Otter Outlook
January 25, 2018
In this issue...
A Message from the Principal
Snow Day Make-Up Differs From Fulton County
Ocee Elementary Strategic Plan Update
Need to Know!
Newcomer Parent Panel Discussion
STEMtastic Jr. Club
The Coaches' Corner - Ann Scott Hanks, PBL Coach and STEAM Instructor
Parent Workshop
From the Clinic
Family Book Club Night
What's Happening in the Learning Commons?
Ryan's Resource
From Our PTA
Bingo Night, Basket Raffle, Silent Auction
Munchkins with Mom
AR Valentine's Amazon Fire Tablet Challenge
Community News
ACE Bowlathon
WBMS - High School Musical, Jr.
Sports, Arena & Entertainment Community Hack-a-thon
Reminders
Student Hardship Transfers - Deadline February 28
Dates to Remember
Jan. 26 - Munchkins for Moms M-Z, 7:10-7:40 a.m.
Jan. 26 - PTA On-line Silent Auction ends @ 5 p.m.
Jan. 26 - 2nd Semester Newcomer Panel - 7:45 a.m.
Jan. 26 - Bingo Night (1st session 5-6:30 p.m.; 2nd session 7-8:30 p.m.)
Feb. 1 - Ocee Spirit Day
Feb. 1 - TRMS Music Performance for 5th Grade - 8 a.m.
Feb. 5 - 5th Grade T-shirt Day
Feb. 5 - PTA AR Kindle Contest begins
Feb. 5 - PTA Cultural Arts Program PK-2 8:15 a.m.; 3-5 9:15 a.m.
Feb. 5 - SGC Meeting - 7:00 a.m.
Feb. 6 - 2nd Grade Book Club Night - 6 p.m.
Feb. 8 - College Spirit Day
Feb. 8 - Admin Coffee with Parents 7 a.m.
Feb. 8 - Young Authors Parent Volunteer Training 9:30 a.m.
A Message from the Principal
Good Afternoon Ocee Families!
Is has been another exciting and FULL week at Ocee Elementary. I want to thank all of you for your patience and flexibility last week with the weather situation. Those decisions are made at the district level, and like I previously stated, some schools right down the road from Ocee were buried in ice as late as Friday afternoon. I've received several questions about what parents can do to voice their opinions, and I thank all of you for your willingness to advocate for the instructional time of our students. The best thing that you can do is attend our Fulton County Board of Education meetings. The FCS Board work sessions and official meetings both allow for public comment and a forum for your concerns. Additionally, I am a regular attendee at our community board member meetings. The meetings for Ms. Linda McCain and Ms. Katie Reeves are also posted on the FCS website. If you would like to attend one of these meetings, please let me know as it would be great to attend with you!
The district has sent a plan for making up the snow day (see more below), and there will be additional information about the March 9th Digital Learning Day shared with principals on February 7th. This is an exciting opportunity to leverage the digital resources at our disposal so that we do not lose valuable instructional time in the event of severe weather. This is covered below, but I wanted to remind everyone that February 16, 2018 is a release day for Ocee ES. This day was originally planned for February 15, but was moved when February 16 was made a school day after Hurricane Irma. We discussed cancelling this day given the recent weather closings, but due to the close proximity of the date and the importance of having professional learning for our staff, we have decided to move forward as planned.
We are all very excited about Bingo Night tomorrow and also look forward to meeting with our newcomer parents and our moms tomorrow morning! Please make plans to attend our February 8th administrative coffee as we will have important updates from our PTA about plans for next year.
As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have questions: mooregr@fultonschools.org.
Best Regards,
Ryan Moore
Principal & Ocee Parent
SNOW DAY MAKE-UP DIFFERS FROM FULTON COUNTY
Because Ocee had an Ocee-only release day during the time period that FC has announced as a weather make-up day, Ocee's make-up days differ from what FC has announced.
FEB. 15 - YES CLASS (this was an Ocee Release Day and has been changed to make-up for weather).
FEB. 16 - NO CLASS (even though FC says this is a make-up day, it is an Ocee-only release day).
MAR. 9 - NO CLASS (this will be a Digital Learning Day from home - details to come).
MAR. 12 - YES CLASS (was a work day, now is a FC-wide make up day).
Ocee Elementary Strategic Plan Update
The graphic below displays our draft outcomes and initiatives for each of the FCS Strategic Plan pillars. As a way to gather your input, we have created a new email address for you to pose questions and comments about the strategic plan, oceestrategicplan@fultonschools.org. Our school governance council will monitor the input from this account in the coming months to help guide our finalized draft.
We appreciate your support and input on this important process that will provide a clear focus on instruction and supporting all of our stakeholders.
NEED TO KNOW
Newcomer Parent Panel Discussion
Did your family join the Ocee community after the start of the school year? Would you like to get to know school personnel and PTA leaders better and learn more about Ocee? Then please join us for Ocee’s Newcomer Parent Panel Discussion on Friday, January 26, 2018, at 7:45 a.m. in the Ocee Learning Commons. A panel of school employees and PTA representatives will be there to answer your questions and to welcome you to the Ocee community. See you there!
STEMtastic Jr. Club
This year Ocee is offering a free after-school science and engineering club for First and Second grade students. Please look for detailed information and a registration form in today’s Thursday papers. It is also linked here for your convenience.
The Coaches’ Corner, from Ann Scott Hanks, Problem-Based Learning Coach and STEAM Lab Instructor
“How was your day?” “Fine.”
“What did you learn today?” “I don’t know.”
Does that conversation sound familiar? Parents are often frustrated by these responses, because they genuinely want to know how their children are feeling and they are responding to what they are learning. So, in an attempt to get better responses, try asking better questions. This article gives some great suggestions for questions you can ask your children after school. No need to ask all 50 on one day! Mix it up to keep your child stimulated and thinking. Here’s to good conversations! https://herviewfromhome.com/50-questions-to-ask-your-kids-instead-of-asking-how-was-your-day/ .
Parent Workshop
Is homework time a daily hassle?
Do your child’s chores become yours?
Looking for tools and techniques that you can use daily to help your student succeed?
New Prospect Elementary will be hosting Tracy McConaghie, LCSW, from McConaghie Family Counseling. Mrs. McConaghie will be sharing her expertise in an interactive workshop on Monday, February 5th. Two sessions will be available - 6:30pm and 7:15pm. RSVP to mcleodcr@fultonschools.org
From the Clinic
Happy New Year! The clinic’s New Year’s resolution is for everyone at Ocee to become their healthiest and happiest in 2018! Here are a few steps to help you and your family achieve these goals even during cold and flu season:
As always:
Wash your hands with soap and water all the time
Try not to touch your face – eyes, nose, mouth
Drink lots of fluids – the more water, the better
Eat some fruit
Eat more veggies
Get 60 minutes of exercise a day
And the biggest one…get REST, even if only 15 minutes more! When your body is worn down, everything follows suit.
As a reminder, if your child is sick, stay home and rest. Taking care of you helps your family stay healthy too. A student can come back to school 24 hours after a fever is gone WITHOUT the use of medicine that lowers fever. A fever is defined as 100.3°F (37.9°C) or higher.
A healthy outside starts with a healthy inside!
Thanks in advance!
Shannon Watson
Ocee Clinic Assistant / Student Health Services / Fulton County Schools
Office: 470/254-9875| watsonsl@fultonschools.org | www.fultonschools.org
Family Book Club Night
Calling all 2nd graders and their parents: Join us for our first ever Family Book Club Night!
February 6, 2018, from 6:00-7:15pm. Please look for detailed information and a registration form in your child’s Thursday folder. It is also attached here for your convenience.
Ryan's Resource
This week's article focuses on strategies to develop strong and lasting partnerships. As we continue to adjust and develop our school strategic plan, it is important that we (staff/parents/community/business/service) look for ways to support each other. We have had several conversations this year about how we can develop these partnerships, and we've had both successes and failures. Our Parent Workshops, which were an attempt to provide more information about the instructional frameworks we use at Ocee, is one such example. These workshops were not very well attended, and so I have forced my team to reflect and rethink how we are going to communicate and share information with our stakeholders. I urge each of you to read through the article and think about the strategies mentioned. We will be using this article as a springboard for our work on how we reengage our broader community to support our staff and students.
I hope you enjoy the article: https://www.inc.com/articles/2000/08/20083.html?cid=email
Sincerely,
Ryan Moore
From Our PTA
Bingo Night, Basket Raffle, Silent Auction
Have you reserved your spot for Bingo Night tomorrow?!? We have a sold out crowd for Session 2 (7:00-8:30pm), but there are a limited number of openings for Session 1 (5:00-6:30 pm). We will take walk-up admissions for Session 1 on a first come, first served basis. Tickets are $8 and include pizza, drink, and a bingo card. Everyone who pre-registered & provided a valid email address should have received an email confirmation.
*Instructions for Entering:
For both sessions, please enter through the back of the gym. To get there, walk around past the cafeteria to the back of the school, and go through the gate at the basketball courts. The doors to the gym will open at 4:45 for Session 1 and 6:45 for Session 2. We invite you to gather in the gym, where you may browse the raffle basket, buy additional raffle tickets for $1 each, and/or finish dropping your last few tickets in the raffle boxes. The registration tables in the rotunda area will open for check-in at 5:00 for Session 1 and 7:00 for Session 2.
Basket Raffle Info:
Tickets will be for sale tomorrow in the lobby of the school from 7:10-7:40 am, and from 11am-1pm. Tickets will also be for sale at Bingo Night for $1 each. Basket Raffle winners will be drawn at the conclusion of Session 2. You need not be present to win. Be sure you have written your name and phone number on the back of your raffle tickets as this is how we identify the winners. Good luck!
PLEASE BRING CASH FOR PURCHASING RAFFLE TICKETS, CONCESSIONS, ETC. WE CANNOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS AT THIS EVENT!
Finally, DON’T FORGET, we are also hosting our first ever silent auction in conjunction with Bingo Night. Register at www.biddingowl.com/oceeauction and follow the activation instructions to bid NOW. Bidding will close tomorrow at 5pm. There are some great items on there with low bids, check them out! Winners may pick up their items after paying for them.
Questions about Bingo Night, Basket Raffle, or Silent Auction? Contact Derek Scheidt at derek.scheidt@coldwellbankeratlanta.com
Munchkins with Mom
Munchkins with Mom was rescheduled to today & tomorrow due to the snow days last week. We will be hosting Moms (or special ladies!) & kids with last names M-Z tomorrow morning from 7:10-7:40am in the cafeteria. If you missed it today but are able to come tomorrow instead, please join us!
AR Valentine's Amazon Fire Tablet Challenge
From Monday, February 5th thru Friday, February 9th, Accelerated Reader quiz-takers can earn chances to win an Amazon Fire Tablet with Kindle! The more points you earn, the more chances you have to win!
The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day, Wednesday, February 14th. Good luck and keep those cars moving on the race track! AR 4th period ends Wednesday, February 14th. Remember that AR keeps going until April 27th.
Please contact Barry and Rosa (OceeAR@gmail.com) with questions.
Community News
ACE Bowlathon
The ACE Bowlathon is coming up! For those of you who do not know ACE (A Community Effort) was started by a former Ocee Otter teacher, Rebecca Polli. ACE raises money for families with children who have chronic diseases and need help paying their bills. Rebecca started this foundation after one of her students’ passed away during the year. We would love to have you come out and support ACE by participating in the Bowlathon. It is our biggest event of the year! The registration website is live, so get your team signed up! The event is on February 3rd from 2:30-4:30 at the Brunswick Zone in Roswell. We will have amazing prizes once again for those who hit the $50 minimum of fundraising. We already have collected tons of prizes! You can find an update of prizes on the ACE Facebook page if you want to see!
Click here to register and/or donate!
Sports, Arena & Entertainment Community Hackathon
Join The Farm and the BridgeCommunity commercialization program to dream up the next big breakthrough in sports and entertainment on Feb. 17th at SunTrust Stadium! Build something new with your family, hack on cutting-edge technology and win cool prizes. Atlanta high school and university students and their families are invited to attend this day-long, idea challenge. We are also encouraging students of all ages to participate. If the students are younger than High School age, an adult is required to stay at the event with them. Expect plenty of hardware to test with, coding kits for younger participants, delicious food, interesting judges and more! REGISTER: http://bit.ly/2CUj9Ql
Reminders
Student Hardship Transfers - Deadline February 28
Beginning January 1, 2018, parents of Fulton County students can apply for a 2018-2019 hardship transfer to another Fulton County school or request renewal of an existing hardship transfer. Allowable reasons are FCBOE employee, medical, curriculum difference and child care (elementary and middle school only). for more information, contact: FCS Student Assignment Office at 470254-5550 or go to the FC website. Information regarding Open Enrollment transfers will be released on May 1.
Outstanding Character Educational Excellence
Ryan Moore, Principal @oceeprincipal
Shannan LaPorte, AP
CST
Anna Aronowitz, Counselor
Email: fowlerjj@fultonschools.org
Website: www.oceeotters.com
Location: 4375 Kimball Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA, United States
Phone: 470-254-2960
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceeElementary
Twitter: @oceeotters