Thank you to all of our parents, students, and PTA for making Staff Appreciation Week incredibly special. Our staff has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of recognition. The staff truly enjoyed all of the delicious treats, meals, prizes, and much more!! On behalf of all of us, THANK YOU!

Enjoy the weekend.

Laura Rosenblum
Erin Hall

Our students have worked very hard this week to show what they know. Students have been very proud to see their MAP scores improve and to achieve their target growth. All classrooms will complete testing by the end of next week.

Our kindergarten students met their grade level PBIS goal and celebrated with a beach party today. While the first through sixth grade Collins students and staff are disappointed that the we have not earned the beach party, we are determined to try again! Our students had over 260 referrals in the last 18 school days. Unfortunately, this data exceeds the number that we set for our goal of decreasing referrals by 10% from March to April. Because our students are interested in the beach party and have been watching the referral data closely, we have decided to give them a second chance to earn the beach party on May 25th using the same data referral goal.

The beach party was a team-based incentive. This goal was designed for the entire grade level as an opportunity for us to work together toward something special. We have many incentives for individual students that are following the Creed: they are continuously earning crusaders cash and have the opportunity to spend their cash at the store each month on prizes and drawings – in this issue of the Collins Clips you can see the 83 prizes that were awarded this month alone. Classrooms are also earning golden tickets for a variety of prizes throughout the year such as pajama day and extra recess. The beach party was designed to decrease overall referrals in each grade level. The beach party was an extra incentive available for teams to earn. If you don’t achieve your goal (make it to the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the Beach Party) you keep working at it. Sadly, our referrals per month as a school are still increasing which means we need to keep working at it!

If you have questions about PBIS, you are always welcome to call us but there is also an opportunity to become involved in PBIS by joining our team as a parent representative. Please let us know if you would be interested. Additionally, you will find in the Clips a flyer announcing a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Family Community Meeting on May 1^st in our district. The purpose of this meeting is to help families understand PBIS and all of the positive behavior supports we utilize and offer our students on a daily basis at Collins. They will not be discussing any specific buildings, student issues, etc. The meeting information will be general in nature. PBIS Illinois will be facilitating this meeting and our district has partnered with them to continue to enhance our work with family and community partnerships. Feel free to attend to learn more about what all District 54 schools are doing with PBIS.

We are also looking for two parents to serve on our School Leadership Team (SLT). Our School Leadership Team meets three half days a year and after school approximately once a month. The SLT leads a process to improve student achievement, sustain the school improvement plan, improve teaching practices, and plan staff development opportunities based on the needs of staff and students. If you would be interested in being a parent rep on our team, please let us know.

Have a great weekend,

Laura Rosenblum and Erin Hall

With the Beach Party around the corner, Collins’ Teachers are gearing up for this exciting celebration!!!!

Tonight’s Variety Show is going to be amazing. The talent of our students is incredible! They have worked very hard and are excited to perform for an audience tonight. We hope you will be able to join us at Mead Junior High – please enter through door 1. The show starts at 6:30.

MAP testing will begin the week of April 23 and last two weeks. Make-up testing will occur throughout the testing window. Thank you ahead of time for encouraging your child to do their best to demonstrate what they have learned this year. Please inquire with your son/daughter about their MAP goals, their class MAP goals, etc. They are working to demonstrate to themselves, you, and their teacher, the terrific gains they made this year. We are so proud of them.

We appreciate what a great job parents have done keeping it as safe as possible during arrival and dismissal. Using the crossing guard and sidewalks, obeying the posted signs, driving slowly – all make a positive difference. Thank you! Overall, it has been a good year. We did have a parent get clipped by the side mirror of a passing car as she was waiting to enter her vehicle. Just a reminder, please continue to monitor your speed and proximity while driving in the drop off zones, especially as the weather gets warmer and more people are out.

We are already beginning to make plans for next year and are starting our process for placing students for the 2012/13 school year. In this week’s Clips you will find information about the placement process and a specific needs input form that parents can complete if they feel we need additional information about their child.

Hope to see you tonight!

Laura Rosenblum-Principal

Erin Hall-Assistant Principal