BE ON THE LOOKOUT!
Second-trimester report cards will be sent home March 13
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Wednesday, February 28, was the end of the second trimester.
On Wednesday, March 13, second-trimester report cards will be sent home with elementary students, and mailed to middle school students' homes.
Standards-Based Grading
District 2 uses standards-based grading. This means you will receive scores for standards only. You will not receive an overall score for assignments/assessments. The grading scale is:
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E - Exemplary (4): The student independently extends and applies key concepts, processes, and skills and can transfer this learning to new contexts.
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M - Meets (3): The student demonstrates a solid understanding of key concepts, processes, and skills, and can consistently apply this learning.
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P - Progressing (2): The student is progressing toward an understanding of key concepts, processes, and skills with minimal assistance.
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B - Beginning (1): The student is beginning to understand key concepts, processes, and skills with assistance.
Click here for more information on Standards-Based Report Cards.
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5ESSENTIALS
Take the survey! Swim free all summer!
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Go online and complete the 5Essentials survey, and your family could win four season passes to the Bensenville Water Park & Splash Pad - a $240 value - courtesy of Bensenville Park District.
A winner will be selected from each BSD2 school, so submit your response by March 29, tell your child's teacher you participated, and - if you're lucky - your family could swim for free all summer long!
WHAT IS THE 5ESSENTIALS SURVEY?
Parents, the 5Essentials is your opportunity to share your thoughts on crucial elements of success for your child's school!
- Effective Leaders
- Collaborative Teachers
- Ambitious Instruction
- Involved Families
- Supportive Environment
By collecting data on these topics, the annual Illinois 5Essentials Survey helps District 2 improve teaching and learning by improving the culture and climate in its schools and classrooms. Your survey responses drive future decisions about your school and support the school improvement process.
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COVID UPDATE
Confirmed cases no longer required to isolate for five days
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On March 1, the CDC changed its COVID guidance, advising that COVID should now be treated the same as other respiratory viruses like a cold or the flu.
This means five days of isolation is no longer required for students and staff with confirmed cases of COVID. Instead, they can now return to school or work when the following respiratory symptoms are mild and improving, and they have been fever-free for 24 hours:
- Fever of 100.4 F or greater or chills
- Cough, if new
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue from unknown cause
- Muscle or body aches from unknown cause
- Headache (new and either moderate or severe)
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
Parents who have any questions about their child's safe return to school should contact their school’s health office.
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REGISTER YOUR CHILD
Online registration for students returning for the 2024-2025 school year will open April 3
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Online registration for students returning to Bensenville School District 2 for the 2024-2025 school year will begin Wednesday, April 3, and conclude Friday, April 19. It will be conducted through the District's PowerSchool student information system, and it will require parents to have a PowerSchool Parent Portal account.
Login information for families' PowerSchool Parent Portal accounts will be sent home in elementary students’ backpacks and mailed to middle school students' home addresses that week, along with detailed registration instructions.
The link to the PowerSchool Parent Portal can be found on the District 2 website, www.bsd2.org, along with resources to assist you and answer any questions you may have.
Students’ take-home Chromebooks can access the online registration portal wherever you find wireless Internet (Wi-Fi). If you don’t have access to a computer or the Internet, please contact the BSD2 Family Resource Center at 630-766-2602 ext. 4255.
NO REGISTRATION FEES
District 2 will not collect registration fees for the 2024-2025 school year.
The BSD2 Board of Education voted to eliminate the registration fees for the coming year to continue to provide financial relief for its families.
Most districts charge registration fees, often $100 or more. For many years, District 2’s registration fees were $40 for elementary students and $44 for middle school students. (Middle school students will still be charged fees for agendas, lanyards, IDs, gym suits, and calculators.)
The District historically collected about $30,000 in registration fees. However, it also granted fee waivers to students who qualified for free and reduced-price meals, which amounted to 64 percent of the District's student population in 2023.
For the past nine years, the District has also provided classroom supplies for all students at an annual cost of about $80,000 to the District. It will continue to do so for the 2024-2025 school year.
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GROUNDBREAKING
Beginning a new chapter in the history of Blackhawk Middle School
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District 2 will host a groundbreaking ceremony for its renovation and expansion project at Blackhawk Middle School at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 21.
The brief ceremony will mark the beginning of this project that will transform much of Blackhawk’s look, feel, and function, and will be completed in time to welcome BMS students and staff when the 2024-2025 school year begins in August.
In the fall, the entire BSD2 community will be invited to celebrate the project’s completion, and to see these key improvements that will provide BMS students with a state-of-the-art school that aligns with the evolving needs of education:
- All new student-tested and staff-approved classroom furniture that can be easily moved and flexibly arranged to readily allow for collaborative learning.
- Installation of new flooring, lighting, and whiteboards in classrooms, and wall-to-wall painting that will ibring a brighter, more modern, consistent and cohesive look and feel throughout the building.
- Upgrades to classroom technology to create a wireless environment for both students and teachers.
- Enlargement of 12 classrooms by removing six workrooms currently connected to neighboring spaces.
- Additions of four new classrooms, and conversions of three existing classrooms into as many as nine flexibly divided small-group spaces. These flex spaces can be used for collaborative learning, interventions, and meetings, or as staff workspaces.
- Addition of a new fitness center adjacent to the gym, and conversion of the current fitness center space into a dedicated special education classroom with a sensory room and restroom.
- Remodeling of outdated science rooms, expansion of the health office, and renovation of the school’s two outdoor learning courtyards.
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BLACK HISTORY MONTH
BSD2 students bring Black history makers to life
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JOHNSON SCHOOL: Fifth graders in Mercedes Childress's ISP class brought black history to life in February!
Each student researched a black history maker and created a presentation to deliver to the many visitors to the class's living history museum.
Those presentations included colorful backdrops, written and oral reports, and even costumes to help the students portray the historic figures they studied.
The classroom was also decorated - inside and out - with artwork and photos celebrating Black History Month. Well done, Ms. Childress's Class!
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TIOGA SCHOOL: In February, students in Jennifer Nadolski's fifth-grade class stood before their peers and delivered their own presentations on African-Americans they believe made an impact on the world today.
They each chose a Black historical figure and researched their early lives, their significant accomplishments, and how they changed the world.
Then Shannon Surrell, Tioga's Instructional Technology Specialist, visited the class and taught the students how to create a digital presentation using Google Slides. The students were in charge of creating their own presentations and scripts.
The whole class discussed the qualities of a good presenter, and the students practiced their delivery before the moment of truth, when they were called upon to stand in front of the class and share their final presentations on the Black history makers they studied.
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FUTURE CHEFS
Six District 2 elementary students show off their culinary skills in Sodexo's first cooking challenge
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Congratulations to Johnson fifth grader Isabella Flores!
Isabella won first place in District 2's first ever "Future Chef National Challenge" sponsored by Sodexo, the District's food services provider.
Six students competed for the title the morning of Saturday, March 2, during a live cook-off in the kitchen and cafeteria at Blackhawk Middle School.
Assisted by Sodexo staff, each student prepared their favorite recipe from home and submitted it for critique by three celebrity judges: Village President Frank DeSimone and Chef David Kramer and Chef Michael Camerano, both instructors in the College of DuPage Culinary Arts Program.
The students' delicious creations included arroz con leche, strawberry crema, elotes Mexicanos, taffy apple salad, and carne asada tacos.
However, Isabella's lemon-ricotta pancakes ranked highest with the judges, and earned her the competition's grand-prize package, a variety of cookware she can use to continue pursuing her passion for the culinary arts at home.
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FROZEN JR.
Elementary students treated to a sneak peek of Blackhawk's spring musical
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First- and third-grade students from Tioga and W.A. Johnson Schools were treated Wednesday morning to a sneak peek of the Blackhawk Middle School spring musical, "Frozen JR."
More than 70 BMS students were part of the cast and crew that staged three performances of the show over the weekend, bringing Elsa, Anna, and the magical land of Arendelle to life, on stage. The show featured all of the memorable songs from the animated film, and the same cast of beloved characters.
Loaded with magic, adventure, and plenty of humor, Blackhawk students' performances of Frozen JR. thawed even the coldest heart! Well done!
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE
BSD2 third graders pack meals for hungry kids around the world
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As part of their “Making a Difference” unit of study, BSD2 third graders visited Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg last week to pack meals for hungry children around the world.
Before getting to work, the students learned that one out of every nine kids goes hungry each day.
To make a difference in the lives of some of those starving children, the third graders broke into teams and filled specially formulated "Manna Packs" with scoops of vitamin powder, dehydrated vegetables, soy protein and rice. Working together for about an hour, each school's third grades packed enough meals to feed 60-70 children for a year.
Their “Making a Difference” unit started earlier this year with students analyzing stories about different people who’ve overcome hardships to positively contribute to their communities in a variety of ways. The Feed My Starving Children field trip is a problem-based service learning project that completes this unit of study by providing the students a real-life opportunity to make their own difference in the world.
Instructionally, the “Making a Difference” unit emphasizes cause-and-effect relationships, comparing and contrasting of texts and videos, and speaking and listening skills as students learn about and discuss the big and small ways people can make a difference in the world. It also addresses social-emotional standards by helping students develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success, use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships, and demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts.
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CHECK IT OUT
If you're active on social media, please like and follow the BSD2 Facebook and X pages
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If social media is your thing, we’d love it if you’d visit our Facebook and X pages, click the “like” button, and follow our postings to keep up with the latest BSD2 News.
Just login and search for “Bensenville School District 2.”
You’ll know you’re where you belong when you're on a page with the District's new "Learning & Growing Together" logo shown to the right.
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BSD2 E-FLYERS
Here are the current community flyers posted on the District's website
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District 2 has gone "green" in its approach to distributing community flyers.
Rather than sending flyers home with each student via backpack mail, District and community flyers are posted on the BSD2 E-Flyers page for parents to view or print 24/7.
It is estimated that this saves our schools hundreds of hours per year spent sorting and handling the materials, not to mention the number of trees and other resources saved in producing them.
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Bensenville School District 2
210 S. Church Street
Bensenville, IL 60106
630-766-5940
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