Dear BMS Parents,

On April 7nd

, April 9th and April 15th, we will conduct our state

testing; Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR.) We have made a real effort at Benjamin Middle School to take some of the stress out of the testing situation. During the testing days, students will take two tests but the rest of their schedule will consist of special clas-ses, lunch, PE and silent reading to take away any additional aca-demic stress due to classwork/homework. In addition, the staff at Benjamin are being positive in the way we frame our conversations with students about IAR Testing. Having a negative attitude about anything will surely lead to less than promising results. Finally, I will talk with all students about the importance of attendance on those three days, getting a good night ’s sleep, eating a good breakfast/lunch on testing days, having their device fully charged and bringing headphones; necessary for the ELA test. Students know that they should give their best effort and this is just one of many ways that we have to measure their academic growth. We have been very successful as a school in the last three years with our state testing results, raising our scores each year including last year when our scores were in the top 10% of the state. Thank you for your help in supporting your children through this endeavor.

Principal’s Message

March 28-April 5

Class resume Monday, April 6

Fifth Grade News 2

Sixth Grade News 3

Seventh Grade News 4

Eighth Grade News 5

Theatre Club Presents! 5

PTA 6

Calendar of Events 7

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MARCH 2020

Mike Fitzgerald

BMS Theatre Club Presents

Performances

Friday—March 20

6:30pm

Saturday—March 21

2:00pm & 6:30pm

ILAR: In ILAR, we will be wrapping up part one of our second

module. All of the stories read, were about finding courage to stand up for what is right and challenging one another. After we read the last short story, we will start discussing aspects of opinion writing. From there, we will practice providing facts and details to support our claims. We will end our writing unit by writing an Opinion Speech regarding a topic in our world. While we write, we will be focusing on

creating complex sentences, and adding in details. We will continue discussing independent and dependent clauses, and how to fix fragments and run- on sentences. Our next spelling list will have us diving back into some Greek and Latin roots!

SCIENCE: We are learning about Ecosystems. Our first few lessons deal

with how ecosystems change gradually and rapidly and how plants and animals adapt to survive those changes. Humans impact our ecosystems as well. We will learn about both the positive and negative impact of humans on our ecosystems. We have started our eco-columns in all classes! We planted grass, alfalfa, and mustard seeds, and are waiting on the arrival of a few “pets”.

Ask your child about this exciting experiment!

SOCIAL STUDIES: We have been working on our next unit

on the Great Lakes. Students analyze data about the state of the Great Lakes today and apply what they learn about the lakes' current status and future prospects in a Writing for Understanding activity. They are trying to answer the essential question: How can people best use and protect Earth’s freshwater ecosystems?

MATH: In periods 1 and 5, we are working on Topic 6 Division of Decimals. Period 6

students are just wrapping up Topic 4 in our Envision book. We will begin Topic 5 on Understanding and Using Ratio and Rate.

Page 2

Fifth Grade News

Sixth graders have completed their study of astronomy in science. Wow, what an amazing experience for all of us. Their enthusiasm for the phases of the moon and the solar system was inspiring! We will look into the accomplishments of some famous scientists in March and also begin our energy studies. Students wrote a formal lab report on the gummi bear lab to end the month.

Regular Math Class students have been working on reading, writing, and solving algebraic equations and inequalities. These concepts form the foundations of algebraic reasoning and logic. Students have been challenged to understand the concept of a variable or unknown number. They've learned not only to solve 1-step equations but also how to take real world scenarios and write equations to solve for the unknown variable. An extension beyond equations is the concept of inequalities where an algebraic expression can be written to represent a scenario with many solutions for the variable - not just one. Advanced Math Class students have been working on algebraic equations as well. They have been working on solving equations that apply properties of math including combining like terms and the distributive property. They have been solving 2-step equations with positive and negative numbers as well as fractions and decimals. At the end of the unit we took it up another notch and worked on equations with variables on both sides of the equation. We pulled it all together with several real world problems where students had to take a real world scenario and wrote the equation(s) to represent the situation. They then had to build and a table and finally a graph to show the connections that exist between these linear algebraic concepts. In Social Studies have completed their studies of Ancient India, with a focus on Hinduism and Buddhism. Ancient China and Ancient Greece are up next! All 6

th graders are learning about the

global marketplace through Junior Achievement in social studies as well. We’d like to thank Mr. Myers, Mr. O’Donoghue, and Ms. Zalak for being excellent volunteers!

In ILAR have completed their work on creating arguments using a podcast format. We are working on grammar and reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. Students continue to engage with the MyPerspectives curriculum, thinking about the essential question “How is modern technology helpful and harmful to society?” Please stay tuned for information regarding our endangered animal research project that begins in the coming weeks!

Page 3

Sixth Grade News

ILAR – The seventh graders finished their second novels: ILAR classes read Dovey Coe and

Advanced ILAR read And Then There Were None, both fabulous murder mysteries! Students who

read ATTWN performed speeches in class defending or prosecuting one of the characters.

Students who read Dovey Coe created either newspapers detailing the trial or recorded themselves

as newspaper reporters and characters in a scene from the book.

We are back in the Pearson books reading and listening to various stories and articles relating to life

in space/other planets. Students will be writing their own science fiction stories to share with other

seventh graders.

Congratulations to the following students from seventh grade who participated in the Caudill reading

program. These students qualified to vote in the statewide selection process by reading at least three

books from this year’s Caudill list. They were invited to celebrate with a treat, and a Skype session

with one of the nominated authors from the Caudill 2020 list.

Caudill celebration students:

Reese Brandt Isabella Colburn Pamela Cruz

Ceci Dang Lauren Dusing Gavin Dyer

Sophia Garcia Kellie Kieu Sophia McCombs

Khashika Narain Sophia Newell Antonio Pignatelli

Natan Przybylko Xamantha Ramos Darsh Singh

Gino Spinelli Andrew Voight Mekhai Warsaw

Jaxon Williams Kayla Zamora

Special congratulations for the extraordinary effort demonstrated by Helena Jankowska who read ten

Caudill books, Mia Zapata who read sixteen, Ela Marszalak who read eighteen, Ashley Lockman who read

nineteen, and Daniel Kuriakose, Makenzie Leszczewicz, and Jessica Thunberg who all read twenty. Great job!

MATH- As we start the third trimester, students in Pre-Algebra are working on systems of

equations. In seventh grade math, students are working on equivalent algebraic expressions.

SCIENCE- As students progress through the weather unit, they will be studying natural disasters as

well as the causes of various weather conditions. They have already learned about the earth’s

atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, and global warming.

SOCIAL STUDIES- In social studies, we concluded our study of the Revolutionary War. Our next unit

of study provides an overview of the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

as the Founding Fathers worked to establish a new republic. At the conclusion of the unit, students

will take the U.S. Constitution Test.

Page 4

Seventh Grade News

In the month of March your student will receive a packet of information regarding graduation and end of the year activities. Please read the packet carefully as it contains a lot of important details. The following are dates to be aware of:

Enchanted Castle on March 6th

Theatre Club play on March 20th and 21

st

IAR testing will take place on April 7th, 9

th, and 15

th

WCCHS onsite visit on April 16th

Illinois Science Assessment on March 16th, 17

th, 18

th in science class

Red White & Beautiful on April 22nd

Great America on May 26th

Graduation on May 27th

Page 5

Eighth Grade News

Caudill Party

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Highlights/Upcoming Events

www.bendist25.org Phone: 630-876-7820

MARCH

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

March

9 Board of Ed Mtg. 7pm

11 1:45pm Dismissal

16-20 Theatre Club Tech Week

20 Beauty & the Beast

Presentation; 6:30pm

21 Beauty & the Beast

Presentation; 2pm & 6:30pm

23 TC Cast Party

24 Leadership Summit—WCHS

25 Winter Sports Awards

30-31 Spring Break

April

1-3 Spring Break

6 School resumes

7, 9 IAR Testing

10 Non-Attendance Day

13 BOE Mtg.; 7pm

14 4th gr. Student Visitation

4th gr. Parent Visitation

15 IAR Testing