Mrs. Rutan and her students are thriving by participating in STEM activities! Kinesthetic learning is so much fun!!
Wedding day!! Q & U are officially hitched!! Our Kindergarten had so much fun celebrating!
Thank you to our Little Hawks and PreK families who braved the cold to learn about youth sports opportunities! Also, thank you to Meridian Youth League, A&M Area Soccer League, Decatur Park District, and The Dance Centre for your time in speaking to our families and providing information about local activities to get our kids involved. Each family left with a pass to Scovill Zoo, Splash Cove, and Overlook Adventure Park donated by The Decatur Park District and one lucky family won a gift basket with dance lessons donated by The Dance Centre! Thanks for your generous donations to our future Hawks and our PreK students!
Meridian Elementary is accepting applications for a classroom aide position!
Congratulations to Elizabeth Nolan, Reyna Gaddis, Cali Stonecipher, Wren Pfeiffer, and Caleb Smithers for being selected to the 2025 Young Artist Showcase at the Madden Arts Center in Decatur, IL! Don't miss your chance to see their work!
Students return Tuesday, January 7th. In an effort to keep everyone healthy there's a friendly reminder below.
Meridian Elementary has an opening for a first grade teacher to begin the second semester.
Beginning last April, the district began a project to upgrade all classroom instructional technology which was 9-10 years old. Funded entirely through a grant, the district has invested $165,460 and has updated 54 classrooms with new instructional technology! Lower elementary classrooms received new 85" Smartboards, while upper grade levels are utilizing 75" displays with an iPad for the interactive component.
In an effort to keep our school safe, we ask only those who signed up to help, join our class Christmas parties. Please check into the office upon arrival.
Ms. Bourisaw's 4th Graders enjoyed writing friendly letters to family & friends to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It was fun walking up to the post office to mail them today!
Thank you to the families who joined us for our Little Hawks Sensory Play Night!! We had so much fun!! Thank you to the Sholtis Family for donating pumpkins from their garden and thank you to our high school helpers!!
Meridian Elementary would like to thank our high school SADD members for reading books about making healthy choices during Red Ribbon Week!
5th Grade students worked with their kindergarten buddies this afternoon to create "Monster Mouths" and learn a little bit about pneumatics. Buddies then created a name and story about their monsters.
Thank You to Hudson Orthodontics for visiting our Meridian 4th Graders today! We enjoyed learning about taking better care of our teeth and that getting braces isn't so scary afterall! October is National Orthodontic Health Month! 😁
At the October 21, Board of Education meeting, the Meridian BOE issued the following public statement:
“As contract negotiations continue between the Board of Education and the Meridian Federation of Teachers, the district wishes to inform the public of the status of negotiations. On Wednesday, October 16, the Meridian Federation of Teachers initiated a public posting process with the State of Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. With this process, both the MFT and the district will submit their most recent proposal to the Labor Relations Board within seven days. Subsequently, the Labor Relations Board will publicly post the submitted proposals on their website after another seven days. So, within the timeframe of Illinois labor statute, the most recent proposal for both the MFT and the Board of Education will be publicly available. The district will also post the Board of Education’s proposal to the district’s website. The Board and the MFT are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, October 30.”
The Board of Education submitted its public posting document as required by law to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the mediator, and the MFT on Tuesday, October 22. The Meridian Federation of Teachers submitted their public posting document on Wednesday, October 23.
Illinois labor law (115 ILCS 5/12 Section 12) requires that the ELRB “shall make public the offers,” “seven days after receipt.” The Board has been advised by its attorney that the posting documents are not public documents until the ELRB publishes them. Upon receipt of the Board’s submission, the ELRB confirmed that the document should be posted on October 30.
The Board is aware that the posting document from the MFT has been made publicly available. From the beginning of the public posting process initiated by the MFT, the Board has remained committed to following all applicable Illinois labor laws.
Today is statewide Principal Appreciation Day. Thank you to each of our building leaders for all they do for students and staff daily!
New this year at MES is The 5th Grade Video Club. The idea was presented to staff by a student, Elaina Kater. About 30 students have joined the club. They have helped with several things so far this year. Here is a write up about the club from Elaina.
Video Club achievements
By: Elaina Kater
When I was reading the book, “Restart,” by Gorden Korman, it had a video club in it. It wasn’t the main part of the story but it caught my eye. I thought about how I love photography and having fun ideas. I took quite a while to plan it but it worked out! When it first started I could not hold my excitement! The first project we did was morning announcements on video. Me and five other people starred in that video. Now we have done three morning announcement videos every Friday since October 11th 2024. Currently we are helping with the food drive. We made a poster for it. We also count the cans from each classroom. Some people I would like to thank are my teacher, Mrs. Meisenhelter, Mrs. Major, and Mrs. Rhodes. They helped me start this up.
Those are the achievements of the video club. Thanks for reading!
After day 3, we are at 862 items! can we reach our goal of 1,000?! Thank you for all your generosity, MES!!
WOW, way to go, MES! So far, 651 food items have been brought in for our food drive! You can still bring in items the rest of this week! A special thanks to some of our 5th graders for making the sign and counting cans!!
This week 3rd graders learned about Indigenous Peoples Day and the first people who arrived in the Americas. After, we planned and created our own boats in the STEM lab!🛶⛵️🏴☠️
