
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey for parents is open. Visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. For more information, please see the district email sent today.


Technology is an important part of the educational environment. With nearly 3,000 connected devices in our district, here are a few of our accomplishments within Strategic Goal 3C:
-Outdated networking equipment including wireless access points and switches were replaced with new multi-gig switches that allow for faster access for student and staff devices
-Internet bandwidth was upgraded from 1Gb and 2Gb at each respective school to 4Gb at all schools.
-Network management solution was introduced to streamline the management of new equipment
-Upgrades to equipment to allow for the latest security standards to be applied, keeping students and staff safer while utilizing the district network
-Replaced copy machines with newer and faster versions allowing for more efficient use for printing and copying for our staff members


🐧❄️🐧S A V E T H E D A T E 🐧❄️🐧
Join us for MES Family Night on March 5th from 5:30 to 7:30 PM! Enjoy an evening of family fun with activities like reading to therapy dogs, hands-on exploration stations, and more. Don't miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and have fun together. We look forward to seeing you there!


Friendly reminder: no school on Monday!


We are proud of our accomplishments towards Strategic Plan Goal 1A! Through multiple committees in which a collaborative and thorough review process took place, we are pleased to have high quality and highly rated ELA materials for our students and teachers throughout the district.
Highlights over the past two and a half years include:
- Adoption and implementation of 95% Group Core Phonics Program in Grades K-3
- Adoption and implementation of Open Up Resources EL Education in Grades K-5
- Adoption and implementation of StudySync in Grades 6-8
- Updated and aligned reading intervention materials in grades K-8
- Full alignment of practices to the Illinois State Board of Education's Statewide Literacy Plan
- Professional learning on ELA learning standards, best practices in literacy instruction, and programming implementation


Have you wondered how our district's e-Learning plan was created?
The district formed an e-Learning Committee that included teachers and administrators from each school, representing various grade levels, content areas, and student services to review our previous plan and state requirements.
The district sought feedback from all parents through a survey. 308 parents responded. The survey data was analyzed by both our Parent Advisory Committee and our e-Learning Committee to look for patterns in the data that informed what should stay the same and what should change or be added to our previous plan. The Parent Advisory Committee also gave feedback within one of its meetings.
The district also sought feedback from all teachers and staff through a survey that was analyzed by our e-Learning Staff Committee to look for patterns in the data that informed what should stay the same and what should change or be added to our previous plan. 65 responses were collected. Committee members also gathered feedback from discussions in their schools.
The e-Learning Committee then made modifications to our previous plan based on the above feedback and their experiences. The updated plan recommendations were presented to the Board of Education. The Board of Education then held a public hearing regarding the plan.
The e-Learning plan was approved by our Board of Education and then renewed through the Regional Office of Education for use for the next 3 school years.
And that is how today's plan came to be!
We appreciate everyone's contributions to its development and your support today as we use it! It is a true team effort to make the day the best it can be for our students!


Due to forecasted weather conditions, all Mokena SD 159 schools will have an e-Learning Day tomorrow, February 12th. Please see your email for more information.


Mokena School District’s Strategic Plan (2022-2027) was approved by our Board of Education at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. The Strategic Plan is reflective of extensive feedback from community surveys and community stakeholder engagement meetings. A steering committee of approximately 50 parents, community members, teachers, staff, administrators, and board members reviewed the feedback to develop focus areas with specific goals to set direction for the district for the next five years.
We have crossed the halfway point of our Strategic Plan and to celebrate the many achievements of our students, staff, families, and Board of Education, we will be highlighting the work within our goals over the next few weeks!
For more information about our Strategic Plan, you can visit: https://www.mokena159.org/page/strategic-plan .


Mrs. Janes' 3rd grade class prepared paper mache' globes with special guest helpers on Friday. This messy and out-of-this-world experience ties into the pilot program in Social Studies of identifying hemispheres and our position on Earth.






Students in our Early Start and Early Childhood Classes enjoyed an open gym session on Wednesday afternoon while parents were able to meet and get to know each other. Thank you to our social worker, Mrs. Andrews, for organizing this fun event!





Mrs. Esgar's 3rd graders shared their "Freaky Frog Books" with their first grade buddies. The books included a narrative pourquoi story, research and informational writing, and a freaky frog trading card authored by each student as part of their ELA module! We love to see students celebrating their learning together!





Students in Mrs. Meehan's second grade class use collaboration and problem solving skills to solve a problem and a challenge presented by classic fairy tales.







⭐ Attention 2025-2026 kindergarten families! Please save the date for kindergarten informational night! ⭐


We are Mokena proud of 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Janes, for her newly published book! Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!


Kindergarten students enjoyed a field trip to Pilcher Park where they learned how maple syrup is made. They were able to experience how trees are tapped, how sap is collected, and how the sap is boiled to create syrup. As a grand finale, students were able to enjoy some pancakes and maple syrup!
This field trip provided a unique and real life experience related to their reading and writing unit about how living things depend on trees for their needs!








Friendly reminder, tomorrow is an early dismissal day!


Join us for a "Meet and Greet" with our newly appointed Superintendent. Come meet Mr. Gurney before the February Board meeting!


Kindergarteners and 1st graders had fun celebrating the 100th day of school!




Kindergarten enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is open! Please help us get the word out to all incoming kindergarten families!
Information can be found at: https://sites.google.com/mokena159.org/kindergartenenrollment2025?usp=sharing


Save the date for the junior high musical!
