OHES Paw Prints
Principal's Update - March/April 2020
EARLY SPRING GREETINGS!
We have enjoyed some warmer weather the past few days and are hopeful that the spring season is arriving early. This past winter we did enjoy some wonderful school events with our students. Once again, our school counselors organized The Great Kindness Challenge and all of our students participated in the week-long activities. On February 5th our teachers and students took part in the Global Day of Play. You can read more about the event here. Students and staff also celebrated Read Across America early in March and enjoyed having special guest readers visit classrooms.
Our PTA event, Around the World in One Night was a lot of fun! It was so wonderful to see many families at our school celebrating the many cultures of our school community. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to make this event so special.
With the coming spring season we look forward to many annual events including our 1st and 2nd grade choral concerts, kindergarten registration and special visits from award winning authors (thank you PTA!). Parent-teacher conferences are just around the corner and I know you will appreciate this time to hear about your child's progress in school and set future goals collaboratively with your child's teacher.
Mr. Van Hise and I wish you all a healthy and relaxing upcoming spring break with your families!
Warmest regards,
Mrs. Scotti
Practices for Staying Healhty & Handwashing Protocols
Please review letters recently sent from our acting superintendent, Mary McLoughlin, regarding ways to stay healthy this season: Parent Letter - Flu Cold 2019-2020.pdf in addition to recently blasted COVID-19 Information and Updates that are available on our district website.
As a school, our nurses and teachers are reinforcing healthy practices and hand washing protocols with students and our custodial team has implemented disinfecting routines. We encourage parents to consider including hand wipes/sanitizer with children's snacks/lunches to supplement what the school has available.
World Autism Awareness Day
World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2020. Joined by the international community, hundreds of thousands of landmarks, buildings, homes and communities around the world, light blue in recognition of people living with autism.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/world-autism-awareness-day
Read more about helping children understand autism.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Save the Date!
Come hear a special presentation from VES school administrators, Ms. Lacy and Mrs. Camuto, and tour Village Elementary School and third grade classrooms. Our second grade students will also have a special visit to VES on the same day. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students and parents to learn about the transition to VES and how similar our elementary schools are.
Welcome to Kindergarten!
We are excited to welcome our new group of kindergarten students very soon. Come learn about our school, the kindergarten program and ways to get involved with our school community. More information will be coming from the school once the registration process is completed.
Montgomery Township Education Foundation Grant Recipients
First grade teacher Mrs. Santoro and academic support teacher Mrs. Abiad collectively wrote a grant for $20,000 to add books to the first grade book room to support classroom instruction. $10,000 worth of books were ordered last year and the remaining funds will support expanding the book collection this spring.
Our media specialist, Ms. Baller, was also awarded a nearly $6,000 grant to add Vox books to our school library. Vox books are the world's first audio books that live in print books. The permanently attached Vox reader transforms an ordinary print book into an all-in-one read-along. There's no need for computers, tablets or CDs. Children simply push a button to listen and read.
Thank you MTEF for your continued support of innovative teaching and learning for our students and congratulations teachers for your ingenuity!