O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy

Thorp ANNOUNCEMENTS: updated 2/24/12

Thorp LSC Announcement:

As you may know, Mrs. Bandolik recently announced her retirement from our school at the end of this school year. We want to thank her for her strong leadership and dedication to our school and our community.

In seeking her replacement the LSC is in the process of forming a principal selection committee. The purpose of the committee is to follow the LSC guidelines for Principal selection and choose a new principal candidate for recommendation to the LSC.

The committee will be comprised of local school council members as well as two parents and two teachers. It is anticipated that the committee will start meeting regularly the week of February 27th and that the workload of the committee will be a minimum of 60 hours through the selection process.

Any parents interested in submitting their names to be selected to serve on the committee should send an email to Mary Baumeister by February 22nd. Interested teachers should contact Ms. Bagri.

Thank you.
LSC - Our mailing address is:
O. A. Thorp Scholastic Academy
6024 W Warwick Ave, Chicago, IL 60634

Yep, it’s back! Friday, March 9, 2012, from 7 to 10pm, Friends of Thorp will host Taste of Thorp 2 at Biagio, 4242 N. Central Avenue. Celebrate our school’s diverse culture by sampling international foods donated by area restaurants, get your groove on with a little music or test your luck with our silent auction and raffle. We’ll have special auction donations from teachers and classrooms and a few surprises up our sleeves. All funds raised will be used to purchase technology and other necessities for our school. Last year we raised $7,500 at Taste of Thorp, which helped to purchased one Promethean Board, three iPads and five notebook computers. We are hoping to raise even more for our school this year!

Tickets are $30 in advance ($35 at the door) and the ticket price covers all food and soft drinks. There will be a cash bar for other beverages. Generous vendors will be donating wine to purchase by the glass (all proceeds from which go to Friends of Thorp).

Seating is limited, so order your tickets right away! Order forms have been sent home several times in children’s backpacks and these can be returned with your payment to the Friends of Thorp box near the office. You can also purchase tickets through our website www.friendsofthorp.org and pay through Paypal. In an effort to be “greener” we will not use tickets this year, but have a registration list at the door.

This is a great opportunity to hang out with friends, meet new Thorp parents and get to know your child’s teacher away from the classroom. This is an adults only event (we love our children dearly but sometimes you just need a little adult time!)

If you have any questions, please contact us at friendsofoathorp@gmail.com.

We hope to see you on March 9! ~ Friends of Thorp

Operation: Soldier Phone Home 2011

During the week of Veteran’s Day, Room 309 (6th grade) and Mrs. Hehn had a conversation about why there was no school on Veteran’s Day. Many students knew that it was Veteran’s Day, but still did not know the true meaning of its commemoration. As they were talking she thought it would be a nice gesture to make cards honoring this day. She assured the students that she would drop the cards off at a VFW post near her home.

Today (11/22), to their surprise they had two very important visitors come in and present them with something special. It was their honor to have, Mr. Steve Weber and Mr. Vince Giuffre, come speak to the class and give the students this letter and picture. It was very touching to see these two men in uniform who were so very moved by the cards they received from Mrs. Hehn’s class.

The Nation Anthem Competition was held on October 21, 2011. Students representing their grades sang "The Star Spangled Banner" in front of three professional judges and were critiqued on their vocal quality, knowledge of the words, phrasing, pitch and stage presence. to qualify, students performed "The Star Spangled Banner" in music class. Each class in grades 3-8 learned about it's history, the words and melody, and also about performance techniques and audience behavior for concert settings.

Performers at the Grade 6-8 grade competition: David S, Grace B, Eve D, Kaylaa V, Amaya M, Jasmine H, Edward S and Kevin F, Audrey B and Issac M.

Performers at the Grade 3-5 grade competition: Dylan B, Maja L, Olivia O, Veronica O, Devyn H, Melina S, Mathew D and Kristine P.

Each performer was awarded a medal, and Grace B and Veronica O took first place in their division. They were both awarded a trophy.

Thank you to our judges: Rahul Sharma, Barbara Roberson, and Chris Winter.

Congratulations to all who competed and all who soloed in music class!

Welcome to Madonna Arredondo our newest teacher for Literacy Support and Jesus Vazquez our temporary Security Officer

Mon. Nov 7th is the new start date for new sign-ups for Smiling Strings

The Common Core Assessment will begin Tuesday October 25 for 2nd through 8th grades.

In order to better aid teachers and teacher teams in learning about the demands of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS), we are introducing a new assessment aligned to the standards that will be delivered to all 2nd-8th graders (with assessment for 2nd grade optional in the first semester). It is important to note that this assessment will not be used for accountability purposes, but will be used to help us begin to identify implications for instruction and planning so that we can begin to make adjustments this year. This year, the assessment will only consist of multiple-choice with extended response items aligned to a subset of Common Core reading and math standards. As we continue to learn more about the standards, and receive ongoing feedback, the assessment tool will become more sophisticated and refined, eventually incorporating meaningful performance tasks that will measure a student's ability in more authentic ways. This assessment represents our first step towards creating a system that measures student progress on the Common Core State Standards, and we are excited about the kind of conversation it will foster regarding instruction.

10/7/11 - CPS CEO Brizard - Longer School Day update

CPS CEO Brizard Praises Schools for Embracing Common Core Standards;
80 Schools Apply to be Common Core ‘Early Adopters’

16th District Community Alert - Indecent Exposure Incident Aug 30th, 2011

10/10/11 LSC UPDATES...

10/10/11 What is Balanced Literacy?

Dear Parents and Teachers,

As you know the PTA Membership Drive is in full swing. Many of you have sent in your application and we thank you for your support. There are still parents and teachers that have not completed their membership form and submitted it to the PTA. In order for the PTA to provide the support for the students and teachers we need your support by becoming a PTA member. This year we have been challenged by the National PTA to increase membership by 10%. That would be nice but your PTA here at O. A. Thorp would like to make it 100% participation. Can we do it, we feel it can be done. Please talk with other parents and teachers and encourage them to be a part of our children's future by Joining the PTA today.

Joining the PTA is easier than ever. Parents and teachers have several ways to join, either by Check or Cash when you fill out the membership form and return it to school and New this year by Credit Card through the New PTA website. Register with the website then click on the join the PTA tab and follow the instructions.

We at the PTA look forward to being a part of the growing experience of every child's education

Cross Country Team information...

Scienc Fair calendar 2011-2012

Volleyball Season - Come try out for the girl’s volleyball team. Tryouts for 7th/8th will be Thursday, September 15th from 1:45- 3:30. Tryouts for 5th/6th will be Monday, September 19th from 1:45- 3:30....more information

2011/12 Spirit Wear Catalog

10/1/2011 - 4th Annual Options for Knowledge Elementary School Fair
(esp)

LEARN about selective enrollment and magnet options for your child!
MEET school and program administrators!
PREPARE for the 2012-2013 application process!

Skokie Firefighter Christopher Gantz will be at Thorp' s East Playground on Wednesday September 14th with the restored truck known as Rescue 4 which was badly damaged when the South Tower of the World Trade Center
collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.
The truck will be on display from 9:00-11:00am.

9/01/2011
Dear Thorp Students, Families and Friends,

Welcome back! We are ready and eager to begin our 2012 school year. Our teachers have been working very hard to create a beautiful inviting classroom for each room and grade level. Our school looks amazing and “sparkly” clean thanks to the very hard work of our fine engineer and custodial staff.

This year we will be continuing the Balanced Literacy implementation in grades K-5th, followed by the “Dreams and Doorways” workshop models in grades 6th, 7th, and 8th. Several grade levels began implementation of the literacy models in 2011 and we are very pleased with the gains our students made. Balanced Literacy supports all areas of literacy and works with students reading at all levels. You will notice your children will be spending more classroom and home time in independent reading at their level.

In class, teachers will be putting into practice Read Aloud and small group guided reading. Our September 22nd Open House (6-7pm) will provide you with more information about the literacy activities in your child’s classroom. In addition we will be providing information on Balanced Literacy and the new Core Curriculum Learning Standards at the Principal’s Coffee on Friday September 16th at 8:15 in our Small Lunchroom.

We are looking forward to an exciting year of achievements.

We welcome all new students and their families as well as our new staff members:

Hannah Gomez	SECA Autism	301
Mary Amato	6th grade	310
Susan Guzman	Kdg	102
Sheila Martinez	Kdg	101
Michelle Farrell-Fink	Primary P.E.
Elena McCord	Student Teacher	104
Carrie Lah	5th grade	210	Welcome Back!
Colleen Sawicki	5th grade	211	Welcome Back!
Molly Rasmussen	Autism	301
Good bye to Linda Raphael (Primary P.E.). We are sad to lose you, but we will see you for Special Olympics.

We would like to take this opportunity to assure you that no matter what you hear in the media-our focus at Thorp Academy is on instruction. So we will be moving along to keep our environment calm and focused.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday September 6th!!
Have a safe and restful Labor Day Weekend.

Sincerely,
Kathleem P. Bandolik, Principal
Priscilla J. Barbier, Assistant Principal

Elementary School Assessment Calendar for 2011 – 2012

O. A. Thorp Scholastic Academy Welcomes
Isabel Mesa-Collins, Ed. D., Chief of Elementary Schools, O’Hare Network
Trinidad Liberto, Deputy || Sherry Bushre’, Data Analyst

We look forward to working with our new Network Team.
Kathleen P. Bandolik,
Principal, O.A. Thorp

After careful consideration and review of the excellent RFP’s that were submitted, the decision has been made that the new Promethean Boards will be awarded to:
Mrs. Becky McNally and Mrs. Marisol Carlos.
Congratulations!!

.

Parents:
Illinois is one of 13 states serving on the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers' governing board, which is providing leadership and oversight to the development of new assessments for use by states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards. In all, PARCC has 25 member states which coming together to create an internationally benchmarked assessment system to be ready for the 2014-15 school year. For more information, go to http://www.PARCConline.org.

Parent Portal: tutorial

Parent Portal: login

Middle School Policies 2011-12

Updated FORMS for 2011-12

June 6, 2011 (english & spanish)
To All CPS Parents:
From the Office of the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jean-Claude Brizard

Dear Parents - If you wish to be on the O.A. Thorp Academy distribution list, please email us at: OAThorp@cps.k12.il.us with your prefered email address included.

Thank you!

NOTICE FOR PARENTS • Recess...

The Payton Citywide Math Circle is excited for the Fall Season, which gets underway this coming Saturday, September 17, at Walter Payton College Prep High School. The Math Circle provides exciting, challenging math in a noncompetitive environment for kids in grades 6-12, for eight Saturdays between September and January. Sessions are offered at five levels: click here for more information

Elementary School Assessment Calendar for 2011 – 2012

2011~2012 O.A. Thorp Gym & Spirit Wear Catalog and Order Form

CPS Calendar 2011/2012

Supply Lists for 2011/12 School year have been UPDATED....

Middle School Policies 2011-12

Updated FORMS for 2011-12

LIBRARY NEWS

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