Chelsea Intermediate School

Dear Chelsea Families,

Can you believe we are now headed into our last full month of school? We have some exciting events coming up in this final part of the school year. Our Bluestem Bash, for students who read at least eighteen of the books on the Bluestem list, will be held on Monday, May 4, after school. The fourth and fifth grade chorus will be performing the show Kid Flix for their families on Thursday, May 7. Our last Roar Store of the school year will be held during the week of May 18, and our final Feature Presentation will take place on May 22.

On May 14, from 5:30-7:00 pm, we will be hosting a special end of the year party for fifth graders only. It is called “Super Star Sendoff” in conjunction with our movie theme, and will include a wide variety of activities including dancing, watching a movie, board games, and Nuke ‘Em; and enjoying pizza, courtesy of the FSP.

Our Field Day will be held on Tuesday, May 26 with a rain date of Wednesday, May 27. Our annual Chelsea Tug-o-War event will be held on Thursday, May 28. There will be many more classroom and grade level special events coming up. Stay tuned for more detailed information coming soon from your child’s teacher.

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

If your child(ren) will be returning to District 157-C for the 2026-2027 school year, registration is open!

You should have received a letter in the mail in late March/early April with a SNAP code to enter in this link.

If you did not receive a SNAP code, please ensure that you have verified your residency for next year with the district registrar.

Any questions can be directed to cbrooks@fsd157c.org.

Medication Pick Up

If your child has medication in the health office, please plan to pick up their medication on the last day of school. To keep all medications secure and available until the end of the year, medications will remain in the health office until this time. If you would like to arrange an appointment for pick-up, please contact Nurse Maria at MMurphy@fsd157c.org.

Medication Forms and Nurse Appointments for 2026-2027 School Year

If your child needs medication at school next year, a new medication form will need to be completed. Forms are available on the district website at FSD157c.org by going to Parents > Forms > Medical Forms > Medication.

If your student will need medication and/or a health care plan for the 2026-2027 school year, please schedule a time to meet with the nurse to review paperwork and drop off any needed forms. These appointments can be scheduled in the two weeks before the first day of school. Appointments can be made through the front office or by calling the nurse’s office. Meeting early is a great way to avoid the busy line on Meet and Greet Day.

Incoming 6th Grade Health Requirements

Families of students entering 6th grade, please remember to submit:

Illinois Dental Exam form
Illinois Certificate of Child Health Examination with immunizations

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Pink Blue Modern Mental Health Awareness Poster.pdf

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The second annual spring reading challenge ends on Friday, May 8th. Grade level classrooms are competing against each other for total minutes read outside of school. The winning class will earn games and lunch in the library later in May!

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! When students log into their Classlink page, they can use Destiny Discover to search our shelves to find books celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month or any other interest they have!

Congratulations to the nearly 50 students who completed the Bluestem Challenge by reading at least 18 of the 20 books on the list! On May 4th, we will celebrate with pizza and bingo after school.

Every year, the library closes in May to complete inventory. This year, the final week for visiting the library will be May 11-15. Ms. Fracassi will be collecting all borrowed books and displaying the classes that have returned or paid for every book borrowed!

Overdue notices will be emailed home in May. Please be sure your student(s) returns books to the library. Lost books can be paid for using MySchoolBucks. More information will be in the emailed notices.

So far this year, there have been over 25,000 checkouts in the library!

Parents are welcome to volunteer in the library. Please contact Ms. Fracassi to learn more.

Tara Fracassi

Chelsea Intermediate School Librarian

tfracassi@fsd157c.org

Students continued learning the basic skills used in net and wall games. They practiced their handshake grip and worked on both forehand and backhand hits. From there, they learned the underhand serve and were introduced to the game of pickleball. Students used their serving and hitting skills to participate in modified pickleball games.

During volleyball, students practiced serving, bumping, and setting. We wrapped up the volleyball unit with fun volleyball games.

Looking ahead, students will continue building their net and wall game skills as we begin our badminton unit. They will learn how to properly hold a racquet, serve the birdie, and return shots over the net. We will finish the unit with gameplay to help them apply what they’ve learned.

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!**

At Chelsea, we believe every student is a musician, and our music room is a place where creativity takes center stage. We embrace the learning process by encouraging students to take risks, learn from mistakes, and grow with each note and rhythm. Music class is a welcoming environment where students explore, express themselves, and experience the joy of making music together.

Here’s a look at what our 3rd through 5th grade musicians have been working on this quarter:

Creative Composition with Technology
All students have been using Chrome Music Lab to create their own original compositions. For each project, students are given a theme, such as “music for space,” and are encouraged to think creatively about how their music can reflect that idea. They experiment with melody, rhythm, and sound to bring their ideas to life, making thoughtful choices about how music can tell a story or create a mood. This has been a fun and engaging way for students to explore composition while expressing their individuality.

3rd Grade
Third graders have been focusing on rhythm. They are learning to analyze, read, write, and perform rhythmic patterns using eighth notes, quarter notes and rests, half notes and rests, and whole notes and rests. Through singing games, movement activities, and percussion instruments, students are developing a strong sense of beat while enjoying the process of making music together.

4th Grade
Fourth graders are currently working on one of their favorite units, Recorder Karate. They are building rhythmic accuracy, learning to read notes on the treble clef staff, and practicing with enthusiasm. As they progress toward earning new belts, their confidence continues to grow with each song they master. It has been an exciting and rewarding experience for all.

5th Grade
Fifth grade musicians are taking their skills to the next level. After reviewing advanced rhythms and exploring musical form, students are now working on composition projects. This allows them to showcase both their creativity and their understanding of musical concepts in a meaningful way.

I am incredibly proud of our students’ growth, note by note and beat by beat. Be sure to ask your musician about what they are learning in class. Thank you for your continued support of music education at Chelsea.

Moving right along in STEM! Students are building their collaboration and problem-solving skills every day, and the learning doesn’t have to stop over the weekend! Encourage your child to stay curious by trying STEM challenges at home:

· Follow step-by-step directions to assemble a new toy or product.

· Compare different brands of the same item to see which performs best.

· Safely explore how things work by examining the inside of broken appliances (with adult supervision).

No matter what you do over the weekend, keep wondering, keep exploring, and keep asking how and why. Stay curious!

Our fifth graders kicked things off with a deep dive into Biomimicry, exploring how nature inspires innovation. They discovered that leaves have influenced the design of many products thanks to their waterproof and stain resistant qualities. Next, students put their creativity to the test by engineering ski slopes and roller coasters, applying principles of physics and design. After that, the fifth graders demonstrated how a balloon powered car travels across 3 types of surfaces, learning about potential energy, kinetic energy, thrust and friction. Finally, they took on the Pringles Challenge designing and testing different packaging materials to see which best protected a chip. The lightest unbroken chip package will soon be mailed out for the ultimate test!

Fourth graders have been busy experimenting with liquids and powders to explore how physical and chemical changes can occur when materials are combined. Next, they turned into product testers, comparing three brands of diapers to see which could hold the most liquid without leaking and which stayed driest to the touch. After careful testing and observation, Huggies came out on top! Next up is pH testing and how acids in foods and candies affect our dental health.

The third graders kicked off their first project with a hands-on exploration of Maglev Cars. Students experimented with magnetic poles to discover which poles attract and which ones repel, helping them understand the science behind magnetic levitation. After testing their initial car designs, they moved into the redesign phase adding weight, adjusting wing shapes, and even creating sails to find ways to make their cars travel faster and more smoothly. It was an exciting blend of creativity, problem-solving, and scientific discovery!

Students became true engineers as they designed and tested their own parachutes. Using rip cords, they explored whether long or short strings would help a parachute fall more slowly. Great job, young scientists! Up next will be to design and engineer an aerodynamic Air Powered Dragster Racecar. Students will measure time and distance to calculate the speed of their incredible vehicles.

STEM technology empowers students to explore tools like Sphero BOLTs, Ozobots, coding, keyboarding, and Makey Makey, helping them build creativity and problem-solving skills.

I can't believe we're already in the fourth quarter and that summer is just around the corner. Time really does fly when you're having fun! It has been amazing to see how much our students have grown as artists and all they’ve accomplished throughout the year.

All students have been working hard in their art boot camps, learning new skills and techniques while also discovering how to care for their materials. They’ve explored watercolor paints, tempera cakes, tempera sticks, mixed media, collage, perspective, self-portraits, depth, and much more. We've also enjoyed task parties, sculpture challenges, and learning about a new artist each week.

Now that all grades have finished their boot camps, students are beginning to work on their WOW projects—Wonderful, Original Works of Art—in our choice-based studio. This studio follows the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) philosophy, which is grounded in the belief that the child is the artist and the classroom is their studio. This approach fosters artistic and creative thinking through centers and student choice.

In TAB, students are encouraged to generate their own ideas for artmaking through exploration, experimentation, play, planning, choice, and trial and error. In our studio, we persist through mistakes and celebrate failures, because that's how artists grow and blossom.

Keep an eye on Instagram to see all the exciting things happening in the art room!

Students in Spanish class will be building their vocabulary for emotions. We will be learning how to order food in Spanish. We will also be learning colors, animals, and numbers.

Here are the themes and the countdown for May. A hard copy of these flyers was sent home with your Chelsea Tiger as well.

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Theme Thursdays May 2026.pdf

Chelsea Countdown 2026.pdf

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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