Principal's Newsletter - Komarek School District 94

classes have completed their first novel
units. While reading these novels, we
focused on comprehension, vocabulary,
making inferences, and many literary
elements. Mr. Bedalow’s class read
Maniac Magee, Mrs. Brandt’s class read
The Sign of the Beaver & Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland, and Mrs.
West’s class read Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland. As we now turn to Unit Two
in our Reading series, we will focus on
various genres and skills such as making
inferences, identifying main idea and
supporting details, summarization
techniques, and problem-solution story
structures. We also use context clues to
help us decipher the meaning of unfamiliar
words. In Math, we have concluded our
study of adding, subtracting, and
multiplying with whole numbers and
decimals, and have moved on to geometry
where we are learning about basic
geometric vocabulary and measuring angles
with a protractor. In Social Studies, we
have been reviewing the 50 states and
capitals with a sequence of five quizzes.
We are discussing the economic and
political conditions in the 13 colonies and
will soon move on to the American
Revolution. Finally, we held a mock
presidential election. The results mirrored
the actual election, as President Obama was
re-elected to a 2 nd term. In Science, the
students have been learning about the life
cycles of plants and animals. We have also
learned about heredity and traits. We will
be moving forward to food chains and food
webs in our next few lessons, followed by a
study of the world's different ecosystems.
In Language Arts we are beginning a new
unit on verbs. The writing process keeps us
PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER
December 2012/January 2013
MR. TOM CRISCIONE PRINCIPAL
KOMAREK SCHOOL DISTRICT 94
8940 W. 24 TH STREET
NORTH RIVERSIDE, IL 60546-1158
School Hours 8:20 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
busy as we continue to practice adding details
to our writing. Our five paragraph essays are
getting better!! On three consecutive Fridays
in November, the 5 th grade completed the
KNOW program led by Officer Raul Pelayo
of the North Riverside Police Department.
The program focused on drug awareness,
gang awareness, and bullying/cyber bullying.
Thanks to Office Pelayo for sharing his
insights and information on these very
important topics.
Mr. Bedalow, Mrs. Brandt, and Mrs. West
INDUSTRIAL ARTS
Greetings from Komarek’s wood shop!
We’re moving through the second
quarter and the students are doing
just great. There are a variety of
projects underway, and everyone is keeping
busy.
Sixth grade students are finishing their
introduction to mechanical drawing. They
have completed many difficult plates and
have perfected their skills at reading and
creating a working drawing. Now that the
students can read and make plans, they’re
ready for the woodworking portion of their
experience in the shop this year. We’re
excited to say they’ll begin woodworking
soon.
The seventh grade has a multifaceted
program this year. While many students in
class work on drawings and plan their
woodworking project, others create their
projects on the lathe. Working on this type of
machine is a fantastic experience for the
students, and, for many, a once in a life-time
event. And, before long everyone in class
will begin what has traditionally been the