Morrison Community Unit 6 provides the following student services and educational programs to students enrolled in Northside & Southside Elementary schools:

Resource Room
The resource room teacher provides special instruction to those students who are identified as having special learning needs as defined by federal law. These students receive individual testing, with parental permission, and if eligible for these special services, will have an individual education program written for them.

The Northside resource room instructors are Mrs. Laura Duncan and Mr. Duane Shaffer.

The Southside resource room instructors are Mrs. Susan Wilkens and Ms. Chris Tichler.

Please click here to access a copy of the Parent Rights & Responsibilities for children who receive Special Education services.

Speech/Language Pathology
Speech and language assistance is provided in the elementary buildings by the District Clinician (Mrs. Carla Connelly) to those children who demonstrate critical speech difficulties and those whose language structure is in need of additional development. Parents will be consulted when their child is identified as needing speech and/or language services. Services are only provided with parental permission.

Special Reading
(Title I funded at Northside/District Funded at Southside)
Special Reading is a program which provides extra instruction in reading for children who would otherwise be at risk of failure. The program in Morrison focuses on improving reading skills, and students are admitted to the program (with parental permission) when test scores and teacher observation indicate a need. We offer several learning opportunities in this program

Reading Recovery is a first grade program that provides individual half-hour daily lessons to those students who show the greatest need for assistance in developing beginning reading skills. Students still receive regular reading instruction in the classroom and are pulled out at other times for this program. The program brings students up to the current reading level of the first grade classes. It is taught by the Northside Reading Specialists.

The Reading Support Program is a program in Kindergarten through second grade in which students who are having difficulty developing their reading skills will continue to receive reading instruction in their regular classroom, but will also receive supporting help from a Reading Specialist, either during their regular reading instruction or during a pull-out period of instruction. This pull-out will be either individual instruction or take place in a small group.

The Northside Reading Recovery and reading support instructors are Ms. Denise Batterton and Mrs. Margi Winkelman. Ms. Stephanie Kosier also provide Reading support and instruction to second grade students at Northside.

The Southside reading instructors are Mrs. Lori Kennedy and Ms. Stephanie Kosier.

Health Services
Those services involving the school nurse.

Northside School nurse is Mrs. Deana Fuller.
Southside School nurse is Mrs. Tricia Tomasino.

The Northside and Southside Health Aide is Mrs. Kathy Houzenga.

Counseling and Guidance
The Morrison School District is pleased to announce the addition of a full-time counseling position at the elementary level as of the 2009-2010 school year.

Mr. Steve Braasch joins the Northside and Southside Elementary school staff as the school counselor. He provides small group counseling, individual counseling services, a as other supports at both elementary buildings on a regular, scheduled basis.

This is a service that addresses children's emotional well-being at school and is provided free of charge. Services are rendered only with consent of the child's parent.

Key Club Tutoring Program

Northside and Southside Elementary Schools are fortunate to host tutoring volunteers from the Morrison High School Key Club program. Tutors volunteer their time after school to fulfill part of their commitment to the Key Club organization.

Students must be recommended by their classroom teacher in order to participate in the after school program, as there are a limited number of slots available. A student/parent/tutor contract is also a prerequisite of this service. Students referred to the program are then paired with a one-on-one high school tutor.

Tutoring takes place on school grounds between 3:15 and 4:00 p.m. Parents are expected to provide transportation home for their child at 4:00 p.m. For further details on this program, please contact Mrs. Anji Garza, Programs & Services Coordinator.

Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Sauk Valley

The Morrison School District is proud to offer student involvement in the Big Brothers & Sisters program.

The Big Brothers/Big Sisters program is an established youth organization that has worked to develop youth mentoring programs for over 100 years. The group takes an experienced approach to recruiting, screening, matching, and supporting mentoring relationships that has resulted in thousands of lasting relationships, and has helped change the lives of young people across the country.

Northside and Southside elementary students are matched to a Big Brother/Big Sister from Morrison High School. The "big" meets with their "little" three to four times per month (once a week) at a scheduled time during school hours. Children remain in the building and/or school property while enjoying lunch, playing sports/games, reading books, and a variety of other activities with their “big.” All Big Brothers & Big Sisters do complete an interview process and a background check before working with any child in the district.

In order for children to participate in this program, parents and/or guardians must complete a child information sheet and parental consent form. A teacher refeeral form is also a part of this process. The information from the child information sheet, in addition to a interview with the student, will be used to match them to a Morrison High School mentor who may share similar interests and activities.

Morrison Early Learning Program

The Morrison Early Learning Program is a high quality preschool program which uses the High Scope Preschool curriculum; developmentally appropriate guidelines established by the National Association of Educating Young Children (NAEYC); and the Illinois Early Learning Standards.

Morrison Early Learning Program is held at Northside Elementary School. The early learning program is funded by a grant through the state of Illinois. The program meets Monday through Friday and has approximately 20 children ages 3-5.

The Morrison Early Learning Program is part of the Morrison Early Childhood Consortrium and the Whiteside County Regional Office of Education's Early Childhood Coalition.

For additional information on this program, please visit the Morrison Early Learning Program page on this site.