MARK T. SKINNER WEST SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
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 2018-2019 School Year
Week #31: May 3rd to May 10th
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Skinner Tour Dates:
May 6 @ 10am- Main building only (1260 W. Adams)
May 13 @ 10am - Main building only (1260 W. Adams)
May 22 @ 10am - Branch only (225 S. Aberdeen)
Teacher Appreciation Week - Starting May 6-10th
7th Graders to Camp Edwards - May 13-15th
FOSW Golf Fundraiser - May 20th
Last Day of School: Thursday, June 20th
CPS 2018- 2019 Calendar: here
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Principal Clark's April Report
Click HERE for the principal's report from the last LSC Meeting.
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Skinner West Debate Represents at the City Championships, lauded by Mayor Emanuel and the City Council
Mayor Rahm Emanuel met with members of Skinner West's Debate Team during his recent City Council meeting on April 10, 2019. The City Council provided the students with a standing ovation along with copies of the City Council's Resolution congratulating them for their championship performances at the Chicago Middle School Debate League City Championship. Congratulations to our Skinner West Winners and Thank you to Coach Mr. Lee!
Sunshine P and Trey T - Junior Varsity 2nd Place Team
Mary Y and Rebecca B - Novice 2nd Place Team
Anna S - Junior Varsity 1st Place Individual Speaker Sunshine P - Junior Varsity 2nd Place Individual Speaker Nikita A - Junior Varsity 3rd Place Individual Speaker
and to the entire Skinner West Debate Team....your hard work is truly amazing!
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Classroom Connections: Ms Daigle's 3rd Grade
In light of April being Autism Awareness Month, Mrs. Daigle's third grade class read two wonderful books about autism.
After a thoughtful discussion, students wrote about how they can be good friends to someone with autism. Here are a few of their ideas, in their own words:
"You should act regular because kids with autism are still kids and you should show the same respect that you would to kids without autism." - Sonya T.
"I would ask if they want to have a sleepover or a playdate because people with autism are just like us." - Jayda S.
"Understand the different and unique ways people with autism think." - Gabi T.M.
"Don't bully them just because they act different. We're all human beings." - Roshan S.
"Autism is nothing bad, it's just a different way of thinking." - Arman N.
"They might learn differently, but we have feelings and emotions, and so do they." - Danielle J.
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Battle of the Books - 1st Place Winners in Network!
This past weekend, our Skinner West inaugural Battle of the Books Team competed in the City Finals at Little Village Lawndale High School. Team Skinner placed as one of the top 15 teams in the City of Chicago and won first place in our network. Participating in the Battle of the Books competition was truly a rewarding and memorable experience for Mrs. Christiansen's 7th grade team made up of Bella B, Adrian C, Ingrid L, Lauren N, Olivia S, Trey T, and Mary Y.
Two of our members, Ingrid L and Mary Y entered t-shirt designs into a contest for the battle. Mary's was selected and worn by all participants this weekend.
The team met weekly at lunch since October reading, journaling, and discussing 21 diverse and challenging books, selected by the CPS Department of Literacy. At the battle, our team received the first five books for the competition as a reward, and they are already diving into them in preparation for next year's battle.
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5th Grade Health Class - Video Update from Coach Westy
Hello 5th Grade parents! Click on video link from Coach Westy LINK HERE
All 5th grade classes will participate in human reproduction, growth and development class. Please see the memo below. If you would like to excuse your child from these informational classes please email Ms. Westendorf at jwestendorf@cps.edu and indicate your child's name along with their home room teacher's room number. Thank you!
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Skinner BAC invites you to Around the World in 80 Dishes #15
Chicago French Market on June 1st at noon! Located downtown in the Loop.
All Skinner families and staff are welcome.
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Thank you Earth Day Participants #Trashtag
The Skinner West Student Council would like to thank all of the 4th, 5th, and upper grade students that came out to clean up the school grounds and Skinner Park! We collected over 50lbs of garbage over the course of an hour in the park. Way to make a difference and give back to your community!
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UPDATE TO SKINNER WEST INAUGURAL SUMMER FAIR EVENT!
COMING JUNE 6TH....
UPDATES AND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are proud to be part of an institution where teachers and staff wholeheartedly support education for diverse learners. Our sensory Superstars comprise more than 6% of our student population.
Date: Thursday, June 6th
Time: 3:45-6:00 pm
Location: School Gym
*Come have fun with us and Enjoy games like hoop a toy, bean bag toss, knock down, Balloon pop.
*Cool off with Ice-cream.
*Choose between Henna art or face painting or just go for both
*Jump in the Bouncy house to add to the fun!
*And stop by the gift booth to buy some beautiful handicrafts.
Entry to the event is FREE; Guests can purchase tickets at the entrance to play games and enjoy the fun activities.Cash preferred
VOLUNTEERS are needed to make this successful. CLICK HERE
So come have all this fun while you all help raise money to support the diverse learner, our Sensory Superstars.More details coming on how to contribute/Donate to the event.
Contact: Shivi Jain @ swsensorysuperstars@gmail.com with questions
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Chicago Education Survey- Voice your Opinion!
Please share with the Mayor Elect your opinion on Educational needs by completing this SURVEY
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Need Help with Aspen?
Parents,
We hope you have logged onto your new ASPEN account in the last week. You should have received an email from ASPEN at around Monday 4/22 (sender: <aspen-sysadmin@myfollett.com>) providing you instructions. This is a multistep process, and we appreciate your patience! On occasion, we have heard that some parents are having trouble.
If you did NOT receive an email or instructions, please do the following:
1. Check your email (that CPS has on record) and its spam folder for an email from <aspen-sysadmin@myfollett.com> or search for Keyword: Aspen.
2. If you did not receive an email or cannot access the new parent portal, please complete this google form HERE, and include your child's name, parent name, email and parent phone number.
3. The office will work with each account, and respond to your inquiry as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
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Thank you Earth Day Volunteers!
Kindergartners in Ms. Growe's class came back from spring vacation well rested and ready for action! They kicked off the week celebrating Earth Day on April 22 by cleaning up the Skinner West schoolyard! Thank you Superstars!!
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Skinner Summer Camp is Open for Registration
We are proud to report that camp will return to Skinner this summer! Our webpage has been updated with all pertinent information.
Starts - Tuesday June 25th
Ends - Friday August 16th
No camp on July 4th due to observance of Independence Day
Hours - 7:30a-6:00p
Day Camp - Ages 5 through 12
Junior Counselor - Ages 13 through 15
Our hard copy registration form can be printed and submitted to the office for Mr. Johnson or you can fill out and email us the electronic registration form at superstarssummer@gmail.com. Click HERE for registration.
Registration begins on Monday, April 22nd. Our camp calendar will be released in May. We're so excited to be back!
New this summer!
Junior Counselor Program Who: kids aged 13-15 Cost: $100/week We're excited to announce that we will start a new program in place of our teen camp. This program is aimed at giving older children the opportunity to serve as helpers and role models. During activities they will play a supportive role for our counselors and aim to make activities for fun for campers by playing with them. They'll even be responsible for putting on a couple of events throughout the summer (with our supervision and guidance, of course). When camp take trips they'll get a break and get to enjoy themselves a bit, too. Junior Counselors and parents will still need to fill out a registration form and an additional Junior Counselor Code of Conduct that they will need to abide by at all times. The code will be shared after a registration form is received.
Click HERE for registration.
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Brooklyn Builders Summer Camp
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All comments, suggestions or requests to submit information to this newsletter should be emailed to skinnerwest@gmail.com.
Communications Volunteers are welcome. Donate your time to help increase communications and contact us!
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Sign up for this newsletter here.
Deborah M. Clark
Principal
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