Holiday Giving

During this holiday season, students at Peacock are being exceptionally generous. Through the efforts of our LEO Club with direction from their supervisor, 7^th grade social studies teacher Mrs. Mary Kabat, over 1000 non-perishable food items were collected and distributed to the Itasca Food Pantry just prior to Thanksgiving. That same group is also sponsoring a clothing drive for local homeless having already collected over a hundred clothing items that are directed to both children as well as adults. The clothes will be distributed to local shelters just before the holiday season. Additionally, our Student Council under the direction of their sponsor, school social worker Ms. Milissa Riley, is in the process of organizing a toy drive for middle school children in support of the Marine Corp's Toys for Tots program. The collection last year netted well over 150 toys with this year's goal anticipated to eclipse that total as quite a few toys have already been collected.

Each year on the first Saturday in February, Peacock hosts a science fair for students at 6^th through 8^th grades. This year's event, to be held on Saturday, February 5^th from 9:00-11:00 a.m., will feature projects that are based upon the scientific method in experiment format. Students are provided with extensive instructions and support from their science teachers during class time leading up to the fair. Teachers help students identify, organize and document their experiments for display on February 5^th before a panel of judges who themselves are practicing scientists as well as high school science teachers.

Through the generosity of many individuals and groups throughout Itasca, donations have been collected that will allow for the production of this year's musical to proceed. It is anticipated that this year's play will be a junior version of the Broadway hit, Grease with production to begin in early January. In prior years, the musicals have involved over a third of our student body in a variety of jobs that reach far beyond the "on-stage talent" including scenery construction, set design, lighting and sound, along with stage management. While no formal set of show time dates have yet been established, we anticipate opening night to be on Friday, April 29^th at 7:00 p.m. with a second performance on Saturday, April 30^th also starting at 7:00 p.m.

Response to Intervention (RtI) refers to a process that emphasizes how well students respond to instruction. Elements of RtI include providing scientific, research-based instruction within the core curricular areas, monitoring and measuring student progress in response to the instruction and using these measurements to determine intervention strategies. The core components to RtI include the use of research-based instruction in the core curricular areas for general education; use of a universal screener for academics and behavior to determine which students are in need of interventions and progress monitoring; use of multiple tiers to provide additional layers of support for students found to be in need; and use of a school team to develop and administer interventions. RtI provides for on-going progress monitoring during the implementation of interventions to determine if students are meeting goals.

There are several key terms associated with response to intervention.  One term involves using universal screening. This type of assessment allows for testing all students on age appropriate skills to determine if they are meeting standards. Those students whose assessment scores fall below a certain level are identified as needing more specialized academic and/or behavioral interventions. A second term widely utilized is Progress Monitoring.  This involves a scientifically based practice of assessing the academic performance of students. On a regular basis, students are assessed for the purpose of determining whether they are benefiting appropriately from the instructional program. In cases where programming should be revised, progress monitoring provides a foundation in which to build more effective programs. A third term, Scientific, research-based instruction, refers to specific core curriculum and educational and/or behavioral interventions that have been proven to be effective through scientific field-tested reports. Benson Primary School remains committed to implementing this important, mandated initiative with vigor and integrity.