Knightly News
Oakland-Craig Elementary Newsletter - February
Elementary News
It is hard to believe that we are a month into the new year already! Time sure flies! Of course, we continue to embrace our lovely Nebraska weather and have had a few snow days already. If you haven't received the calls from Mr. Smith when school has been closed for weather, please notify the office so we can get you added to the call list.
Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Monday, February 8 and Thursday, February 11. You can choose to attend in person, via phone call, or via Zoom video conferencing. Teachers sent home your scheduled time this past week. If you did not receive this, please contact your child's teacher. At conferences you will receive your child's 3rd quarter progress reports as well as their MAP test results. MAP testing is scheduled for January 26-February 4.
We have had several students experiencing anxiety for a variety of reasons. This seems to be more and more common with today's youth, likely for a variety of reasons, one being the stressors of Covid. If your child is experiencing symptoms of anxiety, please do not hesitate to reach out. We have opportunities to work with other students experiencing the same symptoms, meet with our counselor individually, or speak with our mental health practitioner. Ultimately, we want students to be able to identify signs of anxiety and develop strategies to cope with their anxiety.
On January 14 we were fortunate to have a team of administrators and ESU professionals visit our district for our 5 year external School Improvement review. They were able to meet with students, staff, parents, and administration to learn about the strengths as well as needs of the district. They were impressed with our community pride, student and staff relationships, use of data to inform instruction at the elementary, technology implementation, the tools being developed for mental health needs, and the implementation of our new English Language Arts program at the elementary level. Next steps for the district include revision of our teacher evaluation rubric to meet the recently updated state requirements and a stronger implementation of our instructional model. Overall, this was a great experience in which we were able to show this team how awesome our students, staff, and community here at Oakland-Craig are.
Lastly, we will be interviewing 4 candidates for our open elementary principal position. It is our goal to find somebody with a desire to do what is best for kids, has strong communication skills, the ability to build positive relationships, instructional leadership experience, and a visionary for our district. Interviews will be held on February 4. School will remain in session as normal.
As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out. Have a fantastic February!
Upcoming Events
February 4 - Principal Interviews
February 8 - Parent-Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00 p.m.
February 9 - 5th-6th Grade Spelling Bee
February 11 - Valentine's Day Parties
February 11 - Parent-Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00 p.m.
February 12 - No School
February 15 - Board of Education Meeting
February 19 - No School (Winter Break)
Contact Information
Elementary Principal
Email: jessbland@ocknights.org
Website: www.ocknights.org
Location: 400 N Brewster Ave, Oakland, Nebraska, USA
Phone: 402-685-5631
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oakland-Craig-Public-Schools-426103924195669/
Twitter: @O_CKnights