Laidlaw Elementary

New WSFEE And D101 Partnership

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

First Grade Soft Start Program

The First Grade Soft Start Program is officially being rolled out throughout all D101 1st grade classes this school year!

Buddy Benches

These Buddy Benches will give our grade school students a place to go if they just need a minute to regroup or if they just need a friend.

Learning to Get Along Social Emotional Learning Books

WSFEE is enhancing the Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum for kindergartners by funding the Learning to Get Along Book Series Grant. The series includes 15 books which provide children the ability to learn, understand, and practice basic social and emotional skills. Each book ends with a section for discussion questions, games, and activities that teachers can use to reinforce what the children have learned. In the classroom kindergartners listen to the stories and then pair up and talk with a buddy about a concept they learned from the book series.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Forest Hills Running Club

Last spring 35 Forest Hills students, spanning 3^rd, 4^th, & 5^th grade, met for 8 weeks to participate in the Forest Hills Running Club. By the end of the second month a majority of the participants were running 2 miles and many completed the running club season by competing in the Tower Trot race over Memorial Day weekend. WSFEE was excited to sponsor a club that offered students with diverse athletic abilities the opportunity to learn running targets and goal setting ownership.

Polar A370 Wristband Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Tracker

We partnered with the McClure Parent Council and funded the purchase of 65 Polar A370 Fitness Tracker wristbands, which allowed the McClure Physical Education department to replace the existing chest strap heart rate monitors. With the new wristbands 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders can monitor their heart rate during activities, track their fitness progress, and see their fitness improvement over their three years at McClure.

FINE ARTS

Spring Instrumental Music Assembly

In May of 2017 the Elmhurst Symphony Brass Quintet performed at each elementary school and showcased their brass instruments which included trumpets, French horn, trombone, and the tuba. The quintet explained each instrument individually and also performed a short melody for the kids so they could hear that instrument by itself.

Portable Keyboarding, Composing and Recording Lab

WSFEE has a long history of supporting the Fine Arts at McClure Junior High. Over the years WSFEE grants have funded world drumming, guitars, ukuleles, keyboards, and audio equipment which have transformed the music classroom into one of hands on learning that 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders love! The enhancement of music education continues with the addition of midi microphones, keyboards, and composing software. This grant allows music students to take part in an interactive music learning experience and starting in 2018, the option of taking a composition elective class.

LITERACY & LANGUAGE ARTS

Learning To Read QR Coded Books

Second graders at Field Park, Forest Hills, and Laidlaw Elementary are excited about the new books WSFEE funded for them this school year! The books, which are grouped by the month and theme-based, include a QR code which allows the students to listen to the story on their flipbook or other devices while physically flipping through the book in front of them. Each school has 18 different books per month to choose from and the books are read to the student by the author, a celebrity, or even by a teacher at their school!

Joelle Charbonneau Author Visit

A summer reading initiative in 2016 enabled over 230 7^th and 8^th graders and 45 staff members at McClure to read a book by New York Times best selling author Joelle Charbonneau as a community. The students then demonstrated what they learned through a book review of their choice (e.g. written report, book trailer, etc.) and had the opportunity to share their learnings with Ms. Charbonneau when she visited McClure in September.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Chicago History Museum and Trolley Tour

3^rd grade students of Field Park, Forest Hills, and Laidlaw spent the day downtown touring the Chicago History Museum where they learned about the World’s Fair exhibits, the Chicago Fire, and how sky scrapers are built. They experienced a trolley tour and visited the Chicago Fire Academy and saw where the infamous Mrs. O’Leary’s house used to be. This interactive and fun day in downtown Chicago brought to life the history students were learning in the classroom and helped them complete their Chicago tourism project.

TEACHER TRAINING

Discovery Digital Leader Corps (DLC)

WSFEE has partnered with District 101 and Discovery Education for a 3 year grant to offer professional development training to teachers, through the Discovery Digital Leadership Corps, which will accelerate the transformation of instructional practices in the classroom.

EdTech Teacher Innovation Summit

WSFEE supports unique teacher training experiences and afforded Tori George, Kerry Gibbons, and Nicole McLaughlin from Laidlaw Elementary the opportunity to attend the EdTech Innovation Summit to enhance their technology based teaching methods.

Art of Coaching Workshop

Laura Broadnax and Shannon McGrath, both Instructional Integration Specialists for District 101, had the opportunity last winter to strengthen their coaching skills by participating in a three day workshop as result of a teaching training WSFEE grant.

STEM

Field Park Plant Makers

WSFEE funded another grant this past spring for 60 plant markers that were installed by the students on Planting Day May 22, 2017. The students of Field Park as well as summer school students from District 101 and the community of Western Springs can now identify plants in the garden and are encouraged to experience the garden by touching and smelling certain plants.

S.T.E.A.M. Night

Because of WSFEE funding, last spring students from Field Park, Forest Hills, Laidlaw, and McClure had the opportunity to experience 14 different stations including “make and take” exhibits like Treasure Glass Putty and Jungle in a Jar. Other exhibits like Small Things Microscopes and the Inflatable Sky Viewer offered students a new and exciting way to learn about science. The overall goal of the event was for students to come away with a better understanding of the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts and math in a fun and engaging environment.