December 2007
Dear Southwest Families,
The holidays are fast approaching and I, like many of you, are wondering where the school year has gone! It’s hard to believe that we are well into 2nd quarter, and looking forward to our winter break. And I, again like many of you, am so NOT ready!
As I mentioned last month, our book fair was a HUGE success. The profit to PTA was split – we took $1,000 cash profit to help us fund our all-school field trip on December, 21st, and another $925.00 in book profit. PTA already has a book profit of approximately $825.00 from last school year’s book fairs. So this combined book profit will be used to buy a summer reading book for each of our students. To do this, PTA works with the classroom teachers who select an appropriate book from the book fair choices for their particular classroom. PTA purchases the quantity needed, and these books are distributed on the last day of school by the classroom teacher. We also buy books for the incoming Kindergarten students for next school year!
Santa’s PTA elves were busy during our Santa’s Secret Shop! One of the PTAs favorite activities of the school year, our Secret Shop was set-up in the front hallway on December 13th and 14th. All items were offered for a $1.00 and the students shopped till they dropped! I think it was some of our PTA elves who dropped; the kids had plenty of energy! Many shopping for mom and dad, sisters and brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, pets . . . some of the lists seemed endless! I think we sold about 3,000 items! Thanks to all of the volunteers who made this event such fun for our students.
Our students are counting down the school days to their classroom parties on Thursday, December 20th, and the all-school field trip to see the movie, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, on Friday, December 21st. If you are interested in helping our with your student’s classroom party, please contact the “head” room parent or your student’s teacher – we’d love to see you there!
Lastly, PTA is researching new ideas for a Spring ’08 fundraiser. We have a committee looking at different companies and products, but in an effort to get a wider opinion from our members, we sent home a quick survey. Please take a moment to complete it and return it to school if you haven’t already done so, and even if it’s past the return date – we’re still interested in what you think!
I wish for everyone a content and joyful holiday.
Sincerely,
Tish Moore
PTA
President
Copies of the minutes of the PTA meetings are available on the PTA table outside the school office and are posted on the District 124 website at ‘d124.org’
Southwest
Talent Show:
Tuesday,
February 26, 2008
Due to a scheduling conflict, a new date for the talent show
has been set. The talent show will be
held on Tuesday, February 26th at 6:30 pm in the gym.
General
Mills Box Tops
We are collecting Box Tops for Education. Please keep track of the products you
purchase and remove these valuable labels.
Our school receives funds for each box top turned in. Help earn extra money for school activities!
Newspapers
and Magazines
Our school can get additional funds from your old newspapers and magazines! Just bundle them up and drop them in our green and yellow recycling bin on the south side of the school.
Campbell’s Soup Labels
(Please note: New Way to Save)
Campbell’s no longer accepts labels from their soup
cans. Instead, we are asked to clip and
send proofs of purchase; look for the Labels
for Education logo printed next to the UPC bar code on eligible
products. We will be counting “points”
rather than “labels” and will redeem them for items in a product catalog. So look for those proofs of purchase and
help SW earn points!
Printer
Cartridges and Cell Phones
Help our school and environment by recycling your used printer cartridges and outdated or old electronic equipment! This helps our school earn cash while keeping these unusable items out of our local landfills.
I was amazed at the
items that Cartridges for Kids will accept; inkjet and laser cartridges, cell
phones, PDAs, laptops, video games and consoles, and digital cameras. Donating is a cinch! Just put each old item into a zipped plastic
bag and send it to school. Please consider asking your relatives, neighbors or
employers if they have any of these items that they’d like to keep out of our
landfills. The more we recycle the
better off we’ll all be! If you have
any questions, please call Kelly Davis at 346-9664
A Blizzard Hit Southwest School!
Back
in November, a build-a-book blizzard hit our school and the kids along with
their parents came out to write their own books. Everyone became authors
and illustrators even Ms. Thomas got in on the action with her artistic ideas.
Stay tuned for the next family build a book night.
Homework Help
The Evergreen Park Library has a new program called
"Teacher in the Library". Students will have a safe and
supportive after school environment in which to do their homework. Free homework
help is offered by qualified teachers from District 124. This is not a
tutoring program, but an opportunity for students to have assistance with
day-to-day homework activities. "Teacher in the Library" meets
Monday through Thursday from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Please note that on
Mondays they have a bilingual teacher.
The Most Overlooked
Underlying Cause of Learning Difficulties
-Your child passed the vision screening at school,
so you know it is not a vision problem, or do you?
-Does your child avoid reading? Reread the same line
of words? Frequently lose their place, have an inability to concentrate or have
a short attention span? Write up or down hill on paper? Need a finger to keep
place?
-60% of kids who are identified as problem learners
have undetected vision problems.
-Children with vision problems may not complain
because they often assume that everyone sees the way they do.
Please join us at the SERVE
meeting:
January 17, 2008 from 7:00-8:30
pm
Central Junior High Multipurpose
Room
Our speaker: Dr. Mary Lou French, O.D., F.A.A.O., M.Ed graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry in 1977. After spending
time as a clinical instructor at ICO, she became a Fellow of the American
Academy of Optometry. She holds a Masters from the Erikson Institute for Early Childhood Development. She currently practices in
Orland Park, with an emphasis in pediatric
optometry and vision therapy. Over the years she has lectured extensively to
parent and teacher groups about the importance of children's vision and its
relationship to schoolwork.
New this month: New parents--Are you new to the special education community, or
interested in meeting other parents from the area who you may have more in
common with than you realize? Come to a meet and greet from 6:30-7:00.
Special Education
Resource group Valuing Everyone is a collaboration of parents and professionals
from Evergreen Park supporting children who learn
differently. Please share this with anyone who would benefit from it.
Grandparents Day a Great Success
Grandparents/Special
Someone Day was a huge success this year, thanks in large part to all of
the excellent helping hands that MaryEllen Adamitis and I had for the
day. We served pie, coffee, and holiday punch to over 350 special people
that afternoon. MaryEllen and I couldn't have done it alone, no matter
how hard we tried. So, ladies we thank you and look forward to another
great day next year!
Our
helpers for the day were Lisa Burgess, Cindy Moriarty, Maureen Ryan, Tracey
Gleason, Judy Ottenfeld, Kathy Cardinale, Debbie Johnson, Michelle Aldape, Barb
Marzano, and Rebecca Shalack. HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!
Susan Romano
Joy Young Benefit Update
I just thought that you'd all like
to know that with everybody's help Joy's bills should be able to be taken care
of for quite awhile! Thank you all for your help and dedication to helping
Joy in her time of need! Jeri Harte
Attention SWPTA Chairpersons
Prior to distributing any flyer, newsletter, etc. to our Southwest families regarding
a PTA event, please be sure to provide an advance courtesy copy to the PTA
President, Tish Moore. You may drop it
off in the PTA box located in the office.
A
Note from the Editors
If you have any newsworthy information for the newsletter, please email it to Beth Grisolano at grisolanoj@sbcglobal.net or Wally and Debbie Johnson at wally5400@sbcglobal.net