Dear Century Families: The 1st quarter was filled with many exciting activities at Century. We encourage you to spend a few minutes reading our 1st Quarter Wildcat News to keep up with the happenings around Century. Century is an outstanding school filled with amazing students, dedicated staff, and caring parents. As we enter the Thanksgiving season, I remain forever grateful and incredibly proud to be part of our awesome school community. Thank you for all you do to make Century one of the finest schools in the state. As we begin the 2nd quarter, please don’t hesitate to contact any of us at Century. We remain committed to a positive connection between school and home. We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming weeks at Parent-Teacher conferences. In the interim, if we can ever be of any assistance, please know that we are never more than a phone call or email away. Sincerely yours, Brian P. Horn Principal of Century Junior High School

GRADE LEVEL NEWS 6th Grade: The Hallman and White Teams are off to a great start this year! It’s been a busy Fall, but the teachers are pleased with how well the students have adjusted to their lockers and schedules and are falling into developing good routines at school. Please continue to check your child’s grades on PowerSchool and check their daily homework and important announcements on our 6th Grade Homework Website. In Math, students are going to begin exploring ratios and proportional relationships. In Honors Math, students will soon be moving into integers and rational numbers. Both Math and Honors Math will continue to work on the Common Core standards, utilizing Digits. The social studies classes will be starting their unit on Ancient Mesopotamia. Language Arts classes just completed their Launch Unit and are working their way through their unit of Fiction. Finally, science classes are starting a unit on matter.

7th Grade: The Morrey Team and DeVries Teams have had a fantastic first quarter and cannot believe that second quarter is already beginning. Math classes have been learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers and will soon be able to apply unit rates and ratios to real-world scenarios. In Social Studies, the students are just finishing up their unit on the United States Constitution and are preparing for the Constitution Test on November 2. The Veteran’s Breakfast is coming up on November 11th. In Science, we have started a unit on chemistry. Students will be starting an element research project soon along with some fun and messy labs. Language Arts classes have launched Reading and Writing Workshops and are currently working in our Argumentative Essay Unit. Please remind your child to read often at home.

8th Grade: In 8th grade Math classes students are studying equations. We will continue to review solving equations and the real number system throughout the year. We are currently working with exponents. If students are still having trouble with solving equations or any of the current topics we encourage them to attend homework lab after school Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday with Mrs. Bennett until 4:00 pm. In Mrs. Forystek’s Language Arts classes the students have just finished writing their Patriot Pen essays and are off to a great start! Mrs. McGuire’s classes are working on the Reading Fundamentals section of Schoolwide. At the beginning of second quarter, the students in her class will be presenting book talks on a fiction book they have read. Students in Ms. Roedl's science classes are currently studying topics in Astronomy. We have learned why we have the seasons, phases of the moon, and eclipses. During 2nd quarter we will be moving on to other concepts in Astronomy including gravity, galaxies and scale properties of objects in the solar system. Students in Mrs. Cagala’s classes have been working on many different engineering designs related to space exploration. We will continue our unit of Astronomy as we enter into the second quarter. Students in Social Studies have been looking at how the Five Themes of Geography can help us organize information about various parts of the world. We will continue to use the Five Themes to understand the world around us. This quarter we will be applying the Five themes to various countries from around the world. We encourage all parents to register their email with your child’s google classroom account. If you need assistance, please send your email address to one of the team leaders and we will add you to your child’s Google classroom account. jbennett@orland135.org or rcagala@orland135.org

SELF CONTAINED UPDATE Mrs. Ryan: Students have had a great transition into the 2016/2017 school year. Students will begin their second quarter specials on 10/24. Sixth and seventh graders will be taking Music with Ms. Miller. Eighth graders will be taking Health with Mr. Dominguez. Mr. Garrity & Mrs. Wallis: Our students have had an exciting 1st quarter. Mrs. Coe has brought her musical talents to our classes and the kids love it! The 7th grade ended the quarter with a field trip to Cantigny. Our STEAM program is beginning, and the students are looking forward to meeting the new mentors. Speaking of mentors, the Friendship Club had its first party. We had over 13 students from our class participate, and over 20 peer mentors join the fun! We can’t wait until our next meeting in November!

Mr. Callihan: The students have thrown themselves into their school work and routine. Art with Ms. Blaser continues to be a crowd favorite along with Adaptive PE with Mr. O, but Music with Ms. Coe is quickly becoming a contender! We had three students participate in the after school club Friendship Connection and hope to have more able to come next time! STEAM is starting soon, and we look forward to introducing some mentors into the classroom as well!

GERMAN UPDATE Seventh grade students have been working hard to learn how to introduce themselves, ask about age, how people come to school and where people come from. We have started working with sentence structure and using the different personal pronouns. Students created a map of Germany learning about the names of each of Germany’s sixteen states and their capital cities. Our first chapter test will be coming during the second week of quarter two. Eighth graders have been working with food and drink vocabulary, learning about different restaurant and mealtime customs of German speaking cultures as well as doing a lot of speaking activities using the food vocabulary. Our chapter six test will be the first week of quarter two. Both grades had a lot of fun celebrating Oktoberfest with Brezeln (pretzels), Deutsche Schokolade (German chocolate) and Gummibären (gummy bears). The seventh graders watched a video explaining the reasons why Oktoberfest is celebrated and the eighth graders completed an Oktoberfest Trivia scavenger hunt using the official München Oktoberfest Website. Look for information coming home soon regarding our annual field trip to the Christkindlmarket Chicago in December before Winter break.

SPANISH UPDATE First quarter of 6th Grade Spanish has ended. Where did the time go? During the past nine weeks, students were introduced to Spanish through songs, raps, videos, games, and classroom activities. Students learned basic conversational phrases, calendar terms, weather phrases, and how to say what they like or don’t like to do. We had lots of fun and learned mucho! 7th grade students are excited to start learning about “Dia de Los Muertos” in the next few weeks. Look for lots of “Calaveras” in their work coming home. 8th graders are continuing to expand their writing skills and preparing for the Sandburg entrance exam. Please make sure to sign up through Sandburg for the upcoming entrance exam in December. Information was mailed home from Sandburg. ART UPDATE Fall is here and the artists at Century were busy creating fall themed projects. 6th graders created a pumpkin still life based on the beautifully decorated entryway from the Garden Club. They also experimented with watercolor techniques, charcoal pencils and oil pastels. 7th graders created emoji pumpkin chalk drawings and learned how to draw a portrait and figure in proportion. 8th graders used a variety of mediums to design a unique fall project. The combination of 2-D and 3-D artwork can be seen hanging in the hallway and on Twitter. They are also learning about linear perspective and how to create an optical illusion. Over 400 projects have already been added to Artsonia this year. Please visit the world’s largest online art gallery by searching Artsonia.com and typing in Century Junior High. I encourage you to see your child’s artwork and leave comments. I’m very proud of their talents!

PHYSICAL EDUCATION UPDATE Summer weather is leaving us and the cool fall air is rapidly closing in. We want to make sure all of our students are ready for the chilly weather by wearing sweatpants and hoodies if needed. All of the Century P.E. classes have successfully finished with our Football and Soccer Units. Also, every class is now wrapping up our Fitness Testing for the fall. Students are receiving their start of the year scores. We will be training and practicing all year to see an increase in these scores in the spring. Keep up the great work Wildcats! PBIS UPDATE The PBIS Committee had a very successful first quarter! We will continue our fall initiative promoting the “Yes, We Can…” message during the remainder of October and month of November. Please encourage your child to participate in Century’s Spirit Week.

-Monday, Oct 31: Halloween Costumes : There are a few rules that we have established for the benefit and safety of everyone. Please assist us in making certain that your child follows the rules and information.

● Costumes are optional and may be worn to school by all students. ● Costumes need to be school appropriate. ● Make-up may only be applied at home. ● For safety purposes, props and masks are not allowed.

-Tuesday, Nov 1st: Pajama Day -Wednesday, Nov 2nd: Hat Day -Thursday, Nov 3rd: Sports Day -Friday, Nov 4th: “Yes, We Can...” CJH Pride Day

In November, students will be competing in a classroom door decorating challenge finishing the phrase, “Yes, We Can …” A culminating teamwork assembly will be held on Friday, November 20th, where students will be encouraged to wear their classroom’s designated color, as well as work together with their classes as they compete in trivia and athletic based activities against other grade-level classes. The winner of the door decorating contest will also be announced during each grade level assembly! MEDIA CENTER UPDATE We are off to a great start! Students are reading and participating in three different reading programs of their choice; Century Reads, Reader’s Challenge and Battle of the Books. Students who are reading the Rebecca Caudills are encouraged to finish at least 3 by the end of February. Fall Book Fair is coming soon! Nov. 15 - 18 and 21 - 22 (during Parent Teacher Conferences). You can also shop online from Nov. 9th - Nov. 22nd at Century’s Scholastic Book Fair. Don’t forget to check out the Teacher Classroom Wish Lists on display in the Media Center. Also, if you would like to volunteer, please contact me.

6th grade recently had two visitors. Frank Beddor, author of The Looking Glass Wars and his newer book Hatter Madigan wowed them with his fantasy story filled with adventure, danger and battle!

They also heard from the Illinois Cook County ICAC Task Force about digital citizenship and making safe and smart choices online. Use this presentation as springboard to foster a healthy conversation about Digital Citizenship with you child. Or visit Commonsensemedia.org to learn answers to the most common Privacy and Internet Safety questions from parents of tweenagers. Mark your calendars for Thursday, Dec. 8th at 6:30 p.m. Join us at District Office for a Parent Digital Citizenship Night. Presenters from the Illinois State’s Attorney, Cook County ICAC Task Force will be there to discuss Internet Safety and answer your questions. SPORTS NEWS The boys’ softball team played extremely hard all season long and came in 8th place during the regular season, going 4-7. During the tournament the team stepped it up to another level, by winning three games in a row to get to the championship game. The boys played well in the championship but fell just short losing 3-1. It was the first time in school history the boys made it to the championship game. Mr. Degen would like to thank all of the boys and their parents for the great season and for all of the hard work that they put into this year. Great job boys! The girls’ softball team had a fun season competing in the SWIC conference. We played hard, but a loss to Prairie View in the tournament ended the season. Mr. Mallo would like to thank all of the girls and their parents for a great season. Good work, girls! The boys’ cross country team had a great year and placed 3rd at the SWIC Conference Meet. Tommie Siezkowski and Phillip Cavasos finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. The boys also finished 3rd in the SWIC Open Race. Great job boys! Girls cross country finished 3rd place in conference. Emily Ibrahim and Shelby Fuller placed in the top ten for conference. All the cross country girls did a fabulous job all season. Way to go girls!

MUSIC NEWS The Orchestras are busy preparing for their upcoming concerts. The 8th Grade Orchestra Festival is on November 3rd at 7 p.m. at Sandburg. ILMEA is on November 5th at 3 p.m. at Lincoln-Way Central High School. The Century Orchestra Concert is on December 20th at 7 p.m. Congratulations to Madeline Poetzinger, Calvin Villanueva, and Brianna Yi on auditioning and making the ILMEA District 1 Orchestra! Calvin was also nominated as Concertmaster. All three students will be representing the Century Junior High Orchestras. More information on ILMEA: On Saturday, November 5th, 2016, the Illinois Music Educators Association Elementary and Junior High Division will hold its annual District 1 Music Festival at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox, IL. The festival will involve over 500 students selected from more than 60 schools throughout the southwestern metropolitan Chicago area. The Festival Band, Orchestra, and Chorus will present a public Festival Finale Concert to be held at 3p.m. in the Lincoln-Way Central Field House. Appearing in concert will be the 150 member festival band, the 100 piece festival orchestra, and the festival chorus number over 150 voices. The Century Bands have already given several performances. The 8th Grade Band performed for the Century Open House and at The Orland Community EXPO to enthusiastic audiences. The 7th and 8th grade bands combined with the Orland JH, Jerling JH and the Sandburg HS marching band performed at the Sandburg home football game on September 23. They enjoyed spending time with the high school band members and getting a taste of marching band at Sandburg. Members of the 7th and 8th grade bands also performed in small combos to provide music for the Century 20th year anniversary celebration. On November 2nd, the 8th grade band will again join with the musicians from Orland JH, Jerling JH and Sandburg HS to perform in concert at Sandburg HS. They will also perform for the Veteran’s Breakfast at Century on Nov 11. The Century Concert Choir has certainly had a busy year already! This 80-member ensemble performed their ½ hour pop song series for Orland Park’s “Day of Hope” at Orland Square Mall on Saturday, September 17th, and again at the Orland Park Community Expo at Sandburg High School on Saturday, September October 15th. Century Junior High also has the honor of hosting the District 135 Choral Festival on Wednesday, October 26th in the Large Gym. The concert features individual performances from Orland, Jerling and Century Concert Choirs, followed by a large performance of all three choirs combined! This year’s theme is “100 Years of Broadway” and features toe-tapping classics as well as modern Broadway tunes. Century’s after-school competitive choirs are set to audition on Wednesday, December 21st (7th and 8th graders), and Thursday, December 22nd (6th graders). The two competition groups are Clefhangers Show Choir (boys and girls), which rehearses every Wednesday from 3:15-4:45, and Treble Threat A Cappella Choir (girls) which rehearses every Thursday from 3:15-4:45. Choir audition results will be posted outside the music room on Friday, December 23rd, and rehearsal will begin after Winter Break. Further concert and competition information will be available in December on Mrs. Miller-Corp’s website as well as at the audition. Tickets are now on sale for “Elf the Musical”. Show dates are Thursday-Saturday, December 15 (9 a.m.), December 16 (9 a.m. and 7 p.m.), and December 17 (2 p.m.). Prices are $7 adults and $5

children/students/seniors/military. Come join us for this very entertaining and funny show based on the hit movie! For more information please contact a cast member or call the Century office at 708-364-3500. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door. ELECTRONIC GRADES Grades will continue to be viewed electronically for the 2016-2017 school year. Grades are available on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. In order to view your child’s grades, you must have a PowerSchool account set up. You will be notified via email when progress reports and report cards are ready to be viewed. If your child earns a D or an F, a paper copy will also be sent home. We encourage you and your child to check grades on a regular basis. If you have questions about your Parent Portal account or have never set up a district account, please contact Ms. Lee Topf at (708)364-3563.

Quarter 1: Progress Reports Available: 9/23/16

End of Quarter 1: 10/21/16 Report Cards Available: 10/28/16

Quarter 2: Progress Reports Available: 12/2/16

End of Quarter 2: 1/13/17 Report Cards Available: 1/20/17

Quarter 3: Progress Reports Available: 2/16/17

End of Quarter 3: 3/24/17 Report Cards Available: 3/29/17

Quarter 4: Progress Reports Available: 4/28/17

End of Quarter 4: 6/2/17 Report Cards Available: 6/2/17

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES SIGN-UP CONFERENCE DATES: November 21: (12:30 P.M.—8:30 P.M.) November 22: (10:00 A.M.—5:00 P.M.) Time Allotment: 30-minute block of time to meet with your child’s teachers Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled through our online scheduling system. To schedule a conference time, please click on this link where you will be asked for your entry code. Grade level entry codes: 6th Grade: 1PA134959; 7th Grade: 9H6160013; 8th Grade:FGL134961 If you do not have internet access, please contact your child’s team leader who will gladly help schedule your conference.

NEWS FROM THE NURSE Vision and Hearing Screenings will be done at Century Jr. High on December 12th and 13th. Vision screening is done in compliance with the IDPH, mandated by the state, for all 8th grade students. New students and students in special education will also be screened at this time. This is not a substitute for a complete eye and vision examination done by an eye doctor. If your child has a signed report on file with the school signed by their ophthalmologist or optometrist, then he/she is not required to undergo the vision screening. A current eye exam is acceptable within the last 12 months.

Sports Physicals: Please remember if your child is participating in a sport, they will need an up to date sport physical on file before the first practice. These are good for 13 months from the date signed by the physician. A school health physical, such as the 6th grade physical, is acceptable for a sport and is good for 1 year.

Friendly Reminders: Medication administration in school requires a District 135 Order for Medication Administration form to be signed by your physician and kept on file in the health office. This includes prescription and over the counter medication such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Inhalers kept in the student’s possession must have a signed form as well. It is important for the nurse to know if your child has an inhaler in school and where it is kept in case of urgent need. If kept in the health office, inhalers are available for use at all times. This includes after school activities. HOMEWORK LAB Any student needing extra time and help with homework is welcome to come to Homework Lab, located in the Media Center. Morning Homework Lab is Monday thru Friday from 7:30 until 8:15. Afternoon homework Lab runs Monday thru Thursday after school until 4:00. Students must have a ride in order to attend homework lab. PFE The PFE will be hosting a Day of Play fundraiser on Friday, November 18th. Students will have the opportunity to participate in many fun activities during the school day, while raising funds for our PFE. More details to follow soon. The PFE is once again selling gift cards and Marcus Theater tickets through our SCRIP program. Please click here for more details. The gift cards and tickets make great holiday gifts. Please consider attending our next PFE meeting on Thursday, November 17th at 9:00. We are fortunate to have an outstanding PFE who works hard on behalf of the entire Century community. New members are always welcome. SOCIAL MEDIA Keep up with all of the amazing things happening around Century by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

COFFEE TALKS WITH THE CJH COUNSELORS Parents, please mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 9th at 8:45 a.m. The topic of this quarter’s Parent Coffee Talk will be Digital Citizenship , which will also include a special presentation from our resident expert, Amy Hamernick. Please join us for coffee, treats, and great conversation. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP for the Coffee Talk using the link below: Parent Coffee Talk - RSVP form

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION Please continue to save Box Tops for Education labels. A collection box is located near our main office or can be turned in to your child's homeroom teacher. The profits are used to purchase educational materials. Thank you! ABCDE AWARD Do you know a staff member that goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Everyday? If so, please consider nominating them for special recognition from the Orland 135 Board of Education. The program recognizes staff members who demonstrate values of our district culture: Compassion, Inspiration, Respect, Achievement, and Communication. Recognize a Century staff member by clicking here.

UPCOMING DATES #WildcatThemeThursday starts October 31, check out the upcoming themes here.

● Pack the House Game: Boys Volleyball (Blackout) at 4pm - Tuesday, October 25 ● District 135 Choral Festival at CJH at 7pm - Wednesday, October 26 ● Yes, You Can Assembly at 2:15pm - Friday, October 28 ● Report Cards on Power School - Friday, October 28 ● Erin’s Law Presentation during PE classes - Monday, October 31 ● 8th Grade Band Concert at CSHS at 7pm - Wednesday, November 2 ● 8th Grade Orchestra Festival at CSHS at 7pm - Thursday, November 3 ● Sandburg Entrance Exam at CSHS at 8am - Saturday, November 5 ● Institute Day - No School for Students - Tuesday, November 8 ● Election Polling Place at CJH at 6am - Tuesday, November 8 ● Parent Coffee Talk in the Staff Lounge at 8:45am - Wednesday, November 9 ● Pack the House Game: Girls Basketball (Whiteout) at 4pm - Thursday, November 10 ● Veteran’s Breakfast at 9am - Friday, November 11 ● Music Parents Meeting in the Media Center at 5pm - Monday, November 14 ● Board Meeting at Meadow Ridge at 7pm - Monday, November 14 ● PFE Meeting in the Staff Lounge at 9am - Thursday, November 17 ● Parent Teacher Conferences, No School for Students, 12:30-8:30pm - Monday, November 21 ● Parent Teacher Conferences, No School for Students, 10am - 5pm - Tuesday, November 22 ● No School - Wednesday, November 23 - Friday, November 25