It is December now- the season for focused work and blissful learning
The 40th annual Children’s Christmas Party for low-income families will be held Saturday, December 10th from 9 a.m. – noon at the Midwest Food Bank, 2031 Warehouse Road in Normal. There will be a gift and food distribution along with a special guest appearance: Santa! This will be a drive-in, drive-out event and packages will be loaded in vehicles. Children are welcome but do not have to attend. Registration is required and can be accessed at shorturl.at/FGUY5. Please sign up no later than Monday, December 5th. This event is brought to our community by the McLean County Chamber of Commerce and the local Trades and Labor Unions
Congratulations to former RAS student/family services coordinator Kevin Jones on being honored as one of the IPCF Philanthropist of the Year. We are so proud of your intentional efforts to make our community, region, country and world a better place!
The Boys & Girls Club is hosting their annual Holiday Shopping Spree for our Boys & Girls Club families and a limited number of community families. Families walk through the shopping area and pick out toys, winter items, and other necessities for their children and family including a food box with all the fixings for your Holiday dinner.
Distribution of toys will be Saturday December 17th from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.
To sign up for a time slot and for more information contact Leslie Adams at 309-829-3034 ext. 112 or ladams@bgcbn.org.
We are grateful to all veterans, but have a special affinity to Mr. Folkens and Mr. Eddins for their service - Past and Present :)
💚 Today, RAS Staff participated in Project Oz’s #WearGreenDay for #NRPM2022 💚
👨🏻🍳🍗👩🏿🍳🍠👨🏼🍳🍎👩🏾🍳🥖🧑🏽🍳🥔👩🏻🍳🧈🧑🏼🍳🫓We had another great Inquiry Day today as part of our III Wednesdays! Students had to take a food handlers course and pass the ServSafe exam to earn a certificate in order to participate in our holiday cooking class. Students were taught how to be cost-effective with food (utilizing local food pantries, etc), in addition to how to use small kitchen appliances to prepare full meals. We prepared a one-pan Thanksgiving meal and apple crisp, all with food from our pantry using kitchen equipment we purchased through grants from PNC and the Illinois Retired Teachers Association Foundation. Kenji, one of our ISU TCH 212 students, was on-hand to help out and offer his sous chef skills, which came in handy!
Friendly Reminder- No School Tuesday November 8th
RAS students will have the opportunity throughout this school year to participate regularly in mindfulness and yoga activities. We are partnering with Kelly H. from Unit 5's Special Education Department, who also happens to be a certified yoga instructor. We hope to help students redirect scattered energy and regain peace and focus!
Another great III day- the inquiry lesson was focused on automotive technologies, EV's, review of automotive trends (past and present), and we made some future plans as well. The Sun was shining and a few students wanted to prep a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda for it's winter hibernation.
🧡🌼🌹💀🕯🍬🥐 🍰🍊🎉RAS students helped prepare for Día de los Muertos, which is celebrated November 1st & 2nd. We have an ofrenda with traditional food and candy, plus photos of loved ones who have passed away. Our students have the opportunity to learn about this special holiday while at school. Our Día de los Muertos ofrenda and decor help add knowledge and color to our hallways!
We would like to thank the Men of Illinois State University’s chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (Epsilon Chi) for their community outreach and appreciation of our teaching staff. We enjoyed fresh, fried chicken for lunch today, which was a nice break from our boring salads and leftovers! Thank you, Damon and Kendall, for coordinating and delivering this tasty food!
Our middle school team had a fun time taking some of our students to the 14th annual BACC Career Expo! Our students got to try out several job simulations and talk to professionals in those fields. They were able to learn about cool job opportunities that were not previously aware of. It is always a good time when we can empower students to be able to think about their futures beyond their school careers! One of our students practiced cookie decorating with the BACC Culinary Arts. Another student learned how to patch a gunshot wound with the EMTs and he also learned how to give CPR to someone who is unconscious! One of our students had a great time handcuffing Mr. Krause with the BPD!
Another successful III Day in the books! Mr. O’Kraski led two groups of students in the workshop today. Their goal was to create a stand for Mr. Keller’s classroom fish tank. Finished product coming soon…stay tuned! #SkillBuilding #workshop #LifelongSkills
Happy Bossincipal’s Day to our fearless leader! We fused Boss’s Day (10/16) and Principal’s Day (10/21) and celebrated Mr. Kendall today. He guides us with patience, humor, and conscious leadership and we are appreciative and grateful he’s ours. We hope you enjoyed the “Tailgate”!
Changing displays in a school is a PROCESS. Teamwork went into transforming this bulletin board to showcase Hispanic Heritage. Mrs. Quick brought in a couple
of recruits over the weekend to take down the old board. A few Digital Wing students shared ideas to inspire the design of the board, while some students have completed research to contribute to expanding our knowledge of Hispanic Heritage. Iris completed our nod to Frida Kahlo and added colorful texture to enhance the visual rhetoric in our building.
Reminder- No School for students on Friday, September 30th. RAS Staff will be engaged in reviewing and revising our current school improvement plans.
We had a great III Day yesterday! The purpose of III Day is to engage students in Inquiry, Intervention, and Internship. Mr. O’Kraski led students in a training on basic workshop equipment to help prepare them for skills and knowledge they may need in the future. Safety was the top priority and students had fun with this hands-on experience!
Green Beans/Negative Labels- Who likes either? Our Middle School program is tearing off their negative labels and replacing them with positive ones. Here are some of our kiddos who are: funny, strong, and dependable!
RAS staff had the opportunity to vote today on which staff embodied being a great teammate, with the reward being a Steak Lunch with tomato salad and pepper hash. Some recipients ate very well, others passed the reward on to deserving colleagues. Regardless, all staff were the recipients of votes, once again highlighting how fortunate we are to have a self-less team :)
