Montera Middle School eBulletin
October 25, 2021
Important Dates
(scroll down for more information)
Monday-Friday, October 25-29 - Montera Spirits week!
Thursday, October 28 - Pep Rally, 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Wednesday, November 3 - PTO board meeting, 6:00 PM- 7:00 PM
Saturday, November 6 - Campus work day, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday, November 9 - Montera Prospective Families Night, 6:00 PM
Friday, November 12 - Afterschool Program closed
Thursday, November 18 - Round Table Pizza fundraiser
Friday, November 19 - Afterschool Program closed and Sports canceled
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Montera School Events and Activities - This Week
Pep Rally - Parents neeeded!
Our Pep Rally is Thursday, October 28th from 1:30-3:15 PM on the field. The administration is asking for adult presence. We will need 10 volunteers.
Contact PTO President Loryn Hudson if you can help: president@monterapto.com
November PTO Board Meeting - Everyone is welcome!
When: Wednesday, November 3, 6:00 PM- 7:00 PM
November Agenda
1. Toro Tours For Prospective Families
2. Work Day
3. Community Grant
4. Lunch Volunteers
5. Garbage Cans
6. April/May Auction Planning
7. Warriors Game
The Zoom link has been posted in Parent Square.
Campus Work Day!
When: Saturday, November 6, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thank you for giving the Montera campus some much-needed TLC! We need your help for November.
The plan for November is to:
1. Paint the yellow benches in the courtyard and 8th-grade circle
2. Clean the windows in the courtyard and MUR.
3. Pick up trash.
4. Prepare Planters
5. Wash walls to get rid of dirt and cobwebs.
6. Vacuum and sweep under portable ramps.
Can’t be there for long? No problem. Join us for however long you can.
Sign up here
Thank you.
Loryn, Jason, Paul, Pam, Jennifer, and Stephen
Girls Soccer Coach needed!
Montera Sports is looking for a girls soccer coach. Please contact Kenya Latimore at kenya.latimore@ousd.org
OUSD details are here https://www.oakmssports.org/youth-leagues/girls-soccer/
In-person Campus Tours for Prospective Parents -- Volunteers Needed
School options season is almost upon us. Montera will host virtual information sessions and several in-person tours.
The first virtual information night will take place on
** Tuesday, November 9th, at 6:00 PM**
- Wednesday, November 17
- Friday, December 10
- Wednesday, December 17
- Friday, January 7
- Friday, January 21
Sign up to lead or attend tours:
Looking for concert attire
The Montera Music Program is excited to hold its first in-person concert on December 2nd and 3rd.
Volunteers needed!
Help our teachers put up student art and classwork, and decorate their classrooms.
Email president@monterapto.com if you are interested.
Ride 4A Reason -- Volunteer needed
We are in need of a volunteer who will attend the Ride 4A Reason monthly meetings and then email communication to the PTO.
Ride 4A Reason is a fundraising ride sponsored by the Claremont PTA benefiting public schools in Oakland and Alameda. Last year, Montera received $9,309 in donations from the event.
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Montera Sports & After-School Activities Updates
Basketball conditioning
If you're student is interested in participating, please register and upload your forms here as soon as possible. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8wkN7zpV8GXdENeHLlBB4DrLLbM_DlmlF-K_JFQCBpniKyg/viewform).
Hip Hop Dance Class Coming Soon!
Montera is partnering with Destiny Arts to bring Hip Hop Dance Class to our afterschool on Thursday afternoons. Please email afterschool@monterapto.com if you are interested.
Destiny teaching artists are supported to engage and partner with classroom teachers so that they can co-create a positive classroom culture and draw connections to classroom curriculum.
New Classes Being Offered in the Afterschool Program
Two new classes are starting in our Afterschool Program. Students who are interested should have heard the pitches for these programs last Monday. Classes start this week. These classes are offered through Envisioneering Apprenticeships.
In Pencil Code, students take on self-directed coding challenges to build skill (and earn badges) in that varied roles needed for successful game design, including artist, designer and engineer. Students learn the basics of coding using Pencil Code, learn how to code a variety of basic animated video games, and will decide on a type of video game they will create for the WOW! Students innovate on their favorite projects to improve upon their basic design and build a web-based portfolio of their games for guests at the WOW! to play.
Spoken Word - Wednesdays from 2:30-4 PM
Students learn about how practicing spoken word poets write, rehearse, and perform their work. Builds students’ communication skills holistically: reading, writing, and performance are interwoven in a challenging, collaborative and supportive environment. In each lesson, students read and discuss a mentor text that models particular skills or elements of poetry, then use it as a springboard to write or revise their own texts designed to engage, entertain, and affect an audience.
Coming soon - Fiber Arts Club with Ms. Shogbesan!
Do you have excess yarn and crocheting/knitting needles from all those projects you started (and possibly did not finish)? Please consider donating them to Ms. Shogbesan and the new fiber arts club -- embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, and crocheting -- she will be launching soon. She'd love a parent co-sponsor for the club too.
Interested in helping out? Contact Ms. Shogbesan at holly.shogbesan@ousd.org.
Afterschool Theater Classes Coming in January!
Oakland Theater Project is coming to Montera ASP. Topics include an introduction to scenes, character analysis, partner work, and theater games. These components will come together to mount a full production. For more information, contact Christy Bradshaw at bradshawceo@gmail.com
Winter Sports!
Winter Sports (Girls & Boys Basketball and Girls & Boys Soccer) are around the corner.
If you're student is interested in trying out for these teams, please register and upload your forms here as soon as possible. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8wkN7zpV8GXdENeHLlBB4DrLLbM_DlmlF-K_JFQCBpniKyg/viewform).
Please note it can take 1-2 weeks for your registration to be processed and conditioning practices will start in mid-late October.
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Fundraising Events
Donate to Montera Now!
Help Montera reach the finish line. We need to raise $11,000 to support the Montera Mini-Grant Program. This program enables our teachers to get funding and purchase books and supplies for special projects.
Make your tax-deductible gift here: Donate to Montera PTO
Montera Relief Fund is Back to Help Toro Families in Need
Last year the pandemic prompted the Montera community to create the Montera Relief Fund to help Toro families in need. Last year we were able to raise almost $20,000 for groceries, small cash grants distributed confidentially by administrators to families, and a holiday gift drive.
Once again, we have families of students who have been hit hard by COVID and need your help. Trusted Montera staff find out what the families need and personally deliver it. The Coordination of Services Team confidentially handles requests from families.
Can you donate now to help Montera families in need?
If you are a student or family in need of support, reach out to any teacher or staff, Ms. Harambe at tina.harambe@ousd.org, or Coach D or Mr. Latimore at sports@monterapto.com. All support is confidential.
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Other Announcements and Upcoming Events
P-EBT Cards
A second mailing of P-EBT cards in your student's name should be arriving to your home before December 1, 2021. This card accrues about $100 a month to purchase groceries. If families do not use the benefits, then the money will go to waste.
Please consider using the P-EBT card to buy food at a local grocery store an/or donating the card t our Montera Families In Need Program
Here is the link to find a store that accepts P-EBT: https://usda-fns.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e1f3028b217344d78b324193b10375e4
Contact Dunia Wilder at creolelala@gmail.com for card or grocery donation.
Montera Safety Bargaining Team Survey
Ms. Ranahan (7th Grade Math) and Mr. Pettengill (6th Gr. Humanities) have joined the OEA Safety Bargaining Team and are seeking YOUR input into our upcoming negotiating sessions.
Fighting for safety in our schools is going to take all of us working together. Please ensure the bargaining team hears as many voices and perspectives as possible by completing this feedback form: https://tinyurl.com/SeptSafetySurvey
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Volunteering on Campus
Email president@monterapto.com once you are cleared.
Email volunteers@monterapto.com with any questions.
Supplies Request
First Aid
- Latex free band-aids (NOT with antibiotic medication in it) in assorted sizes. EVERY teacher needs at least one box and the front office and nurse's office also need a supply.
- Tweezers for splinters (not the plastic ones)
- Ice packs for PE and front office
- Vomit bucket for front office and pick up waiting area
Feminine supplies
- Cleansing wipes
- Assorted pads
- Tampons
- Assorted sizes back-up underwear (S/M/L/full-figured)
Add whatever you can think of... Thank you!
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Other Important Montera News and Information
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Support Montera All Year Round
Toro Store
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COVID
If your student is feeling ill
Returning to school:
- Get medically cleared (doctor's note or negative PCR test, AND symptoms have improved and student is fever-free for 24 hours - OR -
- 10 days have passed since onset of symptoms and student is no longer feeling ill
If your student tests positive for Covid-19
- Plan on staying home at least 10 days
- Notify the school of the results
- Work with the Contact Tracing Team
COVID Information from the District
- OUSD is required to report every single positive case to the ACPHD.
- A response team conducts contact tracing for each positive case and notifies families of students with prolonged close contact.
- If you are not notified, then your student was not determined to have prolonged close contact with the person who tested positive, so there is not a need to get tested unless your student develops symptoms.
- Vaccinated students do not need to quarantine as long as they are asymptomatic.
- Unvaccinated students who are asymptomatic can do a modified quarantine, continuing to attend school but testing twice a week for two weeks following exposure and not participating in any extracurricular activities.
- Exposed unvaccinated students may choose to stay home for 10 days with an excused absence. If so, they should contact their teachers for assignments during that time.
COVID Testing Information
COVID TESTING: Covid testing is available at multiple OUSD sites throughout Oakland. Find locations and times here.
TESTING PRE-REGISTRATION: Before attending an OUSD Covid testing site for the first time, you must register here. This is a one time only registration and can be done at any time. Families are encouraged to pre-register so they are ready to go should they need to get tested.
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Montera Middle School
This eBulletin is produced on a weekly basis by the Montera Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) except on holidays. It sometimes contains paid advertisements. These advertisements do not imply endorsement of any product or service by OUSD or Montera Middle School.
If you have news you'd like to include, please send it to eBulletin@monterapto.com by noon on Sundays. Submissions may be edited for spelling, grammar, brevity and clarity. In addition, while we strive for accuracy, being human sometimes gets in the way. If you spot something so off the mark we should hang our heads in embarrassment, please bring it to our attention. Thanks!
Be Safe. Be Kind. Be Responsible.
Email: eBulletin@monterapto.com
Website: https://www.ousd.org/montera
Location: 5555 Ascot Drive, Oakland, CA, USA
Phone: (510) 531-6070
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monterapto