At Kosciuszko School, the 5th grade reading buddies helped the kindergarten classes make Mother's Day gifts for mom. For this project, the students took huge safety pins and put beads on it with a charm saying MOM in the middle of the beads.

This project between grades provided not only a beautiful gift for mom but also a wonderful experience for the kids.

At Kosciuszko School, 3rd grade students went on a field trip to City Hall. On this trip, the kids met mayor Ryan McCue. They did a mock common council, saw how 911 calls work, and met the head of the health department. The mayor was really great with the kids and took a picture with each child for a souvenir. The students learned a lot of this trip and had a wonderful time!

To compliment their chapter on geometry, students at Kosciuszko School were asked to build a “Geometric Creature.”  The creature could take any form, but was required to have five plane figures, three solid figures, and two moving parts. This year’s creatures were fantastic!

To see more pictures of this event, go to the Kosciuszko photo album.

After winning the raffle to be Principal for a Day, Andy Peronto of Kosciuszko School learns what it takes to be a principal while Mr. Katte fills in for him and is reminded what it's like to be a student.

To see more pictures of this event, go to the Kosciuszko photo album.

The third graders at Kosciuszko School learned about the large wave of immigration from Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century.  In addition to learning about where they came from and why, the students learned about the importance of immigrants and the cultural diversity they bring to our country.

As a culminating activity, the students brought in a dish that represented their own family's cultural background.  Dishes from Germany, Mexico, Peru, England, Poland, Ireland, and Czechoslovakia were present for the students to sample.

At Kosciuszko School, each student who donated money to the Pennies for Patients fundraiser were given a piece of duct tape. The students then used the tape to tape their principal Mr. Katte to the wall. This event was a great success and helped raise $1,027.09 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

To see more pictures, go to Kosciuszko's photo album.

As part of their science unit on space, third grade students at Kosciuszko School worked in groups to create short documentaries about one of three topics: solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, or phases of the moon. Student groups needed to write the movie and then determine the best way to film it using digital camcorders.  Once filmed, the students edited the scenes of their movies together using a computer.

In the process, students were able to better conceptualize these solar phenomena, enhance their critical thinking skills, learn how to work well in groups, and increase their comfort with technology all while having fun.

At Kosciuszko school, students from all grades are creating letters and colorful drawings to support soldiers stationed in war zones around the world. These wonderful projects will be finished and sent to the soldiers at the end of April.  

At Kosciuszko School, all the students plan to decorate Earth Day bags for the Pick N' Save on Packard Ave.  Earth Day bags are regular brown Pick N' Save bags, which the students decorate with Earth friendly messages and illustrations. The bags will then be distributed at Pick N' Save on Earth Day - April 22.  These bags will serve as a reminder to the public to take care of our environment.

To raise money for character education endeavors, Kosciuszko school is holding a raffle.

The lucky winner of the raffle receives Mr. Katte's cell phone and keys and gets to manage the building for the afternoon!  Meanwhile, Mr. Katte has to sit in the student's desk and do his or her homework for the time period.

The raffle drawing will be held on April 8 during Academic Night and the student will serve as principal the afternoon of April 10.

During this school year, Kosciuszko and most recently Lincoln School are acknowledging students who exhibit these character traits:

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, CITIZENSHIP, COURTESY, PERSEVERANCE, INTEGRITY

Kosciuszko School

Every month, staff at Kosciuszko recognizes students (Exceptional Eagle Awards) who have done an exceptional job growing in an emphasized character trait.  Winners receive a certificate at a monthly assembly and can receive prizes like ice cream with the principal. For more information about the Character Education program at Kosciuszko, go to their web site.

Lincoln School

At Lincoln School, students who exhibit these character traits are showcased on a school-wide bulletin board title Rainbow of Responsibility located outside the school office. Once the rainbow reaches the pot of gold, students will share in a celebration.

 

On March 31, third graders at Kosciuszko School plan to participate in a multiplication competition. The students will display their multiplication skills by competing against one another in a tournament. For about two minutes, children see multiplication problems. Whoever gets the most problems correct will advance to the next round. 

Good luck to all participants!

Who says science has to be boring?

At Kosciuszko School, fifth grade students in Ms. Janusiak's class read the book Poppy. In the book, there are references to owl pellets.

What is an owl pellet?  Is it owl dung? No, an owl pellet is a ball of bones, fur, scales, and feathers of animals the owl eats which it cannot digest. This ball is then regurgitated in the form of a pellet. The fifth grade students completed an online dissection of an owl pellet, and then were given the real thing!

4th, 5th, and 6th grade students competed in the District Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 12 at Lincoln School.  

To qualify for this competition, the students had to win the classroom competition and then their grade level competition.

This competition was very exciting, especially when it came down to the last two contestants Zach Herriges (6th grade Parkview) and Eddie Muzia (6th grade Kosciuszko). After numerous rounds, Zach Herriges was the winner. Congratulations to all contestants!

The fifth graders at Kosciuszko School traveled back in time to the Revolutionary War and Colonial times!

Each student received a passport to fill out while going through their time travel. The student spent 10 minutes at each of six stations.

First station: Students listened to colonial music.
Second station: Students looked and analyzed colonial pictures.
Third station: Students played colonial games.
Fourth station: Students ate foods from colonial times.
Fifth station: Students did colonial writing.
Sixth station: Students designed the interior of a colonial home. Students enjoyed their time travels.

¿Hablas español?

Ms. Schwarz, the speech pathologist at Kosciuszko Elementary, is starting an after school Spanish club in April.  This is a one month mini-course for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. Ms. Schwarz is in need of volunteers. You do not need to be fluent in Spanish! 

If you would like to volunteer, please call 795-7225.

On Wednesday, February 13, WMIL FM 106.1 will be at Kosciuszko school to record the students doing the Pledge of Allegiance to play on their radio station morning show!

Each class has five minutes to record, with one student to introduce the class.  The students will receive flyers telling them the date and time of the recording. Children are played each morning on 106.1 at 6:35 A.M.

Representatives from the radio station will arrive at the school at 8:30 A.M.  Mrs. Abelson will work on a schedule for all the interested classes.

While studying the solar system, second grade students at Kosciuszko school particated in a home/school project where they made space creatures!

Using objects like boxes, plates, carboard tubes, play dough, garbage bags, and milk jugs, students created the creatures and then wrote about them. The projects turned out wonderful!  The writing part of this project consisted of six sentences: the creature's name, the creature's home planet, three sentences about the creature, and a conclusion sentence.

The students gave a presentation of their project and were graded on creativity, the writing, the oral presentation, and being on time. All three second grade rooms at Kosciuszko participated in the project (Ms. Fox, Mrs. Lew, and Mrs. Dollhopf).

Kosciuszko's 6th grade teacher Mr. Biro has his 6th grade students doing fun college projects!

Each student first chooses their profession. The student then researches, through available literature and the Internet, the best college, the various methods and available resources to pay for their chosen college, and the outlook of their profession.

This project not only gives the kids the opportunity to learn about a career, it also introduces them to the available tools (for example, scholarships and grants) so they can reach their goals. The students, at the end of this project, present their findings through a PowerPoint presentation.