High Interest Books for Students

The third grade teachers received two "bookshelves" from the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project curated by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues. They include a Mystery Shelf (Grade 3) and a High-Interest Fiction Shelf (Gr. 3-Below Benchmark)

Students develop a passion for reading when they have access to books that are at their level and are of interest. These bookshelves provide titles that are appropriate for third grade students and will help ensure that all students have access to quality literature. The third grade teachers believe that having access to these books will help foster a love of learning and will result in student growth as readers.

3D45 Dremel 3D printer

3D printing has become standard practice in colleges and technical schools looking to provide students access to fast prototyping and parts manufacturing on-site in the fast-paced world of digital fabrication.

In Lake Bluff, students benefit from access to a 3D printer first through the simple acquisition of knowledge to new technologies. They become aware that creating something from nothing is an important aspect of utilizing today’s technologies to solve real-world problems. Once they have an introduction to the capabilities of a 3D printer, they are able to move to a more important (and exciting) step in their education: innovation. Through hands-on activities and problem based learning techniques, students are able to turn to 3D printing to rapidly test out prototypes and make necessary adjustments prior to finalizing their parts. 3D printing can be implemented across multiple subject areas.

8th Grade Book Club Books

After reading To Kill a Mockingbird as a shared class novel experience, students often feel passionate about the issues and themes that resonate in the novel.  As an extended learning experience, the LB Middle School developed a book club unit to enable students to continue examining these themes, and more, in young adult novels that take place in their current world.  In selecting books we considered choice, level, and connections to the whole-class novel.  Many of the titles selected are newly published novels that are highly recommended in the literary community.  

Current topics include issues about race and ethnicity, immigration, physical and mental disabilities, family, loss, bullying, body image, gender, and so much more.  Students are able to explore these issues through a thematic focus in a collaborative book club experience.  Not only do these books provide a literary experience for students, but it will also helps to build the social/emotional intelligence as well.

Mind Yeti School Program

Take a Seat, Relax, and Listen

MindYeti is a program that teaches mindfulness to students Grade 1-5. There are long periods of Math, Science, Reading, and Writing. At times, the student's bodies and minds are distracted with the noise of their environment. Mind Yeti is a classroom based program that will help students learn mindfulness.

Mind Yeti was developed by mindfulness and social-emotional learning experts to be an easy way to take a purposeful pause.

• For kids in Kindergarten through Grade 5 (and their adults)

• 15 short, free-forever audio sessions

• A growing library of premium content

• Available on web and iOS

X-Carve - 3D carving and CNC

The X-Carve by Chicago-based company, Inventables, enables the LB Middle School to blend the digital art program with studio art. X-Carve allows our students to transform their digital creations into physical works of art.  The X-Carve will benefit all art students in 6th-8th grade every trimester they are in art (approximately 150 students per trimester).

Students love working with new technology and it is a large part of our curriculum in both STEAM and art class.  Allowing students to blend both studio art and digital art together in one space provides an amazing experience for many of our budding artists.

eReaders for LBMS Library

A new fleet of Kindle eReaders allow students to access ebooks and audiobooks using their Lake Bluff Library card as well as library media from our own middle school library. The opportunity enables some of our more challenged readers an opportunity to read with privacy necessary to feel confident in developing their own pace of reading. All ebooks look the same, whether they’re heavy-duty tomes or lightweight novels. This is particularly important for struggling readers, who don’t want to be seen reading “baby books.” Struggling readers will also receive support by being able to instantly find the definitions of words in the text. An eReader will also be useful for students with any vision impairments, as they will be able to enlarge text and change the text color. In addition, our English Language Learners will also benefit, as eReaders can conform to various languages.