Guest Readers Visit OMS

This week OMS had a few special visitors stop by to share some of their favorite holiday stories. Thank you to Dr. Bein - AHSD 25 Superintendent, Mr. Chung - AHSD 25 Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and Planning, Mrs. Johannesen - AHSD 25 Board Member, Ms. Piper Boston - South Middle School Principal, and Mrs. Anderson - former OMS Principal.  On Friday, the students enjoyed a PTA sponsored treat of pretzel rods and water as they listened to holiday stories and sang and danced to some holiday tunes!

Living Museum

Last week Mrs. Beck's and Mrs. Christoforou's students became the people they were studying.  After weeks of reading biographies and researching a person of their choice the students dressed in character and presented their work in the Living Museum.  Families and other classrooms were invited to attend this educational experience held in the OMS commons.  Students remained frozen on their stands until someone pushed their "button".  Once the buttons were pressed the characters came to life sharing details about their lives, careers, and achievements.  Below are just a few of the pictures we managed to capture.

Donate to our Mobile Maker Cart!

Are games with missing pieces, fabric scraps, small broken electronics, or odds and ends of craft supplies cluttering up your home? Have you been saving baby food jars, Altoid tins or cardboard tubes waiting for the perfect use? Before you recycle them, please consider donating them to be used on Olive-Mary Stitt's Mobile Maker Cart! This exciting learning center has been on the road visiting classes at Olive. While many materials are non-consumable ( Legos, blocks, electronics) other items are quickly depleted. Tape and building toys your children have outgrown are also welcome.You may not know what to do with a bit of ribbon or a1/2 a Candyland game, but I know some Makers who do!

Twig 12.18.15

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

The Olive Twig December 18, 2015

Happy Winter Break! Winter vacation starts at the end of classes on December 18. Have a safe and wonderful break!!! Classes resume January 4, 2016.  Attention Parents of 5th Grade Boys On Thursday, January 7th, the fifth grade boys will have the opportunity to attend the “Michael” program presented by the Robert Crown Health Education Center. This program has been developed to acquaint the boys 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 boy attending must be accompanied by a parent or an adult chaperone. A permission slip was sent home December 14th and must be returned to the office by January 4th. Please click here for a copy of the permission slip. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sarah Klancnik at klancnik@comcast.net. Ecology Club News Greetings, Olive families! The young ecowlogists at our school have been pretty busy these past few months accomplishing some amazing and meaningful things!  Please click here to watch the super fun and upbeat video they put together to share their passion about the environment and to remind their friends that living green every day is not as hard as you might think! Stay tuned for the reveal of a special recycled pop art project they have been working on to celebrate America Recycles Day! A very special thank you goes out to Diane Sharrow who visited the club this December. Ms. Sharrow is a Senior Inspector with the Environmental Protection Agency with years and years of experience. She was happy to share with the students many interesting facts about her profession and her responsibilities and about the important role the EPA plays in keeping our air, water and communities safe and clean! The Ecology Club wants to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season! We meet every first Friday of the month after school at the LMC. If you have any questions or would like to join, contact Judi Schuch or Zhaneta Roura. Winter 2016 Activity Nights- Mark Your Calendar! Each year, the PTA hosts grade-specific Activity Nights. We have some great acts lined up for this year.  Kindergarten and First Grade: Thursday, February 18 at 7pm in the Commons Second and Third Grade: Thursday, January 14 at 7pm in the Commons Fourth and Fifth Grade: Friday, January 22 at 7pm in the Commons Each child must be accompanied by a parent and only students in the specific grades can attend due to size limitations. We won't be doing an Evite this year, but will send out an email through classroom Room Reps with more details as each Activity Night approaches. Please contact Christina Perez with any questions. OMS Spirit Wear Sample Sale Attention Parents! Did you miss our spirit wear sale this fall or are you in need of a holiday present for your child? Our PTA is selling spirit wear samples at a reduced cost! We are also selling the popular Olive headbands and OMS car magnets. Please click here to see pictures of what is available. If you are interested in purchasing an item, please contact Sarah Klancnik. Thank you! Upcoming Events.. 12/18 - Holiday Storytime 12/21 - Winter vacation begins 1/4 - Classes resume 1/7 - Michael Talk 7pm 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 © 2015 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

Science Club Sign-Ups are Due!

Don't forget to sign up for Science Club!  All forms are due no later than 

Wednesday, December 16th.

Please click on the link below to access the form:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MiH4ZaVG0gtVizqX6VuS95yfHE64yekpiwa5HZsH4Q4/edit?usp=sharing

Hersey Band Visit

This morning the Olive Owls received a visit from the Hersey High School band students.  We listened to a few holiday tunes, learned about a few instruments, and waved to some former

Olive-Mary Stitt students.

Twig 12.11.15

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The Olive Twig December 11, 2015

Ecology Club News Greetings, Olive families! The young ecowlogists at our school have been pretty busy these past few months accomplishing some amazing and meaningful things!  Please click here to watch the super fun and upbeat video they put together to share their passion about the environment and to remind their friends that living green every day is not as hard as you might think! Stay tuned for the reveal of a special recycled pop art project they have been working on to celebrate America Recycles Day! A very special thank you goes out to Diane Sharrow who visited the club this December. Ms. Sharrow is a Senior Inspector with the Environmental Protection Agency with years and years of experience. She was happy to share with the students many interesting facts about her profession and her responsibilities and about the important role the EPA plays in keeping our air, water and communities safe and clean! The Ecology Club wants to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season! We meet every first Friday of the month after school at the LMC. If you have any questions or would like to join, contact Judi Schuch or Zhaneta Roura.   Winter 2016 Activity Nights- Mark Your Calendar! Our Each year, the PTA hosts grade-specific Activity Nights. We have some great acts lined up for this year.  Kindergarten and First Grade: Thursday, February 18 at 7pm in the Commons Second and Third Grade: Thursday, January 14 at 7pm in the Commons Fourth and Fifth Grade: Friday, January 22 at 7pm in the Commons Each child must be accompanied by a parent and only students in the specific grades can attend due to size limitations. We won't be doing an Evite this year, but will send out an email through classroom Room Reps with more details as each Activity Night approaches. Please contact Christina Perez with any questions. From the OMS Front Office Your warm wishes, greetings, and the love and support of our school are what we consider to be our greatest 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 17th. We so value your modeling this spirit of giving to your children on our behalf.  OMS Spirit Wear Sample Sale Attention Parents! Did you miss our spirit wear sale this fall or are you in need of a holiday present for your child? Our PTA is selling spirit wear samples at a reduced cost! We are also selling the popular Olive headbands and OMS car magnets. Please click here to see pictures of what is available. If you are interested in purchasing an item, please contact Sarah Klancnik. Thank you! Upcoming Events.. 12/18 - Holiday Storytime 12/21 - Winter vacation begins 1/4 - Classes resume 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 © 2015 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

Character Counts and the Service Learning Club work together!

This week during lunch the service learning students came together to help sort and bag all of the winter wear collected for the Character Counts Warm the Nest Drive.  Thank you to Mrs. Gilbert and Mrs. Hooker for organizing these events that help OMS show the community how much we care.

Nonfiction November Class Contest Winner

Nonfiction November

Did you know that the largest frog is as big as a bunny?  This is what Damian from 2-2 learned when he read a nonfiction book called Frogs.  Damian submitted his fact form for the LMC's Nonfiction November contest. The students at OMS really went wild for nonfiction books.  All of our students combined read 1994 books! Mrs. Jansson's class (2-1) earned the top prize for reading the most nonfiction books.  They read 168 books in the month of November!  

Our students wrote up so many interesting facts to share.  Some of these were read aloud on morning announcements or hung up in the hall on the class tally posters. Here are a few more interesting facts shared by our students:

Hollywood Studios was supposed to be part of Epcot, but it was too big.  -Alyssa in 5-5

Chinook salmon can get up to 5 feet and weigh up to 125 pounds.  -Kacper  in 3-2

Earmuffs were invented in Maine.  -Bennett  in 3-2

There are four stages in the life cycle of an ant.  -Sydney in 1-2

Jeff Kinney created a game called Poptropica.  -Ashley  in 4-2

The king vulture cleans up the rain forest.  Beckett in K-4

To learn more about our contest, please visit the LMC website at 

http://olivemarystittlmc.weebly.com/nonfiction-november.html

Construction Update 12.4.15

The long stretch of warmer temperatures has allowed our project to continue to remain on schedule. The concrete footings are almost ready to support the foundation for our new classrooms and gym. We should really begin to see things take shape when the steel arrives later in December to support our new brick walls. It's going to be amazing!

Concrete Footings For New Gym

Ready For The Foundation For Our Classrooms

Practice Makes Priceless Pictures!

The third-grade students have been busy rehearsing for their upcoming Winter Concert.  We look forward to seeing our OMS Families on:

 Thursday, December 10th at 7:00 pm.

Please click on the link to view the invitation that was emailed to all third-grade families.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzzKMexvU1KmN3RTaGVzTEdhNHJ4ODkyMjMtZ2M4VmZfTnp3/view?usp=sharing

Befriend a Badge - Trading Card Program

Please find links to a larger copy of the media release and a flyer below.

Media Release: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzzKMexvU1KmZ3hlLW9MVjlfNkRQNkZNVG9KZUNYa3dfb3Qw/view?usp=sharing

Flyer:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzzKMexvU1KmNG5uOGZqdFBTTk5wdFZKYkhfS0RqdndEQ0tz/view?usp=sharing

Read All About it - Chicago Tribune Article

This week Chicago Tribune reporter, Karen Ann Cullotta, visited the Student Council members during lunch to find out more about our construction fencing cup art.  Please enjoy reading her the article below.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/arlington-heights/news/ct-arh-olive-school-construction-art-tl-1203-20151201-story.html

It's All About Art

Please click on the link below to see what our Olive Owls have been up to this trimester in the Art Room with Mr. DeMarco!

http://oliveart.weebly.com/blog/first-trimester-update-2015

Just Move It, Move It!

When you hear the words "I'm bored!" next week, have your child work on designing an entry for the Just Move It Challenge T-shirt and Poster contest.  The design deadline is December 4, 2015.

Please click on the link below for the guidelines and entry form.

https://drive.google.com/a/sd25.org/file/d/0BzzKMexvU1KmS3lWeHN2ZXFzYXZZc3dlbjJoMTZvU2hzbjRn/view?usp=sharing

Author/Illustrator Ethan Long Visits OMS!

Ethan Long, the author and illustrator of more than 70 children's books gave a presentation to students in grades K-2 on Tuesday, November 17.  He taught students some important skills about creating characters and stories, such as being responsible and learning to collaborate with others.  The audience had fun helping Mr. Long design a character named CooCoo, the dog.  It was amazing how fast Mr. Long could draw CooCoo in all sorts of different poses.  The audience counted down the seconds (10-20 total!) while Mr. Long made the drawings.  Students in Mrs. Wilhelm's second grade class had a special opportunity to work more closely with Mr. Long during their art class in Mr. DeMarco's room.  Please follow the link below to see more photos of the event and to watch a video showing Mr. Long teaching the second graders how to show emotions on a character by changing the shape of the eyes in a drawing.

http://olivemarystittlmc.weebly.com/author-visits.html

Twig 12.4.15

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

The Olive Twig December 4, 2015

Cookie Dough Pickup - Wednesday, December 9th 3:30-5:30pm If you placed an order for cookie dough, please come to the OMS Commons on Wednesday, December 9th between 3:30-5:30pm  to pick up your order. All orders are frozen and must be picked up by 5:30 to decrease the risk of thawing! Please arrange to have someone pick your order up for you if you are not able to. Any questions, please contact Sarah Klancnik or Jo Voelker. Thank you for your participation! OMS Spirit Wear Sample Sale Attention Parents! Did you miss our spirit wear sale this fall or are you in need of a holiday present for your child? Our PTA is selling spirit wear samples at a reduced cost! We are also selling the popular Olive headbands and OMS car magnets. Please click here to see pictures of what is available. If you are interested in purchasing an item, please contact Sarah Klancnik. Thank you! Thank you Conference Dinner Volunteers Our annual conference dinner was a yummy success.  The teachers really enjoyed their Election Day themed meal.  It is a long few days of conferences for them and they love having this meal waiting for them.  Thank you to all those who donated food and especially to Judi Schuch and Sarah Wade for organizing it!   Please click here to meet a few of our set up volunteers...Megan & Mimi Hill and Ryder Schuch. Deb Oiler (not pictured) was amazingly helpful too. Thank you all for making us proud. Thank you Bingo Night Volunteers Thank you all the volunteers who made Bingo Night a success.  It was a fun, family event and we could have done it without all of your help.  We were able to make a wonderful donation to the Wheeling Food Pantry with your canned goods donations.  A special thank you to Jeanne Cosgrove and Marni Hanson for organizing the event and to Tom Barnard for being a great emcee! Holiday Storytime with the Principals This event will take place on December18th during the school day. Please watch for an email from your room reps with opportunities to volunteer during the event and/or to donate a snack. Please contact Michele Bozikis or Becky Hany with any questions. Attention 5th Grade Parents The 5th grade committee needs your help! Please email a baby picture between the ages of 1-12 months for inclusion in a 5th grade slide show. You may send the scanned photo to oms5thgrade@gmail.com  We will need these pictures ASAP! In the subject line, please indicate your child's name. If you have any questions, please email Janelle Brown. Thank you in advance. Upcoming Events.. 12/9 - Cookie Dough Pick-up (3:30-5:30pm) 12/9 - 5th Grade Band Concert (7:00pm) 12/10 - 3rd Grade Music Concert (7:00pm) 12/18 - Holiday Storytime 12/21 - Winter vacation begins 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

Science Club is Back!

Science Club is back for Olive students to enjoy:

Session 1: Waves and More (four weeks)

 light (photocells and optics), sound (music), and magnetism

Session 2: Bubbles (two weeks)

Speed of the bubble, and Zometool bubbles

Session 3: Chemistry of Life (two weeks)

DNA discovery, water and life

Science Club meets in the Fine Arts hallway from 3:45-4:45.  Students may enroll in either or both sessions. There is no charge to participate, however, you must register by completing the attached form and returning it to the Olive office no later than Wednesday, December 16. Each day is limited to twenty-four students and children are enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis; sessions often fill up quickly so don’t delay! 

To ensure that we’re able to provide a safe and enjoyable activity there will be at least two adults present each day. Any days that do not have at least one adult volunteer helper will be cancelled. I will particularly need assistance for sessions 1 and 3 when I plan to have students move from station to station. Please consider signing up to help on one or more days as your schedule allows. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles are also welcome. Don’t let the Olive students have all the fun! 

Science Club has been funded by generous grants and donations from BP, Northrop Grumman Corporation, the American Chemical Society, ABC 25, Educational Innovations, Barnes and Noble, Orochem Technologies Inc., and individuals interested in science education. You can review this fall’s and prior years’ activities online at scienceclubatoms@weebly.com. 

Questions? Contact Cynthia House at chouse@sd25.org.

Sign up form:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MiH4ZaVG0gtVizqX6VuS95yfHE64yekpiwa5HZsH4Q4/edit?usp=sharing

Lost & Found

When you are in for conferences, don't forget to stop by our lost & found area to see what might be missing from your house. All items still remaining at winter break will be donated.

Nonfiction November Contest

Nonfiction November Is Going On Now in the LMC

Students at Olive-Mary Stitt are busily reading nonfiction books and writing down facts to share with others during our Nonfiction November contest. Students turn in their fact forms to the LMC, and our staff checks them over and posts them onto the classroom tally posters hanging in the hall outside the LMC.  The classroom that reads the most nonfiction books during the month of November will win a prize.  Our fifth grade morning announcement helpers read some of the more interesting facts on the daily morning announcements.  The last turn-in day for fact forms will be on December 1.  We hope that all students will continue to read nonfiction books over Thanksgiving break and will write more facts to help their classes do well in the contest.  

Twig 11.20.15

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

The Olive Twig November 20, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! Wishing all of you a happy and safe Thanksgiving break. Directories Are Here Directories should have come home this week in your child's backpack! Didn't receive one? You may have never joined PTA...but it is not too late! Your $10 individual or $15 family membership supports all of our enrichment programming for all OMS students! Contact Shannon Kersemeier at skersemeier@gmail.com with questions. Need an extra copy? They can be purchased from Brenda Lettieri in the front office for $5. PTA membership cards are also attached. Please see http://www.pta.org/benefits for discounts available with your membership! If you have any additions or corrections to the directory (either paper or electronic) please let Shannon know! OMS Teacher Conference Dinner - Support Needed Alright OMS Families – Now is your chance to show off your culinary and baking talents! Every year, we serve up a themed dinner to the OMS Staff on the Monday of conferences. This year it’s on Monday, 11/23 at 4:15 pm in the LMC. Our theme, of course, is patriotic election! Dive into your inner red, white and blue. Please click here to sign up to bring an item or help at the event. It’s fast and a ton of fun! Contact Judi Schuch with any questions. Attention 5th Grade Parents The 5th grade committee needs your help! Please email a baby picture between the ages of 1-12 months for inclusion in a 5th grade slide show. You may send the scanned photo to oms5thgrade@gmail.com  We will need these pictures soon! In the subject line, please indicate your child's name. If you have any questions, please email Janelle Brown. Thank you in advance. District 25 Just Move It! Challenge T-shirt and Poster Design Contest The District 25 Just Move It! Challenge is April 16, 2016 and there are exciting new creative opportunities for the kids to get involved! This year, the kids of District 25 will have an opportunity to participate in a challenge to design the official JMI Race T-shirt and JMI Poster, which will be seen in the schools and local businesses! The deadline to submit your artwork for either the t-shirt, poster or both is December 4, 2015. There will be a folder in the OMS office where all submissions may be turned in. Please click here  for entry form and guidelines. For more information on the JMI Challenge itself, please visit jmichallenge.org.  Please contact Jen Rich or Bridget Stannis with any questions. ABC/25 MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Please support Olive's chance to earn a $2500 grant from the ABC/25 Foundation! We need 25% of Olive families to join theABC/25 Foundation in order to receive the Membership Incentive Grant. One family membership counts toward all district schools that children in one family attend. Join ABC/25 today with a $40 donation. Click here to join ABC/25 or pick up a paper membership form in the school office. Upcoming Events.. 11/23 - 11/24 Parent Teacher Conferences 11/23 - 11/27 No School 12/9 - Cookie Dough Pick-up (2:30-5:00pm) 12/10 - 3rd 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 © 2015 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 subscrip