I am very excited to announce that during the state level History Fair competition on Thursday, May 3, Mrs. Hinchey, one of our Social Studies teachers,  was the recipient of the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award at the state level.  The Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award recognizes outstanding National History Day (NHD) teachers.  Mrs. Hinchey was selected as the Illinois winner from the junior level and will be moving on to the national level selection committee this summer. Good luck Mrs. Hinchey!

Also, on May 2, Mr. Barbini was recognized by the Schaumburg Barnes and Noble as the “My Favorite Teacher” recipient.  Mr. Barbini was nominated by one of his students who wrote an essay on how he had influenced his life and why he appreciate and admire him.  The essay has now moved to the regional competition and is in the
running for the “Barnes & Noble Teacher of the Year”.

On Monday, June 4, we will be providing lunch for all students. If your child cannot eat a turkey sandwich, please let the office know by providing the child’s name by Friday, May 25.

Finally, it was great to see so many families represented at our annual Moms and Munchkins.  I hope everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing Mother’s Day weekend.

Pete Hannigan and Jillian Gajewski

Dear Mead Community,

It is hard to believe the end of the year is rapidly approaching. Over the course of the past two weeks our students have been working very hard as they complete their Reading and Math MAP assessments. All of our students should be very proud of what they have accomplished this year. All MAP results will be formally sent home with report cards at the end of the school year.

This year, in an effort to encourage and promote the importance of mothers and/or significant female role models and their role in our students’ lives, the Mead PTA will be hosting our annual Moms and Munchkins on Friday, May 11^th. Moms will be able to spend some quality time with their student during breakfast (coffee, milk, donuts and muffins) and then have an opportunity to experience their child’s morning routine here at Mead. Click the link below for the official invitation to this event. We hope to see you there.

As warm weather is upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about appropriate school attire. We believe that students at Margaret Mead Junior High should take pride in their appearance, and dress in such a way that they are positive representa­tives of our school. Appropriate clothing should be conducive to learn­ing and compatible with a productive educa­tional environment.

Keep in mind, the way we dress conveys a message. What message do you want your student to send?

Based on these beliefs, the following are inappropriate during school hours at a junior high:

• Revealing clothing such as bare midriffs, bare backs, spaghetti straps,
• Pants and shorts that cannot be worn at or above the hips. No excessively baggy pants;
• see-through fabrics, low-cut tops, low-riding pants, short shorts, or short skirts;
• Clothing with inappropriate slogans or pictures such as depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gangs, vulgar language, or violence;

In summary, students should come dressed for school in cloth­ing that is modest, suitable for school activities, and reason­able for the purposes of maintaining health, reducing distractibility, and increas­ing safety in the school. Suitability of clothing for school is subject to the judgment and discretion of school staff members.

 Thank you for your support in helping our students develop a sense of responsibility for dressing and grooming appropriately!

  Thank you for your continued support.                                                                            

Pete Hannigan                                       Jillian Gajewski

Principal                                                  Assistant Principal

 Moms for Munchkins Invite

This video was created by the Mead staff and our Media class to motivate our students to give their best effort on the spring MAP testing.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.  Last week Mead celebrated the rich diversity of our community as we devote April 9^th -13^th to our Acceptance and tolerance Week.  There were activities throughout the week to help our students recognize and stamp out prejudice in all its forms.  It was truly exciting to see the willingness of all our students to be open and honest while participating in the many planned activities.

The 8th Grade Language Arts department is excited to announce that our 2nd Annual Career Fair is coming to Mead Junior High on May 11, 2012.  We are currently looking for a wide variety of people willing to come to Mead and share about their career with the 8th grade student body.  Attached is a flyer with all of the specific
details.  As we only need one presenter for each type of career, please let us know if you are interested right away to ensure a spot in our program.  Thank you so much for your willingness to inspire the 8th grade students.

During the weeks of April 23 through May 11, students in seventh grade and eighth
grade will be taking their reading and math MAP assessment.  The staff and students of Mead have been working very hard all year in preparing for these assessments.  All MAP reading tests will be completed from April 23^rd-April 27^th in their Language Arts
classes.  The schedule and lunch hours for our students will be our normal weekly schedule during that week.  The testing schedule is: Geckos on Monday, Sea Turtles on Tuesday, Gatorz on Thursday and Green Wave on Friday.  If your student is a Sea Turtle in a 4/6 Language Arts class, they will be testing 4^th and 5th period on Tuesday and eating with their class 6^th period. This is the same for any Gatorz and Green Wave students in period 5/7. These students will be testing 5^th and 6^th period and eating with their class 7^th period.

The week of April 30^th-May 4^th, we will have a modified schedule.  Students will be testing in their math classes.  Below you will find the lunch hours for our students and the testing windows which are highlighted in yellow.

If you have any questions regarding these tests, please call your student’s math
and/or Language Arts teacher or call me if you want additional information.

Finally, attached are two additional flyers from Schaumburg Parent University.

Have a great week.

Pete Hannigan and Jillian Gajewski

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Spring Break.  As the year is coming to a close, we have found that we are running out of Kleenex in many of the classrooms.  If your family did not turn in a Kleenex Box at the beginning of the year or would like to donate additional boxes of Kleenex to our school, please feel free to have your
student drop off his/her donation to the main office.  Our office will then distribute the extra Kleenex to classrooms in need.  Thank you for your support!

Mead will be celebrating the rich diversity of our community as we devote April 9^th -13^th to our Acceptance and Tolerance Week.  There will be activities throughout
the week to help our students recognize and stamp out prejudice in all its forms.  On Monday through Thursday during their study halls, students will take a pledge to ‘Spread the Word to End the Word’.  Also, each day of the week will be celebrated by a special theme.  The schedule for next week is as follows:

Monday: Pajama Day- “Put Intolerance to Sleep”

Tuesday: Sports Wear- “Team Up Against Intolerance”

Wednesday: Hat Day- “Put a Lid on Intolerance”

Thursday: Teal or Blue Day- “Wear Teal to End Cyber Bullying”

Friday: Mead Wear Day- “ Mead Comes Together”

In addition to wearing Mead gear on Friday, April 13^th students will be engaged in a series of lessons on acceptance and tolerance.  In the morning, students will have time to work with a bully prevention student group from Conant High School, meet with David Luzwick, District 54 Special Olympics Coordinator, to hear more about the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, and see a presentation by a dynamic, nationally known speaker who has appeared on the Rosie O’Donnell show.  The presenter will be playing the piano, sharing his life experiences, and explaining how he rose above his differences.

In the afternoon, students will participate in a variety of lessons pertaining to diversity.  These lessons will include watching movie and television clips that
deal with topics such as accepting and celebrating differences, working in small groups to identify one negative word that they would like to ban, participating in a lesson that will give students an experience of what it feels like to be treated based on race, class, and other societal norms, and ending with a lesson on speaking with good purpose during which the students will take steps toward improving and building relationships in their lives.  We look forward to an enlightening week for the students and staff!

Finally, we would like to remind future William Fremd High School students that their incoming Freshman Night will be held on Monday, April 16. If you did not receive this invitation or have any questions related to Fremd High School or this event please feel free to contact the Fremd Student Services Department at (847) 755-2630.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable an relaxing extended weekend.

Pete Hannigan and Jillian Gajewski

 Step One:  Go to http://mead.sd54.org/

 Step Two: Go to the About Menu tab- find Infinite Campus Parent Portal- click on it

Step Three: Enter your username (found in the letter sent home)

Step Four: Enter your password (found in the letter sent home)

Step Five: Re-enter old password

Step Six: Create a new strong password!

Step Seven: Enter twice

Step Eight: Enjoy exploring what the portal has to offer!

Your child will be participating in a survey provided by the Center for Prevention Research and Development through the University of Illinois.  The purpose of the Illinois Youth Survey is to better understand Illinois youth risk protective behaviors as they relate to student problems and academic success.  Your child will complete the survey during his/her Language Arts class on Thursday, April 5th (with no names or identification numbers) that will be confidentially administered by a classroom teacher.  If you have questions about the survey please contact the school office.  If you have any questions regarding the project and wish to contact a staff person at the University of Illinois, please contact Peter Mulhall at (888) 333-5612 or email him at mulhall@illinoi.edu.

Finally, attached is the Mead Activity Calendar for the month of April. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let us know.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing spring break.

Pete Hannigan and Jillian Gajewski

ISAT testing is over! We finished our final make up sessions this morning. Our students did an outstanding job giving their best effort. I know they are all very happy and relieved to have testing over.

Here is the latest news from Mead School…

• District 54 Summer Band and Orchestra: Registration for District 54’s Summer Band and Orchestra program has begun!  District 54 students who have completed fifth, sixth, or seventh grade and have had lessons on their instrument for at least one school year are eligible to enroll.  Summer Band and Orchestra will take place July 9-26 (Mondays-Thursdays) at Keller Junior High School.  Registration forms are available from any instrumental music teacher or at http://sd54.org/music/instrumental/summerprogram. If you have questions, please contact the band/orchestra teacher at your school or call 847-357-5138.
• Please see the attached flyer regarding the District 54 Tech Camp “The Amazing Race”.  This opportunity will take place at Hoover Math Science  Academy.  District 54 will begin accepting registrations on April 9
• Please see the attached flyer regarding a recycling event on April  21^st at the School District 54 Administration Center.
•  PTA Hot Lunch: Please note there is no hot lunch this coming Thursday, March 22.
•  Spring break is rapidly approaching and will be here soon. Spring break is March 26^th– March 30^th.

Have a great weekend!

Peter Hannigan

I hope everyone had a wonderful week.  Our students have been very busy as the
trimester came to a close yesterday.  All of our students should be very proud of all their hard work.  I would like to remind you that we start ISATs Monday, March 5^th.  The modified school day schedule is both on the website and attached.  Please look closely at it because or lunch hours will be changed from March 5^th-March 14^th. Please make sure that your students get a good night’s sleep and have a nutritional breakfast each morning.  Also, please encourage your student(s) to give their best effort.

As another potential snow storm is upon us, I would like to take this opportunity
to review Mead’s arrival and dismissal procedures.  It is very important
to that we all do our best to ensure all of our students arrive and leave
school in a safe and orderly manner.  As a reminder, all students should
exit cars from the passenger side of the car only and should cross the street
only at the crosswalk.  This is especially important when hazardous winter
driving conditions.  Also, please be careful where you park and drop off
your children.  Parking too close to a crosswalk can restrict pedestrian
visibility.  Student safety is our top concern, by following all posted
signs and driving regulations we can keep our children safe.  The entire
Mead community appreciates your patience and cooperation as we strive to
provide a safe learning environment for all of our Mead Mustangs.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your student’s instructional program please do not hesitate to contact us.

Have a great weekend.

Pete Hannigan and Jillian Gajewski