Prairie Knolls Falcon Flyer - Central Community Unit School District 301

Prairie KnollsFalcon FlyerDecember 2017Important Dates7Principal’s Coffee13 Chorus Concert14 Band Concert20 Girls BasketballTryouts21 Girls BasketballTryoutsWinter BreakDec. 25-Jan. 5Spring BreakMarch 26-30Please Check Out TheCommunity FlyersAt The End Of TheNewsletterNovember is gone in a flash and December is upon us with a rush! While three weeksuntil Winter Break may seem like a lifetime in the mind of our students right now, trustme when I tell you they will fly by with all of the activities that we have going on thismonth at Prairie Knolls!First, I want to give a big shout out to our 7th grade Boy’s Basketball team as they areone game away from the NCJC Tournament with an undefeated record! Our boys havehad an amazing season this year and we are very proud of the work they, and theircoaches, have done over the last couple of months. Good Luck Falcons as you finishout your season!The Annual Illinois 5Essentials Survey is planned to open for parents on Wednesday,December 06. The 5Essentials is a comprehensive, evidence-based tool that isdesigned to drive improvement in schools. The data that we have received at PKMS hashelped our school improvement team identify areas of strength that we have in ourschools, as well as areas in which we desire to make improvements. In addition togaining input from students and teachers, there is a survey that provides us with insightfrom our parents. We hope that you will take the time to give us your thoughts about ourschool. We need a minimum of 20% of our parents to complete the survey in order forus to receive the optional parent report. Keep an eye out for the survey link in our PKMSPrincipal’s Messages.Moving on into the month of December, our S.T.A.R. (Students That AcceptResponsibility) Club is sponsoring a “Giving Tree”. Students are collecting 10.00 giftcards from Wal-Mart or Target to be donated to needy PKMS families facing financialhardship during the holiday season. Students can bring their gift card donations to their1st period teachers and will be collected through December 20th.Don’t forget about our PKMS vocal and instrumental sounds of the season coming upthe week of December 11th. On Wednesday, December 13, our PKMS Chorus Concertwill take place in the Gym starting at 7:00 p.m. The following night, Thursday, December14, we will hold our Winter Band Concert in the Gym at 7:00 p.m. Both shows are sureto delight as our learning musicians showcase their performances.Finally, on Friday, December 22, we are planning our annual Virus Day activity in themorning for our 7th graders and the Pentathlon in the afternoon for all students. Both ofthese events challenge and inspire students to perform their best academically anddemonstrate strong Falcon Character!We wish all of our families a happy and safe holiday season and will look forward toseeing students back in 2018 after the Winter Break.Dr. Matthew Haug

AnnouncementsNews from the Main Office - UPDATING SKYWARD INFORMATIONIf you have a phone number and/or email change, you are able to update this information in Skyward. Just login to Skyward and clickthe Skylert tab. If there is an address change you will need to notify the office.News from Nurse GroteExciting! Flexible!! Rewarding!!! OPPORTUNITYCCUSD 301 is looking for registered nurses to become substitute nurses for the district. A current Illinois license is required. You willreceive specific training on the job and you have the chance to work with a great group of nurses and teachers. Please consider thisgratifying opportunity and visit the District 301 Application Site, lt.aspx to completean application. When complete, please email Tara Grommes, the Substitute Coordinator, at tara.grommes@central301.net or call 847464-6005 to set up an appointment.PKMS NewsSTAR Holiday FundraiserHello PK families! STAR is sponsoring a holiday fundraiser for PK families in financial need. Please support this fundraiser by donating 10 Walmart or Target gift cards. Students should bring the gift cards to their first period teacher. Your donations will help families thatare in your own neighborhood. Your donation can help other families have a joyful holiday! We need donations by December 20th, sothey can be distributed to families before winter break.Encore Team NewsBack in November, the 7th Grade Band performed for the Country Trails and Prairie View Elementary School's Veteran's Dayassemblies. They did a great job performing and honoring our Veterans! It added a lot to the assemblies. The PKMS 6th, 7th, and JazzBands have also been working hard to prepare for their concert on Thursday, December 14th at 7:00pm. All concerts are in the PKMSGym. It is a holiday concert with a variety of songs from different time periods and countries. The Jazz Band has also been workinghard on a Christmas song and a Latin that might be familiar to the audience. We look forward to performing for friends and family in thecoming weeks!The PKMS Choir Concert is Wednesday, December 13th at 7:00pm in the PKMS Gym.

6th Grade Team NewsELA: As we are wrapping up our second unit, students should be familiar with central idea, theme, summary, and context clues. Wewill be working on these concepts throughout reading Amelia Lost, which will need to be finished by December 8th. The summativeassessment will be before we leave for Winter Break.Science: Science classes are beginning the Earth’s History unit. Much of our focus will be on the Grand Canyon as we explore theprocesses that have changed, and continue to change planet Earth. Students will be creating a science notebook with theircomposition books so you might want to have some extra tape/glue sticks and “colors” on hand at home.SS: The Athenians and Spartans know each other’s differences, but will have to pull together to battle the land hungry Persians in thePersian Wars. This hectic time in history will be followed by a peaceful Golden Age of Athens with Alexander the Great rising to thescene and building a powerful empire causing students to question and debate if he really was ‘great’? A Greek Test will be takingplace the week of December 18th with the delving into Greek legacies upon our return in January.Math: 6th Grade math will be taking their Unit 3 test before Winter Break. In this unit, the students have been working towardssimplifying and evaluating numerical and algebraic expressions including exponents. After the test, we will work on creating and solvingequations to help students solve real world problems.Try it! Simplify the following algebraic expression using the distributive property:3(x 4 y) 2y7th Grade Team NewsDear 7th Grade Parents,On Friday, December 22nd, 2017, the seventh grade students will participate in “Virus Day.” They will spend the morning problemsolving as a group to try to determine “Patient Zero,” the person that unintentionally exposed the Prairie Knolls staff to a contagiousvirus. It is an exciting day for the students and teachers alike!We are in need of several parents to help from 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. that morning. Your role will be that of a timekeeper and supervisor.If you are able to help, please email jill.schmidt@central301.net on or before December 8th, 2017. In your email, please include aphone number to reach you.You will receive an email or phone call to confirm your availability. If you do not receive one within 2 days of signing up, please call andleave a message at the office.Thank you,Jill SchmidtJohn FreemanJoseph O’Donnell

Recognition BreakfastPKMS recognized some of our outstanding students at our quarterly recognition breakfast on Thursday, November 16. Studentswere recognized by the PKMS staff for showing excellent effort, good character, academic excellence, and positive leadershippotential. We congratulate the following students for their outstanding efforts and commitment during the first quarter of the 20172018 school year! Great job Falcons!Academic Award Winners: Tia Brennan, Youngwoo Cho, Siena DeGaetano, Danielle Durckel, Ella Ingersoll, Soham Jaswani, EiriniKaravasis, Libby Levine, Isha M. Patel, C. J. Strout, Aarya Thakkar, Nandana VarmaExemplary Effort Award Winners: Israel Contreras, Riley Doody-Catalano, Nathan Fellhauer, Mia Hansen, Raayan Iqbal, LoganLehman, Melissa Montero-Segura, Urvi Patel, Matthew Schmidt, Morgan Schmidt, Carey Taylor, Lucas WackerlinGood Character Award Winners: Tia Brennan, William Crumlett, Aidan Daniels, Carly Danz, Jake Esterly, Brady Gilroy, Jada Hall,Carly RobinsonPrairie Knolls Award Winners: Robert Anderson, Reese Auxier, Caprice DiMaggio, Owen Hachfeld, Matthew Hansen, Gabrielle Kerr,Jacob Nielsen, Isha S. Patel, Jack Petsche, Elaina Rezabek, Michael Zeinieh

2017 Winter I Sports (Boys’ Basketball & Cheerleading)Boys’ Basketball and Cheerleading are wrapping up their successful seasons in the next couple ofweeks. The last games of the season can be found on the PKMS 8to18 website. We want to wish boththe basketball and cheerleading squads the best of luck as they compete in the NCJC BasketballTournament, as well as the NCJC Cheer & Poms Competition that will be held in mid-December.We would like to thank our STAR program for providing concessions at all home basketball games thisseason. If you have not had a chance to visit the concession stand, don’t worry, they will be returning atthe start of the girls’ basketball and wrestling seasons.2017-2018 Winter II Sports (Wrestling, Girls’ Basketball & Scholastic Bowl)Wrestling- The Wrestling season is just beginning. Coach ODonnell is excited to get thingsgoing. Practice will begin on Monday,December 4th. Practices are typically held from 3:005:00pm. Wrestling is one of the three sports that 6 graders are allowed to participate in.Any student interested in joining wrestling must have an 8to18 registration and an up-to-datephysical (within one year) on file in the office prior to the start of the season. The 100 athletic fee isdue prior to the first competition. Any questions can be directed to Coach ODonnell or the athleticdirector, Mr. Hamel. Upcoming competitions can be found on the PKMS 8to18 website under Wrestling.thScholastic Bowl – The PKMS/CMS Scholastic Bowl team had tryouts in November and willbe practicing once per week until competitions start in February. Coach Paulus and CoachKindelin are looking forward to a great season. A list of their competitions can be found onthe PKMS 8to18 website under Scholastic Bowl. Additionally, students must submit the 35 fee before the first competition. Scholastic bowl is one of the activities that 6graders are allowed to participate in. Scholastic Bowl Pictures on Wednesday, January 17, 2018thGirls’ Basketball – The Girls’ Basketball team is scheduled to officially begin theirseason after our winter break. Coach Peterson & Coach Hamel will have aninformational meeting in early December to go over more information for the season.This meeting will take place during PE classes or lunch. Tryouts will take place onWednesday, December 20th and Thursday, December 21st (3:00-4:30pm). Upcominggames can be found on the PKMS 8to18 website under Girls Basketball.Mandatory Girls Basketball Parent Meeting on Monday, January 8 @ 5:00pm. Girls BasketballPictures on Wednesday, January 17thth

Below are the general requirements needed to participate in PKMS athletics:-Physical (within one year)- 8to18 Registration- Fee ( 100.00 due before the first competition)*Any student who does not have these three requirements will not be allowed to tryout orpractice!*Annual Cocoa Café December 4 and 5

Quarter One Honor Roll

Dear 7th Grade Parents, On Friday, December 22nd, 2017, the seventh grade students will participate in "Virus Day." They will spend the morning problem . Boys' Basketball and Cheerleading are wrapping up their successful seasons in the next couple of . (Wrestling, Girls' Basketball & Scholastic Bowl) Wrestling- The Wrestling season .