Iles School News 1700 South Fifteenth Street, Springfield, IL 62703 217-525-3226 Mrs. Susan Rhodes, Principal http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/iles/

Top 10 Elementary Schools in IllinoisRanked by the Chicago Sun Times

2008 Rank

2007 Rank

2008 Percen-

tile

2008 Low In-

come %

School District City

1 1 94.81 14.3 *Decatur Classical City of Chicago 299

Chicago

2 4 94.08 21.1 *Keller Gifted City of Chicago 299

Chicago

3 2 93.88 23.9 *Lenart Gifted City of Chicago 299

Chicago

4 5 92.20 4.7 *Edison Gifted City of Chicago 299

Chicago

5 6 88.94 30.0 *King Gifted School

Rockford 205 Rockford

6 3 87.39 1.7 Lincoln Elem School

River Forest 90 River Forest

7 7 86.29 30.8 *Iles Elem School Springfield 186 Spring-field

8 10 85.84 3.8 Grove Avenue Elem

Barrington 220 Barring-ton

9 68 85.08 0 Brook Forest Elem Butler 53 Oak Brook

10 12 84.49 0.4 North Barrington Elem

Barrington 220 Barring-ton

* Uses tests to select students

HOW SCHOOLS WERE RANKED :The Chicago Sun-Times’ annual school rankings are based on average scores on 2008 state reading and math tests, not the percent passing state standards.

The Sun-Times uses a well-known statistical method called standardizing to analyze the “scale scores’’ of public school third- through eighth-graders who took the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests and high school juniors who took the Prairie State Achievement Exam this past spring,

The method compares each student’s score to the state’s average score and uses that information to create a school average that’s then com-pared to the average score of other schools.

Standardizing levels the playing field in years when one test might be harder to pass than others. It is unaffected by passing cutscore changes

ILES SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 3 November 5, 2008

ILES SCHOOL--JOURNEY BEYOND YOUR HORIZON

CALENDAR OF EVENTSNovember 4Starter Strings 3:00 p.m.IMSA - 3:00 p.m.

November 5Fifth Grade - Field Trip9:30 a.m. November 7Brownies - 3:00 p.m.

November 11 No SchoolVeteran’s DayNovember 13 Fire Drill 8:45 a.m.Fun Run November 17-21Ibiyinka AlaoArtist in Residence

November 18PTO Roller Skating6:30 p.m.PTO Pizza Hut NightNovember 25Miles of Smiles 9:00 a.m.Swinging Singers atFestival of Trees 1:00 p.mNovember 26Early Dismissal2:00 p.m.

November 27-28No SchoolThanksgivingDecember 3Fire Drill 9:45 a.m.

because it compares how a school scored relative to other schools, not to a state standard for pass-ing. By using student scores, rather than percent passing, the method allows for more defini-tion among top-scoring schools.

Only reading and math results were studied; they are the only tests that trigger sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Also, in each school, only grades in which at least 10 stu-dents were tested were analyzed.

The Sun-Times top-elementary list is based on schools that tested at least two grades in the third- through fifth-grade range. The top middle-grade list is based on schools that tested at least two grades, sixth through eighth.

Some schools, such as those serv-ing grades K-8, might have won spots on both the elementary and middle-grade lists.

The rankings include percentiles, which are based on each school’s average reading and math score. The percentiles reflect the per-cent of students statewide who scored the same as or worse than the average student in the ranked school.

The analyses were done by Sun-Times staff reporter Art Golab.

Artist in Residency at Iles School

Nigerian artist, Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao, will be at Iles as an artist in residence during the week of November17-21. Mr. Alao is a first place winner of the prestig-ious United Nations Interna-tional Art Competition. As an artist and Nigerian's Art Ambas-sador, Ibiyinka Aloa has spent many years expressing a peaceful view of integration of cultures in our world today through the use of colors. We are honored to have Mr. Ibiyinka Alao sharing

his talents with our students at Iles, providing an extraordinary way to further our sense of

international-mindedness.

In preparation of Mr. Alao’s visit, Mrs. Frachey has been having Iles students write about their wishes for our world. Mr. Marcy has shared prints that we have of Mr. Alao with the Iles students. Mr. Marcy has the brushes, paint and paper ready for Mr. Alao to work with our students. We are grateful to Mrs. Veronica Hollo-way with the Illinois Department of Public Health for making this experience possible for our stu-dents.

PTO Events and Newby Tracey Wobig, PTO President

Wow! We had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese a few weeks ago, AND we made $250 from the evening as well! Thanks to everyone who was able to comeout and participate in this fun event!

The computers for the new com-puter lab have been ordered!! Mrs. Rhodes is working on get-ting the rest of the equipment ordered so our new lab will soon be ready. THANK YOU so much to all the generous donors who made this lab possible!

Coming up in the rest of November: Tuesday, November 18: Roller Skating at Skateland

South, 6:30-8:30Thursday, November 20Pizza Hut night fundraiser

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 9. A repre-sentative from IAGC (Illinois As-sociation for Gifted Children) will be presenting a program at 6:30. Mrs. Rhodes is a member of the IAGC Board and on the advo-cacy committee. This organiza-tion is a valuable resource for both parents and educators of gifted children. Check out the web site at iagcgifted.org. Please plan to take time out of your busy schedule to learn more about IAGC.

Thanks also to all the faithful playground volunteers! We appreciate you! It may not seem like much, but it is so im-portant to have you there watch-ing our kids and helping keep them safe.

Hurray! The directory has been sent to the printer and should be in soon. Thanks so much to Karen Moranski for all her hard work on it! It is a very big job.

As always, if you have any ques-tions or concerns, contact any PTO Officer; see their names on the Iles web site.

Student Support Newsby Mrs. Sherry Frachey

Thanksgiving is coming, but in Student Support class we play "The Gratitude Game" every week! Each student keeps a jour-nal of things for which we are grate- ful. This exercise cre-ates a more posi-tive

ILES SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 3 November 5, 2008

ILES SCHOOL--JOURNEY BEYOND YOUR HORIZON

outlook. Instead of focusing on what is wrong, we focus on what is right in our lives. Also, we have been working on setting positive goals for ourselves and our com-munity.

In Grades 3-5, in addition to Vi-sion Boards, The Grateful Game, and decorating our prize sticks, we are learning about our brains. Our thoughts, words and actions influence our experiences every-day. Ask your child about the "brain" of "thinking, feeling and doing" habits. Also, ask about the book, "Whispering Shadows". We will identify our negative thinking habits and use the "su-per hero" challengers to change our minds.

We are learning a lot about work-ing together, solving conflicts us-ing our heads and our hearts. We are also having fun! Have you heard about "The Treasure Chest"?? Thanks to Noah Campbell for his donation. If you have gently used items you would like to send in, that would be great! Also, I can use kid friendly magazines you no longer need.

The mobile computer lab is stored in Room 11, so we are fortunate to be able to use com-puters at our learning centers. The trouble is we don't get a really good signal and would like to purchase an "airport" so we can get better reception. In order to raise about $125.00, I am of-fering Peace Park Power Tool Tour music CD's for $5.00. These have all of the songs we sing in Stu-dent Support. All donations will go toward the "airport."

I am so grateful to be here at Iles and spend my days with your children. I look forward to com-ing into school everyday! Thank you for sharing your most pre-cious natural resource with me, your children!Happy November!

Physical Education News by Mrs. Sue Langrebe

Iles accepts challenge!

McClernand has invited 4th and 5th graders to participate in a cross country meet. Students will run the 1 mile course in Lincoln Park on November 13. Girls will run at 3:30 and boys will run at 4:00. All students must have a current physical on file with Mrs. Landgrebe to participate. All stu-dents are to be picked up at 4:15 in the Nelson Center parking lot.

Community Health Cor-nerBy Memorial Medical Center

Overlooked Danger in Hand Sanitizers

“As we enter cold and flu season, frequently washing your hands is the best thing you can do to pre-vent infections,” says Karen Trimberger, RN, director of In-fection Control at Memorial Medical Center. “When you don’t have soap and water avail-able, liquid hand sanitizers are great to have around. They are portable and convenient, and the alcohol they contain effectively kills germs. But many people are not aware that if children ingest hand sanitizer, they can get alco-hol poisoning.”

Many hand sanitizers contain 62 percent ethanol, which is the same type of alcohol in alcoholic beverages. Generally, beer con-tains three to six percent alcohol; wine eight to 16 percent; and hard liquor such as whiskey 40 percent or more. At 62 percent alcohol, it can take as little as a teaspoonful of hand sanitizer for a toddler to be severely affected.

While it would probably not oc-cur to you to taste a hand sani-tizer, children are inherently cu-

rious about the taste, smell and texture of everything as they learn about the world. And hand sanitizers are often readily avail-able, left out where a child can pick them up. Many mothers carry them in diaper bags or purses. Packaged in containers that are easy to pump or squirt, some sanitizers are even per-fumed or in brightly colored bot-tles, making them even more at-tractive to toddlers and young children.

According to the Iowa Poison Control Center, the symptoms of ethanol intoxication in a child include irritability, dizziness, nau-sea, vomiting, unsteady gait, loss of muscle control, and sleepiness. Severe ethanol intoxication can lead to coma, respiratory arrest and death. Children who are in-toxicated with ethanol are par-ticularly susceptible to dropping their blood sugar and can suffer the effects of low blood sugar (irritability, clouded thinking, sei-zure, coma, death).

Unless you know a child has in-gested ethanol, these frightening symptoms may be difficult to pinpoint as alcohol poisoning. Call the Illinois Poison Center hotline, 1-800-222-1222, if you suspect ingestion has occurred, or head immediately to the hospital emergency department.

Trimberger says that using soap and water to wash a young child’s hands is probably the best choice. But if you cannot wash, be sure the squirt of sanitizer you put on a child’s hand gets rubbed in and not licked up. Children who lick their hands after the sani-tizer has dried are not at risk. “And just as you would never leave a bot-tle of vodka or whiskey out for your children to play with, keep your hand sanitizer safely out of reach.”

ILES SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 3 November 5, 2008

ILES SCHOOL--JOURNEY BEYOND YOUR HORIZON