Each of our schools honored our country's Veterans with special programs today:
❤️ MES invited Veterans of our students to school. Students shared letters of appreciation and sang songs to celebrate those in attendance.
🤍 MIS students attended an all school assembly where they learned about the history of Veterans Day, why we celebrate it, the branches of the military, and celebrated Veterans connected to our students and staff.
💙 MJHS was visited by the Lincoln-Way JROTC for a morning assembly and had local Veterans as guest speakers during history classes throughout the day.
❤️ MES invited Veterans of our students to school. Students shared letters of appreciation and sang songs to celebrate those in attendance.
🤍 MIS students attended an all school assembly where they learned about the history of Veterans Day, why we celebrate it, the branches of the military, and celebrated Veterans connected to our students and staff.
💙 MJHS was visited by the Lincoln-Way JROTC for a morning assembly and had local Veterans as guest speakers during history classes throughout the day.
Today, we celebrate our veterans, including our very own Mr. Hipplehauser (MES), Mr. Scott (MIS), Mrs. Storino (MJHS), Mr. Fred (Transportation), and Mr. Jimmie (Transportation), who served our country. Thank you for your service! We look forward to our Veterans Day programs at each school today.
Congratulations to MJHS ELA teacher and Department Head, Mr. Craig Martinus, for presenting at the Association for Middle Level Education's (AMLE) National Annual Conference. He presented strategies for writing at the middle school level. Thank you for representing our district so well and sharing your expertise with other educators from across the country!
Our district-wide spirit week in honor of Veterans Day continues Monday and Tuesday!
Congratulations to all three Mokena SD 159 schools for being named among the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Schools in Illinois! We’re so proud of our students, staff, and families for continuing to make Mokena one of the best places to learn and grow!
According to the U.S. News website, "“For each state, schools were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are high achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students.“
According to the U.S. News website, "“For each state, schools were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are high achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students.“
MJHS ELA students used the HUNT annotation strategy to dig deeper into poetry. Using metacognitive skills, they analyzed a poem looking for emotional shifts, literary devices, word connotations, and thematic ideas. This work ties directly to their school improvement plan goal of building self-monitoring and independent thinking through consistent annotation strategies across all subjects. It’s incredible to see how much meaning students can uncover when they learn to slow down, think about their thinking, and truly HUNT for understanding.
Yesterday’s 6th grade ELA lesson: Reading between the lines—literally.
Students took on the 3X Inference Challenge, using visual clues and background knowledge to make logical inferences from images. The goal? Strengthen comprehension and learn to think beyond what’s directly stated - aka making inferences.
It’s incredible to watch how much students can uncover when they slow down, look closely, and connect what they see to what they already know!
Students took on the 3X Inference Challenge, using visual clues and background knowledge to make logical inferences from images. The goal? Strengthen comprehension and learn to think beyond what’s directly stated - aka making inferences.
It’s incredible to watch how much students can uncover when they slow down, look closely, and connect what they see to what they already know!
❄️🧥 Mokena School District is partnering with Midland State Bank and the Mokena Lions Club for a Winter Coat Drive. Boxes are located in each school to collect new and gently used coats! 🧥❄️
Save the Date for Parent-Teacher Conferences!
On Friday, 6th graders completed their catapult challenge as part of their Energy, Forces, and Motion science unit. Not only did students try to create a catapult that would throw a ball the farthest, they also tried out their creativity in their designs as well!
November 3-7 is National School Psychology Week! This year's theme is "Finding Your Path" and recognizes the ways that school psychologists take an active role in helping students determine their paths to learning, growth, and overall well-being. Through their deep expertise and training in consultation, collaboration, and evidence-based practices, our school psychologists empower others to set their destination and find a route that fits their needs, all while sharing tools to help them thrive along the way! Thank you to our three school psychologists: Dr. Lucas-Nihei, Ms. Darling, and Mrs. Montgomery!
The district-wide spirit week honoring Veterans Day starts tomorrow!
🕷️🧛 Happy Halloween from Mokena School District 159! 🎃👻
"When one runs, we all run!" 🏃♀️💨 MJHS students never hesitate to jump in and support their peers during the PACER Test — that’s true Meteor spirit! Today there was one runner left and many students volunteered to stand in a line and run down and back with the remaining runner to motivate them to keep going!
6th grade scientists are builiding and using fan cars to learn about Newton's Third Law of Motion!
👻 What a spooktacular night! The PTA's Junior High Halloween Dance Party was full of amazing costumes, great music, and tons of fun!
A big thanks to everyone who helped make it a night to remember! 🕸️
A big thanks to everyone who helped make it a night to remember! 🕸️
🎶 Our Meteor Bands, Orchestra, and Choir put on a fantastic fall concert Thursday night! 🎵
Congratulations to Dr. Kristin Johnson (Assistant Superintendent for Instruction) for presenting at today's Illinois Association for Gifted Children's Annual Conference. She presented a session to other leaders about our district's programming review with Northwestern University, our Advanced Learner Task Force's work, and the implementation of recommendations to strengthen advanced learner services in the district!
8th graders in Ms. Horsch’s Tech and Design class participated in a Zoom Q & A presentation with Dr. Marty Purushottam, one of the electrical engineers involved in TIME Magazine’s Most Innovative Inventions. During the event, students learned about his career path that led him into robotics and working for Figure AI.
Thank you to MJH substitute Mrs. Burns-Casey for helping to organize this opportunity!
Thank you to MJH substitute Mrs. Burns-Casey for helping to organize this opportunity!
