New Staff at Keystone Elementary #keyrocks

Miss Katie Dirksen - Kindergarten teacher.  Miss Dirksen is replacing Mrs. Jodie Kimm.  Miss Dirksen is currently co-teaching the K-1 Summer School group and is going to be a fantastic addition to our building.  She has been in often getting her room ready and is very excited to be a part of Keystone Elementary and Benton CSD.  Please welcome her when you see her.

Miss Shelby Frana - Pre-School teacher.  Miss Frana is replacing Mrs. Benton.  Miss Frana will be teaching our 3-4 year old Pre-school groups with Mrs. Mehlert as her associate.  Miss Frana is going to be a great addition to Keystone Elementary and Benton CSD.  She is very excited to get started!!  Please welcome her to the community and district when you meet her.

Mrs. Sandy Maxwell - Special Education Associate.  Mrs. Maxwell will be joining us in August when school starts.  Mrs. Maxwell will be helping with all K-3 students.  We are very fortunate to have Mrs. Maxwell joining our building and district.

Ms. Amber St. John - Technology / ELL / Reading Intervention.  Mrs. St. John will be taking on multiple roles within our building and district.  At Keystone Ms. St. John will be teaching Technology and ELL.  Ms. St John will also be doing some Reading Intervention work at Keystone.  She will be teaching Technology at Atkins, ELL at Norway, and doing some Reading Intervention work at Atkins.  She will bring a lot of great skills and passion to our buildings and district.  Please welcome her when you see her.  


Enjoy the rest of your summer!!

Mr. Junge

  

Importance of Summer Reading

Children who don't read over the summer experience summer learning loss. That's right -- kids don't just feel like they've forgotten some of what they've learned -- they actually do forget it. And the effect is cumulative. Kids who lose reading skills over the summer will be two years behind their classmates by the end of 6th grade.

Summer Reading Statistics

• Low-income children, by the end of fifth grade, are about 2.5 years behind their more affluent peers. This is primarily due to summer learning loss.
• Students experience significant learning loss when they do not participate in educational activities during the summer months. Research shows that students on average score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than they do on the same tests at the end of the school year. Low-income students experience greater summer learning losses than their higher income peers. On average, middle-income students experience slight gains in reading performance during summer vacation. Low-income students experience about a two month loss in reading achievement.
• The achievement gap in reading scores between higher and lower income students increases over summer vacation. The research shows that achievement for both middle-and lower-income students improves at a similar rate during the school year.
• Reading just 4-5 books during the summer can prevent a decline in a child's fall reading scores.
• Summer reading loss is cumulative, these children do not typically catch up in the fall. Their peers are progressing with their skills while they are making up for the summer learning loss. By the end of 6th grade, children who lose reading skills during the summer are on average 2 years behind their peers.
• Teachers spend an average of 4-6 weeks re-teaching material that students have lost during the summer.

Summer Reading Statistics Low-income children, by the end of fifth grade, are about 2.5 years behind their more affluent peers. This is primarily due to summer learning loss. Students experience significant learning loss when they do not participate in educational activities during the summer months. Research shows that students on average score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than they do on the same tests at the end of the school year. Low-income students experience greater summer learning losses than their higher income peers. On average, middle-income students experience slight gains in reading performance during summer vacation. Low-income students experience about a two month loss in reading achievement. The achievement gap in reading scores between higher and lower income students increases over summer vacation. The research shows that achievement for both middle-and lower-income students improves at a similar rate during the school year. Reading just 4-5 books during the summer can prevent a decline in a child's fall reading scores. Summer reading loss is cumulative, these children do not typically catch up in the fall. Their peers are progressing with their skills while they are making up for the summer learning loss. By the end of 6th grade, children who lose reading skills during the summer are on average 2 years behind their peers. Teachers spend an average of 4-6 weeks re-teaching material that students have lost during the summer.

Blairstown City Library summer learning / hours

Weekly Themes:

• June 5th—June 10th Build a Better Animal Habitat
• June 12th– June 17^th Build a Better Garden
• June 19th—June 24^th Build a Better Recycler
• June 26th—July 1^st Build a Better Building
• July 3rd—July 8^th Build a Better Scientist/Engineer
• July 10th—July 15^th   Build a Better Bug Habitat
• July 17th—July 22^nd Build a Better Community
• July 24th—July 29^th Build a Better World

As part of each weekly theme, we will have a special program as well as a coordinating craft every Wednesday. We will also have drop in challenges every week that the kids can try to complete. If they complete at least 5 of the 8 challenges, they get their name in for a special prize drawing. These are the special programs I have scheduled and confirmed so far:

Every Wednesday at 2pm

Crafts with Miss Cathy

Every Monday at 6:00pm

Storytime Under the Stars

Friday, June 9th at 1pm

“World of Wildlife” with Blank Park Zoo

Tuesday, June 13th at 2pm

Garden Stones with Benton County Master Gardener, Therese Elliff

Tuesday, June 20th at 2pm

Recycling with Benton County Conservation

Monday, July 3rd at 2pm

“How the Tools of Yesterday Shaped the Tools of Today” with Principal Electrical Engineer Brian Rach.

Tuesday, July 11th at 2pm

“The Building of Bugs” with the ISU Insect Zoo

Tuesday, July 18th at 2pm

Visit from the Blairstown Ambulance

We will be incorporating literacy into this as well and the kids will have the opportunity to read up to five books, with each book completed giving them a chance at a different special prize drawing. My goal for this summer is getting the kids actively engaged with the library through learning experiences, while also promoting literacy and fun.

Finally, our summer hours (which begin June 1st) are as follows:

Monday 10am-6pm

Tuesday 1pm-6pm

Wednesday 1pm-7pm

Thursday 1pm-6pm

Friday 1pm-6pm

Saturday 10am-1pm

Sunday  Closed

Keystone City Library summer information for learning.

Happy Mother's Day

All of us at Keystone Elementary are so blessed to work with your kids everyday.  We have such great kids to work with everyday because of all of you.  You are such great moms to work with everyday!  Happy Mother's Day.  Hope it was a blessed day.

Spring Break / Please have your kids read over break

All Keystone Parents,

We are going into a much needed and deserved Spring Break for students and staff.  We had some great Progress Monitoring scores this week for reading.  Please try and find some time over break while driving in the car or before bed to continue to have your kids read.  20-30 minutes a day over break can do wonders for them to maintain their current reading levels.  We will be at end of the year testing in early May before you know it.  Please continue all of the great work you do at home to support their learning.

Please enjoy your truly blessed family time over break and we can't wait to see all of the kids on Monday.

Mr. Junge

Report Cards came home today

Please check your child's take home folders for their report cards, they came home today.  Their specials report cards will be coming home tomorrow.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks, Mr. Junge