Holiday Cheer

The Lakeview Hallways are all a bustle this week! The holiday cheer and anticipation is mounting! Ms. Payne’s Spanish Classes have been spreading holiday cheer with Spanish Caroling today and again tomorrow. The Eighth Graders are ready for their Ballroom Dance Performance and the Sixth and Seventh Graders will be enjoying movies and treats tomorrow afternoon. In the morning, the Lakeview Bands and Choir will be starting our day with holiday music. It will be a fun day for everyone! I want to take this opportunity to wish all of the Lakeview families a happy and safe holiday! See you in 2008!

Third Week of the Trimester

Yesterday, Tuesday, marked our third week into the second trimester! Parents should have received an email from me stating this and encouraging them to check their children’s grades via the Parent Connect system. If you did not receive this email and would like to please let me know. If you are having difficulty accessing your child’s grades via the Parent Connect system please call the office and we would be glad to assist you in this matter.

Eighth Grade Ballroom Dance

This Friday, December 21st is the Eighth Grade Ballroom Dance Party! The eighth graders have been working hard in PE classes to learn all of the different dances and now they are ready to perform! The dance will be from 1:30 – 2:56 p.m. in the gym. PTO will be providing refreshments for the students and parents are welcome to come and watch our very own version of “Dancing With The Stars”. I hope to see everyone on Friday!

Market Day

This Saturday, December 15th, is Market Day pick-up at Lakeview. If you are available, volunteers are always needed and welcomed. Volunteers should arrive at the Lakeview gym by 9:30 a.m. to help sort orders. If you have a middle school student who is in need of volunteer hours this is a great opportunity. If you ordered Market Day please make sure you promptly pick up your order between 11-12 on Saturday.

Varsity Cheerleading

Varsity Cheerleading Clinics and Try-Outs are quickly approaching. Varsity Cheerleading is open to any Eighth Grade student. Students must have a current physical on file in the office in order to attend the clinic and try-out. The clinic will be on December 17 & 18 and try-outs will be December 19th. If students have questions they should see Ms. Casey.

Ultra Food Receipts

The Make A Difference Club (MAD) is collecting receipts from Ultra Foods through December 31st. Ultra Foods will donate 5% back to Lakeview from the collected receipts. The last collection day for receipts will be Tuesday, January 8, 2008. Students can turn in receipts to Miss Casey or in the box in the IMC. If you shop at Ultra Foods this is a great way to help the Make A Difference Club raise money!

Winter Concert

Tonight is the Lakeview Winter Concert. The Jazz Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will be providing a lovely night of beautiful music to help get everyone in the spirit of the holidays. The concert begins promptly at 7 p.m. Good luck to all of the musicians who will be performing.

Open Gym Night

Our first Open Gym Night is this Friday, December 7th from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Open Gym Night is an opportunity for any student in sixth, seventh or eighth grade to come and hang out with friends and play basketball, volleyball or ping pong. The first 75 students to purchase tickets in advance are admitted. Tickets went on sale on Wednesday (today) and will be on sale until we reach 75 students. This is a great opportunity to have a little fun on a Friday night! So, buy your ticket now and don’t miss out on the fun!!!

Ballroom Dancing Has Begun!

On Monday, our eighth graders started their ballroom dance unit in PE class. Over the next three weeks students will be instructed by Mrs. Ann Garvey, Lakeview Parent and Professional Dance Instructor, on various dance routines. This activity will conclude with our Big Ballroom Dance Party on Friday, December 21st starting at 1:30 p.m. Parents of Eighth Grade Students are invited to come and watch the performances on December 21st.

District 66 Winter Invitational

On December 1, 2007 we will be hosting our 8th Annual Winter Invitational. The event will take place at Lakeview. There will be eleven bands performing throughout the day including the Prairieview Cadet Band, Lakeview Concert Band and the Lakeview Symphonic Band. Good Luck to all of the bands performing! I hope to see many of you on Saturday.

Report Cards

Today is Report Card Day! Students will be receiving their first trimester report cards at the end of the day today. You should be looking for these tonight at home. Please sign your child’s report card envelope and return it to school ASAP. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s academic progress, Thursday night is Parent Teacher Conference Night. There are still a few time slots available to meet with teachers. Please contact the main office (630-985-2700) to schedule a time.

Thanksgiving

As I was sitting in traffic this morning, I took time to reflect on what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Holiday Season. Naturally, I am thankful for my loving husband, great family and friends. I am also grateful for the great people that make up the District 66 family. Having spent the first eight years of my career in another district I can truly say that District 66 is uniquely special. Our parents are supportive, our students well behaved and our teachers truly have the best interest of students in mind. For that I am thankful! I wish all of you an enjoyable holiday with your family and friends.

End of First Trimester

It is hard to believe, but tomorrow marks the end of the first trimester! It seems like just yesterday, students were learning locker combinations and meeting their new teachers. Now, the leaves are changing and we are preparing for Thanksgiving feasts. When we return from the Thanksgiving Break students will be moving onto their second trimester Encore classes. If a student doesn’t still have their schedule they can check on Parent Connect to see what class in the Encore Block they go to starting on Monday. Report cards will be coming home with students on Tuesday, November 27th.

Fannie May Fundraiser

Today, the Center Cass Music Department kicked off their Fannie May Fundraiser. Orders are due by Monday, November 26th and delivery will be by December 12th. Students who are attending the band trip can use the profits earned to offset the coast of their trip. All music students are encouraged to participate in this fundraiser. The profits earned help to support the needs of the general music classrooms at all three buildings, choir needs for Prairieview and Lakeview, as well as financial assistance for the band programs at Prairieview and Lakeview. Fannie May is a great gift to give for the holidays; so get some of your holiday shopping done early and support the music programs at the same time!

Cookie Dough Pick-Up

This Thursday, November 15th, is the District 66 Athletic Fundraiser Cookie Dough Pick-Up. Cookie Dough will be available for pick-up in the Lakeview lobby between the hours of 3:30 and 6:00 p.m. If you have any questions please contact, Dave Dvorak, Athletic Director (630-783-5123). If your student sold cookie dough to help with this fundraising event please make sure you come on Thursday! Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.

Parent Requested Conferences

Parent request conference postcards were mailed November 8th. Conferences will be held on Thursday, November 29 from 5-8 p.m. If you would like to set up a conference with any of your child’s teachers you can send the postcard back to the Lakeview office or email Mary Ann Grember at maryann@ccsd66.org. Postcards are due back by Monday, November 26th.

Lakeview Holiday Toy Drive

The Student Council and the Make A Difference Club are hosting a toy drive for the upcoming holiday season. The toys will be donated to The Humanitarian Service Project of DuPage County. Toys will be collected before school each day the week of November 26th. Donated toys should be new and should not be gift wrapped. They can be for any age children and can be in any price range. Any donations will be greatly appreciated!

Market Day Student Volunteers

Do you have a junior high student that needs community service hours? Well, Market Day is the place! Junior High Students are needed on Market Day Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. to help unload the truck and fill orders. Students are usually done about 11 a.m. Market Day is this Saturday, November 10th in the Lakeview Gym.

Character Counts Survey

As part of our District Strategic Plan, this year, we are evaluating the Character Counts Program. One part of this evaluation involves a survey for parents, students and teachers. The surveys are available on the district website. Students will complete the surveys in school during the next couple of weeks. Surveys will be available until November 15th. I encourage you to take a couple of minutes and complete the on-line survey. Your input is valued and appreciated! To complete the survey simply go to the district website, scroll to the bottom and on the left hand side click on the “survey” link. We appreciate your opinion in this matter.

Nine Week Point of the Trimester

Today marks the nine week point of this trimester. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to access your child's grades online through Parent Connect.
Students who are ineligible to participate in extra-curricular activities will receive notification home through US Mail in the next few days. If you are having difficulty accessing your child's grades via Parent Connect please contact the office and we would be more than happy to assist you.

Mother Daughter Tea 2008

Each year the Lakeview PTO sponsors a Mother Daughter Tea. This year’s event will be on Saturday, April 19th from 12 – 4 p.m. This event requires a lot of hard work and dedication by the committee. Therefore, our first Mother Daughter Tea Committee meeting will be on Thursday, November 8th at 6:30 p.m. in the Lakeview IMC. Several mothers signed up at registration to volunteer for this committee and they should have received an email from me last week. We can always use more help in executing a fantastic day! So, if you would like to be part of this committee please email me and I will get you all of the information.

Fall Sports Banquet

Tonight is the Fall Sports Banquet starting at 6:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity to honor all of our Fall Sports Teams and their season accomplishments. Congratulations to all of the teams on their season! I look forward to seeing everyone this evening.

Congratulations to the Math Team!!!!

The Lakeview Math Team competed in a math competition at Montini Catholic High School this past Saturday. Congratulations to all of the students who competed! The sixth grade team took second place, the seventh grade team took second place and the eighth grade team took third place. I was lucky enough to be in my office on Saturday when the team returned to school, so I heard first hand of their successes! Nice job!

Winter Sports Try-Outs

Winter Sports Try-Outs are starting next week! Remember students must have a current physical on file in the office to try-out. The try-out schedule is listed below:

Tuesday – 7th grade Cheerleading Clinic
Mascot Clinic
Varsity Girls Basketball Try-outs
Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Try-outs

Wednesday – 7th grade Cheerleading Try-Outs
Mascot Try-Outs
Varsity Boys Basketball Try-Outs
Junior Varsity Boy Basketball Try-Outs

Thursday - Junior Varsity Girls Basketball Try-Outs

Mascot

At the end of the year, the Student Council purchased a Lakeview Spartan Mascot Costume. Next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday students will be able to try-out to be the Spartan at home basketball games. This idea originated during our Strategic Planning last year and Student Council thought it was a great one! Students wishing to try-out to be the mascot need to sign up in the locker rooms. Try-outs will be from 3-4 p.m. on October 23 &24th. Go Spartans!

Eighth Grade Explore Test

Tomorrow, October 16, 2007, the eighth graders will be taking the Explore Test. The Explore Test is used by Downers Grove South High School to make placement decisions. The test will be administered at Lakeview by the eighth grade teachers. Testing will occur during periods one through four (8:12 – 11:01 a.m.). Please make sure your student is well rested and has a good breakfast tomorrow.

Mid-Term Progress Reports

Today marks the mid-term point of the trimester! If you have not done so already, I encourage you to use Parent Connect to check your child’s grades online. If you are having difficulty with Parent Connect please contact the office and we would be glad to assist you in this matter. Students who are ineligible to participate in extra-curricular activities due to one or more “F” grades will receive official notification via the US Mail in the next few days.

Share Your Soles Athletic Shoe Drive

Lakeview students will be participating in a community service project in Homebase starting on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. The project, in conjunction with Willowbrook Athletico and One World Running, will be collecting Athletic / Gym shoes (in any condition). The shoe drive will run from October 9 through October 16th. The donated shoes will be given to those less fortunate as well as using the soles of shoes for various recycling projects. Students may bring shoes to their Homebase rooms and put them in the collection areas.

Picture Re-Take Day

Lakeview’s Picture Re-Take Day has been scheduled for October 15th. Re-takes will begin promptly at 8:15 a.m. If your child was absent on picture day or would like a re-take they will be taking pictures on October 15th. Any student wishing a re-take must turn in their original picture packet at the time of re-takes.

The Lakeview Kentucky Derby is on!!!

The district magazine drive ended today and the Lakeview student body has something to be proud about! Their goal was to sell 900 subscriptions this year. They not only met their goal but exceeded it as well! Way to go Lakeview! The Lakeview students sold 1089 subscriptions!!! Wow, Impressive! They will be rewarded in November with our very own version of the Kentucky Derby! Thank you to all of the parents, family members and neighbors who helped to support our sale.

Lakeview Grade Reporting Procedures

As I am sure you know, I send out emails to parents every three weeks reminding them to check their child’s grade on Parent Connect. If you have looked on the Lakeview website this week there is a new tab called “Lakeview Grade Reporting Procedures”. This document outlines the procedures for reporting grades on a three week schedule. Hopefully, this will help you, as a parent, know what to expect when in regards to grade reporting. Parent Connect is an excellent tool and I hope you agree. If you have any questions or concerns with the Parent Connect program please feel free to contact me. Enjoy your weekend!

Lakeview Dismissal Safety Procedures

When students are dismissed at the end of the day, at Lakeview, we have stationed a teacher out by the stop light. The teacher “holds” the students at the corner, so that all of the buses can quickly exit while the light is green. Once the buses have passed, then students are allowed to cross with the cross walk signal. Unfortunately, several parents have pulled up to the light, which is green and they proceed without noting that there are children in the crosswalk who have the signal to cross. I ask that you please be a cautious driver on the campus during dismissal. Our student’s safety is our main concern! Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Lakeview's Own "Kentucky Derby"

Last week we kicked off our Annual Magazine Drive. As an extra incentive for the middle school students, we announced on Friday a plan to have our very own Lakeview Kentucky Derby if students sell 900 magazine subscriptions total throughout the school! The Derby would include eight teachers, who have volunteered, riding inflatable horses across the gym floor in November. Our first magazine turn-in date is tomorrow, Tuesday, September 25, 2007. This is one of PTO’s biggest fundraisers. PTO works very hard to provide a variety of excellent things for our students and our schools. Please consider supporting PTO by ordering magazines.

AWARE for Eighth Graders

The AWARE program will start for students in eighth grade starting on Monday. Students will receive this presentation during their health class. If a student is not in health class they will be “pulled out” of their fifth or eighth hour class during one of the trimesters for this four day presentation. There was a parent presentation to explain the AWARE program a couple of weeks ago. If you are a parent of an eighth grade student and were not able to attend this information meeting you can contact Mrs. Conley, our health teacher, for more information.

Washington DC Trip

Tonight there is a Washington DC trip meeting for eighth grade students who are attending the trip over the Columbus Day Weekend. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the gym. Parents and students are encouraged to attend this meeting together to receive important information. In the spring, there will be an informational meeting for seventh grade students and parents who would like to go on the trip next year. If you have specific questions about the trip please contact Mrs. Hayes or Ms. Casey.

Third week of the Trimester

Yesterday, Tuesday, marked the third week into this first trimester! Parents should have received an email from me stating this and encouraging them to check their children’s grades via the Parent Connect system. If you did not receive this email and would like to please let me know. If you are having difficulty accessing your child’s grades via the Parent Connect system please call the office and we would be glad to assist you in this matter.

Activities have started!

Now that school is in full swing all of our activities and clubs are starting up. It can be overwhelming for students and parents to know what is available and when. To try and ease the confusion, the office sends out a weekly email on Friday. This email contains all of the events for the next week. This includes things such as games, club meetings and parent meetings. If you do not get this email, but would like to, please call the office with your email address and we would gladly add you to the list.

13th Annual Dance-A-Thon

Tomorrow evening, Friday, is the 13th Annual Dance-A-Thon sponsored by the District 66 Music Boosters. This event is open to any student in seventh or eighth grade. The dance will be in the Lakeview Gym from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. Students must have a signed pledge sheet to enter. Students who bring in pledges will be eligible to win great prizes including items from Family Video or an I-Pod Nano, just to name a few! Questions should be directed to Mr. Ohlsen or Mr. Tedeschi. I hope to see all seventh and eighth graders on the dance floor!

Curriculum Night / Open House

Monday, September 17, at 6:45 p.m., is the Lakeview Curriculum Night. This Open House is for parents of students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. (The event is for parents only, please.) Our evening will start out in the gym with brief introductions and general announcements. Parents will then go to their student’s Homebase classrooms where they will receive their child’s schedule. Our schedule for the evening allows parents time to follow their child’s schedule and meet the teachers. The evening will conclude at 9 p.m. Make sure you ask your child their Homebase teacher’s name before you come so that you know where to go first. (If you forget we will have a list in the office.) I look forward to seeing all of you on Monday night!

Lunch with Mrs. Liles

Once a week, I will dedicate lunch time to eating with students to get to know them on a more personal basis. Students can come alone or bring a friend. There is a sign-up sheet in the office. I will also put student’s names “in a hat” and select students to join me. This is a voluntary program and no one will be required to participate. Please encourage your child to sign-up for “Lunch with Mrs. Liles”. I piloted this program last school year. It was very successful and I truly enjoyed getting to know students on a personal level.

Upcoming Extra Curricular Activity Opportunities

Lakeview Choir

An informational Choir meeting will be held on September 13 in Ms. Berman’s room 14 at 7:30 a.m. The choir is open to any student in sixth, seventh or eighth grade. Choir practice will be held on Tuesday and Thursdays from 7:10 – 7:50 a.m.

Yearbook Staff

Any student interested in being part of the 2007-2008 Yearbook staff should pick up an application form outside of Mrs. Snodgrass’ room, Mrs. Hayes room or Mr. Rodda’s room. Applications are due by Friday, September 7th. Questions should be directed to Mrs. Hayes (room 116) or Mrs. Snodgrass (room 137).

AWARE Parent Night - 8th grade parents

Mark you calendars now! Monday, September 10th is the AWARE Parent Night for all eighth grade parents. Parents should have received an email letter explaining the AWARE program last week. This presentation is designed to educate parents about the AWARE program, which all eighth graders will have at some point this school year. Included in the presentation are topics such as teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual assault. Agency representatives will fully describe each component of the program, answer questions parent might have and provide information on community resources surrounding these issues. The AWARE meeting will be held in the Lakeview IMC on Monday, September 10th at 7:00 p.m.

Off To A Great Start!

As we close out our first week of school things are going well! Sports teams have held try-outs this week and practices will begin next week. The football team and girls volleyball teams have been selected, as of today. Next week, the football cheerleading clinic and try-outs will be held and the cross country team is already running! If your child isn’t a member of a sports team or into sports, clubs and activities will be starting up shortly as well. I hope everyone has a nice, long weekend and we are hoping for another great week next week.

Lunch / Milk Prices

The price of a student lunch has gone up this school year and it is causing some confusion for students! The new price of lunch is $2.25 which includes milk. If a student is just purchasing milk, that price has also increased to $.35 Students may either pay cash for their lunch or purchase tickets in advance. If a student is purchasing tickets please make sure the checks are made out for the exact amount.

Locker Combinations

I hope everyone had a chance to meet their teachers during open house today. We are looking forward to a great school year and starting school tomorrow! Sixth grade students and students new to the district don’t stress out too much tonight about your locker combinations. There will be plenty of time during homebase tomorrow to practice your combinations. And if you get “stuck” look for a teacher in the hallway nearby or come to the office! Enjoy your last few hours of summer vacation!!!

Sports Physicals

I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of summer vacation! I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House on Monday. Remember – any student who wishes to try out for a sports team must have a current physical on file in the office. Fall sports include football, girls volleyball and football cheerleading.

Student Schedules

The student schedules are posted on Parent Connect now. If you are having problems accessing your child’s schedule please let me know. I will continue to check the schedules for accuracy and make some minor changes before the first day of school.