IPSD News
Around The District: December
Reported by greg_gibson@ipsd.org on 12/17/09
December, 2009 Edition
Breakfast with Santa is a Jolly Tradition
Wearing a red and green elf’s costume, Sana Khadri was Santa’s helper at the Business Professionals of America’s annual Breakfast with Santa held in the student cafeteria at Waubonsie Valley High School. For Khadri, a freshman, this is her first year in BPA and helping at the breakfast. “Some children asked me if I was a real elf or just dressed up as one,” she said. “I say, ‘I’m his real helper and I make the toys you’re going to get.’” The jovial Santa, Jim Bavirsha, a technology and engineering teacher at Waubonsie Valley, has been portraying the holiday icon for 10 years at the breakfast. This is the 20th year for the event, said BPA adviser and Waubonsie Valley counselor Karen Leonard, who along with co-adviser Jeff Graham, a business teacher at Waubonsie Valley, help the students plan and put on the event. “BPA members do everything, from cooking to games to clean up,” she said. “The money raised helps needy children and also is donated to Waubonsie Valley’s Special Olympics.” Leonard said the breakfast serves between 600 and 800 people and teaches students the importance of community service and the rewarding feeling they get from running the event.
| Santa’s helpers, freshman Sana Khadri and junior Jay Mulakala volunteered at the Business Professionals of America’s Breakfast with Santa held at Waubonsie Valley High School. |  |
Hitting a High Note
Neuqua Valley High School’s Wind Ensemble performed at the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic held at McCormick Place West in Chicago. The Wind Ensemble was chosen from approximately 200 applicants from around the world. The 67th Midwest Clinic is the largest instrumental music education conference in the world, attended by 15,000 music educators, students and professionals from 30 countries. “We are honored to be selected and are excited about our performance,” said Charles Staley, Fine Arts Chair and director of the Wind Ensemble. District 204 music groups have performed at the Midwest Clinic in previous years including Gregory Middle School’s Wind Ensemble in 1990; the Waubonsie Valley High School Wind Ensemble in 1995; and the Neuqua Valley Chamber Symphony Orchestra in 2007.
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| Neuqua Valley High School’s Wind Ensemble performed at the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic held at McCormick Place West in Chicago, the largest instrumental music education conference in the world. |
A Step Back in Time
When is a spider not a spider? When it’s a cooking pot used during the Colonial Era in America. Wearing white mop bonnets and colonial dresses, Graham Elementary School LMC Director Nancy Cocconi and LMC Assistant Jeanette Skrip showed fifth-graders pictures of utensils and other implements that were used during the 1600s and 1700s as part of the students’ Colonial Days experience. In Sharon Cody’s fifth-grade classroom, students learned how heavy cream makes butter when you churn it – only they used jars with lids to shake up the cream. They also made quilt squares after hearing a book called, “The Quilt Story,” read by fifth-grade teacher Kelly Adams. On the stage in the gym, fifth-grade teacher Brenda Grahn was supervising the bows and arrows and slingshots being used by students. “It’s a new experience, something they usually don’t get to do,” she said. “Being a first-time settler, you learned how to fend for yourself and took care of your family.”
| Wearing colonial-style clothing, Jeanette Skrip and Nancy Cocconi show fifth-graders pictures of colonial cooking utensils in the Library Media Center as part of the Colonial Days experience held in November at Graham Elementary School. |  |
Kids Help Kids at Kendall
A trip to the Illinois state capitol of Springfield has always been a special field trip for students, and fifth-graders at Kendall Elementary School are looking forward to their springtime visit. To allow everyone to participate, more than 50 Kendall fifth-graders held a pajama read-in to raise money to help offset the cost of the daylong trip. Students read to younger children and provided the snacks in the multi-purpose room. In the gym, groups of students gathered together to read classic books such as “When the Relatives Came” by Cynthia Rylant. And that’s just who came to the read-in as many students invited their younger siblings. For fifth-grader Caitlyn, there were several reasons to attend. “It’s really fun,” she said. “I love to read to the younger kids and it also helps us raise money for our field trip to Springfield. It feels good to help other kids.” Fifth-grade teacher Clarissa Prorok said participation was strong among all students. “Those who couldn’t attend the read-in provided the food and drinks. The students who are participating are all volunteers,” she said. In February, Kendall fifth-graders will be holding another read-in.
| Fifth-grader Ellie Corman reads to her sister, third-grader Claire Corman during the fifth-grade pajama read-in fundraiser held at Kendall Elementary School. More than 50 students participated in the read-in that helps to raise money for the fifth-grade field trip to Springfield, Ill. |  |
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