Dear West Oak Intermediate Families,

Our 5th grade students had an amazing time at their in-house field trip on Monday! The day began with a guest speaker who shared an important anti-bullying message while also performing exciting BMX bike tricks. Students then enjoyed a picnic lunch complete with a free ice cream truck before ending the day with a fly-up visit to the middle school. During their visit, students participated in a tour, scavenger hunt, and presentation led by middle school students. A huge thank you to our PTO for providing the grant for the awesome matching t-shirts. It made the experience even more memorable for our students!

As we head into the final days of the school year, we are continuing to celebrate with fun spirit days. Monday’s spirit day is Reverse Day, so students should come dressed like teachers! 😄

Wishing all of our WOIS families a wonderful weekend!

Natalie Kalette

Principal

West Oak Intermediate School

• ABC Countdown Spirit Days: Starting April 23rd, WOIS will be doing an ABC Countdown to celebrate the end to a great school year! The themes have been aligned to DLS and WOMS as much as possible. Here are the spirit days for the 2026 WOIS ABC Countdown!

• After School Activities: The last day for Band and Choir is Wednesday, May 20th. The last day for Girls Who Code and Intramurals is Thursday, May 21st. 

• 6th Grade Encore Classes: The Principal from West Oak Middle School, Mr. Pedersen, spoke with all of our 5th grade students on Friday, May 5th and asked them to rank order their Encore (Specials) classes that they would like to take next year. Here is the Form that each student completed and the Link with a description of each Encore class. All students are able to get their top two choices, and their final Encore class will be determined based upon class sizes. Feel free to submit another entry using this Form if you would like your child to have a different rank order of these classes. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Mr. Pedersen. bpedersen@dist76.org 

• Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night: Thank you to everyone that attended the Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night this week. Here is Mr. Pedersen's Slide Deck with the information that was presented. Please reach out to Mr. Pedersen at bpedersen@dist76.org if you have any questions. 

• Kindness Day 5.22: We are excited to celebrate District 76’s All District Kindness Day on Friday, May 22, 2026! West Oak Intermediate and Middle School students will participate in Kindness Day activities right here at the West Oak Campus. The day will be filled with fun, meaningful experiences that promote kindness, connection, and community across our district. Students will engage in a variety of activities alongside peers from Diamond Lake, helping us come together in celebration of the values that make our district strong. We can’t wait for this joyful day!

• High 5 Friday Celebration 5.29: We are excited to share that the Countryside Fire Protection District will be joining District 76 on the last day of school, Friday, May 29th for a special “High 5 Friday” celebration! Firefighters will help welcome students to school as we celebrate an incredible year together with music, bubbles, smiles, High 5's and lots of school spirit. We are grateful for the outstanding partnership and support the Countryside Fire Department has shown our schools throughout the year and look forward to ending the year on a fun and positive note for our students.

• Kirk's Players: The Kirk Players will offer free theater workshops for children ages 7-12. We are excited that new location for the workshops will be West Oak Middle School! Here is the flyer for more information.

• SEL Focus of the Month: May SEL focus is CREATIVITY! Students will be developing skills like emotion regulation, positive self-talk, and stress-management through our Character Strong curriculum during morning meeting. Please see below for the monthly family newsletters: 

  • 3rd Grade Family Newsletter: English Spanish 

  • 4th Grade Family Newsletter:  English Spanish

  • 5th Grade Family Newsletter: English Spanish

• Diamond Awards: New to this year, we ask families to complete this nomination Form if they would like to recognize a staff member they feel are going above and beyond with what they do in the classroom, school, or district. Please consider spreading the positivity by highlighting the great work that staff our doing in our district. 

• D76 CARES: At D76, the well-being of our students and families is our top priority. Understanding the critical role mental health plays in student success, we have launched D76 CARES - a comprehensive initiative aimed at improving access to quality mental health services across our community. D76 CARES stands for Community, Advocacy, Resilience, Engagement, and Support. Treatment services are initially provided free of charge to district families for up to 8 sessions. Click HERE for treatment request.

Finishing Strong: As we head into the final weeks of the school year, help your child finish strong by discussing how our three core rules—be safe, be respectful, and be responsible—apply to end-of-year activities and transitions. Reflecting on these expectations at home reinforces the idea that staying focused and kind is just as important now as it was on the first day of school!

Your student's classroom teacher should be your first point of contact. For building-related information, please call the front office at 847-970-3544 or contact the following individuals via email: 

• Front Office Staff: Ms. Kailey Leon: kleon@dist76.org & Cinthia Maldonado: cmaldonado@dist76.org 

• Principal: Natalie Kalette: nkalette@dist76.org 

• Nurse: Julie Marchese: jmarchese@dist76.org 

• McTeacher night: Thank you to everyone who stopped by and bought pies.  It was great to see you!

• PTO Annual Meeting- You are invited to join us at our annual meeting on Tuesday May19th, 2026 6:00-7:00pm Diamond Lake Elementary School Library. Would you like a better idea of what the PTO does? Is there a skill that you would be able to use for the benefit of the schools? This would be a great meeting to attend.  At this meeting we will be voting on next year’s board and committee positions.  Nominations are now open. Would you like to serve as a committee chair or as part of the executive board for the PTO?  Do you have opinions about how the PTO can support our students and schools?  There is always room for more.  

  • Nominate yourself or someone you know today.  

• Field Day: Field Day at West Oak Intermediate School will be on May 28th from 9:15am-12:00pm. Select the link above to sign up.