WESTERN AVENUE CALENDAR

Monday, May 11th

5th Grade Variety Show, 9:15am

*Fifth grade parents are invited to attend!

Tuesday, May 12th

Fifth Grade to Cougars, 9:20am

ASE Chess, 2:20pm

Thursday, May 14th

Taste of Kindergarten

Friday, May 15th

Western Walks, 2:15pm

Monday, May 18th

Safety Patrol to Funway, 8:15am

Tuesday, May 19th

Last ASE Chess, 2:20pm

PTO Meeting, 7pm

Wednesday, May 20th

Geneva Public Library Summer Reading Program

Presentations

Thursday, May 21st

1:15pm Dismissal

Important Phone Numbers

Office: 630-463-3500

Attendance Line:

630-463-3501

Nurse: 630-463-3506

WESTERN WEEKLY

Week of May 11th—May 15th

WHAT YOU NEED TO

KNOW THIS WEEK

AT WAS

Western Walks is THIS

Friday, May 15th. All

registered students

should be picked up at

3:15pm.

Happy 50th Birthday Western Avenue!

Autism Awareness

Month at Western

Avenue School

April was Autism Awareness month so the

fourth graders decided to do many different

activities to help their fellow WAS students

learn about Autism. To begin the month, sever-

al students learned about Autism from Mrs.

Klein, our New Pathways teacher, and partnered

with her students to go into classroom and

share information.

Each class at Western was given a puzzle piece to dec-

orate and add to our Autism awareness tree. Each

Wednesday during the month, the entire school wore

blue to show their support for Autism Awareness.

Some students created a bulletin board in the front

hallway, some volunteered in the New Pathways class,

while others made pins for the entire staff to wear

during the month.

“One thing I want everybody to know is that we should-

n’t treat people with autism differently. “

“One thing people should know about autism is that they

are people too, just like everybody else. Just because

of differences that they cannot change, doesn’t mean that they are weird.”

“I learned that people with autism think and learn

differently.”

“My favorite activity was helping the kids in the

New Pathways class because they are so awesome!”

“I learned that people with

autism focus more on one thing which makes them

better at that specific talent or subject.”

“One thing I want people to know is that they might

seem different but they really are not.”

“The one thing that I

want people to know about autism is that people

who have it are just like everyone else.”

“I learned that people with autism can do amaz-

ing things!”

Quotes from WAS 4th Graders about

Autism Awareness Month

Western's Walking! You have received a form to sign-up for Western walks. You may not know

what Western Walks is. Western Walks will be after school on Friday, May 15th. It will end at

about 3:30pm. It is a one mile walk through the Allendale neighborhood with fun things to do

along the way. If you would like to walk you need to know that you must have at least one pledge

to be able to walk. The money that has been raised by the walk a thon will be donated to a

charity.

The charity that was selected this year was the Kira

Spedale Foundation. Kira was a triplet and a good friend

of two of our fifth graders at Western. She had a very

rare type of brain cancer called D.I.P.G. She passed away

on October 4th, 2014. Her family started the Kira

Spedale Foundation to honor Kira and to help find a cure

for D.I.P.G. as well as to help families who are facing the

cancer to find treatment options and to pay for some ex-

penses.

The walk-a-thon is being planned by the fifth graders. We

have been working very hard to make posters, to get people

signed up, and try to run the walk very smoothly. We have

people running the walk, people advertising, and even people

settling up the walk. We are trying to get as many students

to sign up as possible. We are also raising money on our own

by doing things like have lemonade stands and doing Change

Wars between our classes. We would like everyone’s help to

raise money and make a difference.

If you haven’t already signed up and you want to join us, we have extended the deadline to THIS

MONDAY, May 11th. Please return the form to Mrs. Ostergard in the office.

Hope to see you at the walk!

Tilly Lobdell and Gavin McCullough, 5th Grade

Western’s

Walking! Friday, May 15th

News from the LMC

Every grade level wrote a thank you note to Katherine Applegate this week. In the note they thanked

her for visiting Western and told her about their favorite character, part, and overall opinion of the

book. I hope all of you enjoyed her book as much as I did for one book one school.

Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade are working their way through the Dr. Seuss Award

books. Kindergarten learned how the honor books are a little different from the actual award win-

ners. First and second grade will talk about this next week.

Fourth and fifth graders at Western voted for their favorite Young Viking award vote. The winner

with 19% of the vote was, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. The second place book was Sky Jumpers with 12% of the vote, and the third place book was Red Thread Sisters with 10.5% of the

vote. Thank you to every student who read at least three of the books and was able to vote. The

winner for the district will be announced later in May.

The library will be open in the summer. Starting on June 16 we will be open on Tuesdays and Thurs-

days from 9:30 to 10:30. Look for more information in the following weeks.

BIG NEWS – E books are coming to Western Avenue. The district was awarded a grant and we will be

adding e – books to our current collection. Please be on the lookout for more information in the fol-

lowing weeks. I am very excited to offer this option to our students.

Best books for kids – ALA has a list of 2015 best books for children – cut and paste the link below in

your browser to see the list and get some great book titles for great summer reads: http://

www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

WAS PTO…. Together We Can!

Box tops update

Thank you, families, for submitting your box tops and Labels for Education. This month, WAS col-lected 686 box tops ($68.60). Mrs. Koska's fourth graders submitted 219 box tops to win the monthly collection drive, while Mrs. LaLonde's fourth grade students collected 188 to take the second spot for the month.

Please note that our next and FINAL box top collection day for the school year is Friday, May 15. We are so very close to our goal of raising $1715 for our school. Every coupon helps. Please keep clip-ping!

Western Avenue Elementary School Supply Pack sales

have been extended through May 11th. After this date,

sales will be closed. Save yourself the time of traveling

around to find all the items you need.... You can order

them all together online. You can pick up your kits at

Western Avenue on Wednesday, August 12th from 9:00 –

11:00am or for an additional cost, have them delivered

directly to your home. Go to www.write-stuff.com/

storefront/school/western You can also customize your kit to only pur-

chase the supplies you need. Any questions? Contact Hayley Lotspeich at

hayleylotspeich@yahoo.com

YEARBOOK COMMITTEE

2015/2016 SCHOOL YEAR Yearbook committee is looking for a variety of volunteers for next school year and it

isn’t just about taking pictures. The kids LOVE their yearbooks and it is such a fun

way to help but things get started early in the school year so we need to get volun-

teers lined up now!

Administrative people – you don’t have to be a photographer or creative to help

– we always need help with orders and information distribution to volunteers, and oth-

er administrative functions – most which can be done from your home on you schedule.

Creative people – to help with the theme and layout; colors, borders, page layout

selection etc. This is done through the easy-to-use yearbook company software; done

online and at home on your schedule. Training on the system will be provided. If you

have used an online photobook program - you can easily use this system!

Photographers – You don’t have to be a professional photographer – you just

need a decent camera and love to take candid photos! You get to go to class parties,

school functions, grade level special classes (art, PE, and music), lunch and recess to

get fun candid photos of the kids for their pages in the yearbook. We need one pho-

tographer for each grade level and available for some school functions (think pumpkin

festival, family fun nights, fun fair, etc.). You can do one or both!

Co-chair - no experience required – just need to be organized, motivated and

like taking pictures. You will be joining 2 experienced chairs already signed up. (Jen

Peruba and Michelle Irwin)

Please contact Michelle Irwin for more information or to sign up!

Mirwin844@gmail.com or via cell phone 630-220-9693

Come Join Cub Scout Pack 138!

We are looking new scouts that will be in grades 1st thru 5th for the 2015-

2016 school year. We will have an informational meeting on Tuesday, May

12th at 6:30pm in the WAS school gym. You are invited to stay afterwards

to participate in our May pack meeting! We will have car racing and our an-

nual ice cream social with enough for EVERYONE!

The goal of Scouting is to have fun while learning positive values and skills

that will last a lifetime.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Cindy Wagner at

membership@westernavenuescouts.org and a new scout packet will be sent

to you. It is never too late to join Cub Scouts.

Community News