TWIG 03/04/16

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

The Olive Twig March 4, 2016

Got Shoes? The Ecology Club & Character Counts program are teaming up to collect gently used adult/child footwear during the month of April for Share Your Soles, which provides footwear internationally to the impoverished. We value recycling & kindness at OMS! Send in footwear April 1-20th.  Please contact Rachael Hooker with any questions. Attention 5th Grade Parents! We need your help for the end of year slideshow! The slideshow will include photos of the entire class throughout their years at OMS. Send photos tooms5thgrade@gmail.com. Please only include photos from OMS activities or events. PTA Spring Plant Sale: March 1st-15th Dreaming of sunshine and warmer weather? Why not start planning your flowers and gardens for spring and summer? The plant sale will feature flowers, herbs, and vegetables custom grown for you by Tom's Farm Market in Huntley, IL. Tom's grows plants for many local independent garden centers. Enjoy nursery quality plants at a great price while supporting Olive's PTA! Orders will be accepted March 1 - 15th.  See the order form as well as the reference guide with pictures of the types of plants we are offering. Included with the attachment is information about current gardening trends and some inspiration to get you started! Flowers will be available for pick up Friday May 20th from 2:30-4:00 pm. Please contact Kim Lindberg or Lonnie Sommer with any further questions or concerns.   Reflections Co-Chairs Needed Do you want to get more involved in the PTA but don't know how?  Maybe you want to be on a committee, but aren't exactly sure what they are about.  We can help!  Each week we will highlight a different committee in need of volunteers in order to give you a deeper understanding of the position and the time commitment it requires.  This week we are focusing the "Reflections" program.  Reflections is a National PTA program which welcomes all grades and abilities to explore and be involved in the arts. Annually, thousands of students will reflect on a common theme and create original works of art in the categories of dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts. Here at Olive-Mary Stitt, the Reflections committee will promote and manage the PTA Reflections Art Program by raising awareness of the program within the school, promoting participation by the Olive students, submitting entries to the district PTA, and recognizing all entrants.  Please contact Angie Frye and/or Lisa Roudabush if interested. Other open Committee Chair positions are:  Hospitality Chair, Cultural Arts Co-Chair, and Reflections Co-Chairs. Our ABC25 foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president.  Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website. Thank you! Thomas Middle School Spring Spirit Wear Sale Attention all 5th grade parents! Thomas Middle School is having their spring spirit wear sale. All orders can be placed online. Please click here for the flyer and information. The sale will run March 1st-15th. All orders will be delivered to your child's classroom at Olive. Please note "Olive" in the school section when you place your order.   Register For the Just Move It Challenge!! Pre-registration is going on NOW through Thursday, March 31st for the Just Move It Challenge on April 16.! Everyone registered prior to March 31st will receive a race day t-shirt. After March 31st, registration fees increase. We also NEED Volunteers! Over 75 volunteers are needed to make the Just Move It! Challenge race day a success! Street Marshall volunteers are need 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! Please click here to view the flier for more details and visit www.jmichallenge.org to register to RUN, WALK OR VOLUNTEER! There is a participation award given to the school with the most registered participants! Olive Mary-Stitt has won it the last couple years and we want to keep the streak going! Join AmazonSmile - .5% of qualified purchases to OMS PTA If you already use Amazon.com consider doing your shopping at smile.Amazon.com instead. This website lets Amazon customers enjoy the same selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as Amazon.com while contributing .5% of qualified purchases to our PTA! The first time you enter the site, you will need to add our organization as the charity you want your contribution to go toward. Our PTA is listed as:   Illinois Congress of Parents and Teachers Olive-Mary Stitt PTA Inc Once entered, every time you shop at smile.Amazon.com, .5% of your qualified purchases will be added to our PTA account. It's that simple!  Questions?  Please contact Jo Voelker Teachnology Fair The Teachnology Fair is coming up on March 9th from 7-9pm at Thomas.  We have students from all 9 schools participating. Click here for the flyer and more information.  Please plan on attending.  We would like to see a great turn out for all the kids who are participating. In addition, we are in need of parent and student volunteers for the event.  Students can earn service hours for volunteering at this event. Sign Up Now!   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!! Upcoming Events.. 3/9 - Teachnology Fair (Thomas) 7:00pm 3/11 - Report Cards Issued 3/14 - Steak and Shake Fundraiser 3/15 - Plant Sale Ends 3/17 - 3/18 - Parent Teacher Conferences   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

Construction Update 2.26.16

The bricks are steadily rising and interior work is beginning on the new classrooms. If the weather cooperates next week, contractors will pour concrete for the classroom flooring and finish the east wall of the gym.

South wall of the 5 new classrooms

Interior view of the new classrooms

East side of the new gym

Art Teachers will not be available during P/T Conferences

Celebrating World Read Aloud Day

On February 24, many of our OMS students and staff members celebrated the joy of reading on World Read Aloud Day.  Some classrooms had guest readers, some brought in blankets to create a cozy space where they could curl up with a good book, and others shared their favorite poetry to kick off their new Schoolwide literacy unit.

TWIG 02.26.16

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

The Olive Twig February 26, 2016

PTA Spring Plant Sale:March 1st-15th Dreaming of sunshine and warmer weather? Why not start planning your flowers and gardens for spring and summer? The plant sale will feature flowers, herbs, and vegetables custom grown for you by Tom's Farm Market in Huntley, IL. Tom's grows plants for many local independent garden centers. Enjoy nursery quality plants at a great price while supporting Olive's PTA! Orders will be accepted March 1 - 15th.  See the order form as well as the reference guide with pictures of the types of plants we are offering. Included with the attachment is information about current gardening trends and some inspiration to get you started! Flowers will be available for pick up Friday May 20th from 2:30-4:00 pm. Please contact Kim Lindberg or Lonnie Sommer with any further questions or concerns. Thomas Middle School Spring Spirit Wear Sale Attention all 5th grade parents! Thomas Middle School is having their spring spirit wear sale. All orders can be placed online. Please click here for the flyer and information. The sale will run March 1st-15th. All orders will be delivered to your child's classroom at Olive. Please note "Olive" in the school section when you place your order.   Register For the Just Move It Challenge!! Pre-registration is going on NOW through Thursday, March 31st for the Just Move It Challenge on April 16.! Everyone registered prior to March 31st will receive a race day t-shirt. This year's t-shirt/poster design winner is Olive's own Audrey Zagorski.  Click here for more information on the competition.  Please also note that entry fees will go up after March 31st. We also NEED Volunteers! Over 75 volunteers are needed to make the Just Move It! Challenge race day a success! Street Marshall volunteers are need 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! Please click here to view the flier for more details and visit www.jmichallenge.org to register to RUN, WALK OR VOLUNTEER! There is a participation award given to the school with the most registered participants! Olive Mary-Stitt has won it the last couple years and we want to keep the streak going! Join AmazonSmile - .5% of qualified purchases to OMS PTA If you already use Amazon.com consider doing your shopping at smile.Amazon.com instead. This website lets Amazon customers enjoy the same selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as Amazon.com while contributing .5% of qualified purchases to our PTA! The first time you enter the site, you will need to add our organization as the charity you want your contribution to go toward. Our PTA is listed as:   Illinois Congress of Parents and Teachers Olive-Mary Stitt PTA Inc Once entered, every time you shop at smile.Amazon.com, .5% of your qualified purchases will be added to our PTA account. It's that simple!  Questions?  Please contact Jo Voelker Teachnology Fair The Teachnology Fair is coming up on March 9th from 7-9pm at Thomas.  We have students from all 9 schools participating. Click here for the flyer and more information.  Please plan on attending.  We would like to see a great turn out for all the kids who are participating. In addition, we are in need of parent and student volunteers for the event.  Students can earn service hours for volunteering at this event. Sign Up Now!   Volunteer Opportunities Do you want to get more involved in the PTA but don't know how?  Maybe you want to be on a committee, but aren't exactly sure what they are about.  We can help!  Each week we will highlight a different committee in need of volunteers in order to give you a deeper understanding of the position and the time commitment it requires.  This week we are focusing the "Everybody Counts" program.  “Everybody Counts” is a disability awareness program that usually occurs the first week in February. The goal is to teach understanding; to help everyone know the person behind the disability and to create a climate in which we all feel at ease with differences in each other.  The grade level topics include:  Kindergarten – overview of vision, hearing and motor impairments  1st – vision impairment 2nd – hearing impairment  3rd – cognitive impairment  4th – motor impairment  5th – learning disabilities.  The Committee Chairs work with the classroom teachers to schedule presentations, coordinate the volunteers needed to present the program to the students and schedule a night for volunteers to come and review the materials. Classroom presentations run approx. 45 minutes and all materials are provided.  We are currently looking for 2 Co-Chairs for this inspiring committee.  All of the materials were recently updated, nothing needs to be recreated.  Please consider if this is a position for you and contact Angie Frye or Lisa Roudabush with questions or your commitment.   Other open Committee Chair positions are:  Hospitality Chair, Volunteer Coordinator, Cultural Arts Co-Chair, and Reflections Co-Chairs. Our ABC25 foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president.  Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website. Thank you!   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!! Upcoming Events.. 3/1 - Plant Sale Begins 3/2 - 5th grade Band Concert 7:00pm 3/9 - Teachnology Fair (Thomas) 7:00pm 3/11 - Report Cards Issued 3/14 - Steak and Shake Fundraiser   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

Lockdown Drill

Dear OMS Families,

Next week we will have an unannounced practice lockdown drill.  The drill will occur sometime between Monday morning (Feb. 22) and Friday afternoon (Feb. 26).  Our School Resource Officer, Rick Veenstra, will be present during the drill to walk the building with us. Students may be interrupted during classroom instruction, specials, lunch, or even recess.  We encourage you to talk with your child about the upcoming drill.  If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Davis.

Just Move It! Challenge Poster Design Winner

Olive-Mary Stitt's own Vivienne (2nd grade) won the district-wide Just Move It! Challenge race poster design contest.  These posters will be displayed throughout District 25.  This is exciting news for the OMS Owls!

An Owl Experience!

This week our third-grade students received a visit from the River Trails Nature Center.  This visit coincided with the study of habitats.  They were lucky enough to learn all about the great-horned owl.

Befriend A Badge Event - Saturday!

Lost and Found

Our OMS lost and found is overflowing!  Please take a moment to look at each picture with your child.  They can pick up any items that belong to them outside of Mrs. Moore's room.  We encourage you to label your child's clothing so that it can be returned to them if found.

Would'ja Be My Valentine?

We are so proud of our first-grade friends and their performance in their Valentine's Concert on Thursday, February 11.  A huge thank-you to Ms. Privett for her hard work preparing the children. We would also like to thank Mrs. Pusateri and the first-grade teachers for their flexibility in scheduling so that all of the classes could practice together.

TWIG 02.19.16

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

The Olive Twig February 19, 2016

BoxTop/Labels for Education Spring Challenge Thank you for collecting and turning in your box tops and labels during our Spring challenge. We had a great challenge and the school will receive almost $400 from our box tops and we have turned in over 600 label points! It was a close race amongst the classes but the top classes were Miss Musich's 2nd graders (2-3) and Mrs. Helmann's 4th graders (4-1). These classes will get to choose a prize to recognize their success. Thanks again, and keep clipping and saving all spring and summer long, in anticipation of our challenge next year in October! Any questions... please contact Gina Groberski. Also, a great big THANK YOU to the volunteers that helped clip, count, and sort all the box tops that we received! Your help is greatly appreciated! Just Move It! Challenge Pre-Registration NOW OPEN Pre-registration is going on NOW through Thursday, March 31st! Everyone registered prior to March 31st will receive a race day t-shirt. Please also note that entry fees will go up after March 31st. Please click here to view the flier for more details and visit www.jmichallenge.org to register to RUN, WALK OR VOLUNTEER! There is a participation award given to the school with the most registered participants! Olive Mary-Stitt has won it the last couple years and we want to keep the streak going!   Thank You Corner! Our last Activity Night of the year concluded last night, wrapping up a fun year for all grades. Each grade had the chance to spend an evening experiencing fun interactive shows in our Olive commons. Thank you so much Christina Perez and Jen Hasche for co-chairing this committee. You have done a wonderful job! 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! 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: New Family Mentoring Co-Chair, Volunteer Coordinator, Cultural Arts Co-Chair, Everybody Counts Co-Chairs,  and Reflections Co-Chairs. Our ABC25 foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president. 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!   Upcoming Events.. 3/2 - 5th grade Band Concert 7:00pm 3/11 - Report Cards Issued 3/14 - Steak and Shake Fundraiser   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

Parent-Teacher Conferences Spring 2016

Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18, 2016

At OMS, we value a strong partnership between home and school. Twice a year, once in November and once in March, time is provided for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Parent-Teacher Conferences are a valuable time to share information and discuss the progress of our students. 

The conferences are scheduled in 20-minute increments. These are regular classroom conferences, not conferences with specific subject area teachers, such as math. If you would like to speak with your child’s math teacher, please contact him or her directly. In order to be fair and equitable to all our OMS families, each family may sign up for only one evening conference each year. Families can choose to either sign up for an evening conference in the fall or the spring, not both. We realize that some of our families elect to be out of town when we provide conferences. If you will be out of town but would still like a conference, please consider scheduling a 20-minute phone conference on 3/17 or 3/18, which you may also do online.

Parents will be able to sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences online, using http://www.signupgenius.com. Parents will be provided links to begin signing up for conferences on Wednesday, 2/24, at 10 AM. The window for signing up for spring conferences will be Wednesday, 2/24 at 10 AM through Wednesday, 3/9 at 10 AM. 

Owls, Owls, Owls

Look around Olive, and what do you see?  Do you see a better future for OMS? Student Council does!  Join us by helping with a special project.  Right now, instead of being able to look out of the lovely commons windows, we have a large, plywood wall.  Let’s make it look amazing by decorating it with cute and colorful owls! 

The Student Council is asking each interested student to make an owl to display on the wall.  You can color the owl provided (coming home via backpack mail soon) or make one of your own (about the same size) using any craft supplies available to you at home. Owls need to be cut out and have the student’s name and section number on the front or back of the owl.

If you want to participate, please return your finished owl to your teacher by Tuesday, Feb. 23! Student Council, with Mr. Bob’s kind help, will create an amazing display in the commons.  We hope you will participate!

TWIG 02.12.16

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

The Olive Twig February 12, 2016

Incoming Kindergarten Registration due ASAP Do you have an incoming Kindergartener? Please make sure you have turned in your registration packet. They were due on 2/9/16.   Just Move It! Challenge Pre-Registration NOW OPEN Pre-registration is going on NOW through Thursday, March 31st! Everyone registered prior to March 31st will receive a race day t-shirt. Please also note that entry fees will go up after March 31st. Please click here to view the flier for more details and visit www.jmichallenge.org to register to RUN, WALK OR VOLUNTEER! There is a participation award given to the school with the most registered participants! Olive Mary-Stitt has won it the last couple years and we want to keep the streak going!   Thank You Corner! Last week our children participated in the Everybody Counts program. Your kids may have come home to tell you about the specific disability they learned about during the classroom presentations. Disability awareness and understanding is the goal of this wonderful program. We would like to send a big "THANK YOU" out to Christine Gilbert & Amy Slowinske for their time and commitment in running this program for the last 3 years. They have done an amazing job organizing this week long event.  Unfortunately, they will be stepping away next year. Please let us know if you are interesting in Co-Chairing this committee by emailing Olive PTA. 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! 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,  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! Upcoming Events.. 2/15 - Presidents Day - No School 2/17 - 3rd Grade Clay Night 6:30pm 2/18 - K & 1st Grade Activity Night 7:00pm 3/2 - 5th grade Band Concert 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