Things have been rather busy lately with Red Ribbon Week taking place and getting ready for Halloween. Our students have enjoyed participating in a number of activities as a class, with their lower grade buddies, and as an entire school.
After attending a Language Arts articulation meeting at Lyons Township High School last week, I learned about the emphasis that many of the other schools had been placing on vocabulary, namely with Latin and Greek root words, suffixes, and prefixes. Using ESchool 3.0, an Archdiocese of Chicago curriculum resource, I was able to implement that content into my instruction. This is an area that I will continue to re-enforce as we prepare our students for the high school level.
For all three grade levels in Social Studies class, the primary focus at this time has been on the electoral process. With the midterm elections coming up, it is important for our students to know how this process works. In addition to that, they are becoming familiarized with the our state’s gubernatorial candidates under the concept of becoming informed and making a decision if they were in fact old enough to vote.
Lastly, a concerned parent recently reached out to me pertaining to the excessive amount of time that his/her child, who has an underlying health issue, has been missing due to illness that has almost certainly been acquired in school. Kids have been getting sick from school seemingly forever, but life is not the same as it once was. We all can agree how critical in-person learning is for our children. We all can agree how inconvenient it is for us parents to have to miss work when our children are sick, in addition to how costly and time-consuming doctors’ office visits can be. With that being said, if your child is sick, please make an effort to keep them home. It could be a rough fall or winter with the triple threat of the flu, Covid, and RSV making life hazardous for our families. Please consider the health and safety of others as well as your own family’s. I’ll be sure to do the same.
Have a Safe and Fun Halloween!
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind.”
– Robin Williams