The Owl Way & the Ecology Club would like to thank all the Olive families and staff that donated to the shoe drive. A big thank you goes out to Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Klimas, and special volunteer 5th grade students who demonstrated fantastic teamwork as they sorted, counted and bagged shoes. 780 shoes were donated! … Continue reading Thanks for Sharing Your Soles

While we are all anxiously awaiting Spring here in Chicago, the Owl Way would like to remind you about our annual Shoe Drive. Every April, in honor of Earth Day, we do a shoe drive to benefit "Share Your Soles". This non-profit organization collects gently used footwear for children and adults in the most impoverished … Continue reading Spring Cleaning?

The Owl Way - would like to thank Mr. Jerry Leland a Marine Veteran & Olive dad for delivering all of the OMS Valentines to the Captain James Lovell VA hospital for our "Valentines for Veterans" project. Mr. Leland drove through the very snowy conditions on Friday 2/9/18, so that hospitalized veterans would have the … Continue reading Valentines for Veterans – Delivered

The Owl Way wants to remind you to send in your pop tops December 1st through January 8th. This Pop-Top drive benefits the Ronald McDonald House. What is the Ronald McDonald House? RMHC cares for families of children with complex medical needs by providing comfort, compassion, and a sense of community. RMHC keeps families of … Continue reading December Pop – Top Collection

During the month of October, The Owl Way worked with teachers to have students write letters to deployed soldiers. Those heartfelt letters were sent to Operation Gratitude and will be delivered to soldiers in time for Veterans Day. As the students reflect on this lettering writing project, they will realize that we are the "Home … Continue reading The Owl Way – OMS Students Thanking Our Veterans

The Owl Way - "Warm the Nest" Coat Drive begins Wednesday, November 1st and ends Tuesday, November 27th. Please send in child/adult coats & winter gear for our November "Warm the Nest" service project. New or clean gently used items such as coats, snow-pants, boots, mittens, gloves, hats will be accepted. Our partner, Journeys The … Continue reading It’s Time to “Warm the Nest” at OMS!

This October, the Owl Way has many opportunities to promote kindness and helping others. The Owl Way Week will be October 17th-19th. Have your child wear their OMS spirit wear or Olive colors sometime during that week. Children will receive a project called "What's Your Big Idea?" This optional program gives flight to Owl Ideas … Continue reading The Owl Way – October Happenings

The Owl Way formerly known as Character Counts, kicks off September with a Salute to our Community Helpers. This program promotes good character and kindness at all grade levels. The Owl Way implements monthly service initiatives to promote good character traits such as being kind, responsible, honest, fair and helping others. On occasion, this PTA program … Continue reading The Owl Way Salutes Our Community Helpers

Eat at Garibaldis between 11 & 2 or 4-8 on Monday, March 13. CLICK HERE for details. The money we raise will help Pencils of Promise build schools to help the 250 million kids living on the planet who can't read. Let's show these kids that we believe they have the right to go to … Continue reading Stop cooking & hop on over to Garibaldi’s Monday!

The results are in for our Warm the Nest event....356 coats & winter wear items for kids and 34 adult items! Our 5th Grade Service Learning Club worked like a well oiled machine over lunch Wednesday to count, sort & bag these items - give these owls a pat on the back for a job … Continue reading Warm the Nest Helps in a BIG Way

Send in your pop tops through January 6th. Our Student Council leaders are working hard to collect Pop-Tops to benefit the Ronald McDonald House all month long. Our 5th Grade Service Learning Club is wrapping up the Winter Wear Warm the Nest drive & is excited to report back soon! OMS students are working hard … Continue reading Character Counts in December – Send in Your Pop Tops!

The PTA Character Counts program asks you to begin collecting child/adult coats & winter gear for our November drive. Our partner, Journeys The Road Home, has indicated this as their greatest need right now. Let's show how much OMS cares for those in need in our community!

The Character Counts Program will salute our military parents and grandparents on the morning announcements on Friday, September 30th at 9am. We welcome any parents/grandparents involved with the military in any way to contact Rachael Hooker to learn more: rachael.hooker@gmail.com.

Saturday, August 27th.  Join us for a back to school Ice Cream Social at Berry-Yo in downtown Arlington Heights.  Connect with old friends, meet new ones, & kick off a whole new year of Character Counts activities.  Proceeds benefit our partners at nokidhungry.org.   12-1pm Kindergarten 1-2pm 1st grade 2-3pm 2nd grade 3-4pm 3rd grade 4-5pm 4th grade … Continue reading Ice Cream Social!

December Recap: In the month of December we showed Responsibility through our Pop-Tops collection benefiting the Ronald McDonald House. Students viewed a personal testimony during their lunch hour describing the ways the Ronald McDonald House touched the lives of a family in our Olive community. The photo below shows the amazing results of this campaign!  January's Campaign:  … Continue reading Character Counts In January! Coins for Charity Waters

October Recap: We celebrated National Character Counts week with millions of kids around the globe. The "What's My Superpower" banner created by our kids, hung outside the LMC & generated lots of teachable moments & great conversations among kids. Staff also taught formal letter writing skills for our Operation Gratitude campaign in October. The letters … Continue reading Character Counts in November: We Are Caring

Last month we saluted our Trustworthy first responders through card signing at recess & invited parent first responders to receive cards on morning announcements.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5mpb_8RP44 This month we show Respect through our participation in Operation Gratitude.  Teachers will provide formal letter writing instruction & our student letters will be included in the 150,000+ care packages this organization sends soldiers overseas … Continue reading Character Counts in October! Respect

Our focus this month is on being Trustworthy. We will salute our Trustworthy first responders through outdoor signage along the fence and through card making during recess time. Cards will be presented to OMS first responder parents on the morning announcements. Going the Extra Mile at Home: 1) Write a personal letter to a family … Continue reading Character Counts in September!

Character Counts needs your help! As part of our expanded pilot program, there are a few upcoming events to keep in mind. This November we will "Warm the Nest." If you have gently used winter wear will be a great service opportunity for your kids! In April we will collect gently used shoes for impoverished … Continue reading Cleaning out closets for your growing kids?

Are you a firefighter, police officer, EMS worker or other community first responder? If so, Character Counts would like to talk with you. In September the students are celebrating our communities first responders. We are working to assemble these parents to receive thank you cards on the morning announcements October 2 at 9am. Please contact … Continue reading Character Counts is Calling all Parent Community First Responders!

We kicked off a full year of Character Counts initiatives by including an optional donation to nokidhungry.org at the Ice Cream Social. We are pleased to announce that we raised money to provide 1,700 meals to the 1 in 5 U.S. children who do not receive adequate food. This month we chose kindness! Each month … Continue reading Character Counts Corner