W-E Schools District Focus November, 2013 | Page 4

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n an effort to improve student achievement the Special Education Supervisors are working very hard on a "rollout" of Read & Write Gold. Read &
Write Gold is a software program that can
assist our students in a number of ways.
This software can not only read text out
loud to students it can also allow students
to create documents by dictating into a microphone on the computer. Additionally it
can convert text to a sound file and assist
students in writing through the "word prediction" feature. Our English Language
Learning students will benefit from the ability to translate not only single words but
complete paragraphs. The word dictionary

-Eileen Bowers, Pupil Services Director

and the picture dictionary are sure to assist
all children in expanding their vocabulary.
The Supervisors have been working closely
with computer services to not only offer the
software to students during school hours,
but outside of school on USB drives. In giving students the opportunity to use this
software outside of school, it will not only
improve student achievement, but promote
more time on task outside of the school day.
Additionally, using this software will better
prepare our students for the delivery of accommodations that will be found on the
PARCC Assessments in the very near future.

“Personally, I am very thankful for my family
and close friends. They are the most important thing
to me. They help me get through the rough times
and celebrate the good times. I love just knowing I
have them and I also know how fortunate I am to
have them.” Dawn Igarashi, Principal's SecretaryLongfellow Elementary School

Chicago Field Trip!
The Foreign Language departments from both North and
South combined for their fourth trip to Chicago. Upper
level Spanish students, courses IV and V, headed to Chicago in October which is home to the largest Latino population in the Midwest. The chaperones were teachers Beth
Visnick, Elena Frangiodaukis, Cheryl Evanko and Marie
Forsell-Fill. Mrs. Visnick said that Chicago is a great
place to take the Spanish students because “it is easy to
travel there , there’s plenty to do for the three days and it
is affordable.”
The highlights included:
-Guided tour of the "Day of the Dead" exhibit at the Mexican Fine Arts Museum
-Exploration of Little Village
-Sampling of Spanish cuisine at Emilio's Tapas y Sol...students sampled a variety of "tapas",
paella and flan
-Various opportunities to use Spanish
-Medieval Times features a show that highlights knights from Spain
-The Ancient Americas and other exhibits at the Field Museum
-Visits to the Navy Pier, Millennium Park, Skydeck and Shedd Aquarium