December 2010 Watts Up

Page 1

A Note from the Principal

To give from love provides hope for life. Author unknown

Since my first year in District 204 (a very long time ago), I have written a Thanksgiving message. Although change is always good, so is tradition. Our Watts Up distribution dates

do not match up with Thanksgiving this year. Yet, I can not break my tradition. This fall, a large pro-portion of our Watts parent and student population have already celebrated high holidays. As Decem-ber approaches, Judeo-Christians will commemorate in their tradition. Yet for me, Thanksgiving is my favorite.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I spend a wonderful day with my family. Although I do watch football, I also share the cooking and cleaning with my wife! In addition to gathering with my family, Thanksgiving is reflective. It allows me to take some time and express my gratitude to all who have made my both my professional and personal life so blessed. My heartfelt appreciation goes out to my May Watts family who do so much to make our school great.

To the students… your friendliness, enthusiasm and respect for each other are astonishing. As always, student behavior has been wonderful. Each and every day you make smile, laugh and glad that I am your principal. You make coming to work a joy! This year, I truly appreciate the “good mornings” that I receive at the Kiss N’ Ride line. Great way to start a morning!

To the PTA, parent volunteers and all our parents… you put countless hours planning events, rewarding our staff, and attending meetings. The numbers of volunteers for teacher luncheons, popcorn day, the Reflections contest, various fund raisers, Market Day, the LMC and field trips continue to amaze me. There is a sense of community at May Watts. Children are moving in wondrous new directions thanks to you help. A special thanks goes to all who participated in the food and clothing drive. Remarkable!

To the May Watts Staff… you always put children first. There is quiet, positive air about the school this year. You will go the extra mile if it will benefit a student. You have overcome many difficult challenges. You define the word professional. Your empathy and dedication exemplify care.

To the secretarial/clerical staff… thank you for the amount of time you dedicate to your job to guarantee that students, parents and staff needs are met on a daily basis. You simply do it all and you perform your duties with a wonderful sense of humor and service.

At May Watts, we work together in a spirit of cooperation and collabora-tion. Let us continue to show that spirit and willingness to work hard. Let us join forces for the benefit of all. To all of you who celebrated our tradi-tional American holiday – I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! To all Watts families - I give thanks each and every day for the opportunity to work with you.

Michael Raczak May Watts Principal

A Publication from the PTA of

May Watts Elementary School

Watts Up December 2010

800 S. Whispering Hills Dr., Naperville, IL 60540

Website: http://watts.ipsd.org After hours absence line: 630-428-6700 (menu option #3) Phone: 630-428-6700 Fax: 630-428-6701

Principal Michael Raczak

2010-2011 PTA Executive Board

President Cassie Burns cassieburns @wideopenwest.com

1st Vice President

Jennifer Straub [email protected]

2nd Vice President

Diane Glonek ddglonek @wowway.com

Secretary Julia Ballent [email protected]

Treasurer Agnes Vogt vogt596 @comcast.net

Inside this issue:

Vision and Hearing Screenings……. p.10

What is Diwali?.... p. 6

What is Eid ul-Adha?.......p. 7

Winter Clothing Drive Rocked!...............p. 2

Attend Parent University!...........p. 3

Page 2

PTA Wants You To Know...

Watts Up

WINTER CLOTHING DRIVE

The winter clothing drive was a great experience. There were winter clothes everywhere. The clothing pile was shaped like a mountain – it was three feet tall and ten feet wide. Some kids from school came over to help the Project S.H.A.R.E. committee organize the clothes. After we had snacks – there were cookies and hot chocolate. Then we packed up the clothes into giant garbage bags and took them to the drop-off spot. It was a very good experience. I had a lot of fun. A special thanks to the May Watts students and Pro-ject SHARE committee who helped sort, count and drop-off the donations: Alex and Tina Bedore; Dylan and Jan Carpenter; Kyle and Lauren Gleason; Jason and Lisa Kirchner; Emily, Megan and Nancy Kozinski; and Josh, Sam and Sue LaBarbera.

Sam LaBarbera 4th Grader, Mrs. Covert’s class

May Watts students take a break before sorting through the donated winter clothes.

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PTA Wants You To Know...

December 2010

Calling all ART STARS!

The PTA-sponsored ART STARS program brings our own May Watts student art gallery to the school foyer. We are in need of some new masterpieces to hang there — May Watts students, please lend us one of YOUR creative works! We want to add your personality and pizzazz to our school’s main entrance. Our suggested theme for December: Winter Wonderland. You can contribute 2D or 3D pieces, created at home or in class. Please label your artwork with your name and classroom and place it in the main office in the ART STARS folio or box. Thank you to Ashley H. and Jenna P. in 2BA, Elizabeth H. in 2BR, Shiyeon K. in 3A and Riley H. in 4B, for ending Art Stars their beautiful fall-inspired drawing!

PTA Bulletin Board Committee Andrea Hirniak-Sandy, 630-416-2036/[email protected] and Paula Popko, 630-416-8855/[email protected]

Parent University Sponsored by Indian Prairie School District 204, Naper-ville School District 203 and the Collaborative Youth Team, Parent University is a day of workshops designed to share effective positive parenting strategies for chil-dren in preschool through high school. Attendees choose workshops from offerings presented by local child and adolescent development experts. During lunch, attendees will have the opportunity to chat informally with present-ers and pick up information from a variety of community social service agencies regarding the health and well-being of children, youth and families. Parent University takes place Saturday, February 5 at Metea Valley High School. For more information, http://ipsdweb.ipsd.org/News.aspx?id=31978

The May Watts January 2011 PTA meeting has been changed to 7 pm on Tuesday, January 11th, when we will have District 204 Board of Education member Alka Tyle at the school to speak on new initiatives in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Hope you can join us!

Page 4

Julia Ballent Box Tops Chair 630-717-7285/[email protected]

Box Tops Collected As of 11/19/10

"Coming On Teacher Strong" Contest Total Anco 21 214 Baldwin 69 445 Baumann 19 281 Benyo 10 165 Beutler 136 438 Brayton 18 433 Bronson 83 474 Brouch 105 490 Cerrato 29 166 Chamernik 59 261 Covert 34 284 Faulhaber 19 329 Gaughan 7 136 Giarrante 14 304 Gilbert 8 432 Pedersen 73 599 Peterson 39 145 Philipp 15 113 Schumann 45 309 Sobin 79 305 Vaid 120 354 Wilke 98 651 Winslow 25 273 Wolfe 337 Anonymous 22 291 _______________________________ Total 1,147 8,229

May Watts News

Watts Up

Box Tops for Education

How Sweet Would THAT Be ??? What happens if we reach our Box Tops fundraising goal of collecting 21,000 Box Tops by 4/29/11? The teacher whose class collects the most Box Tops throughout the year will get to turn Mr Raczak into a human ice cream sundae at an assembly! Our Coming on Strong Contest, which started on 10/16/10 and ends on 2/11/11, is being led by Mrs. Beutler (136), Mr. Vaid (120), and Mrs. Brouch (105). With months to go, it’s still anybody’s game! Our Kindergarteners-only contest, which ends on 12/17/11, is being led by Mrs. Wilke (651) and Mrs. Faulhaber (329), who benefitted from big submissions by kindergarteners Emma B. and Connor A., respectively. How to participate:

- Clip 10¢ Box Tops for Education Labels found on General Mills products such as Cheerios®, Betty Crocker®, Yoplait®, Gold Medal®, Juicy Juice®, Ziploc®, Kleenex®, Hefty®, HUGGIES® Diapers, and more. To view the complete list of qualifying products look on their www.btfe.com website: http://www.boxtops4education.com/Image.aspx?id=3878

- Place your unexpired Box Tops in an envelope or bag with your teacher’s name on it (or tape Box Tops to the Snow Days collection sheet on page 8). Also submit any store receipts containing Bonus Box Tops including the new Grow Local Learning ones from Jewel. Optionally, you may include your child’s name on the envelope/bag.

- Place your envelope/bag/collection sheets in the Box Tops for Education Box near the entrance doors to the LMC.

Keep clipping! Thank you for your support of Box Tops!

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Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin!

December 2010

May Watts News

Page 5

Second grade teacher Mr. Nathan Baldwin and his beautiful bride Kathleen on their wedding day, October 30, 2010.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Linda DeNicolo

Attention all First Grade Boys… Pack 101 at May Watts is looking for you! If you have a first grade boy who is interested in joining Cub Scouts, we are starting up a new Tiger Den and are looking for new Tiger Cubs! Join the fun just in time to try your skills out at the Pinewood Derby in January! Contact Claire Krzyzewski at 630-548-1561 or [email protected] with any questions.

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WHAT IS DIWALI ?

Diwali is celebrated by many people all over the world. Diwali is celebrated because the evil demon, Narakasura is killed. The legend says that he tortured people in his village and kidnapped the innocent women to be imprisoned in his palace. After the villagers had enough, they pleaded Lord Krishna to rescue them from the evil demon. Unfortunately, Narakasura had a boon given from his mother, Bhudevi. The boon was this evil demon could only die in the hands of his mother. Krishna’s wife, Sathyabhama, who is a reincarnation of Bhudevi, is asked to come with him to the battlefield. At the battlefield, Krishna is knocked unconscious by one of Narakasura’s arrows. Immediately, his wife shoots at the evil Narakasura and he dies. The message of Diwali is that a society should act over someone’s evilness. The tradition is lighting fireworks in honor of the evil demon being killed.

Amruth Pabba 5th Grader, Mr. Schumann’s class

The author, celebrating the Festival of Light with sparklers The five-day festival of Diwali is an important holiday in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, taking place each year between mid-October and mid-November.

Watts Up

Page 7 December 2010

WHAT IS

EID UL-ADHA ?

We just celebrated Eid ul-Adha — one of the two Islamic feasts observed each year. The word Eid translates to "feast." Eid ul-Adha is also known as Eid-ul-Azha and Bakra Eid. Usually people just call it 'Eid'. On Eid, we are supposed to give to the poor and the needy so they can enjoy this special day just like us, too. We put henna (which is dye or ink from a flowering plant, used to symbolize luck, joy and beauty) on our hands in different designs and also wear new clothes. We also go meet our family and friends and then have a big, big feast too. I got lots of money from my family and friends. It is always fun and I look forward to it every year. Muslims will celebrate their next Eid, (Eid-ul-fitar) after the end of Ramadan. I will let you all know about that one after I celebrate that next year. Tabish Jagshi 4th Grader, Mrs. Winslow’s Class

The author, celebrating Eid ul-Adha with her family this fall The new clothes worn for Eid are decorated in magnificent traditional designs

Page 8 Page 8 Watts Up

Page 9

October 28th was a sad day for May Watts — two days before, strong winds had broken off about a third of the branches on this tree that stood outside door 11, where grades K-2 enter and exit school each day. On the 28th, the wind storm took out another third of the tree, which then had to be cut down the same day for safety issues.

What has your PTA done for you lately?

Fall Staff Luncheon

After school Enrichment Classes

Back to School (Ice Cream) SNO-cial

popcorn in class for your kids

Assignment notebooks for grades 3-5

Time For Kids and Scholastic magazines

Family Math Night

Art Awareness We couldn’t do any of this without the help of parents like you. Thank you to everyone who became a PTA member this year, and who supports us through programs like MarketDay, BoxTops and Manna gift cards!

December 2010

Page 10

Mark Your Calendars

Editor’s Note

The February 2011 Watts Up will be posted the week of 2/7. Please send your articles by January 24, and have a safe and wonderful Winter Break!

Maureen Overman 630-717-5485/[email protected]

IMPORTANT DATES

12/22/2010 - 1/4/2011 NO SCHOOL: Winter Break

1/5/2011 School resumes

1/13/2011 End of Semester

1/14/2011 NO SCHOOL: Teacher Work Day 1/17/2011 NO SCHOOL: Dr. Martin Luther King Day

May Watts News

Vision and Hearing Screenings

Vision and hearing screenings will be done this school year, January 18th and 20th, 2011, by DuPage County Health Department nurses or nurses from dis-trict 204, as mandated by the state of Illinois, for the following children:

• Kindergarten: hearing/vision if there is no mandated exam on file

• 1st grade: hearing only • 2nd grade: hearing/vision • 3rd grade: hearing • Special education students : hear-

ing /vision • Foster children : hearing/vision • Children new to district 204 or any

student who does not have any documentation of previous test-ing: hearing/vision

• Parent/teacher concerns: as indi-cated

Children with glasses or hearing aids

should have

those with

them on

screening

dates.

Watts Up

May Watts PTA

launches Website!

The May Watts PTA has a new website, created to keep you up-to-date on PTA events and activities and to put forms and documents you need at your fingertips. We've all been there when it's time to return the form for the Fun Fair and it's nowhere to be found! Now, the Fun Fair will have its own page on the website, including forms you can download and return. If you cannot recall when the Market Day forms are due, check out the new Calendar feature. We want to make it easy for you to get information, communicate with PTA leaders, get the most out of the PTA, and get involved. You can access the new website by clicking on "PTA" on the school website or by going directly to:

www.wattspta.org

Merry Christmas!Merry Christmas!Merry Christmas!Merry Christmas!

A Blessed Kwanzaa!