Cougar Campus News

Important Dates:

• November 18-20 Fall Play
• November 22 Blood Drive
• November 23 Teacher Institute – No School
• November 24/25 Thanksgiving Recess – No School
• December 3/4 Madrigal Dinner
• December 10 Explore Testing
• December 12 Collage Concert
• December 21 Last Day of Attendance Before Winter Break
• January 3 Classes Resume Following Winter Break
• January 11/12 Semester Exams
• January 13 End of Semester 1
• January 13 Teacher Institute – No School
• January 16 Martin Luther King’s Birthday – No School

From the Desk of Dan Goggins:

Homecoming week was a huge success with incredible participation from students, parents, and community for each activity. It was nice to see a number of Cougar alumni return for homecoming as well. The student/principal reception, staff/principal reception, and Cougar Caravan were great opportunities for me to learn what things PSHS is doing well and what things are in need of improvement. Parent teacher conferences were also a success with over 1,300 meetings between teachers and parents. I hope you feel as I do that the action plans put in place this year to improve parental and community involvement and communication have helped get us on the right path. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Research clearly states that the best type of parental involvement most significantly impacting student achievement is that when parents actually visit the school, attending school programs, extracurricular activities, teacher conferences, and curriculum nights. I ask that you take it upon yourself to make good in some way on the suggestion from the research.

As always: IT’S good to be a cougar!

From the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs 100 Ways for Parents to be Involved in Their Child’s Education:

21. Meet your child’s friends and get to know their parents.

22. Contact your school for information on family programs and resources.

23. Attend workshops and seminars on various parenting topics.

24. Assist in creating and/or offer your services to before and after school programs.

25. Discuss your child’s school day and homework daily.

26. Learn your child’s strengths and weaknesses in different areas of school.

27. Provide a quiet, well-lighted place with basic school supplies for studying/homework.

28. Help your students break down projects into smaller, more manageable steps.

29. Develop a consistent daily routine and time for studying and homework.

30. Provide encouragement and approval for effort and schoolwork.

Fall Play:

Pygmalion will be performed in the PSHS auditorium Friday, November 18^th and Saturday, November 19^th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 20^th at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for students/seniors and can be purchased at the door. You may contact Krystal Oh at 815/577-5902 or koh@learningcommunity202.org for more information.

On-line Journaling:

Myspace.com, mydiary.com, livejournal.com, AOL and Yahoo, as well as, Xanga.com are some of the most common sources of social networking for teenagers today. These sites integrate web profiles, blogs (on-line journaling known as posts), e-mail, photos, and chat rooms that are easily accessible to the users and outside parties interested in reading. Unfortunately, teenagers fall prey to making themselves easy targets because they tend to divulge information about their interests, likes and dislikes, family vacations, athletic meets or game schedules, all of which can be used by strangers to engage in conversations, or give them access to locations your child will be at.

Some parents are confused about this type of journaling, and may wonder what the difference is between the two. Blogrings are different from instant messages and e-mails in that IM’s and e-mails are sent to specific individuals that your child knows. Blogrings are available to all Internet users 24/7. These blogs often allow for other bloggers to respond or comment on the original blog entries, creating what’s known as “blogrings”.

Not only have these journals led to revealing too much personal information, but also has lead to a new breed of bullying call “cyber bullying”. Dealing with bullying while your child is in high school is hard enough, but add to the fact that you now have e-mails, instant messages, chat rooms and text messaging on cell phones to enforce their tactics.

At this point in your child’s schooling, parents aren’t sure if they should get involved in this area of their lives, or concerned they may be snooping in an area they do not understand. But remember: it’s not like you’re snooping, or breaking the lock to their diary. They posted this information for the world to see and it is your responsibility to know where they are going and what they are doing on the web.

If you are interested in checking the sites your child has visited on the internet, follow these steps:

1. Click the “my computer” icon

2. Click on the (C:) icon

3. Click on the “windows” folder

4. Click on the four folders to view the sites accessed with the computer:

a. History

b. Cookies

c. Temp

d. Temporary internet files

Xanga seems to be the most popular site among our teens, and is extremely user friendly. If you are interested in seeing if your child has a Xanga site or has been to this site, check your computer’s history. But parents interested in finding their child’s site can go to Xanga and search the Blogrings. Start by searching for “Plainfield South”, you don’t even need to be a user to read the entries. However, it is free and easy to register as a user.

Better yet, ask your child if they belong to one of these sites, and talk to them about internet safety and what your expectations and concerns are. Reinforce the fact that not everyone is who he or she appears to be and giving out personal and family information can be extremely dangerous. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your student’s dean at 815/439-5555.

Student Services Department:

We have initiated a new program for parents. Our first meeting was November 2^nd and was a morning coffee with the counselors on the topic of the registration process for school year ’06. Those parents who attended were very encouraged and excited about this opportunity to dialogue with Counselors Ronda Jenkins and Deb Lee and hosted by Natalie Kleefisch. Future coffees with the counselors are being planned for the months of December, January, February, March and April on various topics. The December 7^th meeting will highlight the topic of “Paying for College”, and will be presented by Counselors Jamie Frodyma and Shelley Naheedy.

S.T.E.P./Teen Program:

S.T.E.P./Teen is a program that teaches effective parenting to District 202 residents. Building responsibility and improving relationships between parents and teenagers will be the focus of a series of discussions beginning Wednesday, November 30^th, at 6:00 p.m. at Plainfield South High School. Meetings will continue every Wednesday at the same time through January 25^th, 2006. The program is being sponsored by the Student Services Department and will be facilitated by Josh Bloodgood, school Social Worker, and Ronda Jenkins, school Counselor. The discussions will be based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting of Teens (S.T.E.P./Teen). Parents of children in 7^th – 12^th grades are encouraged to attend!

S.T.E.P./Teen is a sequel to Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (S.T.E.P.), the most widely used parent education program in the country. S.T.E.P./Teen encourages mutual respect between parents and teens. It leads to increased cooperation, more effective communication and a more responsible, self-reliant attitude among teenagers. Please RSVP to Josh Bloodgood if you will be attending any of these sessions. For more information, please contact Josh Bloodgood at Plainfield South High School, 815/577-5515 or jbloodgo@learningcommunity202.org.

Foreign Language Department:

The Plainfield South German Club and Honor Society will take its 5^th Annual trip to the German Christmas Market in Daley Plaza in Chicago on Saturday, December 10^th. The students will get to visit an authentic German market and experience German food, music, gifts, chocolates and more. The German Christmas Market invites vendors from Germany to share their wares with the citizens of the Chicago-land area. Thus, the students will have a wonderful opportunity to use their language skills to speak not only with the vendors, but also with the large number of Chicago residents of German heritage who visit this beautiful market every year.

The Spanish Honor Society is hosting an after school elementary school Spanish program for grades K-2. The classes are being held from 4:30 until 5:15 on each Tuesday of November and December. Twenty-five students from the “Blue House” elementary schools are participating. The students have been working with greetings, the alphabet, colors and numbers and will continue with topics such as sports, school objects, food and other basic fun-to-learn topics. The program has been so well received that there is already a waiting list for the next time should the program run again. At that time, a fee will be determined so that supplies can be bought and funds be used for good causes.

Leadership Conference:

Fifty-one Latino PSHS students had the opportunity to attend the Si Se Puede leadership conference November 9^th at Lewis University. Students heard a variety of presentations about financial aid, selecting post-secondary schools, and the role of education in Latino culture. The keynote speaker was Dr. Juan Andrade, presidential medal recipient and current president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. Dr. Andrade reflected on his childhood and emphasized the importance of education as the foundation of the future of the Latino community. Students had an opportunity to hear from a variety of university students and working adults about their experiences in higher education and the impact education has had on their lives.

Juniors:

On November 3^rd, juniors at PSHS learned about careers in the military, where the high demand jobs are, how to choose a college and what an apprenticeship is. Speakers Gail Pande from the Department of Employment Security, Thomas Dardis from Three Rivers Construction Alliance, Mark Smith and Keith Tillman from Joliet Junior College, DJ Jones from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and officers from various branches of the military presented post-secondary options to the students, their teachers and their counselors.

Congratulations:

A Cougar Congratulations goes out to Ali Rigell, Lauren Vacca, Rachel Zahora, and Annette Padilla for their selection into the Joliet Junior College Area Art Show. Annette received an award of merit for her self portrait in cubism, the first award at JJC in PSHS history! Way to go Annette!

Ethnic Feast:

In the spirit of giving, the PSHS Multi-Cultural Club hosted an ethnic feast on Thursday, Nov. 17^th in the school cafeteria. All staff and students were invited to attend and were requested to bring an ethnic dish to share, as well as a non-perishable food item or toiletry. Donated items were given to the Plainfield Interfaith Food Pantry.

Presentation:

Cheryl Ricciardi, school social worker presented a workshop for parents at the Shorewood Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 15^th. The focus was “Raising Responsible Teens in Today’s World”. The workshop was free and open to the public.

Congratulations to Our October Students of the Month:

Applied Arts: English: FAML: Math:

Mike Arriola Bianca Arellano James Anderson Cory Eppenstein

Matt Luczak Domenico Labellarte Macy Cilella Jakob Ludzik

Jacob Meehan Brian Miller Jaimie Duff Rico Santos

Sandra Weber David Thompson Anna Pangilinan Brett Tomasko

Physical Ed.: Science: Social Studies: Special Ed.:

Rebecca Gallico Bobbie Otto Kyle Doyle Stephanie Harris

Travis Mueller Lauren Bonano Kamile Jaskeviciute Michal Mroz

Ronnie Smith Rashun Jones Brad Kaput

Bridgette McGuire Zach Pierce Breanda Nava

Zach Theobald