Notes from Virtual Oak
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Fraction Line at home
Vocabulary collector
Explaining Mathematical Thinking
Principal's Message
Update on Oak Safety and Wellness
I honestly do not know where to begin. Are you feeling as conflicted as I am right now? After hearing the news yesterday that Oak Avenue will be closed for the remainder of the school year, my heart broke.
I know your children want to be back in class, seeing their friends and staff. I can tell you, the staff, also is missing the in-person connection with your children. With that said, the safety of our community is an urgent and top concern. While I get it, my heart still breaks a bit with disappointment. I know if I am feeling this way, I am not alone.
There are many questions parents and staff currently have about the logistics of how we will continue Emergency Virtual Learning and close-up the school. Honestly, I don’t have all the answers. I want time to think through questions and concerns students, staff and parents may have about this new reality and how we will respond.
I understand the school has personal items for our students to return. In addition, we need to think about closing up classrooms, while maintaining the shelter in place orders. Teachers need to gather more materials to work from home. We are still working on thinking through how we will assess students. The promotion ceremony for our sixth graders is another question. How do we honor all of those amazing families leaving our school at the end of this year? Honestly, my mind is racing with a lengthy to-do list of concerns and questions to address. I know we will get there, we just are not there yet. As we move into spring break next week, I will work on thinking through some of these questions to find answers aligned with my counterparts across our district.
This week as I visited virtual classrooms, I have seen students learning in small groups. Meeting together as a whole group. Teachers guided learning in lessons and problem-solving. As an Executive PTA Board, we met to discuss the needs of the school going forward. Wednesday evening I virtually attended a parent learning night held by our Kindergarten team to share strategies, tools, and language to use at home. Since I am a co-teacher in every virtual classroom, I am seeing all the work they are sharing with their teachers, there are some example photos below. Emergency virtual learning is not something we planned for this year, however here we are in the midst of it. I understand things are not perfect, and certainly not ideal, however, I find solace knowing we have a tremendous partnership with our community to support learning at Oak Avenue School.
Tomorrow, I will have our first google meet flag salute assembly starting at 8:30 am. You can access this assembly by joining using the code below. I can’t wait to see everyone live on Friday, April 3rd at 8:30 am sharp. See you then!
To join the video assembly, click this link: https://meet.google.com/gyp-hfzj-wxk
Otherwise, to join by phone, dial +1 319-435-9147 and enter this PIN: 333 011 933#
Junior Olympics
Dear Oak Families,
As you all know, the Junior Olympics is a long-standing tradition and a wonderful community and school spirit builder. This year was to be the 60th anniversary! However, the greatest priority of the Junior Olympics Committee and LASD is the safety and well-being of our students and their families. As such, and in light of current circumstances, the event has been canceled.
While the Junior Olympics will not be held in its usual format, we would like to recognize all of our student-athletes who worked so hard over the past few weeks during PE training. We are especially pleased to announce our 2020 torchbearers and mascots who were selected based on their good sportsmanship, positive role-modeling, kindness and respect to peers and school staff.
Torchbearers: Brigham R and Courtney C
School Mascots: Omer S and Lauren E
In addition, we are pleased to announce the 2020 Oak banner and flag holders:
Ethan F, Josephine G, Matthew H, Kiera B, and Dylan F.
We would also like to congratulate our 4th, 5th and 6th-grade relay team athletes! Please see the linked doc to view the relay teams.
Thank you to Mr. Ortman (our amazing PE specialist), the Grade Level Coordinators (Karen Pereira, Ksenia Lewin, Cindy Zinn, Leena Faerber, Linda Liu, Evan Torrie, Beth Tompkins, Gitta Thoen, and Sarah Brown), and to all of the parent volunteers who helped during time trials and PE training.
We hope all of your families are healthy and well.
Best Regards,
Your 2020 Junior Olympics Committee
Leena Faerber, Anny Frehner, Caroline Gupta, Elaine Blumstein, and Ben Huang
Oak Parent Input form for 2020-2021
This form is OPTIONAL. Link here
We take every child's needs into consideration when establishing classes. Our job is to ensure that classes are balanced by gender, academic needs, behavior, ethnicity, special services, etc.
NO SPECIFIC TEACHER REQUESTS WILL BE CONSIDERED. Teacher assignments to grade levels are not yet finalized for next year.
All input forms are due NO LATER than April 12 Thank you!
Virtual Calendar
Fri, Apr 3 - Virtual Flag Salute Assembly - 8:30am
Mon, Apr 6- 10- Spring Break- No Virtual School
Mon, Apr 13 - Virtual School Resumes
Friday, Apr17 - School-wide Flag Salute Assembly
PTA Message
Dear Oak Community--
Is it just me, or are the days all starting to run together? As we’re over two weeks into this shelter-in-place, I’m surprised to realize how much I miss just being on campus, seeing our kids running and playing together, cheery smiles and greetings from our teachers and staff, and time to talk with parents and friends.
Our campus may be closed, but the PTA is still working to ensure that school continues, and that our families and staff have the support they need during this unusual time. If there is anything we can do as we navigate our new normal, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Auction Update: We are in the process of reworking our auction catalog and working with donors to extend expiration dates on packages and gift certificates. We will be opening up registration for auction later this month, and will open up bidding in May (exactly date TBD).
We will still have a (virtual) wine wall and a (virtual) sidewalk raffle. So be ready for those as well!
Sara Payne
Oak PTA President
Virtual Attendance Absence Reporting
Daily attendance will still be taken as usual in the virtual classroom.
If your child is sick and cannot participate in virtual learning, please let us know via email: lyazdani@lasdschools.org or call our attendance line at (650) 237-3939.
Please provide the following information:
Student name and teacher
Your relationship to student
Reason for absence and date of absence
Mrs Forest’s Virtual Library
Even though our physical library isn’t open and I miss seeing your student’s smiling faces, I wanted to let you know that I am available to help you connect to various library and information resources.
Here are a few sites that are offering ebooks or audiobooks for free.
Junior
Library Guild free digital reading platform
ADBO
free digital bookshelf grades K-8
abdodigital.com/?tk=414F33301B8E136DEE3F0A93BF1795E1
ADBO
free digital bookshelf grades 5-12
abdodigital.com/?tk=840BC558E6676AB1F4C9FA29D8EC6D69
Epic
digital library of books for students to read online
https://www.getepic.com/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1083274
Audible
audiobooks is free to students.
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
Knowbuddy
Resources free access to all books Non-Fiction and Picture Books
http://virtual.knowbuddyresources.com/preview/index
Crabtree books username is read, password is free
Lerner books
https://lernerbooks.com/help-at-home
The Oak Reading Challenge is still ongoing!
Yes, Oak families, the Oak Reading Challenge is still going on! Here (see Read and Scratch PDF below) are the three fliers for the different grade levels: the flier with the pictures is for grades 1-3, the flier with just letters is for Kindergarten, and the flier with specific written tasks is for grades 4-6.Please keep a tally of how many sheets each student completes, or take a picture of the sheet, or however way you want to keep track of how many sheets your student finishes. We’ll still award a lower grade class and an upper grade class with a party in the Fall.
Our Virtual Literacy Festival is on!
Even though we won’t have our physical Literacy Festival this year, I’ve made special arrangements with Hicklebee’s for a virtual book fair.
In an effort to support their book fair customers during this time of school closure, Hicklebees has put together the online book fair page, https://www.hicklebees.com/bookfairs2020.
They have provided links to some of the books they have available at the warehouse, and you are welcome to place orders for books not listed as well.
Hicklebees is offering free shipping until May 2nd, or curbside pick up at the store is available too. Free shipping is always available on orders over $25.
Detailed instructions for placing an order are below. The Oak Library will receive 10% book fair credit on all orders placed by May 31, 2020. All proceeds fund the Oak summer reading program prizes. Please remember to write Oak Avenue Elementary in the comments section so we receive the proper credit.
Hicklebees Online Ordering Instructions
1. Go to https://www.hicklebees.com/bookfairs20202.
2. Put some great books in your cart J
3. Select “Curbside Pickup” or “Enter Your Ship To Address” for your shipping method.
4. Write school name in the comments section of the order page, (OakAvenue Elementary) or your book fair will not receive credit.
After May 2nd, a shipping charge for orders under $25 will apply.
Please contact Mrs. Forrest at cforrest@lasdschools.org if you have specific requests or have any questions.
Logo Design Contest For 50th Anniversary of Los Altos Art Docents
The Los Altos Art Docent program is turning 50 next year and we want LASD TK-6 students to create a logo to be exhibited at the Los Altos History Museum.
The winning design will be used on posters, pins and sketchbooks during the 2020-21 school year.
Rules:
8 ½” x 11” paper
Draw and use lots of bright, bold colors
Include 50 and art in your design
Write parent email and contact info on back
Attach an artist’s statement to be displayed with submission at the Los Altos History Museum
One entry per student
Deadline: Saturday, May 30th
Submit: electronically with lasdk8 email here
Or mail to
Los Altos Art Docents
201 Covington Road
Los Altos, CA 94024
Oak Avenue School
Mission:
It is Oak School’s mission to ensure high levels of learning for all students. Every day we respectfully collaborate to develop confident, resilient, joyful learners who care about the Oak School community and become responsible citizens.
Email: kattell@lasdschools.org
Website: https://oakschool.org/
Location: 1501 Oak Avenue, Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone: (650)237-3900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oakavenuesch
Twitter: @OakPrincipal
