Benjamin Broadcast

Dear Benjamin Families,

Thank you to all of the families who attended Parent/Teacher Conferences in October. We love working together with you. Con-tinue to encourage your child to set academic and character goals throughout the year.

Thanks, also, to all who helped and/or attended our classroom parties this week. This is always

such a fun event, and we couldn’t do it without you!

We are looking for information on former Benjamin Bears who are demonstrating that proactive lead-ership in a variety of ways. If you have newspaper clippings - photos or articles, please share them with us. We would like to showcase these leaders.

We are thankful for all of our stu-

dents and families throughout the year, but especially during this month of Thanksgiving!

Please contact our office at (309)

557-4410 if you have any ques-

tions.

Sincerely,

Marlys Bennington-

benninmm@unit5.org

Happy Thanksgiving Benjamin Families!

McLean County Unit District 5

November 2018

Volume 9, Issue 3

Those Who Excel Award 2

Save the Date 2

Music Concerts—See Correction

3

PE Shorts/Project Fit America Event

3

Calendar 4

GROWL Winners 5

Halloween Photos 6

Inside this issue:

Follow us on Insta-gram

@BenjaminBears

Join the fun! We cur-rently have over 235 followers to our new Instagram account.

We hope to have 265 by next month. Help

us reach our goal!

Wednesdays are

designated as Spirit

Wear Days. Students &

staff may wear

Benjamin Bear clothing

or orange & black.

Sponsored by Student Council

Monday ~ Pennies

Tuesday ~ Nickels

Wednesdays ~ Dimes

Thursdays ~ Quarters

Friday ~ Dollars

*You may bring any coin or dollar denomination any of the days. Place your donation in the class buckets in the lobby each morning before school. United Way provides ser-vices to those in need in our community. Thank you for your support.

Soaring to New Heights ~ United Way Campaign ~ November

Business Bears

Our student entrepreneurial group, Business Bears, has begun! Business Bears

learn about starting a small business. The students create a product design and

complete an application/business plan. A sample product must be submitted

with their application. Parent signatures are needed by a parent from each

student involved. Business Bears will also be learning about local charities and

will vote on the charity that our sale proceeds will be given to after our sale is

completed. Last year, $2,500 was raised and donated to the Bloomington-

Normal Bed Blitz! Our proceeds helped many beds to be built for children in our

community who do not have their own bed.

Applications are due November 5th. Students will hear back on November 9th.

5Essentials Survey

5Essentials is a survey

done by the state of

Illinois. Our families

and staff have taken it

for the last several

years. It is a great

way for you to give

feedback about our

school. The survey will

be open this year from

November 15th-

January 18th. We will

share the link, once we

receive it. Please take

a few minutes to help

us by completing the

survey. Thank you in

advance for your help!

Page 2 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 9, I s s u e 3

Save the Date!

March 1st—5:00-8:30 pm Benjamin Carnival

March 18th— 6:00-7:30 pm Art Show

As we enter the influenza season, I would like to remind you of the guidelines for school attendance when students are ill. The 2018-2019 McLean County Unit Dis-trict No. 5 Elementary Handbook (p. 23-27 outlines the times when children should not be in school. These times include when students are experiencing:

∙ A fever within the last 24 hours

∙ Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours

∙ A frequent or disruptive cough or other sign of an acute respiratory infection

∙ Any contagious illness such as “strep throat” that requires antibiotic thera-py. Once a student has been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medica-tions and on antibiotics for 24 hours, he/she may return to school.

∙ Any undiagnosed skin rash. A student with a rash may attend school upon pre-senting a physician’s note stating the rash is not contagious.

∙ Pronounced lethargy or fatigue that interferes with participation in learning ac-tivities.

Also included in the handbook is the information for having medication at school (p.25). Remember, medication CANNOT be administered at school without a note from the prescribing physician completed and on file at school. This includes OVER-THE-COUNTER and PRESCRIPTION medications. Cough drops containing menthol also require a note from the doctor.

For further information on the influenza type and season, please click on the link below.http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Those Who Excel Award ~

Business Bears

Congratulations to the Business Bears Team for their Award of Excellence at the 2018 Illi-nois State Board of Education Those Who Ex-cel Awards Banquet on October 20, 2018! These state-wide awards are given at three lev-

els, with Excellence being the highest level of recogni-tion for individuals who have made outstanding con-tributions to education in Illinois.

On that same day, the $2,500 Business Bears student entrepreneurs raised and donated to the Bloomington-Normal Bed Blitz was put to good use, as 60 beds were made for children in our community who did not have their own bed. These children also received sheets, a quilt, and a teddy bear. Thank you for all of your help and support of Business Bears!

Nurse’s Notes ~ Mrs. Reichard

Vocal Music Concerts & Chorus 2018-19

Fitness Stations. We learned about Ninja Sta-tion Challenges and had a station safety review. And lastly, the third station was inside and we learned more about the Chart and Challenge activities. We also discussed how to grow our program in the years to come. Thank you for your contin-ued support of our Physi-cal Education program. Thank you also for the support you give to your children to help them be successful.

Tuesday, November 13 Please note that this date was listed incorrectly in our last newslet-ter. We are sorry for any in-convenience this may have caused.

5:00pm ~ 3rd Grade ~This is our annual program honoring our Veteran’s.

6:30pm ~ 4th Grade

Monday, December 3 - COR-RECTION

We are very fortunate to be able to use the auditorium at Normal Community High School (3900 East Raab Rd. in Normal) for our concerts. Their space provides the ease of parking, comfortable seat-ing where everyone can see their children, and a stage that fits all of our students and has good acoustics.

Below are our performance dates for the upcoming school year:

5:00pm ~ 2nd Grade

6:00pm ~ 5th Grade

7:00pm ~ Chorus

Tuesday, April 30

5:00pm ~ Kindergarten

6:00pm ~ 1st Grade

700pm ~ Chorus

Yearbooks

Yearbooks will be sold

this winter and will be

delivered in May. Flyers

will be sent home and

announcements will be

made each morning for a

couple of weeks. We

order a few extras, but

they sell quickly in May

when they arrive. If you

want to purchase a

yearbook, it is best to do

so in the winter.

Page 3 Be n ja m in Bro a dca s t V o lu me 9, I s s u e 3

Our PE classes have been working hard on reaching their individual goals on the Project Fit America equipment. We have test-ed the Pole Climb and Horizontal Ladder. Ask your child if they have been able to reach the goal and write their name on the Wall of Fame post-ers. We also spent a week with the YWCA instructors learning about safety. The training conference that was held at Benjamin was a huge success. Kim

Berg, a Project Fit America trainer from North Caroli-na, was here to provide us with additional information to use in our Project Fit America curriculum. We had teachers attend from Bloomington schools who also have received this grant as well, as trainers from Gold’s Gym. Three sessions were held. The first session was held in the gym and focused on Teamwork, Cooperation, and Communication les-sons. The second session took place at the Outdoor

PE Shorts

Keep collecting

those BoxTops!

Thank you for col-

lecting them. We

will have another

submission later

this year. Benjamin Elementary

Respectfully, Mr. Delveaux & Ms. Myers Benjamin Elementary Physi-cal Education

Morning Duty Time

We will now be inside eve-

ry morning before school

until the warm weather

arrives in the spring.

Please make sure your

child has a book, e-reader,

journal, or other quiet ac-

tivity to do this time. We

like to help them get their

day off to a good start!

Unit 5 will implement 12 Late Start Wednesdays this year, which will have all

students arriving one hour later than regular school start times. Elementary

schools will start at 8:45 A.M. on these days. Transportation pick up times will

run one hour later on these days than on regular days.

The purpose of Late Starts is to allow Unit 5 staff members to meet for 90

minutes of job embedded professional development and collaboration, which

will improve classroom instruction, enhancing the learning opportunity for stu-

dents, despite the state’s financial crisis. Research supports ongoing, sus-

tained, results oriented collaboration.

This common meeting time will allow teachers to: continue training in literacy

practices and assessments, develop student achievement goals driven by data,

collaborate in the development of instructional strategies, develop common

course assessments, analyze assessment data to guide instruction, collaborate

on differentiating instruction for students, and enhance classroom technology

integration through training.

November Late Starts: 14th

Benjamin Elementary School 6006 Ireland Grove Rd. Bloomington, IL 61705

http://www.unit5.org/

Domain/9

Oct. 29th–Nov 2nd Student Council Selling Spirit Sticks

Nov. 2nd ISU Baseball Player Photos ~ $25 Bear Bucks

Nov. 5th United Way Drive ~ Penny Day

Nov. 6th Election Day ~ Remember to Vote

United Way Drive ~ Nickel Day

Nov. 7th United Way Drive ~ Dime Day

2:30-3:15pm ~ Chorus

2:30-3:15pm ~ Student Council

4:00-5:00pm ~ Chess

Nov. 8th United Way Drive ~ Quarter Day

Nov. 9th United Way Drive ~ Dollar Day

Nov. 12th 6:30 ~ PTO Meeting in IMC

Nov. 13th 5:00pm ~ 3rd Grade Concert

6:30pm ~ 4th Grade Concert

Nov. 14th 8:45am ~ Late Start

2:30-3:15 ~ Chorus

4:00-5:00pm ~ Chess

Nov. 21st-23rd Thanksgiving Break ~ No School

Nov. 26th-30th Student Council Selling Spirit Sticks and Smencils

Benjamin Calendar

Phone: 309-557-4410 Fax: 309-557-4511

Benjamin Mission Statement The Benjamin Bear community will educate and empower all students to be proactive leaders.

McLean County Unit District 5

Late starts during the 2018-2019 school year

PTO Facebook Page

& Amazon Smile

Did you know that

the Benjamin PTO

has a Facebook page?

There is a lot of great

and helpful infor-

mation available on

it. Be sure to check it

out! The PTO also

has an Amazon Smile

account. When you

purchase items on

Amazon, and mark

Benjamin PTO, a do-

nation comes back to

the Benjamin PTO!

PTO Updates Benjamin Carnival 2019. Planning has begun for the 2019 Carnival! We need sev-eral volunteers to help with putting on this event. Most of the work will be in Janu-ary and February with a few hours needed this year. Please contact Dan Fischer, Carnival Chair, dfischer17@yahoo.com if interested. Thank you!

Please join us for our November PTO Meeting on Monday, November 12th at 6:30 pm in the IMC at Benjamin. We discuss a variety of topics related to our school.

Thank you to all who signed up to help with our classroom parties! We all appreciate you and your help to make these days special!!

PBIS Recognition!

Benjamin recently received the Platinum Level of Recognition, for the second year in

a row, which is the highest level a school can achieve from PBIS (Positive Behavioral

Interventions & Supports)!!

This is very exciting! We appreciate all our staff and families do to support our PBIS

program!

September GROWL Winners

Congratulations to the fol-

lowing students who were

our September GROWL

winners:

Khadirah Muhammad (PE

Delveaux), Emma Reichert

(PE Delveaux), Bella Wilson

(PE Myers), Maliya Newton

(PE Myers), Rollie Carter

(KF), Raelynn Curtis (KF),

Andy Tamm (KH), Olivia

Scheid (KH), Caleb Floyd

(KK), Kennedy Bailey (KK),

Aubri Heinold (KL), Kai

Walker (KL), Cecilia Kenne-

dy (1A), Kian McCauley

(1A), Landon Neal (1D),

Marshall Rich (1D), Evan

Ellis (1G), Kylee Lastner

(1G), Helena Kelso (1S),

Amaan Ahmad (1S), Maria

Taulbee (2Fi),Caden Trow-

itch (2Fi), Kennedy Jeffress

(2Fo), Jamison Rader

(2Fo), Tony Capparelli (2K),

Bennett Jensen (2K), Gian-

na Nowers (2v), Beau Pur-

cell (2V), Jack Peterson

(3A), Hailey Simon (3A),

Emery Robison (3C),

Nirdesh Satya (3C), Jonah

Kalitzky (3G), Ella Olson

(3G), Amelia Hutley (3H),

Logan Francois (3H), Will

Olson (4G), Emma Pollitt

(4G), Rohaka Duggirala

(4M), Aliyah Fraley (4M),

Payton Mathieson (4S),

Monish Pathipati (4S),

Reese Michaels (5AG), Sam

Wehmeyer (5AG), Alana

Whitfield (5DG), Ronak

Potnis (5DG), Houda Bou-

zouma (5L), Colin Jackson

(5L), Jiyong Hong (5W),

and Rylee Larson (5W).

These students celebrated

with a pizza party with Mrs.

Bennington on October 16,

2018.

How does a Benjamin Bear

receive a GROWL?

GROWLS are earned by go-

ing above and beyond our

expectations in the areas of

respect, responsibility, or

safety. These are important

behaviors that will allow

them to become successful

adults.

Each month, two students

from each class will be

drawn from all of the

GROWL winners from that

month. These students will

be rewarded with a pizza

luncheon with the principal.

They also receive a GROWL

medal, as a special gift. We