2901 MORRISSEY DRIVE,

BLOOMINGTON, IL 61704

Phone: (309)557-4406 Attendance Line: (309) 557-4455

www.unit5.org/ejhs Fax: (309) 557-4507

Mr. Trevor Chapman, Principal Mr. Chris McGraw, Associate Principal

March 15, 2017 Dear Parents & Guardians: I want to congratulate Mr. McGraw on accepting the Principal position here at Evans Jr. High. As you all know, he is very

passionate about continuing the incredible culture that he had a huge hand in creating. Mr. McGraw will be hiring his

replacement in the coming weeks and will introduce that person to parents when that process is complete. Additionally,

one of our guidance counselors, Mrs. Giermann, will also be leaving Evans as she has accepted a position as a guidance

counselor at Normal Community High School. Her position will also be filled in the coming weeks and announced when

appropriate. Mr. McGraw and Mrs. Giermann will work closely with their replacements during this transitional time!

A huge thank you to all who came out to support our building by eating at Chik-fil-A on March 14th! $192.82 was made

for our school and it couldn’t have happened without your support. Chik-fil-A sent their mascot to Evans earlier that day

to send the kids off on the bus and they loved it. A special thanks to the Evans PTO for coordinating this event!

Want to know a fantastic way to stay connected to what is happening at EJHS? You should “Like” our Facebook page

like 1,000+ people already have! It’s a great way to become not only informed about some of the awesome things our

students and staff are doing, but it’s pretty entertaining as well! Please “Like” our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/EvansJrHigh

TRANSCRIPT REQUESTS (8th Grade)

As a reminder, if your child is interested in applying to U-High for the 2017-2018 school year, you will need to complete a Unit 5 Record Release Form and pay a $3 transcript fee in the Guidance Office. Your student may stop by the Guidance Office for their Record Release form or you may access it from the EJHS homepage.

STANDARDS BASED GRADING PILOT UPDATE

The teachers in the building who are piloting Standards Based Grading & Reporting have reported a lot of success and are looking forward to the beginning of the whole school roll-out next year in selected subjects. As a reminder, in the traditional classroom, student work, over the course of a nine-week term is graded and averaged together, resulting in one letter grade that is reported out at the end of the term for each course. In a traditional classroom, the 100 point scale is utilized to determine overall grades for courses. Assignments that are given at the beginning of the learning process carry just as much weight, in the calculation of the overall grade, as those submitted later in the learning cycle when students have been given an opportunity to master and apply the skill as well as demonstrate knowledge. A standards based reporting system eliminates

averaging scores over the course of time to determine the final mark on a student’s report card. In a standards based reporting system, student progress will be reported out as a 1 (beginning), 2 (progressing), 3 (progressing), or a 4 (exceptional). The number displayed on a report card will indicate where the student is currently at in their learning progress towards the mastery of a skill. Students will be given multiple opportunities, once a skill is introduced, to demonstrate that they have attained or mastered the skill through classroom activities, assignments, and assessments. Each course will identify skills/standards that are essential for students to master in order to show appropriate growth within their subject or course. The course specific identified skills will be shared with parents and students. Additionally, a complementary document, called the companion document, will clearly define what each level of performance will look like for each of the skills/standards identified as essential by teachers. Please remember that as a result of the pilot in U5 Middle School, all middle schools will be phasing out the honor roll and high honor roll recognitions starting with this semester (Spring 2017). Teams will still recognize departmental/subject area award winners at the end of year awards ceremony as well as some special awards for our 8th grade students. However, we will no longer publish an honor roll listing each semester and we will not recognize straight “A” award winners at the end of the year ceremony. Again this isn’t possible since more than 200 of our students will be receiving numbers reported as opposed to traditional letter grades. Click here to read more about Standards Based Grading and to find resources and examples to frequently asked questions.

2017 CARSON SCHOLAR

Avani Rai is among nearly 8,000 gifted students from across the country who have been named “Carson Scholars”. Her academic achievements and service to her community are what makes Avani and others like her stand out as future leaders. Avani will be honored in front of family, peers and educators at the Carson Scholars Fund Chicago Awards Banquet on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at the Chicago Hilton Oak Lawn. This event will honor scholars from Chicago and across the Midwest. Congratulations to Avani!

KOBE AWARD WINNER

L-R: Ben Bittner, Joe Zeman, Kaden Stork & Kobe Smith

As was previously mentioned in a Principal’s Post, EJHS held a school wide essay contest encouraging students to consider how they would/could spend $300 to benefit all students in the building. The money for this opportunity was as a result of EJHS student Kobe Smith winning a video submission contest through Country Financial this past summer. The winner would receive a $50 gift card if selected. Over 80 essays were submitted so the competition was tough! However, after carefully considering all of the essays and looking for what would benefit the entire student population, Ben Bittner, Joe Zeman and Kaden Stork are the winners! Their essay spoke to the need for the Eagle Nation logo in the center of the gymnasium floor. These students said they would forgo their actual prize winnings to put towards the logo at the center of the floor. Please see below for a “mock up” of what the new gym floor will look like at the completion of this project. It will be completed in June and unveiled in August!

CHESS TEAM

Congratulations to the the EJHS Chess Team for their amazing accomplishments at the State Chess Tournament this weekend at the Peoria Civic Center. The 6th Grade Team made up of the following students and placed 5th out of 40 teams: Nicholas Bruha, Rohit Guha, Umika Kuricheti, Drew Ruestman & Rabecca Whitesell. The 7th Grade team made up of the following students and placed 3rd out of 43 teams: Raj Amu, Gnandeep Chintala, Yatin Gupta, Marcus Lee, Sujay Prakash, Yashu Signhai, Ananthram Tekkalaota & Vivek Abraham. The 8th Grade team made up of the following students and placed 5th out of 42 teams: Rishi Bandari, Jay Ganesan, Lalit Kudikala, Owen Parker, Colin Reedy, Tyler Tanton, Akhil Vytla & Aakash Rolla.

GEOGRAPHY BEE

Congratulations to Gnandeep Chintala who has qualified to compete in the state level competition of the National Geographic Bee! The Illinois State Bee will be held on Friday, March 31st. This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 29th year. Gnandeep took a qualifying test which was submitted, scored and eventually chosen to compete at the next level. Congratulations to Gnandeep and we wish you the best of luck on the 31st of this month!

How would you fare as a Bee contestant? At the school Bees this year, students had to answer questions like

these:

Q: The North Platte and South Platte Rivers meet in which state—New Mexico or Nebraska? A: Nebraska

Q: Which landmark in Washington, D.C., was burned by the British in 1814—the Washington Monument or

the White House?

A: White House

Q: Sea otters sometimes wrap themselves in kelp when resting to keep from drifting away. Sea otters can be

found near eastern Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk in which ocean?

A: Pacific Ocean

Q: The island of Mauritius [maw-RISH-uhs] in the Indian Ocean has multicolored sand dunes. It’s weird, but

it’s true! Mauritius lies off the southeast coast of which continent that includes the Kalahari Desert?

A: Africa

WRESTLING STATE APPEARANCE

Congratulations to our wrestling team this year on a fantastic season! Isaac Reyna, Matt Bicknell and Jacob Ogg made it out of Regionals and made a Sectional appearance in Monticello. Isaac placed 2nd, Matt placed 4th and Jacob placed 3rd. Jacob and Isaac went on to make a state appearance, with Matt going as an alternate, at Northern Illinois University. Jacob lost his preliminary match. Issac won his preliminary match but lost his 1st round match. We couldn’t be more proud of the way you represented Eagle Nation during the regular season and beyond!

4A BOYS BASKETBALL STATE RUNNER-UP

A huge congratulations to our 7th grade Boys Basketball team for becoming the 4A State Runner-Up this season! And what a season it was! The boys went 18-7 for the entire season and played their hearts out in the Championship game hosted at Kingsley Jr. High School against Springfield Grant. We could be more proud of the boys and their coaches for representing Evans well!

UPCOMING PARCC ASSESSMENT

As has been the case for the past few years here at Evans, students will be participating in the PARCC

Assessment after Spring Break. Parents will receive an email in the coming days providing a few more details

about this assessment that will take place on April 5th, 6th and 7th. We have condensed the testing sessions to

shorten the amount of time taken for testing and thus increasing instructional time. If you’re interesting in

knowing more about PARCC, please see these parent resources:

http://www.parcconline.org/resources/parent-resources

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/common-core-test-guide/

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Unit 5 Spring Break (No School) 3/27/17 – 3/31/17

Good Friday (No School) 4/14/17

School Improvement Day 4/17/17

Late Start Day 4/26/17

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