Oak Grove News
Weekly Update ~ May 26, 2015
Welcome to Mrs. Jackson
We would like to introduce Mrs. Michelle Jackson to the Oak Grove team! Mrs. Jackson will be the new Assistant Principal, starting in August. Mrs. Jackson is a University of Illinois graduate, where she was named as a Bronze Tablet recipient—the University’s highest academic honor, and began her career as a 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teacher in the Barrington school system. She taught at Grove Avenue School for eight years.
The past two years, Mrs. Jackson has served as a Teacher On Special Assignment (TOSA) at Beach Elementary, which is part of the Round Lake school system. In this position, Mrs. Jackson assisted the building principal, specifically in the Teaching & Learning Department. Michelle was responsible for organizing all building testing, assisted in building discipline, and facilitated much of the faculty professional development. Additionally, Mrs. Jackson coordinated the summer school program and served as a site supervisor.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to become a part of the Oak Grove team. I am looking forward to working with the students, the staff, the families, and the community in order to continue to strive for excellence for all students," says Mrs. Jackson.
We are excited to have Mrs. Jackson on the team, beginning for the 2015-16 school year.
Curriculum Corner
Hello Oak Grove Community,
If you are on the PARCC email list you have already heard the good news last Thursday! Given the amount of feedback from teachers, parents, and students, the PARCC testing windows will change for next year.
Changes for next year’s assessment include:
One testing window in May instead of two (March & April)
Decrease in the number of assessments in all grades 3-HS
Decrease in time of each assessment
Decrease in field test assessments
All of these changes will allow for more instructional minutes and less state testing. For specific changes to the assessment, please see link that was released on March 21st.
Have a great day!
Eagle Breakfast
We held our Spring Eagle Breakfast on Wednesday, May 20th. Students were chosen by the Oak Grove staff and recognized for displaying character traits, such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Thank you to all of these students for displaying such fine examples of character.
6th grade
Charlie Frantz
Joey Johnson
Breana Jordan
Aoife McLaughlin
Lena Perry
Hannah Sachs
Avery Vang
7th grade
Grace Kraft
Autumn Jermakowicz
Chloe Mahoney
William Martins Da Costa
8th grade
Allison Becker
Lindsey Burke
Matt Engfer
Kayleen Gillespie
Ahmed Hasan
Brian Hong
David Lee
Juan Solis
PTO News
May 26, 2015
A Message from PTO Co-Presidents Joanie Sauers and Julie Goodman:
Variety Show - Thank you Shannon Schweiger and Heather McCarty for another terrific Variety Show. Thursday’s shows were outstanding! You are truly wonderful for putting this together for the students of Oak Grove. Thank you to the many parents that helped execute a fantastic night, especially Susan Brooks, Mia Hughes, Kelli Kuypers and Cindy Gleason. And a huge thank you to our administration, teachers and staff for supporting this event. We have many talented students at OGS. Thank YOU for sharing it with us!
We are so very grateful that Shannon Schweiger took her vision 14 years ago and created such wonderful, beautiful memories for our children. This special night is her gift to us and we can’t thank her enough for it. We congratulate you, Shannon, on many years of hard work and dedication to Oak Grove School. We love you!
Thank you to our 2014-15 Hot Lunch Chairs
Clare Michelotti, Lynn McCracken, Christine Merrild, Jen Sahagian, Nikki Krakowski, Jen Klainos, Anne Rebmann, Lisa Shaw, Angela Motahari, Barb Jamieson, Agata Verkoulen, Julie Perry, Mary Ann Schroedle, Andrea Stelter, Kathy Arnold, Julie Block-Terson, Lynne Lenz, Monica Goldberg, Susan Kurland, Anik Obourn, Liz Howard, Mia Hughes, Julie Goodman, Susan Pinsel, Susan Bruns, Lisa Perrone and Maria Roberts. Thank you to the many parent volunteers who helped serve the lunches and for your commitment to Oak Grove. The students and staff are fortunate to have a wonderful group of parent volunteers!
The PTO thanks Maria Roberts for another successful year chairing the Hot Lunch Program. Maria does an excellent job feeding our kids and deserves our gratitude!! Please remember to volunteer to serve a hot lunch during school registration. Our Hot Lunch Program can not exist without your help.
There are no more hot lunches for the remainder of the year!
Teacher Appreciation Breakfast - On May 8th, the PTO hosted a Teacher Appreciation Breakfast in the Teachers’ Lounge. Thank you to Kim Konigseder, Joanie Sauers, Beth Williams and Cami Vandixhorn for hosting this and the other meals for the teachers and staff throughout the year.
Box Tops
Congratulations to the following classroom winners for this year's Box Top for Education collection contest! Save room for ice cream! We are coordinating with the teachers to deliver your treat. We are so thankful for everyone's support including the Jr. High who posted outstanding numbers as well. It's amazing how those maddening little things add up to big numbers for our school 10 cents at a time! This school year we submitted a total of 24,143 Box Tops which yielded almost $2,414 for Oak Grove not including the Jr. High submissions. Please continue to save Box Tops throughout the summer so we can start the 2015-2016 school year off with a bang. Have a good summer everyone!
2014-2015 Box Top Winners:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Kiefer
First Grade: Mrs. Miller
Second Grade: Mrs. Schmidt
Third Grade: Mrs. Dugan
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Dunn
Fifth Grade: Mrs. Rogers
The PTO thanks Amy and Maureen for doing another great job with Box Tops! We appreciate your efforts.
Market Day – Thank you to Lynne Lenz and Beth Williams for helping in a pinch with Market Day! What would we do without our awesome volunteers!?!?! Please don’t forget to order your last Market Day of the school year by June 1st for the June 5th pickup.
Remember – Credit Card is accepted and preferred.
PTO Meeting – Our last PTO meeting of the year will be Wednesday, May 27th at 9:00am in the Jr. High Teachers’ Lounge. All are welcome to attend.
Registration -
Online PTO registration is now open for all returning Oak Grove Students and will remain open through June 12th at 3pm. The registration link is available on the Oak Grove website. You will need your child's student ID and password. If you need this information, please contact the school office. Returning families must complete their PTO registration and pay at least half of their PTO registration fees by June 12th at 3pm or you will be charged at $25 late fee. Families with incoming kindergarteners or families new to Oak Grove will need to attend the walk registration on June 11th from 9am - 1pm. You will need to bring your completed registration form and check made payable to the Oak Grove PTO. NEW THIS YEAR - credit card payments will be accepted through RevTack for families who are able to complete the online registration process. If you have any questions, please contact the PTO at PTO@ogschool.org.
OGSEF Grant Recipients
The Oak Grove School Education Foundation is proud to recognize the educators that have taken the extra time to put together new and innovative programs to expand the educational opportunities for our children! We have been proud to help support their initiatives which have ranged from robotics and The Science of Sport to audio/visual enhancements and continuous education. Thank you for all that you do to make Oak Grove School a special place!
Alexa Dunn
Allison Honaker
Anna Crary
Bonnie Taylor
Cathie Saia
Colette Poore
Dave Izenstark
Erin Vance
Jason Meltzer
Jennifer Phillips
Kathy Mahoney
Lynn Pusateri
Maria Luce
Marie Sorensen
Patti Tazzioli
Sarah Cacciatore
Karen Seveska
OGS Golf Team
Congratulations to the Oak Grove golf team on their first place finish at the Lakeside Invitational this past weekend. Participating were 8th graders Katie Zurek, Guillermo Pardinas, Jeff Rebmann, and Jacob Lawrence; also 7th graders Carson Darnall, Ryan Considine, Nick Obourn, and Kevin McCracken.
Oak Grove also had the top three individual scores. Ryan Considine took third, Nick Obourn finished second, and Carson Darnall was the tournament’s top golfer!
8th Grade Dance Committee Help Needed
Parents, the 8th grade Dance Committee is looking for more volunteers to help with the final preparations for the dance this Friday, May 29th from 7:00 - 10:00 pm. We need moms AND dads, too! We appreciate any time you can give, so even if you can just come for an hour or two, we could use your help. We will be meeting at 12:30 pm in the gym and would be very appreciative of any assistance you can offer.
Thank you!
Kiss That Cow
The Kiss That Cow assembly was held on Friday for Kindergarten - 4th grade students. Students were thrilled to finally see Ms. Waehner pucker up and plant a big kiss on an adorable calf named Pretzel! Congratulations to all of the Oak Grove readers for reading over 13,000 books! The assembly showcased the singing talents of Mrs. Kiefer in a song she adapted herself to the tune of Let It Go. The student that read the most books at each grade level either chose to kiss the cow themselves or picked another lucky teacher to kiss the cow for them. The lucky teachers were Mrs. Dunn, Ms. Dugan, and Mrs. Sorensen.
Winning Students:
Fourth grade - Matthew Berner - 62 books
Third grade - Wonu Chou and Kate Anderson - 143 books
Second grade - Gregory Blackford - 191 books
First grade - Ana Chou - 174 books
Kindergarten- Chase Fitzpatrick - 185 books
Thanks go out to Chick-fil-A for sponsoring the event and providing all participating students a free kids meal. Another thank you to the PTO for providing cow slap bracelets. Thanks to Yarc Farms and Bella Yarc for sharing Pretzel.
7th Grade Field Trip
The students are given information to prepare them to make the best choices when exposed to substances in their future.
After lunch, the program continued with a Zumba class led by the nationally certified fitness trainer, Jessica, who took them through a fun but vigorous Zumba routine. The dance fitness class combined quick steps, kicks, and arm movement, along with popular music that made it fun for all. This activity taught the students how important physical fitness is and how it can be used to release anxiety and endorphins when the stress of being a teenager becomes too challenging.
The students returned to their homeroom to complete a reflection guided by an assignment to refresh their knowledge the day’s lessons. All in all, students had a really great day!
Oak Grove School Board of Education
Click HERE to view Board Agenda and Minutes
Email: boe@ogschool.org
Website: www.ogschool.org
Location: 1700 S. O'Plaine Rd. Green Oaks, IL 60048
Phone: 847.367.4120