Mark T. Skinner West School WEEK AT A GLANCE

Week 30:   Mar.30 - Apr. 06, 2012

Weekly Update  Friday, March 30 Student Council  Spirit Day:  Wear your favorite college sports clothing.  The class with the most participants wins a prize! "Caught You Doing Something Good" Money Machine April 2 to April 6 SPRING BREAK! NO CLASSES Tuesday, April 10 Gallery 111 Meeting 3:10PM Art Room Wednesday, April 11 Edible Schoolyard Meeting 4:30 PM Cafeteria Skinner School Calendar Check out the 2011- 2012 Skinner West Calendar by Clicking HERE It's updated and color-coded with Holidays, Events, Meetings and "No School" Days.  Plan Ahead! CPS School Calendars 2011 - 2012 2012- 2013 ================== Did you miss last week's Week-At-A-Glance e-newsletter? Click here to catch up on a must-read! ================== Does your Superstar have an accomplishment or honorable mention you would like to submit to the newsletter?   Reply to this email or email us at skinnerwest@gmail.com. ================== ONGOING FUNDRAISERS Are you supporting Skinner through these NO additional cost fundraisers? SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL and Share this with Family and Friends!  Box Tops/ Labels for Education Collect everyday labels from groceries to earn points and funds for our school library e-Scrip (Dominick's & other retailers) Visit www.escrip.com to designate your eScrip accounts to Mark T. Skinner. A percentage of your purchases go to the school. However, you must renew your e-Scrip annually. Look out for special bonus days too! Target 1% goes to Skinner on ALL purchases made with Target Card (additional 5% all purchases for you!) Designate Skinner Classical as your school www.target.com/tcoe Mamapedia 5% of purchases go to Mark T. Skinner Classical School (Code A5BY) www.deals.mamapedia.com ===================== Please submit pictures from any Skinner West events (concerts, parties, presentations etc) to skinnerwest@gmail.com.  We prefer .jpg or .gif files of up to 350kb.  Thank you! FOLLOW US ON:

In This Issue... New Articles: Financial Fitness Family Fun Night (4/29) and Call for Financial / Technology Volunteers! Get Ready for Money Smart Week Gallery 111 Update Edible Schoolyard Update Call for Science Volunteers for Space Race! Classroom Connections: Spotlight on PE! Highlights from Financial Fitness Workshop Sponsored by Chase and Operation Hope CPS Approves 2012 -2013 Calendar  What's New on SkinnerSuperstars.org? Repeat News Articles and Updates:   Soccer and Yoga Aftercare Signups Walk-a-Thon and Field Day - June 5th; Save the Date and Call for Food Donations New Articles Financial Fitness Fair Fun Night  Friday, April 27th 4-7 PM CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS The event (fair) is FREE and open to all There will be presentations on various topics (for kids and adults) Don't have to worry about dinner. Pre-orders will be taken for Potbelly sandwich's - watch for notice when it comes home Students and parents may open a savings account at the fair (special flyers from the banks indicating what documents will be needed) Students who attend may be eligible for a homework pass (check with your teacher) Lots of giveaways and raffle prizes Entertainment for the kids Would you like to volunteer?  We need parents with financial and technology backgrounds.  We also need volunteers who have experience with using technology / smart boards Please contact Ronetta Dewitt-Hall @ 773.218.1293 or rdewitt-hall@ilsos.net with questions or to volunteer To kick off Money Smart Week, we had a guest speaker, Charles Tiseo, a 6th grade student from Naperville, to talk to 6th to 8th graders about the smart money kid essay contest.  Charles was the 2011 essay winner and won $5,000!  Several of our Skinner Superstars wrote essays.  Good luck to the students who participated! What is Money Smart Week Chicago?  * Money Smart Week is a series of educational activities to help consumers learn how to manage their personal finances. When is Money Smart Week Chicago?  * More than 500 free classes, seminars and activities promoting financial education will take place throughout Chicago land April 21-28. Who's involved?  * The week's activities are coordinated and put on by a partnership group that includes financial institutions, community groups, local government agencies, schools and colleges. * The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago works with the local partner groups to ensure the week's success. How can I learn more? * Free print calendars featuring Money Smart Week Chicago events will be distributed to consumers to help them select which class or seminar is most appropriate to attend. A copy can be obtained through all Chicago Public Libraries and several suburban libraries. A searchable online calendar is available at www.moneysmartweek.org. Gallery 111 Update From the recent Skinner West survey, parents expressed an interest in knowing how fundraising money is spent. Gallery 111's primary focus is the arts programming.  The g111 committee is comprised of volunteers - teachers, parents and neighborhood friends - working together to bring the arts to the children of Skinner West.  We welcome you to join us in our efforts to provide quality art programming.  Please email g111volunteers@gmail.com if interested.  Please read about the ongoing programming that Gallery 111 has supported (click here).  This includes dance, theater, symphony, arts and film programs and workshops for our Superstars. Your generous and continued support in recent and ongoing g111 events, such as "Art for the Hearts", coffee, and t-shirt sales made the art programming possible. The upcoming "No Art Left Behind" event is a highly anticipated evening for adults to enjoy the company of the Skinner West community, in the midst of displayed arts, music, cocktails, light fare, and a silent auction.   Only 37 days left until  "No Art Left Behind" Saturday, May 5th, 6 to 10 PM Please watch this space for details! Edible Schoolyard Update On March 18th, a group of volunteers got together to prep and lay out the newly designed site.  We have begun to grow our seeds in some of the classrooms, getting them ready to be planted in mid to late April, depending on the weather.  Additionally, we have been working with various professionals trying to best sort our options.  Please join us if you would like to volunteer ideas!  We meet weekly on Wednesdays @ 4:30 PM in the cafeteria.  Contact us at edibleschoolyardchi@gmail.com with questions. Call for Science Volunteers - Mentors and Judges for Space Race Needed We are in need of volunteers - parents, friends, professionals - with a science or engineering background who can help mentor groups of 4th to 8th graders as they write experiment design proposals for the Space Race.  (Learn more about the Space Race here).  Mentors will give advice to the group via email, helping the students craft a competitive experiment proposal for the competition.  The winning experiment design will be carried out aboard the International Space Station next fall.  Students' topics cover a wide range of science disciplines, but people with a life science background (especially with plants) are in very high demand. We are also looking for volunteer judges to be a part of the review panel for the Space Race on May 11th. If interested, please contact ksmilroy@cps.edu or 773.534.7790 ext 61192 Classroom Connections:  Spotlight on Physical Education (PE)  Programs Our Superstars recently participated in a workshops to enhance health and fitness programming: ·  Doctors who are part of the Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society put together a Be Fit Program for our Skinner students last week. Grades 1st-6th participated in the program! Learn more on their website · Students in 4th and 5th grade have been participating in Yoga the last several weeks. They are now beginning to learn ballet through the company Mindful Practices · The American Red Cross is providing many workshops:  Kindergarten and 1st graders learned about the importance of washing their hands. 7th and 8th grade students learned about first aid and CPR. 2 more workshops are planned for May and June:  4th and 5th graders will have a workshop on being home alone and Kindergarten and 1st graders will have a workshop on swimming safety. Thanks to Coach Westendorf, our Community in Schools (CISC) coordinator, and Coach Johnson for assisting with programming throughout the year. Learn more here about CISC. Highlights from Financial Literacy Workshop for 4th to 8th Graders Presented by Chase Bank & Operation Hope Our Superstars participated in a financial literacy workshop this week.  It's never too early to learn about financial responsibility.  Be sure to ask your child about what they learned, including: The basics of banking  - the basics of money, banking, and how to use a budget   Checking and Savings - the differences between the two, definition of a check register and how to balance one Power of Credit - explanation of a credit card, how it works, definition of a loan and how interest works Investments - the basics of investments The Chicago Board of Education Approves 180-Day, Student - Focused Calendar for School Year 2012-2013 Access the calendar and full press release here. What's New on SkinnerSuperstars.org? With over 3,000 visits a month, we hope you are finding the website useful and informative. The STAR Afterschool color-coded schedule for the rest of the year is posted on the afterschool section Visit the volunteers opportunities page for the most current needs Check out the newest club on the clubs and activities page Duplication on the website and the newsletter are intentional. Get the information you need in according to your preference And if you are not sure where to look for something, use the google search function on the left margin of the home page to search within the Skinner website ~LSC Communications Committee Repeat News and Updates Spring into Soccer and Yoga Sign Up for New Afterschool Classes FunFundamentals still has spaces available:  Soccer classes for 1st to 3rd graders (4pm session available, 3pm session closed) OR Yoga classes for 1st to 5th graders (Both sessions available) Read the flyer for further details or register online on a first-come first serve basis.  Visit www.FunFundamentals.com to register or to obtain more details. Space is still available, so sign up today! Walk-a-Thon and Field Day SAVE THE DATE and Call for Food Donations Our annual Field Day and Walk-a-Thon is scheduled for Tuesday, June 5th.  More details are forthcoming. We are seeking healthy food donations. If you are or know of a wholesaler, restaurant, or grocer who is willing to donate ANY amount of healthier food -  most importantly lunch, or snacks, fruit, veggies - to help nourish our Superstars during this event, please contact Marla Sedler from Friends of Skinner West (FOSW) at marlasedler@gmail.com. Thank You!

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www.skinnersuperstars.org

for more information about what's happening in school.
 All comments, suggestions or requests to submit information

to this newsletter should be emailed to skinnerwest@gmail.com

Deborah M. Clark

Principal