Benjamin Broadcast

Dear Benjamin Families,

Thank you to all who attended

Parent/Teacher Conferences. We

appreciate how involved our families

are in their children’s education.

Continue to monitor your children’s

progress through Teacher Ease. If

you have questions, please contact

your children’s teachers.

Thank you for your contributions

during our United Way campaign.

We were able to raise $1,059.98!!

Students in 1st-5th grade are current-

ly taking their winter MAP test, which

will help our staff to see how they are

progressing. We also monitor student

progress during every day instruction

throughout the school year. We look

forward to seeing how each child is

progressing!

This is our annual December/January

edition of the newsletter, so there will

not be another newsletter until Febru-

ary.

We would like to take a moment to wish

your family a wonderful holiday season.

Enjoy your time together, and find time

to relax and rejuvenate yourselves.

Sincerely,

Marlys Bennington-

benninmm@myunit5.org

Principal

Happy New Year to our Benjamin Families!

McLean County Unit District 5

December 2017/ January 2018

Volume 8 Issue 4

GROWL Winners 2

Yearbook Group Photos 2

Carnival 3

Business Bears Sale 3

Music & Chorus 4

Calendar 5

5Essentials Ticket 6

Inside this issue:

Lost & Found Items

to Be Donated

All Lost & Found items

not claimed by 4:00

pm on Thursday, De-

cember 21st, will be

donated to The Crisis

Nursery over break.

Please feel free to stop

by school and look

through Lost & Found.

It is located in the lob-

by, by the north doors.

Lost & Found eye

glasses and tiny items

are located in the of-

fice.

Wednesdays are

designated as Spirit

Wear Days. Students

& staff may wear

Benjamin Bear

clothing or orange &

black.

Hat, Mitten, & Glove Drive ~ December 11th-15th

Student Council will be collecting new winter hats, mittens, and gloves for those students in

need in Unit 5 Schools. Hang your donation on the Christmas tree in the lobby before

school during the week of December 11th-15th!

Candy Grams ~ December 11th-15th

Candy Grams will be on sale December 11th-15th before school (7:25-7:40 am) in the

lobby. Buy one for your friends, siblings, or yourself! They will be delivered on Thursday,

December 21st.

Parents may also send one to their child! The forms are available for downloading on the

Benjamin website. Send your completed form and money to the office in an envelope.

NEW THIS YEAR: Buy a Candy Gram for a child that might not receive one! Fill

out the form like this: TO: (Leave Blank) FROM: A Benjamin Friend

Congratulations to the following

students who were our October

GROWL winners:

Rohak Duggirala (PE Delveaux),

Mahi Ganta (PE Delveaux), Am-

ariana Dallmann (PE Myers), Al-

len Varghese (PE Myers), Harshak

Duggirala (KF), Emerson Kalitzky

(KF), Anshika Inapakolla (KH),

Landon Neal (KH), Luke Heinold

(KL), Marielle Olivares (KL), Jack

Barksdale (KS), Aadhya Rayala

(KS), Camille King (1A), Disha

Rai (1A), Navedya Lanish (1E),

Reggie Luckett (1E), Kennedy

Jeffress (1G), Crew Michels (1G),

Emma Heineman (1S), Anthony

Nwachukwu (1S), Arie Hunt (2A),

Colin Mygatt (2A), Kaitlin Mullins

(2F), Luke Oyler (2F), Audrey Doug-

las (2K), Jia Mathew (2K), Jalen

Carter (2V), Betsy Nannen (2V),

Ishaan Jha (3C), Megan White (3C),

Quintin Barton (3G), Hamsini Ganta

(3G), Rajeeth Ganesan (3H), Faith

Spedding (3H), Drew Becker (4G),

Amber Harding (4G), Paige Benedict

(4L), Lauryn Price (4L), Maddie Gib-

son (4R), Joe Honzel (4R), Maliya

Newton (4S), Beckett Weber (4S),

Sankalp Borah (5G), Paytyn Gray

(5G), Journey Herron (5J), Brooke

Lowery (5J), Kaitlyn Bean (5S), and

Shaun Harden (5S).

These students celebrated by enjoying

a pizza party with Mrs. Bennington

on Wednesday, November 15th!

How does a Benjamin Bear

receive a GROWL? GROWLS are

earned by going above and beyond

our expectations in the areas of

respect, responsibility, or safety.

These are important behaviors that

will allow them to become success-

ful adults.

Each month, two students from

each class will be drawn from all of

the GROWL winners from that

month. These students will be

rewarded with a pizza luncheon

with the principal. They also re-

ceive a special GROWL medal.

We hope to recognize quality char-

acter in many of our students

throughout the year.

Business Bear products are now on display in the cases in the lobby. Items are priced at $0.50-$4.00.

The Business Bears Sale will be held on Friday, January 26th from 7:25-7:40 am. Stop by to shop and

support these young entrepreneurs! Proceeds will be donated to the Bloomington Normal Bed Blitz! This pro-

gram provides beds, bedding, and a stuffed animal to children in our community who do not have beds. Thank

you for your support!

October GROWL Winners

Business Bears Sale ~ Friday, January 26th

Yearbook Group Photos

Yearbook group

photos will be

taken on Tuesday,

January 23rd.

Yearbook order

forms will be sent

home in January.

Page 2 Volume 8 I ssue 4

Dressing for Cold Weather

The weather will soon turn colder, and it’s a good time to remind eve-

ryone of the importance of dressing warm. Unit 5 guidelines have stu-

dents going outside for recess as long as the temperature is 20 degrees or warmer,

with the wind chill factored in. Warm coats, hats, mittens/gloves, and scarves help keep

the children warm. Send what you know works best for your child. It is very windy at

Benjamin, so warm gear is really important.

We are now inside every morning before school. Please remind your child to pack a

book, journal, sketch pad, or something quiet to do during this time. We will have

inside mornings until spring, when the weather is nice enough to be back outside again.

Young Authors

Students in Kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to write a story for our Young Au-thors program. It can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry ~ be creative! Be sure to include illus-trations, clip art, or real photos. Manuscripts are due February 8th!

Save the date! March 2, 2018 5:00-8:30 pm for…

Benjamin Big Top

Carnival 2018

Featuring the Gamma Phi Circus!

The Benjamin Carnival is a night of fun that students look forward to all year long! From 5:00-8:00 pm we have great games and activities in common rooms throughout the school, a large basket raffle with loads of great baskets to win in the IMC, face painting, balloon artist, dinner food, drinks, snacks and more inflatables this year than ever before! And to top it off, we are also excited to have Gamma Phi Circus who will be putting on a show in the gym at 8:00 pm to end the night!

Benjamin Carnival ~ Save the Date!

Business Bears

Our student entrepreneurial group, Business Bears, has

been working hard! The students have created their product

designs. We have a wide range of products, and we are

proud of their creativity! They have also learned about and

created a logo for their products. The Commercial Arts

students from Normal West helped to produce these logos.

The Business Bears met with the Innovative Entrepreneurs

from both high schools in November to learn about branding

and marketing their products. The Business Bears learned

about local charities and voted for our sale proceeds to be

given to the Bloomington-Normal Bed Blitz after our sale is

completed.

Products are due January 19th, and our sale is January 26th.

Page 3 Benjamin Broadcast Volume 8 I ssue 4

Physical Education classes have been busy keeping warm with exercising and heart-healthy activities. The students continue to brighten our days and keep us thankful for teaching at Benjamin!! Please keep reminding them to bring/wear tennis shoes daily for our class. It was nice meeting some of you at parent teacher conferences and discussing what wonderful children you have. Thank you for always being a supportive part of Benjamin Elementary School.

Sincerely,

Jo Myers

PE Shorts

Dine to Donate

Tuesday, December 6th, Orange Leaf will be giving back to Benjamin! Orange Leaf will do-nate 10% of ALL the sales from 5:00-8:30pm. Fro-yo will be a nice treat after dinner and after the musical performances scheduled for Monday night.

Join us for our upcoming Dine to Donate at Portillos! December 13th, 5:00-8:00pm. Flyers will be coming home with your student soon! Please present the flyer or show it on your smartphone and 20% of the pro-ceeds will benefit Benjamin! Don’t forget to try the chocolate cake!

January 17th, join us at Buffalo Wild Wings for our first Dine to Donate of 2018! More details to come…

Vocal Music Concerts 2017-18

As winter approaches I encourage

all families to get the flu shot if

they have not already had the op-

portunity. With the cold weather

and holidays approaching, we want

to keep our children as healthy as

possible. Please remember to wash

hands often and wipe down hard

surfaces and toys often at home.

Please remember that students who

have had a fever of 100 degrees or

above, vomiting, diarrhea or a con-

tagious rash/illness should not at-

tend school. They should be free of

illness or condition for 24 hours before

returning to school. Children with fever

must be free of fever without use of

medication for 24 hours before returning

to school.

For further information on influenza type and seasonal illness please go to http://www.cdc.gov/flu/ Thank you for helping us keep children

healthy at school! Have a Happy and Safe

Holiday!

Karen Reichard, BSN, RN

School Nurse for Benjamin

5:00 pm 4th Grade

6:00 pm 1st Grade

7:00 pm Chorus

Congratulations to our kindergar-

ten, 3rd grade and 5th grade stu-

dents on a job well done with all

their concerts! Thank you to all

of our families for their support

of their children and the music

program at Benjamin!

Tuesday, December 5

5:30 pm - 2nd Grade at Normal

Community High School. Stu-

dents should arrive no earlier

than 5:10 and no later

than 5:20pm.

7:00 pm - Chorus at Normal

Community High School. Stu-

dents should arrive be-

tween 6:30 and 6:40pm.

Thursday, April 26

Mr. Biedscheid has been stu-

dent teaching in the music

room for the last nine weeks.

It has been a pleasure to have

him teaching at Benjamin, and

his last day will be December 9.

We wish him well in his future

as a music teacher!

***Please note, 5th grade band students will have a concert on 12/4 at EJHS.***

5Essentials Survey

5Essentials is a survey done by the state of Illinois.

Our families and staff have taken it for the last

several years. It is a great way for you to give

feedback about our school. The survey will now be

open from December 5th-January 18th. We will

share the link, once we receive it. Please take a

few minutes to help us by completing the survey.

Thank you in advance for your help! After

completing the survey, you can send in your

completed slip from p. 6 of this newsletter for a

chance to win a front row parking spot at the

carnival!

Page 4 Benjamin Broadcast Volume 8 I ssue 4

PTO Facebook Page & Am-

azon Smile

Did you know that the Benja-

min PTO has a Facebook

page? There is a lot of great

and helpful information availa-

ble on it. Be sure to check it

out! The PTO also has an

Amazon Smile account. When

you purchase items on Ama-

zon and mark Benjamin PTO,

a donation comes back to the

Benjamin PTO!

Holiday Spirit

Days

Student Council will be

hosting holiday spirit days

during the last week of

school before break. Be

watching for more infor-

mation after the Student

Council Meeting on De-

cember 6th. These are

always fun days!

Unit 5 will implement 12 Late Start Wednesdays this year, which will

have all students arriving one hour later than regular school start times.

Elementary schools will start at 8:45 A.M. on these days. Transporta-

tion pick up times will run one hour later on these days than on regular

days.

The purpose of Late Starts is to allow Unit 5 staff members to meet for

90 minutes of job embedded professional development and collabora-

tion, which will improve classroom instruction, enhancing the learning

opportunity for students, despite the state’s financial crisis. Research

supports ongoing, sustained, results oriented collaboration.

This common meeting time will allow teachers to: continue training in

literacy practices and assessments, develop student achievement

goals driven by data, collaborate in the development of instructional

strategies, develop common course assessments, analyze assessment

data to guide instruction, collaborate on differentiating instruction for

students, and enhance classroom technology integration through train-

ing.

Upcoming Late Starts: Dec. 13th & Jan. 24th

Benjamin Elementary School

6006 Ireland Grove Rd.

Bloomington, IL 61705

http://www.unit5.org/Domain

/9

Benjamin Calendar

Phone: 309-557-4410

Fax: 309-557-4511

Benjamin Mission Statement The Benjamin Bear community will educate and empower all students to be proactive leaders.

McLean County Unit 5 Late Starts During the 2017-2018 School Year

PTO News Please join us for our Decem-

ber PTO Meeting on Monday,

December 11th at 6:30 pm in

the IMC at Benjamin. Our

January meeting will be at 6:30

pm on Monday, January 22nd

in the IMC.

Nov. 27th-Dec. 21st MAP Window for 1st-5th

Dec. 5th 5:30 pm 2nd Grade Music Concert at NCHS

5:00-8:30 pm ~ Dine to Donate at Orange Leaf

7:00 pm Chorus Concert at NCHS

Dec. 6th 2:30-3:15 pm Student Council Meeting in IMC

4:00-5:00 pm ~ Chess

Dec. 11th 6:30 pm ~ PTO Meeting in the IMC

Dec. 13th 8:45 am Late Start/4:00-5:00 pm ~ Chess

5:00-8:00 pm ~ Portillo’s Dine to Donate ~ 20% with Flyer

Dec. 15th 3rd Grade to David Davis Mansion & McLean County History Museum

Dec. 16th 3:00-8:00 pm ~ Parent’s Night Out Hosted by Normal West Dance Team

Dec. 20th 1:30-2:30 pm Classroom Parties

Dec. 21st Last Day Before Break

Dec. 22nd-Jan. 8th BREAK

Jan. 8th No School ~ Teachers’ Institute

Jan. 9th School Resumes

Jan. 15th No School ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Jan. 17th Dine to Donate ~ Buffalo Wild Wings

Jan. 19th Business Bears Products Due

Jan. 20th 4:00-5:00 pm ~ Chess

Jan. 22nd Author Patricia Polacco Visit & Assemblies

6:30 pm ~ PTO Meeting in the IMC

Jan. 23rd Yearbook Group Photos Taken

Jan. 24th 8:45 am Late Start

Jan. 26th 7:25-7:40 am ~ Business Bears Sale ~ Cafeteria (Business Bears should arrive at

7:00 am)

Noon Supervisors Needed ~ We

are in need of noon hour supervisors!

This is a paid position. The hours are

Monday-Friday, from 10:55-12:55.

Please contact Mrs. Bennington at

(309)557-4410 or at ben-

ninmm@myunit5.org, if you are inter-

ested. Thank you!

___I have completed the 5Essentials Survey.

Child’s name________________________ Room Code____

Parent’s Signature__________________________________

Please fill out and return this slip to the Benjamin Office.

Thank you for taking time to complete thus survey to help our

staff. This will go into a drawing for a front row parking space

at the Benjamin Carnival on Friday, March 2nd.