Oak Grove News

Each year the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recognizes the very best faculty and staff members from school districts across the state at its "Those Who Excel" awards banquet. This year three Oak Grove staff members were nominated and received awards at the ISBE banquet held in Bloomington/Normal on Saturday, October 20th. Judy Klosterman "Nurse Judy," Julie Piazzi, and Kathy Mahoney were recognized in front of nearly 1000 people for their outstanding performance. To put their accomplishments in perspective, there are over 4000 schools in the state and tens of thousands of faculty members working in our schools.

The three ladies, their families, and Dr. Lemon attended the awards banquet and met Dr. Tony Smith, the Illinois State Superintendent of Schools.

The "Those Who Excel" is the highest award the ISBE presents to school employees. Each year, as the culmination of the ceremony, the ISBE awards its "Teacher of the Year." Ten finalists from around the state are nominated. The winner then spends the next school year touring other districts in Illinois, in other states, and in some foreign countries in an effort to share their expertise. ISBE informed Oak Grove this summer that, had Mrs. Mahoney not been retiring at the end of this year, she would have been a finalist for the state's highest award. So, instead, they created an award especially for her. Just before Dr. Smith announced the "Teacher of the Year," Mrs. Mahoney was awarded the first ever, "Illinois Teacher of Distinction." Mrs. Mahoney was lauded for her dedication to kids during her illustrious career. It was a great moment for her and her husband, Neil, and Oak Grove.

Congratulations to Nurse Judy, Mrs. Piazzi, and Mrs. Mahoney for being named "best of the best" by the Illinois State Board of Education!

Have you ever thought how much your freedom is worth? Well, freedom is not free. Many veterans and active duty service men and women have worked very hard to ensure you have freedom today. To honor them and to show them our appreciation every year, Oak Grove School has a Veterans Day celebration. Please wear red, white, and blue on November 9th to show appreciation for veterans. Donations will be collected for the Wounded Warrior Project. Please click here to view the invitation to the ceremony.

Attention 5th-8th Grade Parents and Students,

The I.E.S.A Wrestling Season is almost here. Informational meeting is Tuesday, November 6th in the Junior High cafeteria from 3:30-4:30pm. Open to all 5th-8th grade students. Everyone interested will make the team.

First practice is on Nov. 26th. Students must have a physical on file to participate. Need more info? Any questions? Contact Coach Chris Duenas (Duenas@ogschool.org)

Go Eagles!!!!

Let's celebrate YOUR achievements!

The last Friday of every month, we will celebrate K-4 student achievements during grade level lunches. How does it work? Simple...ask your teacher for a yellow form. Write your name, grade level and accomplishment. Mr. Fenton will celebrate your acomplishments by announcing them to the entire grade level!

This week, we heard accomplishments such as winning the kindergarten marathon, scoring a first goal in soccer, making a touchdown or asking a new friend to play! We want to celebrate YOUR child! Encourage them to fill out a form.

Celebrate! Celebrate! There's more! The entire staff of Oak Grove can nominate classes for excellent behavior. Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible! We have trophies to give out and this month our first trophy winners were:

Kindergarten, Miss Sweeney's ~ Golden Slipper for the best Hallway Behavior!

First Grade, Mrs. Brown's ~ Golden Dust Pan for the Custodial Award...Cleanest Classroom!

Second Grade, Mrs. Schmidt's ~ Golden Lunch Box for excellent behavior in the lunchroom!

Second Grade, Mrs. Keefer's ~ Golden Spirit Stick for the Sportsmanship Award by working together and showing kindness!

Third Grade, Mrs. McCarty's ~ Golden Gym Shoe Award... sportsmanship and hard work in PE!

Fourth Grade, Miss Sonshine's ~ Golden Art Pallet for the hardest working class in Rotations!

MORE~ MORE~ MORE to celebrate!

Who earned 25 HOORAY certificates in rotation classes so far this trimester?

Kindergarten - Mrs. Sobey

Kindergarten - Mrs. B. Honaker

1st Grade - Mrs. Brown & Ms. Watrous

1st Grade - Miss Paulson & Ms. Watrous

2nd Grade - Mrs. Miller & Mrs. Schmidt

2nd Grade - Miss Bernsee & Mrs. Schmidt

Keep it up! We'll have more to celebrate in November!

All Band info is posted here: http://ogschoolband.weebly.com/

Beginning Band:

Beginning Band students have all gotten underway and should be practicing on page 6 in their Essential Elements books & online. Let's all try to aim for 15 minutes per day.

Mr. Jones has been giving students their activation codes for Essential Elements next week. Please be sure to activate your child’s account so they may get started using the online interactive tutorials and karaoke! Emails with instructions were sent home last week or click on this link.

Parents you can help set your child up for success just by helping to carve out a specific time and or place in the house to make practicing part of a daily routine.

Full Band rehearsals to begin:

On Tuesday, October 30th, Sonshine/Klunder homeroom students will have their first full band rehearsal.

Concert Band: Make sure your student is bringing home their instrument routinely so that they can practice in a comfortable atmosphere; they need to feel like they can make mistakes without the judgement of anyone. Parents can also keep an ear out to gauge the progress being made by the student.

The Concert Band should continue practicing these songs:

Oh, Canada - Yellow Book 167

Surprise Symphony - Yellow Book 150

School Spirit - Yellow Book 152

American Patrol - Yellow Book 179

Minuet - Yellow Book 160

1812 Overture - Yellow Book 184

You’re a Grand Old Flag - Red Book 43

The Victors - Red Book 37

Grandfather’s Clock - Red Book 24

Cruisin’ Through the Park - Red Book 9,

Symphonic Band:

As we look ahead to the festival, please make sure your child has a set of black pants, black dress shoes, and a white top. This will be the concert uniform for all band performances throughout the year.

On the day of the festival, Thursday, Nov. 1st, students can drop off their belongings in the band room on their way into school (no early band). We will leave from Oak Grove at 8:40 a.m. and spend the school day rehearsing with our guest conductor. Please be sure to bring a folding stand, pencil, sack lunch, music & instrument. For the daytime rehearsal, we will dress in our new T-shirts & casual clothes. We will return to Oak Grove after 2 p.m., the second half of 8th period. Bring your school materials for 8th and 9th period.

The concert at LHS will follow that evening at 7:30 p.m. in the gym. Oak Grove students will need to meet at 7:00 p.m. in the High School auditorium (this is different than in the past) in concert dress. We will walk on stage together at 7:25. After the concert, there will be a reception for all students and parents in the cafeteria hosted by the Fine Arts Support Team. (Lots of goodies!)

Oak Grove does not have any folding stands; please make sure you bring your own. Libertyville Music has them for sale, and Amazon Prime delivers in two days or less.

The Multicultural Fair will be back on April 11th, 6:30-8:00 pm! Get excited to participate! We will need as many countries/cultures represented as possible.

We will need volunteers to teach lessons in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade during class time for the week prior to the big day. Mr. Rob will also need lunchroom volunteers. More information will be coming in the next couple of months, so mark your calendar. We want to celebrate with you!

Picture retake day is Thursday, November 1st. If you would like your child’s picture retaken, you must return the photo package to the photographer that day. If your child was absent when pictures were taken in August, their picture will be taken for the yearbook, and you may order pictures at this time.

New students will have their pictures taken and ordering information will be sent home with them. Class photos for grades 6, 7 and 8 will also be taken on

November 1st.

Please refer any questions to Karen Draths at extension 2027.

JUNIOR HIGH BOOK FAIR

The 5th-8th Book Fair will be open all next week (Nov.6-9th). We will have autographed books for sale, discounted books and even a raffle! Come check out the Book Fair after the Veterans Day Ceremony on Friday. We still need to fill some volunteer slots. Click HERE to help out. There are several two-hour time slots available.

ELEMENTARY BOOK FAIR
The Elementary Book Fair is coming Nov. 13th-16th. K-4th grade will participate. We will have classroom shopping times available in next week's newsletter. The Book Fair will be open to everyone 8:15-3:30 Tuesday-Friday. We will be having Family Night on Wednesday evening (Nov. 14th) from 6pm-8pm.

ALL FOR BOOKS
One of the goals for this year's Scholastic Book Fair is to ensure as many children as possible have access to books through the All For Books program. In the past, we have asked students to bring in coins to raise money. Because of the increasing difficulty in finding a bank to count coins, we have decided to change our collection to a Classroom Dollar Challenge. We will be collecting dollars in each of the Kindergarten through 4th grade classrooms from November 5th through November 14th. All the money collected during this period will be used to help build the classroom libraries of a local school in need. The classroom that collects the most money will win a shopping spree at the Book Fair. Each student from the winning class may choose one item (book, toy, poster, etc) with a value of $10 or less at their classroom shopping spree.

SNOWFLAKE

Snowflake was held on Friday, October 19th. This year we had almost 350 7th & 8th grade students in attendance from Hawthorn North/South, and Oak Grove. In addition to the students, and their parents, we had 130 teachers, high school and parent volunteers in attendance. This worthwhile event helps our 7th and 8th graders to start thinking about the transition to high school. Arming them with positive support through their peers will help them make positive choices as they navigate the challenges throughout their lives. To pull that off, we have many, many teachers and volunteers who helped make the evening a success. Thank you to Katrina Treutelaar, Becky Rynes, Nancy Fink, Maria Earth, Barb Davoux, Mr. Fenton, Dr. Lemon, and all the teachers, staff, and students from Oak Grove, Hawthorn, Libertyville High School and Vernon Hills High School. Your time is valuable and much appreciated!

Lastly, we especially would like to thank Gayle Timlin & Kimberly Wesley, who set up the program for the evening. Thank you for your commitment!

DADDY/DAUGHTER DANCE

Save the date for Saturday, February 2nd, for the Oak Grove School Daddy/Daughter Dance. You don’t want to miss this magical evening open to all Kindergarten-8th grade students and their Dads/Special Guys. Planning for this event is starting soon. If you would like to get involved, we are looking for a few more volunteers. Contact Liz Howard for more information: howard_liz@hotmail.com

Happy Monday! Later this week, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will be releasing its Illinois School Report Cards. Each school district across the state will be included. There have been many major legislative changes over the past year that affected the data to be included in the report card.

Oak Grove students continue to perform at the highest level. You should be proud of your sons and daughters.

This year’s report card is far more extensive than in the past. There is financial information and data about student activities. Again, Oak Grove students are active in all aspects of school life.

One of the biggest changes to the School Report Card is the opportunity for each district to create what is called its “Dashboard.” The ISBE created a standardized template that we are all using. On Oak Grove’s dashboard, you will see certain data that was supplied by the state. It was downloaded automatically. The rest of the information on the dashboard was created by the District. We have tried to highlight aspects of student life that shows the wonderful opportunities our students have available to them. We think you will enjoy reading the dashboard. It will be a “living” document. We will be able to change and/or update it at any time.

We will be posting the Oak Grove Dashboard to our website at www.ogschool.org and also sending the link to all school families. Look for it soon!

Hello Oak Grove Community,

Whether your child is excited for a special event, nervous about a big game, or anticipating an assessment, children sometimes need to be reminded to relax but just saying “relax” doesn’t usually work. Instead, it is sometimes helpful to describe activities that they can do that will allow their body to relax without having to think about it. One strategy is to have the child close their eyes and imagine cloud shapes floating in the sky. Another idea would be to have them focus on taking slow, deep breaths and feeling the rise and fall in their stomach. A fun idea would be to have the child blow a bubble into the air and imagine putting a happy thought in each bubble. For details related to these ideas and a few other tips, here is a quick read written by Enozia Vakil, who shared five relaxation tips for children that you can do with them.

The next session of Engineering For Kids® begins next week at Oak Grove School.

Please visit our site to learn more about these fun and educational classes today!

Fall Session 2 11/8/18 – 12/20/10 No class on 11/22/18

Junior LEGO WeDo Robotics Engineering: Amazing Mechanisms (Grades K - 2nd)

Apprentice LEGO EV3 Robotics Engineering: Mission to Mars (Grades 3rd - 5th)

Master Civil Engineering (Grades 6th - 8th)

Register and Pay Online Today!

224-372-7805

Congratulations to 7th grader Kylie Hughes! This past summer, Kylie took part in “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” a new TV show which included competition in three age divisions — 9-10, 11-12, 13-14. It’s a spinoff of the 10-year-old “American Ninja Warrior” featuring adult competitors. Kylie was chosen from more than 10,000 applicants for the TV show. The show began airing on October 13th on Universal Kids Network. Kylie has been training for about a year at Ultimate Ninjas Libertyville and is a member of their Elite team. Tune in to see Kylie’s episode this Saturday, November 3rd at 6 pm. Check your cable provider for Universal Kids.

Please click HERE to view the flyers in our virtual backpack. Flyers are updated weekly, so please check back often so you won't miss any of the events going on in our community.

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