Dear Parents/Guardians:
A very big thank you to our Librarian, Mary Burke and the Literacy Committee for organizing our fourth annual Festival Invernal, Over 100 families attended the holiday literacy event for young children in the community, sponsored by the Morton Freshman Center Literacy Team, FC Library, and FC Literacy Club. Children ages 3-7 were invited to the Morton Freshman Center on Tuesday, December 6 from 4-6:30pm for an evening of holiday fun. More than 100 student volunteers assisted at a variety of stations and also served as hosts, guiding all the children through six interactive stations:
- Letters to Santa and treat bag decorating
- Season crafts: bookmarks, ornaments, and holidays crowns and halos
- Holiday story time
- Face painting
- Math and literacy games
- Cookie decorating
Parents had the opportunity to work with a Northeastern Illinois University artist to create two different holiday crafts. Special musical guests included the Morton East Concert Band, Mariachi Band, and Morton East Chorus. Families received free books, educational math manipulative materials, and information on reading and literacy. Four reading gift bags were raffled off during the event. The free holiday event was supported in part through Federal Title 1 funds.
Reminder that Winter break is from Dec. 21st- Jan 3rd. Have a great Holiday Season.
Sincerely,
Mayra Barahona-Arroyo
Principal
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English - Robert Murphy
The Freshman Center English Department is continuing to help students learn the writing of the persuasive essay. The students will be asked to demonstrate their ability to write this essay independently on January 4 and 5 as part of the first semester final exam. Information and detailed instructions for the persuasive essay can be found in The Freshman Writing Handbook, which all students received at the beginning of the year.
Math – Scott Montgomery
Greetings from the Morton Freshman Center Mathematics Department! Our freshmen have been extremely busy learning and practicing their mathematics, however, a turkey break may be just what everyone needs. In Algebra, our students have been working with inequalities and soon will begin graphing two variables. In Honors Algebra, our students have been graphing two variables and writing equations. In Geometry, our students are seeing the wonders of the right triangle. In Honors Geometry, our students have been proving triangles are congruent and working with transformations.
Social Sciences - Jim Conley
As we approach the end of 2011, please accept a wish for a healthy, happy, & productive holiday season from the Social Science Department at the Freshman Center. To recap the progress we've made so far, our students have been immersed in historical scholarship, classical civilizations, & the Middle Ages. We began December with a look back at the fascinating time known as the Renaissance & Reformation. From a departmental perspective, we continue to refine our curriculum to bring some commonality to the reading and writing instruction for our students. We are also working towards building common assessments to be shared by all teachers in the district.
Science – Niki Gamboa
Holiday greetings from the Freshman Center Biology department! As the holidays approach students in both core and honors are completing their work in biochemistry and beginning to explore the microscopic world of cells. Students will be looking at the structural differences between plant and animal cells, as well as functions such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Students will be preparing for final exams upon return from winter break, so make sure they are coming home with study materials! Have a safe and restful winter break!
ELL/Bilingual – Angela Barrera
The ELL/Bilingual Department hosted a Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee meeting on December 7 from 5:30 to 7pm in the Morton West Café. All parents of students receiving ELL/Bilingual services were invited to attend this dinner event. The ELL/Bilingual Department has also begun planning for the administration of the ACCESS test this upcoming January. In the month of November, students collaborated with NEIU on the Day of the Dead altars, and wrote letters to deceased loved ones. Also this month, FC students, teachers, and administrators gathered to honor and congratulate Ian Chacon, an ELL student and one of only two freshmen on the State Championship Varsity soccer team. Ian Chacon, nuestro campeon!
Physical Education/Health – Joe Hovanes
PE department at the FC is now up to running a continuous 7:30 minutes during our daily run. We finished our volleyball unit in the gym and we are currently ending our hockey. Next we will begin basketball unlike the NBA. We have given out the 2nd test for weight training and students are showing improvement. We will continue to stress the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and showing our students as many possible activities they can do on their own. We have also introduced the effectiveness of your heart rate in most of the classes. The health department just finished the unit. The classes are finishing the fitness unit, and will focus on lifestyle diseases in December. Most of the health classes are finished guiding their students through Career Cruising to be prepared for Career Day, and entrance to Morton East.
FC Literacy Team – Mary Burke
The main goal of the FC Literacy Team is to create an active community of readers at the Freshman Center. It supports the school-wide literacy initiative with a variety of activities and events such as field trips, author visits, community events, and school-wide promotional programming. In addition, members explore the development of curriculum tie-ins to support and enhance student literacy. Three representatives from the FC volunteer as committee members on the District 201 Literacy Committee.
Recent activities include:
- Teachers and students collaborated with Northeastern Illinois University grant-based educators and artists to research the “Day of the Dead” holiday and create ofrendas, or altars, utilizing a variety of art techniques. Traditional ofrendas are created and dedicated to the spirits of loved ones who have died. Projects created by FC students were on display for parents to view during Parent-Teacher conferences in November.
- Time2Read, the all-school sustained silent reading program, occurs on a daily basis. Students have the opportunity to read for pleasure for fifteen minutes each day, adding up to more than 24 hours of reading each school year!
- The One-to-One Book Club, a new book club for FC students and staff members, will debut this month featuring Inexcusable by Chris Lynch. Approximately 40 staff members volunteered to join the new book club. Staff members will read the book and then pass it on to a student of their choice. Students and staff members will come together and enjoy a pizza lunch while discussing the selection.
FC Library – Mary Burke
- The FC Library provides materials to support the curriculum and enhance student learning. Students have the opportunity to utilize a wide range of print and electronic library resources, as well as a variety of computer applications. Recent library class research projects include World Religions, Drug Addictions, Famous Athletes in History, Historical Figures poster project, and digital book trailers based on Alice Hoffman’s Incantation using the Microsoft Photo Story 3 program.
- The FC Library sponsored its annual Scholastic Book Fair in early November. Parents who attended Parent-Teacher conferences on November 1 had the opportunity to receive a voucher for a free book from the fair.
- FC Book Club members recently read and discussed Incantation by Alice Hoffman, a fictionalized story of the Spanish Inquisition. Club members meet twice a month on Fridays after school in the FC Library.
- The FC Library will sponsor weekly Board Game Day beginning in January. This drop-in activity will give students the opportunity to gather for informal board game fun. The FC Library has a large collection of board games, card games, and puzzles to reinforce critical thinking and strategy skills.
Ms. Mayra Barahona-Arroyo
Ms. Angelica Rodriguez
Mr. Norberto Izquierdo
