Ocean Avenue Friday Notes

• 11/23-11/25: No School ~ Thanksgiving Break
  
• 11/29: School Picture Makeup/Retake Day

• 11/30: Early Release Wednesday, 1:10 PM Dismissal

• 12/2: First Trimester Ends

• 12/7: Early Release Wednesday, 1:10 PM Dismissal

• 12/8 & 12/9: Student Led Conferences (11:10 Early Release)
  *During conferences, there will be a book fair in the library.

• 12/10: Designing Women Craft Show at Ocean Avenue School (PTO Sponsored)

• 12/14: Early Release Wednesday, 1:10 PM Dismissal

• 12/21: Early Release Wednesday, 1:10 PM Dismissal
  

• 12/23-1/2: No School ~ Winter Break

We have continued our work hiring staff throughout the fall. This means posting jobs as they come open, recruiting educators from the area, interviewing with our team, and references & background checks. We appreciate all the work HR has done to support our work. Some of our new staff have worked at other districts, and were ready for a change. Some others have had years of education experience, but just arrived in southern Maine. We still need subs, bus drivers, and a part-time crossing guard. If you know anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to apply.

• Belinda Silverthorne started with us on Monday as a special education ed tech. Belinda comes to us most recently from Canal School in Westbrook, but she has an extensive background working with students at Spurwink, Mercy Hospital, and in New Mexico.
  
  
• Joao Bordallo, who is our new Language Acquisition Ed Tech, started this past week. Just like Helena, we get to share him with Talbot School. This calendar shows which days he is here with us. We will start Joao with students who need support in getting settled into school. His daily schedule will be coordinated with Emily and the EL team.

  
  

• We will be welcoming Chau Nguyen as a Beach ed tech. She starts on Monday. Chau has 10 years teaching experience in Vietnam. She worked with students to improve their academic performance and tailored learning to their needs.
  
  

• Ann Underdown will start with her new literacy ed tech position on December 1. Most recently Ann has been an ed tech in our Beach program.
  
  

• Ana Ibarra has accepted our second ed tech literacy position. She comes to us most recently as a preschool teacher in Freeport, and she has a varied background including: genotyping cacao for breeding for the Mars company, English teacher in the country of Georgia with the Peace Corps, and assisted in COVID testing labs. She is being on-boarded by HR on November 28, and will join us immediately after.
  
  

• This leaves us with one Beach ed tech left to hire. I thought I would be able to announce this staff person's name at the end of this week, but I'm hoping the official process will be complete early next week.

Student-Led Community Meetings ~ Are Parents/Guardians Able to Attend?

- Our student-led community meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month. These school-wide meetings are a fun meaningful way for us to foster connections and celebrate our community across grade levels.

If your student(s) are going to be participating in the community meeting, or if you have a particular interest in attending, please reach out to Melissa West beforehand. Space is limited, but we will do our best to accommodate parents/guardians.

Our next Community Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 1st at 8 AM!

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Positive Behavior Talking Point:

- Ask your child(ren) about something that made them smile today at school, or ask a similar question to initiate a conversation with your child about their school day. A couple of questions you can ask this week are:

1. Were you brave today? How?

2. What would you change about school?

Next week, I will share a couple of new questions! :)

Join Ocean Ave Elementary and Print: A Bookstore for Ocean Ave's Book Fair!

From Monday, December 5th through Sunday, December 11th order from Print: A Bookstore and 20% of your purchase will be donated to Ocean Ave in the form of store credit.

In order to ensure all members of the Ocean Ave community can participate in the book fair, we are accepting community donations to sponsor students who might not otherwise be able to purchase books. We've set a goal of $1,000 which would allow each of these students to pick out their very own book during the book fair. Any assistance you can provide is deeply appreciated!

There will be a physical fair at school Monday through Friday, 12/5-12/9, as well as during conferences in the evening on Thursday and Friday, 12/8-12/9. Cash, card, and checks will be accepted during the in-school book fair—please make sure to make out checks to Print: A Bookstore.

In addition to purchases at school, anything purchased through Print: A Bookstore over the course of the book fair qualifies for the book fair fundraiser as long as you use the coupon code OCEAN during check-out. If you do not include that coupon code, we can't guarantee that your purchase will be included in the donation.

Please email the Print: A Bookstore community manager, Stephanie, at kids@printbookstore.com with questions or if you need to make a change to your order. If you're shopping in the store, mention Ocean during check out to have your purchases included in the book fair fundraiser.

On Monday, November 28th this page will be updated to feature book recommendations!

In the library this month, students in grades 1 and 5 participated in this year's Global Read Aloud, connecting students around the world through the art of Christian Robinson. We read his books and created postcards and picture books using his collage illustrations as inspiration and even connected with a school in the Dominican Republic on Skype. Now we're sending them around the world as part of a postcard exchange.

On Friday afternoons from 3-5:30 PM, there is a Walk-In Community Covid Booster and Flu Vaccine Clinic at 237 Oxford Street, sponsored by the Maine Immigrant Network. They serve people 6 months and up and while it is a walk-in clinic, you are asked to call 207-552-1800 to let them know you are coming so that they bring enough vaccine. Vaccines are free of charge. They are administering both the flu and covid vaccines.

This information was shared earlier this school year, but in light of this week we have had a few parents asking. Here is a reprise of our safety drill information.

Our Principal, Dr. Beverly Stevens, met with two Portland police officers in August to walk through the building and do an overall safety check, reviewing our safety drills and protocols in place. Overall, they were impressed with what we are currently doing and had a small suggestion which we have incorporated in our planning. Please see below for the safety drills we will be doing this year with all staff/students.

Safety Drills for the 2022/2023 School Year:

• 5 fire drills
• 2 lock down drills
• 1 shelter in place drill
• 1 evacuation drill

* Please Note: You will receive a communication from school when we have a lock down drill, shelter in place drill or evacuation drill.

Safety drills are designed to keep us all safe in an emergency situation, and are required by all Portland Public Schools. These safety practice drills are designed to ensure students know what to do in an emergency when evacuation is not a solution. There are many reasons our school might need to use the skills learned in this practice, including potential neighborhood issues, someone unsafe at school, if there is a tornado warning, if a skunk got in the building, etc. The last two examples are what we typically talk about with students, and would encourage you also to talk to your student using the same or similar examples.

Although we are low key in talking about the drills to help the students stay calm, we do take the safety of everyone at our school seriously. Keeping our students and staff safe is of the utmost importance at Ocean Avenue School!

• Parent Teacher Organization Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM, OAES Library
• Mark Your Calendar ~ Future Meeting Dates: January 10 and February 14

Each meeting during the 2022-2023 academic year will be held on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM in the OAES library. The meetings will begin with a report from the principal and the opportunity to ask her questions. This is a great opportunity to engage with the school. Feel free to come and stay for as long or as little as you want.

FREE Childcare provided.

The PTO is seeking volunteers for its annual Designing Women Fundraiser on Saturday, December 10th. We will need people at the welcome table, the food table, and in the parking lot. If you have just two hours to give, it will make a big difference! Grab a friend and do it together.

Can't make it on December 10th but still want to help? We also need food donations (baked goods, soups, sandwiches, etc.) to sell at the event. Proceeds benefit the school.

All opportunities (onsite volunteers, food donations) can be found here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CAEAB22A6F9C70-designing

A Little Background: Ocean Avenue has been hosting Designing Women for many years. We give Designing Women use of the gym and cafeteria in exchange for the PTO collecting a "suggested donation" at the door and selling food and drinks. For many PTO members, the Designing Women event was our first volunteer experience at Ocean Avenue. It's a great way to get to know other parents while supporting Ocean Avenue Elementary School.

Questions? Feel free to reach out board@oapto.org.

Help our school when you shop at Hannaford!

Questions about Hannaford Helps Schools?

Please call Hannaford at (603) 380-9353 or email at hannafordhelpsschools@hannaford.com.

Our primary funding source (post-pandemic) comes from monthly donors and we are seeking more funders. Our goal is to find as many small monthly donors as we can -- $1 and up! Can you help us? We will mail you an Ocean Avenue Elementary School sticker for your vehicle, your water bottle, or wherever you prefer to stick stickers.

BECOME A DONOR

Every ticket includes a FREE Maine Celtics Hat!

The Maine Celtics invite you to Ocean Avenue Elementary Day at the Portland Expo on Saturday, January 28th, as the Maine Celtics take on the Birmingham Squadron!

Gates open at 12:00 PM and the game starts at 1:00 PM.

$2 from every ticket purchased will be donated to Ocean Avenue Elementary PTO.

To purchase tickets: https://fevo.me/oceanave

Check out this amazing picture of two bald eagles swarming overhead while Ms. Taylor was out front with her students reading a book. What an amazing experience!

Looking for a part-time job that is one month on and one month off? Ocean Avenue is still looking for a part-time crossing guard for the Walton Street entrance to work every other month. Earn $32 working 2 hours a day and meet and greet Ocean Avenue parents and students every day!

If this sounds like the position for you, please see the flyer below for contact information. We would love to have you at Ocean Avenue!

Email: westme@portlandschools.org
Website: https://oceanavenue.portlandschools.org/
Location: 150 Ocean Avenue, Portland, ME, USA
Phone: 207-874-8180
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ocean-Avenue-Elementary-School-114535991925076/