International Baccalaureate – Statement of Inquiry
The IB Middle Years Program emphasizes the power of “the big picture.” This means that teachers work to collaboratively develop a single, central statement for each unit that captures and reflects what’s so important about what students are learning. This is called the statement of inquiry. This statement represents the greater learning our students achieve through our content, leaving a permanent mark of knowing and understanding that will continue to develop throughout their lives. Please click on the grade level statements of inquiry below to get a sense of what our students are learning about during the 2nd trimester.
6th Grade Statements of Inquiry
7th Grade Statements of Inquiry
8th Grade Statements of Inquiry
Julian Middle School - Communication Flowchart
Please refer to this flowchart when needing to contact someone at school for classroom related questions or issues. There may be times when it is necessary to reach out to a social worker, administrator, attendance clerk, or other personnel. Please start with your child’s teacher if you have a question about academics or any other matter that occurred within the classroom.
Pay It Forward - Service Learning Project
What is Pay It Forward?
Pay It Forward is a program where Julian students, staff, and families purchase and collect items for Oak Park families that are in need of some support for the holidays. Our goal is to give back to our community and by providing families with a joyous holiday season.
How Does this Work?
Our school will be sponsoring 45 families from around the Oak Park area. Students and teachers will spend time during their advisory classes over the course of the next few weeks organizing their efforts to support the family they are sponsoring.
How Can Students and Families Get Involved?
Bring in good-condition winter coats, hats, gloves, scarfs, or boots for kids. These items will be donated to a local organization to help kids in need.
- Jobs for Students in each Advisory:
- Reminders – remind your peers of important dates
- Cheerleaders – get your class excited about giving to others, help set a positive tone with your peers
- Gift Wrappers – bring in gift wrap and tape, help organize the gift wrapping in your class
- Gift Providers – bring in a gift for the family
Important Dates for Advisory Classes:
Thursday, November 15- Students were introduced to our Pay It Forward service learning project.
Monday, November 19 - Have kids sign up to bring a Pay It Forward gift, gently used winter coat, or sign up for a “job” in the classroom
Monday, Nov. 26 - Remind students to bring their items on Thursday
Thursday, Nov. 29 – Bring in Items (Gifts, wrapping paper, good condition winter coats, hats, gloves, etc) Monday, December 3 - Wrap items and put in plastic bags. The Service Club will deliver the gifts to a local church on this day.
Attendance Matters
One of the goals we have as a district is for 90% or more of our students to have 95% attendance or better for the entire school year. Included in this document is information regarding taking time off from school around the holidays. Thanks for emphasizing to your child the importance of attending school.
Illinois 5Essentials Survey
We are administering the Illinois 5Essentials Survey again this year to certified staff and parents/guardians from all 10 of our schools, as well as students in grades four through eight. Please click here to learn how parents/guardians can participate in this important endeavor and click here to access the parent/guardian version of the survey. Please note that school-level reports will only be generated if at least 20 percent of our parents/guardians complete the survey, which can be accessed until Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.
We need your feedback.
Vision97 4ALL Dashboard
A link to the Vision97 4ALL has been provided. Please take a look at this information to see what we are doing as a district to work toward meeting the needs of all our students. (http://www.op97.org/about/vision-updates).
Substitute Teachers and Teaching Assistants
The Oak Leaves published an article in the past few weeks about the steps we are taking to increase and further strengthen our pool of candidates for our substitute teaching and teaching assistant positions. You can access the article by visiting http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/news/ct-oak-park-97-substitute-teachers-tl-1018-story.html.
If you or someone you know is interested in serving as a substitute teacher or substitute teaching assistant for the district, please visit http://www.op97.org/hr/substitutes for additional information about the process and requirements.
Upcoming Events:
No School / Thanksgiving Break - November 21-23
Sincerely,
Dr. Todd Fitzgerald