TWIG 2.05.16

Olive-Mary Stitt PTA - Every child. One voice. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

The Olive Twig February 5, 2016

Spring Box Tops/Labels for Education Challenge It's time for our spring Box Tops/Labels for Education Class Challenge! The challenge will run from February 8th thru February 12th. Please send in all non-expired, trimmed box tops and labels, with your child, to school sometime next week. There will be black shoeboxes in each room for collection. The top class in K-2 and 3-5 will get to choose a prize. Any questions - please contact Gina Groberski   Teachnology Fair 2016 - Registration Deadline Extended Does your student have a passion for technology? Do they like to share with others how they use technology for school and for fun? District 25 and Arlington Heights Council of PTAs will host an Education Fair with the theme of “Teachnology 2016”. Students and staff will have the opportunity to teach peers, parents, and the Arlington Heights community about how they use technology. This could mean teaching others a skill or simply sharing an experience using technology. The Technology Fair will be on March 9th from 7-9 at Thomas Middle School.  PLEASE COMPLETE THIS REGISTRATION FORM by MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8th.   Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge   Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge is NOW OPEN! The Just Move It! Challenge is a 5K and 1 Mile Run/Walk held on Saturday, April 16,2016 at South Middle School. The event benefits the education of School District 25 students through PTA Scholarships and the ABC/25 Foundation Grant Selection. The last few years Olive Mary-Stitt has taken home the participation award! Can we do it again? Sign up now to Run, Walk, Volunteer or Donate! There is a $5 Early Registration discount when registering before March 31, 2016. To visit the webpage and register, please go to www.jmichallenge.org   If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Jen Rich at jenrich54@comcast.net or Bridget Stannis at be_murph@yahoo.com. Volunteers Needed: Just Move It! Challenge   We NEED Volunteers! Over 75 volunteers are needed to make the Just Move It! Challenge race day a success! Street Marshall volunteers are needed for both the 5K and 1 Mile races. This is a great way to cheer on family and friends while they run or walk! You can help and still be a part of the fun! Remember runners and walkers, pre-registration deadline is Thursday, March 31st! Entry fees increase after March 31st. ONLY those registered prior to March 31st are guaranteed a race day t-shirt! Please visit http://www.jmichallenge.org for Registration, Volunteering and Event Details! The Nominating Committee Needs Your Help The Olive PTA Nominating Committee is currently looking for volunteers to fill positions on our PTA Executive Committee.  The open positions are:  Co-President, 2nd Co-Vice President (Ways and Means) and 3rd Vice President (Legislation).  Please use this form or the box in the office to submit your nominations. Thanks for your help!!   Open Committee Chairs for Next Year Would you like to be more involved at our school? We have several open committee chair positions for next school year: Volunteer Coordinator, Art Awareness Co-Chair, Cultural Arts Co-Chair, Everybody Counts Co-Chairs, Staff Appreciation Co-Chair and Reflections Co-Chairs. Please email olivepta@gmail.com if you are interested. Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website.  Thank you!   Thank You! At Olive-Mary Stitt we have many programs and clubs, and we couldn't do any of it without our amazing volunteers!  We would like to use this new section of the Twig to send out personal thank you's to some of the people who made our most recent activities a success. Jeanne Cosgrove and Marni Hanson have once again organized a fun night of skating at Orbit Roller rink.  Those who participated brought personal items for donation to the Wheeling Food Pantry. They were very happy to receive those much needed items. Marni and Jeanne have been organizing this event, as well as Bingo night for the past 8 and 5 years respectively. These events are definitely at the top of the list of things that families look forward to every year. Thank you Jeanne and Marni for your years of service!   PTA Volunteer Hours   Attention all PTA volunteers! Please use this form to record any volunteer hours to date that you have not given us at a PTA meeting or in the school office log book.  We will be including this post in the Twig at the beginning of every month. This form is also available on the PTA website under Resources. Thank you for all of your service!! Upcoming Events.. 2/11 - 1st Grade Music Concert 2/12 - Valentine's Day Parties 2/15 - Presidents Day - No School 2/17 - 3rd Grade Clay Night 6:30pm 2/18 - K & 1st Grade Activity Night 7:00pm   Important Links OMS CALENDAR DISTRICT 25 E-FLYERS TWIG SUBMISSION FORM OMS BLOGSPOT CONTACT THE PTA   CONNECT WITH US Friend us on Facebook OMS PTA Website Forward to a Friend  friend on Facebook | read our blog | forward to a friend | OMS blogspot

Copyright © 2016 Olive-Mary Stitt School PTA, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of Olive-Mary Stitt PTA. Our mailing address is: Olive-Mary Stitt PTA 303 E. Olive Street Arlington Heights, IL 60004  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | view email in browser

The Votes Are In!

With over 680 students, parents, and staff members voting we have a color scheme for our new playground equipment...red & gray!

Construction Update 1.29.16

Things have been very busy these last couple of weeks. Our framing is now up for both the classrooms and gym. The roof deck was installed on the classrooms last week so this area is tented in plastic to give the masons a warmer environment in which to work. The roof deck of the gym just went up today so we will start to see block walls going up around the gym next week.

Sweet Singers

Our first-grade classes have been rehearsing for their upcoming concert.  

We look forward to seeing our first-grade families on Thursday, February 12th at 3:00 pm.

Balloon Machines

On Friday, January 21st our 4th and 5th-grade students enjoyed an evening filled with balloons! They learned about simple machines and worked together to trap the mouse.  Thank you to the PTA for sponsoring these special activity nights.

Olive-Mary Stitt PTA - Every child. One voice. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. The Olive Twig January 29, 2016 PTA Meeting - Wednesday February 3rd at 7:00pm Please mark your calendars for our next PTA meeting in the Olive LMC. We welcome Dr. Bein, who will be joining us to discuss the upcoming Creative Arts curriculum changes in the Middle Schools, followed by Q & A.  We hope you can make it. The Nominating Committee Needs Your Help The Olive PTA Nominating Committee is currently looking for volunteers to fill positions on our PTA Executive Committee.  The open positions are:  Co-President, 2nd co-Vice President (Ways and Means) and 3rd Vice President (Legislation).  Please use the box in the office to submit your nominations or use this form. Thanks for your help!!   Open Committee Chairs for Next Year We have several open committee chair positions for next school year.  They are:  Volunteer Coordinator, Art Awareness co chair, Cultural Arts co chair, Everybody Counts co chairs, Staff appreciation co chairs and Room Rep coordinator. Please email olivepta@gmail.com if you are interested. Thank you!   Everybody Counts - Volunteers Needed The 'Everybody Counts' program needs your help.  All we need is just 45 minutes of your time, to present the written material and activity about disability awareness.  It is super simple.  Our school is at risk of losing this wonderful program without your help.  Helping children understand disabilities and helping them to see the person and not the disability, is a gift that can last a lifetime.  Inclusion and acceptance, is what every parent wants for their child.  Please consider signing up to make a positive difference in this world. Who: The Everybody Counts Committee, a disability awareness program sponsored by OMS PTA, What:  needs 2-3 volunteers per classroom to help present lessons on various disabilities When:   next week, February 1st – 5th.  Click here to see when your child’s classroom presentation is scheduled and to sign up. Why:  The goal of the program is to educate the students about various disabilities and provide an opportunity for them to understand and experience the challenges others with a disability face every day. Contact Amy Slowinske or Christine Gilbert with any questions.   Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge   Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge is NOW OPEN! The Just Move It! Challenge is a 5K and 1 Mile Run/Walk held on Saturday, April 16,2016 at South Middle School. The event benefits the education of School District 25 students through PTA Scholarships and the ABC/25 Foundation Grant Selection. The last few years Olive Mary-Stitt has taken home the participation award! Can we do it again? Sign up now to Run, Walk, Volunteer or Donate! There is a $5 Early Registration discount when registering before March 31, 2016. To visit the webpage and register, please go to www.jmichallenge.org   If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Jen Rich at jenrich54@comcast.net or Bridget Stannis at be_murph@yahoo.com. Teachnology Fair 2016 -March 9th 7-9pm @ Thomas Middle School Does your student have a passion for technology? Do they like to share with others how they use technology for school and for fun? District 25 and Arlington Heights Council of PTAs will host an Education Fair with the theme of “Teachnology 2016”. Students and staff will have the opportunity to teach peers, parents, and the Arlington Heights community about how they use technology. This could mean teaching others a skill or simply sharing an experience using technology. PLEASE COMPLETE THIS REGISTRATION FORM ON OR BEFORE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016. Upcoming Events.. 2/1 - 2/5 - Everybody Counts Program 2/3 - PTA Meeting (7pm) 2/11 - 1st Grade Music Concert 2/12 - Valentine's Day Parties 2/15 - Presidents Day - No School   Important Links OMS CALENDAR DISTRICT 25 E-FLYERS TWIG SUBMISSION FORM OMS BLOGSPOT CONTACT THE PTA   CONNECT WITH US Friend us on Facebook OMS PTA Website Forward to a Friend  friend on Facebook | read our blog | forward to a friend | OMS blogspot Copyright © 2016 Olive-Mary Stitt School PTA, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of Olive-Mary Stitt PTA. Our mailing address is: Olive-Mary Stitt PTA 303 E. Olive Street Arlington Heights, IL 60004  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | view email in browser

Vote For Our New Playground Equipment

Beginning this week, all students will have an opportunity to vote for the color scheme of our new playground equipment. You should have heard the cheers when we displayed the two options! We'd love to also get input from our parents. Voting closes on Friday, January 29th. Only one vote per parent, please. Please vote for your favorite using the following link:

Vote For the New OMS Playground Color

OPTION 1: SCHOOL COLORS 

OPTION 2: PRIMARY COLORS

Engineers in the Making

Engineering Fun! This club for grades 2-4 will meet six times on the following Tuesdays during lunch and recess:  February 2, 9, 16, 23 & March 1 & 8. The meetings will be spent learning about engineering concepts and completing related hands-on challenges. Our hope is to foster determined learners who become more skilled using the design process.  Please join us for hands-on fun! Space is limited to 12 boys and 12 girls who register through this link: http://goo.gl/forms/ZM4mci7qw3

Lego Enthusiasts Wanted!

Calling all Lego-loving First and Second Grade Students!

Join us for our first ever Lego Club! Meetings will be held for the full lunch hour on the following Thursdays: 2/4, 2/11, 2/18, 2/25, 3/3, & 3/10. Students will eat lunch while viewing educational videos on Legos and then participate in a new hands-on Lego challenge each week. All skill levels are welcome to join the fun. Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Watanuki will randomly select 12 boys and 12 girls to participate. Please click the link to let us know your child is interested: http://goo.gl/forms/dQS4jNXEyC

Traffic Letter From AHPD Officer Veenstra

To view a larger version of this letter please click on the link below:

https://drive.google.com/a/sd25.org/file/d/0BzzKMexvU1KmSldZdVBNdFE2NGdUR3dTVXBkdW1CRVdSQk9N/view?usp=sharing

Just Move It! Challenge T-shirt Design Winner

Olive Mary-Stitt's own Audrey (5th grade) won the district-wide Just Move It! Challenge race t-shirt design. Every registered participant in the Just Move It! Challenge will receive a race t-shirt this year with Audrey's design. Very exciting for the OMS Owls!

Winter Recess

It is our practice to have the children go outside as much as possible during lunchtime, even in winter. The students do not go outside if it is raining or if the wind chill is below zero. Parents are asked to dress children in appropriate outerwear for the weather conditions so that students may comfortably take advantage of outside recreational play. Please put names on all outdoor clothing, including boots.

ABC/25 Grants Awarded

ABC/25 Foundation Teacher Grants have been awarded. The Foundation received a total of 115

grant applications, 84 Karen Wessel Barr and 31 Marian Elliott. This year, funding was awarded for

39 Karen Wessel Barr Grants in the amount of $24,105.05 and 9 Marian Elliot Grants in the amount

of $21,587.54. That's a total of $45,692.59 that will be used to enhance District 25 learning!

Congratulations to the following OMS staff members who were awarded funds for their grant

requests this year - Karen Nordman, Jodi Christoforou, Marsha Magnino, Debbie Tranter! For a

complete listing of all funded teacher grants in the district, please go to ABC/25 Foundation Grants 15-16.

Kindergarten Registration 2016-2017

Do you know a family that will have a child attending kindergarten at OMS next year? Please have them call our main office at 847.398.4282  or visit D25 Kindergarten Pre-Registration Process to start the registration process for 2016-2017.

Lunch Shift Change

Monday, February 1st will be our official lunch shift change day. Students that had lunch at 12:10 PM for the first half of the year will eat at 12:40 PM and go out for recess first. Students that had lunch at 12:40 PM will eat at 12:10 PM and go out for recess afterwards. We are looking forward to this change and the opportunity for our students to experience the lunch period from a new perspective.

2nd/3rd Grade Activity Night

Our 2nd and 3rd-grade detectives worked hard to figure out who stole the moon!

Construction Update 1.16.16

We were very excited when our steel arrived on Monday. As you can see below, even with the cold temperatures, we are starting to see things take shape. The basic frame for our five new classrooms in the back of the school is up (pictures #2-5). Framing of the gym should begin next week (picture #1). Next up will be masonry work. Our staff design team is busy making decisions about everything from classroom cabinetry to playground configurations. Parents and students will have an opportunity to vote on the color of our new playground in the coming weeks. Watch the OMS Blog for opportunities to have input!

TWIG 1.22.16

Olive-Mary Stitt PTA - Every child. One voice. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. The Olive Twig January 22, 2016 4th & 5th Grade Activity Night - Tonight 7:00 We have a great performer lined up to entertain our kids. Smarty Pants Productions will put on an interactive Mousetrap Machine Science Assembly. Here is a link to the website if you want to check it out: http://mousetrapmachine.com Just Move It! Challenge T-shirt Design Winner Announced - Olive-Mary Stitts's Audrey Zagorski! Congratulations to Olive-Mary Stitt's Audrey Zagorski! Thank you to all of the District 25 students who participated in the t-shirt and poster design contest! We had 32 t-shirt design entries and 22 poster design entries. We enjoyed looking at all of the creative ideas everyone came up with and you made it hard for us to choose.  Voting for the race t-shirt design finished this past Friday and we are happy to announce that Design 2 drawn by Audrey Zagorski of Olive-Mary Stitt was the winning design. Click here to check out the 2016 Just Move It! Challenge Race T-shirt! Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge Registration for the Just Move It! Challenge is NOW OPEN! The Just Move It! Challenge is a 5K and 1 Mile Run/Walk held on Saturday, April 16,2016 at South Middle School. The event benefits the education of School District 25 students through PTA Scholarships and the ABC/25 Foundation Grant Selection. The last few years Olive Mary-Stitt has taken home the participation award! Can we do it again? Sign up now to Run, Walk, Volunteer or Donate! There is a $5 Early Registration discount when registering before March 31, 2016. To visit the webpage and register, please go to www.jmichallenge.org If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Jen Rich at jenrich54@comcast.net or Bridget Stannis at be_murph@yahoo.com. PTA Meeting - 2/3/16(7:00pm) Please mark your calendars for our next PTA meeting. We welcome Dr. Bein, who will be joining us to discuss the upcoming Creative Arts curriculum changes in the Middle Schools, followed by Q & A.  We hope you can make it. Everybody Counts - Volunteers Needed "Everybody Counts" is a disability awareness program for all grades. Each grade level curriculum teaches about a different disability: vision, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments as well as learning disabilities. Classroom presentations will be scheduled February 1st-5th. We need 2-3 volunteers per class to present the programs to the students. All materials will be provided and an informational "Open Bin" night will be on Tuesday, January 26th from6:30-7:30 pm for volunteers to peruse the materials. Presentations should take about 45 minutes. Please click here to sign up to volunteer. More information is available on the PTA website.  Contact Amy Slowinske or Christine Gilbert with any questions. ABC/25 Teacher Grants Awarded ABC/25 Foundation Teacher Grants have been awarded. The Foundation received a total of 115 grant applications, 84 Karen Wessel Barr and 31 Marian Elliott. This year, funding was awarded for 39 Karen Wessel Barr Grants in the amount of $24,105.05 and 9 Marian Elliot Grants in the amount of $21,587.54. That's a total of $45,692.59 that will be used to enhance District 25 learning! Congratulations to the following teachers:  Mrs. Magnino, Mrs. Tranter, Mrs. Nordman and Mrs. Christoforou who were awarded funds for their grant requests this year. For a complete listing of all funded teacher grants in the district, please go to the ABC/25 Foundation website - abc25.org Teachnology Fair 2016 - March 9th 7-9pm @ Thomas Middle School Does your student have a passion for technology? Do they like to share with others how they use technology for school and for fun? District 25 and Arlington Heights Council of PTAs will host an Education Fair with the theme of “Teachnology 2016”. Students and staff will have the opportunity to teach peers, parents, and the Arlington Heights community about how they use technology. This could mean teaching others a skill or simply sharing an experience using technology. PLEASE COMPLETE THIS REGISTRATION FORM ON OR BEFORE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016. Upcoming Events.. 1/22 - 4th/5th Grade Activity Night 2/1 - 2/5 - Everybody Counts Program 2/3 - PTA Meeting (7pm) 2/11 - 1st Grade Music Concert 2/12 - Valentine's Day Parties Important Links OMS CALENDAR DISTRICT 25 E-FLYERS TWIG SUBMISSION FORM OMS BLOGSPOT CONTACT THE PTA CONNECT WITH US Friend us on Facebook OMS PTA Website Forward to a Friend  friend on Facebook | read our blog | forward to a friend | OMS blogspot Copyright © 2016 Olive-Mary Stitt School PTA, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of Olive-Mary Stitt PTA. Our mailing address is: Olive-Mary Stitt PTA 303 E. Olive Street Arlington Heights, IL 60004  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | view email in browser