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MARK T. SKINNER WEST SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
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2019-2020 School Year
Week #15: December 20 - January 3
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CPS 2019- 2020 (Revised) Calendar: here
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Wishing our Superstar families and the Skinner West community a safe and wonderful holiday! We are so grateful to have the opportunity to work together this year and look forward to many new adventures in 2020!
Class will be in session beginning Thursday, January 2nd.
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Principal's Report from the 12/17 LSC Meeting
A copy of the Principal's Report from the December 17th LSC Meeting can be found here.
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Winter NWEA Testing Schedule
Dear Skinner Parents:
Every winter CPS schools are required to administer the NWEA MAP assessments to K-8th grade students. The NWEA assessments are computer based and are targeted to each individual student's skill level. These assessments are used to measure your child's growth in reading and math from one year to the next. Individual growth targets are set at the beginning of the school year with the hopes that each student will meet or exceed his/her growth targets. Teachers use the test information to guide instruction and know where a child's strengths and weaknesses are. This test information is also used in CPS to determine promotion and selective enrollment eligibility.
Our NWEA winter testing schedule is as follows:
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Grade
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Dates
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K
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January 9, 10, 16, 17
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1
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January 21, 22
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2
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January 22, 23
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3
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January 14, 15
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4
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January 8, 9
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5
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January 15, 17
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6
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January 7-10, 14-17
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7
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January 7-10, 14-17
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8
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January 7-10, 14-17
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In preparation for NWEA assessments, please do the following:
- Have your child get a good night's rest
- Have your child eat a good breakfast on the mornings of testing, and arrive to school on time.
- Students who are tardy will wait in the lunchroom until the test session is over, and make up any test sessions missed during the make-up testing scheduled time
- Let your child know that you have confidence in his/her ability to do his/her best
Thank you for your continued cooperation and support in making this testing experience successful for your child.
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Physical Education Newsletter
Curious why your child is talking about pacer tests and push-up challenges? Please read Mr. Johnson and Ms. Westy's 2nd Quarter PE Newsletter here.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
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Debate Team Tournament Results
The Skinner West Debate Team participated in the Chicago Middle School Debate League's Tournament One for the 2019-2020 season on Saturday, December 7.
The overall topic for the year is: 'Arms Sales', and the cases being debated at this Tournament were 'Ukraine' and 'Taiwan'.
Over 100 debaters across 52 teams from 6 schools competed at the tournament, but the students did a great job against some tough competition and won the awards listed below.
Some highlights we would especially like to point out are:
1) Skinner West won 1st place in five out of the six award categories 2) Skinner West won 52% of all possible awards at the tournament (28 out of 54).
19th Novice Individual Aarav M.
15th Novice Individual Daanya M.
14th Novice Individual Miles G.
12th Novice Individual Anushri V.
11th Novice Individual Gabriel K.
10th Novice Individual Darwin B.
6th Novice Individual Erik I.
3rd Novice Individual Sabrina Q.
2nd Novice Individual Samar M.
1st Novice Individual Eleanor M.
9th Novice Team Anushri V. Daanya M.
4th Novice Team Erik I. / Josiah R.
2nd Novice Team Aurelie G.B. / Sabrina Q.
1st Novice Team Darwin B. / Samar M.
6th JV Individual Daniel B.
5th JV Individual Amber P.
4th JV Individual Aleksia L.
3rd JV Individual Anjali R.
2nd JV Individual Jayden I.
1st JV Individual Matthew Z.
4th JV Team Zach R. / Sara R.
3rd JV Team Jayden I. / Aadi K.
2nd JV Team Maura S. / Aleksia L.
1st JV Team Sophie M. / Katelyn T.
8th Varsity Individual Nikita A.
6th Varsity Individual Anna S.
4th Varsity Team Nikita A. / Anna S.
1st Varsity Team Darian K. / Katelyn L.
Many thanks to Mr. Lee for coaching our Debate Team Superstars!
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Superstars in the Spotlight
Congratulations to our Skinner Superstar Yuvraj C. who participated in the National chess competition last weekend in Florida. Yuvraj is currently the #1 fourth grade chess player in the nation.
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This week Ms. Growe's kindergarten class united with Ms. Fisher's second grade class for a game of Dreidel. Second graders paired up with the 5-year olds and helped guide them in a successful day of holiday fun!
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Save the Date: Gallery 111 is February 29, 2020
** Call for Silent Auction Donations!**
Save the Date for the Skinner annual "No Art Left Behind" gala
Saturday, February 29 7:00-10:00
National Museum of Mexican Art
We are currently looking for families
interested in contributing to our silent auction to consider donating the following needed items:
Do you have a great space or a skill that you could share with our party goers? If so, let us know, we would love to work with you to create an exciting experience for our guests.
Do you have a second home? Michigan? Wisconsin? Florida? Tahiti? We would love to offer a vacation opportunities for our silent auction Please let us know if you have any connections.
Art, jewelry, event tickets spa experiences, dining, and hotel stays
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Brooklyn Boulders will be running all-day programming during the winter break.
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CNA and Skinner West celebrated 41 years of partnership!
Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Robinson, Ms. Maatouk and our Third grade students and teachers visited the CNA building to spread some holiday cheer. Primary Chorus sang a collection of holiday tunes including the Christmas Music Sing-Along and crowd favorite Hip-Hop Reindeer.
CNA presented Skinner West with a $10,000 donation that will be used for many essential school needs! In return, Mrs. Clark gifted CNA with an art piece crafted by the 7th grade students representing our beloved City of Chicago.
Thank you to CNA for your generous gift!
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Glee Club & Primary Chorus
The Skinner West Primary Chorus, comprised of all the 3rd graders, has been continuing their holiday season performance tour. They kicked off the season at the Palmer House Hilton on December 5th, and since then have sung at the 7th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony at Mary Bartleme Park, the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, and the West Loop Marianos.
Last week, the Glee Club was asked to perform at the LSC Election Kick Off at Phoenix Military Academy, where LSC members, teachers, principals, Board President Miguel del Valle and CPS CEO Janice Jackson were in attendance. Dr. Jackson asked to take a picture with the Glee Club!
Music activities will continue this week and next, as Primary Chorus performs at CNA and the Glee Club takes their turn at the Palmer House and Marianos.
Don't miss the Winter Concerts at school on Thursday, December 19. Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd,5th, 8th graders and Glee Club will be singing. 5th graders will play recorder, and 8th graders will be playing ukulele!
Enjoy the music, and Happy Holidays! 
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Classroom Connections - 8th Grade
Discussion is not the only engaging ELA activity transpiring in Ms. Jogmen's Reading Cafe. Student's have increased their background knowledge by researching the far out 1960's and learned how style, social activities and everyday lingo influenced the writing of their current novel "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton.
Exchanging dialogue also ensued as students dug deep into decoding the meaning of "nothing lasts forever" after reading "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost.
Flexible seating in Ms. Jogmen's Reading Cafe has provided opportunities for students to exchange thoughts and ideas while reading a variety of genres.
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Classroom Connections - 3rd Grade
Our third graders are so excited to be in the Primary Chorus this year! They had a successful Primary Chorus performance at the Palmer House, downtown Chicago. They brought holiday cheer to hotel guests, parents and tourists passing by the Main Lobby.
Third grade students sang songs about Frosty the Snowman, Dreidels, Snow, Christmas, Kwanzaa and more! Congratulations to the Third Graders and Ms. Maatouk for another successful Primary Chorus performance!
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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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Would you like to add another parent, guardian or caregiver?
Text SKINNERNEWS to 22828 or click here (Messaging & data rates may apply)
Deborah M. Clark
Principal
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