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! 

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

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

Click Here to view the 

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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click here to view the 12-14-12 Twig!

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!

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

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!

Twig 11-30-12

Winter Coat Reminder
Brrrrrrrrr it is getting cold out there!  It is time to break out the hats and gloves and prepare for yet another Midwest winter!  We will be taking the students out for recess unless the temperature drops below zero degrees Fahrenheit or is excessively icy.  Please be sure to dress your children in coats, boots, gloves, hats, scarves, and snow boots as appropriate.   Any practice our younger students get at home in zipping up hats and wiggling fingers into gloves is also greatly appreciated by their teachers!!!

5th Grade Band Performance
Our 5th grade band students will be presenting a concert at Thomas Middle School on Monday, December 3rd at 7:00 pm.  Help us celebrate the talents of our students and join us for this evening of musical delight!

From the Office Staff
Your warm wishes, greetings, and the love and support of our school are our holiday gifts. We, in the front office, truly appreciate all you do to make Olive-Mary Stitt a great place for students to be. In lieu of personal gifts, we would like to continue inviting you to donate to a charity of your choice or to the Wheeling Township Food Pantry. Gift cards are needed and best suited to serve the needy in our community. We are able to collect these in the front office until December 21st. We so value your modeling this spirit of giving to your children on our behalf.

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

click HERE to view the 11-30-12 Twig! 

Proud to be Olive - MARY STITT!

We are proud to be Olive-Mary Stitt ....and why wouldn't we be with our namesake still making her mark on the world.  If you didn't catch the Daily Herald article or the ABC 7 news coverage this week, click the links below to see the amazing things our very own Mary Stitt is up to these days!

Click Here for the ABC News Coverage 

Click Here for the Daily Herald Article

Staff Dinner

Thank you so much to all of the parents that provided a delicious dinner for the staff during parent/teacher conferences. Everything from the Olympic theme, to the delicious food, to the generous raffle prizes were so appreciated. We are so privileged to work in a school community full of parents that are kind, generous....and great cooks!

Lost & Found

Does any of this look like it is missing from your house? If so, please come by to retrieve it or encourage your child to do so by Friday, December 14th . Additional items are located in the storage bin next to the clothes rack. Any items that are not retrieved by this date will be donated to a local charity. Thank you!

Twig 11-16-12

Thanksgiving is a time to slow down our busy lives and take a moment to think about those things for which we are truly thankful.  We are so grateful to work in such a supportive school community!   We value and embrace the forward thinking vision of our district where we are WIRED for success and understanding.  The caring and talented Olive teachers and staff enrich our lives and make it a delight to come to work each and every day.  But most importantly, "Olive-us" are thankful to you for sharing your precious children with us.  Their joyous spirits brighten our days and are truly the reason we love being educators! As we approach this extended break from school and very busy time of year, we hope that you enjoy these precious moments with your families, friends, neighbors, and especially your children!

Important Dates:
     11-19-12  Parent Teacher Conferences
     11-20-12  Parent Teacher Conferences
     11-22-12  Thanksgiving
     11-26-12  School Resumes

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click HERE to view the 11-16-12 Twig! 

Art Newsletter

Please click HERE to read Mr. DeMarco's 

Art Adventures Newsletter.

Service Learning Club

Over the last two weeks the Service Learning Club worked to promote and collect holiday letters for United States Soldiers who are serving our country.  We also collected spare change in each classroom in our “Cents for Sandy” campaign to collect money for the people on the East Coast who were affected by Hurricane Sandy.  We promoted the letters and change drive during the morning announcements and made posters for our school hallways for both collections.  We decorated and distributed jars for our coin collections, and we wrote sample letters to soldiers for the classroom teachers.  This week we collected the letters and put decorative stickers on them and tied them with ribbons for the soldiers. Service learning club works together to help people all over the world. For example the club helps people that were effected by powerful weather, people that can’t afford enough food to feed their family, and they send caring letters to the soldiers who are protecting our country.

Written by 5th grader Claire S.

Twig 11-9-12

Thanks to the Student Service Learning Club, the Olive students and staff have been collecting "Cents for Sandy."  If you have any spare change, we are asking that our school community open up their hearts and pockets and give what they can to the relief efforts supporting the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Collections are being taken in each individual classroom, during lunch,  and in the main office.  The collection will continue through the end of next week.  

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

click Here to view the 11-9-12 Twig!

"Olive-Us" Filled The Nest

 

We are very proud to share that the Olive community collected more than 400 bags of food during our Fill The Nest Food Drive.  Thank you to each and every family who donated to this service project and to the PTA Character Counts Committee for organizing such a successful event!

Halloween with Team OMS!

Halloween was a "Spooktacular" event with our little ghosts and goblins parading through the Olive-Mary Stitt neighborhood.  It was so great to see so many parents, grandparents and siblings out on the parade route.   The classroom parties, organized by our fantastic room parents were also greatly enjoyed by everyone!   The entire OMS Team is so appreciative  to work in a community where our parents are so invested in planning innovative and fun activities for our children.  We hope you enjoy this brief snapshot of our Halloween adventures!  Go TEAM OLIVE!

Olive Branch - October 2012

Click HERE to view the Olive Branch!

Owl Tribune - Volume 1

Please join us as we celebrate the first edition of the Owl Tribune!  More than twenty-five fourth and fifth grade students joined the Olive Junior Journalism Club and worked together to create this wonderful 15 page newsletter.  Please be sure to share this student created newspaper with your children!

Click HERE to view the Owl Tribune!

Halloween Is Almost Here

Plans for our Halloween celebrations on Wednesday are well underway. I want to thank all of the room representatives for their efforts to make this a special day for our students. Although it may be a bit chilly, the current weather report calls for sun. We will make every effort to have our parade outside, so please send your children with warm weather gear that can somehow be incorporated into their costumes. If you would like to watch the parade, please join us on the following route or at the school: OMS to Greens Park, south on Douglas, west on Oakton, north on Belmont, and back to OMS through our playground area, beginning at 1:30 pm. 

Please help your child choose a costume responsibly, understanding that we wish to promote safety while having fun.  Please be sure that students do not bring weapons (real or fake) to school or wear costumes that include blood or depict violence.  Please also exercise caution in selecting a mask, as students will not be able to wear them during the parties and may be asked to remove them if they make walking in the parade unsafe.

Students going home for lunch will be dismissed through the regular doors that they normally exit from at the end of the school day at 12:15 pm and then return at 1:10 pm to their morning line up locations. We will have extra supervision in place on Wednesday. We also ask that our parents be extra vigilant in all safety procedures around our school on this day as extra traffic, excited students, and rushed parents can result in a very dynamic parking lot. Thank you in advance for your respect of the dismissal procedures at lunch and at the end of the day. We want to make sure that all of our super heroes, princesses, etc. have a safe and fun-filled day!

FAQ on Head Lice

The following link will direct you to an annual letter from our nurses regarding head lice. 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.

http://oliveweb.sd25.org/pages/Olive-Mary_Stitt_School/For_Families/School_District_Communications/October_General_Lice_Letter_20

OMS PTA Rocks!

At the Illinois PTA District 37 Northwest Cook Region Annual Meeting on Monday night, the OMS PTA was recognized with a Gold Record for outstanding efforts in PTA membership recruiting during the 2011-2012 school year. Congratulations to the 2011-2012 PTA executive board and co-presidents, Carrie Hill and Amy Lumsden!

What's Happening at Olive?

Open House
We are looking forward to seeing Olive-U this Thursday, 6:30-8:00 pm for our Open House. For more information about the evening please see the October 12th blog post (archived posts are listed on the right-hand side of your screen). Parents will be able to sign up for fall and spring conferences during this evening.

Please note an important change for parent/teacher conferences: Parent/Teacher Conference sign-up sheets will not be in the gym. We have learned that the district's gymnastics equipment will be used by our students and in our gym during the week of Open House. Where all of this equipment takes up the entire gym, we are going to move all of the parent/teacher conference sign-up sheets to just outside classroom teachers' doors.

Coffee & Conversation with the Principals
New this year, Mrs. FitzPatrick and Mrs. Perri will be hosting a series of informal coffee meetings for parents, the first of which will be Friday, November 9th, from 9:30 am to 10:30 am. 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. In addition to time with the principals, each meeting will include a presentation from someone in our community. The following is a list of the topics that will be presented this year. 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!

11/9/12 - Cyber Safety with Office Aiello, School Resource officer  - Officer Aiello will review ways parents can recognize the dangers of the Internet, situations to avoid; and will offer advice on how to "surf safely." Also, he will discuss social media sites such as Facebook.
1/25/13 - Fiction/Nonfiction Book Pairings with Nancy Brown, Olive LMC Director
2/22/13 - Anxiety in Children with Mary Moore, School Social Worker
4/12/13 - Common Core State Standards with Dale Truding, Assistant Superintendent, Department of Teaching & Learning

Annual Fill the Nest Food Drive
We are so excited to launch our annual Fill the Nest food drive, sponsored by the PTA Character Counts committee with the help of the OMS Service Learning club! Bags will go home with your children today, Friday October 19^th. We will be collecting food all next week (October 22nd -26th).  Please have your child bring in your donation of non perishable food items any day next week. All donations will go to the Wheeling Township Food Pantry. Thanks in advance to the OMS Community for your generosity in making this food drive a great success!

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

click Here to view the 10-19-12 Twig!

Fifth Grade Field Trip

The Olive fifth graders enjoyed their field trip this week to the Aurora Sci Tech Hands-On Children's Museum.  The body presentation at the museum was a good review for the fifth graders and made a great connection to what they have been studying in class about joints. The children loved the outside activities that demonstrated Laws of Motion and Lever and Fulcrum. The students also enjoyed the air pressure, weather activities, building magnetic bridges, and much more.  A favorite activity of the boys, though, was finding out their baseball pitching speed. (Mrs. Dunlop shared that hers was only 28mph- so she is going to work on that!!!!)  The students found this to be an engaging and exciting learning experience!

OMS K at AHFD

Our kindergarten students visited the Arlington Heights Fire Department today. Firefighters discussed 911; smoke detectors; a family meeting space; and stop, drop, and roll. Our students then toured the station, which included an opportunity to climb into an ambulance and a fire truck. Thank you to our fire department for the tour and for keeping us safe!

 

Student Accident Insurance

Student Accident Insurance is offered as an option for all students through Gerber Life Insurance.  They offer both School Time and 24-Hour coverage.  More information can be found on the Arlington Heights School District #25  website under  the  Families sections.  Click HERE for a direct link. 

Historical Reenactment Photos

Thanks to the generosity of the ABC/25 Foundation, all District 25 fifth grade students had the opportunity to travel back in time to the year 1776 last Friday at our historical reenactment. Students rotated through different stations, such as wig maker and surveyor, to learn and experience what life was like in colonial America. The following are some pictures of Olive students enjoying the experience.

Important Dates

PTA Meeting:
There are two important events coming up in the next few weeks here at Olive. A general PTA meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 15 at 9:30 a.m. If your schedule does not normally allow you to attend the evening meetings, please consider joining us. The meeting will be held in the Olive-Mary Stitt teacher's lounge.

Open House:
Our Open House is scheduled for Thursday, October 25 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. With your child as your guide, you and your family are invited to our classrooms to learn about the dynamic learning experiences that abound at OMS. The format of the evening is truly an open house—so feel free to join us anytime between 6:30-8:00 p.m. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to showcase his or her outstanding efforts so far this year. On a first-come, first-served basis, you will also have an opportunity to sign up for parent/teacher conferences. As has been the case in the past, we ask that families only sign up for one evening conference to allow more individuals to access these times. Schedules for the fall and spring conferences will be posted in the gym. (Per the 10.19.12 "What's Happening at Olive?" blog, the location of the conference sign up sheets has been moved to just outside of classroom doors). An exciting addition to our Open House this year will be a musical performance by our fourth grade students.  Please stop by the Commons at 7:00 pm (Mrs. Muhr and Mrs. DeMille) and 7:30 (Mr. Edstrom and Mrs. Grimm) to share in this musical celebration!  As always, anytime the entire OMS community is together it is always a great occasion. We look forward to sharing your child’s educational journey with you at this event!

Halloween:
The  Halloween celebrations at Olive will be on Wednesday, October 31. Students that will be going home for lunch on this day may do so at 12:15 p.m. and then return at 1:10 p.m. to their morning line-up locations. Students that stay at school for lunch will have an opportunity to change into his/her costumes at 12:55 p.m. A lunch permission slip will be coming home with your child today.  Please indicate on this permission slip if your child will be going home or staying at school for lunch.  Permission slips are due back to school no later than Monday, October 29th.  If the weather cooperates, we will have our annual parade through the neighborhood beginning at 1:30 p.m. The parade route is as follows: OMS to Greens Park, south on Douglas, west on Oakton, north on Belmont, and back to OMS through our playground area. Our kindergarten classes will be proudly leading the parade, followed by 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.  Class parties will begin at the conclusion of the parade. If the weather decides to rain on our parade, we will move the fun indoors to the Commons. Students in our first lunch session (1st, 4th and ½ of 3rd grade) will parade around the commons beginning at 1:30 p.m. Students in our second lunch session (2nd, 5th, and ½ of 3rd grade) will be a part of a costume parade beginning at 2:00 p.m. Parents are welcome to congregate in the Commons to view these indoor parades beginning at 1:30 p.m. We are looking forward to a spooktacular afternoon…let’s hope for sun!

Be sure to scroll down to view past blog posts and 

click Here to view the 10-12-12 Twig!