Twig 12.21.12/Holiday Storytime

Happy Winter Break! We had quite a day at Olive today. Mrs. Perri & Mrs. FitzPatrick spent the day reading holiday stories to all of the grade levels. With a cozy fire in the background, we enjoyed stories of snow and gingerbread men. We also enjoyed a visit by Mary Stitt who just arrived back from her trip to Nigeria where she helped to provide Polio vaccinations to young children. Capping off the day was an assembly full of wonderful performances by students and staff and an all school sing-a-long.

Oh, what fun it is to go to school at Olive-Mary Stitt!

Thank you from the office:  Many of you have generously donated gift cards in our names to the Wheeling Township Food Pantry. We very much appreciate your kindness and willingness to join us in supporting our local families in need. We feel so fortunate to be part of such a caring and supportive community.

More than anything, we cannot thank you enough for allowing us to spend each and every day of the week with your wonderful children.   May your families be blessed with many happy memories and joyful laughs this winter break.  From our OMS family to yours - Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year! 

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click here to view the 12-21-12 Twig!

Click HERE to Access the OMS census

Have you seen the Gingerbread Man?

During the month of December, the kindergartners read and compared many different gingerbread stories. In some of the stories the gingerbread man got eaten and in others he got away. As a culminating activity each class baked their own gingerbread man. While the kindergartners were away, their gingerbread man ran away. You'll see in the video that the kids are following clues to find the gingerbread man. 

**If you see him, please let us know!

ABC/25 Grant

ABC/25 Membership Incentive Drive - Thanks to the generosity of so many of our families and staff members, OMS will be receiving an ABC/25 Membership Incentive Grant.  Twenty-nine percent of our school families and staff members joined the ABC/25 Foundation, which put us over our 25% membership goal and awarded us $2,500.  Thank you ABC/25 for funding so many worthwhile projects in our school!

2012 Illinois School Report Card

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Olive-Mary Stitt 2012 Illinois School Report Card

We are very proud of our students and teachers for their hard work and high levels of academic achievement.  In order to make (AYP) Annual Yearly Progress, at least 85% of our students must meet or exceed standards in reading and mathematics for every group.  Although Olive did not make Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) this year in all subgroups, we have taken a close look at the data and are focusing our school improvement efforts to help students in those subgroups obtain higher academic success.  For more detailed information about ISAT testing and our AYP status, please join us at the next PTA meeting on January 8th at 7:00pm where a more thorough look at our ISAT data will be presented.

OMS Census

Olive-Mary Stitt Census:

*Required to be completed by all OMS families

We are beginning to gather the names of ALL children (kindergarten and other ages) who will attend Olive-Mary Stitt School for the 2013-2014 school year. This helps us project the number of staff needed and invite families to register. After the names have been gathered, information regarding the details of registration will be sent to each family. 

Please complete the form below: 1) indicate (to the best of your ability) if your own children will continue at Olive; 2) list any child in your family who will enter Olive for the first time in the fall of 2013 and his/her grade; 3) indicate any friend or neighbor’s child who you think will enter Olive this fall and his/her grade; 4) if you are unaware of any new children, please indicate that and hit SUBMIT. 

NOTE: To enter the public kindergarten this fall, a child must be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2013. If you are not sure of the age, but think the child is old enough to be accepted, please include them on the form. 

We need a 100% return rate on these information sheets. Please submit this electronic form ASAP or no later than Friday, December 21st. Thank you!! 

*If you are having difficulty accessing this form, try to open the blog using a different web browser.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  

 Click HERE to complete the Olive Census Survey

 

Twig 12.14.12

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Twig 12.7.12 / Parking Lot Reminders

Coming soon to Olive will be the addition of a NO LEFT TURN sign at the exit of our parking lot.  This new traffic rule will be in place to increase safety measures for our students during arrival and dismissal.  The Arlington Heights Police Department has been working closely with us to ensure a safe implementation of this new traffic pattern.  We anticipate this sign being posted and the NO LEFT TURN rule going into effect after winter break.  At that time we will have an increased  police and administrator presence to help with the transition.  Please start planning your new routes now so that you are prepared once this goes into effect.  Thank you!

Parking Lot Reminders

• If our parking lot is full, you may park in the church parking lot across Olive Street.

• If you do park in the parking lot, please accompany your child to school using the sidewalk and designated crosswalks. There are a lot of cars pulling in and out, so we want to ensure that your child arrives safely to the school building. The parking lot may NOT be used to bypass the drop off line, as students are not allowed to exit cars that are not in a designated spot

•  Parents dropping their students off on the Belmont Avenue cul-de-sac must stay in their car and travel through an organized line to approach school on the east side of Belmont, turn to drop-off, and then exit along the west side of Belmont. If you would like to park your car and walk with your student(s), please use one of the parking lots. 

•  If you are picking up your AM kindergarten student or dropping off your PM kindergarten student midday, you may temporarily leave your car unattended in the parkway to walk your child to the kindergarten doors.

• We appreciate that the line for dropping students off in the parkway can become long, particularly on inclement weather days. To ensure that the line continues to move smoothly, we ask that you continue to pull forward so that your child(ren) may exit your car on the driver’s side. To prevent traffic from backing up, we also ask that students not exit cars until you are parked along the sidewalk where the playground fence ends. Cars must not be left unattended in this area.

• As indicated by signs, a portion of Olive Street is designated as a drop-off/pick-up area. Please make sure that you do not leave your car unattended between these signs during the designated times.

•  Our crossing guard continues to be a great enhancement to our arrival/dismissal process. Please make sure that you and your child(ren) cross with the crossing guard in the designated crosswalk.

Together we can set a good example as we drive and walk in our school zone area. Thank you for your support!

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click here to view the 12-7-12 Twig!

Cents for Sandy

Thanks to the Service Club's Cents for Sandy collection, OMS will be donating $1127.50 to the American Red Cross to support those impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Thank you to everyone for your generosity!

Author Visit at OMS

This afternoon, our K, 1, & 2 students had the privilege of meeting with children's book author, Jennifer Ward. Jennifer has written twenty books for children and their parents, including the award-winning There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea, and, There Was an Old Monkey Who Swallowed a Frog, recipient of the IRA/CBC Children's Choice Award, and a #1 ebook best-seller. She showed our students some samples of her writing from her elementary school days and encouraged our students to write, sometimes just for fun!