What a great turn-out for our family night lock-in. Pizza, Bingo, Twister, and four movies to choose from with popcorn to boot! What a great way for our students to share time at school with their families and their school friends! Thanks to all our school staff and our parents who helped, and the ACTION team for sponsoring the evening. We look forward to more family times in the future! Click on any of the photos to enlarge and see all the fun the students and their families were having.
Family Nights = Fun Nights!
Lincoln Family Night: Carnival Time!
What a great turn out for our family night carnival! Munching on walking tacos, putting people in jail, seeing how fast you can throw a baseball, and the chance to win lots of prizes made for a great evening. Over 80% of our Lincoln
Theme Days
Both Lincoln and Libertyville Schools have a winter theme day. These theme days are planned by a committee of teachers and associates and involve engaging students in hands-on learning activities based on a theme.
Lincoln:
On Friday, Feb. 1, Lincoln students went on an Amazing Race to learn about different countries and the continents. Some of the activities included learning about different foods, customs, clothing, sports, animals, and habitats in a variety of countries around the world. Students moved from room to room with their buddies in tow. It's great to watch the older students take their younger buddies by the hand and lead them from place to place and help them with the activities.
A special thanks to this year's theme day committee: Rosemary Weiss, Billy Strickler, Sonja Graber and Linda Hunerdosse.
(Click on the photos to enlarge)
Libertyville:
On Thursday, Jan. 31, Libertyville students spent the afternoon touring some of the businesses in Fairfield. As with the Lincoln students, Libertyville students were paired with their buddies in six color teams. Each team got to visit three of the six Fairfield businesses who graciously planned activities, talked with the students, and gave tours. Participating businesses were Creative Edge, Fairfield Vet Clinic, Creative Edge, Jefferson County Hospital, Fairfield Ledger, and KMCD.
Thanks to committee members Tricia Slechta, Carol Wells, and Patti Johnston for planning the afternoon.
Both theme day activities focused on several of the district's social studies standards and benchmarks. It's a special kind of learning, something students will remember for many years.
(Click to enlarge the photos)
Lincoln Bees Are Buzzin'
As you walk through the doors at Lincoln School, the first thing you will notice is a large bulletin board with a map of the world and several bees buzzing in various countries (click on the photo to enlarge). You will also see some bee hives with stickers on them which represent actual bee hives that are being purchased by Lincoln students to help those living in countries without enough good food to eat.
In order to earn a sticker to help fill one of the hives, students must ask for a job they can do at home (or Grandma and Grandpa's, the neighbors, etc) for one dollar. Students have a slip of paper on which to write their name and what they have done to earn their dollar. They then they bring the slip and the dollar to school and give to Mrs. Winslow who gives them their sticker to put on the hive.
It's a wonderful way to help children learn about caring for others in our world, and it also helps them expand their understanding of the world - that it's bigger than Fairfield, Iowa! Thanks to Mrs. Carr and Mrs. Ryan, our student council sponsors, who have planned and carried out this project ( and put the informaton on the bulletin board for all to see).
Winter Wear
There is nothing more fun than making a snow fort or snowman, climbing on piles of snow, or just making a snow angel in the freshly fallen white blanket. But winter is also a time of challenge to make sure students have what they need for recess play.
These students are wearing the five items necessary for snowy conditions: jacket or coat, snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens or gloves. When there is snow on the ground, these five items are necessary for students to play in the snow. Once the hard surfaces are scraped and clear, students may play on those areas without boots and snow pants, but they still need coats at all times, and hats and gloves/mittens if the temperature is below freezing.
If students will remember to bring snow pants and boots when it's snowy, and keep hats and gloves in their coat pockets or backpacks, they will always have the necessary items to enjoy their times outdoors!
Welcome to the New Year!
Buddy Time!
At both Lincoln and Libertyville Schools older students are paired with younger students as buddies. Kindergarten and third graders, first and fourth, and second and fifth graders are buddies. Buddies do fun things together, the most important being 'buddy read' time. Sometimes the older students read aloud to the younger, but just as often you might see the younger buddy reading one of the books he or she has just learned to the older buddy. Older buddies also help their younger charges when we meet in our school families and do character education projects. Students keep their same buddies all year unless a student moves or the pair doesn't seem to be a good match. By having the same buddy all year, the younger students feel safe and at ease with their older friends.
In addition to buddy times at school, when the whole school goes on a field trip the older buddies help the younger children by making sure they stay with the group, offer help when needed, and just keeping an eye on their buddies. It's inspiring to watch the older students take the hand of their little buddy and consider the little one's welfare before their own. Why not ask your student about his or her buddy? It might be fun to hear the reponse.
First and fourth grade Libertyville buddies recently met to make butter by taking turns shaking the jars of cream. Lots of shaking makes for some pretty tasty snacks later on!
Lincoln Christmas Sing
What's your favorite Christmas carol? If you ask the Lincoln students, you'll probably hear "Rudolph" or "Jingle Bells". It's an annual tradition at all the elementary schools to have a time of singing holiday songs with the entire student body. Thanks to Ms. Priesman, music teacher, for asking students to select their favorite carol, finding the music, and playing for us to sing.
Click on the photos to enlarge and see if you can find your student!
The fourth and fifth grade ensemble performed for students, staff, and parents before the carol sing-a-long. Ms. Priesman works with students during recess once a week to learn the songs. It's a great way for students to begin singing in small groups and preparing for performances.
Can you find your student?? Click on the photo to enlarge.
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season. I'll look forward to seeing everyone again on January 3rd!
Libertyville Holiday Happenings
Santa recently made a surprise visit to some of the classrooms. Click on the photo to enlarge and see the rapt expressions on the faces of the kindergartners!
In this photo student council members are delivering the purchases they made for a needy boy and girl. Over two hundred dollars was raised from coin collections and cookie sales. Way to be caring!!
To experience the December character trait emphasis of caring, all Libertyville students went to either Nelson Nursing Home, or Sunnybrook Assisted Living to carol for the residents. Thanks to Mrs. Strickler for making the caroling arrangements, and Ms. Priesman for working with the students to learn the carols.
Cookie sales were booming this day. Student council members brought and sold the cookies to raise money to purchase gifts for needy children.
May each of your families have a wonderful holiday season. I'll look forward to seeing everyone on January 3, ready to learn more about our world and how to live in it!
Lincoln Swimming Party
Lincoln Students who met their reading goals during our fall reading incentive were invited to the Fairfield Park and Rec indoor pool for a pool party. As you can see by the photos (click to enlarge), there were over 100 students who made their goals and were able to join their friends for a fun time in the water.
Reading at home is vital if students are to continue to build their reading vocabularies as well as their fluency (speed, expression, smoothness). Thanks to all our parents and guardians who help their students get in the habit of reading every day, even if for ten or fifteen minutes!
Where Does Time Go??!!
It's December and we're putting up Christmas trees and making plans for the holidays! Where does the time go, indeed! I apologize for not keeping up with the blog this fall. I had good intentions, but somehow the time gets away from me. I will make a concerted effort to update the blog each Friday from now on, so you can check on the week-ends and see what important news there might be from either Lincoln or Libertyville. Rather than have a separate blog for each school, I'm asking parents to scan the articles as most will have information pertinent to both schools. Sometimes there will be photos and captions of events specific to one school or the other, and for those I will try and put the school name in the title so parents will know whether or not to read the entry. It would be my fondest hope that parents might read all the entries so you will know what is happening at both schools!
As we prepare for Christmas, both schools have community service projects which are on-going. At Lincoln student council is sponsoring a giving tree and asking students to bring items with green on the labels during the month of December. Each month there will be a different color designated for students to bring. These items will be delivered to the Lord's Cupboard.
Libertyville students had a food drive for the Cupboard in November, so in December they are raising funds to purchase gifts for children who are on Wal-Mart's mitten tree. There is a coin jar with a race between the boys and girls, and student council is also selling cookies after lunch that members brought.
The activities at both schools help our children understand and experience giving to others at a time of year when there is a strong focus on receiving. Please encourage your child to give something - even if it's one can of food or a few coins. Children feel good about themselves when they can do something for others.
Libertyville Student Council students selling cookies to raise money for the mitten tree.
Recent Comments