Oakleigh Owl News
March 2022
Message from the Principal
Hello Oakleigh Families,
Happy March! We have made it through the majority of winter and the days are getting longer and the weather is warming up. To kick off the start of March BCPS has lifted the mask mandate and masking is now optional. While some will choose to wear masks and other will not, as a school community, we are committed to respecting the decisions made by each of you. We would like to thank our families for their continued support during the last two years of constant change. If feels like we are starting to return to normal.
It is hard to believe that we are almost halfway through the third marking period. If you have not done so, please be sure to check your child’s grades through Schoology. This is a great way to check on how your child is doing in all classes and to see feedback from his/her teachers.
Please be aware that as spring approaches, all grade levels will be involved in standardized testing. Please be sure that your child’s device and charger are at school, so they are prepared for testing.
As a reminder, students should not arrive at school prior to 8:30. We know students would like to socialize, however we do not have staff available to monitor students prior to the doors opening.
As a reminder, March 18th is a half day. School will dismiss three hours early.
Again, thank you for your continued support. It is greatly appreciated!
-Mrs. Metheny
To celebrate Reading here at Oakleigh we will be having a spirit week March 7th-11th!
IGE 3
This month we are learned all about our emotions. The books we read helped us to learn what different emotions we might feel throughout the day. We are learning what things might make us feel a certain way. We are also continuing to learn about different sizes: small, medium, large. We are continuing to practice sorting and counting. This month we also sorted by shape, color, and size. We are also practiced recognizing our names! It was a busy month for preschool!
Pre-K
Pre-K will be learning about amazing animals this month. We are looking forward to completing research to learn about animals. We will work together to learn about the habitats and needs of tame and wild animals. At the end of the unit, we will work together to make animal sculptures using recycled materials. Donations of toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, tissue boxes or empty plastic bottles would be welcomed.
K
This month Kindergarten has continued to work hard on learning letters, letter sounds, sight words, and blending CVC words. We learned about what living things need to grow and how they change. We also learned about what grows on a farm.
In math, we’ve been working on identifying coins and their values. We are also counting from a given number other than 1, as well as counting backwards.
First Grade
First grade has been working on 2D and 3D shapes and their attributes and writing and representing fractions in math. In Language Arts we are studying how change takes place in our world and the literature we are reading. In Science we are learning about animals' external features, how they care for their young, and how they communicate.
Second Grade
Second grade has been working hard this month at learning about coins and place value concepts. We have talked about each coin, who/what is on them, and their value. We are also working on understanding ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands and how to represent them. In Language Arts we recently began our next unit focusing on how we can make a difference in the world and reading books about people who have made a difference. We are excited to begin a new science unit called "Sandy Situation" where we will get to investigate erosion and how the Earth's surface changes over time.
Third Grade
Third graders are soaring into the third quarter! In language arts, students have been deeply engaged in an investigation of exploration, motivations and risks or explorers and consequences of exploration. They analyzed multiple viewpoints of Columbus’ exploration of America and formed an opinion on the impact of this. We are currently working on developing a strong opinion essay to support our viewpoints on the question is exploration worth the risks.
In math, students have returned to multiplication and are quickly strengthening their fact fluency and strategies they use to solve equations. We have also expanded our knowledge of division by relating multiplication and division. Recently, students have begun the work to create and develop story problems which match a multiplication or division problem. They should continue to practice with flash cards or other activities in order to continue to increase their fact fluency! Thank you for your continued support with these skills at home!
Fourth Grade
Fourth grade engaged in read alouds, trivia, and research to celebrate the many history shaping contributions of African Americans during Black History Month! We all learned so much! In ELA, we are focused on the theme "Building on Our Past". Our anchor text, Inside Out and Back Again, will be a read aloud. This novel is written as a poem and follows the life of a Vietnamese family during the Vietnam War and their eventual immigration to America. During this unit students will be researching and learning about the Vietnamese culture. In math we will learn about geometry and measurement. The fourth graders are involved in a friendly competition using the program XtraMath. This online program allows them to master the basic facts beginning with addition and finishing with division. As each operation is mastered, students receive a certificate. One copy is sent home and another is displayed proudly in the hallway. It has been fun watching students compete with one another and other classes and learn at the same time. Please continue to have students practice basic multiplication whenever you can. Students have access to First in Math through BCPS, which provides them with fun activities to help them learn their facts. Quick recall of these facts makes multiplication and division with larger numbers much easier. In health, students will be comparing and contrasting good risks and bad risks and how to keep themselves safe.
In science, students will be learning about how energy can solve problems in the unit Soccket Solutions.
Fifth Grade
Fifth grade is finishing their ELA unit “Historical Fiction Genre” unit where the students read a novel. They will then be completing the culminating event where the students will present a book talk regarding how well the novel they read displays the components of the historical fiction genre. In math, fifth graders have been using the area model and partial products to solve multiplication problems. Next, the students will learn the standard algorithm of multiplication. The students finished the “Changes in Me” unit where they learned about puberty. In Social Studies, fifth graders just started the “Revolution” unit where they are learning about the American Revolution. Please make sure you are checking Schoology to keep updated on students’ grades.
FALS
The FALS classes spent some time in February learning about famous leaders in Black History! We got to look at some of the big things that happened in history.
In math, classes have been learning different things. Mrs. Pappas' class finished up base ten place value and introduced the 100 flat. Mrs. Mullen's class continued working on basic math skills. Mrs. Cunningham's class finished their double digit addition and subtraction unit!
We also celebrated the 100th day of school! Woohoo!
Spotlight on Library
Hello, Oakleigh families!
It’s your friendly neighborhood librarian here! I wanted to share some of the important topics we have been discussing thus far, and what will be coming up in the next few months.
Currently, we are learning about the following topics:
Kindergarten -- fiction books, nonfiction books
First Grade -- tangrams, visualization in stories
Second Grade – what makes great books great, cultural traditions around the world
Third Grade -- what makes you unique; poetry conventions
Fourth Grade -- how to promote great books, online reading strategies, healthy media habits
Fifth Grade -- Newbery, Coretta Scott King and Schneider Award winning books; historical graphic novels
A few announcements/reminders:
Please continue encouraging your child to read at home! 20 minutes a day will strengthen reading skills and expand vocabulary!
I know our scholars love their library books, but they should return them as soon as they are finished so that other friends can check them out.
We will be having a SPRING book fair! YAY! Stay tuned for more information about our BUY ONE GET ONE FREE book fair!
I look forward to finishing this unique school year strong with our fantastic scholars!
Mrs. Varounis
Friday, March 18th- Early Dismissal (12:35)
Friday, April 1st- Early Dismissal End of 3rd Quarter (12:35)