OTES Newsletter for Jan 7-11
Work Hard and Be Kind
Respect Quote this Week
Principal's Message
Winter Kids started at OTES and we have been very excited about the events coming up in our school. This week the challenge was to "get outside" and enjoy the winter! As you can imagine the weather challenged us a bit, but we were able to really find other ways to engage in physical activities. Many teachers provided YOGA, Go Noodles, Games that were more physical in nature, and a story walk for students to read and move at the same time. :
WEEK 2: Nutrition: Next week we will concentrate on Healthy Eating and attempt to eat a variety of food throughout the week. WE encourage families to do that same! Don't be afraid to send us some of your pictures from home too.
WEEK 3: Family Engagement. We will sponsor a Food Pop Up Party on January 23rd at OTES.
WEEK 4: Winter Carnival (January 30th, PTC will be helping with this. Look for the link next week to sign up and help out)
Author Visit on January 16:
- Two authors are visiting this year:
Russ Cox; https://www.smilingotis.com/
Roger Stevens: http://mainefocusphotography.biz/
We send home an order form if families want to purchase a book from these authors
- To prepare our students for the author visit, the teachers and the librarian provide a lot of pre-teaching about the authors.
- In our school, we have two story walks using the authors' books and we have hung those pages along the long hallway for teachers and students to read during their free time or inside recess breaks.
- Author visits are funded by our PTC (Parent Teacher Club). The PTC really helps to provide some activities that connect our students more deeply to the curriculum and give them additional experiences that expand their world.
Log your volunteer hours here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedQZN2AXyAN2cnwu-slFj4ozvMgJUJ4FAg7jZTgpvoKV6NLA/viewform
We are hoping our families will log at least 10 hours of support for our school this year.
Looking Back
Even though the weather has been challenging, the students and staff are really trying to get out and enjoy the snow and all it has to offer!
Did you know our school has an outdoor learning classroom? The classroom is tucked off the bike path not too far from our school. We have partnered with the University of Maine to provide this great learning site for our students. Most of the classrooms have been to the outdoor learning classroom, so ask your child about the experience.
Looking Ahead to the Week of January 14-18
January 14: Day 5
January 15: Day 6
January 16: Day 1: Author Visit
January 17: Day 2: 3th and 5th Grade K-Kids Meeting
January 18: Day 1: Talent Show Try Outs (Need permission slip to participate)
January 21: No School
If you are a parent of a 4th Graders, students will be selected for the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) testing in February of 2019. We will provide more information later, but wanted to give you a heads up to this one-day testing session.