November Newsletter

Kind Campaign is an internationally recognized non-profit organization that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl bullying through their global movement, documentary film, in-school assemblies and educational curriculum.

Fifth grade teacher, Megan Bigane, worked with the founders of the Kind Campaign, Lauren Paul and Molly Thompson, to bring their presentation to the middle school girls at Dawes.

Students had the opportunity to learn about how the founders' own school experiences inspired their work to end bullying. They shared the documentary of the their journey sharing this message across the country.

During their visit, Ms. Paul and Ms. Thompson took students through apologizing for their past unkindness, pledging to be kind going forward and committing to spread kindness to others. Students had the opportunity to share their ideas for ways to spread kindness.

Students joined Ms. Mangan on a trip to the The Art Institute. Students were able to visit several exhibits and had the chance to work with instructors at the Art Institute while there.

While downtown, student are also able to make a quick stop to see the Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park (see banner photo at the top of the newsletter.) Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor that has come to be widely known as "The Bean" because of its shape.

Students in second grade worked with their teachers and the fine and performing arts team to put on a fantastic show for their families. Students in each classroom learned a song and dance to perform for their families. The songs chosen were representative of Mexico and Central American countries. To close the show, the entire second grade came together for a final number, carrying flags of the represented countries.

Mrs. Martin and her students showed their love of Selena during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Dawes has had a long-standing relationship with Donors Choose. Over the last decade, with the help of Donors Choose, Dawes teachers have funded $1.3 millions dollars in projects. Many of those projects are created and shared by our science teacher, Ms. Amani Ghusein.

Students dressed as a Loteria card for the day! Students could choose the card they wanted to represent.

We had a full house for family art night last month! Families came to school to color kites together. Students and families were spotted outside the school flying their kites in the breeze!

The Fine and Performing Arts Team organized the event with help from staff and administration. Look for upcoming events on future newsletters.

October was National Principals Month. National Principals Month is a widely recognized celebration of the principalship. The most cherished National Principals Month celebrations are the ones that take place in schools and communities across the country.

Students in various grades created posters, cards and pictures to share with Ms. Frangella how much they appreciate everything she does for us at Dawes.

In partnership with UIC, teachers are engaging in professional development on the importance of math fluency. Math fact fluency is the ability to quickly recall addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division math facts through conceptual learning, fact strategies, and memorization.

Math fluency allows students to quickly and accurately make computations. When students develop fact fluency, they are able to retrieve math facts with little effort, which allows them to devote more time and brain power to advanced problem-solving and learning new skills.

Conscious Discipline offers every adult the inspiration, knowledge and skills to self-regulate and create healthy relationships for generations. Teachers at Dawes are learning to incorporate skills of Conscious Discipline into their classroom routines.

One of the practices of conscious Discipline is developing and using rituals. Rituals are an expression of unity that helps hold the classroom together through both the positive and difficult times.

All cultures have rituals that offer a sense of connectedness through time, which brings cohesiveness to the year. Rituals also allow children to practive the social skills needed for life. They occur day after day in the same location at the same time and for the same reason. Patterning them in this way establishes social trust. Without trust, children will not relax their defenses enough to be guided and learn. Rituals help answer that question: "am I loved?"

Parents and visitors:

When visiting the school, please note that you will have to stop and sign in at the security desk. You will also need to provide the office with a photo ID card.

The safety of your children is our number one concern. Please do not walk through the staff parking lot we do not want any child to become injured as vehicles are moving.

Students are allowed to bring limited sports equipment (footballs, soccer balls, volleyballs) to use during recess. However, to ensure safety of students and vehicles, using that equipment on-campus during arrival and dismissal is not allowed.