Mechanics Grove School

An Activity from our Project Challenge Teacher

Try these fun challenges from Mrs. Sheedy

High School Musical (CSMS Musical Show)

We are thrilled to present you our 8th District 75 musical, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL! We have 4 shows held in the Mundelein High School auditorium:

Friday, Feb 28 at 7pm

Saturday, March 1 at 2pm

Saturday, March 1 at 7pm

Sunday, March 2 at 2pm

Please purchase tickets from this website.

Girls on the Run

4th and 5th grade girls - are you ready to show the world how friendly, smart, talented and sporty you are? Join our amazing coaches for a new season of Girls on the Run! Girls on the Run® is an after school program in which we will meet as a team to become stronger emotionally, mentally and physically! At each practice, we will have important discussions and do fun activities about girl power, empowerment, problem solving skills and leadership qualities. We will also do some physical activity, like running, power walking, stretching, playing games and working out in order to train for our ultimate goal...which is to run a 5K in Chicago in May! If you’re interested, please see the attached flyer below to register and start your own Girls on the Run journey! Contact Mrs. Frank (kfrank@d75.org) with any further questions.

A Note from our Specials Teachers

Art: In art class students have been focusing on completing some exciting works of art! The fifth grade students completed their animal silhouettes with innovative salt and watercolor techniques. They are now beginning the much anticipated legacy ceiling tile project. Students will use the grid technique and chalk pastels to recreate a famous work of art on a ceiling tile. In fourth grade, students have completed their watercolor painted background and finished up their second print. Soon we will put it all together for a mixed-media cityscape.This week was “friendship week”. We paused our printmaking project to make a Jim Dine inspired oil pastel heart. Third graders learned about pinch, coil and slab techniques during our clay handbuilding unit. Students created an original 3-dimensional clay project focusing on creativity and craftsmanship. They are in the process of air drying. In the meantime, during this friendship week, we are creating a Chris Uphues inspired heart character and learning how a marker drawing can easily turn into a painting with a little water. It has been a joy to see such creativity and talent in the art room!

Music: We have had a great start to 2025 in the music room! We started off the new year by exploring World Music Drumming using tubano drums. Students learned the correct technique for playing a tubano, improvised drumming patterns, and played a variety of drumming games. 5th Grade continued the unit by learning the song, “Take Time In Life” and creating a class composition that included everything from dance and singing solos to agogo bell improvisations! After our drumming unit concluded, 5th grade began their unit on The Blues. Students learned about the history of The Blues, and are currently writing their own Blues song lyrics. 3rd and 4th grade students are currently working on material for their upcoming music concerts. 4th grade will be presenting their concert, “In All Kinds of Weather” on March 19th, 2025. Information for this performance was sent home via email and paper fliers in January! 3rd Grade will be presenting their concert, “The Day the Crayons Quit” on April 16th, 2025. Information for this performance will be sent home this week! Please let Mrs. Oropeza know if you have any questions!

PE: Our Gymnastics Unit in PE proved to be extremely beneficial as it guided students in learning about their flexibility, body control, and core strength. Students received hands-on experience with equipment utilized in the Olympics, including the pommel horse, balance beam, vault, and parallel bars. Participation in gymnastics provided students with an additional opportunity to enhance their physical fitness and engage in a unique form of exercise. We are also continuing to lead the PACK in PE with our ACTION Martial Arts partnership. The upcoming lessons will focus on aspects such as confidence/self-esteem, ambition, respect/anti-bullying, and leadership. This coincides with our daily 7 Habits of synergizing, sharpening the saw, and thinking win-win. Lastly, students have been introduced to adventure education with our new climbing wall here at MG, where students have learned to traverse climb! We have been so thrilled to be able to offer all of these great sports and activities throughout the year and we look forward to building our curriculum to make PE the best experience for all of our students!

DD:

Since winter break, third and fourth grades read the book Mae Among the Stars, a story about astronaut Mae Jemison. She was the first African-American woman in space. In the book, her parents tell her that if she “can dream it, believe it and work hard for it, anything is possible,” so the third graders each made a star decorated with one of their dreams. Fourth grade worked on identifying facts and opinions about Mae Jemison. Fifth grade read the book Code Breaker, Spy Hunter about Elizebeth Friedman, a cryptologist who helped decode messages during WWII. Then they solved some secret messages using a secret code.

All grades are now learning about some book awards, starting with the Caldecott Award, which is give to a picture book every year based on the illustrations in the book. In small groups they read a picture book and discussed what they did and did not like about the illustrations and selected their favorite illustration from the book.

A Note from the PTO

Box Tops Update:

We have currently raised $472.10 for the 2024-2025 School year. January is filled with bonus offers to earn extra Box Tops for our schools. The top 50 schools that complete the January Monthly Challenge will earn an additional 2500 Bonus Box Tops ($250). As a reminder families simply need to download the app and either search for District 75 PTO Mundelein or enter code PNKN0SEQ.

Important Dates

2/17- NO SCHOOL

3/4- PTO Meeting (7:00pm at CSMS)

3/5- 5th and 8th Grade Band Concert (7:00pm at CSMS)

3/7- Report Cards come home

3/14- Early Release (students dismissed at 11:05am)

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2. Twitter handle @mg75wolves

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