Family Communication December 12
Weekly Pond News
Hello Otter families,
Families,
We want to remind everyone that we have our ❄️WINTERFEST❄️ event from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Thursday, December 14th. Winterfest bands are required for the bounce houses and games organized by our OES Staff (children under the age of 3, do not need a band). Bands will be available to be purchased up until the event through Rycor.
We are excited to introduce Kimberly Natal as our new assistant principal. Mrs. Natal has served several years as a school-based administrator and prior to that served as our district as and ELA Curriculum Specialist. Mrs. Natal's passion is literacy, so we are excited to have her join the OES team. Mrs. Natal will start at Oakstead tomorrow, December 12th. Please make sure to introduce yourself when you are on campus.
We hope everyone has an OTTERific week!
Dr. Steinacker, Ms. Leahy, & Mrs. Natal
🦦 News 🦦
Oakstead's Winter Fest
❄️WINTERFEST❄️ is this Thursday, December14th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Winterfest bands have gone home today, and are required for the bounce houses and games organized by our OES Staff (children under the age of 3, do not need a band). Please check your child's backpack to ensure that if your purchased by 12:00pm today (12/12), that your band has gone home. Please reach out to the front office if your bands were not sent home. Bands will be available to be purchased up until the event through Rycor. Bands are available for pick up on Wednesday or Thursday during the school day, or at our Winterfest event. All members of the family are welcome to attend our event as we have a variety of vendors and food that will be available for purchase.
We will have the overflow parking open for this event. You can enter this area through the gate in the car loop. Vehicles will exit the property on to Joy Road. Please follow the instruction of our volunteers when parking and exiting.
We have expanded the event across the campus and will have additional lighting to improve safety. The inflatable houses and obstacle course will be out on the basketball courts. Activities and games being put on by our staff will be throughout the courtyard. All of our food vendors and food trucks will be in the parking area by the cafeteria and all of our vendors will be in the cafeteria. We have several new vendors joining us this year so please plan to visit these local small businesses. As a reminder, the funds raised from the event will be put towards the purchase of additional computer carts, providing teachers with extra collaborative planning, and other special events during second semester. We look forward to seeing everyone there.
Here is a list of the vendors who will be here Thursday evening:
Maria’s Farmhouse Boutique, Sugar Vibe, Hello Love Bug, Thirty One Bags, Tampa Handmade, Make Ur Own Creation, Rayda & Company Candles, Trendy Nuggets, KK Creations, Soaps and Scrubs, Kurated by K8, Bold Choice Photography, Native/tropical plants, Artwork, Live Alive Global Coffee, Bakers’ Bakery, Disney travel agent, Henna, Freeze Dried Candy, Thrivent, Premier Martial Arts, Inked Essentials, and Caruso Group Keller Williams.
The Nachowagon, Capital Taco, Kelley’s Hotdogs and Thirsty Lemonade, Pizza Creator, Icedreammm, Cole’s Snow Kones, and Whit's Frozen Custard.
Holiday Theme Days
During the weeks of December 11-22, to get everyone into the holiday spirit, we have planned different Winter Theme Days. Students can participate by dressing up to match the day's theme. A calendar has been included below.
✏️ F.A.S.T. Testing ✏️
Thank you to our families for ensuring your child was at school during their F.A.S.T. testing to give your child the best environment to test in.
We will be holding make up testing for grades 3 through 5 on
December 18th and December 19th
Coming in the new year will be a parent night discussing updates related to F.A.S.T. testing. An important update to make you generally aware of now, is that the Florida Department of Education have updated what we refer to as scale scores and achievement levels for our students. They will be updating achievement levels for the assessments taken in Spring 2023 to reflect these new achievement levels based on the scale score. Please see the attached document with the updated scale scores and achievement levels, we will explain this in more detail at our parent F.A.S.T. night in the new year.
| Upcoming Events |
12/13: Otter Pond Awards * RESCHEDULED to 12/20*
12/14: 6:00pm to 8:00pm Winterfest
12/20: 10:00am STEM Showcase Judging
12/20: 10:00am Otter Pond Awards
12/20: 4:00 - 7:00 pm Chick fil a Night
12/23: WINTER BREAK!
1/9/2024: Students return from Winter Break - Start of Quarter 3
1/10/2024: Early Release Day, dismissal begins at 1:50.
1/15/2024: No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
1/16/2004: PTA Meeting
~ PTA News ~
Oakstead Elementary
Email: oes_administration@pasco.k12.fl.us
Website: https://oes.pasco.k12.fl.us/
Location: 17725 Lake Patience Road, Land O' Lakes, FL, USA
Phone: 813-346-1500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OaksteadElementarySchool/
Important Links
Pasco County Student Code of Conduct
Oakstead Parent Information Letter
Please consider how many snacks you are buying, as the class
only has about 25 minutes to eat lunch.
Den Shirts, School Fees, Field Trips, ID Badges, Car Tags