At this morning's coffee, our social worker, Mary Moore, presented some great information regarding anxiety in children. She shared a few resources that we would like to share with the rest of our community:
Anxiety, Fears, and Phobias article from kidshealth.org
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/anxiety.html
Children's books
David and the Worry Beast: Helping Children Cope with Anxiety
by Anne Marie Guanci
When My Worries Get Too Big! A Relaxation Book for Children who Live with Anxiety
by Kari Dunn Buron
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine
by Julia Cook
Books for Parents
The Anxiety Cure for Kids: A Guide for Parents
by Spence, DuPont and Spence
Anxiety-Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Children
by Bonnie Zucker
The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook for Kids: Help for Children to Cope with Stress, Anxiety, and Transitions
by Lawrence Shapiro
Friday, February 22, 2013
Twig 2/22/13, 5 Essentials Survey & 5th Grade MAP Testing
Teachers, parents and middle school students in District 25 and across Illinois will have an opportunity to participate in the Illinois 5Essentials Survey: Organizing Schools for Improvement. This survey was designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school.
As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school. Please take a moment to read the following letter from Dr. Jerome about the 5Essentials Survey. The survey can be accessed using the following link https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/ , or by going to the Arlington Heights School District Webpage.
The survey must be completed by March 31, 2013, but we encourage you to complete the survey as soon as possible.
5th Grade Parents: The following is a link to a letter from our Department of Student Learning regarding winter MAP testing. The letter is also an e-flyer on the district website.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Clay Night
A huge thank you to Mr. DeMarco for hosting a wonderful clay night this past Wednesday for all of our third grade students. We had a wonderful turnout and fantastic creativity was shown by all of our students and parents! We look forward to seeing the final products once they are fired in the kiln!
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| photos by Blake V. |
Friday, February 15, 2013
Twig 2/15/13 & Coffee with the Principals RSVP
Coffee & Conversation with the Principals
Mrs. FitzPatrick and Mrs. Perri will be hosting the third in a series of informal coffee meetings for parents, next Friday, February 22nd, from 9:15 am to 10:15 am. The topic of this meeting will be Anxiety in Children with Mary Moore, School Social Worker. The purpose of these meetings is to give parents a chance to informally ask questions and discuss topics with Mrs. FitzPatrick & Mrs. Perri, as well as others in the school community. Each meeting will start with an open Q & A period, followed by the presentation. Come join us for a cup of coffee and some insightful discussion! To help us plan for the event, please let us know if you think you might attend.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend the 2/22/13 coffee by clicking HERE!
Mrs. FitzPatrick and Mrs. Perri will be hosting the third in a series of informal coffee meetings for parents, next Friday, February 22nd, from 9:15 am to 10:15 am. The topic of this meeting will be Anxiety in Children with Mary Moore, School Social Worker. The purpose of these meetings is to give parents a chance to informally ask questions and discuss topics with Mrs. FitzPatrick & Mrs. Perri, as well as others in the school community. Each meeting will start with an open Q & A period, followed by the presentation. Come join us for a cup of coffee and some insightful discussion! To help us plan for the event, please let us know if you think you might attend.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend the 2/22/13 coffee by clicking HERE!
Buddy Foundation Fundraiser
The Service Learning Club just had a fundraiser that took place on February 13, 2013. We were collecting donations for the Buddy Foundation (A non-kill animal shelter.) All members put effort towards creating crafts such as finger-knitting creations, bookmarks, bracelets, balloon animals, and plant rulers. During both lunch hours, we were continuously selling all of the items that we created. Most of the participating Service Learning Club students made a difference for all of those anxious dogs and cats looking for a home. We successfully raised $252.00 to donate. We are proud of our work and hope to do it again soon. Thank you for all of your donations!
(Written by Claire F. and Ashley Z.)
How sweet it is to be at OMS!
Check out all of the fun that we had at our Valentine's Day celebrations. We kicked things off with a wonderful 1st grade concert on Thursday. Bravo to all of our our 1st grade friends. We are so proud of them! Thanks to many parent volunteers, our parties were full of fun activities, crafts and treats.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wall of Kindness
Check out our ever-growing Wall of Kindness! Thanks to our Character Counts committee, our students created some wonderfully positive messages. If your child has not created a heart yet, he/she may still send it in through this Friday.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Twig 2/8/13
Parent/Teacher Conferences
We look forward to meeting with all of you during our parent/teacher conferences, which are scheduled for March 21st, from 8:30 am - 8:00 pm, and March 22nd, from 8:30 am - noon. Conferences are scheduled for 20 minutes to provide you with a summary of your child's strengths, needs and areas of growth. Most families signed up for a spring conference during our fall Open House. Teachers will be sending out reminders later this month. Where we have set aside this time specifically to conference with you, we hope that you will be able to attend at your designated time. We understand that some families may be heading out of town during the conference days. If this is the case, an option that may allow you to keep your scheduled conference time, is to conduct a phone conference with your child's teacher. Otherwise, our teachers will do their best to reschedule a time during regular school office hours (8:30 am - 4 pm). If you are new to our school and do not have a spring conference time, your child's teacher will be contacting you to arrange a conference. Our students have worked very hard this trimester and we look forward to celebrating this with you!
A word about ISAT's from the Illinois State board of Education
We look forward to meeting with all of you during our parent/teacher conferences, which are scheduled for March 21st, from 8:30 am - 8:00 pm, and March 22nd, from 8:30 am - noon. Conferences are scheduled for 20 minutes to provide you with a summary of your child's strengths, needs and areas of growth. Most families signed up for a spring conference during our fall Open House. Teachers will be sending out reminders later this month. Where we have set aside this time specifically to conference with you, we hope that you will be able to attend at your designated time. We understand that some families may be heading out of town during the conference days. If this is the case, an option that may allow you to keep your scheduled conference time, is to conduct a phone conference with your child's teacher. Otherwise, our teachers will do their best to reschedule a time during regular school office hours (8:30 am - 4 pm). If you are new to our school and do not have a spring conference time, your child's teacher will be contacting you to arrange a conference. Our students have worked very hard this trimester and we look forward to celebrating this with you!
A word about ISAT's from the Illinois State board of Education
Illinois schools, have begun implementing
the Common Core State Standards, which outline the skills and content our
students must master at each grade level to continue on the path to college and
career readiness. These higher, deeper and clearer standards for Math and
English Language Arts will ensure that our students leave high school equipped
with the proper tools for success.
As we focus on preparing students for college and careers, the performance levels of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) must be changed accordingly. The state has determined that the current expectations for our students in grades 3-8 are too low and do not give an accurate picture of a student’s ability to succeed in college and the workforce. Therefore, the Illinois State Board of Education is raising the bar on the ISAT performance expectations in Math and English Language Arts for elementary and middle school students to bring them into line with the Common Core’s more rigorous standards.
These higher expectations will cause the number of students who meet and exceed standards to drop significantly. Some students who previously met or exceeded standards will be classified as needing improvement. However, these new expectations do not mean that our students know less than they did before or are less capable than they were in previous years. Instead, ISBE is simply expecting more of students going forward to show their progress toward college and career-readiness benchmarks.
The new performance expectations for the ISAT will provide a more accurate reflection of whether a student is on track for college and the workforce. Our staff will be able to provide the appropriate support and interventions for your student based on the new learning standards at an earlier point in their academic career and thus boost their chances for success beyond high school.
The new expectations also pave the way for the state to replace the ISAT tests in Math and English Language Arts with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments. The PARCC exams will align to the Common Core State Standards and provide better information about students’ abilities to master the appropriate skills and content benchmarks for college and careers. Unlike the ISAT, which is given once a year, the PARCC tests will be given more than once during the school year. The PARCC exams will provide teachers, parents and students a clearer, more detailed picture of student’s strengths and areas that need improvement. The transition to the PARCC tests is scheduled for the 2014-2015 school year.
Later this year, the state will provide us with information regarding how our students’ 2012 performance levels compare to what is expected under the new performance levels. The ISAT data collected this spring will then be analyzed using the new expectations and released in the fall.
Though more difficult, these higher standards will better position students to tackle the challenges of college and careers. And we are confident that our students will rise to the occasion.
For more information please click HERE to view the ISAT parent FAQ's provided by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Can you guess why today was so special at Olive?
This year is flying by! Today was the 100th day of school at Olive, so our kindergarten friends celebrated by sharing their collections and wearing their pajamas to school.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
1st Grade Scavenger Hunt
Studying can be so much fun when you are on a scavenger hunt! Students in Mrs. Raistrick's class reviewed information about living and non-living things while collecting clues and QR codes from around the school.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Twig 2/1/13
Parking Lot Reminders
We would like to send out a gentle reminder to parents regarding arrival and dismissal procedures. To ensure proper supervision, please make sure that your student(s) arrive no earlier than 8:50 a.m. Thank you for your adherence to the new No Left Turn sign. The drop-off lane is moving well, however it is important to remember that you may not leave your vehicle unattended in this lane. Once your child has exited your car on the driver's side, please pull into the right lane so that other parents can move forward to drop off their child.
When picking up your child in the pick-up / drop-off lane, students should only enter cars from our sidewalk. If the line is backed up, and you are waiting on Olive Street to pull into our driveway, please do not encourage your child to enter your car on Olive Street. Instead please wait to pull into the driveway, pull forward in the line, and have your child enter your car from the school's sidewalk.
If you would like to walk your child to his or her line, please make sure that you park in our parking lot. If you do park in the parking lot, please accompany your child to the school sidewalk. 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 the parking lot.
We would like to send out a gentle reminder to parents regarding arrival and dismissal procedures. To ensure proper supervision, please make sure that your student(s) arrive no earlier than 8:50 a.m. Thank you for your adherence to the new No Left Turn sign. The drop-off lane is moving well, however it is important to remember that you may not leave your vehicle unattended in this lane. Once your child has exited your car on the driver's side, please pull into the right lane so that other parents can move forward to drop off their child.
When picking up your child in the pick-up / drop-off lane, students should only enter cars from our sidewalk. If the line is backed up, and you are waiting on Olive Street to pull into our driveway, please do not encourage your child to enter your car on Olive Street. Instead please wait to pull into the driveway, pull forward in the line, and have your child enter your car from the school's sidewalk.
If you would like to walk your child to his or her line, please make sure that you park in our parking lot. If you do park in the parking lot, please accompany your child to the school sidewalk. 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 the parking lot.
Last, but certainly not least, please make sure that you are respectful of our
neighbors during arrival and dismissal. We are very fortunate to have such
great neighbors and want to make sure that our process does not significantly
impact their ability to enter or leave their driveways. Thank you for all of
your support to make sure that our precious students arrive and depart school
safely.
FAQ on Head Lice
The following link will direct you to an annual letter from our nurses regarding head lice. The letter was originally sent out in October of this school year. The letter does not pertain to a particular situation at school, but rather it is an informational piece of literature. If you have any questions about the information contained in the letter, please feel free to contact one of our nurses.
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