FIERKE EDUCATION CENTER 6535 W. Victoria Drive Oak Forest, IL (708) Fax (708) Website:

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1 FIERKE EDUCATION CENTER 6535 W. Victoria Drive Oak Forest, IL (708) Fax (708) Website: In the event of an emergency weather situation, we would follow our tornado safety drill plan. Our schools are equipped with emergency warning lights. Ours are positioned on the northwest and northeast corners of the outside walls of the kindergarten room located next to the main entrance. The lights flash in a strobe-like manner. At dismissal time, parents who come into school to pick up children under these circumstances will be asked to take cover with us. Students will be released when it is determined to be safe and the warning lights are turned off. Our faculty is beginning the process of organizing classes for next year. The elementary students in our school district are assigned to classes heterogeneously (mixed abilities) with some limited grouping, commonly called clustering, to accommodate for extraordinary needs. Many factors are considered in this process, including input from your child s teacher, gender balance, academic achievement and aptitude, individual learning styles, and personalities. This important work contributes significantly to the creation of optimal learning situations for students. Parents may choose to participate in the process by sharing insights and information about their child s educational needs. This should be done in writing and sent to the principal by May 1. IF YOU CHOOSE TO PUT YOUR INSIGHTS IN WRITING, PLEASE NOTE THAT RE- QUESTS FOR SPECIFIC TEACHERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. HOWEVER, A DE- SCRIPTION OF PREFERRED TEACHER QUALITIES WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. Students and parents will be informed of class assignments in August. Moving, and your child(ren) won t be attending Fierke next year? Please call school at to schedule an appointment with Mrs. Corcoran, our school secretary, to complete transfer papers. It will be helpful to do this soon after your plans are finalized. New neighbors? Please encourage them to contact the Administration Center at to schedule a registration appointment. Illinois law and school district policy limits enrollment in our schools to children whose custodial parent(s), or court appointed guardian(s), live within district boundaries. Almost any other circumstance is illegal. Residents should report concerns about enrollment to the school. The district uses an agency to investigate suspected fraudulent enrollment.

2 * * * Dates To Note * * * 3/26-4/3 SPRING BREAK NO SCHOOL 4/5 (Tues.) ELECTION DAY (Fierke is a polling place.) Operation Lifesaver Presentations for 1 st (10:00-10:45) and 4 th (11:00-11:45) 5 th Grade Student/Parent Transition Night at CMS (6:30 PM) 4/6 (Wed.) Creative Expressions Art Showcase, Tinley Park Library (7-8:00pm) 4/7 (Thurs.) Math Challenge Awards Night (6:30 PM at CMS) 4/8 (Fri.) Fierke Science Fair (During the school day) 4/11-4/15 Student Council Spirit Week Monday, 4/11 Sports Day Tuesday, 4/12 Beach Day Wed., 4/13 Wacky Day Thurs., 4/14 PJ/Comfy/Stuffed Animal Day Friday, 4/15 Fierke Friday 4/12 (Tues.) Young Authors Recognition Night (6:30 PM at CMS) 4/15 (Fri.) 3 rd Quarter Report Cards go home 4/18 (Mon.) Fierke PTA Board Meeting (6:00 PM) 4/20 (Wed.) PTA MOVIE NIGHT 6:30-8:30pm 4/21 (Thurs.) School Improvement Day NO SCHOOL 4/22 (Fri.) Good Friday NO SCHOOL 4/25 (Mon.) Holiday NO SCHOOL 4/28 (Thur.) Board of Education Meeting (7:00pm) 4/29 (Fri.) EXPLORE MORE

3 Attention Scientists: The Science Fair is quickly approaching! Permission forms were due today, Friday March 25 th! If you submitted a form, be sure to work on your project over Spring Break! The 2011 Science Fair will take place on Friday April 8 th! Be sure to look at the reminder form from your teacher with the times and days for set-up and take down, as well as your presentation time! See Mrs. Stec or Ms. Feldkamp with any questions.

4 Intramural Basketball 5 th Grade Boys Thursday, March 17 Thursday, April 14 Tuesday, April 26 Tuesday, May 3 5 th Grade Girls Thursday, March 24 Tuesday, April 19 Thursday, April 28 Thursday, May 5 5 th Grade Boys & Girls Tuesday, May 10 Basketball for fifth graders will meet according to the above schedule. Three on three teams will be picked randomly at the beginning of each session. Dismissal will be 4:20 p.m. Students need to know transportation arrangements in advance. If your child cannot attend a session for any reason, please have them inform Ms. O Malley as soon as possible. Students are dismissed from the front doors by the office. For our students safety, please line up in the pick-up lane to pick up your child. Students should not cross the pick-up lane to go to the parking lot without an adult escort. Thanks for your help in this matter. 4 th grade floor hockey make up session: Tues., April 12 Blackhawks v Bruins Redwings v Rangers Physical education Footwear Please remind your child about the importance of wearing proper footwear for play. Students should not wear sandals, shoes that are open in the back, shoes that have heels or shoes with thick soles on gym days. These types of shoes can also be troublesome during play at recess time. Wearing flat gym shoes that tie or lace in a conventional manner seem to work best during play and help to avoid injury.

5 Student Council News Fierke students had fun all becoming Irish for the day to help celebrate St. Patrick s Day. The halls of Fierke turned green, orange and white on March 17 th. Our Student Council discussed this year s Spirit Week at our last Student Council meeting. Days were chosen from idea lists which each classroom put together. After deciding on the special days, student council officers went to discuss the ideas with Mr. French. Spirit Week will be April 11 th - April 15 th this year. Monday Sports Day Tuesday Beach Day Wednesday Wacky Wednesday Thursday PJ/Comfy/Stuffed Animal Day Friday Fierke Friday Our last service project took place in March. Students and staff made donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Pennies for Patients program helps children who are fighting leukemia and other blood diseases. We had a Hat Day students were allowed to wear a hat during school for $.50. Thank you to all of our Fierke families that supported this worthwhile cause. Remember our motto..kids Helping Kids. Please be sure to show your school spirit on Fierke Fridays. Our February spirit winner was Miss Connolly s 2 nd grade!! Fierke Store will be coming in May more news to follow! Happy Spring!

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7 Newsletter Date Volume 1, Issue 1 April -Yearbook Update Well, by the time you receive this, this year's school yearbook would have been submitted into Lifetouch for publishing!! Yay!!! Everyone's help this year has been needed and EXTREMELY APPRECIATED!! There's a lot of work putting together all the pieces for a school yearbook - but it's worth it when the final masterpiece is delivered! We try to include everyone and want to "tell the story" of the school year - so there's a lot of detail! Yearbooks will be delivered to each child who ordered one, to their classroom at the end of the school year. And there is an opportunity, for all kids from 1st - 5th grade to purchase any photos that weren't used for the yearbook. In the past, this is usually done on Olympic Day - a flyer will be sent to the students closer to the date. This upcoming school year, (after 15 years) of creating the idea, and putting yearbooks together from "scratch", will be my last year! In order for the yearbook to still continue, we are in need of some dedicated volunteers to carry it on... So, if you are interested in helping with "key" areas of the yearbook, it would be easier to teach you during the school year. Please give it some consideration - it's a lot of fun, and it's a great way to get to know the staff and the students too! Thank you, Cindy Murphy - schoolmomcindy@yahoo.com Kori Springer - kspringers@aol.com PTA Yearbook Committee

8 APRIL IS NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH Autism is a complex developmental disability that causes problems with social interaction and communication. Symptoms usually start before age three and can cause delays or problems in many different skills that develop from infancy to adulthood. Different people with autism can have very different symptoms. Health care providers think of autism as a spectrum disorder, a group of disorders with similar features. One person may have mild symptoms, while another may have serious symptoms. But they both have an autism spectrum disorder. Currently, the autism spectrum disorder category includes: Autistic disorder (also called classic autism) Asperger s Syndrome Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (or atypical autism) Autism now affects 1 in 110 children and 1 in 70 boys Autism prevalence figures are growing More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S. Autism costs the nation over $35 billion per year, a figure expected to significantly increase in the next decade Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism There is no medical detection or cure for autism Asperger's syndrome symptoms include: (facts/statistics from Autism Speaks) Engaging in one-sided, long-winded conversations, without noticing if the listener is listening or trying to change the subject Displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact, few facial expressions, or awkward body postures and gestures Showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, weather or snakes Appearing not to understand, empathize with or be sensitive to others' feelings Having a hard time "reading" other people or understanding humor Speaking in a voice that is monotonous, rigid or unusually fast Moving clumsily, with poor coordination Unlike children with more-severe forms of autism spectrum disorders, those with Asperger's syndrome usually don't have delays in the development of language skills. That means your child will use single words by the age of 2 and phrases by the time he or she is 3 years old. But, children with Asperger's syndrome may have difficulties holding normal conversations. Conversations may feel awkward and lack the usual give and take of normal social interactions. Toddlers and school-age children with Asperger's syndrome may not show an interest in friendships. Youngsters with Asperger's often have developmental delays in their motor skills, such as walking, catching a ball or playing on playground equipment. In early childhood, kids with Asperger's may be quite active. By young adulthood, people with Asperger's syndrome may experience depression or anxiety. More information is available at:

9 APRIL IS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY MONTH WHAT IS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY? Occupational Therapy is concerned with a person s ability to participate in desired daily life activities or occupations. It includes adapting tasks and the environment to maximize independence and quality of life. The term occupation refers to activities that are meaningful to the individual within the environments in which the person lives and functions. In schools, Occupational Therapists use their unique expertise to help children to prepare for and perform important learning and school-related activities and to fulfill their role as students. In this setting, Occupational Therapists (and Occupational Therapy Assistants, under the supervision of the Occupational Therapist) support academic and non-academic outcomes, including social skills, math, reading and writing (i.e. literacy), behavior management, recess, participation in sports, self-help skills, prevocational/vocational participation and more, for children and students with disabilities, 3 to 21 years of age. Practitioners are particularly skilled in facilitating student access to curricular and extracurricular activities through supports, designing and planning and other methods. Additionally, they play a critical role in training parents, other staff members and caregivers regarding educating students with diverse learning needs. School-based occupational therapy is available for students who are eligible for special education. Occupational therapists complete assessments and work with other members of the school-based team to help determine what is needed for a student to receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. They collaborate with the team to identify a student s annual goals and determine the services, supports, modifications and accommodations that are required for the student to achieve these goals, including addressing transition needs as early as 14 but no later than 16 years of age. When the individualized education program (IEP) team determines that occupational therapy is needed for a student in order to meet his or her annual goals, then occupational therapy should be included in the student s IEP. In some instances, students whose disability affects their participation in school but who do not qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), may be eligible to receive occupational therapy under other federal laws such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and the American Disabilities Act. (This information is from the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. handout titled Occupational Therapy In School Settings. For more information go to the American Occupational Therapy Association s website at

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