Hello Students and Families,

Both Liberty Intermediate School and Westchester Intermediate School will be participating in the ILEARN Checkpoint pilot program this year. This is an initiative by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) designed to help students from Grades 3 to 8 in assessing their progress in key concepts and skills in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA). Over 70% of Indiana schools are piloting the new assessments this year. Our intermediate schools will be administering both the ELA and Math Checkpoints to our students. Please be aware that your child will probably encounter several skills and problems that they have not yet seen this year due to this being a pilot assessment and your child will not be penalized for their scores this year.

ILEARN Checkpoints are short assessments that will be given three times during the school year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Each checkpoint contains 20-25 questions designed to measure students' understanding of critical skills and concepts as outlined in the Indiana Academic Standards. These checkpoints provide teachers with valuable information to guide instruction in order to support each student's learning journey.

ILEARN will undergo a through-year redesign beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. By participating in the pilot program this year, we will be able to best prepare our students for the upcoming changes and also begin taking advantage of the important data that will be provided with these new assessments. We are looking forward to making this pilot year a valuable learning experience.

Together we shine brighter!

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs. Hardwicke

Principal

Dear LIS Students and Families,

This year the Liberty Intermediate School Veterans Day program will be held Monday, November 11, 2024 at 11:00 A.M. The Liberty Middle School program will take place prior to our program, beginning at 9:30 A.M. All LIS families and veterans are welcome to join us in our annual Veterans Day celebration. Our students in the performing arts will honor our veterans by singing songs and playing an assortment of patriotic tunes. The winners of our essay and poetry contest will share their writings that morning as well.

We will be creating a slideshow to honor our veterans, and students are encouraged to send in photographs for this display by October 23, 2024. If you would like to contribute to our slideshow, please fill out the Google Form: https://forms.gle/qVbjx2wrbYBAZWzg9

Also, in honor of Veterans Day, students may enter an essay and/or a poem on “Why is Veterans Day Important?” or “How Do Veterans’ Sacrifices Affect Our Lives Today?” Essay entries should be 200 words long, with correct sentence structure, paragraph form, and neat handwriting. Students are free to choose any form or style of poetry for poetry entries. Some students will be selected to read their writing during the program. We would like this to be authentic work from the students so this will be a 0 -No AI Use on our District AI policy.

Please make sure you turn in your essay or poem to your Language Arts teacher no later than Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Here is a digital version of the Essay paper.

Veterans Day Essay 2024

If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to me at jplant@duneland.k12.in.us

Mrs. Julie Plant

Mrs. Olson challenged her students to work together to create a catapult using certain materials. Her students created a design and tested them out to see whose catapult would work best.

Mrs. Mercon is one of our new sixth grade teachers this year. She teaches ELA on a team with Mrs. Berry and Mr. Young. Before coming to Liberty Intermediate School, she taught at Bailly Elementary School. She is a Indiana University graduate. We are so happy to have her as part of our team. Thank you for everything you do for ours students.

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Chocolate

Favorite Subject as a Student: Math

Favorite Hobby: Outdoor Activities - Hiking, Skiing, Biking...

An interesting fact about Mrs. Mercon is that she has lived in California, Colorado, and Florida before settling back in Indiana. I wonder which location was her favorite?

Meetings: Our next PTO meeting will be on Wednesday, October 9 after school in the media center. All parents and guardians are invited to attend.

Fundraiser: PTO will be sponsoring a Fall fundraiser with Maple City Roasters. Purchase delicious coffees and teas. All orders are due back to school with the money by Wednesday, October 23.

As part of our commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all our students, we want to inform you about an important update regarding students who are injured and wearing medical devices such as walking boots, crutches, casts, slings, or splints. Effective immediately, any student with a medical device will be required to provide a doctor’s note confirming that they are cleared to participate in both gym class and recess. If a doctor advises against participation for any specified duration, the student will need to provide a subsequent note from the doctor clearing the student to resume these activities once they are healed.

This update is designed to ensure that all students can safely engage in physical activities while also considering their health and recovery. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Health Clinic. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Last week was National Custodian Day. Our custodians have been working very hard to keep our building clean and safe, especially throughout the construction process. Thank you LIMS custodians for all of your hard work.

Sixth grade students will have the opportunity to participate in both LIS intramural sports and Liberty Middle School athletics. If your child wants to participate in middle school sports, they must have a current physical on file, dated after 4/1/24. Sixth grade students can ONLY participate in Middle School Cross Country, Westling, and Track and Field. Below is a link to the Liberty Winter Sports page. This winter, students can participate in Middle School Wrestling. Mr. Nick Bamber is the athletic director for Liberty Campus. Please reach out to Mr. Bamber with any questions.

10/9 - PTO Meeting in Media Center 4:00

10/14 - Orchestra Concert

10/18 - End of 1st Grading Period

10/18 - Purchase Kona Ice During Lunch

10/24 & 10/25 - Fall Break No School

10/29 - Report Cards Released on Skyward

10/29 - CHS Trick-or-Treat

Cell Phones, Smart Watches, Earbuds, & Earphones Usage

5th and 6th grade students are not allowed to use their personal communication devices (cell phones and smart watches) during the instructional day. Items used for communication should be stored in lockers to be kept safe throughout the day. If students need to contact a parent/guardian during the day, they are welcome to do so from the office. Classrooms also have phone access. Similarly, students are not permitted to wear personal earbuds with bluetooth capabilities attached to their phones (e.g. Air Pods, etc.). Students will need to use their school-issued iPad earphones for Exact Path lessons and select ILEARN testing sessions. The only time audio ear pieces are permitted are for teacher-assigned classwork and medically-approved needs.

iPad Use

• iPads are the property of Duneland Schools. Students should keep the devices in operable condition.
• Students should refrain from downloading apps, pics, etc. that are not permitted under school and/or corporation policy.
  
• Students are required to bring their charged iPads to class. Intermediate curriculum is designed to utilize iPads for lessons and enrichment activities.

Information regarding student bus transportation for the 2024-2025 school year is available on DSC website under the Transportation Department.

TRACK STUDENT'S BUS WITH MYSTOP APP

The Duneland School Corporation Department of Transportation has now made My Stop available to our families.

My Stop is a web-based application which will allow parents to access live bus GPS information using a smartphone, tablet, or computer and securely view the current location of your child’s bus on routes. The system also provides the bus’s estimated time of arrival at your child’s bus stop.

Please read the attached letter to parents for more information on how to use My Stop to track your child's bus.

The DSC Child Nutrition Department utilizes NutriSlice as its menus program. This app is available for iPhone and Android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.

This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each menu item at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of the actual food items being served at each of the Duneland schools.

To make an appointment please call 219-763-8112. Let NorthShore know you are a Duneland School student or staff member and that you would like to make an appointment at the Duneland School Clinic located at the old CMS.

Learn more about the Duneland Early Learning Classes at the the HUB. Click on the image below to enroll.

DuneNews

You can access the most current issue of the DuneNews by clicking here.

LIBERTY INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

School Website: https://www.duneland.k12.in.us/Domain/13

Address: 50 W. 900 N. Chesterton, IN 46304

Phone: 219-983-3690

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