Dear Parents,

The end of the school year is around the corner and many “end of the year” ac-tivities are beginning to take place. This school year seems to have flown by.

Much planning for the following school year takes place during this time of year. There will be a few changes at McDole that I would like to share with you. Can-dice Peel (ELL) and Jennifer Ortiz (First Grade) have resigned. Lisa Druwe (Kindergarten) is leaving due to anticipated low numbers in Kindergarten, Shar-lene Momich (Integrated Readiness Kindergarten) will move to Blackberry Creek Elementary, Tracy Maz (Reading) and Megan Looney (Reading Coach) will trans-fer to John Shields Elementary. Linda Norton (Second Grade) will move to Third Grade. Melissa Becker (Cross Categorical) will teach the Intermediate Instructional Cross Categorical Classroom. Martne McCoy (Assistant Principal) will take over as Principal as I will be moving to the District Office as Director of Special Services. Kevin Gordon has been hired to replace Mrs. McCoy.

I would like to personally thank the McDole staff, students and parents for a wonderful four years. We opened McDole with many challenges but together resolved them to make McDole Elementary School what it is today… one of the finest elementary schools around! I am proud of our school and am honored to be a part of McDole’s history.

Sincerely,

Fran Eggleston Principal

From Mrs. Eggleston: April 2009 Calendar of Events May 2 Daddy Daughter Dance

6:30—9:30 p.m.

May 4 Young Rembrandts

3:35—4:35 p.m. in Art Room 124

May 5 McDole Band Concert

7:00 p.m. H.S. Auditorium

Market Day Pick Up

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

May 7 Second Grade Tea for Two

9:30 a.m.

May 9 Talent Show Dress Rehearsal

2:00—4:00 p.m.

May 11 Young Rembrandts

3:35 - 4:35 p.m. in Art Room 124

May 12 Fun Lunch

Bilingual Parent Advisory Council

Meeting 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

May 14 District KLC Meeting

4:00 p.m.

May 15 Donkey Visit—First Grade

Talent Show - 6:30 p.m.

May 18 Young Rembrandts

3:35 - 4:35 p.m. Art Room 124

May 19 Fun Lunch

May 20 PTO Meeting

7:00 p.m.

May 21 First Grade Play - Roderick

May 22 Field Day

May 25 NO SCHOOL

May 26 First Grade Plays

Steimel - a.m.

Bright - p.m.

May 27 Kindergarten Celebration

May 28 First Grade Play - Schieber a.m.

1 Hour Early Dismissal

May 29 First Grade Play - Ortiz a.m.

1 Hour Early Dismissal

June 1 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Report Cards Go Home

Messages from McDole

News from the Classrooms

First Grade Once upon a time there were five beautiful queen teachers. They proclaimed to have their loyal subjects perform wondrous plays. Below is the Royal Decree of Fairy Performance Times for each first grade class: Queen Roderick - Thursday, May 21 at 2:20 p.m. Queen Steimel - Tuesday, May 26 at 9:15 a.m. Queen Bright - Tuesday, May 26 at 2:30 p.m. Queen Schieber - Thursday, May 28 at 9:15 a.m. Queen Malewig - Friday, May 29 at 9:15 a.m.

Fourth Grade Fourth graders have been busy the month of April. The month started out with our incredible educational field trip to Springfield, Illinois. The students had the opportunity to visit New Salem State Park, a re-stored village from Lincoln’s first years in Illinois, the Illinois State Museum, the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Abraham Lincoln’s home. The students then had the opportunity to journal and put together their very own scrapbook of their learning. Also, with our study of the food chain, the fourth graders learned about the owls. Students not only learned and researched all different species of owls they also had dissected owl pellets. Our wheels continue to stay in motion down the finish line to the end of the school year.

Kindergarten In Kindergarten, we have been studying oviparous (animals that hatch their babies). The children have been learning all about our incubators, the parts of an egg, how a chick embryo develops, and the process of hatching. We should have some fluffy friends joining us right around May 5th. In addition to chicks, we are learning about reptiles, amphibians, insects and dino-saurs.

Second Grade Second grade is busy getting ready for the Tea for Two. The children have been practicing songs and po-ems in music class. They are also working on a writing project in class. The children invite a special person to attend the Tea. During the Tea for Two the children sing with their guest. The children are very excited about their special day. The Tea for Two is Thursday, May 7.

Third Grade The third grade classes are hard at work learning about the planets in our solar system. Students have been working on researching individual planets and compiling the information into written reports and presentations. We, the third grade teachers, appre-ciated all of the families who attended our Spring Open House. The students enjoyed having the oppor-tunity to share their work with you. This last month of school will be filled with many fun-filled activities and exciting learning experiences.

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Early Childhood

Spring is here! We’ve been learning about rainbows, the signs of spring (which are different than, like, stop signs) and how plants grow. The afternoon class went outside on a spring exploration with clipboards in hand, just like “scientists”! We talked about signs of spring that we could hear, see, feel, and smell. We saw a duck’s nest “complete with eggs!), heard frogs croaking, saw buds on trees and flowers in several different stages, and felt the wind blowing on our skin. Our spring unit will culminate with our own planting project.

Fifth Grade “Here we go round the mulberry bush…..” well, not ex-actly. Even though silkworms love to eat mulberry leaves, the silkworms in Mrs. Kuntz’s classes are en-joying a steady diet of silkworm chow. Silkworm chow is made of delicious mulberry leaves that silkworms love to eat! The idea to raise silkworms came from our read aloud book, Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park. Our silkworm eggs arrived on April 9th, and we have enjoyed observing and writing about their devel-opment ever since. If all goes well, we are hoping for cocoons by mid-May.

Cross Categorical Mrs. Kolk’s math students have been learning new skip counting songs. Ask your student to sing the “Tossing Two’s” song for you. They are doing a wonderful job.

ART

The piece that Mrs. Kosky’s class made for the Fine Arts Festival silent auction sold for $90! “Jungle Dance Off” featured artwork from all the students. It was the highest grossing piece in the auction. The students voted to donate the money earned to the World Wildlife Fund. I am so proud of Mrs. Kosky’s class for being so selfless and giving to a worthy organiza-tion. Congratulations you guys!

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L

R

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All LRC books are due back by May 15.

LOST and FOUND

We still have many items waiting to be picked up. If you have any ar-ticles that you haven’t seen in a while, please come in and take a look before the end of the school year.

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EXERCISE and YOU

Exercise may not be your favorite word; I prefer the term physical activity because, for me, it is a broader term. Physical activity can be anything from baseball to raking the yard and often is free, i.e. no special equipment and no fees or competition.

Walking is one of the most simple forms of physical activity for all age groups. Walking can be adapted to be very rigorous by increasing the speed and elevation, and adding weights. It can be done indoors and out. Make a list of all the physical activities you do, it is recommended that you participate in 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

Physical activity helps build strong bones and muscles and helps to control weight. It also helps reduce stress and the risk factors associated with illnesses of later life. Physical activity is a major part of a healthy lifestyle and way of living. Ask your parents or older siblings to go for a walk with you, they may appreciate the invitation and the opportunity to spend some spe-cial time with you.

WHERE to FIND a SNACK

In the refrigerator,

you might find: Low fat yogurt

String cheese

Apples

Oranges

Grapes

Carrot sticks

Strawberries

Cottage cheese

In the kitchen,

you might find: Animal crackers

Vanilla wafers

Dried fruit

Peanut butter

When you go to the store, look for the fruits and vegetables that are the prettiest colors. Look at the labels to find breads and pasta

that is made with whole grains. Your snack should be a small amount of food; it should fit in your hand or on a small plate and it should taste good! Sit down at the table when you eat your snack.

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First Grade

Grace Vranicar

Jonathon Howard

Kayla Brumbaugh

Braden Korsgarden

Andy Conley

Isabella Vitacco

Second Grade

Nicky Kull

Maddie Wheatley

Charlie Robin

Ashtyn Winkler

Alex Bass

Third Grade

Braxton Mayes

Mustafa Ali

Nehemiah Lee

Ivory Diaz

Brooke Delahanty

Fourth Grade

Starr Cubberley

Bryan Zollinger

Michael Minogue

Eric Layne

Fifth Grade

Austin Vickery

Alyssa Van Plew

Dani Barragan

K

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of the

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During January, 126 students were caught at McDole being KNIGHT’s. The following kids have the honor of sitting at the Knight of the Roundtable during lunch.

Congratulations to those students for being caught showing KNIGHT behaviors. Remember the more you are caught-the better your chances are to sit that special table.

KNIGHT pictures can also be viewed on the McDole website!

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School Improvement Goals for 2008-2009 School Year

OBJECTIVE 1: To improve higher level comprehension skills demonstrated by at least a 3% increase from the 2007-2008 school year in reading extended response on the ISAT/ISEL-2/school wide assessments by the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

OBJECTIVE 2: To promote citizenship by involving 97% of McDole’s students in the participation of school sponsored service projects by the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

OBJECTIVE 3: Increase community awareness of student successes at McDole during the 2008-2009 school year by commu-nicating monthly with the district, parents and the local community.

ALERT……...we are in danger of losing our recycling bin due to low amounts of recycling. Please help us keep the

bin. You can help the environment and raise money for McDole just by dropping your recyclable paper at McDole.

What Goes in the Paper Retriever Bin

Yes, Please…… Newspaper and Inserts

Magazines/Catalogs

Office/School Papers

Mail

No, Thanks…... No Cardboard

No food boxes, fiberboard or chipboard

No textbooks or hardcover books

No phone books

Cracking the code of IM slang: With more than 82 million people texting regularly, it’s no won-der you’ve seen this cryptic looking code! Commonly used wherever people get online — including IMing, cell phones, Blackberries, PDAs, Web sites, games, newsgroup postings, in chat rooms, on blogs—these abbreviations are used by people to communicate with each other.

LOL - Laugh out loud

POS - Parent over shoulder

LMFR - Let’s meet for real.

ASL - Age/sex/location

FOAF - Friend of a friend

182 - I hate you.

ADR - Address

KPC - Keeping parents clueless

WUF - Where you from?

WYRN - What’s your real name?

There are so many out there and it is important to know what some of them mean. You can just google IM slang or IM acro-nysms to find out more.

TIPS and RESOURCES FOR PARENTS ________________________________

• Sit down with children when they’re online, and make sure they visit only Web sites that are parent-approved.

• Use child-friendly search engines or one with parental controls.

• Establish a family e-mail account.

• Talk to children about their online activi-ties and online friends because to them, the Internet is an extension of the real world.

• Establish rules for the Internet.