OVS Weekly Update
Week of May 1-5, 2017, Volume 30
Mark Your Calendars!
Monday Class Connect Sessions
- 9:00am-Mr. Dowling
- 9:30am-Mr Gamble/Ms. Blackburn
- 10am-Mr. Jamshidi
- 10:30am-Ms. Rogers
Learning Coach Training:
- 9:45am-Focused Gathering: Orientation- during face-to-face time Tues, Weds, Thurs
Teacher Office Hours :
Every Monday & Friday from 1:30-3pm
- In-person: TAC Building (3215 Cuming Street) 4th floor, left off the elevators
- Class Connect Meetings: Links will be in K12
- By phone:
Mr. Gamble: 531-299-9447
Mr. Jamshidi: 531-299-9453
Ms. Rogers: 531-299-9367
Ms. Blackburn: 531-299-9325
Every Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday from 1:30-3pm
- In-person: DoSpace (2nd Floor)
- Class Connect Meetings: Links in K12
- By email
- Bring a sack lunch and stay following face to face time
2017-18 Update
K-4 Social Studies Preview
As promised, below is a preview of the K-4 Social Studies experience.
Here is a short video preview:
http://tinyurl.com/SocialStudiesDemo
In addition, here is a link to the lessons and objectives for K-4 Social Studies. The social studies curriculum DOES NOT come with a kit. However the OVS team will be creating some supplemental activities to add depth to this curriculum and fill some gaps in NE standards.
Time to Re-register for 2017-18 School Year
- Log into the OLS (online.k12.com/login) using their Learning Coach username and password.
- Go to "My Info" under the Quick Links section
- On the My Info page, click the "Re-register Now" icon. This will take you to the registration page.
- On the re-registration page, the " re-registration status" in light blue box will default to the "unknown." Click "unknown" and a pop up window will appear
- Re-registering: Check "re-registering" from the drop-down menu if your student is returning next school year. If you have more than one student and they all will be returning, check the box next to "same for all students." Repeat the first step if not all students are returning next school year. Check the two boxes to to confirm understanding that previous agreements still apply and you have the legal authority to make registration decisions for each student. Press "Save" in agreement.
- Not re-registering: Select " Not re-registering" from the drop down menu if your student will not be returning for the next school year.
- Undecided: Select "undecided" if you have not yet decided whether your student will return. Please update your registration once you have decided if your student will be attending or not for the upcoming school year.
We ask families to complete their re-registration by May 1st to ensure a spot for the next school year. Families who have not registered by May 1st will receive correspondence next week during face-to-face time.
Upcoming Learning Coach Trainings
The week of May 2-4th, our Learning Coach gathering will focus around orientation. Conversation will include strengths and weaknesses of the current orientation new families receive. Our goal is to have conversations about orientation where the event will be the most efficient and effective in giving a new Learning Coach an understanding of their role in our school.
During the week of May 9-11th, current Learning Coaches will gather to discuss on-boarding and learning coach training. When we discuss on-boarding, we are referring to the experience Learning Coaches have when their student starts their first day. We will focus on what was helpful to know and what we could do differently in the future to improve the experience.
The final focused gathering will be online. Our goal is to have a well-rounded student and Learning Coach handbook for families to refer to throughout the year. This focused gathering will be for a limited amount of participants to review and submit comments and changes through email. The first draft will be available to view in the next two weeks for revisions. Please contact Ms. Sechrest if you are interested in this special focused gathering.
MAP Testing Returns
End of the year MAP testing will be facilitated over two weeks during face-to-face time. The schedule will be as follows:
May 9-11 Reading during F2F time
May 16-18 Math during F2F time
**If absent, please work with teacher to schedule a make-up
Student MAP results will be distributed the following week during learning coach training on May 23-25. This training is to provide a refresher or introduction on how to use Study Island with your students. It is recommended that LC's bring a home device so they can learn how to login on the home device.
Visit Study Island this summer!
Students will have access to Study Island over the summer. We will upload the end of the year MAP scores into Study Island to create a new individualized learning plan for 2nd-8th grade students to work through.
Stay tuned for a Blue Ribbon incentive over the summer!
Returning Materials at End of School Year
K12 will be sending an email for Learning Coaches to return materials. Check out these Frequently Asked Questions to know what materials to send back. Materials can be combined together to be sent back in any box. An email will be sent within two weeks following the last day of school. We encourage you to package up materials prior to receiving the email to expedite returning the materials.
OVS STEAM Fest
Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 02:00 PM
Do Space, Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, United States
PTO Corner
- May Gathering: Joslyn Art Scavenger Hunt: Mark your calendar for Friday May 19th from 10:30-12:30pm. Families will guide themselves through the museum in search of works of art on their scavenger hunt. There will be plenty of room to explore inside and out! Bring a lunch for following the exploration! Entrance to the museum is FREE!
Still time to sell tickets for the Storm Chasers game on June 6th! Proceeds from the fundraiser go to support OVS! June 6th @ 12:05pm Storm Chasers Baseball Game
- PTO is selling tickets for the game as a fundraiser. Omaha Virtual School will be recognized as the Community Organization of the game.
- Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased here!
- PTO is having a contest between class days of who can sell the most tickets. Whichever day sells the most will get a visit from the Storm Chasers Mascot. The day with the most ticket sales by May 6th wins! Tickets can be purchased thru May 19th.
- Parent volunteers will be available before and/or after face to face time this week to take orders for tickets.
- Tuesday: Jess Chromy at 12:30pm
- Wednesday: Sara Richwine
- Thursday: TBD
Tech Tips
Is Flash giving your student problems?
If your students have Flash warnings and issues pop up in their browser, they can “manage" Flash with the following steps:
- While in Chrome, type “chrome://settings/content” in the URL textbox.
- In the window that pops open scroll down to the “Flash” section
- Make adjustments as needed. (Selecting “Allow sites to use Flash” should be fine, if needed to run K12 items.)
FREE Golfing Opportunity This Summer
To join the Junior Golf Club, students must attend one of the certification programs.
Certification programs will be held at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm during our Family Golf Days or you may attend one of the Junior Golf Clinics. Dates and times for these events are listed below.
Family Golf Day Dates:
May 13th - Spring Lake, 12:00 - 3:00 pm
May 20th - Westwood, 12:00 -3:00 pm
May 21st - Steve Hogan, 12:00 -3:00 pm
Junior Golf Clinics:
June 5th, 6th, and 7th
Ages 8-12, 10:00 am - 10:45 am
Ages 13 & up, 11:00 am - 11:45 am
*Clinics are held at Johnny Goodman or
Schmidley's Driving Range
Assembly Theme: It's okay to be different
How Omaha Virtual School uses Minecraft to enhance learning!
Classroom Happenings
Star Student of the Week: Teddy Keslar
Multiplication Station
Ms. Roger's Class
Week in Review:
This week we discussed how plural nouns and verbs work together in sentences to agree. Check your students' OneNote Exit Ticket from this week to see what facts they learned about the classmate they interviewed. We used Study Island to practice our reading skills and Osmo Numbers to practice our number sense skills. Ask your student how many levels they have unlocked in Osmo.
Looking ahead:
Next week, we will learn about pronouns in our Monday Morning Message. During class time we will be identify, describe and compare 2 and 3-dimensional shapes. We will continue to work in Minecraft to create a personal word wall. Students have been working through the blue path to find all 26 letters of the alphabet. Some have moved on to the yellow path where they are building letters and adding a new word to their word wall.
Please join me online for our Blue & Green Literature & Comprehension lessons. Keep working hard in your K12 courses. During the week of May 9-11 and May 16-18 we will take the end of the year NWEA/MAP Test. I can't wait to see how much growth all of the students have made this year!!
Resources:
Mr. Dowling's Class
Week in Review
Students:
· continued to build Japanese castles with their teams in Minecraft.
· created a foldable about the their science experiment and documented their observations.
· worked on the final copy of their autobiography and created a cover.
· were introduced to crowd-sourcing during coding.
Looking Ahead
Students will:
· finish building their Japanese castles in Minecraft.
· define and work with idioms.
· document the growth of our STEAM experiment.
· explore a crowd-sourcing activity with cards.
Resources:
Mr. Jamshidi's Class
Week in Review:
Students worked on finding the perimeter of irregular shapes. They created irregular figure in Minecraft, and found the perimeter of each figure. They also worked together to find the missing lengths of irregular figures prior to calculating the perimeter.
Looking Ahead:
Students will take on another challenge! Students will be working in teams to create a bridge that can support plenty of weight. Specific items will be given to each team and they will follow the engineering process of brainstorming, designing, testing, evaluating, and sharing solutions.
Resources:
Mr. Gamble's Class
Week in Review:
The class learned about varied science concepts in their K12 science curriculum that would reinforce their understanding and help begin their work on assignments and quizzes.
Looking Ahead:
The class will work on varied math concepts from their curriculum focusing on aspects we see in our everyday lives.
- I can identify outliers and learn how they can affect measures of center. (Fundamentals of Geometry and Algebra)
- I can identify the required values to create a box-and-whisker plot for a data set and interpret the results. (Pre-Algebra)
- I can understand the number of possibilities when order matters and when it does not. (Algebra)
Resources:
- IXL has practice problems that ask to identify the outlier in a data set.
- IXL has practice problems that identify which box-and-whiskers plot represents a data set or problem.
- IXL has practice problems that allow students to calculate permutations and combinations of numbers.
Monday Morning Message:
Join me Monday to learn using charts and graphs in Microsoft PowerPoint. We will discuss and model how to format presentations that can be used in all four content areas.
Weekly Online Math Lessons:
Each week I am teaching the current math lesson, per the pacing guide, for each subject online 3:00-3:30 via ClassConnect. All students who attend this session, participate, and complete a few questions, will receive credit for this lesson by the teacher.
- Monday: Fundamentals of Geometry and Algebra
- Tuesdays: PreAlgebra
- Wednesdays: Algebra
- Thursdays: Algebra I
- Fridays: Algebra II
Ms. Blackburn's Class
Week in Review:
The class learned about varied science concepts in their K12 science curriculum that would reinforce their understanding and help begin their work on assignments and quizzes.
Looking Ahead:
The class will work on identifying text features in informational text.
Monday Morning Message:
Join me Monday to learn more about poetry in our poetry packets. Concrete poems from last week are due in class this week.
Mission Statement
Omaha Virtual School
Email: virtualschool@ops.org
Website: ovs.k12.com
Location: 3215 Cuming Street, Omaha, NE, United States
Phone: (531)299-0269
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OPSVirtualSchool/
Twitter: @OPS_Virtual