Dear Parents, How time flies! It is so hard to believe that the end of the school year is so near. With that said, I realize this is the time many of you start thinking about who your child will have next year as a teacher. A lot of careful consid-eration is made in placing each and every student into a classroom. I am asking that you do not send me a letter requesting that your child be in a class-room with a specific teacher. However, you may send me a letter that provides me with information about your child. That information

may be helpful in determining an ap-propriate teacher for your child next year. We are aware of a few changes with our staff next year. The Board has ap-proved a new second grade teacher for McDole. Linda Nor-ton will be taking that position. Cur-rently, Linda is working at John Shields Elementary. Jenny Wold will be moving to 4th grade and Christine Olma will be taking Jenny Wold’s place in 3rd grade. We wish Kristen Stalcup, Lisa Bianchetta, and Jennifer Falbo-Negron the best as

they have resigned from their positions. I am looking forward to the many year end activities this month. I will cher-ish each every one of them as this school year comes to a close. Sincerely, Mrs. Fran Eggleston

From Mrs. Eggleston:

April 30, 2008

Calendar of Events: May 2 Progress Reports

May 5-9 Teacher Appreciation

Week

May 7 Coffee with Principal

May 8 Tea for Two 9:30 a.m.

May 12 5th Grade Festival

At KHS 7:00 p.m.

May 13 Parent Lunch Invite

May 14 Fun Lunch

May 15 2nd Grade Field Trip

to Brookfield Zoo

3rd Grade Field Trip

to Blackberry Farm

May 19 Market Day Pick Up

5th Grade Band

Concert 7:00 p.m.

May 20 PTO Meeting

7:00 p.m. MPR/GYM

May 21 Fun Lunch

May 23 Field Day

May 26 NO SCHOOL

(Memorial Day)

May 28 Kindergarten

Celebration

May 30 Field Day

Messages from McDole

Daddy/Daughter Dance

We would like to give a great big THANK YOU to all of the wonderful mom’s that volunteered their time to help at the dance, and to all the dad’s that volun-teered their time and muscles to help set up and clean up. The dance would not have been possible without all of you. The dance was a great success. Thank you so much.

Mary Claussen, Mary Kintz, and Amy Talbott

Page 2

News from Third Grade:

In Miss Rink’s third grade class, we are hard at work with our Biography PowerPoint slideshows. The students chose, from a preselected group, a famous person to research, read a book on that person, and conducted an online search. The students have been hard at work in the computer lab creating a 4-slide PowerPoint slideshow with details about their person’s life including pictures and animated transitions between each slide. The slide-shows will be on display for the parent’s viewing during open House on Thursday, April 24th. It has been a fun and exciting project, and the students have done a tremendous job!

News from Second Grade:

Second grade has an extremely busy month coming up! We have several annual activities that take place during May. The second graders have been busy rehearsing for our “Tea for Two” program that will take place on May 8th at 9:30. They will be singing some heartwarming songs and sharing delicious cookies and drinks with a spe-cial guest that they will get to invite. There are many projects we will be working on in the classroom to add to that special day. We also are gearing up for our trip to the Brookfield Zoo on May 15th. They are very ex-cited about this field! The students will all have done animal research and will know a lot of information about many of the animals they can see at the zoo. With all of this activity, May will be over before we know it! Special thanks in advance to all of the parents who will be helping out with the zoo trip.

News from the Classrooms

News from the Kindergarten Classes:

CHICK US OUT

This Spring, kindergarten is learning about animals that hatch. They are due to hatch April 29th. Children are enjoying doing various activities to help them learn about the chicken life cycle. We look forward to the arrival of our new feathered friends!

News from First Grade:

The first grade team has been working with parents all year on the “Three for Me” program. The goal is to have every parent volunteer for a total of three hours each. Parents can complete the three hours (or more) by reading to students, making copies or cutting laminated work, chaperoning field trips, or completing a variety of activities from home. To celebrate, students will honor these parents with a breakfast on May 16th at 8:00. This has been a fun way to achieve one of our school improvement goals!

News from Fifth Grade:

Once again fifth grade is participating in their annual roller coaster activity. Within the “Models and Designs” Science unit, students build roller coasters using a variety of materials. Stu-dents’ points are based on time and difficulty of tricks created. Students then create a theme for their roller coaster and put together a commercial and slogan to “promote” their coasters.

The Revolutionary War came to like in Mrs. Lannert’s 5th grade classroom when the students presented three Readers Theater Plays. Everyone made three cornered hats and took on rolls of Patriots or Loyalists. George and Martha Washington were even part of the cast. The class worked on reading with expression while learning about important events in our nation’s history.

Mrs. Kolk’s Room

Mrs. Kolk’s Language Arts classes have been busy creating flags for the bulletin board outside her room. Now that they have expressed artistic crea-tivity, they are writing descriptive essays about their flags. They get to pretend that they are the flag and describe one of their flights. The students are doing a great job and have some wonderful ideas.

Art with Ms. Anderson and Ms. Bianchetta

This will be the first year that an entire grade will participate in making a permanent art installation for McDole! All the 1st graders will help out by designing and painting a three panel mural using an ocean theme during their Art time. The finished work will be six feet tall and will hang for a year in the entryway of the school. Good luck 1st graders!

News from the Classrooms (cont’d)

Early Childhood

We’ve been growing in Early Childhood - in every way! Our morning and afternoon classes are full with 10 stu-dents in each session. We have also been “growing” in our knowledge of springtime and how plants grow. We learned that there are lots of rainy days in the spring which bring puddles and mud and helps plants to grow. We enjoyed making play-doh mud pies, planting seeds, creating a classroom “garden”, and painting with vegeta-bles! The sunny days of spring are also good for our plants – and our spirits! We love spring!

The students in the Integrated Readiness Program did their part to celebrate Earth day. The students had a great time trying to collect the most garbage from around the school. They have also had a fun time with their third grade lunch buddies. Thank you to all the third graders who have helped them learn the lunchroom rules and develop friendships.

Literacy In Literacy Class we are celebrating National Poetry Month. Every grade level has enjoyed reading poems. We are using poems to practice and review the many reading strategies. Poems are a great way to get students excited about reading. I have encouraged students to read a poetry book and explore the joy of poetry. Happy National Poetry Month to all!

Lori Williams

Literacy Teacher

Heart Adventure Course—3rd—5th Graders

Here are some pictures of 5th graders going through the Heart Adventure Course. 3rd-5th graders have been learning about the heart for the past three weeks. This is the final activity. The students act as the blood traveling through the heart and body.

Literacy Tips for Early Readers

Tell stories to your child. Read aloud to your child. Point to the words on the page as you read. Sing songs, say short poems or nursery rhymes, and play rhyming word games

your child. Read a short passage several times to your child until your child can read it with

you. Then encourage your child to read the passage with you. Point out print in the child’s environment: on cereal boxes, food labels, toys,

restaurants and traffic signs.

Literacy Tips for More Advanced Readers

Talk to your child about what he or she is reading. Ask open-ended questions such as “What do you think about that story?” What would you have done if you were that character?”

Make reading and writing a regular part of your daily home activities. Let your child see you using reading and writing for real purposes.

Visit the public library. Help your child to get his or her own library card. Read to your child regularly, even after your child is able to read some books in-

dependently. Listen to child read. Use strategies to help your child with tricky words. For

example when your child comes to an unfamiliar word, you might say, “Skip it and read to the end of the sentence. Now try again-what makes sense and looks like the word that you see?”

Eat Lunch With Your Child Tuesday, May 13th

2nd - 11:05 4th - 11:30

3rd - 11:35 5th - 12:20

Progress Reports Rescheduled

Progress Reports have been rescheduled to come home on May 2 instead of April 25.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Page 5

Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee

Pot Luck Dinner

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

6:30 p.m.

In the multi-purpose Room

McDole Library Open This Summer! Need some relief from those long and hot summer days but also looking for a way to practice reading as well? Students, who were enrolled at McDole for the 2007-08 school year, will have the opportunity to check out books from our library.

The library will be open on the following Wednesday evenings from 5:00 – 7:30: June 18th, June 25th, July 9th, July 16th, July 23rd & July 30th. Make sure to come each week to see which fabulous McDole staff members will be reading a story. More details to come in May!

Questions? Please see either Gwen Carlson, LRC Director or Megan Looney, Liter-acy Coach.

Coffee with the Principal The last opportunity to meet with Mrs. Eggleston for coffee and conversation is Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. in the multi-purpose room.

The Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (“PAC”) is planning their last meeting for this year as a Pot Luck Dinner. The PAC Presi-dent, Mrs. Eve Rivera, will lead a group of parents who will attend the Third Annual Statewide Summit for Bilingual Parents on Satur-day, May 17, in Oak Brook. Student results for the ACCESS Eng-lish language proficiency tests taken in January will become avail-able electronically some time in the middle of May. Parents will be advised of next year’s ELL program placements based partially on these scores.

Cathy Perillo, ELL Teacher and Candice Peel, Bilingual/ELL Teacher

Page 6

Kaneland McDole Elementary School 2901 Foxmoor Drive Montgomery, IL 60538 Phone: (630)-897-1961 Fax: (630)-897-3229

McDole Elementary School is Kaneland's newest school. Built in 2005, McDole is located in the southeast corner of the district and serves approximately 592 students from Early Childhood through fifth grade. Through shared responsibilities among staff, students, par-ents, and the community, students are challenged to develop academically, socially, physi-cally, and artistically. McDole provides students with a safe, nurturing learning environment that provides instruction that is innovative and meets the diverse needs of our students. We value an education that allows each student to have the competence and character to excel in the global community as responsible citizens and life-long learners.

School Improvement Goals: Objective 1 Improve readers' responses to various texts in all subject areas through the practice of, but not lim-ited to, multiple reading strategies, Writers Workshop, and individual/group conferencing, with a con-tinued focus on reading comprehension and individual reading needs of students. Objective 2 Increase the students' awareness of the value of respect throughout the school year. Objective 3 Increase the level of positive involvement among the parents, the community, and the school.

Let’s Hear From You! We think there’s lots of great things happening at McDole. Please share some of the things you like about our school in the space below. Cut this out and send it into the office. Thank you! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________