Prairie Knolls Falcon Flyer March 2017 Important Dates From the Principal: March is here and that means we are close to the end of Quarter 3. Spring Break will be upon us soon and we will begin 4th Quarter when we return in April. Don’t forget that construction will begin soon on Nesler Road south of Prairie View and Prairie Knolls. They will replace the bridge over Fitchie Creek. For those families who transport their children and high school students who drive to school, please adjust your travel times and follow posted detours as applicable. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Transportation Department at 847-464-6052. We will again administer the PARCC test this school year. The PARCC testing window this year is April 04 - 28. Similar to last year, there are six different tests in this year's PARCC test; 3 ELA tests (110 minutes, 110 minutes, 90 minutes respectively) and 3 Math tests (each 80 minutes). Our leadership team met and determined that we will utilize the ELA/Math block time for this testing. By using the block, we will be able to take advantage of best practices by having the students' Math or ELA teacher administer that particular test to the students. This should minimize the impact to the other academic areas. We have finalized the actual testing time schedule and we did target days to administer the tests. They are as follows: Tuesday, April 11, Tuesday, April 18, Wednesday, April 12, Wednesday, April 19, and Thursday, April 13, Thursday, April 20. We learned last year that the use of the Chromebooks greatly streamlined the testing process for students and we are looking forward to working with our students to insure that they have a chance to practice with the online tools that come with these tests. Since many of the tests being developed and administered by our teachers reflect the enhanced rigor of the new Illinois Learning Standards, we anticipate that the students’ confidence in working with the material on the PARCC tests will be high. Our students did very well on PARCC last year. While it is nice to have high test scores, what is more important is that we believe our revised curriculum and assessments are more closely aligned than ever before with the Illinois Learning Standards, which the PARCC tests measure. We will analyze this year’s results and use this information to adjust our instruction so that we can continue to provide the students of PKMS with a high quality education. Once again, we want to thank all of our parents for the wonderful contributions that you bring to our school; from volunteering to assist in school activities, to involvement with the PTO, to safe driving practices at drop-off and pick-up times, to the support that you give to your children as they engage in the challenging homework and projects from their classes. Your support makes a huge difference in the success of our students and all of us at PKMS appreciate your efforts! Matthew Haug PKMS Principal March 2 11:15 Dismissal 3 No School–Teachers In-service 9, 10, 11 – Willy Wonka @ CMS 14 Chorus Concert 20 Board of Education 6pm 24 End of Quarter 3 March 27 – March 31- Spring Break April 6 Full day of school 6 Evening Parent Teacher Conferences (by invitation) 7 11:15 Dismissal 13 Student Council Dance 14 No School - Non Attendance Day 17 Board of Education 6 pm 20 5 th Grade Parent Orientation/Parent Night 22 Fine Arts Showcase 9am-noon Flyers • Boosters Draw Down • Bilingual Parent Advisory • Fine Arts Showcase Are you registered for the Niagara Falls/Toronto trip? If so it’s time to sign up for roommates. Stop in the library beginning Monday, March 6, to fill out your room request form. The list of all registered participants will be posted on the library doors, so, see who’s going and find your roommate.
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Prairie Knolls Falcon Flyer March 2017
Important Dates From the Principal:
March is here and that means we are close to the end of Quarter 3. Spring Break will be upon us soon and we will begin 4th Quarter when we return in April. Don’t forget that construction will begin soon on Nesler Road south of Prairie View and Prairie Knolls. They will replace the bridge over Fitchie Creek. For those families who transport their children and high school students who drive to school, please adjust your travel times and follow posted detours as applicable. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Transportation Department at 847-464-6052. We will again administer the PARCC test this school year. The PARCC testing window this year is April 04 - 28. Similar to last year, there are six different tests in this year's PARCC test; 3 ELA tests (110 minutes, 110 minutes, 90 minutes respectively) and 3 Math tests (each 80 minutes). Our leadership team met and determined that we will utilize the ELA/Math block time for this testing. By using the block, we will be able to take advantage of best practices by having the students' Math or ELA teacher administer that particular test to the students. This should minimize the impact to the other academic areas. We have finalized the actual testing time schedule and we did target days to administer the tests. They are as follows: Tuesday, April 11, Tuesday, April 18, Wednesday, April 12, Wednesday, April 19, and Thursday, April 13, Thursday, April 20. We learned last year that the use of the Chromebooks greatly streamlined the testing process for students and we are looking forward to working with our students to insure that they have a chance to practice with the online tools that come with these tests. Since many of the tests being developed and administered by our teachers reflect the enhanced rigor of the new Illinois Learning Standards, we anticipate that the students’ confidence in working with the material on the PARCC tests will be high. Our students did very well on PARCC last year. While it is nice to have high test scores, what is more important is that we believe our revised curriculum and assessments are more closely aligned than ever before with the Illinois Learning Standards, which the PARCC tests measure. We will analyze this year’s results and use this information to adjust our instruction so that we can continue to provide the students of PKMS with a high quality education. Once again, we want to thank all of our parents for the wonderful contributions that you bring to our school; from volunteering to assist in school activities, to involvement with the PTO, to safe driving practices at drop-off and pick-up times, to the support that you give to your children as they engage in the challenging homework and projects from their classes. Your support makes a huge difference in the success of our students and all of us at PKMS appreciate your efforts! Matthew Haug
Are you registered for the Niagara Falls/Toronto trip? If so it’s time to sign up for roommates. Stop in the library beginning Monday, March 6, to fill out your room request form. The list of all registered participants will be posted on the library doors, so, see who’s going and find your roommate.
Notes from the Nurse The Flu Season is still in full swing! Please remember the 3C’s in preventing the spread of Illness:
Clean your hands
Cover your nose and mouth
Contain your germs (stay home if sick!) When calling your child in absent, please be sure to report their symptoms. This will help us accurately complete the required weekly report to the Kane County Health Department. Symptoms that are especially important to report are a fever of over 100ºF accompanied with a cough and/or sore throat. Please remember that your child should stay home until they are fever-free without the use of medication for 24 hours. If you have any questions, feel free to call the nurse’s office at 847-717-8103.
The PKMS library has a nice collection of eBooks that your student can access anywhere they have internet. This is really a great resource when traveling, no books to pack or lose! To access the eBooks simply have your student follow these steps:
1. Start at the D301 homepage 2. Go to the black header at the top and click Destiny e-Library (on an I-Pad this is along the right side
bar) 3. Click on your building 4. Click the Catalog tab at the top 5. On the left side bar click Destiny Discover 6. To log in your username is your student ID number. Your password is your last initial capitalized,
Your first initial lower case, followed by your locker combination. 7. You may also download the Destiny Discover app to use with your I-Pad, Kindle, or phone. This is a
free app, but you do need the url to initially set it up. The url is: http://wbb46840.follettshelf.com
6th Grade Update
Math - Math is just finishing up our ratio unit and will continue with Geometry. In this unit, students will learn how to use area, volume, and surface area to apply to real world applications! ELA - ELA is continuing our adventure into our whole class read of Touching Spirit Bear. Throughout March, we are also diving into some PARCC review to help students do their best in early April. Please make sure your 6th grader has earbuds/headphones with them at all times at PK. They should have a dedicated school set of earbuds/headphones! Science - We continue our study of weather. The students were able to convection in action this past week when temperatures were near 70 degrees. We were able to go outside and observe how a solar balloon works. The air in the balloon heats up and becomes less dense than the surrounding air and will actually begin rising off the ground. Look for information in the near future about a weather project we will be doing using a STEM program. S.S. - Social Studies has been studying the impact of the Fall of Rome on citizens and other major cities. We will be looking into the economic and religious shifts that will be happening as barbarians make their mark and life in Europe declines. March will see us moving more towards the Middle Ages complete with feudalism, daily life structures and the Crusades!
In ELA, we are finishing our Responsibility Unit. The students studied different topics and eventually, they were able to choose their own person who effectively displays social responsibility to research. They took that information and composed an explanatory paper. We are now working on infographics and will soon move into our Equality Unit of study. In math, seventh graders are finishing an algebra unit with solving multi-step equations containing rational numbers. The next unit will be a geometry unit involving angle relationships, and finding area and perimeter for two and three dimensional figures. The Constitution test is coming fast and will be administered to students on March 24th. In addition to nightly homework, students should be studying every single night. Each student is making a set of Constitution Cards that they can use to study and even play games with. Additionally, students should be reviewing all handouts and any notes that we take in class to aid in their preparation. Past quizzes as well as the correct answers are also available on Canvas to use as a study tool for quizzes and final test. There are also many resources available on our website: www.pk7thgradess.weebly.com. In science the students are working on a STEAM project. This is a very exciting time where they get to branch out and really pull in some creative ideas. The project is centered around reducing our carbon footprint and saving the environment. All students are working in groups. Group members should "share the wealth" with not one person bringing all the materials. Also RECYCLED and RE-PURPOSED materials are encouraged (after all, this is about saving the environment). For one of the math portions, they need to total up how much they "spend". Recycled and re-purposed items are "free", but if they need to purchase something new, that needs to be incorporated in the cost. For instance, if you help build a frame at home out of scrap 2x4's and fasteners you have around, then there is no cost. If you need to run to Menards, that should be used for the price. The groups are sharing Google Docs to show their progress. Ask your child to see their doc! If you have questions, please contact the science teacher! The first judging will be March 17th.
Tickets on Sale Now!
Come join Prairie Knolls as they present Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr.!
Performances will be at CMS on March 9th, 10th, and 11th.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance online, at the PK office, or at the door.
Click here to order tickets https://goo.gl/forms/HyynuPCTww4CFi5v1
Jasmine Edwards Hannah Kowalik Nathan Scarso Fred Wills IV
Warsame Egeh Brady Lamberg Kyle Schmidt Carter Woodruff
Samuel Erb Emma Laria Matthew Schmidt Alec Zaccaria
Quinton Erickson Ivan Larson Jessica Scigliuolo Michael Zeinieh
Jenifer Escobar Chelsea Logsdon Gaetano Selvaggio Tanner Zimmerman
Student Recognition Congratulations to the following students for earning 2nd Quarter Recognition. Each student was congratulated during a recognition breakfast on Thursday, February 9th. During this time the parents, teachers, and administrators were present to encourage students and recognize their successes. Great work ladies and gentlemen! Congratulations!!! You are fantastic role models for your peers!
Academic Excellence Award
Exemplary Effort Award
Prairie Knolls Award Good Character Award
Kristiana Brennan Paige Greenhagel
Chaitan Grewal Brooke Hermanson Kyriaki Karavasis Matthew Lemon
Mikayla Onayemi Tyler Payton
Christian Ryczek Andrew Scharnowski
Zachary Schmidt Mariana Shapiama
Jenna DuMelle Keenan Eilrich Emma Foster
Natasha Holcomb Vanessa Huichapa
Braden Lowitzki Lukas Moldenhauer Amanda Popovich
Carly Robinson Affan Siddiqui Lexi Wilbrandt
William Aguirre Abigail Evenson Kyle Hermanson
Anna Keeny Shannon Mahoney
Nolan Milas Andrew Nordwind Sophia Ochana Preet Thakkar
Trestan Wagner Madyson Warmus Alexander Wright
Eva Boer
Diego Cruz Ava Farrell
Jacob Glazik Tyler Haines
Madison Lagasca Addison Nava
Ryan Wustefeld
2017 Winter Sports
Girls Basketball Update -
The Girls basketball team is having a great season and we hope to see their success
continue into the NCJC Tournament. On Thursday, March 2nd & Saturday, March 4th the
7th grade girls’ basketball team will play at Prairie Knolls for the NCJC Tournament. Let’s
cheer the girls on to a victory!
Scholastic Bowl Update –
The PKMS Scholastic Bowl is having a great season! They have their conference tournament at
Belvidere South Middle School on Saturday, March 4th. We wish them good luck in the tournament!
Wrestling –
Wrestling is about to begin their postseason as part of IESA. They compete in DeKalb on Saturday,
March 4th for the Regional Tournament. If any Wrestlers advance Sectionals will be held on
Saturday, March 11th and State would be on Friday, March 17th and Saturday, March 18th at NIU. Good
luck Wrestlers!
2017 Spring Sports
Track –
Track season is just around the corner! Our first official practice on Monday, March 13th. Practices
will continue from 3:00 - 5:00pm each evening. There will be a parent information meeting on Monday,
March 13th at 5:00 p.m. in the PKMS Gymnasium. All 7th and 8th graders who join the track team must
attend the meeting with one parent/guardian. Parking for the meeting will be available near the gym
and door 26 (athletic doors) will be open. If you are unable to attend this meeting, please contact one