In case you missed it, the KJHS Jazz Band treated us to a concert this morning and Mr. Tanner took a pie to the face (3 times!) as part of the BELT fundraiser. Special thanks to Mr. Stegemann for taking and editing video footage!

Team 8-1 is having a food drive! Click here to see how you can help!

The latest security update to students' Chromebooks logs students out every time they close their Chromebooks. They will need to log back in each time.

There are going to be several books arriving that have been donated to give to students. If you are interested in perusing these books when they arrive, please let Elisa know.

Freshman Orientation is being held at both Normal Community High School and Normal Community West High School on November 30th for eighth grade families. Details can be found in the links below. If a student is not sure what high school they are districted for, please refer them to the guidelines in the linked flyers or stop by the KJHS guidance office.

• Normal Community High School Freshman Orientation

• Normal Community West High School Freshman Orientation

Senator Barickman will be visiting KJHS with the 8th grade in the cafeteria on December 2nd. Team 8-1 will go from 9:40-10:20am and Team 8-2 will go from 10:20-11:00am.

Recommendations for Cycle 3 Interventions are due on Monday, December 5th.

Interested in volunteering? Click here to sign up!

Want to register a K-8 student? Click here to register!

The 8th grade orchestra will be traveling to Normal West high school on Friday, December 9th for our annual "step-up" day. Eighth grade students from KJHS and PJHS will get the chance to work and perform with West's top orchestra. We will leave at 9am and return between 1:30-2:00pm (hoping for closer to 1:30!). Students will be responsible for making up any work that they miss while on the field trip. Ms. Van de Loo sent out an email regarding this, including students involved, on November 16th.

Student Council is putting on a dance from 3:45 - 5:30 in the KJHS cafeteria. The theme is "Winter Glow" and tickets will go on sale following Thanksgiving break. Attendance is limited to 250 students and the dance committee is looking for 3 more chaperones (outside of administration for that event) to give a total of 10 chaperones. Students with a 2nd quarter ISS or OSS will not be allowed to attend the event.

General Information:

• The Computer Science Associate's Degree Program focuses on computer science and allows students to work towards an Associates Degree in Computer Science from Heartland Community College while in high school. Students take classes at West and at Heartland during the school day. This is a rigorous program (students take Honors Algebra II as freshman). It allows students to earn 60+ college credits.

• The program is open to all 8th grade students. However, math is a significant aspect of computer science so the vast majority of our students were in algebra or geometry in 8th grade.

• Students do not need to be experts or have any computer science knowledge to apply or be accepted. The content is taught as part of the program.

• Students that apply should have an interest and enthusiasm in learning more about computer science and how it can be used in various careers.

• The Computer Science Associate's Degree Program is only offered at Normal West - students that would attend NCHS will be granted attendance exceptions to come to West if admitted to the program.

• Applications are open until Dec 9th, 2022; students should know if they were accepted before winter break.

• There are two informational sessions that students/families can attend to get additional information and ask questions

  • Nov 30th @ 5:30 - 6:15pm - Normal West Auditorium

  • Dec 1st @ 6:00pm - Virtual Q&A (Meet Link)

Handouts & Links:

• Associate Degree Program Flier

• Associates Degree Program 4 Course of Study

• Unit 5 STEM Website

• STEM Program Student Application

• ADP Overview Video

• ADP Teacher Recommendation Form

We are still looking for tutors for the Gap Attack program. This program has two strands to it...

• General Strand: Students and tutors are matched and the tutoring schedule will be determined based on mutual availability.

• Session Strand: Students and tutors are scheduled for specific sessions in conjunction with KJHS home sporting events. These sessions will include tutoring and/or mentoring with a high school or college student. There is no need for the tutor to stay for the sporting event unless they want to. Here is the tentative schedule for that program: 1/9, 1/17, 1/24, 2/1, 2/8, & 2/21.

Time commitment for tutors is 1-2 hours/week. Please let Anita Holland know if you are interested in either or both strands.

You should have received an email on 10/24/22 indicating that the McLean County Unit 5 Open Enrollment event is from 10/24/22 through 11/23/22. Open Enrollment is an annual event that allows you to make changes to existing benefits or elect benefits for the first time. This year McLean County Unit District No. 5 is requiring a mandatory open enrollment. Every employee must log in and choose benefits or choose to decline benefits this year. This is due to the changes we have made to the health plans, and also to give you a chance to add beneficiaries for your life insurance. Your beneficiary information may not have transferred over from the previous enrollment system.

New for 2023, we have enhanced the PPO Gold, PPO Silver, and HSA Silver Plans, which allows us to eliminate the PPO Platinum Plan. We are also happy to announce the addition of a new vision plan. The new vision plan will replace the current vison reimbursement coverage in the health plans.

If this is your first-time enrolling, you can register by accessing this Registration link. During the registration process, you may be required to enter personal identifying data as well as the following company identifier: Unit 5

If you are already registered, start making changes to your insurance elections today through this Login link.

If you have any questions, please contact Megan Peterson at petersm@unit5.org.

Greetings!

Have you explored the new Spark Creativity site? Not only will you find a variety of engaging lessons, but you will also see ready to go activities you could use as holding patterns when students are done with their work. Here is an example of Gratitude Poetry Tiles. Can't remember your Spark Creativity login? Email me at sebenyj@unit5.org.

Have a wonderful and well deserved break!

Janel

Check out the November edition of the Family Kingsley Connection!

The office is not open until 7:45 am and we use the time from 7:30-7:45 am to problem solve around sub shortages and other issues for the day. The number of students asking to be buzzed in is before 7:45 am is increasing and become an additional stressor for office staff. Over the next week, we will be looking at ways to address this issue. Any solutions you can share would be helpful. Thanks!

Congratulations to Janel Sebeny for being selected as Unit 5’s Junior High Teacher Nominee for the statewide Those Who Excel Award. The Those Who Excel Awards Program annually recognizes and honors people and groups who have made outstanding contributions to public and nonpublic elementary and secondary education.

The aMath/aReading initial testing window is 11/14 - 11/18, with team makeup sessions running 11/21 - 11/22. Guidance will have an all school makeup session on 11/29 and our Cycle 3 Data Day is December 9th.

Here's the good news... there is not writing assessment this round and if a student has had a comprehensive exam, F&P, or is currently in an intervention, there is no need for any further diagnostics assessment. This should take some pressure off of staff who do the diagnostics. Elisa will be asking teams to have their discussion recommendations in the Cycle 3 recommendation form (which will be sent out soon) by Monday, December 5th and she will have preliminary "students to discuss" lists out to teachers on 12/7/22. Thank you all in advance for your work in this process. It is greatly appreciated!