Upcoming Happenings at GKMS!

Track Season:  Track practice begins on Wednesday, March 20th at GKMS.  The parent meeting will be Wednesday, March 20th at 7pm here at GKMS.  The track schedule is posted on our website.  All 7th and 8th grade boys and girls are eligible to come out for Track.

HS Dance Team Tryouts:  For any 8th grade girls interested in the High School Dance team, tryouts will be on April 15, 17 & 18 at GKHS.  Tryouts will begin at 3 and end around 4:30 ont he 4-15 and 4-17, and at 5:00 on 4-18.

GKMS Pride Dance:  On April 12th from 3:00-5:00, GKMS will host the "GKMS Pride Dance."  This will be an after school dance for all students in grades 6th-8th.  Cost will be $3 and DJ Toxic will DJ the dance.  DJ Toxic did our ISAT Celebration Dance and students seem to enjoy it.

Drama Performance:  Our Drama Club will have their performances on April 26 and 27th, both at 7pm.

8th Grade Dance:  The 8th grade dance will be from 7-9pm at GKMS on May, 10th, 2013.

8th Grade Promotion:  8th grade promotion will be at 7pm on May 20th, 2013.

5-Essentials Survey

Schools in the state of Illinois are conducting the 5-Essentials Survey this month. This is a survey for students, teachers and parents.  The purpose of this survey is to gather data and information on schools to be used to design school improvement plans.

Students at GKMS will take this survey on-line Feb. 20th and Feb. 21st.  A informational letter is posted on the "Parents" tab of our school website.  This letter contains information about the survey, a link to the questions that are asked for your review, and a form to fill out if you do not want your child to participate. Please send this completed form back with your student if you DO NOT want him/her to take the survey.  All students who do not have a filled out form will take the survey.

Parents are welcome to take this survey as well.  Please click here and follow the steps under the parents tab.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 815-784-5222 ext 15.

GKMS Educational Lingo

The older I get, the more easily confused I am.  I have 3 kids at home and I can barely keep their names straight.  The lingo we use in schools can be confusing for anyone.  Below is  list of terms we use often here at GKMS:

PBIS-

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.  Our PBIS program is a set of expectations for behaviors for our students.  When we see proper behaviors, we reward our students with Cogs Cards.  Students can then use Cogs Cards to purchase items from our Cogs Store.  Expectations are posted throughout the school, as well as in our handbook.

RTI-

Response To Intervention.  We have several data points for reading and math with all of our students (ISAT, MAP, RCBM, MCAP).  If we find students to have deficiencies in math or reading through our data, we can schedule those students in RTI math and reading programs.  These programs are designed to boost our students with additional support in math and/or reading.  These interventions are often done during AR or Study Hall.

ISAT-

Illinois Standard Achievement Test.  Every student in a public school in Illinois is required to take the ISAT test in 6-8 grades.  The ISAT test is typically administered during the 1st week of March.  These scores are then used to determine if schools are meeting the expectations (AYP) of federal legislation (NCLB).  Our students take Reading and Math for ISATs, and 7th graders take Science.  Students are placed in 3 classifications for Reading, Math and Science (7th grade): Exceeds expectations, Meets expectations, and Below expectations.  Schools are expected to meet a certain percentage (92.5% for 12-13) of students in the Meets and Exceeds range. This past school year, we had 89% of students Meeting and Exceeding in ISAT.  This information can be found on the school report card.

Assignment Connection-

All homework assignments are posted everyday on the GKMS webpage.  Click on the assignment connection tab on the left-hand side for daily assignments.  Assignment Connection is usually posted by 1pm each day.

PowerSchool-

PowerSchool is a student management system used by our school to organize attendance, contact information, grades etc. One nice feature of PowerSchool is the "parent-student portal." This portal allows parents to log in and view grades, email teachers, check attendance etc.  The portal can be found on the right hand side of our webpage.  Check this old blog post for a visual tutorial of how to use PowerSchool.

MAP Testing-

All students at GKMS currently participate in MAP testing in September, January and April.  We test all students in Math and Reading.  The MAP tests are correlated with both the new Common Core Standards, as well as ISAT.  The scores from these tests help us determine the best approach to help students excel in the areas of math and reading.

MCP-

Models Classroom Project.  MCP is a district-wide curriculum initiative   Basically, MCP is a systems approach to using best teaching practices in our classrooms. It gives our teachers and students a common language and a common approach to lessons.  Our staff has been trained extensively on MCP and we work very hard to give our students the best opportunity to learn.

We hope this list helps our parents get a better understanding of how our school functions.  If you have any questions, please call me anytime at 815-784-5222.

Freshman Orientation at GKHS

On Jan. 16, 2013 in the GKHS auditorium there will be a Freshman Orientation for all students who will be a freshman during the 13-14 school year. This is a great opportunity for families and students to get a perspective of high school life. The orientation will begin at 7pm. Please see the guidance tab on the GKHS website for a course book for all classes at GKHS.  If you have any questions, please call us at 815-784-5222.  Thanks!

Lunches at GKMS

As you may have heard.....we have a change in lunches at GKMS.  In hopes of making sure all of our parents and students understand our lunch process, the following bullet points can explain many of the changes:

• There is new federal legislation regarding school lunches.  This legislation deals mostly with portion size, as well as fruit and vegetables.   The change in the main entree's we are offering is more related to the change in our food provider, Aramark.  
• Aramark is our food provided, as well as the manager of food services for our district.  Some differences in lunches at GKMS with Aramark:
• There will be on hot lunch item that will change each day.
• There will be cold lunch options each day of the week.
• Ala Carte is still available, however ala carte sandwiches are now in the hot lunch each line.
• In the Ala Carte line, chips, soup and drinks will be available.
• For the month of January, Ala Carte sandwich options will be PBJ, Chicken, Cheeseburger and Pizza.  These will be available every day.
• We no longer have a salad bar, but a "side salad" will be a vegetable option many days.
• Our daily hot lunch count that we take in the morning will only be for the hot lunch item of the day.  Please encourage our students to be accurate in this count.  If they do not want the hot lunch item listed on the daily menu, they should not raise their hands during lunch count.
• Students can get charged the hot lunch price ($2.75) and still get an Ala Carte sandwich, here's how it works:
• As defined by the state of Illinois, a hot lunch must be a main entree, a fruit, a vegetable and a milk.  
• Any student at GKMS can get charged a hot lunch price for getting any entree (Hot lunch choice, cold lunch choice, PBJ, Cheeseburger, Chicken sandwich or pizza) IF they also get a fruit, a vegetable and a milk.  
• If a student goes through the line and only grabs an Ala Carte sandwich, they will be charged the price of that sandwich, which in many cases is more than a hot lunch.  
• It seems strange, but if our students get more food (all of the items that make it a lunch), parents can get charged less.

Please help us out by encouraging your student to be accurate during morning lunch counts, as well as encouraging them to get all of the necessary items to make their meal a hot lunch.  This will keep costs down for the school, as well as for our parents.  If you have questions regarding this, please call me at 815-784-5222.  

Toys For Tots and Clothing Drive

GKMS is currently running two community service projects during the month of December. Our Student Council is sponsoring the "Giving Tree" clothing collection. We are collecting new and gently used scarfs, hats, gloves and socks. These items will be donated to families in need.

The Community Impact Club is running Toys For Tots this month. We are looking for new $5 toys to be donated. These toys will then be donated to families in need during the holiday season. GKMS was the #1 contributor for Toys For Tots in Dekalb County last year, we hope to continue that support for this year.

We hope all of our families enjoy a fantastic holiday season!

Technology upgrades at GKMS

In the last year, GKMS has gone through several technology upgrades. We hope our new technology helps students stay engaged and increases the opportunities for learning. Some examples of the upgrades:

*Each classroom is equipped with a computer projector and either an Elmo or a Document Camera.

*Our two computer labs have received 60 new computers this school year.

*We have purchased a few iPads for a mobile classroom set. We hope to purchase more for each grade level to have a mobile lab.

*We have a mobile lab of 15 chrome books on the way. These will be used for research, google docs and for our new math intervention.

With these new upgrades, we hope our teachers and students will find new and exciting ways to teach and to learn.

Lunches at GKMS

We've been receiving some feedback in regards to our lunches here at GKMS.  One common theme is that sometimes we run out of food in either the hot lunch line or the ala carte line.  Because we want to make sure all of our students eat a good lunch, we want to work with our parents and students on this issue.

A big challenge we are currently facing at GKMS is our lunch counts are off by a considerable amount.  Each morning as 1st period begins, students are asked to raise their hand if they want hot lunch.  (hot lunch is read over the intercom).  We use these counts to determine how much food to make.  Here are some examples of some of the lunch counts over the past few weeks (first number is the morning count, second number is the actual count):

58/83
69/99
71/92
35/48
72/87
67/81
56/77

As you can tell, when our counts are off by 20 or 30, it is very difficult to judge how much food to make.  We hope our parents help us encourage our students to be attentive and accurate during lunch counts in the morning.  This well help us make sure enough hot lunch food is made for all students.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact me at 815-784-5222.  Thanks!

Community Service Efforts at GKMS

On October 30th, GKMS students will participate in a "Pink Day" in which students will wear pink to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness.  This day is an effort sponsored by Ms. Roberson our Community Impact Club.  Additionally, our Community Impact Club has been selling Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets all month for $1.50.

On October 31st, GKMS will conclude its month-long Canned Food Drive.  Mrs. Hencken and our Student Council have been working to collect cans to donate to the local food pantry.  Any student who brings in 3 cans can watch the Faculty-Student Basketball game on October 31st.  Any student who wants to play will need 6 cans.  Cans will be accepted up until the morning of October 31st.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

As we wind down the 1st quarter, Parent-Teacher conferences are just a few weeks away.  We encourage all of our parents to participate in Parent-Teacher conferences.  Our GKMS teachers will be available from noon until 8pm on Nov. 1st.  If you are interested in meeting with one or more of your students' teachers, please call the office to schedule an appointment (815-784-5222).  This is a great time to discuss strategies and successes with our staff.

Report cards will be sent home this Thursday (Oct 23rd).  The report cards are a great conversation starter to discuss how things are going at school for your student.

Extra-Curricular Activities at GKMS

We are so fortunate at GKMS to offer a variety of extra-curricular activities for our students.  We consider these activities to be an extension of the school day and we hope to promote character building skills during this time.  A list of activities, when they occur and who can participate is below, please contact me if you have any questions regarding this information.  Please keep in mind that any student participating in any sport at GKMS will have to have a current physical on file before trying out for a team.

Clubs:

Technology Club                         All Grades/All year

Chess Club                                 All Grades/All year

Fishing Club                               All Grades/All year

Art Club                                    All Grades/All year

Community Impact Club             All Grades/All year

Sports:

Girls Volleyball                          7th & 8th Grade/Aug-Oct

Football                                     7th & 8th Grade/Aug-Oct

Cheer                                        7th & 8th Grade/Aug-Dec

Boys Basketball                         7th & 8th Grade/Oct-Dec

Girls Basketball                          7th & 8th Grade/Jan-Feb

Wrestling                                    6th-8th grade/Jan-Feb

Track (Boys and Girls)               7th & 8th Grade/Mar-May

TPO

Throughout the classrooms of Genoa-Kingston schools, students and parents will find "TPO" posters.  If we're doing our jobs well, our parents may have even heard their student discussing a TPO.  One of the most basic instructional practices going back decades is to begin each class with an objective.  In GK schools, this objective is often referred to a TPO, which stands for a Three Part Objective.  Our approach towards our objectives begins with "We Will" and has 3 parts:

1. A cognitive verb that matches the level of the task (Infer, Generate, Determine, Classify, Explain, List)
2. 6-12 words of descriptive content with connections to standards.
3. A specific product created by student

Some examples:

Parents and students can find these posters in each of our classrooms at GKMS. Students often read these out loud and they refer to them during the lesson   If you want to get really crazy, ask your kids about their TPO from a particular class, it's a great conversation starter!

Progress Reports and ISAT Scores

At the end of this week, our students will be bringing home Progress Reports.  Please look over the Progress Report with your student.  This is about the half-way point for the 1st quarter; the Progress Report is a great opportunity to discuss progress at school with your student.

Also included in the Progress Report will be your student's ISAT scores from the spring of 2012.  All of our students are tested in Math and Reading during ISATs.  Our 7th graders are also tested in Science.  Students are placed in 3 categories for ISAT: Below Standards, Meets Standards & Exceeds Standards. Our hope is that all our students are in the Meets or Exceeds categories.  Below are a few pictures with helpful hints on how to read the ISAT report.  If you click on each picture, you can get a bigger version. As always, if you have any questions, please contact Mr. McPherson at 815-784-5222, ext. 15.

Also, thanks to everyone who came to our Open House.  Please be sure to fill out our Open House Survey!

GKMS Facebook!

As we try to create new ways for GKMS to communicate with it's parents and students, we have stepped into the social media outlets to do so.  GKMS is now on Twitter (@gkmscogs) and Facebook.  Please follow us on Twitter and "like" our Facebook page to receive updates.  We will be conducting an Open House Survey on Facebook this coming week.  

Open House is Coming!

On September 17th, GKMS will host our Open House from 6:30-7:45.  This is a great opportunity for parents and community members to come check out our school and meet staff.  A very important reminder about Open House; please keep in mind that our teachers have 120 students in which they see on a daily basis.  Our Open House is not a time for conferences; if you have specific questions regarding your student, we can set up a separate time for that.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Also, please remember to follow us on Twitter, @gkmscogs.  This is a great way to keep current on events and happenings at GKMS.  For a quick tutorial on how to use Twitter, please click here.

Pizza's and Twitter

The 6h graders at GKMS are currently participating in a fundraiser to help raise money for Lorado Taft. Students are selling pizza's, all of the money earned for this fundraiser will go to the Lorado Taft outdoor learning experience. Lorado Taft is a community staple; the money raised from the fundraiser helps us provide this experience for our students. Please support our sudents if you can, the support we receive from the community has always been outstanding!

 GKMS works hard to communicate with parents and community members. One new tool we have been using regularly is Twitter. Parents and community members an sign up for free to follow us on twitter, @gkmscogs. Through this free website, parents can have these updates sent to their phone for instant updates on school functions, announcements etc. For a tutorial on how to get signed up, please watch this brief tutorial. We have had a great start to the school year; we are so very lucky to work with the students and parents of this great community!

Great Things at GKMS!

We are extremely excited for this new school year at GKMS!  We hope to form a great partnership with our students, parents and faculty.  To help parents stay current on happenings at GKMS, we offer the following communication tools:

Powerschool.  Log in and keep up to date on your students grades.

Assignment Connection:  View daily assignments through this tab on our website.

Twitter:  Follow us on Twitter @gkmscogs for updates.

Blog:  Follow this blog for bi-weekly updates.

School website:  Our website offers a variety of tools such as sports schedules, newsletters, lunch menu's and a school calendar. gkschools.org.

Please contact me at 815-784-5222 with any questions!

Important Dates!

8th Grade promotion will be May 21st, 2012 at GKMS at 7pm.

ISAT testing at GKMS will be on March 6, 7, 8 and 9th. We hope our parents support our efforts by helping our students get a good night's rest and breakfest each day during ISAT testing.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be Feb. 16th and 17th. Please contact the office to make an appointment.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 815-784-5222.

Please Take Advantage of PowerSchool!

I don't like to beg, but I am going to. Please take advantage of PowerSchool. It is such an awesome tool for parents. The website is gkschools.powerschool.com. Each parent has an ID and password. If you need this information, please contact our office at 815-784-5222. Below you will see a screenshot of what the page will look like when a parent is logged in. Please take advantage of this awesome communication tool! (If you click on the image below, it should enlarge for a better view.)

GKMS in October

As the leaves change and we are fortunate to have such nice weather these past few weeks, GKMS is gearing up for a busy month. In addition to the academic work being done in classrooms, October is a big month for community service projects. Below is a brief list of all the GKMS happenings this month:

• Boys Basketball Tryouts for 7th and 8th Grade: Oct. 13, 14, & 17. Tryouts are from 3-5 at GKMS. The parent meeting for boys basketball will be Wednesday, Oct. 12, 7pm at GKMS.
• The canned food drive, sponsored by Student Council and the Community Impact Club, is all month long. Students can bring cans to watch the Student-Faculty Basketball Game, which will take place Oct. 28th.
• The canned food drive Halloween Dance will take place on Oct. 31, from 3-5 at GKMS. Students may wear costumes to the dance, but not to school. Price is $5 or 5 canned items.
• 1st quarter ends Oct. 14th. Look for report cards sent home the following week.
• One Dramatic Evening will take place Oct. 13 at 6:30.

GKMS takes pride in these community service opportunities. We hope our kids become involved in these valuable learning experiences!