Publications & Sites 
District 30 notes for June 8
Updated: July 2, 2012 4:07PM
Author Jane Yolen Skypes with Maple students
On May 25, Maple School student Ben Gachpar and his classmates had the privilege of visiting with award-winning author Jane Yolen via Skype in the library media center. The sixth grader was the winner of this year’s state of Illinois “Letters about Literature Reading and Writing Contest.” His winning piece was a letter he wrote to author Jane Yolen. It focused on her book The Devil’s Arithmetic, which is about a girl being transported to the time during the Holocaust, and told how people stayed together to help each other survive. He related the story to his own great grandmother from Kiev, who survived the Holocaust with the help of a neighbor.
During the Skype session, Yolan talked about what inspires her, and how she has written over 300 books, and thousands of poems and short stories. Genre include science fiction, fantasy and children’s fiction. The discussion was followed by a question-and-answer period. This activity was coordinated by language arts teacher Cindy Sheridan, librarian Amy Kauth, assistant librarian Nancy Lifshitz, and technology integration specialist Daniel Rezac.
Maple donates over
5,000 books
Maple School’s PTO collected books for Book Worm Angels during the Spring Book Fair, which was held in mid-May. Josh Pettenuzzo’s class collected over 2,700 book.
As a result, students collected over 5,000 books for this charity organization. Book Worm Angels is a non-profit organization which encourages schools to have book drives. All books are distributed to public schools, where poverty levels are high and many of the students read below grade level. The organization’s goal is to improve the children’s reading skills. It’s motto is “Kids Who Read Succeed.” The books are used to establish classroom lending libraries, giving the kids the opportunity to read books at home and in the classroom. For more information, go to www.bookwormangels.org.
District 30 dates
to remember
District 30’s important dates to note during the summer are as follows: On July 13 Summer School is scheduled to end; Aug. 8 is District 30 School Information Packet Pick-Up Day at Maple School; Aug. 13 is Maple School’s New Student Orientation, and the Maple School Store is open. Aug. 15-17 are District 30’s New Teacher Orientation Days. Aug. 20-22 will be Teacher Institute Days. Aug. 23 is the first day of school.
New lock
information
Maple School’s incoming sixth graders will be purchasing locks form the PTO school store beginning at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 13, during New Student Orientation. The two locks will have the same combination. If the locks are lost or brocken, new locks will have to be purchased from the PTO school store. Each lock has a combination slip in the box. Students should not share the combination. Parents should keep one of the combination slips in case their child cannot remember the combination or is sick. The office will not have lock combination records.
Current students will be able to keep their locks at the close of school. They are to bring them back for their lockers in the fall. If they do not have these locks when school resumes, new locks will have to be purchased from the PTO school store. The office will not be handling the sale of locks so they can only be purchased from the PTO school store on Aug. 13.
Team Willowbrook has Field Day on June 1
Willowbrook School held its annual Field Day festivities on June 1. This year’s theme was “Team Willowbrook Honors the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.” After an opening ceremony in the gymnasium, students participated in games and athletic activities. Each grade level wore a colored T-shirt: Tie Dye, blue, yellow green, or red. Some of the activities included were tug-of-war, basketball, dancing, hula hoop, relay races, soccer, frisbie, and more! This activity was organized by physical education teachers Debbie Simek and David Goss, with the support of Principal Jill Weininger, faculty, and the PTO.
Maple School
announces Allied Arts Students
Eleven Maple School students recently qualified for recognition as Allied Arts Students of the Fourth Quarter. The following students were honored for continually exhibiting the six pillars of CHARACTER COUNTS! which include Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship: Simone Grach and Monica Strom for applied technology; Elizabeth Lancioni for art; Matt Grine and Lauren Yep for band; Cathy Oh for chamber strings; Abby Behling for choir; Brooke Combs for family and consumer science; Andrew Tuchler and John Song for music; and Shannon Buttimer for string orchestra.
