December 2023
A Note from Ms. Palmer, KJHS Principal
Dear Kingsley families,
Welcome to the last Kingsley Family Connection of 2023! This fall semester has gone quickly and we have seen so much growth in the KJHS student body. The semester has been filled with both successes and challenges and we appreciate your support as we partner to help guide our students. As 2023 comes to a close, we just want to express how thankful we are to the Kingsley community. Your support is invaluable and we cannot thank you enough for all you do every day to support the Kingsley staff and students.
Ms. Palmer
KJHS Updates
Team 8-1 Service Project
As part of our social responsibility project, we would like to help out the less fortunate in our community so Team 8-1 is having a food & supply drive to help support the Neville House. The Neville House is a domestic violence shelter in Bloomington, IL that served over 750 local residents last year. Our goal is to collect as many items as possible between Friday, December 1, 2023 and Friday, December 15, 2023. Drop-off locations will be in the KJHS lobby and outside of room 311.
Here is a list of items Neville House needs:
Cleaning Supplies: Lysol spray, Clorox Wipes, garbage bags, dish soap, toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, hand soap (bar & liquid)
Toiletries: shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair brushes, combs, lotion,
Batteries: (AA, AAA, & 9v)
Non-Perishable food items: vegetables, soups, mac n’ cheese, pasta, etc.
Clothing: (Men, Women & Children - a varety of sizes) sweatpants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, new packaged socks, underwear, gym shoes
Grocery Store Gift Cards to purchase nonperishable items (Walmart, Meijer, Hyvee, Kroger)
We will also be collecting NEW toys for the Toys for Tots Program in our community. Feel free to donate a new and unwrapped toy to help the children in our community have a happy holiday!
Thanks for helping us give back to our community!
Sincerely,
Team 8-1 Students and Teachers
Music Holiday Festival @ KJHS - December 19th
On Tuesday, December 19th, the KJHS PTO is partnering with the KJHS music programs to present an evening of dining and music at KJHS. The KJHS PTO has a dine to donate fundraiser with the Normal Main Street Jimmy John's store on that day and KJHS is inviting families to pick up Jimmy John's and then join us in the KJHS cafeteria from 5:00 - 6:00 pm for performances of the KJHS Choirs (5:00 - 5:20) and KJHS Flobinet Choir (5:25 - 5:45), followed by the Orchestra concert at 6:00 pm. This event is casual so feel free to come and go as you please.
KJHS PBIS Updates
This month's KJHS PRIDE focus is E for "excellence". Students will be discussing what excellence means and how they can demonstrate in various aspects of their lives.
Last month's KJHS PRIDE focus was D for "Determination". Here is the lesson that was shared schoolwide with students.
The PBIS Q2 Celebration will be the week of December 18 (day depends on grade level). Students earn the right to participate in the celebration by having limited lunch detentions and no in school or out of school suspensions.
Boston Trip Fundraiser
We have several 8th grade students going on a history education trip to Boston in May 2024. They are raising funds through a variety of methods, including a dine to donate at Jason's Deli on Saturday, December 16 from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm. If you are feeling hungry on that day and want to help out these students, please stop by Jason's Deli and enjoy some delicious food!
KJHS 22-23 Summative Designation
Illinois School Report Cards were made public on October 30th and KJHS has received the designation of "targeted" due to the underperformance of a student subgroup. KJHS administration will be working with the KJHS Leadership Team this year to develop a support plan for these students. This plan will then be implemented over the next three years. For more information about how KJHS students performed last year, please view the KJHS 22-23 State Report Card.
Continuum of Engagement
Many adult conversations focus on how engaged students are in class. Here at KJHS, we are using the Continuum of Engagement Framework as a way to get students thinking about how engaged they are in their own learning. We encourage you to examine this framework and use this when talking to your student about how engaged they are in their classes when it comes to learning.
KJHS "Get to Class on Time" Initiative Update
We are pleased to share that the KJHS students are continuing to do well in the "Get to Class on Time" initiative. Tardies in November were down 26.8% from October and were at the lowest daily average for the school year thus far.
Navigating Student Conflicts
Given the fact that we have over 700 students in our KJHS community, conflicts are bound to occur. If your student is experiencing an issue with another student and needs adult assistance to help work things out, please encourage them to complete the "What's Up Kingsley?" form. This will alert the adults in the building to the issue and we will direct the students involved to the KJHS resource best suited to the conflict.
Outside Food & Drink
Just a reminder that while students are allowed to bring lunch from home, they are not allowed to have food from outside restaurants delivered to KJHS during the school day (by family, delivery service, etc.).
K-Cart Amazon Wishlist
The KJHS BELT class recently launched the KCart, which is our traveling PBIS rewards store. KJHS students can purchase items from the KCart using KCash, which is earned by making positive behavior choices throughout the school year. In order to stock this popular KJHS feature, the BELT students have created an Amazon wish list of items that they would like offer for purchase on the KCart. Please have any items ordered sent to the address below. In addition, feel free to purchase any of the items locally and drop them off at the KJHS main office. Thanks so much for your support!
Kingsley Junior High School Attn: KCart
303 Kingsley Street
Normal, IL 61761-2941
PTO Updates & Fundraisers
Below are opportunities to help the KJHS PTO raise money to support the KJHS students and staff by doing things like funding teachers' classroom grant requests to enhance instruction, provide staff with uplifting luncheons and treats, purchase furniture to allow for flexible learning spaces, and much more!
PTO No Hassle Fundraiser: The easiest way to support the important work of the KJHS PTO is to make a donation through our No Hassle Fundraiser.
The PTO is selling Papa Murphy coupon cards for $5. If you are interested in purchasing one, please email the PTO at kjhspto@gmail.com.
The Gobena Coffee Fundraiser is an ongoing one and an excellent opportunity to try some new, local coffee as well as raise money to help the PTO support our KJHS teachers.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Who Do I Contact at KJHS?
Knowing who to contact at KJHS about certain issues can be challenging. We hope this mini-guide helps as to who to contact first when you are needing assistance.
Absences (partial or full day): KJHS Attendance line (309-557-4456)
Classroom level issues (grades, behavior, etc.): Your student's teacher(s)
General questions about KJHS: KJHS Main Office line (309 - 557-4407)
Student information/registration updates: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Sports related questions: Mrs. Menken (557-4862 or menkenk@unit5.org) or Mr. Davis (557 - 4962 or davissy@unit5.org)
Student behavior issues: Student's AP
Last name A-K: Mr. Larson (557-4858 or larsond@unit5.org)
Last name L-Z: Mr. Davis (557 - 4962 or davissy@unit5.org)
Student schedules: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Student support services: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Monitoring Student Progress
Infinite Campus: Infinite Campus is the main tool that we use to communicate students' progress and attendance with our KJHS families. You can set the Infinite Campus to send you notifications regarding your student's attendance and grades. Don't have the app yet? Visit the Unit 5 link to the Infinite Campus Parent Portal and download the app. Here are some helpful hints:
a. When looking up the district, enter "mcl", select "Illinois" and then hit "search". McLean County Unit 5 will pop up.
b. Your username and password are the same ones you use to log into IC on a computer. Don't remember your password? Call the KJHS Guidance Office (309) 557- 4899 and we will reset your password so you can get access to your account. Trying to access after office hours? Drop Ms. Palmer an email (palmere@unit5.org) and she will get you set up as soon as she can.
The online gradebooks in Infinite Campus should reflect your student's current performance in their classes. If you have a question about what is appearing online in the gradebook, please reach out to your student's teachers. Please remember that KJHS uses standards based teaching and learning. Here's a reminder of what those numbers you are seeing represent. Want to learn more? Check out the Unit 5 SBG Guide.
Technology Tip: Snap Chat
We are seeing an increasing number of student conflicts at KJHS caused by social media usage, especially Snap Chat. Given this, we wanted to share some insights into Snap Chat from our friends at Decatur Public Schools in Alabama. We hope the information below will help our Kingsley families provide guidance to students in the usage (or elimination) of this app.
Does your child use Snapchat? It's a popular app with teenagers used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps" that consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings. While the premise behind the app seems innocent, it can lead to problems if used inappropriately. With school about to start, be sure you are up to speed on all that snapshot offers(good and bad).
Snapchat offers extra protections for 13-to-17-year-olds, including requiring teens to be mutually connected or in their respective phone contacts before they can start communicating.
Please follow the links below to learn more about tools parents can access to learn more about Snapchat safety:
Snap has a set of in-app parental tools called Family Center. The goal of these tools is to help parents get insight into how their teens are using Snapchat, including who they are communicating with and what public content they are viewing. https://values.snap.com/safety/family-center
Easily report concerning accounts to Snap’s 24/7 Trust and Safety team. You can learn more here: https://values.snap.com/safety/safety-reporting
Here is a list of important actions to help protect your teens on Snapchat.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS ONLY: Tell your teen to only invite and accept Friends on Snapchat if they are friends in real life or family members. Encourage them to check their Friends List regularly to make sure they still want to be in touch with each friend.
LOCATION AND PRIVACY SETTINGS: Talk to your teen about their location and privacy settings. At Snapchat, privacy settings are turned on by default, so people can only see the things you want to share, for as long as you want to share them.
IN-APP REPORTING: Make sure your teen knows how to use our in-app reporting tools and that we don’t tell Snapchatters who reported them. These reports go directly to our 24/7 Trust and Safety team to investigate and take appropriate action. We also offer reporting tools on our website for those who don’t use Snapchat – which any parent can easily use.
THINK BEFORE YOU SEND: Remind your teen that, as with sharing anything online, it’s important to be really careful about sending anyone – even a partner or close friend – personal or sensitive images and information. Snaps and Chats may delete by default, but there are ways to capture images from a phone or other device without a person’s consent. This is true despite Snapchat sending a notification in some instances when a screenshot is taken.
JOIN FAMILY CENTER: Make sure you and your teen are signed up for Snapchat’s Family Center.
Temporary Changes in Busing
If you are wanting your child to ride a different bus on a certain day (i.e. , they are riding home with a friend), please contact the Transportation Office (309-557- 4287) to make this arrangement as they will need to notify the bus driver. Please do this as early as possible in order to ensure that the message is communicated. KJHS cannot make this arrangement for you.
8th Grade Updates
8th Grade Dance
Over the past few years, KJHS has hosted an 8th grade dance as one of the closing activities of the school year. This event is held in May and is planned/organized by the 8th grade parents. If you would like to be involved on the 8th grade dance planning committee, please let Ms. Palmer (palmere@unit5.org) know by early January.
Upcoming High School Transition Dates
Below are important dates as the 8th grade students will begin selecting the classes they want to take next year in high school.
12/12 - Team 8-1 individual student/counselor meeting to talk about course requests
12/13 - Team 8-2 individual student/counselor meeting to talk about course requests
January 2023 - Course requests entered into Infinite Campus
1/10 - Freshman Orientation at Normal Community High School starting at 6:30 pm
3/22 - Last day to make changes to course requests
Unit 5 Freshman Orientation Night @ NCHS
Normal Community High School: 1/10/24, 6:30 pm
8th Grade Expectations
The 8th grade teams have been working with students over the past few weeks to clarify expectations of students as learners in the classroom. Each team has created a slide (Team 8-1; Team 8-2) with basic expectations, which they already discussed in class, and we ask that you discuss these expectations with your student so we are all on the same page. Thank you!
High School Automatic Enrollment Survey Due 12/15
If you received a letter stating your student would automatically be enrolled in one or more advanced courses their first year of high school due to their 22-23 IAR test scores, please follow the directions in that letter to confirm or reject that enrollment. Confirmation is due by 12/15/23. Thank you!
Sister Cities Junior Ambassador Program
If your 8th grade student is interested in travel, check out the B/N Sister Cities Junior Ambassador Program. The program will select 6 students from District 87 and 6 students from Unit 5 to go on two week exchange program with our sister city of Asahiwaka, Japan. All expenses besides airfare and spending money for souvenirs are paid for by the program.
Unit 5 Updates
Unit 5 Podcast
Want to know more about Unit 5? Check out our new podcast, Inside Unit 5!
This monthly podcast is dedicated to highlighting information and news for Unit 5’s parents, students, educators, and community members.
Athletics & Clubs
Stream Team is Bringing KJHS Home Games to Your Home!
Want to enjoy KJHS home games from the comfort of your own home? Check out our Kingsley Activities You Tube page for live streams of all home events and enjoy how our student led Stream Team broadcasts each and every game!
Kingsley Clubs and Activities
Incoming students & families often ask "how can my child get involved & participate in the Kingsley community?" Great question!
Off of the main page of the Kingsley website, there is an "extracurriculars" page with our club and activity information. For students, we post club information in the daily announcements & on "What's Kickin' at Kingsley?" bulletin boards throughout the school. Here is a list of our current clubs:
Black Student Union Flobinet Choir Not In Our School
Board Game Club GSA Percussion Club
Byte by Byte Club Harry Potter Club Pokemon Club
Chess Club Jazz Band Rubix Cube Club
Drama Club Kingsley Bible Club Speech/Debate Team
D&D/MTG Club Kingsley News Spirit Club
FCCLA Kingsley Stream Team Tech Club
Fellowship of Student Athletes (FCA) Kingsley Student Council Yearbook
KJHS Book Club Crochet Club Animal Wellness Club
New Clubs @ KJHS
We are excited to announce that we now have a Chess Club! Mrs. Borne has agreed to be our Chess Club sponsor.
KJHS PTO
KJHS PTO Happenings
Next Meeting
The next KJHS PTO meeting is Monday, January 22 at 6:30 pm in the KJHS IMC.
Fundraiser
Dine to Donate: December 19th at all local Jimmy John's locations. Pick up your Jimmy John's and come to KJHS for some musical entertainment while you eat!
PTO No Hassle Fundraiser: The easiest way to support the important work of the KJHS PTO is to make a donation through our No Hassle Fundraiser.
The PTO is selling Papa Murphy coupon cards for $5. If you are interested in purchasing one, please email the PTO at kjhspto@gmail.com.
The Gobena Coffee Fundraiser is an ongoing one and an excellent opportunity to try some new, local coffee as well as raise
Want more information on the KJHS PTO?
Visit the KJHS PTO Web Site
Dates to Note
December
7: Early Release (11:45 am)
8: Student Council After School Dance Party (3:45 - 5:45 pm)
19: KJHS Music Holiday Festival (5:00 - 6:00 pm)
19: 8th Grade PBIS Q2 Celebration
20: 6th Grade PBIS Q2 Celebration
21: 7th Grade PBIS Q2 Celebration
22: First Day of Winter Break
January
8: Last Day of Winter Break
9: First Day of Second Semester
10: Freshmen Orientation at NCHS, 6:30 pm
15: Martin Luther King Jr Day (No School)
Stay Up to Date!
Be sure to mark school holidays, teacher institute days, and early release days on your calendar!
Daily Announcements are shown each lunch period daily & posted on the main page of the KJHS website.
Stay Connected
To stay connected to our Kingsley community, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, &/or Twitter.
You can also visit our school website for additional information. Please be patient as changes are being made to the website to ensure the most updated information is provided.
At any time you can also reach out by email to palmere@unit5.org
#KingsleyCARES
Student Council is putting on a dance from 3:45 - 5:30 in the KJHS cafeteria. The theme is "Winter Glow" and tickets are on sale now. Attendance is limited to 250 students and students with a 2nd quarter ISS or OSS will not be allowed to attend the event.