Ocean Avenue Friday Notes

In the above picture, fourth graders in Mr. Rounds’ class are learning about factors and multiples by digging into the areas of different rectangles.

September is National Attendance Awareness month. Students who miss two or more days during this crucial first month of school are significantly more likely to be chronically absent for the entire year! Help your child(ren) to be at school on time every day!

This event is designed to center multilingual families. English-only families interested in coming can also participate. The dialogue will focus on 2 questions about parent communication & engagement.

• 5:30 to 7:00 in the school cafeteria
  
  
• Transportation is available:

1. from Motel 6 at 5:00, and back again at 7:05
2. from Central Office at 5:10 and back again at 7:05

• Childcare available on site
• The meal being served is Halal

The dialogue will start around 6 PM. We will have 4 circles focused on these languages: French, Linguala, Portuguese, and Spanish. Each circle will have a translator from the multilingual office. We will be talking about communicating with families and family engagement in their child's learning. We will be gathering the ideas to help us improve as a school.

• 9/19: Fire Drill on Tuesday
• 9/20: Shared Space Cafe ~ Parent Meeting, 5:30 PM
• 9/29: Third Grade Field Work at Gumbo Dam
  
• 10/2: First Day of Learning Works (TENTATIVE)
• 10/10: PTO Meeting at 5:30 PM, OAES Library
• SAVE THE DATE - 10/11 - School Picture Day!
  
• SAVE THE DATE - 10/20 - Flu Shot Clinic at OAES (More info to come)
• 10/20: First Grade Field Trip to Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine
• 10/30: Kindergarten Field Trip to Merrill Auditorium

To look ahead to future meetings, school events, etc, please click on the link below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Dear Parents/Guardians of Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders,

Your child will take the Maine State Test, given every year for grades 3-8, and grade 10. This is the NWEA Through-year Assessment, and is given three times through the school year ~ fall, winter, and spring. This information helps teachers check student performance by measuring achievement and growth. Teachers use results to tailor classroom lessons and set goals for students. Here are the dates:

• 5th Grade at 8:45 AM - Oct 10 (Reading) and Oct 17 (Math)

• 4th Grade at 10:15 AM - Oct 11 (Reading) and Oct 18 (Math)

• 3rd Grade at 8:15 AM - Oct 20 (Reading) and Oct 21 (Math)

MAP Growth tests are unique, and it adapts to your child’s responses to measure your child’s skill level. If your child answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier. These results will provide a more complete picture of what your child knows and is ready to learn—whether it is on, above, or below grade level. This assessment is designed to be untimed. Students will be provided as much time as they need to answer all assessment questions. For the average student, the assessment will take about 60 minutes for each subject (Reading and Math).

The Through-year Assessment is used by the State of Maine to look at student proficiency (Are students meeting grade level standards?) and student growth (Are students growing in their academic abilities across the school year?). Each school year, students in grades 3, 4, and 5 take the tests in October and May. Following each testing period, you will receive a Family Report showing a summary of how your child is performing academically. We, at OAES, also give this assessment as a mid-year check in for both students to see their progress, and for teachers to make any adjustments needed for the second part of the year.

We are truly excited to focus on your child’s individual growth and achievement. For more information about MAP Growth, visit NWEA.org/familytoolkit.

Sincerely,

Beverly Stevens

OAES School Principal

I wanted to share a little more about Playworks with you! We now have an intentional opening recess and closing recess routine. For some older students who were used to our previous routines, this is a significant change. However, we firmly believe that this is an important change in order to establish and maintain a play environment that supports every student to be their best.

Recess should be a time when everyone feels welcome, not just those who have had the opportunity to focus and develop athletic skills such as shooting hoops or dribbling a soccer ball. Our routines are designed to support this. As Playworks puts it, "when more kids feel like they can join in, more kids stay physically active during free time--without even thinking about it."

We do take time during the recess opening to review expectations around this and all areas of recess. This does not take up much time, and as we build familiarity with the routines, it is taking even less time. I will share more next week about some of the specific strategies that we are implementing to support student problem-solving at recess. In the meantime, here is a link to Playworks if you would like to read more.

Ask your student about their first visit to the library! We had a great time reading books and talking about how the library is organized. Students are excited to read and be responsible book borrowers.

NEW THIS YEAR: While the library is open for borrowing every morning, each grade has a set library day for returns and checkouts. It's a great day to remind your students to bring back their books.

• K/1 - Check with classroom teacher
• 2nd Grade - FRIDAY
• 3rd Grade - MONDAY
• 4th Grade - THURSDAY
• 5th Grade - TUESDAY

Looking for a library book to return? Check the spine and the back for our library stickers that match the photos here.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Reading!

Ms. Eva

Ms. Nika, Ocean Avenue's Environmental Literacy teacher, will be helping to connect classroom learning with the environment, which we know is vital at this time on our planet. This work in the living schoolyard will help students build relationships, reciprocity, respect, and responsibility for our Earth in a shared learning experience.

Please see Ms. Nika's Nature Notes below for the week of September 11th!

As Maine, like other states around the nation, experiences an uptick in COVID-19 cases, the Portland Public Schools continues to follow the CDC guidance regarding COVID, including staying home when you are sick.

Please click HERE to view our COVID-19 protocols.

It is very important that all parents & guardians fill out your family’s Household Income Data Form. The information from the form helps us maximize the state revenue our school district receives.

The information you provide enables the Portland Public Schools to have a correct count of the number of our families that qualify as economically disadvantaged. That data helps us receive accurate state education aid for our community.

Families may complete the Household Income Data Form in your Campus Parent Portal. Alternatively, you will be receiving a personalized link from the district with this electronic form next week. Please know that the information you provide is protected and won’t be shared.

For parents wanting their child to possibly ride a bus home with another student, please provide at least a day's notice to the school's main office. Riding the bus home with another student isn't an automatic, and involves approval from PPS Transportation.

Many factors are taken into consideration including if there is room on that particular bus, and whether or not the student is already a bus-eligible student. For students that are not bus-eligible, and if there is room on a bus, we can put in a request for a one-time waiver to ride the bus home. If approved, this is a one-time only permission and will not be granted again for the remainder of the school year. If there is room on a bus and the student is bus-eligible, the front office will contact Transportation to put in the request, and if approved, the student will be given a note showing approval that they are to hand to the driver on the bus they are taking that day (if different from their regular bus).

As you can see, it isn't as simple as writing a note to ride on a different bus for the day and assuming that permission has been granted. We appreciate you understanding the process that the transportation department has set forth and for providing us at least one-day's notice for this type of request. Thank You!

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