OMS 360º Construction Photos

The following are some great photos of our construction progress. Once you choose a photo, you will be able to click and hold your mouse to drag the picture around to see the full image in 360 degrees. Some of the pictures are close to the ceiling so our Director of Facilities could document the mechanical and electrical systems for the project.  Every couple of weeks, we will take some more images and upload them to the album for your viewing.

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

TWIG ~ 04/01/16

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

The Olive Twig April 1, 2016

Attention Parents of 4th Grade Girls On Wednesday, April 13th, the fourth grade girls will have the opportunity to attend the “Linda” program presented by the Robert Crown Health Education Center. This program has been developed to acquaint the girls with the physical development and personal hygiene associated with growing up. The program will be presented in the Commons at Olive-Mary Stitt School at 7:00 p.m. It will end by 8:30 p.m. Every girl attending must be accompanied by a parent or an adult chaperone. A permission slip was sent home March 29th and must be returned to the office by Tuesday, April 8th. Please click here for a copy of the permission slip. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sarah Klancnik.   Committee Chair Wrap Up Meeting - Tuesday, 4/5@7:00 As the school year comes to a close, we would like to invite all committee chairs to join us for an end of the year wrap up. We will have light refreshments and snacks. Plan to give a brief 3-5 minute recap of what your committee has accomplished this year. Please try to have at least 1 chair person from your committee attend this event. Current committee chairs who are stepping down should attend this meeting.  New committee chairs are invited as well.  If you haven't done so already, please complete your Plans of Work and End of Year reports if your event has wrapped up for the year.  Here are the links to the End of Year and Plan of Work forms.  Please make sure you print a copy of your reports for your binders and bring them to the meeting. Thank you!  Please check your email as an Evite went out to all committee chairs a few weeks ago.  Contact Angie Frye or Lisa Roudabush with questions. Anderson Book Fair -Wednesday, April 20th Please join us on Wednesday, April 20th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for the Anderson's Book Fair! There will be a great selection of titles and a variety of prices, including author-autographed books and teacher recommended books. Olive receives a percentage back from all sales to help fund future PTA programs. Please come out and support our school on the same night as the Earth Fair! Excess Funds Suggestions? At this time of year the PTA collects suggestions from the parent, teacher and school administration on how to spend our excess funds.  Although we try and budget accordingly, sometimes our fundraisers are more successful than we anticipate and we have extra money to spend.  What a great problem to have!  Since the PTA is a non profit organization we must close our fiscal year with a zero balance.  Please submit your suggestions on paper via the box in the office or through this online form.   If available, please provide documentation of the exact amount your suggestion would cost and where we can purchase it.  The suggestions should be anonymous.  An Excess Funds committee lead by the PTA treasurer will evaluate the suggestions and vote on which ones to move forward with.  This will be reported and voted on at the last PTA meeting on May 11th.  Thank you for your support with this fun project. Donate Your Old Shoes Now through April 20th, 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! Please contact Rachael Hooker with any questions. Just Move It! Challenge -4/16/16 Please visit www.jmichallenge.org  to register! Runners High n Tri is offering FREE training sessions for the Just Move It! Challenge participants every Saturday up until race day!  This awesome opportunity is for walkers and runners of all ages and abilities! Please take a look at the info here for complete details! Also, if you can't participate in the walk or run, please consider volunteering! We need lots of volunteers to make this an even greater event! You can sign up to volunteer by also visiting the website listed above. Everybody Counts Co-Chairs Needed This program is in jeopardy of being eliminated since we don't have anyone to take it over next year.     The program is all packaged ready to go.  Total time commitment: 1 hour review "open bin" night, 1-2 hours sign-up genius and emails to teachers and room reps, and maybe 1-4 hours the week of the presentations.  That's it...... The kids love the presentations and it is a fun volunteer opportunity!  Please consider volunteering!  Contact Angie Frye or Lisa Roudabush with any questions. Other open Committee Chair positions are:  Hospitality Chair, Reflections Co-Chairs, Thomas Middle School Liaison and South Middle School Liaisan.Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website. Our ABC/25 foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president. Please contact Doris Downing for further details on ABC/25. Thank you! PTA Volunteer Hours Due Attention all PTA volunteers! Please use this form to record any volunteer hours for the month  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!! 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 to oms5thgrade@gmail.com. Please only include photos from OMS activities or events. 2016/2017 Executive Committee Slate Posted Please take a moment and click here to read the proposed slate of the 2016/2017 executive committee. We will be voting on this at the last PTA general meeting on May 11th. We hope you can attend. Upcoming Events.. 4/5 - Committee Chair Wrap Up, 7pm 4/6 - 2nd Grade Music Concert 4/14 - 4th & 5th Grade Talent Show 4/16 - Just Move It! Challenge (SMS) 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

Quilt Donation to Northwestern Community Hospital

The Service Learning Club assembled 48 no-sew blankets for Northwest Community Hospital's Pediatric Department and Pediatric Emergency Department.  They were very appreciative of the club's generosity and time.  Olive's 5th grade Service Learning Club students have been making these blankets for Lutheran General and Northwest Community Hospitals for the past five years. 

Middle Grade Mania Comes to Olive

The students in grades 3-5 enjoyed a visit by three middle-grade authors on March 15.  The authors, Greg Neri, Elana Arnold, and Beth Fantesky, told the students about how they are inspired to use events from their real lives as ideas for their books.  Ms. Arnold told the students about her family's trip across the country in an RV.  She used that idea in her book, Far From Fair.  Two of the authors, Mr. Neri and Ms. Fantasky, like to write mysteries.  Ms. Fantesky asked the student audience to listen for clues as she read a scene from her newest book.  The students at OMS were good detectives since they successfully identified all of the clues!  Autographed copies of the books are available for students to purchase through Friday, March 18.

Mr. DeMarco's Art Blog

Please take a moment to read about what the students at OMS have been learning with Mr. DeMarco.

http://oliveart.weebly.com/blog/second-trimester-update-spring-2016

4th Grade Volcanoes

Things got pretty lively on the playlot on Friday as students from Mrs. Christoforou's class erupted their volcanoes. Students were captivated by the liquid spewing over the carefully crafted structures.

Bulgarian Pen Pals

Students in Mrs. Wilhelm's 2nd-grade class skyped their penpals from a Bulgarian elementary school on Friday. They learned that while some things are different, many things are very similar across the globe. Thanks, Mrs. Roura, for translating!

TWIG 03.16.16

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

The Olive Twig March 16, 2016

Training Sessions for Just Move It! Challenge Runners High n Tri is offering FREE training sessions for the Just Move It! Challenge participants every Saturday up until race day!  This awesome opportunity is for walkers and runners of all ages and abilities! Please take a look at the info here for complete details! Please remember to sign up by March 31 to get your race t-shirt! Olive Mary-Stitt has taken home the participation award the last couple years and we want to continue to show the strength of the Olive Mary Stitt community by keeping the streak going! So, call your family, friends and neighbors to participant and make it a great event! Don't forget you can also be a virtual runner if you are not able to make the event or have family out of state! Please visitwww.jmichallenge.org for more information and to register! Also, if you can't participate in the walk or run, please consider volunteering! We need lots of volunteers to make this an even greater event! You can sign up to volunteer by also visiting the website listed above. Hospitality Chair 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 Hospitality Committee. The Hospitality Chair is responsible for providing, setting up & cleaning up of refreshments for all PTA Board Meetings and special events throughout the school year such as PTA introduction on the first day of Kindergarten, L.M.C. Orientation, Incoming Kindergarten Night and other events as requested at least one month prior to the event.  You will be provided a budget and a list of volunteers that have already signed up to help through our volunteer sign up form.  Please contact Angie Frye and/or Lisa Roudabush if interested.      Other open Committee Chair positions are:  Everybody Counts Co-Chairs, Reflections Co-Chairs, Thomas Middle School Liaison and South Middle School Liaisan.   Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website. Our ABC/25 foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president. Please contact Doris Downing for further details on ABC/25. Thank you! 2016/2017 Executive Committee Slate Posted Please take a moment and click here to read the proposed slate of the 2016/2017 executive committee. We will be voting on this at the last PTA general meeting on May 11th. We hope you can attend. 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. Upcoming Events.. 3/17 - 3/18 - Parent Teacher Conferences 3/21 - 3/25 - Spring Vacation 3/28 - No School 3/29 - Classes Resume 4/6 - 2nd Grade Music Concert 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

Maker Club!

Calling all tinkerers, builders, and budding engineers! Would you enjoy time to explore our Mobile Maker Space in greater depth? If so, this club is for you. Grades 3-5 will meet for the entire lunch period and provide our club members with the chance to experience the hands-on learning opportunities available on our cart.  Grades 1-2 will meet during the recess portion of the lunch hour only.

First and second graders will meet during lunch recess Tuesdays: 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, 4/19 & 4/26.

Third, fourth and fifth graders will meet Thursdays: 3/31, 4/7, 4/14, 4/21 & 4/28.

Click the grade appropriate link below to let us know your child is interested in participating. A lottery will be held to determine participants ( 9 boys and 9 girls in each section) and all parents will be receive e-mail notification of participation 3/1/18. Link will close on 3/16. Thank you for understanding our space constraints.

Primary Maker Club

Intermediate Maker Club

Olive Owl Drawing Deadline Extended

The deadline for turning in Olive Owl Drawing tickets has been extended to Monday, March 14th at 9 am. To review the activities or print out more tickets, please refer to the 3/4 blog post. Winners will be announced at the end of the day on Wednesday, 3/16. Good luck!

PARCC Testing 2016

During the weeks of April 11th through April 29th, students in grades 3 through 5 will be participating in the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) Assessment. The PARCC assessments identify students' current performance, point the way to what students need to learn to be ready for the next grade level and, by high school graduation, for college and/or a career.  PARCC will be administered as a paper-based assessment in grades 3 through 5. Closer to the testing window, you will receive more information about your child's specific testing schedule from the classroom teacher.

During your child’s testing window, you can help your child do his/her best on the test by:

• Making sure, if possible, your child attends school on the days of testing;
• Making sure your child gets a good night’s sleep the night before testing;
• Providing breakfast on the morning of testing;
• Reminding your child to ask the teacher questions if he/she does not understand the test directions;
• Letting your child know that you have confidence in his/her ability to do his/her best; and
• Advising your child not to worry about the test - just do the best he/she can.

State Board of Education - PARCC Information

Please click here to view a larger version of the letter.

Middle School Creative Arts Program News

Dear D25 Families,

We are excited to share the Middle School Creative Arts Website with you. This resource has been created to give you more information about the Creative Arts classes that will be offered at both South and Thomas next year.  

Each middle school will be sending out information on the scheduling and selection process students will follow later this Spring. 

If you have any questions about the Creative Arts courses, please contact Nick Filipowski at 847.228.2061 or nfilipowski@sd25.org.

http://d25creativearts.weebly.com/

Famous Illinoisians

On Tuesday, March 1st our third grade students impressed the OMS staff, students, and their families with a living museum of famous Illinoisans.  We learned about individuals who were connected to Illinois and how they have made a difference in the world.  As we walked through the commons we ran into Barak and Michelle Obama, Ray Kroc, Marlee Matlin, and Michael Jordan just to name a few.

TWIG 03.11.16

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

The Olive Twig March 11, 2016

PTA Spring Plant Sale - EndsTuesday, 3/15 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. Training Sessions for Just Move It! Challenge Runners High n Tri is offering FREE training sessions for the Just Move It! Challenge participants! The first session is thisSaturday, March 12! This awesome opportunity is for walkers and runners of all ages and abilities! Please take a look at the info here for complete details! Please remember to sign up by March 31 to get your race t-shirt! Olive Mary-Stitt has taken home the participation award the last couple years and we want to continue to show the strength of the Olive Mary Stitt community by keeping the streak going! So, call your family, friends and neighbors to participant and make it a great event! Don't forget you can also be a virtual runner if you are not able to make the event or have family out of state! Please visitwww.jmichallenge.org for more information and to register! Also, if you can't participate in the walk or run, please consider volunteering! We need lots of volunteers to make this an even greater event! You can sign up to volunteer by also visiting the website listed above. Reflections Projects Honored The following students were honored at a Reflections Reception on March 9th, 2016 before the Teachnology event at Thomas Middle School. 5th Graders:  Alexis Hemminger, Visual Arts, Guess What I’m Thinking About! Maddie Gilbert, Visual Arts, The Olive Owl Spreading Her Wings 3rd Graders:  Gwennie Gilbert, Visual Arts, Imaginary World Sadie Talbot, Visual Arts, Dance Your Life 2nd Grader:  Vivienne DeRosa, Visual Arts, Ride On Imagination* Vivienne DeRosa, Dance Choreography, A Dream* 1st Grader: Thomas Stawicki, Visual Arts, The Shape Machine Kindergartener: Charlotte DeRosa, Visual Arts, Rainbow Bone Trees *Project that advanced to NW Cook Region All 8 projects from Olive advanced to the District Level (AH Council). From there 2 projects advanced to the Regional Level (NW Cook). Congratulations Olive Owl Artists!!   Cultural Arts 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 Cultural Arts program. The Cultural Arts Committee aims to enhance our students’ educational experience and cultural understanding through the performing arts. With teacher input, we plan professional drama, music, and dance performances. Typically shows occur during the school day and the committee strives to present two different assemblies each school year. Past performances have included The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by GreatWorks Theatre company, Trinity Irish Dancers, traditional Japanese drums provided by Tsukasa Taiko, and an ensemble from the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Please contact Angie Frye and/or Lisa Roudabush if interested. Other open Committee Chair positions are:  Everybody Counts Co-Chairs, Hospitality Chair, Cultural Arts Co-Chair, and Reflections Co-Chairs. Click here to view the descriptions of each of these committees on our PTA website. Our ABC/25foundation is also looking for a co-president and a vice president. Please contact Doris Downing for further details on ABC/25. Thank you! 2016/2017 Executive Committee Slate Posted Please take a moment and click here to read the proposed slate of the 2016/2017 executive committee. We will be voting on this at the last PTA general meeting on May 11th. We hope you can attend. 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. Thomas Middle School Spring Spirit Wear Sale - Ends Tuesday, 3/15 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. Upcoming Events.. 3/14 - Steak and Shake Fundraiser 3/15 - Plant Sale Ends 3/17 - 3/18 - Parent Teacher Conferences 3/21 - 3/25 - Spring Vacation 3/28 - 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

ABC25 - Olive Owl Drawing!

Once again, OMS teachers and staff are generously donating their time to offer some very fun activities as part of our efforts to raise money for the ABC/25 Foundation. The foundation works with all district schools to provide grants for cutting-edge teaching tools for our students. To enter the drawing, please place tickets and money in an envelope marked ABC 25 Drawing and send it to school with your student by Friday, March 11th. You may send in cash or checks made payable to Scholarship & Grant Fund. Winners will be announced at the end of the school day on Wednesday, March 16th. You may print out additional tickets and enter as many as you like. Please cut all of the tickets before turning them into the school. Teachers will have all students fill out one free ticket at school, to ensure that every student has a chance to win.

Click HERE to view the ABC 25 Olive Owl Drawing Prizes!!!

Click HERE to download the drawing tickets!

Three Authors Are Coming to OMS

Three middle grade authors will visit OMS on Tuesday, March 15.  They will make a presentation to students in grades 3-5 telling about their writing careers and offering advice to students about how to get started with writing.  The authors are Elana Arnold, Greg Neri, and Beth Fantaskey.  Students and staff who would like to purchase a personalized autographed book may do so by returning the purple order form to Mrs. Brown in the LMC by March 15.  Book order forms have been sent home this week with students in grades 3-5.  You may also download an order form here.  If you'd like to learn more about the authors and their books, please watch this short video.

Teachnology Fair at Thomas, Wednesday, March 9 (7:00-9:00 PM)

OMS students in grades 3 and 5 have been working hard to prepare for the Teachnology Fair that will take place at Thomas next week.  These volunteers have been working with Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Seisser during their recess time to practice their presentations on how they are using technology at OMS.  Some of the topics that they are working on are as follows:  using eBooks for research, using movie making apps to demonstrate learning, creating stop motion videos, and turning everyday objects into interactive opportunities with the app, Aurasma.  All district 25 families are invited to the fair next week to learn about technology and to support their classmates and teachers who are giving presentations.  There will be opportunities to attend planned sessions in classrooms and to view table demonstrations in the Commons.