Mokena Intermediate School

Congratulations to Dr. Kristin Johnson (Assistant Superintendent for Instruction) for presenting at today's Illinois Association for Gifted Children's Annual Conference. She presented a session to other leaders about our district's programming review with Northwestern University, our Advanced Learner Task Force's work, and the implementation of recommendations to strengthen advanced learner services in the district!

Today is World Occupational Therapy Day! We thank our district's occupational therapists for all they do for our students in helping them to improve their physical, sensory, cognitive, and social-emotional skills!

🎃 So much creativity and spirit at tonight's Pumpkin Decorating Contest hosted by the Mokena PTA! 🎃

4th grade poets presented their poems and inspiration for why they wrote the poems as part of the final performance task of their poetry and poets module in ELA! Each poem was very unique and gave us a glimpse into what is special to each student!

Congratulations to MIS teachers Ms. Nisrin Al-Takriti and Mrs. Fabiola Huerta for presenting on Wednesday to educators from across the state at the Association of Illinois Middle-grade Schools (AIMS) Newtwork Institute. They presented a session highlighting effective instructional strategies they use with our multilingual students in their co-teaching classroom to promote language growth and proficiency in the domains of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Thank you for representing Mokena SD 159 so well!

It's National School Bus Safety Week and today we are sharing tips for our riders inside our buses! Now is a great time to remind your child about these important safety expectations for bus riding. Together, we can ensure our buses are safe spaces for everyone!

It's National School Bus Safety Week and today we are sharing a safety tip with community drivers about stopping when the stop-arm is out on a bus. This graphic shows when drivers are required by law to stop!

Don't forget...

5th grade students are preparing book reviews from their book clubs to hang in on their new book review wall in the hallway for other students to see!

It's National School Bus Safety Week and today we are sharing a safety tip with community drivers about the flashing lights you will see on a school bus:
🟨 Yellow flashing lights indicate the bus is preparing to stop to load or unload children. Motorists should slow down and prepare to stop their vehicles.
🟥 Red lights flashing and the stop-arm is extended means motorists have a legal responsibility to come to a complete stop as students are loading or unloading the bus.

Congratulations to our instructional coaches Lisa Fiene, Sharon Youngblood, and Jessica Mucenski for representing Mokena SD 159 at today's Illinois Council of Instructional Coaching Conference! They presented a session to other coaches from across the state titled "Coaching with Purpose: Centering Students For Lasting Impact" that highlighted the practices of our coaching program in the district.

This week is National School Bus Safety Week! To celebrate, we will be highlighting important safety tips and information for our community to help keep our Mokena bus riders safe. Be sure to check out our daily posts this week!

At last night's Board of Education meeting, two artists from each of our schools showcased a piece from art class as part of our "Student Spotlight"! Violet, Victoria, Fiona, Fiona, Lila, and Andrew impressed everyone with their talents and efforts! Thank you to our art teachers for inspring our students' creative abilities!

The Mokena Cross Country Team had a great Sectionals Meet on Saturday! Four runners qualified for the IESA State Meet next weekend:
🥇Stella Ciccarelli- 1st place, 11:30 run time (next runner was one minute behind!), personal record
🏅Cole Nappo- 13th place, 13:22 run time, personal record
🏅Carson McGrath- 14th place, 11:48 run time
🏅Owen Mulcahy, 15th place, 11:49 run time, personal record

In addition, the following runners had a personal record at the meet: Kaitlyn Tidball, Helena Calvillo, Audrey Larson, Issac Oost, and Greysen Dorr.

Save the date for a spooktacular event! The PTA's Pumpkin Decorating Contest will be held on Friday, October 24th from 6-7.30pm at MES. MES and MIS families can register their pumpkins at https://bit.ly/PTAPumpkins1025 .

Don't forget there is no school on Friday (Teacher Institute) or Monday (School Holiday)!

It is amazing what we can do when we come together as a community! Last night's "Volley for the Cure" event was a huge success as we raised funds for Mokena's Cancer Support Center! Thank you to our students and families that came out and cheered us on, our staff members who played and helped run the event, our local first responders who gave us some tough competition, and the athletic boosters that ran concessions! A special shoutout of gratitude to Mrs. Michelle Matt who coordinated and organized the event!

We are so excited about the new Journalism Club at MIS! You can read all about it on our website at: https://www.mokena159.org/article/2472605 .