We are proud of our accomplishments towards Strategic Plan Goal 1A! Through multiple committees in which a collaborative and thorough review process took place, we are pleased to have high quality and highly rated ELA materials for our students and teachers throughout the district.
Highlights over the past two and a half years include:
- Adoption and implementation of 95% Group Core Phonics Program in Grades K-3
- Adoption and implementation of Open Up Resources EL Education in Grades K-5
- Adoption and implementation of StudySync in Grades 6-8
- Updated and aligned reading intervention materials in grades K-8
- Full alignment of practices to the Illinois State Board of Education's Statewide Literacy Plan
- Professional learning on ELA learning standards, best practices in literacy instruction, and programming implementation
Have you wondered how our district's e-Learning plan was created?
The district formed an e-Learning Committee that included teachers and administrators from each school, representing various grade levels, content areas, and student services to review our previous plan and state requirements.
The district sought feedback from all parents through a survey. 308 parents responded. The survey data was analyzed by both our Parent Advisory Committee and our e-Learning Committee to look for patterns in the data that informed what should stay the same and what should change or be added to our previous plan. The Parent Advisory Committee also gave feedback within one of its meetings.
The district also sought feedback from all teachers and staff through a survey that was analyzed by our e-Learning Staff Committee to look for patterns in the data that informed what should stay the same and what should change or be added to our previous plan. 65 responses were collected. Committee members also gathered feedback from discussions in their schools.
The e-Learning Committee then made modifications to our previous plan based on the above feedback and their experiences. The updated plan recommendations were presented to the Board of Education. The Board of Education then held a public hearing regarding the plan.
The e-Learning plan was approved by our Board of Education and then renewed through the Regional Office of Education for use for the next 3 school years.
And that is how today's plan came to be!
We appreciate everyone's contributions to its development and your support today as we use it! It is a true team effort to make the day the best it can be for our students!
Due to forecasted weather conditions, all Mokena SD 159 schools will have an e-Learning Day tomorrow, February 12th. Please see your email for more information.
Mokena School District’s Strategic Plan (2022-2027) was approved by our Board of Education at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. The Strategic Plan is reflective of extensive feedback from community surveys and community stakeholder engagement meetings. A steering committee of approximately 50 parents, community members, teachers, staff, administrators, and board members reviewed the feedback to develop focus areas with specific goals to set direction for the district for the next five years.
We have crossed the halfway point of our Strategic Plan and to celebrate the many achievements of our students, staff, families, and Board of Education, we will be highlighting the work within our goals over the next few weeks!
For more information about our Strategic Plan, you can visit: https://www.mokena159.org/page/strategic-plan .
We are Mokena proud of 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Janes, for her newly published book! Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!
⭐ Attention 2025-2026 kindergarten families! Please save the date for kindergarten informational night! ⭐
Join us for a "Meet and Greet" with our newly appointed Superintendent. Come meet Mr. Gurney before the February Board meeting!
Friendly reminder, tomorrow is an early dismissal day!
Kindergarten enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is open! Please help us get the word out to all incoming kindergarten families!
Information can be found at: https://sites.google.com/mokena159.org/kindergartenenrollment2025?usp=sharing
Save the date for the junior high musical!
MIS wants to congratulate our January Big Deal Award Winners. We are proud of them for their effort, their leadership, their empathy for others, and for simply being great kids!
Mokena School District will be hosting a blood drive on February 5th. You can make a donation appointment by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or by visiting RedCrossBlood.org.
Two of our 4th grade classrooms are piloting new social studies materials over the next 6 weeks. Pictured here are students practicing their map reading skills as part of a lesson about the regions of the United States.
We hope to see you at the "Winter White Out" volleyball games tonight at the junior high! Wear white and cheer on our girls volleyball teams!
Congratulations to MIS English Language Learner (ELL) Specialist, Ms. Al-Takriti, who recently had an article published on how she uses one of the district's 4th/5th grade digital subscriptions to support and further the learning of our ELL students.
We thank her for sharing with other educators one of the many ways our teaachers go above and beyond to support our students!
We love having the Lincoln Way High School student interns in our district! These seniors are taking a Teaching Intership course that introduces potentional future teachers to the profession.
Today, Miss Caruso (an intern in Mrs. Horsch's class) did a mini lesson with fractions greater than one on a number line. The class assembled a number line ranging from 0 to 4 and then students were invited one at a time to place a fraction on the number line and justify its placement. The fractions were listed as improper fractions, so they had to think carefully about where the fraction would fall between whole numbers.
Schools are open tomorrow, January 21st, for in-person learning!
What do you get when you combine 267 students, 22 parents, and one principal?
AN AWESOME MOVIE MIS MOVIE NIGHT!
Thank you to all of our parent volunteers, it was a wonderful night.
At the January Board of Education meeting, our prinicpals presented a mid-year update on each school's progress towards their 2024-2025 goals. Our school improvement planning process reflects a district-wide commitment to continual growth in what we do for our students. We are very proud of the students and teachers for their hard work and progress made so far this year! ⭐🚀 ☄️
We did it! Finally back outside and we were able to use our new play surface!The area received 2 thumbs up from our students. When the weather permits, more will be added for our students: a pavilion, benches, a basketball hoop, soccer goals, and Gaga Ball are all in the works.
