Dear Winston Campus Families, Staff and Friends,

Welcome to the 2010- 2011 school year! We hope that you enjoyed your summer with family and friends. If you are new to the school you will soon understand why we are so proud to be a part of Winston Campus Elementary (WCE). Winston Campus is a great place for our children to go to school because of our incredible, dedicated teachers and staff plus the outstanding parent volunteers. We encourage you to get involved...here’s how:

Read the newsletter each month. The newsletter will keep you informed about all the things going on here at WCE. It will provide information on what is happening and who to contact if you have questions.

Find us on Facebook. *New this year!* We will be updating the Winston Campus Elementary PTA Facebook group with invites to upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and a link to our Winston Elementary PTA website. Search for Winston Campus Elementary PTA and click “Like” and you will be part of the group.

Join the PTA. It’s simple and a great way to support all of our programs. Membership forms were sent out in the August mailing and there is another one in this newsletter. Don’t delay -- JOIN TODAY!

Come to a PTA meeting. Everyone is welcome at every meeting. It is a great place to find out what is going on in the school. Each month the principal and teacher representatives give reports on what is happening during the school day. Then, of course, the PTA discusses its upcoming events and what needs to be done. This month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 15th at 6:45 pm in the Resource Center.

Support our fundraisers. We have a lot of great programs here at WCE – After School Specials, Back to School Picnic, Sock Hop, Make a Difference Club, and some great Cultural Arts Assemblies -- to name a few. We even provide every certified staff member at WCE with a classroom gift that they can use for supplies in their room and provide classroom periodical subscriptions. We need everyone’s support to provide these wonderful opportunities and services to all WCE students.

Learn about your child’s classroom. Come to parent orientation on Wednesday, September 8th. Your child’s teacher wants to meet you and share his/her plans and expectations. (Continued on page 2) September 2010 • wcepta.org • Page 2

Volunteer to help with a committee. Our programs can only be successful with the help of our volunteers. Any time you can spare is greatly appreciated!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us! Especially as a new parent it can often be intimidating to ask questions but please know that we are eager to help and make everyone feel welcome.

WCE PTA Co-Presidents,
Enid Krambeer
Cheri Bernier
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Winston Campus Elementary Families,

I would like to welcome you to the 2010-2011 school year. I hope you and your family had a wonderful summer. This summer, my family took our usual trip to Door County, Wisconsin. We spent a week on Washington Island. My big plan this summer was to teach my boys how to fish. In my brain, all three and four year olds should know how to fish. They were so excited to get their very own fishing poles. As soon as we got on the island, they insisted on going fishing. I took them out to my favorite fishing spot and helped them get their poles ready. My three year old is in the “I want to do it by myself” stage so I let him try to cast his pole on his own. I turned my back for one second and the next thing I knew, my three year old was screaming, ”I’m fishing daddy.” I looked over and notice his pole was sinking to the bottom of the lake. He didn’t quite grasp the concept of fishing. Oh well, at least I tried.

As I enter my fourth year as your principal, I’m thrilled with the progress we have made as a school. Winston Campus Elementary has been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education by earning the Academic Excellence Award for three consecutive years. This does not happen by itself! It is the hard work and diligence of our amazing teachers and students. All Winston Elementary staff members truly believe all kids can learn and they are continuously improving their teaching methods. I did receive our preliminary state testing results and we continue to improve our scores every year. This year 94% of our students in grades 3 – 6 met or exceeded state reading standards while 97% met or exceeded in math. We have increased our reading percentage by 10% over the past three years while maintaining our high math results. This is truly an amazing accomplishment and I couldn’t be more proud.

We have quite a few new faces at Winston Elementary this year. New to WCE are three special education self contained classrooms. As many of you know, Mrs. Alcala’s, Mrs. Cardenas’s, and Mrs. Forsyth’s bilingual kindergarten classrooms have been relocated to their home schools. Please welcome the following staff members:

• Mrs. Kim Morelli (Special Ed Grades 1-2)
• Mrs. Kim Haas (Special Ed Grades 3-4)
• Mrs. Pam Baldus (Special Ed Grades 5-6)
• Ms. Sharon Dooley (Physical Education)
• Mrs. Carrie Griffin (Inclusion)
• Mrs. Meredith Dlatt (English as a Second Language)
• Mrs. Mary Sheridan (Speech and Language)
• Mrs. Mariel Zambrana (School Psychologist)
• Mr. Mike Fagerholm (LD Social Work)
• Mrs. Deb Craig (AIME School Psychologist)
• Mrs. Janice Esposito (Jr. High Head Secretary)
• Mrs. Patricia Rehm (LDSC Program Assistant and Safety Patrol Coordinator)
• Mrs. Chris Rossdeutcher (1:1 Program Assistant)
• Mrs. Carrie Bergmann (AIME Program Assistant)
• Mrs. Katie Meyer (Program Assistant)
• Mrs. Lynn Topp (AIME Program Assistant)
• Mrs. Geri Millunchik (LDSC Program Assistant)

Winston Campus Elementary will continue our journey to college readiness as we embark on our third year with No Excuses University. We have many new and fun ideas for all our students. This year, students will continue to set academic and behavioral goals in their No Excuses Student Portfolio. A new chapter will be added this year and growth will be monitored using a variety of data collection tools. Please talk with your child about his/her goals and feel free to contact your child’s teacher for an update. I’m asking all students to wear their classroom college colors every Friday and wear their WCE No Excuses T-shirt every Monday. A new version of the NEU T-shirts will be available to order very early in the school year.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) will also look a little different this year. PBIS teaches our students the WCE behavioral expectations and recognizes positive behavior. We catch our students doing things “well” and try not to focus on negative behaviors. Last year, we noticed a decline in our office referral data by allowing all students to attend our celebrations. If a student makes a poor choice and receives an office referral, Scott Scafidi or I handle it immediately by notifying parents and determining an appropriate consequence. This year, we will continue with this practice. The big change is that students will earn the celebration as a school. We will monitor progress by reviewing our office referral data every two weeks. Every student who does not receive a major or minor will help the school as a whole get closer to the celebration. In our main hallway you will notice a large bulletin board with an amusement park on it. This is “Winston World” and every ride signifies a celebration. In between each ride is a track with ten spaces. Every space represents 100 students who do not receive a major or minor. Every two weeks, I will announce the total number of students who made positive choices. We will move our car closer to the next celebration. In the past, celebrations were just expected by our students. Having the school as a whole earn the celebration adds value and meaning to our PBIS systems.

Similar to last year, your child will bring home the Winston Campus Elementary Parent/Student Handbook. The handbook includes essential information, such as arrival/dismissal procedures, information about PBIS, Nutrition Service information, testing information, and many other important pieces of information about our school. We ask all parents to review the handbook with your child and sign and return the back page of the handbook. Mr. Scafidi and I will be visiting all classrooms to review our school-wide expectations.

Just a quick reminder, Parent Orientation Night will be held on Wednesday, September 8, the schedule is as follows:

• 6:00 – 6:45pm - Grades 4, 5, 6, Mrs. Etchingham, Mrs. Baldus, and all AIME classrooms
• 6:45 –7:30pm - Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2, 3, Mrs. Grelck, Mrs. Morelli, and Mrs. Haas

Over the past three years, we have seen improvements with our traffic patterns but with a school the size of Winston we need all parents to follow our simple arrival and dismissal procedures. Whenever possible, please allow your child to walk to school. Walking to school will lessen the traffic congestion during the arrival and dismissal times. If you must drive your child to school, students in grades 3 – 6 must be dropped off on the south or school side of Babcock Drive and enter through the B wing doors. Our primary students in kindergarten through second grade will be entering through the C wing doors. We do request parents of our K-2 students to park your car in the west lot and walk your child to the crosswalk. We will have teachers on door duty at 7:40 AM and again at 2:25 PM to supervise both the B wing entrance and the C wing entrance and crosswalk. Intermediate siblings of our primary students are welcome to line up outside the C wing doors and walk through the school to their classrooms. Please remember, if you park in the west lot, do not park in the marked church parking spaces. If you are parked in these spaces after 8:00 AM, you are subject to a parking ticket.

The beginning of a new school year is very exciting. Our teachers are prepared to offer the best educational experiences possible. Parents play a vital role in the education of all children. We need your help! At our parent orientation on September 8, we are asking all parents to sign a parent promise. The parent promise is a commitment for all parents to promote college readiness. Not only will parents sign a promise; teachers and students sign a promise as well. These documents give us direction and a focus as we prepare our students for life.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Andy Tieman
Principal

Our WCE 2010-2011 school year is well under way and our PTA is once again working hard to provide excellent programs that will enhance your student’s school year. WCE PTA provides fun and educational activities throughout the year including a “Back to School” picnic, Sock Hop, Birthday Book Club, assemblies, after school specials and much, much more! These programs are completely funded by PTA and there is no cost to your child for the events and programs.

In order to keep these programs active we have the following fundraising schedule:

INNISBROOK WRAPPING PAPER AND GIFT SALE: This fundraiser will kickoff on August 26 and ends September 16. New to this fundraiser - all orders can be easily placed online and require you only to send in your payment. Products will be delivered the week of October 17 giving you an excellent opportunity to complete your holiday shopping early.

FALL FUN FAIR: Back by popular demand our fall fun fair will be taking place on Friday, November 5. This fun filled evening offers the opportunity to meet with other WCE families and enjoy games, food, prizes and more! We still have the same programs that support our PTA:

DIRECT DONATION: A direct donation is the simplest way to raise the money needed to fund the many activities and events sponsored yearly by PTA. We kindly ask that you consider a minimum $25.00 direct donation, but will happily accept any amount your household budget will allow.

FUNDRAISE AND RECYCLE CLOTHES: Have you been cleaning out closets and garages? The yellow/green collection bin is placed on the northwest corner of the school (near the Jr. High bike rack). We can accept clothing, shoes, toys, bedding and many household items (NO GLASS PLEASE).

MANNA GIFT CARDS: A dollar for dollar gift card program that allows you to purchase gift cards for many popular retailers and restaurants. A portion of the sales is returned to our PTA.

WCE PTA is a not-for-profit organization and your contributions are tax deductible!

Thank you for supporting Winston Campus Elementary PTA!

Angela Santoro
Ways & Means Chair

To all of the summertime PTA workers who orchestrated successful events and tasks:

• Sue Nisivaco … for the numerous hours she spent on the school calendar.
• Jim Perone … for all his work on our PTA website and creating a WCE PTA group on Facebook.
• Mary Bauer … for School Kits distribution.
• Danielle Escudero & Bethanie Jones … Teacher Appreciation Welcome Back Luncheon.
• Budget Committee … who gave up a summer evening to work out our budget.
• Jennifer McCarthy … for getting our PTA Membership drive off to a great start.
• Michelle Ottenfeld, Kathy Schneider, and Dee Kolar …. for completing the Audit. Thanks also to Theresa Silva for having everything ready and in good order.
• Lyn Bremanis … for organizing the forms to help our School Directory process.
• Market Day ... Nancy Ryan for kicking off our important monthly fundraiser.
• Bob Messick & the Dads of the Family Fun Committee ... for beginning our new school year with a funfilled Family Picnic.
• To Mr. Tieman and the Kozlowski, Kolar, Schneider, Petersen, Scuickas, Klujewski, Ziebell, Hanson, Vlha, Bernier, & Zuercher families … for each volunteering to water and weed the front garden at the school for a week this summer.
• Lori Elliot, Tara Zapatka and Michele Ottenfeld … for their work on the welcome bags for the all the new families in the school.
• Kathy Sauerland … for producing a great newsletter.
• Angela Santoro and the Ways and Means Committee ... for organizing the Innisbrook sales.
• Leslie Van Wolvelear ... for organizing the Manna program.
• Lisa Klujewski ... for ordering classroom publications.
• TerrieAnn Jones ... for organizing the PTA New Family Welcome.
• New WCE PTA Chairpeople & Committee ... for being willing to take on their new tasks. We know you will do a great job.
• Returning WCE PTA Chairs & Committees … for continuing to give and provide wonderful programs and support to our Winston Campus Elementary Students, Staff and Families.
• To each family who has already joined WCE PTA and those who plan to join soon.