VO News You Can Use
Dr. O's Weekly Parent Newsletter
NCSD Mission Statement
Developing each student's potential with a world class education.
April 15, 2019
Dear Village Oaks Families,
As you know, Spring Fling is our biggest fundraising event of the year. This fundraiser supports our school, teachers, and students directly. Additionally, this fundraiser cannot happen without volunteers from our VO community! Many of our teachers have signed up to volunteer, we now need your help. If we do not have enough volunteers, we will not be able to run all of the fun games! Don’t let this year be the year Spring Fling was cut short!
Please use the link to sign up today: Spring Fling Volunteer Sign Up
We also are in need of new board members for VOICE (PTO) for the 2019-2020 school year. VOICE does an amazing job of coordinating school fundraisers, family fun nights, creating our directory, providing treats for teacher appreciation week, and creating our yearbook just to name a few of the things. If you are interested in becoming a part of our amazing PTO please contact me or our VOICE president Serena German at serenagerman@gmail.com
A few important reminders:
- Our Playground is off limits to community members until 6:00pm after our CARE students are dismissed from school.
- This Friday we do not have school.
- Between 3:45 pm-4:15 pm please do not park your car in the parking spots in the car drop off loop. We have almost experienced several collisions due to parents pulling out of those spots as cars are moving through the loop.
- Please review the article below of what parents can to prepare their children for success as we begin M-Step and NWEA testing later this month.
Sincerely,
Alex
VO Destination Imagination
VO Science Olympiad
Village Oaks teams participated in Wayne Oakland Science Olympiad (WOSO) for the first time this school year. 11 students from 4th grade and 15 students from 3rd grade practiced for their respective events over the last 4 months along with their parents as coaches for various events. All 26 students competed during the tournament, on Saturday 13th April at Schoolcraft College, Livonia MI and performed exceptionally well! Many parents put a substantial amount of time and effort into coaching the 26 teams over the past 4 months. A very special thank to all of the parent coaches for their commitment to supporting our teams! Congratulations to all of our students who competed and placed at the tournament.
4th grade team winners: Amazing Arthropods: Aveek Sahana and Neerad Aneesh: 6th Place Simple Machines: Manysri Narasepalli and Nithin Mathana Kumaran: 6th Place Source Code: Rushil Yeole and Srihan Attaluri: 4th Place Weather or Not: Rushil Yeole and Rujula Yeole: 1st Place 3rd grade team winners: A for Anatony: Anoop Jagana and Abhiram Saladi: 6th Place Crime Busters: Avaneesh Dale and Meghana Attuluri: 3rd Place Source Code: Shlok Mote and Saichandra Hasith Gaddam: 2nd Place Starry starry Night: Diya Ural and Angad Kumar: 3rd Place Honorable mention: Rachana Raghunathan and Varshini Barla stood 10th in Grasp-a-graph event for 4th grade. Sahas Nanimandalam and Charisma Andra stood 10th in Rock Hound event for 4th grade. Diya Ural and Angad Kumar stood 7th in Charged up event for 3rd grade. Sanjeev Vadivel and Lakshmi Ananya Peddinti stood 7th in Simple machines event for 3rd grade. Jenna Davis and Sheikh Ndow stood 7th in Wildlife Safari even for 3rd grade.
Jenn Smith in Boston
Novi Meadows 4th Grade Upcoming Events
VO Spelling Bee
A GREENER VO
Village Oaks is undertaking the goal of creating a GREENER school space and Novi community. To achieve this goal we are educating students on environmental literacy in our classrooms, and will be sharing tips and ideas that can make our families healthier and households more eco-friendly.
Celebrate Earth Day 2019 by stopping by Busch's of Novi, Thursday, April 18th!
Village Oaks students are leaders in striving for a Greener, more eco-friendly future. This week, in honor of Earth Day, VO is teaming with Busch's of Novi to take our messages of environmental awareness to the community. The VO Student Lighthouse Team members will be at Busch's from 5-7pm this Thursday to pass out paper bags that students from throughout the school have decorated with different messages and ideas for making our community a Greener place. We hope to see you there!
NCSD Kindergarten Registration
VO’s Kindergarten parent meeting is on Wednesday April 17, 2019 at 6:30pm.
*All students need to be registered prior to attending the parent meeting.*
2019 Spring Fling
Our 2019 Village Oaks Spring Fling is right around the corner and we need your help! Spring Fling is our school's biggest fundraiser and we can’t do it without you… we need well over 200 volunteers to make this night a success!
Just an hour of your time will get you tickets to the event and a fun evening with your family, friends and/or community group!
Please use the link to sign up today: Spring Fling Volunteer Sign Up
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at VOSpringFling@gmail.com or Shertina Spencer at (248) 904-2996.
VO School Day Conversations
How do you synergize at home?
How did you synergize in school last week?
What does it mean to "catch a bubble" as you exit the cafeteria?
At VO, we have HEART!
In Novi Community School District we believe in promoting high expectations for academics, meeting the emotional well being of our students and celebrating positive behavior for all of our learners.
At Village Oaks Elementary, we are building a culture of collaboration, leadership, and citizenship. As a school community, we strive to:
- Have a growth mindset
- Empathize and show kindness
- Act responsibly
- Respect everyone
- Team up and collaborate with others
Last Leaderific Friday as a school we provided a lesson to our student on Autism for Autism Awareness month. Please check in with your child to see what they learned Autism.
Over the weekend 4th grader Kavini Sree participated in a ceremony in Canton where she spoke about Dr. Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution on the eve of his 128th Birthday today! Kavini was recognized for her special speech and received a bouquet from the chief guests for her participation in the event! Great job Kavini...continue leading with HEART!
Spring Fling
Community Resources
Autism Spectrum Disorder Community Events through Oakland University's OUCARES
Evening Enrichment Events with OUCARES: There is no cost to attend the Evening Enrichment Series. However space is limited so please RSVP to oucares@oakland.edu.
- OUCARES Annual Family Fun Day, Saturday March 23, 2019 12-4pm Oakland University Recreation Center. Come and enjoy a day of fun for the entire family! Activities include an information fair with over 20 organizations. NO COST TO ATTEND.
PAASN
The Parents of African American Students in Novi is an officially recognized support group of the district, and they support all students. One way they do this is to offer tutoring sessions in reading and math. Please see the attached flyers for more information. All are welcome.
Mentoring Support for Students:
Novi Youth Assistance offers three types of mentoring programs for students in our community.
- If you are interested in having your child participate in or if you have questions regarding the Silver Lining school-based mentoring program, please contact our Social Worker, Amber Zarb at amber.zarb@novik12.org.
- If you are interested in more of a community-based mentoring support, please contact Novi Youth Assistance at 248-347-0410 for more information on Mentors PLUS and First Responder Mentors. http://www.cityofnovi.org/Government/City-Services/Youth-Services.aspx
- If you are interested in becoming a Mentor, please contact Novi Youth Assistance at 248-347-0410.
Volunteer and Donation Opportunities
PTO is CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!
Your support to our school in the volunteering of your time is extremely valuable to all of us! We cannot help our students and staff in the planned activities without YOU! Please consider signing up for one of our committees by clicking on the link below:
Your time is so greatly valued and appreciated!
VO Flags
One of the things that makes our building so special is our diverse student population--we have families in our community who come from all over the world! To celebrate our global diversity we have hung flags in our cafeteria that represent many of the countries of our VO families. As a gift from VO retirees we were given flags of the following countries: Israel, India, England, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, South Korea, China, and USA. Thank you to our parents who have also donated the following flags: Poland, Singapore, Japan, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Nepal, Greece, Pakistan, Uruguay, Ecuador, Portugal, Spain, Central African Republic, South Africa, Wales, Iceland, Australia, Armenia, and Sri Lanka. If you would like to purchase a flag of your country of origin or to represent one of the many nationalities of our school please visit Amazon and search for an ANLEY 3x5 flag: VO Flags
Before purchasing and donating the flag to our school’s collection please contact me or one of our secretaries with the flag information so we can make sure that another family has not already ordered the same flag.
Upland Hills Farm Visits VO
VO students enjoyed the petting zoo provided to us by Upland Hills Farm on Friday! Enjoy the pictures below.
Playworks
Village Oaks & Orchard Hills Elementary were the first two elementary schools in NCSD to become part of the Play movement and make play a priority with Playworks in the 2017-2018 school year! This year all NCSD elementary schools will partner with Playworks to enhance the learning experiences for students throughout the district. Playworks is the leading nonprofit in Michigan and nationally using play to transform schools. A Playworks recess creates a place for every kid on the playground to feel included, be active, and build valuable social and emotional skills. Please click on the link below and read the attached Playworks article to learn more about our partnership and Patrice our Playworks Coach!
Learn more at https://www.playworks.org/services/welcome/teamup/
New games & cheer
Earlier this month we played Chi Master, Huckle Buckle Beanstalk, and Dr. Pepper. These three games can serve as excellent brain breaks and games for indoor or outdoor recess. Attached you will find a mini game guide. Playworks also has an excellent resource page with many game ideals and research. Our new cheer for the month is Muncheechee.
Looking Ahead
4/17/2019--Incoming Kindergarten Parent Night 6:30pm
4/19/2019--No School
5/2/2019--Bonaventure Skate Night 6:15pm-8:30pm
5/6/2019-5/10/2019--Staff Appreciation Week
5/27/2019--Memorial Day-No School
Parent Pick-up/Parking & Bus Stop Expectations
As you pick-up and drop off your children please be mindful of the following:
- Do not park in front of our neighbors' driveways or mailboxes.
- Park in our parking lot and keep your pet in your car.
- For the safety of our students do not walk your children through our bus loop as students are loading/exiting our busses.
- Stay in your car as you drive through our car loop.
- Please do not drop off children before 8:55am. We do not have any supervision outside prior to this time.
- If you arrive late, please walk your child into the office and sign them in.
We ask that you remind your children that VO expectations/rules apply at our bus stops. We expect all of our students to be on their best behavior as they wait for their bus and we appreciate your help.
Thank you for your support!
CARE
Please remember if there is a change in your child's CARE schedule you need to notify Holly Bengle no later than 3:15. She will then contact the teachers. Holly Bengle can be reached at
holly.bengle@novik12.org or (248) 449-1307.
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VILLAGE OAKS MISSION
The mission of Village Oaks Elementary is to create and maintain an educational environment that supports academic achievement, consistent with district, state and national standards to meet all students' learning needs.
VO 2018 National Blue Ribbon Exemplary School
Village Oaks Elementary
VO school hours: 9:08 am-4:00 pm
Office hours: 8:15 am-4:15 pm
Attendance line: 248.449.1301
Office phone number: 248.449.1300
Email: Alexander.ofili@novik12.org
Website: www.novi.k12.mi.us/vo/
Location: Village Oaks Elementary School, Willowbrook Drive, Novi, MI, United States
Phone: 248.449.1300
Twitter: @NoviVillageOaks