🕷️🧛 Happy Halloween from Mokena School District 159! 🎃👻







"When one runs, we all run!" 🏃♀️💨 MJHS students never hesitate to jump in and support their peers during the PACER Test — that’s true Meteor spirit! Today there was one runner left and many students volunteered to stand in a line and run down and back with the remaining runner to motivate them to keep going!

⭐ Congratulations to the MES Monthly Star Winners! Your character shines bright! ⭐
(not pictured: third graders as they are on a field trip)



6th grade scientists are builiding and using fan cars to learn about Newton's Third Law of Motion!









👻 What a spooktacular night! The PTA's Junior High Halloween Dance Party was full of amazing costumes, great music, and tons of fun!
A big thanks to everyone who helped make it a night to remember! 🕸️
A big thanks to everyone who helped make it a night to remember! 🕸️









Second grade students planted tulip bulbs around MES this past week! Not only will the MES grounds be blossoming with beautiful flowers in the spring, the flowers will also help our second graders further their study of pollinators and plants in the ELA units later in the year!




Thank you to Fire Marshal Tom Murray for joining MIS Monday and Tuesday. All of our students participated in his presentations, which were both educational and engaging. The focus varied by grade level; our 4th graders discussed proper addressing and our 5th graders participated in a review game show.




🎶 Our Meteor Bands, Orchestra, and Choir put on a fantastic fall concert Thursday night! 🎵










4th grade students enjoyed their field trip to Big Run Wolf Ranch where they learned about animals and their defense mechanisms. This trip provides students with real life background knowledge for their next ELA module all about this topic! Thank you to the Mokena PTA for sponsoring this field trip for our students!










Congratulations to Dr. Kristin Johnson (Assistant Superintendent for Instruction) for presenting at today's Illinois Association for Gifted Children's Annual Conference. She presented a session to other leaders about our district's programming review with Northwestern University, our Advanced Learner Task Force's work, and the implementation of recommendations to strengthen advanced learner services in the district!

8th graders in Ms. Horsch’s Tech and Design class participated in a Zoom Q & A presentation with Dr. Marty Purushottam, one of the electrical engineers involved in TIME Magazine’s Most Innovative Inventions. During the event, students learned about his career path that led him into robotics and working for Figure AI.
Thank you to MJH substitute Mrs. Burns-Casey for helping to organize this opportunity!
Thank you to MJH substitute Mrs. Burns-Casey for helping to organize this opportunity!



Today is World Occupational Therapy Day! We thank our district's occupational therapists for all they do for our students in helping them to improve their physical, sensory, cognitive, and social-emotional skills!

Kinderbuddies got into the Halloween spirit this week crafting spooky witches and fun memories!









Our preschoolers enjoyed a "Fall Scavenger Hunt" on our Early Release Day! It was a chilly fall day, but they did a great job finding all of the fall items around the playground!



🎃 So much creativity and spirit at tonight's Pumpkin Decorating Contest hosted by the Mokena PTA! 🎃
7th grade scientists are using their microscopes to observe cells upclose to determine if they are plant or animal cells!








4th grade poets presented their poems and inspiration for why they wrote the poems as part of the final performance task of their poetry and poets module in ELA! Each poem was very unique and gave us a glimpse into what is special to each student!










It's National School Bus Safety Week and to celebrate the last day, we are showing our gratitude and appreciate to our Mokena bus drivers for all they do each day to ensure our students arrive safely to and from school each day. Please leave your bus driver a shoutout in the comments below!

Seventh graders in Tech and Design completed their final project this week. The results were very fun and creative! They were able to choose between:
💡Design and program a device that provides for a safer condition after dark, is wearable, and can be activated by the wearer or an environmental condition such as low light.
💡Design and program a device that dispenses objects when an environmental interaction occurs. The device must use a motor to dispense objects.
💡Design and program a device that provides for a safer condition after dark, is wearable, and can be activated by the wearer or an environmental condition such as low light.
💡Design and program a device that dispenses objects when an environmental interaction occurs. The device must use a motor to dispense objects.










Congratulations to MIS teachers Ms. Nisrin Al-Takriti and Mrs. Fabiola Huerta for presenting on Wednesday to educators from across the state at the Association of Illinois Middle-grade Schools (AIMS) Newtwork Institute. They presented a session highlighting effective instructional strategies they use with our multilingual students in their co-teaching classroom to promote language growth and proficiency in the domains of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Thank you for representing Mokena SD 159 so well!

