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December 2013

Inside this Issue

1 Principal’s Corner Important Information Required

2 Attendance Update Attendance Chart BEST Percentages Good Citizens – November Book Rental

3 Food Drive Lunch/Birthday Treat Reminder ISTEP/IREAD Parent Meeting Upcoming Events Website/Facebook

4 PTO News

5 Emergency Communications Five Below Recess Reminders Upcoming Events – continued

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John Wood Elementary School 6100 E. 73rd Ave. Merrillville, Indiana 46410 (219) 650-5305 http://merrillville.schoolwires.net/wood

The John Wood Parent Newsletter

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Principal’s Corner Dear Families: I hope your Thanksgiving break was restful! We had our first Dress for Success in November and it was terrific to see all of the students in their fancy clothing. They were so well behaved that day. Our next Dress for Success will be December 19th. We encourage the children to wear their nicest clothing on that day. Please don’t purchase clothing to wear, whatever you have is perfect. Also, please keep in mind we do go outside for recess so please make sure your child is dressed appropriately to go outside. We have had such great attendance so far this year. Thank you for ensuring that your child is in school as much as possible. We want to make every minute count! Your support in getting your child to school every day, and on time, helps set your child up for success in the future. Did you know that if a child misses 10 minutes of instruction per day…it adds up to 30 hours a year? Almost a full week! This is such an amazing school filled with wonderful staff members, students, and teachers. Keep up the hard work! Sincerely, Mrs. Crussen

Important Information Required

It is vital that we have your current home phone number on file in our office. When we have a delay or cancellation of school due to poor weather conditions, we have an automated system that is used.

This system is also used when we need to notify you quickly with

important information. If we have an incorrect or disconnected

number, you may not receive the information. You can update your

phone number, along with emergency contact numbers by

accessing your RDS Online Parent Access account or by giving this

information to the office staff.

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Good Citizens November 2013

Kindergarten

Roman Martinez – Mrs. Anderson Shu Jing Zheng – Miss Scheeringa

Shelby Smith – Mrs. Shalla

1st Grade Carlos Madrigal – Mrs. Bashore

Joshua Torri – Mrs. Frink Alexa Magana – Mrs. Mahy

2nd Grade

Lea Nikolov – Mrs. Carney Lilly Lawson – Mr. Grogloth

Jovanco Mizimak – Mrs. Radivan

3rd Grade Thomas Pagan – Mrs. Hickman

Savanna Woodruff – Miss Pettineo Karrington Davis – Mrs. Walsh

4th Grade

Daisha Mallard – Mrs. Stewart Yolzin Peralta – Mrs. Thanos

Brian Akinyele – Miss Vlassopoulos

Book Rental All book rental in now due. If a full payment is not possible, payments are acceptable until the obligation is met. Please contact our office to make arrangements for a payment plan. Checks must be made out to “John Wood School” and must have your driver’s license number on the check.

ECD - $75

Kindergarten - $136 1st Grade - $160 2nd Grade - $147 3rd Grade - $136 4th Grade - $133

Thank you to all of the parents who have already paid their child’s book rental.

Attendance Update As part of our PL 221 School Improvement Plan, each month we recognize the classrooms with the best attendance. These classes receive a traveling trophy to place in their room to recognize their accomplishment. The classes with the best attendance for the month of November were: Grade K – Mrs. Shalla (98.22%) Grade 3 – Mrs. Walsh (97.37%) Grade 1 – Mrs. Frink (96.05%) Grade 4 – Miss Vlassopoulos (98.55%) Grade 2 – Mr. Grogloth (98.61%) Monthly attendance for John Wood School is shown in the graph below. Thank you and let’s stay healthy!

Our BEST Behavior! % of students not receiving a misbehavior slip

outside of the classroom Grade Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Kdg 82% 89% 87%

1 82% 85% 74% 2 82% 83% 78% 3 86% 86% 62% 4 93% 96% 95%

Reminder It is the parent/guardian’s

responsibility to call and let the school office know why a child

is not in school. Make sure you call 650-5305 then press 2

before 9 AM if your child will not be in school.

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Food Drive Update

The Student Council would like to thank everyone who brought in items for the recent food drive. They had an awesome response. The Ross Township Food Bank picked up the food before the Thanksgiving break. Thank you for your generosity to less fortunate families during their time of need.

Lunch/Birthday Treat Reminder

Parents, we love to have you join your child for lunch. Please remember if you bring a lunch for your child, we do not allow students to share food. Please do not bring food to share with other children. We have several children with food allergies at our school and need to keep all of our children safe and healthy. In that same regard, if you would like to send treats to school to celebrate your child’s birthday, please remember that all food items shared with the class must be store-bought with the ingredient label attached to the unopened container. We need to ensure a student with a food allergy does not receive an item he or she should not.

2nd and 3rd Grade ISTEP/IREAD Assessments

Parent Meeting All 2nd and 3rd grade students in

the state of Indiana will take the ISTEP assessment this year.

All 3rd grade students in the state

of Indiana will also take the IREAD assessment this year.

2nd and 3rd grade parents are invited to attend a meeting to explain these

assessments.

December 17th 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

You may attend either session.

Please plan on attending one of the sessions.

We will be sharing important information regarding these

assessments.

Parent Access The Merrillville Community School Corporation has a Parent Access web site that is designed to keep you informed of your student’s progress in school. With your username and password, you are able to get updated information on your child’s grades, attendance, and discipline information. Once you have established an account, if you are having any problems or have questions about Parent Access, please do not call our office. Our secretaries cannot help you with this. You may contact the site administrator at parentaccess@mvsc.k12.in.us.

Website/Facebook

Just a reminder that the PTO has a section on the John Wood School website to keep

you informed of upcoming events. Included are chairperson’s names and phone numbers if you have questions. You can also see reminders for events if you “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/johnwood.pto.

Upcoming Events December 13 Holidays Around the World 5-8 PM Join us for an evening of family fun. See the PTO article on page four for more information. December 10 Market Day Pick-up 2:30-3:30 PM, Cafeteria All parents are welcome to come help sort and distribute the orders. Volunteers are asked to be at the school at 1:30 PM. For more information, call Mrs. Mercer at 947-3170. December 17 2nd & 3rd Grade Parent Meeting 9 a.m. or 6 p.m. 2nd and 3rd grade parents are encouraged to attend this informative meeting regarding the ISTEP and IREAD assessments. See the article on this page. December 19 Dress for Success Today we are encouraging everyone to dress in their nicest clothes. See Mrs. Crussen’s article on page one. December 19 Early Dismissal – 1:25 PM

Please plan for your child to be home approximately one hour earlier on this day.

December 23-January 3 Winter Holiday Break No School. We hope everyone has a joyous holiday. We’ll see you after the new year begins. January 6, 2014 School Resumes January 8 Last Day for Required Reading Today is the last day to test on Required Reading for the grading period. January 8 PTO Meeting 5:30, Cafeteria Find out what event we are planning for this spring! Hint…it’s the biggest and most popular event of the year! All are welcome to come help plan! January 9 Early Dismissal – 1:25 PM

Please plan for your child to be home approximately one hour earlier on this day.

January 13-February 21 Lake County Library Read-a-thon Watch for more information to come home with your child as we get closer to this date. January 14 End of 1st Semester Today is the last day of the first semester. Report cards will be handed out at the Parent-Teacher Conference later this month.

Continued on page five

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PTO News Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 8th at 5:30 p.m. Mark your calendars and plan to attend! We will be discussing the activities we are planning for the rest of the year.

Holidays Around the World You are invited join us on Friday, December 13th from 5-8 p.m. We will once again welcome exchange students from several different countries. These Purdue Calumet students are anxious to share information about their holiday customs with our students. There will also be a special visitor arriving on a Ross Township fire truck! Below is a list of some of the activities planned for the evening: Concessions and baked goods

will be available in the cafeteria. A craft will be available in the

cafeteria. The first craft will be no charge. There will be a $1 charge for any additional crafts.

Photos with Santa - $1 each Play Bingo! Basket raffles:

Tickets will be on sale the night of the event for 25¢ each or 5 for $1.

Basket raffles include: Portrait Innovations, Panera Bread, South Shore, Gold Canyon Candles, Stardust Bowling, Jamberry Nails, Premier Jewelry, Shakespeare Theater, Tiny Prints, Smash Mouth, Station 21, Silver Spoon, and more!

Stocking raffle: A “girl stocking” and a “boy

stocking”, each valued at approximately $100, will be raffled off. Tickets will be on sale the night of the event for 25¢ each or 5 for $1. Stocking contents are on display in the showcase in the front hallway.

For each toy donated to Toys for Tots, you will receive 5 stocking raffle tickets. (Pre-purchased tickets are being filled out for you.)

All raffle winners will be picked at the end of the evening and do not need to be present to win. We are still in need volunteers. If you can help us, please contact Stacy Pagan at 947-0510 or email her at staceypagan@comcast.net,

Labels/Box Tops Online Contest

If you shop online, you can earn cash for our school and a chance to win a $25.00 Smash Mouth Burger gift card for yourself. Here’s how:

1. Sign up to support our school at BTFE.com (it’s easy and totally free).

2. Once you’re a member, you can earn cash for our school when you shop online at the participating stores (over 400 stores), such as:

Toys R Us Nordstrom

Staples Macy’s Kohl’s

Walmart 3. Pick a store by clicking on its

logo and you’ll go right to their website, where you can shop online as you normally would. Our school will automatically earn eBoxTops® (worth 10¢ apiece) with every qualified purchase.

4. You’ll get a purchase confirmation email from the Marketplace within a few days. Just print or forward that email to staceypagan@comcast.net with a subject line of John Wood to be entered into a drawing for the $25 gift card.

All submitted confirmations between November 22, 2013 and December 25, 2013 will be entered into the drawing. The winner will be randomly selected on January 10th and notified by email.

Market Day Thank you to everyone who orders Market Day each month. So far this year this monthly fundraiser has brought in almost $800! Our next pick up will be on Tuesday, January 14th. Watch for order forms to be coming home. If you have any questions or would like to help at our next pick up, please call Mrs. Mercer at 947-3170.

Shoparoo While you are doing your holiday shopping, remember to join another fundraising site we are using this year… Shoparoo! This holiday season, they are accepting receipts from more of your favorite retailers! That means even more money for our school! For the first time ever, you will be able to earn donations from receipts outside the grocery world. From now until the end of December, our school will get 20 Roo Points every time you snap a receipt at one of many stores like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sears, JCPenney, Best Buy, Apple, Radio Shack, Home Depot, Staples, and many more. See their blog site at http://blog.shoparoo.com for a complete list. Remember, all of your normal grocery-related receipts will earn Roo Points too, so join today by going to www.shoparoo.com. Shoparoo purchases are NOT included in the above Labels/Box Tops Online Contest.

Five Below Planning to shop at Five Below in Merrillville this weekend? Make sure you take the flyer on page 5 with you. All purchases this Saturday and Sunday that are accompanied by the flyer will earn our school 10% of the purchase! They are open both days from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Don’t forget the flyer or we won’t get the credit. Flyers will NOT be available at the store!

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Recess Reminders

During the winter months, our students go outside for recess every day that the temperature or wind chill temperature is 15° or above (as long as the playground is in an acceptable condition for playing). Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather with a winter coat, boots, hat, gloves or mittens, and a scarf. Also, the colder weather brings more requests for students to stay indoors for recess. The Elementary Merrillville Community School Handbook states that if a student needs to stay inside for more than three days, a doctor’s note is necessary.

Emergency Communications

In cases of inclement weather or other emergency situations, there may be times when school may be cancelled or delayed. In those cases, information will be broadcast over the following television and radio stations.

Television Radio CBS-Chicago WJOB – 1230 AM NBC-Chicago WZVN – 107 FM ABC-Chicago WAKE – 1500 AM WGN-Chicago WGN – 720 AM FOX-Chicago WBBM – 780 AM CLTV News WYIN-Northwest Indiana

Delays and closings will also be posted on the Merrillville Community School Corporation website at http://merrillville.schoolwires.net. You may also choose to receive an email notification by registering with an outside service. Registration for this service is available at the Merrillville Schools website listed above.

Upcoming Events Continued from page three January 14 Market Day Pick-up 2:30-3:30 PM, Cafeteria All parents are welcome to come help sort and distribute the orders. Volunteers are asked to be at the school at 1:30 PM. For more information, call Mrs. Mercer at 947-3170. January 16 Early Dismissal – 1:25 PM

Please plan for your child to be home approximately one hour earlier

on this day. January 20 Dr. King’s Birthday No School There will be no school today in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. January 23 Parent Teacher Conferences No School for Students There will be no school on this day so that teachers can meet with parents for conferences. January 23 Parent Teacher Conferences 12:30-7:30 PM All conferences will be held on only one day. Watch for an important note to be coming home with your child with more information as we approach this date. January 30 Early Dismissal – 1:25 PM

Please plan for your child to be home approximately one hour earlier

on this day.

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