SMS November 2017 Newsletter

Sycamore Middle School

150 Maplewood Dr. Sycamore, IL 60178

November 2017 Newsletter

Main Office: 815-899-8170 Attendance Office: 815-899-8182 www.syc427.org

From the Principal...

The end of 2017 is drawing near already. We have had a great start to the school year here at Sycamore Middle School, and we have many things to celebrate.

First, we’d like to celebrate our students. We have had an excellent start to our year in many different ways. Our students participated in our annual PTO run-a-thon fundraiser and collected over $15,000. This money goes a long way towards helping to pay for field trips, classroom equipment, and other items that benefit our children. In addition, our teams and clubs complete different activities to give back to our community.

Our teams will participate in Feed My Starving Children and various drives. We will also hold a book fair at our school in the spring. What a great way for our children to understand the importance of giving back to our community.

We would also like to take the time to celebrate our families. Without your support, our students could not be as successful as they are.

Thanks to all of you who spend the extra time to make sure homework is completed well, that your child gets a good night’s sleep, and that they have the supplies and tools that they need to be successful at school. We are very fortunate to have such great kids here at SMS, and that is due in no small part to the parent base that we have. Thank you.

I would also like to celebrate our staff. At any time of the day or night, even on weekends, you can drive past the middle school and see the hard-working, dedicated staff here at Sycamore Middle School. Many of them put in countless hours of planning and preparation, grading, coursework, and research to make sure they are providing the best education possible for your children. I am proud of the staff that we have here at Sycamore Middle School, and I am so grateful to work with them each and every day.

Jim Cleven Principal

Dates to Remember 11/6 - PTO Meeting 3:15 PM 11/9 - SMS Orchestra Concert 7:30 PM @ SHS 11/13 - SMS Band Concert 7:30 PM @ SHS 11/16 - SMS Choir Concert 7:30 PM @ SHS 11/20 - Conferences 1:00-8:00 PM NO SCHOOL 11/21 - Conferences 1:00-8:00 PM NO SCHOOL 11/22-24 NO SCHOOL Happy Thanksgiving!!!

ATTENDANCE OFFICE

815-899-8182

If your child will be absent from school or has an appointment in the beginning of the day that will make them late for school, please call the main office at 815-899-8182 by 9:00 AM. Voicemail is set up for your convenience to call in absences/late arrivals anytime between 4:00 PM and 7:30 AM.

Congratulations to October’s Students of the Month!

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Segue

Spartan 7

Ethos

Stephanie Kim Cameren Reynolds

Tyler Donnelly Brooklynn Snodgrass

Trevor Blanken Cassandra Walker

Venture

Intrepid

Journey

Thea Boubin Connor Reidl

Lincoln Cooley Grace Parks

Aidan Farrell Sarah Ward

SPARTAN SPOTLIGHT You’re at home or at work, and suddenly the phone rings...the caller identifies himself as the principal of the middle school.

No good can come from this, right?

WRONG!

Anna Baker Segue Natalie Egler Segue Averi Anderson Venture Jessica Bolda Venture Senih Demir Venture Will Fabrizius Venture Layla Musich Venture Delaney Scanlon Venture

Each day, teams meet to discuss curriculum and students’ learning needs. The teams have been asked to identify positive students who are making good choices for their learning and citizenship. They describe why the chosen students merit the recognition and Mr. Cleven calls them down and explains the reason they were summoned is a good one! He or she has made some positive choices!

Congratulations to these students who were recognized by their teams. They have a lot to be proud of, as do their parents. Thanks, too, to our teams of teachers, who make time to recognize students for their accomplishments!

Amanda Jamrog Spartan 7 Camryn Lee Spartan 7 Ella Lozeau Spartan 7 Sarah Nichols Spartan 7 Haroon Quddus Spartan 7 Colton Schopfer Spartan 7 Madison Jacob Journey Dillon Sanders Journey

Pumpkin Baking Contest

The Sycamore Rotary Club congratulates the following winners in their recent Pumpkin Baking Contest.

Category One

Category Two

Pumpkin Pie

Other Pumpkin Treats

1st Place

1st Place

Kameron Schroeder

Amanda Jamrog

2nd Place

2nd Place

Taylor Wesley

Isaac Ward

3rd Place

3rd Place

Laynee Sosin

Caroline Harbecke

These students are invited to attend the next Rotary meeting, during which they will share their winning treats!

Pumpkin Festival Essay Winners Congratulations to the following SMS student whose Pumpkin Festival story or poem was chosen as a winning entry in this year’s contest sponsored by Kiwanis.

The winners (including grade school participants) were treated to a trip to the corn maze at Johnson Farm, lunch at Culvers, a cash prize, and were honored as Junior Grand Marshals in this year’s Pumpkin Festival parade on Sunday, October 29.

Noah Perezchica

Thank you Kiwanis!

6th Grade News

SEGUE Congratulations to our Segue October Students of the Month: Stephanie Kim & Cameren Reynolds

We look forward to meeting with you for parent-teacher conferences!

All conferences will be held on Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21 from 1:00-8:00PM. In order to schedule a conference, please log on to the Sycamore Middle School website and go to the conference page or click here.

This link went live at 12:01 AM on Wednesday, November 1. Once registered for an account, find your child’s teachers and schedule conferences using the specific information found here.

Students from Segue & Venture will pack meals for Feed My Starving Children on Saturday, November 11 from 3:00-5:00 PM. Forms were sent home earlier, and are due to Ms. Frankiewicz by Monday, November 6. Only a limited number of students are able to participate.

Team Venture Students of the Month Congratulations!

October: Thea Boubin & Connor Reidl Reminders and Academic Update Social Studies: Students completed the first quarter with the task of a summative test over all material that has been covered. Way to go! We will now turn our attention to Ancient History and Early Humans.

Science: We have now completed our first chapter learning about some basics of forces and motion. Next up is Newton’s Three Laws!

Math: Unit One is done; now on to dividing fractions!

English: Students are going to be busy thinking about the “rules” they live by on a day to

day basis in their new unit. They will be comparing their ideas with those of different characters in the book Bud, Not Buddy.

Literature: We have been focusing on different text features authors use to help readers

better understand a text. Next we will be focusing on different text structures and the purpose for writing in different ways.

Other News  Morning help sessions are available to all students. Please try and set it up with a teacher in advance, but if not, come and see if we are available. 

Conferences will be held Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21. Please register online if you would like to meet with any of your student’s teachers.

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We had a great time at our last positive point activity watching The Lightning Thief! On the same day everyone enjoyed a trip to see the pumpkins in downtown Sycamore.

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We have had two new faces join our school and will be working with our team. We are happy to have them! Shanna Hoekstra - social worker & Elizabeth Blevins - guidance counselor

Spartan 7

The Spartan 7 teachers would like to encourage students and parents to sign up for Remind if they have not yet done so. Remind is a free app that allows the teachers to post daily homework assignments. The codes for each teacher are as follows:

Seventh Grade News

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Science: @langsci Social Studies: @itsup2me Venard: @venar (English) / @venar2 (Lit) Gudewicz: Eng @mrsjgudew / Lit @mrsjgudewi Math: 1st period: @boldaacmth / 2nd, 4th, 8th, 9th periods: @boldamath

We would also encourage you to have your student show you their Google Classroom account. Each teacher has their own Google Classroom where notes, reminders, quizlets, and assignments are posted.

Science: We have finished up our first unit on the atmosphere and will now be turning our attention to the weather. With this unit, we will focus on air pressure, clouds, precipitation, and global winds. Students will be able to identify various patterns that go along with each of the weather phenomenons.

Please encourage your child to take pride in their school work and all the responsibilities that go along with it. This would include studying notes and vocabulary every night; at least 5 minutes a night. Practicing these habits will help retain knowledge and allow them to start applying their knowledge on the subject to their everyday lives.

English: Students are finishing up A Long Walk to Water and will be starting Pygmalion in the next couple of weeks. Throughout this novel we have learned to MLA cite text evidence to support our answers. We completed a five paragraph expository essay focusing on the factors that helped Salva survive through difficult environments. And created a two voice poem describing the points of view of the two main characters.

Coming up in Pygmalion we will be talking about identity. What makes us who we are, how our environment shapes our identity, and does our internal and external identity always match. This is a fun unit to discover with the kids.

Literature: In Mrs. Gudewicz class we have started reading the novel Wonder as a compliment to Pygmalion in English. In Mr. Venard’s 8th and 9th periods we are working on reading articles and identifying central ideas and themes. We will soon be starting our second novel study Touching Spirit Bear. Mr. Venard’s 5th period class is finishing The Maze Runner and will be completing an end of novel project in class. All classes will be continuing to work on Wordly Wise vocabulary lessons throughout the year.

Math: Students in Mrs. Bolda’s first period math class are wrapping up their unit on statistics and probability by talking about what a good sample is and how to minimize sampling variability. We will begin our first eighth grade unit next looking at integer exponents and scientific notation.

Students in Mrs. Bolda’s general math classes worked very hard with their algebra unit. We will continue to explore variables and use the concepts learned with integers, rational numbers, and solving equations throughout the rest of the year. We are moving into learning about ratios and we can graph proportional relationships on a graph. Having a ruler for this unit of study is a must! Please double-check that math binders continue to stay organized. All papers should have a “home” inside the rings of the binder, not a pocket. If students are starting to run low on loose leaf notebook paper, please add more.

Intrepid Mrs. Mathey—Social Studies The students have worked through the first quarter nicely. Everyone seems to be becoming acclimated with our class routine which is allowing us to progress through the curriculum at the necessary pace. We have completed our Early America, American Revolutionary Era, and Constitution units. We will begin our Westward Expansion unit early in the 2nd Quarter. In regards to attendance, please continue to encourage your child to utilize the Google Classroom when an absence occurs. Because of our fast-paced instruction, missing one or two days can snowball very quickly. Lastly, please sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences.

Mr. Andersen—Mathematics Mr. Andersen’s regular math classes (2nd, 6th, 8th and 9th periods) have been working with expressions and equations. We started with inequalities last week and will have a unit assessment early next week covering expressions, equations, and inequalities; next up, ratios and proportions. Check the Campus Portal weekly for grade updates, and check Remind or the Google classroom daily for notes and keys to the homework assignments.

Mr. Andersen’s accelerated class has been working with probabilities. Next up for the class will be an exponential notation unit. Check the Campus Portal weekly for grade updates, check Remind, and/or the Google classroom daily for notes and keys to the homework assignments.

Mrs. Slutz and Ms. Gallagly—English We have been working on the second unit of A Long Walk to Water. As we were completing the rest of the story, students gathered textual evidence to answer the question “How do individuals survive in challenging environments?” The evidence they collected will be used in their essay paper over the course of the next few weeks. Please check Google Classroom for the rubric and expectations, along with the progress of your child’s work.

Mrs. Slutz—Literature Over the past few weeks, the students have been reading a book of their own choice for enjoyment that will be used for their “Book Talks.” Students have been given the rubric and expectations for the “Book Talk,” which is due Wednesday, November 8.

As a class, we are reading Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix. Throughout the novel study, students get to practice numerous literary skills and analysis. Some of the elements being studied are determining theme, analyzing the author’s purpose and choices in diction and structure of the text, and articulating direct and indirect nuances of plot, character, setting, and more.

Mrs. Slutz—Science Intrepid students have finished up Earth’s Atmosphere Unit 1: Earth’s Changing Atmosphere and have begun Unit 2:Weather Patterns.

Please have your students check Google Classroom regularly for posted documents (notes, worksheets, links to demonstrations), especially when absent. Because much of science class is inquiry-based, we are doing various labs, activities, or projects, and it is easy to get behind or lost when not in attendance.

Your student should also be studying daily. Just like an athlete or a performer would not wait until the day before the big day or concert to practice and prepare, your student should not be waiting until the night before a quiz or a test to study. Just because a student took a quiz over a particular section does not mean they are done needing to know it. The same content will appear on the unit test and oftentimes beyond that.

Please check with your student about school supplies. Enough time has gone by for many items to have been used up or lost. Make sure they have enough pencils, red pens, paper, and glue sticks.

Mrs. Zipse—Science Intrepid students have finished up Earth’s Atmosphere Unit 1: Earth’s Changing Atmosphere and have begun Unit 2:Weather Patterns. Students worked hard for a week on an in-class activity regarding air pressure which culminated with a demonstration of a pop can being crushed by air pressure alone. Students are now taking that knowledge of air pressure and learning how it affects the global winds. We continued to work through October learning about specific clouds and the different types of precipitation.

Please have your students check Google Classroom regularly for posted documents (notes, worksheets, links to demonstrations), especially when absent. Because much of science class is inquiry-based we are doing various labs, activities, or projects and it is easy to get behind or lost when not in attendance.

Your student should also be studying daily. Just like an athlete or a performer would not wait until the day before the big day or concert to practice and prepare, your student should not be waiting until the night before a quiz or a test to study. Just because a student took a quiz over a particular section does not mean they are done needing to know it. The same content will appear on the unit test and oftentimes beyond that.

Please check with your student about school supplies. Enough time has gone by for many items to have been used up or lost. Make sure they have enough pencils, red pens, paper, and glue sticks.

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.—Aristotle

8th Grade News TEAM ETHOS The teachers of Team Ethos would like to recognize students of the month, Trevor Blanken and Cassandra Walker, for all their hard work and energizing character both inside and outside of the classroom. Thanks for being you.

The Farm trip was a great success. The students were able to hear from professionals that work with animals as well as crops. They learned how technology has changed the everyday lives of farmers. Thanks to the Farm Bureau, Tracy Jones, The DeKalb County Coop, and Ward's family farm for allowing us to learn about agriculture.

Parent Teacher conferences are around the corner. Conferences are Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21 from 1:00-8:00 PM. An informational sheet came home with your student with directions on how to sign up to speak with your student’s teachers and are due back by November 15.

Feed My Starving Children: This is an opportunity for students to give back by packing food. It is taking place on Saturday, November 11 from 9:00-11:00 AM at Suter Company.

TEAM JOURNEY

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Mrs. Hansen is looking for Veterans’ Addresses for the Veterans’ Day Unit her classes will be doing from November 13-17. We will be writing to former and current members of the military and are in particular, looking for addresses of current military members serving in forward areas that could use a care package.

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Mrs. Hansen will also be collecting care-package items from November 1317. As there can be NO PORK, LIQUID, or FLAMMABLE ITEMS SENT, here are some suggested items: granola bars, individual powdered drink mixes, beef jerky, recent magazines, used DVDs, used books, candy, baby wipes, q-tips, playing cards, card games, and toothbrushes/toothpaste. Please keep all items family friendly.

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Parent Teacher Conference invitation forms were sent home with students on Monday, October 30 and are due back by November 15. If your student did not bring one home but you would like to request a conference, please contact Mr. Brens at jbrens@syc427.org.

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Congratulations to our October Students of the Month: Aidan Farrell and Sarah Ward.

SRO Social Media/Cell Phone Safety Questions for Parents/Guardians 1. Do you have your child's password to unlock the cell phone they use?

2. Do you have your child's login and password to each account and app?

3. Do you regularly and randomly check your child's cell phone?

The answer should be YES to all 3 questions. Social media can be an incredible tool, but it remains our responsibility to ensure our children's safety.

8th Grade Math Tutoring Do you have an 8th grader struggling in a class? After school tutoring is available for 8th graders every Wednesday after school from 3:00-5:00 PM. Eighth grade teachers and Sycamore High School students are present to assist students with their work. Help is available for grade level and accelerated subjects and students are not required to stay the entire time. There is no invitation or prior notice needed to attend tutoring. If you have any questions regarding tutoring please contact Mr. Knoblock jknobloc@syc427.org or Miss Newborgh lnewborgh@syc427.org.

Campus Portal Would you like to keep tabs on your child’s progress?

The Campus Portal keeps you connected to the teachers’ grade books! This includes reports on current grades as well as missing assignments. The purpose of the Campus Portal is to give parents the ability to track their child’s progress and is a great tool for opening the lines of communication between you and your children regarding their progress in school. If you have any questions regarding the information found on the Campus Portal, the lines of communication are as follows: 1. Parent discusses with student.

2. Student discusses with teacher.

3. If questions still exist after the above lines of communication have been exhausted, the parent may contact the teacher.

Campus Portal Login Directions Log onto www.syc427.org Scroll down to Campus Portal and click on link Enter Username and Password If you have forgotten your Username and/or Password or if you need to receive an Activation Key, please contact communications@syc427.org.

Students have received a separate Activation Key and should be able to access Campus Portal as well.

When in doubt...ask a 12 year old!

Your child’s grades are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

Monday, November 20 Tuesday, November 21 1:00-8:00 PM In order to schedule conferences, please go to the Sycamore Middle School website and go to the conference page or click here. This link went live at 12:01AM on Wednesday, November 1. Once registered for an account, find your child’s team and schedule a conference using the specific information below: All parents should create a new account on the website and go to the conference page. Find your child’s team and follow the instructions for that team.

6th Grade Team Segue: All individual conferences. Go to Monday or Tuesday, then choose an individual teacher and an available time slot. Teachers are Cambier, Frankiewicz, Gerdes, Kohler, and Peck.

Team Venture: All individual conferences. Go to Monday or Tuesday, then choose an individual teacher and an available time slot. Teachers are: Boltz, Davis, Furman, Hooper, Wall, and Wright.

7th Grade Team Intrepid: All individual conferences. Go to Monday or Tuesday. Then choose an individual teacher and an available time slot. Teachers are: Andersen, Gallagly, Mathey, Slutz, Wilkinson, and Zipse.

Team Spartan 7: All individual conferences. Go to the Monday or Tuesday. Then choose an individual teacher and an available time slot. Teachers are: Bolda, Gudewicz, Lang, Stracner, and Venard.

8th Grade Team Journey: Information regarding conferences and sign up sheets were sent home with your child on October 30 and are due back by Wednesday, November 15. Please contact Jake Brens at jbrens@syc427.org to schedule a conference with the Journey team. Teachers are: Brens, Hames, Hansen, Newborgh, and Tekiela.

Team Ethos: Information regarding conferences and sign up sheets were sent home with your child earlier last week and are due back by Wednesday, November 15. Please contact Joel Knoblock at JKnoblock@syc427.org to schedule a conference with the Ethos team, or contact the team leader Elizabeth Peterson at EPeterson@syc427.org with any questions. Teachers are: Anderson, Jennings, Kleiser, Knoblock, Peterson, and Shields.

Allied Arts/PE/Special Education/Interventionists All teachers will hold individual conferences. Go to the Monday or Tuesday conference date, then choose an individual teacher and an available time slot. Teachers are: Kevin Boltz, Borgman, Brannstrom, Coyle, Dominguez, Garcia, Girard, Hames S., Horan, Jennings C., Kowalski, Kreinbrink, Lichamer, Mertens, Meyer, Miller A., Miller D., Moore, Nelson, Pavlak, Peterson N., Robles, Shears, Tonaki, Zantout, and Zartmann.

Physical Education SMS Physical Education classes will be participating in basketball and volleyball units during the second quarter. Fitness is ongoing and students participate in a variety of fitness activities each week. Ask your child how they find their pulse and what their target heart rate zone is. Students are learning that they must elevate their heart rate for an extended time period of time to benefit from physical activity. Everyone should get 60 minutes of physical activity each day! Our middle school students are active in the fitness center using the stationary bicycles, elliptical machines, and treadmills and rowing machines. We have introduced some group fitness activities including: circuit training, kickboxing, boot-camp style fitness, yoga, and Pilates. Students participate in muscular strength and endurance activities while in our auxiliary gym using medicine balls, body bars, dumbbells, resistance bands, and own body resistance.

Health sessions have begun. Each Health session lasts three weeks in duration, two separate times throughout the year (6 weeks total). Mrs. Brannstrom's PE classes go to Health first for 6th grade, and each additional class will rotate at a later date. Mrs. Nelson’s PE classes go to Health first for 8th grade, and each additional class will rotate at a later date.

During health rotations, 6th grade students will NOT dress for PE, but instead will go the Health room (309) at the beginning of their scheduled PE class (7th/8th/9th). Students will need a 2-pocket folder specifically for Health class, a pen or a pencil, and either loose leaf paper or a spiral notebook. 8th grade students will follow the same directions, and students should have a folder from the previous year if turned in at the end of health rotation.

Still have questions about 6th grade health? Feel free to contact Mrs. Brannstrom at jbrannstrom@syc427.org or Mrs. Nelson at pnelson@syc427.org for 8th grade health. A reminder that 7th grade health is a quarter-long class this year and students may contact Ms. Dominguez for more information at jdomingu@syc427.org.

PTO Update PTO Executive Board Heidi Gerdes—President Angie Cambier—Vice President Dana Gautcher—Secretary Jen O’Sullivan—Treasurer PTO Meeting Dates: November 6, December (No Meeting), January 8, February 5, March 5, April 9, May 7 All meetings begin at 3:15 PM and are held in the Main Office Conference Room.

Ways You can Help at Sycamore Middle School Box Tops for Education through General Mills offers cash back for our school!

For more information log on to www.boxtops4education.com The website is a great resource for special Box Tops promotions and you will even find a printable list of products to look for while shopping.

Save your desktop printer cartridges and send them to school in a zip-top bag.

The school earns money for recycling them.

S.O.S. (Save our Subscriptions) The Middle School will be conducting a magazine subscription fundraiser to raise money for programs and activities that benefit our students. Some of the uses for the money raised are listed below. For the last several years this fundraiser has been successful. However, the success of this program will depend upon your participation. Since we only offer two major fundraisers at the middle school, we need your support.

What is the money used for?    

Field Trips Orchestra Assemblies Student Council

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SMS Musical All School Positive Point Activities Peer Pals 8th Grade Party

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Choir Jazz Band & Jazz Strings Art Club Guest Speaker

If you have subscriptions that need to be renewed (perhaps from last year’s drive or just your own coming due), or you would like to order a subscription to a new magazine, please SAVE your orders for our fundraiser. Since you are planning on buying the subscription anyway, you might as well redirect the money through the school, which will receive 40% of every dollar spent. Plan on giving magazine subscriptions as gifts this year. Let your friends and relatives know about the fundraiser and ask them to save their subscriptions for our program as well. Even people living out of state can help.

Renewal orders will simply extend your current subscriptions, regardless of their expiration dates. In some cases we will even accept renewal coupons for less than the quoted prices in our catalog!

Remember, the money that you would spend anyway will stay in our community and support field trips and other programs at Sycamore Middle School. The high school begins their subscription drive in early September, so save some subscriptions for your middle school child. Remember we only do two major fundraisers, so we need your support.

Order a Yearbook Online www.yearbookordercenter.com code: 16551

7th & 8th Grade Boys Basketball Season is in session!

Come cheer for the Sycamore Spartans.

Transportation Department 815-899-8122 Transportation is Busy!

If you are unable to reach the transportation department over the phone, please email your questions, concerns or bus issues to: Annette Irving (airving@syc427.org) or Kathy Sheahan (kasheaha@syc427.org)

Do you recycle?

Ink Jet Cartridge Recycling Please bring any and all used printer and inkjet cartridges to Sycamore Middle School.

We want to play an important part in the ecology by recycling them.

In an effort to keep your contact information accurate, please update your emergency phone numbers and email addresses with the main office.

Virtual Backpack In an effort to continue efficient communication with our stakeholders and be eco-friendly, the Sycamore Community Unit School District #427 is utilizing a virtual backpack for distributing information from non-profit organizations, intergovernmental agencies, and business partners.

Approved flyers will now be available from the district website at www.syc427.org/virtual-backpack/ Although this will not replace all paper items sent home with our students, it will greatly reduce the amount.

Those wishing to submit information to be posted may do so by emailing a completed backpack request and a PDF of the requested posting to Sycamore CUSD 427 in care of Kathy Sloniker (kslonike@syc427.org) at least one week in advance of the desired posting date.

Prior to submitting, please review the backpack guidelines.

All required documents can be found at www.syc427.org/virtual-backpack/

PRESCHOOL SCREENING 2017-18 November 17 January 19 February 23 Please contact Marijo Schwartz at South Prairie Elementary for an appointment 815-899-8299

NOTICE In compliance with the 1986 Federal AHERA law, we are hereby notifying all interested parties of the location of the district’s asbestos management plans. Every school building has a copy in the office, which can be viewed with a prior notice. Location of asbestos containing building materials and assumed asbestos containing building materials will be listed by building in the management plan.

All district management plans are also on file at the Administration Office.

Information on Sex Offenders Information on registered sex offenders is available on the State of Illinois website at www.isp.state.il.us/sor.

This information is being provided in accordance with the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act-to Parents (Public Act 94-0994).

Club

Corner Builder’s Club Builder's Club has been extremely busy so far this year. We have raised funds to purchase supplies for a classroom affected by Hurricane Harvey in Houston. We raised over $600 and were able to purchase many supplies to help them start their school year off right. We have been Trickor-Treating for UNICEF and we raised over $300. We hosted a Bingo night for the residents at The Grand Victorian in Sycamore. A fantastic time was had by all.

InterAct Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. So far Interact has raised money for Operation Warm by selling concessions at the home volleyball and basketball games. By collecting monetary donations, Rotary is able to buy winter coats for children in Sycamore. Currently we have been working on a Veteran's Day craft to honor the Veterans who will attend the Rotary meeting in November. Interact members at SMS are dedicated to improving their school, community and world.

Chess Club Chess Club is back!!! It is open to all SMS students 6th - 8th grade and will take place after school on various Fridays from 3:00-4:00 PM. Whether you already know how to play or would like to learn, Chess Club is open to anyone with a serious intention to play the game. Students must provide their own supplies, including game boards and pieces. Registration forms are available in the Main Office.

SMS News SMS News Club has begun! News Club helps students learn about the different aspects of broadcasting. Students participate in brainstorming sessions on segments that matter to them. They also get to try their hand at various technology tools like TouchCast, our broadcasting app. They also get to have fun and meet new people.

Our lost and found tables in the Commons keep filling up rather quickly. We have many sweatshirts, PE uniforms, boots, pencil cases, and lunchboxes.

Please remember to label your children’s items, especially coats, sweatshirts, assignment notebooks, pencil cases, lunch boxes, and water bottles. If there is a name on it, we do our best to get it to the student. Items in the lost and found are donated monthly.