wis news · ed a tree sponsored by the wptc. thank you to the sponsors, ms. grandinetti and mr....
TRANSCRIPT
Principal’s Column
WIS News D E C E M B E R , 2 0 1 5
Dear WIS Families,
It’s hard to believe we finished our first trimester last month and are into the last month of 2015 As with eve-
ry month this year we’ve got a lot to report on, as well as many things to look forward to.
Our SILT team members have presented the 2015-2016 School Improvement Plan to the Board of Education
in October. Our focus this year again in Reading is to increase proficiency with Informational Text. In Math our focus
is on Numbers and Operations. Our Social/Emotional goal for the year is to decrease the frequency of disrespectful
behaviors. And we’ve added a technology goal which is to help our students become responsible digital citizens.
On Monday, November 23rd we had our first all-school PBIS assembly. Students were selected to participate
through our weekly raffle drawings. Deck Tennis was the competition of choice and students played against the faculty
and other grade levels. Fifth grade prevailed as they displayed clever tactics and intuitive skills to repeat as the school
Deck Tennis champions.
Our first Parent-Teacher Conference Day was held on Tuesday, November 24th. Parents and teachers had a
chance to come together and discuss the progress of our students. Thank you to everyone that made it a successful
day!
On December 1st our student council representatives traveled to the Westchester Park District and decorat-
ed a tree sponsored by the WPTC. Thank you to the sponsors, Ms. Grandinetti and Mr. Jesswein, and to the students
for your contributions this year.
Our teachers continue to learn about Inquiry-Based Learning Projects. Trainers from MindQuest come in to
work with a number of our staff members on a monthly basis. There are now two working Cohorts. This type of learning
and planning is exciting and helps teachers and students focus on what current research considers 21st Century Skills
(critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation, cultural responsiveness).
Along with learning about IBL, our staff and district has spent much time discussing the topic of Cultural Re-
sponsive Teaching and Learning. This began with our very first Institute Day two school years ago and has since contin-
ued into the classrooms and faculty meetings. It is a reason for us to begin incorporating IBL into our school structure.
What is this, you might ask. It is a way to motivate, articulate, communicate, and teach to students in a way that is most beneficial for them—a way to build relationships with students that otherwise would not be possible.
Our teachers been implementing some activities that coincide with CRT/L, like community circle meetings, fam-
ily traditions writing project, using other languages in class, and cultural read alouds. It is very much about differenti-
ated learning and what that looks like in a classroom for our individual students. For an interesting read, copy/paste
the web address below into your browser for an informative article.
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/005/120/Culturally%20Responsive%20Differientiated%
20Instruction.pdf
As we get into deeper into the wet and snowy part of the year, please be aware of proper pickup and drop off
procedures. We must follow all safety precautions when our children are entering and exiting the building. Please do
not move the orange cones from the front parking lot driveways in order to enter the lot.
These are placed to prevent entrance so that our students are free from vehicles and unsafe conditions from
motorists. If you are late dropping off your child, please continue to use all precaution and drop off in the street. In other exciting news, WIS is beginning its third season of basketball for boys and girls. The first games
begin Saturday, December 12th at George Washington Middle School in Lyons, IL.
Today, December 3rd is the WIS Chorus Tree Lighting at 6pm and Thursday, December 4this the Winter Cho-
ral Concert beginning at 6:30pm. Wednesday, December 16th is the WIS Winter Band Concert beginning at 7pm, and
the WIS classroom winter parties are on Thursday, December 17th.
Please stay connected and follow us online at http://www.sd925.org/ and on Twitter at WIS principal.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Letsos
Have a great rest of the month, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS
P A G E 2
P A G E 3
Friendly Reminders To ensure student safety, we ask that you please do not drop students off at the stop signs in front of the school or directly in front of the build-ing. The drop off lane on the north side of Canterbury Street is the safest place to drop your child off in the morning. According to Illinois law,
cell phones are not al-lowed to be used in a school zone.
Our Crossing Guard as-
sists with ensuring the safety of our students as they cross Canterbury Street. Please model safe behavior for all of our students by crossing at the crosswalk with your child.
Health Reminders If a student will be absent or late to school, please call the Health Office and leave a message with the student’s name and rea-son for being absent. Please call Mrs. Dowdle at 708/498-0095. Please do not send a student to school if they have a fever or are vomiting.
Library Write-A-Book Contest Winners Congratulations to the following 4th grade students who were winners in the Westchester Public Library Write-A-Book Contest. Anna Connelly, 1st place winner, and Molly Pondelicek, 2nd place winner! You make us very proud!
Scholastic Book Fair Our Thanks to the WPTC for providing an outstanding book fair with many wonderful books for our students to choose from. Thank you to all our fami-lies who supported our Book Fair! Our Thanks to Mrs. Franzwa and Mrs. Duffy, Book Fair Chairs, and the volunteers who assisted with making this event a success!
Band Fundraiser Coffee Pick-Up The Band Fundraiser coffee pick-up is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16th at 5:00 to 6:45 p.m. at W.I.S. Please enter through the main entrance, Door 1. All orders must be picked up before 6:45 p.m. Thank you for supporting our band program!
Home Access Center (HAC) Parents/guardians are encouraged to check Home Access Center for their child’s progress. If you have lost your password or need assistance, please contact Ms. Stanislaw at 708/562-1011.
Parent/Guardian Contact Information If you have moved or changed your phone number, please contact Ms. Stanislaw immediately at 708/562-1011, to update your contact infor-mation. It is very important that we have the most up-to-date information for all students should an emergency arise.
Winter Weather In the event of inclement weather, the District will notify families through an automated phone message. You can also tune into WGN AM 720 or WBBM AM 780 for school closings. While we have been fortunate with the weather up to this point, it looks like the cold weather is here. Students go outside for recess everyday, unless the temperature is below 20 degrees with wind chill. Please make sure your child comes to school dressed for the cold weather!
W I S N E W S
Thank You From The WIS Student Council The WIS Student Council would like to thank all our WIS families for supporting the Harvest Food Drive. Twenty-six boxes of food was collected to help the residents of Westchester. Your support is appreciated very much!
THE WIS STAFF
WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL OUR WIS FAMILIES
A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!
Westchester Intermediate School
10900 Canterbury Street
Westchester, IL 60154
P-708/562-1011
F-708/562-0299
www.sd925.org
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
DECEMBER
Dec. 2-WIS Chorus performs at Westchester Park District at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3- Winter Choral Concert at 7:00 p.m. Dec. 10-Board of Ed. Mtg. at WMS at 7:00 p.m. Dec. 16-Winter Band Concert at 7 p.m. Dec, 16-Band Fundraiser Coffee Pick-Up at WIS at 5:00 p.m. Dec. 17-WPTC Holiday Room Parties at 2:00 p.m. Dec. 18-Early Dismissal at 11:45 a.m. No Lunch Will Be Served Dec. 19--Jan. 3 Winter Break - No School JANUARY Jan. 4-Classes Resume Jan. 12-22 -MAP Testing Jan. 15-No School for Students-Teacher’s Institute Day Jan. 18-Martin Luther King Jr. Day—No School Jan. 25-Smile Illinois Mobile Dentist at WIS Jan. 26-Feb. 12-ACCESS Testing
‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY… December will bring the WMS Winter Dance and WIS/WPS Room Parties. As a reminder to our parents, for safety and logistical concerns all volunteer names are submitted to the schools prior to each party. If your name is not on the list for that party, the school office will not be able to allow you to attend the party. We encourage you to contact your room parent if you are still interested in volunteering at a party or to confirm your assigned party. As a reminder, siblings are not allowed to attend the party with you when you volunteer. Thank you to everyone who generously volunteers their time to help with the room parties. The students always have so much fun!
Winter Holiday Dance The WMS Winter Dance will be held on Friday, December 11th from 2:50pm – 5:15pm. We are looking for chaperones. Please contact Barb BaileyRollag ([email protected]) if you are interested in volunteering. All dance volunteers need to check in at the front table where the students enter.
Winter Holiday Parties The Winter Room Parties at WPS and WIS will be held on December 17th. Room parents are working hard on planning some fun, creative activities and games for all of our students. Thank you to those parents who have agreed to volunteer at the winter room parties!
WPTC Holiday Trees at Park District Have you seen the trees at the Community Center this year? WPTC has sponsored three trees this year – one for each of the schools – WPS, WIS, and WMS. Student groups at each school decorated their tree. Be sure to check them out!
Flying High Pizza Night Coming in December Just in time to get some holiday shopping done! Join us at Flying High
Gymnastics in Countryside (5400 East Ave) on Saturday, December 12th. Come support your school by dropping off your kids at Flying High for 3 hours of supervised fun. Fun includes 60 ft. inflatable obstacle course, trampolines, foam pits, open gym, games, pizza, and their delicious lemonade!! Early Bird Rate is $15 and the regular rate is $20. The one BIG change for this school year is that all pre-registration is now online right on the Flying High website. If you visit www.flyinghighgym.com and select the “Entertainment Events” page you will see Westchester PTC listed under Pizza Fundraisers. Online pre-registration must be completed by December 10th to get the $15 rate. After December 10th registration and walk-up rate is $20. Your student may bring non-92.5 family and friends with them.
December 2015
Trivia Night Fundraiser Great Fun! Thanks to all who came out to Trivia Night last month. Over 200 guests filled the cafeteria at St. Joe’s to help raise almost $5,100 to support our schools. It was amazing to see all the parents, neighbors, teachers, and staff show their commitment to our students and our community. What a fun night!! Congratulations to the winning trivia table – Jolly Posh! We saw some great table themes with awesome costumes and props. The winning theme was Dead Celebrity Lounge. We can’t wait to see what folks do next year. Thanks to all of the families and business who donated to the wine/beer grab and raffles. Special thank you to our winners who donated their prize money back to the WPTC. While this gesture is not expected of any winners, it is greatly appreciated and contributed to the success of the event. Finally, kudos to our WPTC Board Officers for all their hard work to make the evening a success. Check out the photos on our facebook page!
THANK YOU!! Thanks to all the dads, uncles, grandpas who joined us at WPS in November for Dads and Donuts. We’d also like to give a shout out to Mrs. DelFiacco and the rest of the wonderful staff at WPS for their help. We heard nothing but wonderful things about the event!
Thank you to all who participated in the WIS Book Fair held last month. It was a great success. We enjoyed seeing all of you sharing the love of books with your children. A special shout out to Kathleen Franzwa and Julia Duffy, WIS Book Fair Chairs, for their time and dedication.
Box Tops for Education Fall Labels Contest Ends January 8th Remember, the Labels Contest for this fall for all three schools ends January 8. The prize for the winning class/grade will be a Popcorn Day!! At WPS and WIS, one class per grade level will win a popcorn party. At WMS, the students will complete as a grade level and the winning grade level will enjoy a bag of popcorn during their lunch period. Make sure you label your baggie or envelope with your child’s name and class/grade so their class/grade can get credit towards the contest. For more information about qualifying programs, check out the following:
Box Tops for Education (www.boxtops4education.com)
My Coke Rewards for Schools (www.mycokerewards.com) Campbell’s Labels for Education (www.labelsforeducation.com) Tyson Project A+ (www.tyson.com/projectaplus)
Questions? Contact one of your Labels Chairpersons:
Yesenia Loera 708.692.8962 [email protected] Claudia Rosales 773.727.0076 [email protected] Kim Blumhagen 708.692.8962 [email protected]
Labels Committee Needs Help We are still looking for volunteers who would like to help the labels committee by entering coke re-
wards points once per week. We would give you a bag of reward codes every two weeks and you can enter up to
25 codes per week. This is a great way to help our schools and the WPTC from the comfort of your
home. Of course, you must have internet access to upload rewards to Coke's website. If you are interested in being a
part of the coke rewards program, please contact Claudia, Yesenia, or Kim, or you can email [email protected].
Recycle and Raise Money for our Schools Remember the red collection boxes can be used for CLOTHING, SHOES and COATS – all year long! (No other household items, please.) We will also be collecting broken holiday lights. Please place them in a separate bag (not with other donated items). RED collection boxes provided at WPS, WIS, WMS and even at Britten school. Proceeds go to support our schools. The WPS container is located on the north side of school, the WIS container is located on the east side of the school, and the container at WMS is located on the west side of school by the field. The container for Britten School is in the parking lot on the west side. Please make sure your donations are bagged. Thank you!
Popcorn Day ! We hope all the students enjoyed the first popcorn day of the year. Thanks to the parents who volunteered their time to pop all day long: Wendy Hennings, Megan Kurosaki, Carmen Ortoneda, Angie Repasky, Kathleen Bradford, Mary Ellen Newhouse, Jennifer Flynn and Rose Ortiz. We are thrilled to report that WMS joined in on the popcorn fun this year. The WMS students were very excited, especially the 8th graders. Many of them reminded us that they haven’t had popcorn day since they were in 5th grade!!
KidStuff Coupon Books Another thank you to everyone who purchased Kid Stuff Coupon Books. We raised over $3,800!! Thanks again to our chairs Laura Ball and Therese DeMauro. If you still have your coupon book at home, we ask that your send the $25 payment to school to purchase the book or that you please return it. We must mail all the unpurchased books back to Kid Stuff.
New Spirit Wear Vendor Thanks for your patience! We are happy to announce that we have selected a new spirit wear vendor and we will be offering new products and online ordering. The process took us a little longer than we had hoped so we were not sure if we would be able to offer a sale before the year end. However, our new vendor said we could do it! We will be offering a small, pop-up sale so please watch out for a WPTC email and/or flyer which will be coming soon. This pop-up sale will feature a few select items and then we will expand the offerings for our next sale in the spring. Kudos to our spirit wear chairs, Michelle Urban and Laura Wutzke, who shifted through mounds of information from potential vendors and loads of clothing options.
WPTC 2015-2016 Officers
President: Dana Wesolowski [email protected] Vice President–WPS: Jill Creamer [email protected] Vice President–WIS: Abby Martin [email protected] Vice President–WMS: Rose Ortiz [email protected] Secretary: Maura Schoo [email protected] Treasurer: Jen Hall [email protected] Officer’s Assistant: Mary Ellen Newhouse [email protected]
Dates to Remember DECEMBER 11 WPS Splash Spot (during school hours) 11 WMS Winter Dance 2:50-5:15pm 12 Flying High Gym Pizza Fundraiser Night 16 WMS School Store (during lunch periods)
17 WPTC Room Parties: WPS morning 10am-11am WPS & WIS afternoon 2pm-3pm JANUARY 6 WPTC Member Meeting @ WIS 6:30pm 13 Popcorn Day @ WPS, WIS, & WMS 22 WMS School Store (during lunch periods) 29 WPS Splash Spot (during school hours) FEBRUARY 5 WMS Valentine’s Day Dance 2:50-5:15pm 12 WPTC Room Parties: WPS morning 10am-11am WPS & WIS afternoon 2pm-3pm 19 WMS School Store (during lunch periods) 19 Family Game Night @ WPS 6:30-8:00pm 26 WPS Splash Spot (during school hours)
Thanks again for all you do to support WPTC, WPS, WIS and WMS!
– Your WPTC Officers