From the Principals Desk
Dear Parents,
Beginning February 16th, students, teachers and parents will have an opportunity to participate in the statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness.
On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago. The survey gathers data related to these five indicators:
· Effective Leaders
· Collaborative Teachers
· Involved Families
· Supportive Environments
· Ambitious Instruction
Prior research has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of these “5Essential” indicators were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains in math and reading than those that were weak on three or more Essentials.
All teachers and students in 4th through 12th grade throughout Illinois will be responding to this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if their teachers and/or students meet the response rate threshold of 50 percent.
Additionally, our district has been chosen to include the Parent survey. If at least 20 percent of Oak Grove School parents complete this survey, a parent supplement report will be generated.
Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at Oak Grove School and guide our improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey window for parents will be conducted at Oak Grove School* from February 16th, 2021 through March 19th. To take the Parent survey please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin.
*It is important to select “Oak Grove Elem School – Libertyville, IL” since there are two other Oak Grove Schools in Illinois located in Decatur and Bartonville.
Curriculum Corner
Hello Oak Grove Community,
A recent technology safety article, by Nicole Zumpano, was posted to help remind us as adults that we can all work together to help our students and children remain safe online. Now more than ever, we must all stay vigilant given the amount of digital access our students have access to. Here are 5 tips to keep in mind when providing support and not bad reminders for ourselves also:
Conduct data mines (on ourselves) every 3-6 months: You never know what may have been posted accidentally or on purpose
Search images and names
Check multiple browsers
Go beyond the first page
Check privacy settings on social media accounts - remember that most social media requires a member to be 13 years or older to make an account
Who can view the posts?
Who are they friends with?
Remove anything you wouldn’t want your family, school or future employers to see
Teach digital literacies
This means identifying legitimate websites from others - Have you ever read about the Endangered Tree Octopus? This is my favorite “fake website” lesson. https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Remember not to share personal information in chat rooms, video games or public social media locations
Digital Maintenance - complete every month
Backup any saved files onto an external hard drive
Make sure parents have logins/passwords to all child/student accounts
Make sure you log out of sites, don’t just close the browser
Start early - This means in Kindergarten.
While our youngest learners may not be able to do these tasks independently, it is important to be build these healthy habits as soon as the student starts using the device regularly
For other helpful articles and links, see the Technology section of the Oak Grove website.
PTO News
MEET THE CANDIDATE NIGHT
Meet the Candidate Night is a PTO sponsored event that allows the D68 Board of Education candidates to provide information about themselves and the community to submit questions and hear the candidates’ opinions. This year the event will be held virtually on Thursday, March 11th 7pm-9pm. Questions will be collected prior to the event through a Google Form. Please submit any questions you have for the candidates using this LINK.
5th GRADE BOYS NIGHT
Parents/Guardians of 5th grade boys! Don’t forget to register for the virtual 5th Grade Boys Night! The evening will include an informative presentation of Puberty 1 by Candor Health Education. Topics to be covered include puberty, proper nutrition, personal hygiene and positive self-image. If you haven’t already registered for the event, you can do so using this LINK. If you have any questions, please reach out to Laura Reutzel at sandersL7@hotmail.com.
6TH GRADE TEA
Join your classmates on Monday, March 15th from 6:30-8:00pm for this special virtual event! Due to COVID, the 5th grade tea last spring unfortunately had to be cancelled, so the PTO has scheduled a new event hosted by a Candor Heath Educator. Please create a new registration by Friday, March 5th. Details on the program are included in the registration form. Please email the pto@ogschool.org with questions.
Register for the 6th Grade Girl’s Night.
OAK GROVE’S FIRST EVER VIRTUAL SCAVENGER HUNT!
Mark your calendars. This all-ages event will be held Saturday, March 13th at 7pm. Everyone is welcome and the best part is, you can participate from the comfort of your own home or wherever you may be! Simply download the app to play and compete against other Oak Grove families for prizes. Look for more details about the app and ticket sales in the coming weeks. We could still use a couple of volunteers to help. Please contact Keli Likosar tiggrr68@gmail.com if you are interested.
6TH GRADE VALENTINE’S DAY PROJECT
Did you know there are 25,000 homeless youth in Illinois & only 600 beds? There are 3,300 foster children in Illinois waiting to be adopted. Fill a Heart 4 Kids serves 1,350 homeless youth locally out of Lake Forest.
We are very proud of our 6th grade Eagles @school & @home who pulled together to donate to two very great causes this Valentine’s day! Thank you to Mr. Oesch, Ms. Webb & our room parents who spearheaded our donation efforts.
Founder of FAH4K’s, Annie McAveeney shares a heartfelt thank you...look for a special video thank you on OGS social media.
It all started with a Valentine!
To donate or just learn more go to Www.fillaheart4kids.org-our-story.
Thank You to the PTO/OGSEF!
A huge THANK YOU to our greatest supporters, the PTO and OGSEF, for providing our students some amazing headphones to utilize in their daily learning. The students and teachers are loving the ease of use, noise blocking, and high quality microphone. These headphones have strengthened our ability to connect students in small group work virtually while maintaining social distance. Thanks so much!!
Virtual Backpack
Oak Grove School Board of Education
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
