Benjamin Broadcast

Dear Benjamin Families,

Thank you to those who attended Curriculum Night for the Stand-ards Based Grading Presenta-tion, as well as the classroom sessions. We hope you were able to learn important information for this school year. Continue to check Family Access throughout the year to review your child’s progress and mastery level of the learning standards.

As the fall weather is approaching, please be sure to send your child(ren) with appropriate clothing for outside recess and PE.

Thank you for purchasing books from our recent Scholastic Book Fair. In addition to providing your child(ren) with the opportunity to read new books, a portion of the proceeds of the Book Fair come back to Benjamin to purchase new books for our school library.

Please contact our

office at (309)557-

4410 if you have any

questions.

Sincerely,

Marlys Bennington-

benninmm@unit5.org

Principal

Happy Fall to our Benjamin Families!

Chess—Mandatory Parent Meeting

All students kindergarten through 5th grade are welcome! Chess Club will be limited to 60 stu-

dents. If you are interested in joining the Benjamin Chess Club, please attend this MANDATORY

informational meeting where you will meet the coordinators, pay the $50 application/

membership fee, and fill out the required paperwork. If you are unable to attend the October 12th

meeting, please submit the required fee and paperwork BEFORE the date of the meeting to the

Benjamin school office.

Chess Club will meet on Wednesdays from 3:45 to 4:30pm, beginning Nov. 2nd.

Questions: contact Ann Groonwald at ann.groonwald@gmail.com or (952) 738-1330.

McLean County Unit District 5

October 2016

Volume 7, Issue 2

GROWL Winners 2

Homecoming 2

Dine to Donate 3

Music & Chorus 3

Drop off/Pick up Proce-dures

3

Calendar 4

Notes from the Nurse 5

Inside this issue:

Picture Re-takes

Picture re-takes will be on the morning of

Tuesday, November 1st. If your child was absent on School Picutre Day, they

will have their picture taken that day. If your child had their picture taken, and you

want them to have a re-take, please send their orig-inal pictures back to school

for Re-takes.

Yearbooks will be for sale later in the year. If your child is absent on picture day, they will have their

picture taken later this fall on picture re-take day.

Wednesdays are

designated as Spirit

Wear Days. Students &

staff may wear

Benjamin Bear clothing

or orange & black.

FALL CLASSROOM PARTIES

Students may wear appropriate, non-violent costumes for our fall classroom par-

ties on Friday, October 28th. Please do not send your child with a costume that is

violent, shows blood, is gory, or one that would scare other children. As a school,

we reserve the right to ask a child to remove a costume that we deem inappropri-

ate for school. Your child may also choose not to wear a costume for the party,

which is alright, too. Thank you for your help in making our fall parties a success,

as well as a fun time for both students and staff. Students should bring their cos-

tume to school in a bag or backpack. They will be given time to change prior to the

1:30 P.M. party.

Congratulations to the following

students who were our August

GROWL winners:

Isha Gollapudi (PE Myers), Ma-

ya Gopinathan (PE Myers),

Jocelyn Bird (KF), Mahi Ravi

(KF), Cade Bennett (KH), Avry

Miller (KH), Cruz Ettner (KL),

Milly Henderson (KL), Audrey

Douglas (1A), Gavin Voegele

(1A), Avery Hardy (1G), Jonah

Kalitzky (1G), Sanna Dattan

(1H), Nick Rosenlund (1H),

Faseeha Bajulul Hak (1S), Sean

Cummings (1S), Maxene Alpas

(2F), Michael Becher (2F), An-

kita Rao (2G), Parker Russell

(2G), Chicory Exner (2K), Mahi

Ganta (2K), Oliver Gilbert (2V),

August GROWL Winners

Noon Hour Supervisors Needed

We are in need of a few noon hour

supervisors. This is a paid position, and the

hours are from 11:05-1:05 each student

attendance day. Supervisors help take care

of students in the cafeteria, as well as

monitor and encourage respectful,

responsible, and safe behavior during recess.

If you are interested, please contact Mrs.

Bennington at (309)557-4410 or at

benninmm@myunit5.org.

Page 2 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 7 , I s s u e 2

It has been a busy start to the school year. Our students are doing an outstanding job in physical education class. Mr. Delveaux was out recently due to knee surgery. He missed all the students and couldn’t wait to get back up and mov-ing. He’s glad to be back! The kids have been doing some running activities and playing various games like Scooter Scatter and Zombie Apocalypse and a few Project Fit Activities. Keep up the great job by being prepared for P.E. and having your tennis shoes.

Respectfully, Todd Delveaux & Jo Myers

PE Shorts

Save the Date!

March 3rd—5:00-8:00 pm Benjamin Carnival

March 7th— 6:00-7:30 pm Art Show

April 18th—6:00-7:30 pm Science Fair

Norah Parker (2V), Sam Barrett

(3C), Piper Lowder (3C), Chase

Stevenson (3D), Bella Wilson

(3D), Kella Kindred (3E), Michael

Mavec (3E), Paige Benedict (3P),

Dennis Brown (3P) Justin Curtis

(4G), Luke Stephens (4G), Alex

Herren (4R), Brody Roberts (4R),

Ryan Baxter (4S), Jaren

Frankowiak (4S), Tanner Dowd

(5G), Oviya Panneerselvam (5G),

Michael Heger (5J), Sara Puvvala

(5J), Michael Harding (5L), Ojas

Shah (5L), Joe Carter (5S), Con-

nor Hertz (5S).

These students celebrated by en-

joying a pizza party with Mrs.

Bennington on Thursday, Sep-

tember 15th!

How does a Benja-

min Bear receive a

GROWL? GROWLS are earned

by going above and beyond our

expectations in the areas of re-

spect, responsibility, or safety.

These are important behaviors

that will allow them to become

successful adults.

Each month, two students from

each class will be drawn from all

of the GROWL winners from that

month. These students will be

rewarded with a pizza luncheon

with the principal. They also re-

ceive a special GROWL medal.

We hope to recognize quality

character in many of our students

throughout the year.

NCHS Homecoming Week

NCHS will celebrate Homecoming the week of Octo-

ber 17th-21st. We will have themed Spirit Days each

day of that week. More information will be coming

home soon about these special days.

We hope you and your family will join the Ironmen on Friday, Octo-

ber 21st at 7:00 pm for their Homecoming football game. Remem-

ber to wear your orange and black! Go, Iron!

Dine to Donate

Vocal Music & Chorus

Thank you to those who

participated in our Papa

John’s PTO Dine to Do-

nate. $220.00 was raised

to help our school!

Here is a preview of up-

coming Dine to Donate

events:

October 18th - 4:00-9:00

pm - Noodles on Veteran’s

Parkway; flyer needed; we

will receive 10% back.

November 10th - 5:00-

9:00 pm - Buffalo Wild

Wings; bring 1 ticket; we

will receive 15% back.

November 15th - 3:00-9:30

pm - Orange Leaf (for an

after the music concert

treat); mention Benjamin;

we will receive 10% back;

15% if sales total more than

$500.

December 8th - Papa

John’s; flyer needed; we will

receive 20% back.

December 20th - 3:00-9:30

pm - Orange Leaf (for an

after the music concert

treat); mention Benjamin;

we will receive 10% back;

15% if sales total more than

$500.

in a single file line for pick

up. This will allow cars to

pull out and move ahead

once their children are safely

in their vehicle. We will keep

the children close to the front

doors, in an area we call the

Bear Den, until we know that

you are in the line in front of

the school. This will also

help with safety for the stu-

dents. Please remind your

children to walk safely to

your vehicle. Thank you for

helping to keep our students

safe.

6:00 - 4th grade

7:00 - 5th grade

December 20

5:30 - 1st grade

7:00 - Chorus - This is a joint concert with Evans Junior High Choir groups. We anticipate a total of 50-60 minutes for all groups.

Here are the dates for our

upcoming music concerts

this year. All Benjamin

music concerts are held at

Normal Community High

School at 3900 East Raab

Rd. in Normal.

November 15

5:00 - 3rd grade

May 11

5:00 - Kindergarten

6:00 2nd grade

7:00 - Chorus

3rd-5th Grade Chorus will be held on Wednesdays from 2:30-3:30 pm., beginning Sept. 14th.

Lost & Found

Lost & Found is

growing everyday.

Please stop by or

have your children

look for items that

belong to them.

Items not claimed by

December 22nd will

be donated to charity.

Page 3 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 7 , I s s u e 2

For the safety of our stu-

dents, if you are dropping off

your child(ren) before

school:

Let them out on the passen-

ger side of the car once you

reach the portion of the curb

that is painted red. Patrol

members will help with this.

Do not park in the cross

walk area.

Once your child is out of the

car and your car doors are

shut, pull forward and exit

the parking lot. This will

allow the next group of cars to

pull into the Red Zone. Do not

wait until your child has en-

tered the building to pull for-

ward and leave, as this greatly

slows down the drop off pro-

cess.

If you need to park your car

and get out, please park in one

of the actual parking spaces in

the lot.

When picking up children after

school, pull forward as far as

you can in the pick up lane.

Please help us out by parking

Drop off & Pick up Procedures—Red Zone

Unit 5 will implement 14 Late Start Wednesdays this year, which will have all

students arriving one hour later than regular school start times. Elementary

schools will start at 8:45 A.M. on these days. Transportation pick up times will

run one hour later on these days than on regular days.

The purpose of Late Starts is to allow Unit 5 staff members to meet for 90

minutes of job embedded professional development and collaboration, which

will improve classroom instruction, enhancing the learning opportunity for stu-

dents, despite the state’s financial crisis. Research supports ongoing, sus-

tained, results oriented collaboration.

This common meeting time will allow teachers to: continue training in literacy

practices and assessments, develop student achievement goals driven by data,

collaborate in the development of instructional strategies, develop common

course assessments, analyze assessment data to guide instruction, collaborate

on differentiating instruction for students, and enhance classroom technology

integration through training.

October Late Starts: 26th

Benjamin Elementary School 6006 Ireland Grove Rd. Bloomington, IL 61705

http://www.unit5.org/

Domain/9

Oct. 5th 2:30-3:15 pm Student Council Meeting in IMC

2:30-3:30 pm Chorus

Oct. 10th No School - Columbus Day

Oct. 12th 2:30-3:30 pm Chorus

6:30 pm Mandatory Parent Meeting for Chess

Oct. 17th-21st Spirit Week for NCHS’s Homecoming

Oct. 17th 6:30 pm PTO Meeting in the IMC

Oct. 18th 4:00-9:00 pm Dine to Donate at Noodles on Veteran’s

Oct. 21st 7:00 pm NCHS Homecoming Football Game

Oct. 26th 8:45 am Late Start

2:30-3:30 pm Chorus

Oct. 28th 1:30-2:30 pm Fall Classroom Parties

Nov. 1st Picture Re-takes in the Morning

Nov. 2nd 2:30-3:15 pm Student Council

2:30-3:30 pm Chorus

3:45-430 pm Chess Club Begins

Citizen’s Advisory Council Meets at Benjamin in the

Gym

Benjamin Calendar

Phone: 309-557-4410 Fax: 309-557-4511

Benjamin Mission Statement The Benjamin Bear community will educate and empower all students to be proactive leaders.

McLean County Unit District 5

Late starts during the 2016-2017 school year

Please Help Us

We are working to

keep our school

grounds looking

beautiful. One way

we do this is by using

the sidewalks, in-

stead of walking

through the grass.

When you are visit-

ing or picking up

your child(ren) after

school, please use

sidewalks to help us

with this. Thank

you!

As we enter the influenza season, I would like to remind you of the guidelines for school at-tendance when students are ill. The 2016-2017 McLean County Unit District No. 5 Elemen-tary Handbook (p. 26) outlines the times when children should not be in school. These times include when students are experiencing:

A fever within the last 24 hours

Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours

A frequent or disruptive cough or other sign of an acute respiratory infection

Any contagious illness such as “strep throat” that requires antibiotic therapy. Once a stu-dent has been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medications and on antibiotics for 24 hours, he/she may return to school.

Any undiagnosed skin rash. A student with a rash may attend school upon presenting a phy-sician’s note stating the rash is not contagious.

Pronounced lethargy or fatigue that interferes with participation in learning activities.

For further information on the influenza type and season, please click on the link below.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu

NO MEDICATION…may be administered at school without the proper medication form

completed and signed by PHYSICIAN and PARENT. This includes OVER-THE-COUNTER and PRESCRIPTION medications. Cough drops containing menthol also require a note from the doctor. The only exceptions are for asthma and emergency epinephrine medi-cations.

To access the proper form please go to: http://www.unit5.org/Page/252, medication form.

Please be aware that head lice (pediculosis) may be present in the schools at any time. The Unit 5 policy for this can be found in the handbook p. 27. This policy is in line with recom-mendations of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Thank you for helping us to have healthy children at school!

Notes from the Nurse ~ Mrs. Murray

Benjamin Car Window Cling Decals

The PTO is selling Benjamin car window decals for $3.00 each. If you are interested in purchasing one, please send your money to school in an enve-lope. On the front of the envelope, include the following information:

Attn: Angela Redinbo/PTO

Child’s Name & Room Code

Angela will pick up orders, and decals will be delivered to your child’s class-room. If you have questions, you may contact Angela at a.redinbo@gmail.com.

Thank you for supporting our school!