A Note from the

new Acting

Principal,

Mr. Pitts

Vol. 8 No. 3 Mr. Duane Pitts, Acting Principal February 2011

area my entire career. Our objective is

to develop academically successful in-

dividuals. We can and we will!

Goodbye to Mrs. Muñoz

Sometimes it is hard to say goodbye

but when a good opportunity comes

along it makes it easier to do so. Mrs.

Muñoz accepted a principalship at

another local school in Chicago. Over

winter break she was asked if she

would become principal of Kilmer

School and she accepted. She loves

Carpenter School’s students, parents

and staff but it was an opportunity that

she couldn’t refuse because of the

current status of Carpenter School.

She will be greatly missed by the

Carpenter community. We wish her

the best and hope our paths cross

again sometime soon.

TIME STANDS STILL FOR NO ONE

I’d like to thank the local school council,

teachers, students, staff and parents for

embracing me as we aim to ―Make the

Grade‖ and choose success over failure.

As Acting Principal of Carpenter Fine

Arts Magnet Cluster School, I will con-

tinue overseeing the daily functions as

well as facilitate the school’s educational

activities. My purpose is to drive the as-

pirations and goals of both the teachers

and students to new heights. Our plans

are to surge forward in educating our stu-

dents. We will use technology, better

strategies and utilize our time and data

wisely.

I have 28 years of experience as an ele-

mentary school educator and administra-

tor. I have taught general education,

early childhood, self-contained special

education, and delivered instructions as a

special education resource teacher. It is

wonderful to be awarded the opportunity

to work in this culturally diverse urban

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Toys & Books

Carpenter students received books from

KMR and we thanked them all with

thank-you letters. The books were great!

We also received presents from Santa.

He hand-delivered them to every kid in

our school. So every kid in school re-

ceived at least two gifts. We hope every

child enjoyed the toys and books that

they got from KMR and Santa. All the

toys and books were very expensive, but

every kid in school received these gifts

for free. Everyone seemed grateful for

what they received.

By Evelyn Zarate & Suyanna Gonzalez

Pajama Day

It was Pajama Day on January 21 and

almost everyone was in their pajamas. I

really wondered if they just wore the

pajamas they slept in last night. Every-

one was wearing cute, funny, and nice

pajamas. There were cats & dogs, Hello

Kitty, Tweety, stars, flowers and striped

pajamas. Students mostly wore colorful

pajamas. Some wore slippers, some wore

socks and some wore blind-folds. I

thought everyone would be embarrassed

if they had to walk into school with their

pajamas on, but everyone just walked in

to school as if it were natural for them to

wear pajamas. It was so cute! Even

some teachers were in their pajamas.

Everyone was really comfortable. I hope

we will do this again next year!

By Erika Conner

Art Contests

Please remember to check out the art

contest wall located in the doorway of

the art room. There are three art contests

where art work is due March 31st.

Participate! Participate! Participate! You

may win great rewards for your efforts

in the arts. Erika Conner, Jocelyn Escobedo,

Leslie Martinez, Cassandra Aguirre

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News from Carpenter's Art

Corner

Creative minds

want to know!

Our 6th through

8th grade Visual

Arts Club is enjoying their art supplies

from our current project funded by the

Office of Arts Education for World Art

Chicago. Our theme this year is ―My

Dream City.‖ Students devise a city

plan showing where public art is found.

These works of art will be watercolor

diptychs and triptychs. The students

will be exhibiting their work at the

World Art Chicago in May. We are

looking forward to the grand event and

their work will be seen by hundreds of

other students from around the city.

The 2nd through 5th grade is working

hard on finishing up their very colorful

and ornate individual Mardi Gras

masks for February. In honor of the

Chinese new year, the students will be

painting lanterns with the elements of

nature as a theme. Also, in the month

of February the students will be

creating decorations for the African

American Assembly.

We are preparing, as a whole school,

creative artists and designers for our

upcoming gallery event. We look

forward to the display of great art work

to share with the community. Go

artists!

A New

Addition

As you all

know

Mrs.Stirling

had a healthy

baby girl. Her name is Elsie Margaret

and was born at 8:41 P.M. on December

30, 2010 and weighed 8 pounds, 18

ounces. Thankfully, the baby was healthy

and we all hope Mrs. Stirling comes

back soon!

By Giovanna Medina

Most Improved Students

Congratulations to the most improved

students for the 2nd quarter. What a job

well done!

Beyoncee Lopez– Room 1001

Axel Rubio-Room 1001

Marivel Aviles-Room 1003

Deja Pierre-Louis-Room 1004

Elvin Rubio-Room 1004

Shamond Spencer–Room 1005A

Reyluis Acosta –Room 1005B

Suyanna Gonzalez-Room 1006

Joshua Harris –Room 1007

Rayan Merida-Corado-Room 1008

Mayely Bello-Room 1010A

Cassandra Aguirre -Room 1010B

HIGH HONOR ROLL

Room 1004

Florecita Avalos

Room 1006

Arturo Arzate

Giovanna Medina

Room 1007

Erika Conner

Room 1008

Stephanie Ventura

Vanessa Grimaldo

HONOR ROLL

Room 1001

Ian Bermudez

Natalie Guzman

Diana Arzate

Room 1003

Chloe Saddler

Room 1004– 4th Grade

Ian Merida

Anthony Perez

Jacqueline Toxqui

Karin Urgilez

HONOR ROLL-Continued

Room 1004– 5th Grade

Alexa Folgar

Kevin Franklin

Cathy Moro

Aliyah Turner

Room 1005B

Lexus Garcia

Room 1006

Ariel Villa

Room 1007

Rut Merida

Room 1008

Kiana Robinson

Ashley Moncrief

Jocelyn Corona

Alejandra Barajas

Room 1010A

Mayely Bello

Room 1010B

Cassandra Aguirre

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PERFECT ATTENDANCE

Room 1001

Antjuan Turner

Miracle Hutchinson

Metrevell Hutchinson

Sebastian Macedo-Martinez

Jhonathan Sanchez

Mateo Ortiz

Tania Marin-Jarro

Room 1004-4th Grade

Zahiyah Edwards

Ian Merida

Jalen Mitchell

Jacqueline Toxqui

Karin Urgilez

Giovanni Zuniga

Room 1004- 5th Grade

Alexa Folgar

Florecita Avalos

Dantrell Massey

Aliyah Turner

PERFECT ATTENDANCE

Room 1006

Miguel Toxqui

Fernando Toxqui

Klarissa Macedo

Arturo Arzate

Israel Caldero

Ariel Villa

Dequan Ingram

Room 1007

Ernesto Camacho

Joshua Harris

Jeremiah Harris

Rut Merida

Kimberly Paredes

Leslie Rubio

Niko Griffin

Room 1008

Jocelyn Corona

Vanessa Grimaldo

Rayan Merida-Corado

Room 1010A

Kevin Sanchez

Mayely Bello

Room 1010B

Rusbel Arredondo

Cassandra Aguirre

6

IT’S ON THE STRENGTH OF OBSER-

VATION AND REFLECTION THAT

ONE FINDS A WAY. SO WE MUST DIG

AND DELVE UNCEASINGLY.

—Claude Monet

Yesenia Ortiz, Aliyah Turner and

Alexa Folgar sing “We Wish You a

Merry Christmas” at the Winter

Talent Show.

Spelling Bee

Thank you to all the Carpenter students

for attending our annual Spelling Bee.

The following students were the class-

room winners:

Cassandra Aguirre, Alejandra Barajas,

Ramiro Delgado, Zahiyah Edwards,

Vanessa Grimaldo, Jordan Hilson,

Airanna McMullan, Alvaro Orozco,

Yesenia Ortiz and Monica Rodriguez.

The Winter Talent Show

This year we had our first ever talent

show! Our wonderful students had the

ability to demonstrate their talents. Spec-

tators got to observe the students dance

and sing. This spectacular show began

with some students dancing hip-hop

songs like ―Whip My Hair‖ and ―My

Girl.‖ Then, we heard some Christmas

classics interpreted by our Carpenter stu-

dents featuring ―Deck the Halls‖ and

―Feliz Navidad.‖ Even though this was

our first talent show ever, it was a total

success! Give it up for our talented

Carpenter students!

By Arturo Arzate

The champion speller was Florecita

Avalos and the runner-up was Jaylon

Vaughn. You all were terrific!

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“ A CREATIVE COMMUNITY OF

LEARNERS IN THE LEAST

RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT”

Science Fair

Congratulations to Carpenter’s three rep-

resentatives that went to the Area 6 sci-

ence fair: Kiana Robinson, Giovanna

Medina and Suyanna Gonzalez.

Wonderful job!

Twin Day

Twin Day is when everyone in school

was encouraged to find a friend and

dress identically. Having to dress up the

same as your friends is cool because it’s

like having a clone. Twin Day was fun

because you got to see the students out

of their uniform and to see how creative

they can be. Twin Day doesn't really

mean that you actually have to have a

twin it means you can have a partner and

dress up the same. It may be hard dress-

ing up the same as your friends because

you may not have the same clothes as

they do but Carpenter students really

tried!

Brothers Jordan Hilson and Jaylon

Vaughn dressed up as twins.

Maliek Green and Mrs. Davis

dressed up as twins on Twin Day.

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