News & Events

A class of Mundelein third and fourth graders is making sure a classmate who suffers from Leukemia remains on top of his assignments through Skyping sessions the teacher includes him in on.

Eric, 8, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia three years ago. Since then he undergoes chemo protocol, which is depressing his immune system, but also exhausts him. The third grader’s chemo treatments cause him to miss as much as two weeks a month of school.

Eric’s teacher, Chris Bratta, of Fremont Intermediate School, wanted to include him in spelling tests, Halloween parties, and science lessons when the child was not well enough to attend school. During these activities the multiage class Skypes Eric so he can feel a part of the activities. When he isn’t well enough to participate in the Skyping, Mrs. Bratta will videotape her lessons in reading, writing, social studies, and science, and then post them on YouTube for Eric to watch later in the day. Eric’s classmates also take turns reading a story or poetry to him. Skyping is a form of real time video conferencing.

“I love that Mrs. Bratta is doing this for Eric. I just want him to be a normal kid. After his treatments he becomes very tired and it really cheers him up to see the kids reading aloud to him,” said Eric’s mom.

Students at Fremont Middle School recently conducted many forensic experiments to determine who stole King Tut’s funeral mask. The Mundelein Police Department had some suspects in mind, but it was up to the students to link the evidence to the perpetrator.

A police officer educated students on the process departments use to solve a crime. The “junior investigators” were then deployed to collect evidence and solve the crime.

Students analyzed the clues they gathered and began sizing them up against a select few suspects. Clues include fingerprint analysis, handwriting analysis, solving a coded message, determining the identity of a shoe using a mold, and more. With all the tests completed, students made inferences about who might have stolen the mask, and then accused their suspect. The culprit? Media Center Director Trudi Snavely.

The interdisciplinary unit is part of the students’ study of Egypt and forensic science where students bring together all their subjects to come to a conclusion.