mid-year report on One to One implementation in District 20.
A status report on the search for a new Spring Wood Middle School Principal and District Director of Operations starting July 1, 2017.
Approval of several bids for HVAC work at Greenbrook, Spring Wood, and Waterbury that will continue during the summer of 2017.
Approval of an additional Special Education Early Childhood Teacher for the remainder of the 2016-2017 school year due to rising enrollment.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Thursday, January 25, 2017.

8th Grade Band Students Participate in Lake Park's Band Day!

Spring Wood Middle School 8th grade band members participated in Lake Park's 1st annual "8th Grade Band Day"! Our 8th grade band members spent the day with Lake Park's band director Mike Lehman, as well as 5 other middle schools' 8th grade band students. With almost 100 people on the auditorium stage, our students met future friends and classmates, made beautiful music together, heard some great performances, and learned a great deal about how they can fit into the band program at Lake Park High School!

On your mark, Get set, Go!

On Saturday, November 19, 2016 the Waterbury Running Club completed their first 5K! Over the past 7 weeks, the 3rd-5th graders trained once a week with Coaches Mrs. Danielle Sopoci, Ms. Jamie Vanden Brink, Mrs. Karen Sabados, and Ms. Tracylin Meyer to improve their running endurance in preparation for the 5K.

The runners ran on the path through Goose Lake Park, onto Garden, then Mensching, and back around the path on the other side of Goose Lake Park. The student runners and their running buddies, which consisted of family members and Waterbury staff, ran three laps to complete the 3.1 mile race.

Despite the very cold weather, we had a great turn out of runners, volunteers, and spectators! Congratulations to all of our runners, you did an amazing job!

A special thank you to our staff volunteers Mr. Dan Abel, Mrs. Joan Atkins, Ms. Carly Badalamenti, Mrs. Marilyn Barnum, Dr. Debbie Guzan, Mrs. Donna Hausfeld, Mrs. Karen Kim, Mrs. Erica Moctezuma, Mrs. Stephanie Painter, Mrs. Christina Smith, and Mrs. Mary Woerner. The students really enjoyed seeing the Waterbury staff members cheering them on! Thank you also to the Waterbury families for coming out and braving the high winds and cold weather. It was great to have your support! A big thank you also goes to the Jason Herbers Allstate Agency for providing refreshments and a small prize after the race. We hope that even more runners, staff and community members will be joining us for future races!

Pictures from the race can be found on Waterbury's website under Photos.

http://www.esd20.org/schools/waterbury-elementary/photos/

A Fantastic Evening of Music with Spring Wood Bands and Chorus

The Spring Wood Middle School music program shined during their Winter Band and Chorus Concert on December 8th in the Spring Wood Carpeted Gym. Mr. Hellyer and Mr. Andrews made their Spring Wood debut as Band Director and Chorus Director and the audience was dazzled by the performances of all!

The concert was notable in the difficulty of the music performed and the high quality of each performance. It was truly a wonderful concert and we are very proud of all of our talented musicians!

Please join us at 7:00 on Monday, December 19th in the Spring Wood Carpeted Gym for our 5th Grade Band Concert. We are very excited to have the biggest 5th Grade Band performing in many years under the direction of the new 5th Grade Band Director Mrs. Hill!