Oak Grove News

What is it?

The Purple Comet! Math Meet is a contest conducted via Internet web form. Middle school teams are given 60 minutes to work on 20 mathematics problems. Each problem has a solution that is a non-negative integer. Contestants are allowed to work on the contest problems as a team and may submit solutions to problems until their clock runs out. Teams can have up to 6 members.

Who can participate?

Any 5th-8th grade student registered at Oak Grove.

When is the contest?

Wednesday, April 11th, at 3:30 pm

How do I register?

Sign up with your math teacher by Friday, April 6th

More info?

Visit PurpleComet.org

We are excited to announce that Oak Grove School won 2nd PLACE TEAM amongst all the Non-Rated players at the 111th Kumbaya Chess Tournament in Niles this past Saturday. This tournament is an officially recognized tournament by the United States Chess Federation, the governing body of chess in the U. S. We also had several individual players that were recognized with individual trophies.

• The team members for Non-Rated from Oak Grove Elementary: Shreyas Srirama Chandra Moorthy, Razi Mohammed and Will Davis
  

Congratulations to the participating players and our entire school chess team!

Track and Field starts after spring break, Monday, April 2. The first week, we will practice Monday-Thursday from 3:30-4:45. Please change, eat a quick snack, and meet in the JH Cafeteria. Parents should pick up their children by the JH Gym doors. Athletes should bring warm athletic clothing and running shoes for OUTDOOR practice (layers are highly recommended). 6th-8th grade Boys and Girls can sign up outside of the JH Cafeteria. All athletes must have a current physical on file in order to participate. It's never too early to start pre-season conditioning--try to get in a few workouts during the next two weeks.

Questions? Contact Coach Anna Edelson edelson@ogschool.org

Visit the website for more information: www.ogstrackandfield.weebly.com

Hello Oak Grove Community,

When we return from spring break, students will have a week to get back into the school routine and then PARCC testing begins. Don’t forget that students in grades 3 through 8 will need working headphones for the audio portion of the English - language arts assessments.

Grades 3-5 will have 4 math portions and 3 reading and writing portions for a total of 7 sections. Testing will take place in a morning block and afternoon block Tuesday through Thursday. The last math section will take place Friday morning. Any sections of the assessment that are missed during the initial testing window April 10-13, will be made up during the week of April 16-20. For specific grade level testing times, please contact your child’s teacher.

Grades 6-8 will have 3 math portions and 3 reading and writing portions for a total of 6 sections. Testing will take place in a morning block and an afternoon block Tuesday through Thursday. Any sections of the assessment that are missed during the initial testing window, April 10-12 will be made up starting on Friday, April 13 and the week of April 16-20. For specific grade level testing times, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher.

Mother/Daughter Tea

Liz Howard and the PTO hosted the 5th Grade Mother/Daughter Tea on Monday, March 12th. It was a special night for girls and moms, with 52 girls in attendance. Thank you to Melody Lyon, Kelli Kuypers, Katrina Treutelaar, Stacie Nevins, Christine Merrild, Rhiannon Schmidt, and Christina Anez DeGomez for your help with the event.

Ice Cream Social

The PTO is providing complimentary frozen treats for the first and second grade’s open house on Wednesday, March 21 and to kindergarten’s open house on Thursday, March 22. All open houses are from 6:30-7:30 PM. These are offered in the elementary cafeteria.

The ingredients and allergy information will be provided near the treats. There will also be a non dairy option.

PTO Volunteers Needed

Would you like to get more involved at school, meet new people and give back to the kids at Oak Grove? The PTO is looking for volunteers to head up the following committees:

Elementary Book Fair, Holiday Halls, Family Fest, Mother/Son Night, PTO Volunteer Coordinator, K-4 Room Parent, K-1st Grade Social, 2nd-3rd Grade Social, 4th-5th Grade Social, and a Program & Speakers Co-Chair. If you are interested and would like more information about these volunteer opportunities you can contact Liz Howard @ lizhowardpto@yahoo.com or Katrina Treutelaar @ katrinatreutelaar@me.com.

Variety Show

Tryouts for all acts are today and tomorrow in the small gym. Your tryout time was assigned to you when you signed up. You MUST bring a signed permission slip with you to your audition.

Mandatory rehearsals for ALL acts and show night:

Thursday, April 5 - 3:30 - 6:30

Wednesday, April 18 - 3:30 - 6:30

Thursday, April 19 - 3:30 - 6:30

Friday, April 20th (Day of Show) - 3:30 - 10:00

More information about ticket sales will be in the coming weeks. Thanks!

Field Day

Oak Grove School Field Day will be held Friday, May 18th 8:30-11:30. We need at least 100 parent volunteers to help with this event or it will not be held. Look for an email this week with a link to sign up to volunteer. Any questions, please contact Dana Huennekens @ dlfranz@yahoo.com.

You may be hearing these songs around your house over the next few weeks! I hope you hear these songs in lieu of any tantrums! Everyone gets angry or frustrated about something. What do you do to control your emotions? Kindergarten through fifth grade friends are practicing saying their Stop Word, naming their feeling and then choosing a strategy or combination of strategies that help them calm down. Thank you to our Tuesday and Wednesday 3rd, 4th and 5th graders for starring in our music videos and helping us remember these strategies!

• Count
  
• Positive Self-Talk
  
• Belly Breaths
  

Check out Dr. Meltzer’s moving making magic!

Smile! It'll brighten the day of all those around you, which in turn will brighten yours!

As many of you know, Dr. Lemon and the Oak Grove maintenance/custodial staff have collected discarded pencils off the school floors for the past six years. We share them back with teachers at Oak Grove, but also Dr. Lemon has taken them to an impoverished public elementary school in Puerto Vallarta each year. To this point in time, he has given the children nearly 19,000 pencils! Six of our awesome custodians were born and raised in Mexico, so they have been exceptional at collecting the pencils, instead of throwing them away. They know firsthand how little the students have in their schools. Until last March, Dr. Lemon had never met the students, nor been inside the school. They have always been on "break." For the first time, he was able to go inside the school and meet the children and their teachers. What he saw was heartbreaking. The rooms are barren. There are no books, no supplies, and the student desks are in horrific shape. It is quite obvious they need more than pencils. The school educates approximately 800 students each day. They do it in two shifts of 400.

Moved by their abject poverty, Dr. Lemon created a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to purchase 400 new desks for the students. He is currently working with two vendors in Mexico to purchase the desks locally. It is simply cost prohibitive to purchase them here and then transport to Puerto Vallarta. It appears he will be able to purchase a nice, height-adjustable desk for $65-80 each. Thus, the total cost to replace all 400 is going to be $25,000-30,000. The Daily Herald ran the story last month. Our Oak Grove staff has contributed significantly; they truly are "angels" for these kids. Currently, there is $9800 in the fund! Thank you to the Oak Grove families who donated so far.

Dr. Lemon will be traveling to Puerto Vallarta next week. He will meet with the school's principal to make arrangements for a fall delivery of new desks. He is finalizing the purchase of the desks with a manufacturer. He hopes to keep the campaign open through late spring in order to maximize the number of desks he can order.

Below, you will find the link to the GoFundMe page as well as a link to the Daily Herald article. If you are so moved, and would like to consider a donation of any size, it would be greatly appreciated. There is a detailed description of the project with pictures of the desks, the students, and the proposed desk on the GoFundMe site. If the link doesn't open, you can also simply type "Puerto Vallarta desks' in the search window at GoFundMe.com.

Dr. Lemon and his wife are committing $1000 to the project. They will also pay the transaction fee to GoFundMe. So, if you do consider a gift, do not feel obligated to add the "tip" that GoFundMe asks for when a pledge is made. They will be making some money off the project. Every $10-25-50 adds up!

If you are uncomfortable making online donations, please feel free to contact Dr. Lemon. Many people have made offline donations to him towards the project by sending him a check.

We are so fortunate here. If you would, please consider taking a look at the project. Ignacio Vallarta has indirectly become Oak Grove's "sister school." If you can't make a donation, please consider sharing the link and the story on your Facebook page. This campaign has received dozens of donations from people Dr. Lemon doesn't even know; how cool is that?!

Thank you for considering helping our young friends in Mexico. If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to contact Dr. Lemon at lemon@ogschool.org.

Here is the GoFundMe link:

https://www.gofundme.com/desks-for-puerto-vallarta-school

Here is an article in the Daily Herald regarding his cause:

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180219/oak-grove-superintendent-adds-desks-to-wish-list-for-poor-school-in-mexico

Thank you!

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