Oak Hills Newsletter
March 16, 2018
Principal's Message
Dear Oak Hills Families,
I hope you are planning to join us for our STEM Night/ Future Ready Open House from 6-8pm on March 22. Displayed In the gym area, you will find the science projects, creative STEM projects, engineering projects and the engineering design challenge projects for all grades. Grab a passport and a map and get ready to tackle some design challenges of your own. Take your passport with you as you and your family visit the open classrooms. Fill in at least five areas on the passport and enter it to win some amazing STEM related prizes. Here's a sneak peek of some of the things you will be able to do while you're here: In the cafeteria, you will have the opportunity to build and test a tower. In the library, you will be able to make a binary bracelet. The Future Ready Bus will be parked at our entry way and will have a marble run activity with a photo finish.
Many of our classrooms will be open as well. Kindergarten will be showing off their work with OSMO. First Grade will be doing an Ozobot project. Second grade will showcase their writing with Scratch Jr. You can launch a Dash catapult with third grade. Fourth grade will teach you green screen and stop motion animation. And fifth grade will have a LEGO Robotics project AND two other amazing design projects to try. And don't forget to tweet a picture of yourself with our new mural and tag us @OakHillsOtters! We'd love to see any of your other STEM Nigh tweets using the hash tag #OHStemNight. It should be a super fun night of hands on learning. We can't wait to see you there.
I would like to thank Rebecca Leibowitz and all our parent helpers for running the amazing STEM fair. I would also like to thank our teachers and staff for working so hard to get our school Future Ready. I am so proud to be a part of this very innovative school.
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Warm regards,
Sheila Baumgardner
Battle of the Books Finals
We have had a very successful Battle of the Books competition at Oak Hills School. There were 95 students who participated this year. Battles were run three times a day during lunch recess by our wonderful parent volunteers. Thank you to Mandi Macaskill, Emma Winkel, Dominique DeSpain, Sunita Pai and Lynene Hanson. and all our other parent volunteers for helping with the battles. I want to also thank the 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade teachers for supporting their students and to Jessica Baker, our Library Media Assistant, for promoting and organizing all the battles. Everyone’s incredible commitment made this year’s OBOB a true success!
We would like to recognize our grade level and school level champions:
3rd: The Tricksters (Sehaj Bolina, Tim Zhu, Xerxes Wadia and Bruin Carnahan)
4th: The Pink and Purple Polkadadotted Firebreathing Unicorns of Doom(Beckett Anderson, Justin Miller, Liam Cuff, Noah Harris, and Annabelle Stoker)
5th: Team called The Team ( Foster Campbell, Parker Boyd, Rohan, Shenoy Kudpi, and Kailey Vo)
There was a semi- final and final battle on Friday, March 2. The 4th grade team won the semi-final round and battled the 5th grade team for the final round. Our school champions were our 5th grade team, The Team. It was quite the exciting battle and I am so proud of all the students who participated.
Destination Imagination teams move forward
Congratulations to our six Oak Hills Destination Imagination teams (including about 50 students) for competing at the Metro regional tourmament on March 3! Our two Rising Stars teams (K-2, noncompetitive) did an incredible job, and all four of our competitive teams (grade 3-5) qualified for the State tournament on April 7 with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place wins! Thank you to our parent volunteer coaches for making us one of the schools in the state with the biggest DI presence, five years in a row. Watch for DI signups again in the fall for next season: http://www.oakhillspto.org/pto-programs/destination-imagination. DI is a STEM-based after-school program open to all students, K-5, that teaches creative problem-solving in seven challenge categories: Engineering, Fine Arts, Scientific, Technical, Service Learning, Improv and Rising Stars (K-2).
Thank You for the Meals During Conferences
Thank you to Lindsey Burham and Simone Boschma for coordinating the meals for teachers during conferences. The amazing food kept us going and energized throughout our conferencing marathons. Thanks also to Dominique DeSpain, Charli and Scott Sand, JoLynne Zimmerman, Heather Lambert , Alex Boschma, and all the other parents who made dishes or helped out. Thanks also to the PTO who donated funds and of course to Outback Steakhouse and the Bender Family for Wednesday's entrees. We appreciate all that you do for us!!
Invitation from Nike to shop at Nike Employee Store
All Beaverton School District Staff as well as elementary students and their families are invited to "Gear Up For Spring Break" at the Nike Company Store Saturday, March 24 - Saturday, March 31, 2018.
Rules for check-in:
- Invitation is valid for One-Time entry (Invitation attached)
- Each ELEMENTARY student my bring with them their parents/legal guardians and siblings
- Each staff member may bring with them their *spouse/permanent partner and their own dependent children 24 and younger
*Spouse/partner must provide proof of the same address to accompany the guest into the store.
*The invitation is limited to elementary students and their families due to NCAA regulations.
Here is the flyer.
Volunteer Background Check Reminders
Just a reminder about which events need background checks this year. Thank you for your cooperation as we strive to keep our students safe. Don't forget to sign in at the computer each time you volunteer, even if it's just for a few minutes!
Field Day and 5th Grade Send Off:
Background checks are required for volunteers. Spectators with no background checks will be asked to stay in a designated area only. Your distance from the students will not provide you with great pictures if you are planning on taking pictures. Background checks will not be required for lunch with your student. Siblings can attend if you are not volunteering.
Field Trips:
Background checks are required.
Parent meetings and evening events:
No background checks are required. Siblings may attend.
I hope this clarifies things and thank you for your support. We love having you at our school, and we hope you will continue to volunteer at Oak Hills.
Kindergarten Registration and Round Up
We are so excited to begin welcoming our new students who will be kindergarteners next year. If you have a child who will begin kindergarten next year, stop by and get a registration packet in the main office. When you come, please remember to bring:
- Birth Certificate or Passport
- Immunization Record
- Proof of Address - gas/electric bill, lease agreement
We are also pleased to announce that we will have a kindergarten round up on April 27th from 8:30-10:00 AM. You and your future kindergartener can come and see the school in action. There will be activities for the student, information for parents, and a school tour led by fifth graders. Save the date and plan to join us!
Spring Auction on June 8th
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting an auction this year to support the construction of a new track at Oak Hills. Our auction, “Run like an Otter", will be held on June 8th, 2018.
In order to make this auction a success, we are asking for donations from families and local business owners. Please let us know if you have something you would be interested in donating! Do you have any gift cards left over from the holidays? Do you have a vacation home or time share that we could use in our live auction? Would your company want free publicity by donating items or services for our silent auction? Your donations are tax deductible and would make a big difference to our community.
We are also looking for auction sponsors. Sponsorship can be in any amount. This can be your employer, your business, or a friend of yours that would like to contribute to our school.
Finally, we are looking for volunteers to help. Please email us and learn how you can make this year’s auction a success! oakhillstrack@gmail.com
Local Option Levy
School Board Passes Resolution to Authorize Local Option Levy Renewal
The Beaverton School Board on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 unanimously adopted a resolution to place a five-year Local Option Levy Renewal on the May 15, 2018 ballot. This is a vote-by-mail election. If approved, the Local Option Levy Renewal would allow Beaverton schools to preserve 300 teaching positions, maintain class sizes, and help ensure students are prepared for post-high school success. The levy renewal costs $1.25 per $1,000 assessed property value. Homes with the median assessed value of $238,000 would continue to pay less than $25 per month. The levy could raise approximately $31-$35 million a year. In 2013, voters approved a five-year local option levy to restore teaching positions that had been cut due to repeated state funding shortfalls. The levy has raised $128 million, and 100% has remained in Beaverton schools to fund approximately 300 teaching positions and reduce class sizes. In the 2017-2018 school year, 158 of these positions were allocated to Beaverton’s elementary schools, 53 to middle schools, 70 to high schools, and 18 to options schools.
For more information, please contact the Communications & Community Involvement Department at 503-356-4360.
About Beaverton School District
The Beaverton School District is nationally recognized for its high student and staff achievement and innovative programs. Beaverton is the third largest school district in Oregon with 53 schools, more than 41,000 students and almost 5,000 talented staff. Beaverton schools are dedicated to providing outstanding, challenging educational opportunities that prepare students to be college and career ready. The district enjoys strong community support with parents, citizens, community partners and businesses donating countless volunteer hours and services to help students succeed.
What this means for Oak Hills
- Currently 6 teachers in our building are supported by the Local Option Levy
- If it does not pass, our class size will increase by 6-7 students in each class
Tentative Dates for 2017-2018
3-22 STEM/Future Ready Night 6-8pm
3-26 to 3-30 Spring Break
4-10 Career Fair 8:15-10:30
4-10 Manning/Rios - Field Trip
4-12 5th Grade to BIZ TOWN
4-13 No School Assessment Day
4-16 thru 4-20 Book Fair
4-19 Volunteer Tea 1:15pm
4-19 Family Earth Night 6:30-8:30 p.m.
4-20 Rennie/Perrigan Field Trip
4-23 PTO Mtg. 7pm
4-27 Kindergarten Orientation 8:30-10:00 a.m.
5-2 Global Citizenship Committee 8-9 a.m.
5-8 Technology Parent Committee 8-9 a.m.
5-11 Fifth Grade Wax Museum
5-15 Third Grade (Cook/Porter) Field Trip
5-17 Music Program - K/1 at 6pm & 2nd at 7pm
5-21 PTO Mtg. 7pm
5-24 Third Grade (Willis/Standridge) Field Trip
5-28 Holiday
5-31 Art Night 6-8pm
6-8 Spring Auction
6-11 Fifth Grade Bowling Party
6-11 PTO Mtg. 3pm (Budget Mtg.)
6-12 4th Grade Field Trip - Philip Foster Farm
6-15 Field Day
6-18 5th Grade Send Off
6-19 Last Day for Students
8-27 First Day of 2018-19 School Year