OVS Weekly Update
October 25, 2018 Volume 87
Mark Your Calendars!
Learning Coach Training
Synergy Social & LC materials exchange
The last week of every month is Synergy Social. This upcoming week, learning coaches will gather in the lounge for a discussion on Quarter 1 reflections- What's working and what isn't. We will also head down to the basement to browse the LC exchange to see if there are any materials you can use at home. *Remember, you can bring materials to the exchange at any time and you don't have to bring materials in order to take!
OneNote Notebook
Eileen Heller will be joining us this coming week to teach our Learning Coaches on OneNote Notebooks! They are a huge resource that is going to be around for at least this generation!! Come learn how to navigate it and use the tools!
Tuesday- 11:00 and 1:00
Wednesday- 11:00
Thursday- 11:00 and 1:00
Thank you to everyone that has come and the hard work that has been put in! We have had some wonderful discussions and growth!
Past Training
Earlier this year, LCs at the high school learned about OneNote. We will have Eileen coming for the K-8 families at the end of October. Here is a link to refresh your memory or to get you started in OneNote. OneNote is used often, especially in the K-8 building and can be a powerful tool to use throughout the school experience. *To view it, you will need to log into Office 365.
https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/OneNote-Toolkit-for-Teachers-Guide
Parent Teacher Conferences
Tech Tip--Clear your browser cache and cookies
Try clearing your browser cache and cookies, if:
OLS continually loads or redirects – “Redirecting…Please wait”
OLS navigation between pages is slow
OLS pages load but missing information
Browser error messages
Getting booted out of the OLS or LMS
After a planned maintenance outage
After an unexpected outage
How to clear you cache and cookies in Firefox (Windows OS):
- Click the Firefox menu on the browser toolbar (the 2 horizontal lines located under the X to close the window)
- Click Library
- Click History
- Click Clear Recent History and then select the items you want to delete (e.g., Browsing History, Cache, Cookies)
- Click Clear Now
- Close all open Mozilla-Firefox browser windows
- Open a new Mozilla-Firefox browser window
Community Events
Baseballoween
Engineering Carnival
On Sunday, October 28 from 1:00-4:00pm the Engineering Ambassadors Network will be hosting an Engineering Carnival Fundraiser! The event will take place in the City Campus Nebraska Union (1400 R St) in the Ballroom on the 2nd floor. There will be a variety of activities geared towards students in grades 2-8, but all are welcome. All proceeds will benefit the Engineering Ambassadors Network. Drop by for as long or as many activities as you'd like.
Sunday with a Scientist
Attendance
- K-5 Learning Coaches must enter ALL learning in the attendance module in K12.com.
- 6-8th grade Learning Coaches must enter learning that takes place OFF K12.com.
OVS Synergy
PT Conference Chili Cookoff & Raffle Winners:
Chili Cook-off winner--Dallas Keeney
OVS raffle winner--Allie Hengen
OVS Family Bowling Night
We had a BLAST at Family Bowling Night!! Thank you to everyone that came out to have fun and support our program!T-SHIRTS ARE IN!!
If you ordered a t-shirt, they will be available for pick up at parent/teacher conferences.
We do have some extra shirts for sale if you were not able to order! They are $20 a piece. Sizes are limited.
SAVE THE DATE!
What: Parents Night Out
When: Dec. 7th 6:00-8:30 pm
More info to come!!
School Spirit
October 30-November 1
Dress like your favorite book character!!
OVS Synergy Facebook Group
Connect with OVS learning coaches in a closed group on Facebook!
This group is for those of us who are enrolled in OVS. The group focuses on questions as we begin the year, questions regarding the children's homework, technology related questions that pertain to OVS, field trip information and updates, and anything else that comes up that we wish to discuss. Click the below link to request to join and engage in the conversations!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ovsfamilies/
OVS Synergy- Our non-traditional version of a parent teacher organization. All are included and invited to participate, donate, and engage.
OVS Synergy Mission: A collaborative Organization that Creates Engagement and Learning Opportunities for Teachers and parents to support Student success.
Ms. Rogers' Class Update
Congratulations to all of our 1st Quarter prize winners! Learners will continue to earn tickets in the classroom. We will be focusing on following directions this quarter!
This week we looked at the difference between fiction and non-fiction. We will continue to practice looking at books and identifying why they are fiction or non-fiction. Learners worked with groups to practice sight words this week. We played sight word memory and sight word dominoes. We worked with numbers and place value in Math.
Next week:
We will continue focus on writing, as we will work on writing our 5 Star Sentence: Capital letter to start my sentence, Punctuation to end my sentence, Use Finger Spaces, Use Neat Handwriting, and My Sentence Makes Sense. In Math we will work on putting numbers together and adding.
I enjoyed talking with all of you during Parent/Teacher Conferences. Online Lessons are back for Monday, October 29th and Friday, November 2nd.
Mr. Dowling's Class update
Week in Review:
It was great to be back in class after my math training last week. We had a long week with conferences, but it was great to touch base with everybody. We continued our work with Nonfiction text features this week when I introduced Book Snaps. Book Snaps are a way to increase comprehension by connecting with the text with visuals. I paired learners up and they created some. Check them out on Seesaw!
Next Week:
Second quarter has officially started rolling. Your learner should have received the 2nd quarter Artifact tracker in their purple folder. You are doing a great job of keeping up with the pacing guide! Keep it up. Our Literature Circles start next week. I emailed everyone on October 12th and gave you the title of the book you need. I reminded most of you at conferences. If I forgot to, or if I didn’t see you at conferences, please go into your inboxes and look for my email on the 12th. They need to bring that book next week as we will be using them for our silent reading.
Thanks!
Click here for an article explaining #Booksnaps in more depth.
Mrs. Walker's class update
Week in Review:
Congratulations to all of our 1st Quarter prize winners! We had a lot of fun during our awards assembly for the first quarter. Learners will continue to earn tickets in the classroom. This week we all worked on the main idea of a leveled reader. In writing students are learning how to write about their opinion using a graphic organizer. In math we continued to work on place value.
Looking Ahead:
As a reminder, students need to bring the book they picked out to read for the readers choice unit. If you do not know which book let me know. We will be beginning that unit in class next week. Students will go home and need to read an assigned amount of the book and be ready to discuss what they read when they come to class. Thanks for your help getting those books for your student!
I enjoyed talking to all of you during Parent/Teacher conferences. Online lessons are back for Monday, October 29th and Friday, November 2nd.
Mr. Gamble's Class Update
Week in Review:
Thank you to all for working so hard on getting assignments and assessments done for quarter grades. If there are lesson assessments not completed, learners may still submit work through the end of the semester. Learners will receive full credit for work submitted and the “0”s will replace themselves.
Online lessons continue to happen daily. See below for the schedule to ensure your learners are in attendance. If a student is optional, they are not required to attend, but are welcome to for additional assistance. “Required” learners must attend the session for lesson assistance.
Looking Ahead:
Learners will continue to use their Passports to check in with each Learning Facilitator and discuss that subject area. These passports will also notify Learning Coaches what was done in class and what the next steps are for learners. Follow up with your learners and see what their next step is. Keep checking their progress and using the pacing guides to know what is due.
Should your learner have a question or struggle, please encourage them to reach out to us. If they are reserved, then please email the appropriate teacher and we will make note of that need and address it. We are a team and encourage all parties (facilitator, coach, and learner) to communicate.
PIT Stop is available on Friday mornings from 10:00 – 11:00 for learners that need assistance. This is an ONLINE session. I will be actively in the session and available to answer questions or model lessons for learners in need.
We look forward to seeing everyone at conferences. Be sure to use the Sign Up Genius link in the newsletter to choose a block of time you will visit the middle-school team.
Resources:
There are countless resources on the internet for math. Throughout the year I will post some here that could assist your learner or yourself. Learning coaches can use these to check the work of a learner or preview topics.
This month’s resource can be effective for all courses. Geogebra provides a free graphing calculator and many other tools that are helpful for verifying or graphing equations, expressions, and inequalities as well as drawing geometric shapes and finding their properties. It can be used to show graphs if equations in assignments or to check the work of a learner.
Weekly Online Math Lessons:
Most online sessions will not last the entire block of time, unless needed for individual help. We will work in mini-lessons addressing specific needs. If “Required” is listed on the session, you must attend that session. If “Optional” is listed, you do not have to attend, but CAN attend if you’d like help or a review.
Mrs. Felten's Class Update
6th grade science students are working through some labs on rocks and minerals. They are enjoying hands-on identification.
7th grade science students are working on labs about cells.
8th grade science students are working on density and measurement labs. We did a lab using gum drop models to balance equations this week as well.
All social studies students are working through their workbooks. World history is working on a book about Early Man using Minecraft to create pictures. Global studies is working to get used to using the workbook in Onenote. They will do a research project in class before the end of the semester. American history students are on unit 8 right now. They will have an optional field trip to the Lewis and Clark Headquarters coming up. Be on the look out for an email from Angela Nelson for group details. Learners can also choose to read the book Jefferson's sons.
Mrs. Robison's Class Update
Daylight savings time is upon us…..too bad we really can’t “save” up some time!
If your learner is on pace, they are beginning their final module for the first semester. Check in with them to see if they have the final module opened up! To ensure this has happened, they must have passed the previous module’s summative assessments with an A or a B. These assessments include major writing assignments and module exams. Remember, your learner has opportunities to improve their work! If they aren’t mastering concepts learned, it may be time for some review and reteaching.
If your learner is behind pace, there is still time to catch up! Know that this will require hard work, sacrifice and dedication. Help them to make a plan so that they can breathe a little easier as they end the semester. From experience, it is difficult for learners to catch up at the very end. Take the time now to get on pace!
There are still learners that need to present their research or speech. I would ask that your learner reach out if this is the case. I will find a time for them to present. Again, ELA is all about reading, writing, listening, and speaking. We want to give our learners opportunities to develop all skills necessary for communication and learning.
In Computer Apps, learners have begun their lessons in Microsoft Word and EduTyping. If your learner does not see these assignments in their Computer Apps content, please have them reach out to me.
If you have questions or need help with anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Mrs. Barry's Art class update
All learners should be following the pacing guide for their grade band and completing one art lesson per week.
All artwork to be included on 1st quarter report cards is due by October 14th. Turn in any labelled work to the blue "Art Drop Box" in front of the art cabinet.
Week of October 8th:
6th-8th Face to Face Art for AM art students
**All 6-8 art students bring your portfolio with any completed work.**
If your middle school learner is on pace they will have the following lessons/projects completed:
(Each lesson they do has an "Explore" section with an art project to be completed)
- 1.01/1.02 An Artist's Role (Self Portrait)
- 1.03 Styles of Art (Mini art gallery)
- 1.05 Color Choice (Painting using a color scheme)
- 1.07 Composing Artworks(Composition plans/sketches)
Week of October 15th:
October Open Art
To register for October Open Art- http://bit.ly/OVSOctOpenArt
9th Grade Newsletter
Troubles with your device?
Parents will get an email response following your submission. One of our staff members will email parents back to provide assistance, so be sure to check your email after sending your concern.
Mission Statement
Vision
Core Values
Positivity
Collaboration
Integrity
Self-advocacy
Accountability
Omaha Virtual School
Email: virtualschool@ops.org
Website: ovs.k12.com
Location: 4640 S 59th St, Omaha, NE, United States
Phone: (531)299-0269
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OPSVirtualSchool/
Twitter: @OPS_Virtual
Hoodies & long sleeve shirts
Long sleeve $25