Thank You Veterans 

Over 150 Tremont Grade School students created thank you pictures, messages, letters and posters to honor local Veterans and active military personnel.

Since Tremont District 702 decided to have students remain in school for Veteran's Day 2009, we wanted to take an opportunity to teach TGS students the meaning, significance, and relevence of this annual holiday, usually spent at home as a "day off" from school.   After watching and discussing a short video about Veterans and military service, second, third and fourth grade students were asked to create Thank You messages to soldiers and veterans. 

Students learned about the sacrifices made by local Tremont residents when they accepted the call to military duty. We read from a list of recent THS Grads who have recently been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. This activity was especially meaningful because TGS students personally know neighbors, family and friends who have served. Nearly all of those now in the military or recently discharged had attended Tremont Grade School. You can read the students' messages at http://tremont.il.schoolwebpages.com/Veterans .   

Veteran Wall of Honor

Stop into the grade school lobby and you can view our "Wall of Honor", where students and staff have created posters honoring those in the military past and present.

We are so proud of our Tremont citizens who have made the sacrifice to join the military and help keep our country and community safe and free.

Red Ribbon Week!

TGS Fourth Graders Say "NO" to Drugs with these amazing posters.  The entire school is involved in "Red Ribbon Week". 

Red Ribbon Week is Monday, October 19th through Friday, October 23rd .  This week helps us and our students celebrate making positive choices and being drug free.  To celebrate this, we will have days of dressing up (as picked by the 4^th graders) to show our spirit and the fourth grade classrooms will be presenting skits, poems, posters, and more!  The students will hear about Red Ribbon Week before school everyday that week in the gym and through the Character Education activities already scheduled.

  The dress-up days are as follows:

-Monday the 19^th - "Wear Red Day" - wear red

-Tuesday the 20^th - "It's Groovy to be Drug Free" - wear tie-dyes, jeans, peace signs, or other 60's attire

-Wednesday the 21^st - "Follow your Dreams - Don't Do Drugs" - wear pajamas/sweatpants

-Thursday the 22^nd - "Mission Accomplished - Drug Free for Life" - wear camouflage or military colors

-Friday the 23^rd - "Stay in the Game, be Drug Free" - wear a sports team's colors or shirt

  Please help your child show his/her pride this week and plan for these days accordingly.  We are hoping for a fun and successful Red Ribbon Week!

Thank you,

Kevin Dill   Katie Willey

Principal   Social Worker

 Click Here to see more student posters

Second Graders Learn the "Rule of Thumb" to Help Select Appropriate Reading Books

A quick way for a student to determine how readable a book might be is the use the "Rule of Thumb".  Here's  how it works:

A student begins reading a book (or chapter in a book) and when he comes to a word he does not know, he holds up his pinky finger.  For each difficult word, he holds up another finger.  Easy books might be 0-1 fingers.   A book that's just right might be 2-3 fingers. A challenge book might be 4 fingers but if the student gets all the way to his thumb, the book is "too hard" right now.  He may try the book again later in the year.

TGS second graders have been learning the Rule of Thumb to help them select one challenge book for their reading.  Students rotate the books in their bags as they improve. This is another strategy to help students improve their reading, and makes it fun to choose new books.

Photographer Larry Kanfer

and the Tremont Grade School Connection!

Maybe you have seen the newspaper articles about several events featuring  the acclaimed Illinois photographer, Larry Kanfer…

Larry is probably best known for his "Prairiescapes" photos of the Midwest, and his art work "is showcased in collections nationwide, including residential, corporate, healthcare and hospitality." (From the Larry Kanfer website http://www.kanfer.com/ )

So how is this amazing man connected to Tremont Grade School?

Several years ago, the second year group of fifth graders to call themselves "TGS 5^th Grade Barn Buddies" heard from their sponsor, Mrs. Fuoss, that Larry Kanfer was planning to work on a book involving Illinois barns and their stories.  Since the Barn Buddies did the same thing, documenting area barns in photos and stories for their barn calendars, their interest was piqued.  One of the students suggested that we contact Mr. Kanfer and offer to help if we could, since we were familiar with barns in our area.  Some of the students took the initiative to write letters.  Mr. Kanfer responded and met with the students the next fall, and talked to them about barns and many of his experiences.

Because Mr. Kanfer was interested in the idea of a group of young people who cared about preserving rural history, he decided to feature them in his new book.  He came to the school and photographed some of the Barn Buddy members.  In addition, he interviewed one of the Tremont men that had been interviewed for the first Barn Buddy calendar.

Mr. Kanfer will be in our area several times in the next month or so.  If you have an opportunity to meet him and see his work, you will not be sorry!

• "An Evening on the Prairie with Larry Kanfer", Sept.22, 4:30 -7:00 pm, hosted in the Courtyard on the Illinois Central College, East Peoria Camput.  Enjoy Kanfer's work, food and music while having an opportunity to meet the artist.  Tickets are $20.00
• Barns of Illinois: Photographs by Larry Kanfer  October 16 - Nov. 14.  Peoria Art Guild, Gallery II.  Evocotive collection of original photographs from "Barns of Illinois".  Opening Reception, 5:30 - 7:30.  Presentation by Larry and Alaina Kanfer Sat., Oct. 17, 10 am.
• Bloomington Book Signing, Sat., Oct. 17, 4pm, Barnes & Noble, Bloomington
• Bloomington Art Show and Sale, Dec. 5, Doubletree Hotel.  Larry Kanfer returns to Bloomington with original artwork, including new images from Barns of Illinois book.

A Fairy Godmother?

By Lori Fuoss, Tremont Grade School Connections Program Director

The TGS Library has a fairy godmother and its name is The Library Store!  The Library Store is a national company located in Tremont, right across from the grade school playground.  They heard that we were conducting used book sales, writing grants, and so on to raise money for a modest facelift for our library.  It was with great surprise that the teachers (and Mrs. Fuoss, especially!) heard Steve Gunther, Co-owner of The Library Store, announce that they had decided to give TGS a "Dream come true, sky's the limit, state of the art library!! "

Over the summer, I met with Merchandising Manager  Ann Kirgan to select the furniture.  ("Pick anything you want...don't look at prices!")  (How often do you get to hear that sentence in your life??)  Together, we outfitted a completely new library. And it seems like everywhere I went in town, people stopped me to ask how everything was coming with the library!

This generous gesture also allowed for the library's former furnishings, bookshelves and tables, to be used in several other classrooms, thereby benefitting the entire school in another way. 

Grant money has been used to purchase new computers, screens, and scanners to implement our automated library system. 

Our students, staff, and parents had helped raise the money for carpeting and paint.  My son, Joel, put his architectural experience to work, selecting the carpet and wall colors for the room.

Just this week, the finished library opened for Connections Classes.  The students were amazed at the transformation!  They have expressed awe and gratitude to the people who made all of this happen.  And we will be able to help The Library Store in turn, because we can serve as a showroom for their prospective customers. 

I know each day as I walk in to the library and flick on the lights, I am touched all over again by the whole experience.  We are so lucky to live in a community where our schools are appreciated.  Thank you, Library Store!

Photos During Renovation

Photos After Renovation

Tremont Grade School Teachers Honored at Microsoft's Innovative Teachers Forum

Mrs. Tracey Harrell and Mrs. Susan Bishop from Tremont Grade School were chosen by Microsoft Corporation to participate in the annual U.S. Innovative Teacher's Forum, held August 13-14, 2009 at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, CA. The U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum recognizes and rewards learning teams practicing the elements of 21st century learning in their own professional learning and then incorporating these skills into the student learning environments.  Mrs. Harrell, TGS TYROS Program Enrichment Director and Mrs. Bishop, TGS Technology Facilitator presented their project, "A Global Garden", which is a Third Grade plant science unit.  Tremont Grade School built this collaborative project with several other schools globally, from Australia, the U.S. and Kenya, Africa. The project included a website, video and email correspondence by students from each school.  Designed as a Service Learning opportunity, students planned and planted a landscape addition to the front of the school building.

The Innovative Teacher's Forum was introduced by Microsoft in 2005 and is now an annual event worldwide. National forums are held around the world to help create communities of teachers that can share ideas and best practices with their peers and facilitate the creation of collective knowledge.  Just fifteen schools were invited to this year's U.S. Forum, from all over the nation.  One school was selected to represent the U.S. at the Microsoft 2009 Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum to be held in Brazil this November.

The Innovative Teachers Forums:

--Bring together a community of teachers as learners.
--Promote teacher confidence in integrating technology throughout the learning process.
--Foster dialog on best practices, innovation and pedagogy.
--Engage teachers intellectually and offer opportunities for them to be active stakeholders in their profession.
--Promote the sharing of exceptional innovative practices of technology integration.

Working closely with worldwide education communities, Microsoft Corp. has developed technology, tools, programs and solutions to help address educational challenges while improving teaching and learning opportunities.

Tremont Grade School's 21st Century Classroom!

Watch the Video.

TGS Second Graders Experience Science and Social Studies Symposium

On Wednesday, June 3, TGS second graders welcomed their families and friends to a "Symposium" about Science and Social Studies.  A Symposium is an educational conference where scholars share, discuss and debate their research findings.

Students chose a topic of interest that they had studied this year during Second Grade and did research to expand their knowledge.  Topics included Insects, Dinosaurs, Bats, Rainforests, Cultures, Natural Resources, Historical Figures and Communities. Then students created displays about their topics.  The displays consisted of pictures, creative writings, or other creative media or constructs.  Each display also included a well-written report, showing evidence of editing and collaboration

The event was well attended by parents and friends and created a lot of excitement around the school.

This activity reinforced second graders' love of informational text. They have been learning about text-features that are helpful in their pursuit of knowledge.  These are skills that will be used as they progress through third grade and beyond.  Students loved this experience!  Isn't it wonderful that research can be fun!!

TGS "Love our Library"

Written by Lori Fuoss

May 14, 2009

Our grade school library now has empty shelves and no books to be seen. But this is a good thing, because it means we are on our way to a "new" library!  Parent volunteers have been busy this week, packing all of the books away (in their specific order).  As soon as school is out, the remodeling work will begin - bookshelves will be given a fresh coat of paint, the walls will be painted, the old carpeting will be replaced by new, and a circulation desk will be installed.  All of this is because we will be incorporating our new automated library system.  There will be automated check-out as well as a computer dedicated to reference. 

The whole transformation has been made possible through a number of sources.  Our Love Our Library" used book sale resulted in $1400 dollars, a Tremont Education Foundation grant will provide the reference computer and cart, and a grant from the Tremont Parents' Club will allow us to purchase the computer, screens and wands for the check out process. Another grant from Wal-Mart will be used towards paint and a countertop for the circulation desk.  The circulation desk is being donated by Stanford Training Center, which is housed in the former Stanford Grade School.

The library is used by all of the students and teachers at the grade school, and is also used as a classroom for K-4 Learning Center Classes, as well as a 4^th grade Boost Program class. We are all looking forward to a new, updated learning environment!

"

TGS Fourth Graders Learn the Business of Farming 

Written by Martha Oertle

May 5, 2009

Fourth grade recently visited the Randy Schmidgall, Marvin Wagenbach, and Dave Kaeb farms.  They learned about farm machinery used for various jobs, such as planting and harvesting crops, and grinding livestock feed.  Farmers shared with the classes many interesting facts about the care of livestock.  Fourth graders had close-up views of hogs, cattle, sheep, rabbits, and chickens.  They were even served a treat of homemade cookies containing apples raised in a family's orchard.  Playing in a truckload of corn was a favorite activity.  This experience made the unit of study about the agricultural mid-west come alive!

Mr. Herrin, TGS Physical Education Teacher, Uses Technology to Help Students Develop Healthy Habits!

Written by Susan Bishop

April 14, 2009

While many blame technology for keeping students from getting the exercise they need to learn and grow, Curt Herrin embraces it as a learning tool.  " How the Body Works " at Kidshealth.org is an interactive website which helps students learn how proper diet and exercise keep us healthy. One can explore various body systems and organs, watch video and animations, play games and activities, or take a quiz all online in the classroom as well as at home (with Internet access).  After exploring these online resources, students go back in the gym to practice and apply the healthy concepts they studied via computer.  Creative use of technology in the classroom can enhance any course of study, even one that revolves around healthy physical activity.

President and Mrs. Lincoln Visit Tremont Grade School!

Written by Susan Bishop

April 6, 2009

Our 200 year old 16th President, Abe Lincoln, and his wife Mary, spoke to TGS students Monday, telling them about his incredible life.  He spoke with Kindergarteners, First and Second Graders about growing up in a log cabin, how he got his beard, why he wears such a tall hat, and what makes Mrs. Lincoln's dress stand out like that!  Third and Fourth Graders heard Mr. Lincoln discuss the importance of getting a good education, having respect for the law, and never giving up on oneself.  The Lincolns were portrayed by Max and Donna Daniels from Wheaton, Illinois.

Fourth Grade BOOST Students Work on Oral History Project

Written by Lori Fuoss
March 17, 2009

  WWII veteran Cleo Koch visited Mrs. Harrell's and Mrs. Fuoss' 4^th grade Boost classes recently to share some of his experiences.  Mr. Koch, who is 90, was still able to wear his uniform jacket!  His experiences as a medic in Europe coupled with his amazing memory and storytelling abilities resulted in a fascinating learning experience for the students.  Mr. Koch also talked briefly about living during the Great Depression. 

Students in Boost have been interviewing people who have lived through some of the most memorable times in our country's history and will soon be writing news articles as a part of our Boost program's oral history project.

Supplemental Reading Program Improves Students' Reading Ability

Written by Donna Sheehan
March 10, 2009

The Rule of Thumb Program in second grade continues to provide students with books to read at their easy, just right, and challenge level.  Each student has six books in their "Rule of Thumb" bag for a wonderful supply of reading material to read at home and during R & R Time in the classroom.  Student choice and the right level of text is a winning combination to improve reading skills.  Mrs. Harrell and Mrs. Sheehan teach strategy lessons in the second grade classes using "Rule of Thumb" books.  With this supplemental program classroom instruction can be differentiated to meet the needs of all learners.  A strategy lesson is taught to the whole class while each child has a book at his/her own reading level with which to practice the new strategy.  For more information about the Rule of Thumb Program at TGS please contact Mrs. Harrell, Enrichment Program, or Mrs. Sheehan, Reading Improvement Program.

Visit the Tremont Grade School Website

September  PBIS Celebration 

The lucky students pictured above all won prizes during the drawing held at the September PBIS Celebration assembly this month. But it wasn't just luck that earned them the chance to win. 

PBIS stands for Positive Based Interventions and Support.  This program encourages students to display behavior that is respectful, responsibile and builds good relationships.

When a teacher witnesses these positive behaviors, the student is awarded a "Turk Ticket". Tickets are saved all month, placed in a large container, and several tickets are drawn during our PBIS Celebration.  Prizes include games, Turk gear, sports equipment and other cool stuff that students love.

The assemblies also include games, singing, and entertainment.  Mr. Dill, Mr. Herrin and the student body performed a RAP about reading.  One of Mrs. Thomas's classes sang several musical selections.

Representatives from The Library Store received a huge Thank You card prepared by Mrs. Fuoss and her students, expressing our appreciation for the beautiful new library that was donated to the school.