JOHN V. LEIGH SCHOOL
www.norridge80.org
May/June Newsletter
From the Desk of Dr. Ban
Dear Leigh School Families,
May has arrived, and we are fast approaching the end of the year for us at Leigh. May will be a busy
month as we wrap up assessments, instruc on, sports, take field trips, congratulate our kindergarteners, and say goodbye to our 8th graders. Below are some of the highlights for May and June:
Spring Concert
On Thursday, May 18th we will have our Spring Concert starring our 1st-5th grade students at 6:30 p.m.
Mrs. Radzik has done a great job preparing our students and we are excited to see their unique and
exci ng performances!
LNAC Boys’ Volleyball Tournament
Leigh School is hos ng the LNAC Boys’ Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, May 10th and Thursday,
May 11th. Semifinal games are on the 10th and Championship games are on the 11th.
Leigh’s Got Talent!
Our students have been prac cing their talents for our first ever “Leigh’s Got Talent” Talent Show!
There will be a day me performance on the a ernoon of Friday, May 12th.
MAP Assessments
Students in grades 1-8 will take their end-of-the year MAP assessments in reading and math the week
of May 15th. 6th-8th graders will be tes ng on May 15th and 16th, and the 1st-5th grade teachers will
schedule their mes throughout the week. Please refer to your child’s classroom website or newsle er for classroom tes ng mes and dates in 1st-5th grade.
Tiger Pride Field Day
We are excited to announce Leigh’s Tiger Pride Field Day, taking place on Friday, May 26th in partnership between our Tiger Pride Commi ee and the Leigh PTA. Students in grades K-5 will go through
events in the morning, and 6th-8th grade students will par cipate in the a ernoon. We will have inflatables, sta ons for games and ac vi es, a DJ, and a visit from the ice cream truck to celebrate our
last K-8 Field Day at Leigh School!
8th Grade Events
The 8th grade dance is on Friday, May 19th at 6:30 p.m. The 8th graders will go on their end-of-theyear field trip to Chicago on Thursday, May 25th. 8th grade gradua on will take place on Wednesday,
May 31th at 7:00 p.m. in the gym. This will also be 8th grade students’ last day of school. We look
forward to celebra ng our 8th grade students’ accomplishments as we send them off to high school!
Kindergarten Celebra on
The kindergarten celebra on will take place on Friday, June 2nd 9:00 a.m. This is also the last day of
school for kindergarteners.
Last Day of School
The last day of school will be Friday, June 9th. It is an 8:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. day.
As we close out the 2016-2017 school year, we celebrate the year we’ve had, and we look forward to
the new and exci ng changes for our school and district for next year.
Finally, It’s been a pleasure to work with all of you here at Leigh these past five years. I would like to
wish you all a happy, safe summer, and best of luck next school year!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Ban
Principal
Volume 16, Issue 9
Dates to Remember…
May 2nd
7p - PTA Meeting in the Learning Center
May 8th
7p-Beginning Band/Jazz Band Spring Concert
May 9th
7p-Cadet Band/Concert Band Spring Concert
May 12th
6:30p- PTA Mother/Son Dodgeball Event
May 16th
7p - BOE Meeting @ Leigh School
May 17th
Kindergarten Registration 10a-12p, 1p-3p and 5p-7p
May 18th
Kindergarten Registration-10a-12p and 1p-3p
6:30p - 1st-5th Grade Spring Concert
May 19th
All Library Books Due Today
“Freaky Friday” Transition Day
6:30p - 9:30p - 8th Grade Dance
May 23rd
Band/Peer Leader Field Trip
May 25th
8th Grade Field Trip
May 26th
Tiger Pride Field Day
May 29th
No School - Memorial Day
May 30th
Kindergarten Field Trip to Norridge Park
May 31st
Leigh Graduation Ceremony
June 1st
Giles Graduation Ceremony
June 2nd
End of 4th Quarter
9:00a - Kindergarten Celebration
June 9th
Last day for grades 1-7 Dismissal @1:15p
June 12th
Teacher Institute
Page 1
April Tigers of the Month
A big Tiger Pride salute goes out to the following students who were selected by their teachers for
exemplifying the virtues of safety, respect and responsibility for the month of April…
Kindergarten - Khaled Abuhashish, Cross Bertolli & Mihailo Bogdanovic
First Grade- Kacper Ignacik & Alexandra Wilk
Second Grade - Bobby Melendez & Giulian Prosapio
Third Grade - Gia Evola
Fourth Grade - Aaron Carlson, Volodymir Kyyak, & Aiden Siek
Fifth Grade - Elena Cirkovic & Bella Rodriguez
Sixth Grade - Landon Shirley & Elizabeth Touhy
Seventh Grade - Victoria Duszynski, Klaudia Tac & Stefanie Witkowski
Eighth Grade - Vasilios Katsambas, Emily Kmiotek, Maria Reiker & Nicole Shumsky
Congratulations! Your Leigh School family is PAWS-itively proud of you! Keep up the good work!
Gratitude for Appreciation
Dinner and Raffle
The faculty and staff of Leigh School
would like to thank everyone who participated in the Teachers’ Appreciation Dinner and raffle. We realize
that much effort and energy
was put forth to make this
event very special for us.
We are grateful to our P.T.A.
members and Leigh families
for their thoughtfulness,
generosity, and hard work.
THANK YOU!!!
Support our PTA and our School
Spring is in the air which means so many things - baseball, bike riding, visits to the park, and spring cleaning. While you are clearing
out your closets, consider sending any shoes that you are getting rid
of our way. Our PTA is sponsoring a shoe drive in cooperation with
the organization funds2orgs. We are collecting gently worn, used
and new shoes that are in good condition, have their soles intact,
have their laces (if necessary), no holes, are dry and clean, and still
have life left in them. Simply tie the laces together, if applicable, or
use a rubber band to keep the pair together. Send them in with your
students or simply drop them off on the tables
set up outside the school’s front office. All
shoes collected help our PTA earn money for
our school and, more importantly, help out
others in need. We have a good start thus far
so kindly keep them coming our way! We
thank you for your support.
Leigh School Buddy Activity
On Wednesday, April 27th, our students paired up with their Tiger Pride buddies for the last Pride Activity for this school year. The partners worked together
to create their own Buddy Bingo cards, complete with our Pride lingo. Then the
duos teamed up to try and win as many Bingo games as they could by marking
off all the Pride words on their playing cards. The teams that collectively earned
the most Bingos were awarded a special prize. It was a nice way for all our Tigers to come together one last time in the name of fun and friendship.
2017 Spring Concert
The Leigh School Spring Concert for grades 1-5 will be held Thursday, May 18, 2017. The theme for this year’s concert is “Rock
Music Through the Ages.” Each grade level will be performing music from a decade of rock music. Students should wear the color
T-shirt as listed below along with comfortable dark colored pants such as black leggings or blue jeans. School appropriate decade
themed accessories are also highly encouraged if possible, as long as it does not interfere with the students performance (nothing
that will block the view of other students on stage, no props etc.).
Students should plan on arriving to their classrooms by 6:00 p.m. on the night of the concert. The concert will begin promptly at
6:30 p.m. Out of respect for all of the performers, we ask that you stay for entire performance. There will also be a performance or
the students during the day. Since the day performance will be videoed, students should wear their designated attire for the day
and evening performance.
1st grade - dark blue/50’s 2nd grade - dark green/60’s
3rd grade - dark red/70’s 4th grade - orange/80’s
5th grade - black/90’s-today
Receive future issues of the
newsle er via email!
Go to: www.norridge80.org
Choose:
“Student and Parent Resources”
And then
“Leigh Newsle er Signup”
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Kindergarten Writing Celebration
Our youngest Leigh School Tigers recently showcased their budding reading and writing talents to their
parents. Families were invited in to enjoy looking at their childrens' writing masterpieces from our work
with our writing curriculum. Then the children shared their latest works with their families. Together
they reflected to highlight their successes. It was truly a rewarding opportunity for the students to be
able to celebrate their hard work with their number one fans. Pride certainly was beaming in our kindergarten rooms- from the students, from their parents, and definitely from their teachers!
It has been a very busy year in Mr.
Pomponi’s junior high social studies
classes. The 7th graders have
worked very hard on learning, critiquing and analyzing historical events
spanning from the Revolutionary War
through the Civil War. Congratulations
to all students for successfully passing both the Illinois and United States
Constitution tests. We are looking
forward to continuing our learning endeavors next year!
8th grade students have conquered
many historical challenges this year.
From Reconstruction through the
Cold War, students have studied
numerous historical events and figures. Using their prior knowledge, the
children delved deeper into analyzing
cause and effect relationships
throughout American History.
Students became research historians
as all participated in the second
History Fair at Ridgewood High
School. Their successful efforts
shined in their exhibits. Best of luck
as they prepared themselves for the
experiences of high school!!
Good-bye to Kindergarten!
What a great year full of fun and learning we have had in kindergarten! We hope your summer is fun of the same! Here
are some helpful ideas for you to use with your youngster to keep the learning alive over our break:

Practice writing his/her last name properly.

Write in your summer journal that will come home. Tell about outings, sports activities, interesting findings in your
backyard, vacations, play dates. Read your journal to someone in your family. Parents can respond to your child in
his/her journal as well to encourage them to continue to put for their best efforts with their tasks.

Clean out your purse or pocket. Have your child practice identifying the names and values of your coins. Add their
amounts together.

Work on telling time on both digital and analog clocks.

On a rainy day, visit Starfall.com. It has a great deal of fun learning activities to help promote reading.

Email your kindergarten teacher. Tell her what you are up to! She’d love to hear from you!

Play games on road trips. Play ‘I Spy’, looking out the window for different items that start with each of the letters of
the alphabet. Play ‘I am going on a trip’ where each person names something they would like to bring on a trip, each
item beginning with the next letter of the alphabet. Each consecutive player needs to repeat the previous players’
items and add their own. Encourages memory and listening skills as well.

Visit the Eisenhower library. Some suggested reads include:
Q is for Duck- An Alphabet Guessing Game by Mary Elting
Tomorrow’s Alphabet by George Shannon
Letters and Sounds- Get Set for Kindergarten Series by Rosemary Wells
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
The Door Bell Rang by Pat Hutchins
Any selection by some of our favorite authors- H.A. Rey (Curious George series), Laura Joffe
Numeroff, Robert Munsch, Eric Carle, Johnathon London (Froggy series)

Enjoy some family reading time with a read aloud for everyone’s enjoyment. A suggested book might
from the Gooney Bird Green series by Lois Lowry. This series encourages children to use their imaginations and is both humorous and captivating.
Whatever you do, enjoy your child and the gift of time you have to share with him/her!
Volume 16, Issue 9
Page 4
Summer Happenings Community Event
We are excited to announce our first ever Norridge Community Summer Happenings
event! At this informative event, there will be a short presentation on ways to keep students and families engaged in learning throughout the summer. The main event will be a
community fair with several different organizations from in and around Norridge. These
organizations all have summer programs for kids - camps, classes, sports clinics, etc. and
will be able to share information with you about their offerings. Participants include
Ridgewood High School Athletic Department, Eisenhower Library, Bricks4Kidz, The
WIP Theater, and several others!
We hope to see you there!
Monday May 15th, 2017
6:30pm - 8:00pm @ Leigh School
All D80 Parents and Students are welcome!
Naper Settlement Field Trip
On Monday, March 13, the 7th grade students went for
a visit to Naper Settlement. On this field trip students
experienced a program called The Underground Railroad in Northern Illinois. Students were able to learn
more about what it was like to live in the 1800s as a
Southern sympathizer, abolitionist, runaway slave and
neutralist. At the end of the day students were encouraged to apply their new knowledge to our current world,
one in which individuals need to educate themselves on
social issues as a means to make informed decisions.
Volume 15, Issue 9
What an amazing year for Leigh
School sports!!! The year started
off with both the boys and girls
teams winning the championship
for softball! The boys continued
the momentum by winning the
championship for soccer next.
Shortly after the boys winning
their season it was the girls JV
volleyball teams turn! That means
4 championships all before the
school year was half over! The
boys varsity basketball team had
a great season and fell just short
of a championship, however the
girls JV team kept or winnings up
by going undefeated in their season crowning them champions!
We hope to continue our strong
year of sports with both girls soccer and boys volleyball. Congratulations to all of the athletes that
represented our school to make
this the most successful year of
sports in the history of Leigh
School!
Page 5
rd
3
Quarter Honor Roll
6th Grade
Janelle Adaya, Francesco Alduino, Nicolette Amundsen, Henry Backa, Alexa Barcas, Hatjon
Benda ,Emilia Bielska, Matthew Bohn , Mariana Boiko, Peter Bortis, Mary Bowling, Elizabeth
Brenner, Alyssa Bruno, John Cacucciolo, Joseph Christensen, Joseph Clark, John DePasquale,
Katherine Echeverria San Jose, Robert Faldetta, Rachel Glas, Ennio Gonzales, Joshua Iliescu,
Mirko Jaksic, Maya Jenkins, Nicholas Kalaras, Vladimir Karakashev, Kristin Karakoleva, Pamela
Katsambas, Leah Knecht, Denys Kryzhanovych, Derek Lacsamana, Ethan Josh Laya, Magdalena
Lenart, Gianna Messina, Maya Petryszak, Maya Piekarz, Sofia Roman, Landon Shirley, Jacob
Swider, Elizabeth Touhy, Patrick Touhy, Kuba Tyszka, Adrianna Vitale
7th Grade
Ciana Arnone, Michael Biancorosso, Leonardo Cataldo, Victoria Duszynski, Patrycja
Dziechciowska, Alexander Firlej, Eman Gamra, Victoria Gatych, Olivia Jalbrzykowski , Martyna
Jarzyna, Jenna Keith, Anthony Kidd, Mateusz Komperda, Alex Krzos, Konstantyn Kushyna,
Gabriela Kuta, Francesca LoRusso, Lazar Lucic, Nicolas Mach, Bartosz Malicki, Safa Muharram,
Franklin Mustafaraj, Kiera O’Shea, Dhruv Patel, Keemi Patel, Shivani Patel, Jasmine Plaud,
Tanja Popovic, Gina Poulos, Jenna Saadeh, Michael Santucci, Julia Sawasciuk, Wafa Smairat,
Nicolas Swiac, Klaudia Tac, Martina Vitale, Klaudia Wilczek, Stefanie Witkowski
8th Grade
Lilia Alaverdyan, Gianna Amundsen, Joseph Badalamenti, Andrew Bortis, Michaela Bruno,
Olivia Budek, Angelli Cataldo, Joseph Dolcimascolo, Alyssa Giovannielli, Katelyn Hamden,
Jelena Jaksic, Vasilios Katsambas, Igor Kinal, Emily Kmiotek, Frank Magnelli, Benjamin
Nguyen, Dylan O’Shea, Julia Opalka, Makayla Owens, Jay Patel,
Kevin Petryszak, Paulina Placzek, Jacob Quinones, Marybeth
Quintana, Maria Reiker, Michael Robak, Kathryn Romanowski,
Giuliana Rossi, Anthony Ryan, Maria Sanchez Ku, Nicole Shumsky,
Eden Sienkiewicz, Michal Strojek , Dean Sulimowski, Brielle
Susmarski, Marek Topor, Viktoria Tyszka, Johnathon Witkowski,
Wiktoria Wzorek
May/June 2017
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
3p - Math Lab
4p - GS @ Rhodes
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
4p - BV vs Mannheim
7p - PTA Meeting
4p - GS Playoffs @
RHS
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
4p - GS Playoffs
3p - Math Lab
4p - BV Qtr. Final
8
9
10
11
12
3p - Math Lab
4p - BV Qtr. Final
7p - Beginning Band/
Jazz Band Spring
Concert
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
4p - BV Finals
7p - Cadet Band/
Concert Band Spring
Concert
4p - BV Finals
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
4p - BV Championship
7p - Cadet Band/
Concert Band Spring
Concert
3p - Math Lab
6:30p - PTA Sponsored Mother/Son
Dodgeball Night
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Mother’s
Day
3p - Math Lab
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
7p - BOE Mtg. @ Leigh
3p - Math Lab
3:30p - GOTR
Kindergarten
Registration
10a-12p, 1p-3p
6:30p - 1st - 5th Grade
Spring Concert
ALL Library Books
Due Today
“Freaky Friday”
Transition Day
3p - Math Lab
6:30p - 8th gr. Dance
Girls
on the
Run
5K @
Grant
Park
21
22
23
25
26
27
3p - Math Lab
Band/Peer Leader Field Trip to Great
America
3p - Math Lab
7p - PTA Budget Mtg.
8th Grade Field Trip
3p - Math Lab
Tiger Pride Field Day
3p - Math Lab
29
30
31
June 1
2
Kdg. Field Trip to
Norridge Park
John V. Leigh School
Graduation
GS= Girls
Soccer
BV= Boys
Volleyball
7
28
No School Memorial Day
4p - BV vs. UR
Kindergarten
Registration
10a-12p, 1p-3p,
& 5p-7p
24
James Giles School
Graduation
6
13
3
9a - Kindergarten
Celebration
End of 4th Quarter
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Last Day of School for
Grades 1-7
Dismissal is @ 1:15pm
Volume 16, Issue 9
Page 7