Chelsea Intermediate School

April Newsletter 2025

From the Administrative Team

Dear Chelsea Families,

Wow! It's hard to believe that March is coming to a close and we are headed into Spring Break! As March ends, so does our IAR testing. We are extremely proud of the diligence our Chelsea Tigers demonstrated during these annual assessments. Our Tigers worked very hard to show all they’ve learned this year, and we know that your encouragement is an essential factor in their motivation and success. Thank you for your partnership not only through testing, but throughout the school year.

Upon returning from Spring Break, our fifth graders will be taking the Illinois Science Assessment. This assessment is only administered in fifth and eighth grade and contains three testing sessions. We are confident our fifth graders will do a wonderful job demonstrating all they have learned in science.

This April, we have an exciting new event here at Chelsea – a Students vs Staff Spring Reading Challenge! We will be competing to see which team, staff or students, can read the most pages OUTSIDE of school. From April 14 through May 2, all interested readers should log the number of pages they read outside of the school day on the Beanstack app (available through ClassLink). The challenge will culminate during All School DEAR time on the morning of May 2. Students and staff will be permitted to enter the pages they read during DEAR as the finale to our competition. After DEAR time, the challenge will be closed and no more pages will be logged. The winning team will earn popsicles at lunchtime on Thursday, May 22. We can’t wait to see who the winner will be, and how many pages we will read!

We look forward to the final push of the fourth quarter; please let us know if we can support you or your child in any way!

Sincerely,

Rachel Newcomb

Principal

Paula Paymaster

Assistant Principal

Ricky Innocenti

Dean of Students

Spring Reading Challenge

pdf

insert_drive_file

Spring Reading Challenge Flyer.pdf

Download

1.2 MB

Yearbook Ordering Deadline

The deadline to order your child a yearbook is next week. Yearbook orders are due by Thursday, April 3, at midnight.

Please click the link below to order a Chelsea yearbook.

Chelsea

During the checkout process, you will need to list your child’s name and homeroom teacher. If you would like to order more than one yearbook for the same school, select “Add to Cart & Keep Shopping” to then purchase another yearbook.

If you need to order yearbooks from different schools, you can add the first yearbook from one school to the cart, and then click “X” to change the name of the school and then search your child at the second school.

Your cart will be saved throughout the process, even if you need to order multiple yearbooks from one school or multiple yearbooks from different schools.

If you have any questions, please contact VIP at support@vipis.com.

A Note from Nurse Busch

Attention 5th Grade Parents:

Beat the rush and get your physical and dental requirements done now so you can enjoy your summer break! Upon entry into 6th grade, students must show proof of the following:

Physical Exam with Immunizations

1 does of Tdap
Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine on or after 11th birthday
Dental Exam

These items can be dropped off to Mrs. Busch at Chelsea.

Special Education with Mrs. Wright

On April 2nd every year, we celebrate Autism Awareness Month. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. During this month, you will be given opportunities to gain a better understanding of this amazing disability. You might see people wearing more blue throughout this month or wearing t-shirts with puzzle pieces. This is because blue is worn to show your support of autism, and the puzzle pieces are worn as a symbol that represents the complexity of the autism spectrum.

Here are some interesting facts about the puzzling disorder of autism according to the Lurie Center of Autism: The term autism literally means “alone”; autism is one of the fastest growing disorders in the United States; boys are 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls; people with ASD can continue to improve- autism is not a degenerative disorder; hyperlexia is the ability to read above ones age or grade level and often accompanies ASD; many people with ASD are living a normal life who are working and contributing throughout their community.

During this month, I encourage you to branch out and find more opportunities to expand your knowledge on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Have a conversation with someone about this disability or better yet, have a conversation with someone who HAS this disability. They are the most interesting and most brilliant people you will ever meet. You can also donate to our local Autism Center- Tinley Park Autism Center (byyoursideac.com) or to a national organization such as Autism Research institute (autism.org). If you are a parent of a child with autism, My Autism Team (myautismteam.com), is a great social network for parents to connect and ask questions.

A Note from Our Librarian, Mrs. Schubert

April is National Poetry Month and National D.E.A.R (Drop Everything and Read) Month! We also celebrate Arabic Heritage Month. When students log into their Classlink page, they can use Destiny Discover to search our shelves from home to find poetry books, a book for D.E.A.R. time, or a list of Arabic Heritage Month titles.

In April, we also celebrate National Parks Week from April 19-April 27! In the library, our celebration includes all 4th graders receiving their own National Parks Pass through the National Park Service’s Every Kid Outdoors Program. You can print a pass and learn more about how this program helps 4th grade students across the country explore the great outdoors at http://www.everykidoutdoors.gov.

BLUESTEM READING CHALLENGE DEADLINE

The Bluestem Reading Challenge ends on April 11! Students who finish 8 or more books of the reading challenge earn prizes and anyone who reads 18 or more titles will be invited to the Bluestem Bash in May!

Your student can read or listen to the reading challenge books. A list and more information is available from Mrs. Schubert in the library, Destiny Discover on Classlink, or on Mrs. Schubert’s staff webpage Mrs. Schubert - Katie Schubert - Frankfort School District 157-C (fsd157c.org)

An All School Reading Challenge is happening in April! Students and staff will keep track of the number of pages they read. Tracking progress is easy using the Beanstack app on your child’s laptop! Beanstack is used to track Bluestem Challenge reading as well.

So far this year, there have been over 21,000 checkouts in the library!

Parents are welcome to volunteer in the library. Please contact Mrs. Schubert at kschubert@fsd157c.org to learn more.

PE with Mrs. Jaral, Mr. Klosowski, and Mr. Dykema

Students continued learning the basic hits used for net/wall games. They worked on their handshake grip and began hitting forehand and backhand hits. Next, they mastered the underhand serve and began learning about the game of pickle ball. They used their underhand serve, forehand and backhand hits to compete in modified pickle ball games. Students also practiced their serve, bump, and set during volleyball. They ended the volleyball unit with a game of “beach volleyball”.

Before Spring Break students worked on their floor hockey skills. They learned the basics of stick handling, passing, and shooting. We ended the hockey unit with mini games, so they could use all the skills they practiced and begin working as a team. After Spring Break students will work on their basketball skills.

KEEP SAVING BOX TOPS for EDUCATION!

**Many food labels have started using box tops that need to be scanned. If you would like to continue to support our school, you need to download the Box Tops for Education app. Make sure you select Chelsea Intermediate School before you begin scanning your box tops!**

Music Class with Mrs. Zito

In March, Ms. Manning, Mrs. Szkolny, and Mrs. Lazzo’s classes began their music and rhythm unit. Students studied quarter notes, quarter rests, and beamed eighth notes by playing rhythms on various classroom instruments.

In April, students will continue learning about rhythm and will be introduced to the half rest, whole note, and whole rest. They will demonstrate their understanding of each note’s duration by playing them correctly on various rhythmic instruments. Students will be introduced to timbre and instrument families.

In March, 4th grade students in Mr. Zacharias, Mrs. Venable, and Mrs. Campos’ class finished up their recorder unit. Students in these classes did a phenomenal job of applying their knowledge of rhythmic and melodic notation to decipher simple melodies while using proper recorder playing technique. Students were able to set personal goals, and most students met or surpassed their goal. A special shout out to the following students who earned a black belt:

4th grade: Kellan Baskel, Ethan Bell, Ryan Bell, Jack Boike, Cyril Boone-Kubbs, Juliet Carlasare, Nolan Cosich, Ruth Jarchow, Chiemerie Johnson, Evelyn Lapperre, Ellie Novak, Rynnoah Ostrowski, Carmen Pignatiello, Marlie Powell, Keegan Sayles, Parker Snow, and Emily Sterling.

In March, students in Mrs. Tucker, Mr. Hermanson, Mr. VanAssen’s classes spent time reviewing rhythm pattern reading and focused on the importance of the time signature.

In April, they will learn about pitch and how to read the notes of the treble clef staff in preparation for playing the recorder at the end of the year. Students will review notes of varying difficulty and will learn how to perform them using body percussion and rhythm instruments.

In March, 5th grade students from Mrs. Michalski, Mrs. Melby, and Mrs. Kois’ classes reviewed rhythms using whole note, half note, dotted half note, quarter note, paired eighth notes, and beamed sixteenth notes. Students also began to learn about song forms such as Call and Response, AB, and ABA.

In April, students will review mallet technique and even improvise syncopated patterns with body percussion and classroom instruments. Students will review notes of the treble clef staff in preparation for playing the recorder! We will explore other forms of music such as Rondo, ABC, and Verse and Refrain.

STEM with Mrs. Jozaitis

The third, fourth and fifth graders finished up the third quarter of STEM strong. The third graders engineered their aerodynamic air powered dragster race cars. Each of them tested their cars, measured distance and time to calculate the speed. Third graders also explored the Makey Makey devices to see what objects around the room were conductors to have their piano play and which ones were insulators. Some fun end of the quarter challenges were to engineer a tool to retrieve items that fell out of my purse into a storm drain, a marble maze and toothpick towers that can survive an earthquake.

Fourth graders engineered a pvc pipe claw machine. Students worked in groups to increase their communication and collaborative skills. Fourth graders also finished up the quarter working with those same groups to create an invention that could help the world around them. Students used materials of their choice from our Makerspace, planned a design, engineered, tested it and shared their projects with the class. Fourth graders explored the Sphero Bots by driving them and then block coding them to move about the classroom.

Fifth graders finished up the quarter in STEM by working on their own or with a partner to create an invention that can make life easier in some way. Students brainstormed ideas, planned out one of those ideas with a diagram and list of materials to use from our classroom Makerspace. Fifth graders engineered, tested and redesigned as they needed to. Finally, the students shared their projects with the third and fourth graders in the Makerspace Showcase! I’m so incredibly proud of the perseverance, ability to problem solve and the joy the students exhibited as they engineered their own design. Way to go fifth graders!

I am looking forward to fourth quarter classes. Get ready to discover the Engineering Design process though many fun and exciting challenges!

The STEM lab is always looking for donations like dowel rods, lids, cardboard tubes, shoe boxes, craft items, Styrofoam, felt, material, straws, clay, plastic containers, etc. One person’s junk is another person’s treasure!

Art with Mrs. Maney

I am so excited to get 4th quarter underway and see the amazing art that is to come. We finished off 3rd quarter strong with over 400 art projects turned in! Our students' talent, creativity, and imagination continue to amaze me every quarter. See some of our amazing projects in the photos below and on Instagram @artteacher43.

If you are looking for ways to keep your Tiger Artist creating at home, have them take the spring art challenge below. They can use any media or materials to create. Looking for new materials at home to help your artist grow? The top three favorite materials in the art room this year are Kwik Sticks (tempera paint in a stick), Tempera Cakes, and Oil Pastels. These are great materials that create a low mess and keep the kids engaged in their artmaking.

Thank you to all the families that have been donating supplies to the art room. You have helped stock the sculpture center, and the students are loving creating 3 dimensionally. If you haven’t followed #TigerArt on Instagram yet @artteacher43, make sure to do so to see all the great stuff our Tigers are creating throughout the year.

pdf

insert_drive_file

Spring Art Challenge.pdf

Download

509.0 KB

A Note from Our Spanish Teacher, Mrs. Smerz

It's hard to believe that we are in the last stretch of 4th quarter! Throughout the month of April, students in Spanish class will be using conversational skills to talk about the weather, clothing, and travel. Though each grade level is working on the same topic, each grade is completing different tasks and building on the previous year's knowledge to expand language skills.

Reminder: Hot Lunch Date Change in May

Due to a scheduling conflict at HCMS during the last week of May, we will be switching hot lunch dates with them that week. This will enable all our Frankfort Tigers to have the opportunity to enjoy hot lunch that week. The hot lunch that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 27, will now take place on Wednesday, May 28. We will send out reminders about this change as the date gets closer but wanted to make everyone aware now.

Reminder: Theme Thursdays

Here are the themes for April. A hard copy of this flyer was sent home with your Chelsea Tiger as well.

pdf

insert_drive_file

Theme Thursday March April 2025.pdf

Download

135.4 KB

Chelsea Family Shoutouts

Has your child had a special event or accomplishment outside of school? A performance, competition, or recital? If you would like to have your child's team, troupe, or company celebrated at school, please fill out the form linked below. We are happy to celebrate with you!

We will do our best to be timely in our recognition, but please know there may be a slight delay due to the volume of requests on any given school day.

In addition to appearing below, this "Family Shoutout” link will be posted on the Chelsea webpage so that you can access it at any time. We look forward to celebrating your child’s wonderful accomplishments with our Chelsea learning community!

Chelsea Family Shoutouts

Reminder: Right Turn Only

Thank you to all drivers who continue to comply with our "Right Turn Only" sign at Chelsea's main exit on to 80th Avenue. Your cooperation in turning right during arrival and dismissal has significantly improved the speed and efficiency of our drop-off and pick-up lines.

We respectfully request that all drivers comply and turn right out of the Chelsea parking lot during arrival and dismissal. We know this may be a minor inconvenience, but when drivers turn right, it has a major impact on our car rider lines in the best possible way.