Each year, District 200 celebrates Veteran’s Day by remaining in school on November 11. We use this special day as a chance to teach students about the important meaning of Veteran’s Day.

Here at Madison, we enjoy the opportunity to honor our United States Veterans with an early all school assembly. We also ask Veterans to speak in classrooms about their experiences and allow students the chance to say “thank you”.

Do you have a family member that was in the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, or Marines? We would like to honor that person during our assembly at 9:20 a.m. If you know someone that served in our military, ask them to be our honored guest on November 11.

We would like all of our honored guests to RSVP by November 1 so we can be prepared to honor them appropriately. RSVP by email at Katherine.Diorio@cusd200.org or calling (630) 682-2095. We are also assembling teams of Veterans and civilians to speak in classrooms about military life and the value of freedom. Please let our office know if you or an honored Veteran is interested in visiting classrooms after the assembly, until about 11:00 a.m.

This year we are also collecting resources for the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans located right here in Wheaton. Each grade level will be working to collect items to assist our heros in need. Please read our plan to help.

Thank you for helping us to utilize this day as an important learning experience for our students and a chance to honor those who have served our country as military personnel.

Sincerely,

Tim Callahan, Principal

Madison Elementary School

Our 3rd annual trivia night is here! Please join us on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. for a fun-filled evening. This year, the admission price of $35 / person includes dinner provided by Mi Casa restaurant. Reservations can be emailed to trivianight@madisonschoolpta.org.

This year, trivia night will include a craft beer pull, as well as many exciting prizes up for auction. We are still accepting donations for the silent auction. Please contact Stephanie Brown (stephbrown04@yahoo.com) if you would like to contribute a basket or prize.

Did you read above? Trivia Night is featuring a craft beer pull. Just purchase a pack of any craft beer (or mixed pack) and drop it off at Stephanie Brown's house (2073 Wexford Circle) in the cooler on her porch. At Trivia Night, make a donation to pull a surprise craft beer pack to enjoy at your table.

Way to go Madison students, family, and staff! We raised a little over $14,000 from our Run-a-Thon. One hundred percent of the money goes directly to Madison’s PTA.

Congratulations to all the raffle winners. We gave away over 40 raffle items.

Thank you to the following businesses that helped support the Run-a-Thon raffle: Alfie’s Restaurant, Carol’s Garden Restaurant, Chick-Fil-A, Costco (Bloomingdale & Oakbrook), Fox Bowl, Grahams Chocolate, Heather Herr (31 business), Jet’s Pizza, Learning Express, Lombard Roller Rink, Odgen 6 Theater, Prairie Path Books, Pump It Up Trampoline, School Supplies America, Science Labs, Sky High Sports, Target (Warrenville & Wheaton) and Wheaton Drama.

Thank you to Mr. Cortesi for donating a group lunch. Also another BIG thank you for Bauer Dentistry & Orthodontics for making a generous donation to purchase our Madison Run-a-Thon t-shirts for our students and staff to wear.

Madison’s PTA appreciates all the support given in reaching our goal toward our biggest fundraiser this year. We can’t wait to run again next year!

Madison PTA advocates for all children through literacy, math, science, problem solving, arts, music, social studies, character development, physical fitness, reaching out, and having fun. Your membership helps to support the numerous programs and activities that our children experience.

Your Family Membership includes our mobile app/digital directory, DirectorySpot, which will be launched on September 26 with updated information for this school year.

For convenience we offer online registration

Go to www.cusd200.org

· Select Madison School from drop down menu at top

· On left side menu, select ‘PTA’

· On left side menu, select ‘Join Madison PTA! – Family Membership’

· Click on the link to register and pay online

If you prefer to pay by cash or check, please select ‘PTA’ and then ‘Forms & Flyers’ to find registration and order forms. Print and complete the forms at home and submit payment(s) to the school office. Registration and order forms are also available in the school office. All checks should be made payable to Madison PTA.

If you have any questions regarding PTA membership, please contact Lisa Thomas at membership@madisonschoolpta.org

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Madison picture retake day is Friday Oct. 14 at 9:30 a.m.

If you are unhappy with your child’s pictures and would like a retake, you MUST send back the original pictures to your child’s teacher. These pictures will be destroyed.

If your child was absent and you would like to order pictures, there are additional forms in the office that can be filled out and brought back to your child’s teacher. Orders can also be submitted online at http://www.colorportraits.com Enter school code 10018601.

MR. GRACE'S 5th GRADE CLASS ONLY will retake the class picture at 9:20 Friday, Oct. 14.

If you have any questions, please contact Dawnelle Muff (slawandmali45@gmail.com) or Anne Nigrelli (anigrelli@sbcglobal.net).

The PTA is looking to fill the Screen Free Week Committee Chair role. If you are interested in helping coordinate this fun springtime event, please contact Kristin Olson, kolson1@me.com or Rachel Bailey, mooreracheld@hotmail.com.

For Mr. Tom Grace, becoming a teacher was part of his DNA. Teaching is very rewarding for him, and working with 5th graders at Madison for 22 years further solidifies his belief that this is where he is supposed to be.

He says that Madison, the students, the community, and the families are all very supportive of this school and come together in amazing ways to value community service. As a 5th grade teacher he has seen this repeatedly when his students lead these initiatives from stuffing trucks with food, preparing meals at Feed my Starving Children, and most recently with the St. Baldrick’s events. He is proud that our school has been able to raise close to $80,000 over three years to help find cures for childhood cancers.

One of the key things that he wants students to learn is that it’s okay to fail. From failure we learn, but kids are afraid of failing. He speaks fondly of the growth that he witnesses in his students within a year as he prepares them for their careers beyond elementary school.

In his free time, he enjoys reading and watching his daughter play college volleyball. His son is a head lifeguard at Northside Pool, which Mr. Grace has managed every summer for 22 years.

Do you recognize Madison’s new morning bus duty and traffic control staff member from his second grade photo? Mr. Craig Babich came to Madison last year and works with Ms. Cook in the English Language Learning department. As a full-time ELL teacher, Mr. Babich works with the students in our school who are learning English as a second language and he currently teaches Kindergartners through 4th graders. He says he loves teaching kids who speak more than one language. It’s a fascinating view into world cultures and family traditions as well.

Before coming to Madison, Mr. Babich taught bilingual education in Aurora. He also coached football and basketball while teaching middle school ESL. He taught in Guatemala for two years where he learned Spanish. Mr. Babich earned his M.Ed and has a specialty in ESL. Before teaching he worked in accounting for 2.5 years. He was born in Joliet and attended St. Xavier on the south side of Chicago. He is currently part of Madison's orchestra, learning to play the bass along with the students. Welcome to our school, Mr. Babich!

Over 100 students participated in the summer reading program, “Read, It’s a Bright Idea!” Everyone received finger lights, flashlights, pencils, leis, and certificates. Fifteen students won the raffle for a free book at Madison’s Scholastic Book Fair, October 11-13.

You can now place orders for the 2016-2017 Madison Paw Prints. A yearbook costs $17 and will be delivered to the student before the end of the school year. Please use the following link to order and pay with credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, or Discover) or check. There is a 15% discount if ordered by September 30.

https://www.treering.com/validate?PassCode=1014308585474714

The Yearbook Committee would appreciate you sharing your "Meet & Treat and First Day of School" photos for use in the yearbook. Please upload your images using the following link:

http://www.treering.com/asset/f8204dc52c7ce64f26c966a6a9d59979ee0a5b7a/

Please be sure to share only high resolution images of Madison School students, teachers, and staff only on school property or at the bus stop.

If you have any questions, please contact Dawn Draus at yearbook@madisonschoolpta.org.

PTA committees are welcome to use Madison’s online payment system called SchoolPay. There are many advantages to using SchoolPay to collect payments for your event or fundraiser:

• Improves payment collection by providing a quick and convenient way for parents to pay.

• Provides a secure form of online payment.

• Reduces the use of backpack mail in which payments get lost or forgotten by children.

• Reduces the amount of cash and check payments that require collection by a chairman.

• Provides a helpful interface for tracking payments and creating monthly Treasurer reports.

For chairman who are new to using SchoolPay, it can take some extra time to learn how to use SchoolPay or to establish a payment item for the first time. Therefore, please be sure to allow approximately 2-4 weeks to coordinate with Madison’s SchoolPay administrator prior to launching the online payment option for your committee.

Although the use of SchoolPay may take some extra time and effort at first, our online payment system will make your work easier. If interested, please contact Madison’s SchoolPay Administrator at Communications@madisonschoolpta.org.

Click on the calendar on the Madison section of www.cusd200.org to view upcoming dates. See below for some highlights:

Oct. 10: No School

Oct. 11 & 13: Parent/Teacher conferences

Oct. 13: Dining for Dollars at Firehouse Subs

Ot. 17-21: Roller Skating week in PE

Oct. 18 PTA General Membership Meeting, 7 p.m. in LLC

Oct: 22: Trivia Night

Nov. 4: No School

Nov. 15: PTA General Membership Meeting, Noon in Music Room

Nov. 18: Multicultural Day

Nov. 21-25: Thanksgiving Break

View the 2016-2017 school calendar here.