Oakleigh Owl News
December 2021
Message from Mrs. Metheny
Hello OES families,
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and found time to spend with family and friends. It is hard to believe that December is here, and Winder Break is around the corner. While we won’t be having our annual 5th grade concert, due to Covid, we will be offering some fun activities for students and staff to participate in. We are looking forward to our PTA Family Game Night on December 8th from 5:00-7:00. We hope you will be able to join us for the fun filled activity. We will also be doing another spirit week during the week of December 20th. This will include Oakleigh Spirit Day, Twin day, ugly sweater day, and pajama day. We hope you are ready to join in the spirit.
While December brings out the festivities it is important to remember that instruction and tests are part of school during this time. Please be sure your child is going to bed at an appropriate time, so they are alert and prepared for learning each day.
Parents, if you did not have an opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher on November 22nd for a conference, please be sure to contact them to schedule one. This is an opportunity for teachers to share academic progress with parents and for parents to ask questions and get more information about their child’s success in the classroom.
Conferences can be done virtually from the comfort of your home, and it will still allow the teacher to share this important information.
We continue to have a large collection of coats and Jackets in our lost and found. If you child is missing a clothing item, please let their teacher know so they can check lost and found.
This is a reminder that our school doors open at 8:35. We know older students sometimes like to come to school early to socialize, however this is discouraged as there is no adults supervision outside.
Please be sure your child arrives at school each day with a mask. It is extremely important that they have a mask that fits properly. The school has a limited supply and they do not always fit well.
Parents, this is a reminder about the bus loop. Cars are not permitted in the bus loop during arrival and dismissal. This is to ensure the safety of students as they exit and board busses.
We are looking forward to a great December with your children!
IGE-3's
November was another busy month! We began beginning one of our health units. We focused on identifying body parts and how to stay healthy. We read a bunch of fun stories that helped us identify different body parts. We also read books about Thanksgiving and talked about what we are thankful for this year.
Pre-K
In November, we welcomed families to join us for an Early Literacy Night that focused on nursery rhymes. The families enjoyed rhyming activities, letter recognition, retelling, science and math. We all had so much fun working together. The children were able to walk away with activities they could do at home.
This month we have been learning about what makes each of us special. The children have enjoyed sharing their likes and dislikes with their classmates. To finish out this unit we will be learning about our families.
Kindergarten
During November, Kindergarten classes have been busy working on letters, letter sounds, reading and writing sight words, and sounding out cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words.
In math and science, we have identified sets on a 10-frame, practiced patterns, learned about two- and three-dimensional shapes, and studied the life cycle of a butterfly!
We ended the month with wonderful class discussions of safety rules in different places while we practice our "daily commitments" here at school with our Oakleigh school family!
First Grade
In November, first graders read nonfiction texts and identified the main topic and key details of a text. We also looked at nonfiction text features, including photographs, captions, and labels. In math, we practiced our addition facts within 20 and continued working on subtraction facts. We also practiced ten and more addition facts! Please continue to read at home nightly and practice addition and subtraction facts. We look forward to learning new things in December!
Second Grade
This month second grade is beginning a new Social Studies unit about North America that will focus on maps and our community. In ELA our students did a fantastic job completing a research project on an animal of their choice and are now beginning to learn about Pourquoi Tales. Then in Math we just wrapped up non-standard units of measurement and addition on an open number line. In our next unit we will begin working on place value, and will continue using open number lines, solving addition and subtraction problems with two-digit numbers and then will begin collecting and graphing data.
Thank you for your continued support.
Third Grade
This month in third grade, we are focusing on using multiple strategies to add and subtract 2 and 3-digit numbers. We are also working on rounding to the nearest ten and hundred which will assist us in estimating sums. Third grades are wrapping up our Mayfly Mayhem science unit, where we learned about unique insects and how we can help them survive by reducing sedimentation in streams. Earlier this month, we began our new ELA Unit which focuses on Inventors and Inventions. In this unit, we examine non-fiction text. Students are working on identifying cause and effect as well as problem and solution relationships within the text. At the end of the unit, students will be responsible for researching an invention. The best part, students will have the opportunity to present an original idea for an innovation to make the invention even better! We can't wait to see their creative ideas!
Fourth Grade
Fourth grade has begun an author study on Kate DiCamillo. We are reading a wide variety of her stories including Because of Winn-Dixie, Tiger Rising, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, and The Adventures of Edward Tulane. During our reading circles we will be discussing character development, theme, and completing a research project on our author. In math we are continuing to work on multiplication and division strategies and are moving on to using area models with double digit numbers. Please continue to practice math facts at home to help increase fact fluency!
Fifth Grade
5th grade is having a fun month of November with new classroom activities, book fair, and spirit week! It is also the start of quarter 2, which means students receive their quarter 1 report cards! In Social Studies, we are finishing our “Colonial Regions” unit and in Science, we are finishing our “Schoolyard Sustainability” unit. In Math, students are using multiple strategies to add and subtract fractions. These strategies include using money, clocks, and number blocks. The students are also developing their logical reasoning skills by asking questions before attempting a math problem. Each day in Number Corner, we reveal a different triangle that must be labeled and compared to the previous triangle before it. This helps students recognize patterns that arise in mathematics. Finally, in ELA, students are persevering through their “Revolutionary Perspectives” unit, which involves topics such as the French and Indian War, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s midnight ride, women at war, and more. Students are reading many articles and watching several videos to better understand these historical topics. They also receive new “word work” lists each week and participate in several activities that practice identifying and writing these challenging words. Please continue to reach out to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns!
FALS
In Math, Mrs. Mullen's class worked on addition and subtraction word problems. They examined important words to help decide to add or subtract. They are now working on geometry. Mrs. Pappas' class worked on data and graphing. They made some really cool graphs. Mrs. Cunningham;s class has been working on place value and ordering/comparing numbers.
We are looking forward to December and learning about traditions!
Early Literacy Night
Spotlight on Art
In the art room we have been celebrating Fall, always mindful of what is happening in the natural world, and of ways we can use materials we have readily available.
Kindergarten made colorful pumpkins inspired by pop-artist, Britto Romero, developing on the Color and Line unit we started the year with. Recently we have moved into exploring Shape and are working on fine motor skills by drawing and cutting geometric and organic shapes.
First grade explored color and texture with leaf rubbings and made texture trees using brown grocery bag paper for the trunks and branches, and tissue paper for the leaves (photo). A gluey but glorious experience.
Second grade also explored color and texture with real leaf prints (see photo). For a while we were suddenly left with no sink, but that didn’t stop us ‘painting’ with bleeding tissue paper. They created their own wax-resist textured leaves by drawing outlines and patterns with crayons, then adding color with the tissue – the ‘watercolor’ created when the tissue is wetted is resisted by the wax crayon lines, so the leaves remain visible.
Third grade have been exploring how to create depth in an artwork with some Fall Tree Collages. They created hand-painted paper from which to cut a variety of leaf shapes, added ‘texture’ with stylized lines and patterns, then arranged the leaves to look like trees in a landscape. Then they took the stylized leaf idea further by drawing leaves and creating a bleeding tissue background. I love how students always take an assignment in different directions, adding personal details and making it their own - creative problem solving!
Fourth grade also got to play with leaves. They made drawings of leaves using oil pastels to practice observation and blending techniques, then added a watercolor background to create contrast.
Fifth grade worked on collages, also using hand-painted paper they’d made (from old newspapers or construction paper). They created depth by using overlapping, position, and varying size. Some students made landscapes, using torn paper in warm Fall colors, and creating trees with old sheet music; others made Cityscapes, adding details with oil pastel and paint to refine and personalize their creations.
We’re all enjoying this display outside the room, but Winter is approaching and a collaborative mural is on the horizon!
- December 20-23 School Spirit Week
- December 23rd Schools Dismiss 3 hr early
- December 24-January 2 Schools Closed for Winter Holiday
- January 3 Schools Reopen