Oak Grove News

In anticipation of the upcoming Halloween parade and party day, we ask that any adults attending please refrain from wearing masks. This will help staff and students know who is in the building to ensure the safety of all.

Last call for all 7th & 8th graders. Forms are due this Friday, October 5th and can be found in the Virtual Backpack. Don't miss out on this fun night!

Attention all 7th and 8th grade girls; basketball season is right around the corner. Please mark your calendar the following important dates:

8th grade

• There will be an informational meeting for all 8th grade girls interested in trying out for the upcoming season on Wednesday, October 3rd. The meeting will be at the beginning of study hall in Coach Kurtz’s room.
• Mandatory tryouts are Wednesday, October 10th and Thursday, October 11th from 3:30-5:00 pm.

7th grade

• There will be an informational meeting for all 7th grade girls interested in trying out for the upcoming season on Wednesday, October 3rd. The meeting will be at the beginning of study hall in Mr. Oesch's room.
• Mandatory tryouts are Wednesday, October 10th and Thursday, October 11th from 3:30-5:00 pm.

Attendance is required at both tryout dates. In order to be eligible to tryout, a current physical must be on file with the junior high nurse. If you have any questions, please contact Coach Oesch (7th grade coach) or Coach Kurtz (8th grade coach).

Niche.com released its 2019 "Top 100 Illinois Middle Schools" list, and we are #5! To arrive at the rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as state test scores, student-teacher ratio, student diversity, teacher quality, grade school ratings and the overall quality of the school district. Click here to read more.

On Columbus Day, October 8th, Oak Grove will be completing a network upgrade with our Internet Provider. Due to the upgrade taking place, all Oak Grove owned student devices will not be able to connect to the internet during that time. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Hello Oak Grove Community,

K-8: You should have received an email last week sharing links to your child’s Fall 2018 STAR reports: Early LIteracy/Reading and Math. If you did not receive this/these link(s) through School messenger, please contact your child’s teacher so we can re-send those reports to you. Please remember that the STAR score is only one moment in time and not an overall reflection of your child’s academic performance. Our teachers use a variety of assessments to determine a student’s academic progress.

Grades 4-8: PARCC letters were sent home mid-September in paper form with results from your child’s spring 2018 PARCC assessment: English-language arts and/or Math. If you did not receive these reports, please let your child’s teacher know so that we can get you an additional copy of those results.

Oak Grove students have been invited to participate with Lake Bluff School District 65 in a unique learning opportunity for academically talented students in grades 3 through 8. In collaboration with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development (CTD), the Accelerated Weekend Experience (AWE) program provides challenging, hands-on, in-depth exploration for those passionate about the subjects of technology, science, and engineering.

The two-day AWE courses will be held the weekend of on November 10th and 11th at Lake Bluff Middle School (31 E. Sheridan Pl. Lake Bluff, IL 60044) 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday.

The courses include:

• Grades 3-4 Programming in 3D

• Grades 5-6 Machine Physics: Industrious Engineering

• Grades 7-8 Tiny Chemistry: Introduction to Nanotechnology

Click here to view the flyer or view it in the virtual backpack. Please click here to read more detailed course descriptions as well as information about criteria and steps to register. If you have any additional questions, please email Kellie Bae at kbae@lb65.org.

Thank you for all the support for our gift wrap fundraiser. We have quite few orders that we are excited to place for you and earn money for our selected charities this year. If you have not yet ordered from the "Sweet Surprises" catalog, you still have time! All orders are due back on Friday, October 12. We should have your orders in right before Thanksgiving break. Please remember, you do not have to add sales tax.

Do you like doing puzzles and playing games? Then you should come and check out Puzzle Club! We meet after school on Tuesdays from 3:20-4:15. We do challenging puzzles and play a variety of games! See Madame Grambo in room 101 for a permission slip or check the virtual backpack!

See you Tuesday!

This year, Girl Scout troop 40933 is trying to earn their Silver Award. They are retiring flags and to help them achieve this goal they would love it if you could bring your worn out flags to the Veterans Day ceremony. They will collect them before and after the ceremony and properly retire them later that week. If you can’t stop by the Veterans' Day ceremony, you can drop them off at Indian Motorcycle in downtown Libertyville or you can email the troop at gstroop40933@gmail.com for other various locations available for drop-off.

Thank you and have a great Veterans Day!

Parents,

Safety reminder - Please make sure no students are dropped off in the middle row of the parking lot. Please stay in line; pull far forward and then four or more cars can unload at the same time.

Wondering when the next band performance is? Check out this link to the 18-19 band calendar!

Mr. Farris and Mr. Jones are concerned about the numerous instruments they have seen in the hallways, being left overnight in the school during the week. Since music is a performing art, we all need to help the students get in the habit of practicing regularly throughout the week. The goal is for 15 minutes each day. Instruments should be going home daily after rehearsals.

Please email your child’s band director if your son or daughter needs to miss a before-school rehearsal and let us know the reason. farris@ogschool.org for Concert Band, and jones@ogschool.org for Symphonic, or Jazz Band.

Symphonic Band

Friday night, the 8th graders met at LHS to join the LHS Marching Wildcats and perform at the football game and they had a blast! The students made new friends at the high school, marched in the parade route to the stadium and cheered on the Wildcats! They even got to join the band in the final part of the halftime show! If you were able to take any photos, please send them to jones@ogschool.org.

Mr. Jones will not be in Wednesday other than first period for the first Beginning Band lesson. There will be no Symphonic band rehearsal. Mr. Farris and the Concert Band will rehearse in the band room Wednesday morning instead.

The first playing test is due Monday, Oct. 1st. Google Classroom is the best method for turning these files in. ALL Symphonic Band students need to be logged in to use Google Classroom for announcements, assignments, etc.

All Symphonic Band students have a Mandatory evening rehearsal Monday, Oct. 22nd at Highland School from 7-9 p.m. This one is the biggie before the LHS festival, coming up on Thursday, Nov. 1st. Parents, please help by looking ahead to clear your child’s activities for this rehearsal. We will take the following morning off to make up for the late night! (Tues. Oct. 23rd)

Students have two more large pieces of music to get for the festival. The recordings will be posted on Symphonic Band Google classroom for study.

Concert Band

Concert Band will rehearse Wednesday in the Band room instead of the small gym. Older siblings in Symphonic Band have the morning off.

Lesson attendance is a large part of Concert Band students’ quarter grades. Last week was an interruption in our regular “flow”. Parents, can you please help your child set up a reminder alarm the night before their weekly lesson to set their instruments and music by their backpacks for the next day? Here is a link to the weekly lesson schedules for all bands.

Students in Concert Band have their first playing test in lessons this week; good luck & remember to have fun! (Technique Trax)

Beginning Band

Parents and students: This is the week you have been waiting for! Lessons will begin Monday, Oct, 1st. The schedule is posted on the band webpage.

If your instrument was delivered to your home and not the school, please make sure you send it and the supplies with your child for their lesson. Folding stands do not need to come back to school weekly; those can stay at home.

I am scheduled to be off this Wednesday, but will be coming in to give the 4th graders their first lesson. (They’ve waited long enough, right?) Once students have had their first lesson on their instrument, I will release their instrument to them to take home and start playing.

In the following weeks, you will see an email from me to get your Essential Elements Interactive (EEI) account up and running. PLEASE make sure you set this up! It (and a regular practice routine) is the key to your child’s success!

Full Band rehearsals will commence in approximately two to three weeks when everyone is up and running. I will send an email home and a note to the teachers ahead of time so it does not come as a surprise.

Vendors Needed

The PTO is looking for vendors at this year's Holiday Halls being held at Oak Grove School on Saturday, Dec. 1 from 8 am -12pm. We are looking for hand crafted items at this fun holiday event. Cost is $15 per booth space plus 10% of sales going back to the PTO. Please email Tracey Schulze if interested tracey.schulze@gmail.com

PTO Meeting this Wednesday

Please join us at 9am in the Professional Development Room. All are welcome!

Leave your Mark at Oak Grove with a Playground Paver!
Our children's memories of their time at Oak Grove will last a lifetime, so take this opportunity to leave a permanent mark with a custom brick paver in our Elementary Playground and support innovative curriculum enhancements for your children at the same time! Order by October 26th for installation this year. Go to http://www.ogsef.org/playground-pavers.html for more information and to place your order.

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