THE PUMA PAPER May/June 2010 - Inter

THE PUMA PAPER
May/June 2010
851 West Waveland, Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 534-5490
www.iamschicago.com
Published and distributed by FELE
SCHOOL HAPPENINGS
UPCOMING DATES
NEWS FROM KINDERGARTEN
5/31 No school – Memorial Day
The Kindergarten Teachers would like to thank the following classroom
parent volunteers for the School Year 2009-2010.
6/7
FELE Meeting - 5:30 pm Red
Cafeteria
6/9
LSC Meeting - 6pm Library
Room 101
Megan Petrulis
Delia Cosentino
Estela Velasquez
Lara Prestipino
6/10 Last day for pre-k
6/11 Early Dismissal 1pm
6/14 Kindergarten graduation 9am
8th Grade graduation 5pm
6/16 SEP Meeting – 9:30 am
6/17 No School – Teacher In-Serivce
6/18 Last day of school - 10am Dismissal
Room 107
Jennifer Goolsby
Celeste Lao
Nicole Pesch
Marti Mendoza-Schommer
Room 108
Michele Morales
Ana Maria Acosta
Judith Kinch
Gloria Pineiros
Martina Brockway
Anne Cuddy
Nora Magdaleno
Mike Timble
Orlando Perez
Candy Perez
Maria Ugarte
We would also like to thank Marta Gallo, Emma Garcia, Jennifer Goolsby
and Edmee Cappas for their help with the props for our Kindergarten
play "The Wizard of Oz". Finally, we would also like to thank all the
kindergarten parents who volunteered to chaperone our field trips this year
and all the parents who have helped us in different ways throughout the
year. We are most grateful!
SECOND GRADE UPDATE
Second Grade Play: Atariba & Niguayona - As a culminating activity in
their study of the Tainos of the Caribbean, the second graders performed
a play on April 15th to an audience of other students, parents and families.
Throughout the third quarter, second graders have studied the Tainos of
Boriquen (the Taino name for Puerto Rico) learning about their homes,
customs, religious beliefs, food, agriculture, hunting and fishing practices
as well as their myths and legends. After reading the Taino legend of
Atariba & Niguayona in class, students in each second grade classroom
collaborated with their teachers to adapt the story into a theater piece by
creating dialogue and adding more characters, Taino vocabulary and details
to the original story. Each play was unique and costumes were made by the
students and their families. Students enjoyed sharing the story, in which the
young hero, Niguayona, sets out on a magical journey so he can help his
sick friend Atariba by bringing her the red fruit of the tall Caimoni tree and
returns just in time to save her life. Niguayona is successful because he has
been attentive to the voices of the natural forces around him, including the
animals the river who help him along the way.
Congratulations second graders!
Room 210
Room 211
Room 216
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY
Wow! Already the end of another school year? It’s been a great one in the library!
Book Fairs/Library Funding
The library program hosted two very successful book fairs this year. The funds raised by those fairs combined with
a $3,000.00 matching grant from the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries allowed us to purchase great
new books this year! Thank you to the Inter-American community for its consistent support of the book fair! Thank
you to the following volunteers for their great support of the book fairs: Marifran Creed, Sandie Johnson, Alicia
Martinez, Linda Ramirez, Kay Holler, Aida Rodriguez, Megan Gifford, and Megan Petrulis.
Book Club
On Thursday, April 29, fifty book club members celebrated the end of a great year of book club with a pizza party
in the cafeteria. Students from three book clubs (5th grade, 6th grade, and 7th & 8th grade groups) enjoyed pizza
and great memories of reading in community. Every student left the party with a brand new book to add to his or
her own personal library. Thanks to parent Migdalia Irizarry for providing dessert. Thanks to FELE for partially
funding the event. Many thanks to Chicago Public Library Merlo Branch children’s librarian Andy Cross for her
dedicated service all year to the book club in obtaining the books from the Chicago Public Library and in serving as
co-moderator.
Battle of the Books
On Saturday, April 17, 2010, seven students represented Inter-American Magnet School at the annual Battle of the
Books Competition hosted by the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries at Chicago Vocational Career
Academy. The team competed against teams from schools all over Chicago in three rounds of competition, earning
points by answering questions about the content of 20 books which they had read. This year’s team gave InterAmerican’s best performance yet, answering 37 of 45 questions correctly! The team enjoyed a pizza party in May to
celebrate its success.
Congratulations to the Inter-American Battle of the Books team for its great success: team captain Isabel Bravo,
Emma Unterseher, Tommy Liberto, Omar Otero, Iris Postma, Kyra Burke, and Anthony Orbe. Many thanks to 2nd
grade teacher Gia Super for volunteering and chaperoning on the day of the competition. Many thanks to parent
Trinidad Liberto for sponsoring the pizza party!
Volunteers
Many thanks to the regular library volunteers for their steady support of the library program throughout the year:
Sandie Johnson, Cindy Rodriguez, Jacquie Garrett, and Marifran Creed.
Chicago Public Library Summer Reading Program 2010
The Chicago Public Library Summer Reading Program 2010 runs from June 14 to August 7 at all neighborhood
libraries. This year’s program, a collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, is called, “Reading is ArtRAGEOUS.” Merlo Branch librarian Andy Cross will visit all classrooms in early June to provide further
information. http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/kids_sumread.php
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY (cont.)
The team fuels up for battle before the morning
competition. Front row: Omar Otero, Tommy
Liberto, little sister Cristina Liberto. Back row: Kyra
Burke, teacher Gia Super, teacher Fran Feeley,
Emma Unterseher, Anthony Orbe, Isabel Bravo,
and Iris Postma.
The Battle of the Books team with all of its
supporters!
Book club members show off their new books at the
book club pizza party on
April 29.
FUTBOL PUMAS
Soccer came back to Inter-American when Futbol Pumas and Coach Hernan Rivera (father of 3rd grader Diego
and husband of Teacher Elisa Pena) held a tryout for girls and boys players at Windy City Fieldhouse in early
March. The team has been practicing twice a week at school and the lakefront. They have been working hard on
conditioning, foot skills and game strategy.
The Pumas compete in the Area 2 CPS grammar school sports program comprised of 18 teams from the northeast
side of the city. Their season consists of 4 games and will compete in a championship tournament at end of the
season. Their first game against Swift Elementary was a1-0 win when Olga Yerika Alcala (7th grade) scored the
game’s only goal in the 56th minute of competition. The boys' season will begin this fall when Pumas hope to field
both 5th-6th and 7th-8th grade levels. Thanks to our team sponsor: PlaySoccer (4717 N. Clark St.). They have
provided the uniforms and items to sell at Fiesta Cultural for the teams' benefit.
Game results, information and schedules can be found on www.fciams.org . Students can also register there if
they are interested in playing on the fall boys' team- and parents are encouraged to register on www.fciams.org as
volunteers. Futbol Pumas will need volunteer coaches to assist with both the boys 2010 and girls 2011 season so
please visit the website.
Members of the girls' 2010 5th through 8th grade soccer team.
NEWS FROM THE LOCAL SCHOOL COUNCIL (LSC)
The LSC would like to extend sincere gratitude to all the hardworking staff, teachers, parents and friends that made
the 2009-2010 academic year a success at Inter-American Magnet School. Space simply does not permit us to honor
everyone, but there are a few notable teams and individuals to highlight:
First, thanks to FELE for facilitating support, fundraising and a voice for parents in the school. This newsletter,
e-mail blasts, classroom directory, school manual and the web site at www.iamschicago.com are generously created,
managed and funded by FELE and its parent volunteers. FELE’s Arts in the School Committee continues to
enhance our children’s lives with arts opportunities in and outside of school. Fiesta Cultural, which grew out of
the Arts in the School committee five years ago, provides year after year of an increasingly amazing event where we
come together as a community to raise money and celebrate the diversity of Latino heritage through arts, music,
food and dance. The Nutrition Committee continues to search and find opportunities to promote healthy young
minds, bodies and habits. The Hospitality Committee promotes events that welcome families and staff to the school
and recognizes the contributions of hardworking staff and volunteers.
Special thanks to the leaders and members of SEP (Students, Educators & Parents), a support system, advocacy
group and resource for families whose children have (or may have) special needs, health issues or other
accommodations. SEP is looking for new volunteers to become officers for next year (President, VP, Secretary,
Treasurer) and to reach out to parents who have questions about special education and classroom modifications, even
if they’re unsure if their child qualifies for services. To learn more about SEP and/or to express interest in serving in
a leadership role next year, email [email protected] or call this year’s President Jose Garcia at 773-426-4547 or
past-President (and a founding member) Araceli Paz at 773-251-1058.
LSC ELECTIONS
Congratulations and welcome to the incoming 2010-2012 Local School Council parent and community members,
who were elected this past April:
Parents
Luis Vera Ana Camino Karen Barbour Jose Torres Clifford Meece Marisol Morales 91
#votes
162
152
149
147
125
Community Margaret Aguilar 21
Hugo Escobar
#votes
29
Two teachers will be appointed by the Board of Education, and Dr. Vallez also serves on the LSC, which numbers
11 people in total. Per LSC rules, an organizational meeting must be held by July 14, 2010 where a calendar of
meetings is determined for the entire school year. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Stay tuned for
more info.
The Local School Council also would like to thank the following LSC members for their years of service: Elizabeth
(Kundolf) Chahine (teacher representative, 2 years), Anton Miglietta (parent representative, 2 years), Carmen VidalHallett (parent representative, 4 years) and Jill Wohl (parent representative, 4 years; Chair 2006-2008 and Secretary
2008-2010). Finally the LSC owes a huge debt to Adela Weinstein, our community LSC representative from 2008
until early 2010. A native of Uruguay, a former teacher in CPS and one of the country’s leading experts in bilingual
education policy and advocacy, Adela and her husband John moved from Chicago to Arizona for health reasons. The
LSC is eternally grateful for Adela’s depth of knowledge and wise and timely counsel throughout the years.
No to 37!
An enormous thanks to preschool parent Sylvia Manriquez, who led the charge in organizing and uniting the
IAMS community against the proposed CPS budget cuts. Sylvia started by organizing a community meeting at
the Logan Square library one Saturday morning. Dozens of parents and staff members came, got involved and
collaborated to organize a series of messages, petitions and actions that we hope you are still participating in! Along
with kindergarten parent Ana Camino, preschool parent Cliff Meece and 4th grade parent Jill Wohl, Sylvia is also
an active member of the “Raise Your Hand” coalition that has grown in the last month to include over 100 public
schools, all united against CPS budget cuts. Indeed, we owe a debt of gratitude to “Raise Your Hand” coalition
parents at other schools throughout the city (notably Burley, Nettelhorst, Drummond, Franklin and Coonley) for
uniting against budget cuts to education and sharing their time, knowledge and resources. Clifford Meece built
and manages a web site for the coalition at www.ILRaiseYourHand.org which is available in English, Spanish and
Polish. So far, over 100,000 emails have been sent from parents, CPS employees and Illinois residents through
www.NoTo37.org (another site the coalition is involved with, urging legislators not to cut education funding). If you
haven’t visited www.NoTo37.org yet today, do it now and spread the word to everyone you know in Illinois! Thanks
to those helping with translation of these web sites including Jill Kushner Bishop (of www.multilingualchicago.com),
preschool parent Kim Potowski (who studied and wrote a book about IAMS) and IAMS co-founder, Janet Nolan.
Parents Anton Miglietta and Marisol Morales were also active participants in the youth-led rally at CPS against cuts
to education funding. Anton urges the community to save the date – May 26 – for an even bigger event if the state
has not restored education funding by the end of the legislative session.
A huge thanks to longtime parent Gabriel Lopez, whose knowledge and advice on how to advocate for our program
with elected officials and community leaders has empowered Inter-American not just in this year of crisis, but
for many years now. Gabe is usually down in Springfield, advocating for any number of good causes, including
bilingual education and immigrant rights.
Thanks to parent Ileana Cervantes who masterminded our school’s first ever year end appeal. This letter raised
over $3000 which was used to purchase a new computer for the library, two projectors for the computer lab and to
support special education department, and books for the 4th and 5th grades. We are also grateful to the parents
and staff who participated in the budget committee, during a year of devastating cuts to CPS systemwide and
heartbreaking choices at our school. Parents – Ernesto Martinez, Luis Vera, Juan Avila, John Deverman, Ben
Klayman, Miguel Lopez, James Wright, Staff - Claudia Bravo, Shajaira Larrier, Beronica Mermuys, Wanda Ocasio,
Nancy Perez, Edgar Pineda, Maribel Vargas, and Dr. Vernita Vallez.
At CPS, we thank Paula Cottone and Bonnie Roelle in the Office of Early Education and Abigayil Joseph in the
Office of Academic Enhancement for working with Principal Vallez and the LSC to get a board report passed that
ensures IAMS preschool families can lottery in and will always be able to continue on to our kindergarten. InterAmerican is the only Preschool for All program in Chicago Public Schools that is permitted to do this, and we are
grateful to our advocates and to the members of Board of Education for recognizing the success and importance of
this to our program. We are also supported by the joint departments to include home language as a factor in our
lottery process to increase and maintain the number of Spanish-speaking families at our school.
No to 37! (cont.)
Also at central office we thank Paul Morris, general manager in the Real Estate department at CPS. For years, Paul
has toiled to negotiate lucrative contracts for our school to earn extra revenue. The LSC uses this money to fund
staff positions, purchase vital resources and supplies and pay for professional development opportunities. This year
was very challenging as new leadership at CPS delayed successful re-negotiation of the parking lot contract not once,
but twice. Nevertheless, in the end, along with Director of Asset Management John Cooke and Chief Operating
Officer Pat Taylor, we were able to sign a one-year contract netting $23,000 per month for our school. An RFP for
a longer term contract will be issued in May, and we anticipate the results by September. It’s important to note that
even though we earn a significant amount of money from our parking lot, Inter-American has lost approximately
6 teaching positions in the last decade, not including this year’s proposed cuts. That’s about half a million dollars!
So even though the LSC has been diligent in finding alternative sources of money to supplement our funding, it is
harder and harder to maintain small class sizes, deliver high quality instruction and produce well-rounded students
with fewer staff and fewer resources each year.
No thank you that mentions the parking lot is complete without massive appreciation for 44th Ward Alderman
Tom Tunney, who has worked for many years with Inter-American leadership on many things, but significantly to
secure the Lemoyne building (along with a $7 million renovation) as our present home, to ensure use of the new
parking structure, to negotiate an understanding that Inter-American continue to receive revenue even though
CPS no longer owns the land the former Lemoyne parking lot was on and much more. Also thanks to the parents
who worked with the Alderman: Carmen Vidal-Hallett to secure permanent use over 100 spaces and Jill Wohl and
former parent Amy Zimmerman for advocating for IAMS to continue to earn revenue on those spaces after the land
swap deal was concluded with the city of Chicago.
The LSC also thanks our longtime community supporters, the Chicago Cubs and Advocate Illinois Masonic
Medical Center, who continue to contribute time, energy and resources to benefit our program (go Cubs go).
Every parent of the 405,000 children in 570 elementary and secondary public schools might not know it, but
they owe thanks to PURE (Parents United for Responsible Education. PURE (www.pureparents.org) has been a
consistent and reliable advocate and mentor to parents since helping launch school reform in the 1980s. PURE exists
to build support for and enhance the quality of public education in the city of Chicago by informing parents about
educational issues, bringing the views of parents into the decision-making process, and acting as an advocate for
parents in their relationships with the school administration. One of IAMS’ co-founders, Adela Coronado-Greeley,
and former IAMS parents and LSC members, Joy and Bernie Noven, also helped found PURE.
And no list of thanks this year would be truly complete without showing gratitude to our new principal, Dr.
Vernita Vallez, who uprooted herself and family from Denver, Colorado to lead our unique learning community.
Being principal at Inter-American is a demanding job. And, this was an especially challenging year, not only for
Inter-American, but for the entire Chicago Public School system. Among many accomplishments this year, Dr.
Vallez sealed the deal to uphold our lottery design and preschool to kindergarten pipeline, secure $26,000 in
grants for literacy, and has just notified the LSC that next year we will be receiving $100,000 in Title I money for
intervention services. Our school has not received Title I money for as long as anyone can remember; this is big. Also
commendable is Dr. Vallez’ unflagging leadership in the face of the devastating proposed budget cuts. The March
24th budget forum Dr. Vallez facilitated with teachers in the lead, helped inform and activate the community in a
time of crisis. As of the time of writing, the LSC still does not know the final outcome of the budget cuts, but we
admire Dr. Vallez’ dedication to involve stakeholders and to identify priorities: small classroom size, preschool, fullday kindergarten and busing. Next year the LSC looks forward to finding more ways for our community to interact
with Dr. Vallez, and to gather and share information. The teachers helped run one Sabado Comunitario and we
look forward to more opportunities for the community to interact and engage through this venue.
No to 37! (cont.)
In regards to busing, thanks to Board of Education Vice President Clare Muñana, who is working with Dr. Vallez
and the LSC to explore ways to ensure transportation is a sustainable option for our program no matter what
happens to magnet busing system-wide. As you may know, IAMS cannot maintain an adequate language balance
without transportation support. As of this writing, we do not have a final decision that K-8 busing will be in place
for Inter-American next year.
Along with Dr. Vallez, thanks to all our hard-working teachers, who spent countless extra hours this year, notably,
working to articulate and align the curriculum, developing an inspiring SIPAAA and contributing to budget
committee recommendations to the LSC. Because Inter-American’s dual-language curriculum is so unique and
developed in-house, for many years it had not been documented or audited across all grades. As well, there is an
ongoing lack of age-appropriate materials to support our curriculum. For years teachers developed their own tools
and resources. Now our staff has a clear map of instructional goals that meets Illinois State learning standards and
our mission and vision of multiculturalism and multilingualism. Parents will get a copy of these learning goals,
what the big questions are, and ways they can support their children to achieve them.
The LSC sends thoughts of good health and recovery to an extraordinarily special member of the Inter-American
staff, Noris Lopez. Noris was diagnosed with cancer in January. Noris has worked at Inter-American as a teacher’s
aide in kindergarten and preschool. Noris’ dedication to IAMS, professionalism as an instructor, positive outlook
and caring spirit exemplifies the Inter-American “way.” Also, Noris is an accomplished artist who has long been
responsible for the life and beauty in our school hallways and Curriculum of the Americas. We miss you, Noris. Get
well soon!
Finally, the LSC thanks Inter-American students. Our children are our light, our joy and our future. It is for all of
the children that we – staff, parents and community – work so hard to educate, elevate and celebrate.
SEP (Students, Educators and Parents)
With the arrival of spring we realize that already another school year is nearing completion. This year we have seen
many changes of great benefit to our school and students. These changes have been difficult to assimilate by some
and welcomed by others. As difficult as these changes were, we have seen how some of these changes have already
begun to bear fruit.
On behalf of the SEP Committee (Special Education Parents) we want to thank all those who have supported us
during the school year, in particular to those parents who have faithfully attended our monthly meetings.
At the beginning of the year we set several goals. We have met many of those goals but not all for reasons beyond
our control. One of the goals that we could not meet was to involve more parents, the administration and members
of the local school council (LSC) in our Committee.
Our Committee's current leadership encourages those parents of students with special needs to participate in our
Committee. Our current leadership will retire this year and we need the support of parents to continue the work of
our Committee and thus fulfill the mission for which it was created. We urge you to consider becoming an officer
of SEP and attend our next monthly meeting which will be on June 16, 2010, at 9:30 AM when elections will be
held.
Hoping to see you at the next meeting, we bid you farewell with a thought of Gabriela Mistral.
"The future of children is always today. Tomorrow will be too late."
FELE UPDATE
MESSAGE FROM THE FELE CO-PRESIDENTS
As the school year comes to an end, we would like to thank everyone – every parent, teacher, administrator, and staff
– who has dedicated their time and heartfelt efforts in making this year at Inter-American a great success.
With the leadership of Dr. Vallez, teachers have worked countless hours (and more) defining and mapping InterAmerican’s unique curriculum so that our students will have continuity, support and inspiration from beginning to
end, and from classroom to classroom.
Inter-American staff has worked in unison with these efforts, implementing new systems whose positive effects on
communication and unity have been felt throughout the school.
And parents, the founders and backbone of Inter-American, have worked tirelessly, both behind the scenes and on
the frontlines. Some have been collecting and programming donated computers, while others have helped pull our
community together in protest of the potentially devastating budget cuts to our children’s education. On behalf of
our school, parents have spearheaded Packet Pick-Up, the Student Directory, Fiesta Social, the School Handbook,
Fiesta Cultural, Walkathon, First Day Coffee, the Puma Periodico, the IAMS Website, improved nutrition and
wellness efforts and more.
A special thank you to the officers and committee and project chairs of FELE for their incredible commitment,
enthusiasm, and dedication. Every parent is a member of FELE. YOUR voice is the important voice. The more
parents involved in their children’s education, the stronger our school is. Find your favorite volunteer opportunity
and come help next year!
Inter-American is a very special place in this world, and we all have a part in supporting the citizens who are our
students. Have a wonderful summer!
Lauren Klayman and Margot Gordon
FELE Co-Presidents
FELE ELECTIONS
FELE officer elections are coming. Be a FELE officer for the 2010-11 school year!
This is your opportunity to get involved. FELE’s mission is:
•
•
•
•
•
To provide and promote opportunities for parent involvement;
To enhance communication between the school and the home;
To raise funds sufficient to support and, ideally, enlarge extra-curricular programs;
To function as parent and student advocates;
All FELE meetings are bilingual. Spanish dominant parents are encouraged to run for office.
The period for nominations opened on May 3 and will close on May 28. Elections take place at the final FELE
meeting of the school year on June 7. It’s a simple process: you’ll need to file a nominating form before May
28 (forms are available at school office and FELE bulletin board); you’ll make a statement on June 7 during the
candidate forum at the FELE meeting before voting takes place.
For questions please call Ernesto Martinez (773) 889-6818 or join us at the June FELE meeting at 5:30 PM for the
FELE Election.
FELE UPDATE (cont.)
RESULTS OF THE FIESTA CULTURAL FUNDRAISER
This year’s Fiesta Cultural was a huge success, generating $20,000 to give to IAMS. Once again the music/
entertainment was spectacular, the kids’ performances were fabulous, the food divine and the children’s art was truly
incredible. In addition, the classroom projects added a touch of the school culture that was priceless.
One new item this year was the raffle, which proved to be a great success and brought in over $10,000 (part of the
$20,000 mentioned above.) The participation level across all grades was wonderful and it seemed to be the talk of
the school, especially in the last week before Fiesta. Following is the list of raffle winners:
Aramis Ramirez signed Cubs’ Bat:
Christian Gutierrez
Brixen Ivy Rooftop Tickets:
Aiden Martin
Frontera Grill Dining Certificate:
Mario Irizarry
Genacelli Facial Package:
Doug Lambert
Frontera Grill Food Basket:
George Robertson
Chicago Fire Tickets:
Jimmy Liberto
Old Town School of Folk Music Class: Noemi Sanchez
Brookfield Zoo Passes:
Peter Draper
Multilingual Chicago Class Certificate: Margaret Aguilar
Urban Oasis Massage Certificate:
Luis Gonzalez
Signed Rick Bayless Cookbooks (6):
Adriana Valdez
Ivette Figueroa
Mele Sarmiento
Andra Gomberg
Camino Ferrera
Barb Poprawski
We want to hear from you about ways that we can improve Fiesta for next year. We know that we need to have
more food and an organized Mexico food table next year. If any of you would like to be the Mexico food table
coordinator, please contact Annette Booczko (English or Spanish) at 773-531 6828, [email protected], or leave a
message in the FELE box in the school office. You will not need to provide all the food, just work with other IAMS
families to secure donations from Mexican Restaurants and/or homemade dishes from parents.
If you have ay other comments about how to improve Fiesta, please contact Mateo (English or Spanish) at
[email protected] or call 314-249-8726. Thank you again for everyone’s participation and we look
forward to another wonderful event next year.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the event, whether it was through attending the event, volunteering at
the event or planning for the event. We couldn’t have such a wonderful event without this degree of participation
throughout the school.
FIESTA CULTURAL COMMITTEE: Allison Svoboda, Annette Booczko, Drew Weir, Gil Criollo, Glynnis
Lessing, Jennifer Goolsby, Jill Wohl, Margot Gordon, Marifran Randall,
Mateo Mulcahy, and Sue Cartagena.
FAMILY SPONSORS: Lyndsay & Martin Cavanaugh, Vidal-Hallett Family and Gordon-Vera Family
FOOD SPONSORS: Brockway-Timble Family, Goolsby Family, Joe & Cely Pacheco, Jose and Mayra Sanchez,
Lloy B. Johnston Family, Rony & Hope Reyes, Vincent & Nicole Pesch, and Wohl-Pettigrew Family
FELE UPDATE (cont.)
RESULTS OF THE FIESTA CULTURAL FUNDRAISER (cont.)
MEDIA PARTNERS: Aguzate, Arte Y Vida Chicago, Chicago Latino Network, E-Hispanics,
Hot House, Ola Chicago (now Latino Soup), Sound Culture, and World Fusion Chicago.
GRACIAS A / SPECIAL THANKS: The Inter-American teachers, staff and students, All our families who lovingly
prepared delicious food, ABC 7 WLS-TV, 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney, AnaCamino, Ana Maria Acosta,
Anne Seeber, Aracely Paz, Argelia Chavez, Azucena Vega, Beth Martin, Brixen Ivy Rooftop, Center on Halsted,
Chicago Cubs, Claudia Bravo, Davis Goolsby, Choir Director Danny Wallenberg, Dr. Vernita Vallez, Edmee
Cappas, Elizabeth Gallo,Evelyn Marin, Frontera Grill, Genacelli Salon, Gracia
Shiffrin, Greg Randall, In Sight Sign Company, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Ivonne Ruiz,
Jennifer Dedes-Novak, Jennifer Fite, John Bicknell, Karen Barbour, Kathy Howard, Kevin McCarthy, Lake View
Lutheran Church and Pastor Liala Beukema, Maribel Gorgas, Martha Gallo, Mildred Aponte, Murphy’s Bleachers,
Old Town School of Folk Music, Randi Shepherd, Illinois State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (12th District),
Señor Pan, System Parking, Urban Oasis, Vagabond Audio, and Vivian Vasquez.
If we missed anyone, we sincerely apologize and we are extremely grateful for your contributions.
FELE EXPENDITURES
On April 9th, FELE used a portion of the teacher appreciation lunch budget to provide breakfast to the teachers as a
show of support during the CPS budget crisis. FELE used the remainder to cover the teacher appreciation lunch on
May 17th, timed to occur shortly after Dia del Maestro which fell on Saturday May 15th this year.
IAMS NO-COST FUNDRAISING
Now more than ever our school needs your financial help, but we recognize that it is difficult to be asked repeatedly
for money for your child’s school. With this in mind, we want to remind you of the simple ways that you can raise
funds for the school that will not require you to pay out of pocket. Ideally, the greater the participation in these
fundraisers, the less that the school will need to make future cash requests from you.
GOODSEARCH.COM
Give a penny to Inter-American every time you search for an item on the Internet. While that may not sound like
much, if 1,000 people affiliated with Inter-American were to make their computer searches twice a day for a year
through Goodsearch.com, the school would earn $7,300. While we do not have actual figures, we believe that this
no-cost fundraiser is currently very underused by our families. Nonetheless, each year, we receive a check for more
than $100 for our school. To make goodsearch your computer’s search engine, just go to www.goodsearch.com
and follow the instructions to change your home and/or work computer’s home pages to goodsearch.com (which
is powered by yahoo) or to add goodsearch.com to your toolbar. Once that is done, select Inter-American as your
charity. It is that simple! (You can also make online purchases with stores such as Sears, Target and Wal-Mart on the
goodsearch site.) Direct your questions to Mark Smithivas at [email protected] or (773) 545-0421.
DOMINICK’S – Escrip.com
If you shop for groceries at Dominick’s and have a Dominick’s Fresh Values card, you can raise money for InterAmerican every time you shop simply by registering your Fresh Values Card at www.escrip.com. Dominick’s
contributes between 1-4% of the amount of each grocery bill to Inter-American. (You can also register your debit
and credit cards and shop online with Escrip merchants.) Thanks to your efforts earlier this school year, IAMS
already has more than 125 individuals who are registered with escrip on behalf of Inter-American.
FELE UPDATE (cont.)
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION/CAMBELL’S LABELS FOR EDUCATION
A big thank you to Lisa Vasquez, our school’s new Box Tops for Education and Campbell’s Labels coordinator. To
help IAMS purchase art supplies, computer software, and classroom accessories, collect labels marked “Labels for
Education” from Campbell’s soups and pasta, Campbell’s Supper Bakes®, and Pepperidge Farm® products as well as
the plastic caps from V-8 Splash® beverages. Lisa recently sent in the box tops collected so far this school year and
expects a check for more than $200.00 for Inter-American. FELE will request that LSC earmark these funds for
Dia del Niño each year.
Keep collecting box tops and Campbell’s Labels and either sending them with your children or depositing them in
the marked Box Tops envelopes located near each classroom. Lisa will continue her collections for the remainder of
the year and start up again next year. You can also shop online at stores such as Gap and LandsEnd as part of the
Box Tops program. For more information about the box tops program, check out www.boxtops4education.com, for
Labels for education, check out: http://boxtopsforeducation.comlabelsforeducation.com or contact Lisa (in Spanish
or English) at [email protected] or (773) 370-7359.
TARGET CREDIT CARDS
Do you have a Target store credit card? You shop, your school benefits. To participate, simply follow the directions
below:
Go to http://target.com/tcoe and type in number for 45841 for the Inter-American school id for your designated
school and start shopping with your Target card.
Target will track purchases made by all participating cardholders, then send a "no-strings-attached donation" check
directly to the school principal. Checks are distributed twice a year. If the total of accumulated donations is less than
$25, the amount carries over to the next payment period. You can track your school's progress at http://target.com/
tcoe.
The school could use a new Target Coordinator, since our current coordinator moved out of the country. If you are
interested in becoming the coordinator, please contact a FELE officer.
FELE WEBSITE – NEEDS IAMS PHOTOS
The FELE website is getting an overhaul and we need your recent photos of IAMS student and school events. If
you have photos taken this year or last year that you would like to share, please send them to Ana Maria Acosta at
[email protected] or contact her in (English or Spanish) at (773) 262-6297.
SUMMER AND NEXT YEAR
CPS SCHOOL CALENDAR FOR 2010-2011
School will resume on Tuesday September 7, 2010. If you would like to get a head start on your calendar for the
next school year, you can download the CPS calendar for next year at
http://cps.edu/Calendar/Pages/Calendar.aspx.
IAMS SPONSORED MUSEUM DAYS FOR 2010-2011
We would like to organize several museum days for IAMS families next school year and have the days and museums
reserved before School starts in the Fall. If you would be interested in organizing some of these days over the
summer, please contact Margot Gordon at (773) 878-4287 or [email protected] or Veronique Radcliff (Spanish/
Español) at (773) 743-7941 or [email protected].
SUMMER AND NEXT YEAR (cont.)
FELE SUMMER RETREAT
As in years past, FELE will hold a summer "retreat." This is really just a meeting over the summer. The retreat will
address planning for FELE’s fall events. As the date will be decided after school lets out, please contact Annette
Booczko (Spanish) (773) 531-6828 or [email protected] or Margot Gordon (English) at (773) 817-4287 or
[email protected] if you wish to attend the retreat.
FALL SILENT AUCTION FUNDRAISER
FELE is planning a Fall Silent Auction fundraiser for 2010, which will be a parent only event at another location
other than our school. This will offer an opportunity for parents and staff to socialize while helping to raise
funds for IAMS. The exact date is yet to be determined, but will be announced as soon as it is decided. If you
are traveling this summer to any interesting places, have a wonderful time. While you are there, please consider
purchasing an item for FELE’s Fall silent auction. If you are interested in helping plan this event, please contact Sue
Cartagena at [email protected] or send a note to the FELE mailbox in the main office.
Budget Crisis: Any little thing you can do to help
With the Illinois Budget still in flux, it’s important that we all do as much as we
can to help support Inter-American. Brinley Vander Muelen (Room 101) and Miles
Davis (Room 107) set up a lemonade stand to raise money for the school. We would
like to challenge each of you to think of similar ways that you can earn money to
support our wonderful school. Take notes, take pictures, save the money, bring it
all to school next Fall. In the first Puma Paper of the 2010-11 school year we will
feature stories of ways that kids earned money (it’s not about how much) to support
Inter-American.
A FINAL THANK YOU
Last but not least, a big GRACIAS to the parents who tirelessly translate the
Puma Paper and other IAMS communications from English to Spanish and vice
versa. Dual language for our children is at the core of their education at IAMS.
So, it is critical that parent communications similarly be in both languages. It
fosters inclusion among the extended IAMS community but it also reinforces our
commitment as parents to the importance and appreciation of both languages.