Due to our snow days this year, our last day will now be May 28th with an 11:30 dismissal. Pre-school's last day will be May 27th.
In our Sixth-Grade March Madness Interdisciplinary Unit , students explored colleges in a fun, competitive, and creative way. Each student was randomly assigned a college and followed its progress through a classroom-wide bracket, making predictions and tracking results as the tournament unfolded.
In ELA, students strengthened their writing skills by creating acrostic poems about their assigned colleges and composing a road trip narrative. In their stories, they planned travel stops and included a detailed campus tour, using descriptive language to bring their colleges to life. They also completed a career quiz to research a potential future career connected to their college, based on their strengths and interests.
In Math, students worked with real-time data from the March Madness bracket, tracking matchups and outcomes. They also designed school pennants, blending creativity with visual design to represent their colleges.
In Geography and Social Studies, students mapped all class colleges to develop a sense of location and distance. They created bar graphs comparing distances from home to campus and built timelines highlighting key historical moments for each college, connecting geography, data analysis, and historical thinking.
The unit culminated in a large presentation in the library, where students shared their research with peers and their team of teachers. They did a fantastic job!
In ELA, students strengthened their writing skills by creating acrostic poems about their assigned colleges and composing a road trip narrative. In their stories, they planned travel stops and included a detailed campus tour, using descriptive language to bring their colleges to life. They also completed a career quiz to research a potential future career connected to their college, based on their strengths and interests.
In Math, students worked with real-time data from the March Madness bracket, tracking matchups and outcomes. They also designed school pennants, blending creativity with visual design to represent their colleges.
In Geography and Social Studies, students mapped all class colleges to develop a sense of location and distance. They created bar graphs comparing distances from home to campus and built timelines highlighting key historical moments for each college, connecting geography, data analysis, and historical thinking.
The unit culminated in a large presentation in the library, where students shared their research with peers and their team of teachers. They did a fantastic job!
Seneca Grade School Community!
Help SGS 170 plan for our future! The district is looking to hear from the community to help us create our five-year strategic plan. Please consider completing the following quick survey so we can take your feedback into account during this important time for the district.
Go Raiders!
https://forms.gle/TfFszcxrNb9KmXWE8
Help SGS 170 plan for our future! The district is looking to hear from the community to help us create our five-year strategic plan. Please consider completing the following quick survey so we can take your feedback into account during this important time for the district.
Go Raiders!
https://forms.gle/TfFszcxrNb9KmXWE8
This week's events
SOCU visited our kindergarten students on Thursday afternoon to talk about the importance of saving money. Students listened to a story and decorated their own piggy banks. Since the penny won't be in circulation much longer, the kindergarten teachers wanted to make sure each student had one to keep in their banks! 🪙
The 8th graders spent some time building parachutes for Peeps! They had to work within the project criteria and constraints to build a parachute that slowed down the fall of the Peep as much as possible.
Congratulations to Elly Thompson, our recipient of the LaSalle County Schools Committee Student Excellence Award.
The 8th grade students were able to attend a dairy presentation by Southwest Dairy Farmers at the SHS Land Lab today. It was a great opportunity to learn! Thank you to the SHS Ag Department for including us!
Happy School Librarian Day.! Thank you Mrs. Lain and Mrs. Mancuso!
We are looking forward to meeting our incoming kindergarten students!
Paraprofessional Appreciation day was April 1st. As we return from spring break we would love to acknowledge our wonderful paraprofessionals here at SGS. Thank you for all you do, we are so lucky to have you!
7th and 8th grade started their spring break with their annual badminton tournament. Congratulations to Sawyer and Liam for being crowned this year's champions!
SGS kindergarten students were excited to get a special visit from the Easter Bunny this week! 🐰
Our 5th graders wrapped up the week before spring break with one of our favorite annual traditions—the Connect 4 Tournament! There was lots of strategy, friendly competition, and plenty of excitement as students battled it out for bragging rights. Such a fun way to celebrate all of their hard work and head into break!
On Thursday, March 26th Seneca Grade School hosted Solo & Ensemble Contest with MVK and Milton Pope. SGS students participated in 59 events and created an evening of fantastic music-making! Out of 86 total events, 4 SGS events received the Best of Day designation in their room. Best of Day recipients are pictured. Back Row: Avery Jankowski (piano solo), Camille Geier and Sara Bruno (flute/trombone duet), Emiliano Avila (alto saxophone solo); Front Row: Bailey Schaefer, Nora Douglas, and Danielle Kinser (flute trio).
Eighth graders and their kindergarten buddies teamed up for an afternoon of Froot Loop math, graphing colors, and playing Bingo. It's hard to tell what was harder: accurately tallying the colors or resisting the urge to eat the "math supplies" before the graphing was finished. Buddy Day is the Best Day!
Seneca students showcased their mathematical talents at the recent Math IVC Contest, earning impressive results across multiple grade levels.
The 6th grade team placed 6th overall, highlighted by outstanding individual performances. Lilah Baker earned a 1st place medal, while Nolan Smith secured 4th place individually.
The 7th grade team had a strong showing, finishing in 2nd place. Individually, Camille Geier brought home a 2nd place medal, Eleanor Stein placed 3rd, and Jocelyn Lee earned 4th place.
The 8th grade team also achieved a 2nd place finish. Nora Douglas earned a 2nd place medal, and Max Andreatta placed 3rd individually.
Overall, the Raiders earned an impressive 2nd place finish as a school, reflecting the hard work and dedication of all participating students. Congratulations to everyone involved in a fantastic competition!
The 6th grade team placed 6th overall, highlighted by outstanding individual performances. Lilah Baker earned a 1st place medal, while Nolan Smith secured 4th place individually.
The 7th grade team had a strong showing, finishing in 2nd place. Individually, Camille Geier brought home a 2nd place medal, Eleanor Stein placed 3rd, and Jocelyn Lee earned 4th place.
The 8th grade team also achieved a 2nd place finish. Nora Douglas earned a 2nd place medal, and Max Andreatta placed 3rd individually.
Overall, the Raiders earned an impressive 2nd place finish as a school, reflecting the hard work and dedication of all participating students. Congratulations to everyone involved in a fantastic competition!
After completing a nonfiction unit on natural disasters in ELA, our 5th graders read the novel Earthquake Terror and finished with a hands-on challenge. Students built survival shelters and tested them on an earthquake simulator.
As part of the 6th grade March Madness interdisciplinary unit of study, students in Ms. Craig’s science class put their engineering skills to the test through an exciting STEM challenge. Students were tasked with designing and building catapult launchers capable of sending a ping pong ball into a basket. Using the engineering design process, they planned, built, tested, and redesigned their catapults to improve accuracy and performance. The classroom was filled with energy as students eagerly tested their creations, problem-solved through redesigns, and proudly shared their results with peers. This hands-on activity provided a fun and engaging way for students to apply science, technology, engineering, and math concepts in a collaborative and creative learning environment.
For the past month, Second Grade has been working on their African animal research projects. In honor of March Madness, we created our own "African Animal Matchup". The students got to vote on which animal they think would win in each match up. We concluded the matchups today with our winner...African Wild Dog! The students really enjoyed learning about each animal and making connections to their own research. It has been a fun project!