Souper Bowl of Caring

This year, JCB will be participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring which allows youth across the nation to work to fight hunger and poverty in their own communities around the time of the Super Bowl football game.

In the week before Bowl Sunday, we will take up a collection asking for one dollar or one item of food for people in need. JCB will donate all food items and money to FISH of McHenry Food Pantry.

Please consider sending either $1 or a food item (or more if you wish and are able) to school from Feb 1-Feb 5. Students will turn it in to their homeroom teacher. We will report our donation through the blog after the following week. We thank you for your support and participation.

Hungry, Hungry Kiddos

A Message from the Food Service Team at JCB:

As you all know, good nutrition is key to your child’s academic success, and the FoodService Team works very hard devising nutritious and appealing menus each day.

We have noticed a good number of students purchasing a meal only to discard most of it.  Not only does this waste your money, but it also has a domino effect.  The students are hungry during the day, and many students are sent to the nurse with complaints of headaches and stomach aches. 

While the Nurse has a limited supply of snacks on hand, those are generally intended for our students with health concerns. We cannot provide food for students who do not bring a lunch or snacks and choose not to eat the school lunch.

Over the years, we have found it helpful if parents review the menu with their children so see what days they would like to purchase a meal and what days they would prefer a lunch from home.  Menus can be found both online under the School Information tab or in the vestibule of James C Bush School.  Several teachers also print them out and send them home in student backpacks.

If  you need assistance or have any questions regarding the menus, please feel free to email Anna Wolk, our FoodService Coordinator at: awolk@johnsburg12.org.  She will reply typically within 24 hours.

5th Graders go to Challenger Center

This week, our fifth grade students have been taking field trips, two homerooms at a time, to the Challenger Learning Center for Space and Technology in Woodstock. The field trip provides students with innovative science and simulated space missions. Each mission provides students with the opportunity to develop and implement team building, communication, and problem solving skills.

Our students completed the mission called Rendezvous with a Comet. In this mission, our students become scientists and engineers conducting a daring mission to take an up-close look at a comet as it streaks its way across the galaxy. Their goal is to plot a successful course to rendezvous with the comet, launch a probe while plotting the correct intercept course and completing station activities. What seems at first to be a routine exploration is filled with challenges and emergencies. Each obstacle that stands in the way of a successful mission requires students to work together as a team and use problem solving skills to develop a solution.

While the students were completing their missions, a reporter from the Daily Herald spoke with staff and students and took pictures in honor of and in commemoration of the Challenger Space Shuttle Mission. The article and pictures will appear in the paper on Thursday, January 28. Click on the link to check out the article that includes pictures and videos!

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160128/news/160128910/


The Challenger Center offers summer camps and family fun nights throughout the year. If you are interested in learning more about those opportunities, please click on the links below:

Family Science Nights

Club Challenger

Summer Space Adventures

TREX Recycling Challenge

James C. Bush Elementary School is again participating in the TREX Recycling Challenge. TREX utilizes millions of plastic grocery bags each year to create its composite lumber product, keeping this material out of landfills locally and across the country. By building partnerships with schools, students can learn the importance of recycling, keep plastic out of the landfills and be rewarded for their efforts.

We are happy to accept the following plastic in our efforts:

• plastic grocery bags
• stretch film (no household saran wrap)
• plastic department store bags
• water bottle case wrap
• newspaper sleeves
• toilet paper/paper towel over wrap
• dry cleaning bags
• bread/cereal/produce bags
• Ziploc and other re-sealable bags
• ice bags
• salt bags
• bubble wrap

All plastic must be clean, dry and free of food residue!

By reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic film, you and your child can help reduce litter, prevent pollution and save natural resources. Please help by recylcing your plastic bags at James C. Bush Elementary School--February 1, 2016 through April 22, 2016. This program is brought to you by our school, the McHenry County School Environmental Education Program (MCSEEP), the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, and the McHenry County Department of Health and Environmental Health.

JCB Spelling Bee

On Tuesday, January 19, 2016, JCB held its annual spelling bee. In order to give the students an experience close to what the regional spelling bee will be, we held our contest at school during the day. We promoted a positive academic atmosphere for all of our students.

Shortly after winter break, individual homerooms held class spelling contests and narrowed it down to 2 final spellers. These students studied for the all-school spelling bee using lists provided by Scripps National Spelling Bee. Families of spellers were invited to attend and cheer on their spellers.

I reminded our spellers, audience and family members that all of the spellers should be very proud. Everyone on that stage is an excellent speller and deserves to be there. Congratulations to the following spellers who made it to the all-school spelling bee.

Zach Owen, Dylan Schmidt, Caitlin Flebbe, Madeline Molidor, Ben Ward, Allie Dercole

Braeden Horne, Aliyah Andersen, Trevor Wirtz, Blake Bowers, Orion Western, Jake Depner

Madison Frost, Cole Haynes, Adrian Mascote, Leyla Wagner, Lana Bowers, Delaney Stern

Alex Tijerina, Alicia Hurley, Cali Courtemanche, Kaylee Hensley, Peyton Koczersut, Josh Brown

Cooper Boeckh, Lilia Rothschild, Everett Sanderson, Vivian Davis, Micayla Wacaser, 

Jeramy Morgan, Hannah Brown, Bella Nitz, Jessica McCue and Will Dalebroux.

It was quite an exciting event. The students demonstrated outstanding spelling skills as well as amazing poise and sportsmanship. The students in the audience appeared to be as excited as they would be watching a thrilling football game! They were so happy when their classmates spelled correctly and were respectful and encouraging when a classmate did not spell correctly. I was very proud of all of our students.

Congratulations to our winner, 5th grader Braeden Horne from Mrs. Diedrich's class and our first runner-up, 4th grader Will Dalebroux. Both of these students will represent JCB at the Regional Spelling Bee at Nippersink Middle School to be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. We wish them the best of luck.

Students Accept Reading Challenge

Before students left school for the winter break, they were presented with a challenge--to read at least 500 minutes over break. That is quite a few minutes, but we knew we would have students rise to the challenge. Students completed a reading log and documented their minutes throughout the break. Then, students who reached 500 minutes of reading brought their logs in to school. Mrs. Moore, one of our reading specialists, was the teacher who developed and organized the challenged. She tallied the logs and we had 60 students who met the goal of reading at least 500 minutes.

On Friday, January 8, students were supposed to have been treated to an extra recess outside for fun snow games. But since it was raining (yes, raining) that day, we had a fun indoor activity instead. Students were in groups of 4 and made their own torn paper snowmen. After students finished that activity, they were treated to hot chocolate and candy canes. The students loved it. Check out our pictures below. The snowmen are so great looking. They will be decorating our halls soon.

And keep your eyes out for our spring break reading challenge!

Nurse's Corner

Recently (both before winter break and since we have returned), we have seen a number of students coming into the Nurse’s Office with two predominant complaints; headaches and stomachaches.

In the early part of the day, students who complain of stomachaches or headaches usually fall into one or two categories. When questioned about a stomachache and/or headache, they will usually say that they did not have any breakfast, had only a very small breakfast, and/or that they had very little for dinner the previous evening. Additionally, they may state that they have had no fluids during the day. In the latter part of the day, when complaining of headaches, when questioned, they may say that they have eaten lunch, but again state that they have had little or no water during the day.

Though mornings can be a hectic time of day, it is important that students eat a breakfast which should include juice, milk, or water in order for them to be able to concentrate on school work and to ensure that they remain hydrated. During the school day, the students are permitted to keep a water bottle with them so that they can remain well hydrated.

Often, parents think about the need to be well hydrated when the weather is warmer and children are sweating. What may not be as obvious in the colder weather, is that children may be just as likely to become dehydrated due to the fact that with the use of a furnace to heat the school and the home, the air becomes significantly drier.

Here in the Nurse’s Office, in most cases, we are able to resolve stomachaches resulting from not eating breakfast by using crackers and some water. In the majority of students complaining of headaches without fever, the headache can be relieved by encouraging a few cups of water before returning to class.

Please encourage your student to eat breakfast and drink fluids before leaving for school and to refill their water bottle frequently during the day. Please let the Nurse’s Office know if you have any questions. And thank you for your support as the school works with the home to make sure that our students are getting what they need in order to be the best students they can be.