GIFTED / ENRICHMENT BUILDING COORDINATORS

Ms. A. Craig, Chateaux School Coordinator

Ms. A. McGee, Fieldcrest School Coordinator

Ms. B. Mitchell and Ms. E. Houston,

Highlands School Coordinators

Ms. L. Kelly, Mae Jemison School Coordinators

Ms. K. Beamon, Markham Park School Coordinator

Ms. S. Watkins and Ms. M. Bibbs,

Nob Hill School Coordinator

Ms. D. Jernigan ~ 6th Grade Ms. T. HB-Chipley ~ 7th Grade

Ms. B. Page ~ 8th Grade, Prairie-Hills Junior High School Coordinators

Prairie-Hills Elementary School District 144 ~ Spring

Gifted / Enrichment Newsletter 2016 - 2017 Fall Issue

CHATEAUX SCHOOL

It has been a fun year of learning and collaborating

for the students this year. I wanted to know how

the students felt about their year together and

asked them to tell me what they enjoyed most

about the year. Here are some of their responses:

2nd Graders

Eniola A. – “My favorite part in the program was

working on logic puzzles and poster boards for

Autism fund raisers.”

Armando A. – “What I liked was working together

with students in older grades on logic puzzles and

kenkens.”

Jaia H. – I liked working on the “Who Inspires Me”

project. It was fun.”

3rd Graders

Ariyah L. – What I liked about being in Gifted this

year is the “Who Inspires Me” activity because I

had the chance to talk about who inspires me and

why.”

FIELDCREST

Fieldcrest students have had

an amazing year!

We hosted our Daddy-Daughter / Mother-Son Dinner Dance and it was a huge success. The gifted students worked in various capacities to make the event fun and memorable. We also completed our Double Good Popcorn fundraiser. Both fundraisers raised money for our charities, Blue Cap of Blue Island and the National Autism Society. Thank you to all that supported.

In March, we enjoyed a wonderful field trip to see the movie Hidden Figures which was an inspiration to all of the students. We then completed our Kings and Queens unit. We discussed cultural diversity and chose to research individuals who had an impact on our society and/or made a contribution toward cultural diversity as we know it today.

Tahiru M. – “What I like about Gifted was puzzles,

working together, having meetings and solving

mysteries.”

4th Graders

Mariah D. – “What I like about Gifted program is

that we learned new things. Ms. Craig taught us to

work on things that were hard at first but fun as

well.”

Paris G. – “I liked the extra challenges; I liked our

field trips and the projects we did.”

5th Graders

Dinah H. – “What I like about Gifted this year was

the “Who Inspires Me” project because we usually

make projects about strangers.”

Jasmen W. – “I like the Gifted program because

we get to do cool projects that us explore and learn

new and different things.”

It is a joy to work with the students. Encouraging

them to stretch beyond their comfort zone is my goal

every year. I am happy that the students enjoyed the

year as much as I have.

Happy Summer Break!!!!

We wrapped up our year working on our

Passion Projects. Students chose projects from

Art, Robotics, and even Hockey. Students are

really excited to share their projects at the

culminating event.

Our students have great gifts and talents and

we are already looking forward to the next

school year.

Ms. A. McGee, Coordinator

HIGHLANDS SCHOOL

We are sad to say the Gifted/Enrichment program is coming to an end for the year at Highlands Elementary. We have done so many wonderful activities and have grown so much as a group. We are currently working on our Mystery unit. For this unit we are having the students work together on escape room challenges. The students then worked in groups to design an escape room challenge for us to figure out. During these projects, students have to use Math, Science, and Reading skills to complete or design the challenge. They are also learning how to work cooperatively with each other and the importance of effective communication. We have also done several fundraising activities with the group. Finally, our students have come together to create a Music Video for our passion project. The students have broken up into groups based on what they are passionate (Choreography, art, fashion, dance, creating music, etc..). The students are excited to show the finished product off at this year’s culminating activity.

Ms. B. Mitchelle and Ms. E. Houston,

Coordinators

MARKHAM PARK SCHOOL

Our Markham Park students continue to be excited about our gifted/enrichment program and work really well together! In March we went on a couple of field trips including a visit to Sunrise Assisted Living Facility where the students did craft projects with the seniors and had a great time! We also took the older students to see the movie "Hidden Figures" and had students share the feelings, thoughts about the movie. Additionally, we've been busy preparing for our upcoming culminating activity on May 16th and the students are excited to share their projects as well as share what we've been doing each week!

We kicked off April with several math and reading activities including math scavenger hunts, writing projects and brain teasers. Our math bowl students have been studying and preparing for our upcoming math bowl on May 11th & 12th and we're working on enrichment activities that will better assist the students with improving their spring MAP scores including several anchor activities! Lastly, we have been raising money throughout the school year and are proud of our efforts! We also have two fundraising projects taking place the last week in April to support Autism Awareness month.

Ms. K. Beamon, Coordinator

NOB HILL SCHOOL

Ms. Bibbs and Ms. Watkins are very proud of our

Gifted/Enrichment students at Nob Hill School.

Students are excited to be working on a project where

they have taken full autonomy for their projects.

Students across the world have been utilizing an

interactive website called Kahoot for social learning in

their classrooms. Our gifted/enrichment students are

busy creating their personal Kahoot games to share

with everyone. They have chosen their topics,

questions, answer selections and are learning how to

pull in images and videos. All of these things are

“usually” done by a teacher to provide instruction and

learning for their students. We can’t wait to publish

our games for our culminating activity to share with

everyone.

In addition to our projects, we were busy raising

money to support Autism during the month of April.

We started off the month hosting a fundraiser called

“Coins for Autism”. Each classroom donated money

to support the cause. We are proud to announce that

our school raised $158.05. Ms. Bibbs’ class raised the

most money and were celebrated with a pizza party on

Friday, April 28th.

We also hosted a Walk for Autism on Thursday, April

27th. We were amazed at the turn out and all of the

support from the City of Country Club Hills. We

were excited to have the Police and Fire

Department of Country Club Hills escort us on our

walk through the neighborhood. For the walk, we

raised $455 for charity! We hope to make this an

annual event that will get bigger and bigger each

year! Great job to Nob Hill School and the Village of

Country Club Hills!

Ms. Watkins and Ms. Bibbs, Coordinators

Prairie-Hills Junior High

2016-2017

8th Grade Gifted and Enrichment Program

Mrs. Page

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the year comes to an end the eighth grade

gifted and enrichment students are still very

engaged in several assignments and activities.

They are finishing their last novel, To Kill a

Mockingbird, a coming of age story and an all-

time classic.

The students have been rigorously engaged in

their Greek and Latin root word study in

preparation for the MAP test, as knowledge of

these words is not only important but valuable for their soon to be SAT or ACT preparation for

college.

After MAP testing, the students will complete

their 4th quarter and final narrative essay.

Lastly, the Gifted/ Enrichment students have

chosen their Passion Project for the upcoming

culminating event. They have chosen it to be

FOOD, because they love to look at food, cook,

and to eat good food!

I have really enjoyed my students this year and I

wish them the best in all their future endeavors!

Ms. B. Page, Coordinator

PRAIRIE-HILLS JUNIOR HIGH

6th and 7th Grade

Gifted and Enrichment Program

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 2016 - 2017 Gifted and Enrichment

year is coming to a close. It will be hard to say good-bye to our students this year. This combined group of 6th and 7th graders have really been a pleasure to work with each week. We found a project that has turned into passion projects for most of the students. This quarter our students have really impressed us with their interest and

skill with coding and computer science. We have witnessed them applying their skills by manipulating web sites to display their ideas and creativity. This group will also present what they have learned at TECH 2017 in Springfield. This will be an awesome opportunity for our students to showcase their talents for our Illinois State

Representatives while representing District 144.

Ms. D. Jernigan, Coordinator

Ms. T. H.B.- Chipley, Coordinator

Individual 2nd Grade Award: Miqdad Vahora,

Fieldcrest ~ 4th Place

1st/2nd grades Division A Team – 1st Place

5th/6th grades Division C Team – 3rd Place

7th/8th grades Division D Team – 2nd Place

CONGRATULATIONS Math Bowl Club Participants!!!!!

On April 6th, the Math Bowl students sat for

the qualifying exam to participate at the regional

level for the Math Bowl. The following are the

student representatives that will represented

District 144 in the 2017 South Cook Regional

Math Bowl on May 11th and May 12th.

1st Grade Winners 2nd Grade Winners

1.) Salvatore Ricchio, FC 1.) Estella Godinez, MP

2.) Dinah Spraggins, MP 2.) Miqdad Vahora, FC

3rd Grade Winners 4th Grade Winners

1.) Mehwish Vahora, FC 1.) Julio Lopez, HI

2.) Jacob Anderson, CH 2.) Erica Watkins, HI

5th Grade Winners 6th Grade Winners

1.) Dinah Hall, CH 1.) Yamuna Nair, PHJH

2.) Jayla Scarver, MJ 2.) Jazmin Aguirre, PHJH

7th Grade Winners 8th Grade Winners

1.) Sofia Sandoval, PHJH 1.) Malik Brandon, PHJH

2.) Guadalupe Gomez, PHJH 2.) Tobi Aina, PHJH

It is with GREAT pleasure and EXTREME JOY

that we announce that Prairie-Hills ESD 144

competed against 29 other districts in the 2017

South Cook Regional Math Bowl and placed as

follows:

Individual 1st Grade Award: Miqdad Vahora,

Fieldcrest ~ 4th Place

1st/2nd grades Division A Team – 1st Place

5th/6th grades Division C Team – 3rd Place

7th/8th grades Division D Team – 2nd Place

May 11th ~ Miqdad Vahora, 2nd Grade MVP May 12th ~ Jazmin Aguirre, 6th Grade MVP

CONGRATUATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!

Pictured are the three winners: Sarron, Christina,

and Leland.

Mae Jemison students love HANDS ON! We have done lots of STEM projects this year. Our favorite one was a paper airplane contest. Students had to design three paper airplanes. One that would travel the farthest, one that would be the most accurate, and one that would stay in the air the longest.

In April we finished our “Passion Projects”. Students learned about different versions of architecture around the world. They created a Prezi to share what they learned at the district program on May 16th. The students have completed various S.T.E.M. projects related to structure and design. They are building bridges out of noodles and constructing skyscrapers. We saw some of the Chicago architecture on a boat tour of the Chicago River with the S.T.E.M. group.

Ms. L. Kelly, Coordinator

______________________________________

MAE JEMISON SCHOOL

( Mr. Scott taking a pie to the face for Autism!)

Fundraising:

In April we had a “Pie in the Face” fundraiser.

Students bought a raffle ticket for a chance to

pie a teacher in the face. We raised $400 for

Autism thanks do our generous students and

our own Dr. Harwell with a personal donation to

the cause!

Pictured to the left: Jasmine, Toni, Makayla, Darren, Maddie, and Peyton in Springfield at the Capital Building

Extended Learning:

On Tuesday, May 9th, six gifted students went to Springfield and presented our technology project “Science Apps for Science- I’m a scientist.”