Oak Grove News

We again would like to ask parents/guardians who pick up students after school in the junior high parking lot to be mindful of the classes taking place inside the sixth grade hallway. School is not dismissed until 3:20 p.m. and we are noticing some cars are lining up in the parking lot as early as 2:30 p.m. Per federal law, our classrooms have to draw outside air into them, so car noise, exhaust, radio, etc. can be heard in the rooms. This can be disruptive to the learning environment, especially up to 50 minutes before school ends.

Also, families with kindergartners and 1st graders who live in the Saddle Hill neighborhood must pick up their students. By law, the school district cannot provide bus service to residents in the immediate neighborhoods surrounding Oak Grove. They also must meet a school employee to pick up their child. Thus, the students cannot walk to the "end" of the car pick up line, like older students. Therefore, these 25-30 families need to be towards the front of the line, if possible.

As we have suggested, we strongly encourage those families who are eligible for bus service to please take advantage of it. The more students who ride the bus, the less congested the car traffic is for all. We all know that the stoplight at 137/Buckley & O'Plaine Road is not activated very long for north/south traffic. This certainly hampers travel for our buses, especially as they cannot turn "right on red," as autos are allowed. If we can reduce some car traffic, conditions for all should improve.

We wanted to make you aware of the concerns we have at our after school pick up time. If you can arrive later, or more important, take advantage of our bus service, our teachers and students would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Hello Oak Grove Community,

Winter Advisory Council Reminder: Parent Inquiry Form, due January 30th

• As part of our formal Talented And Gifted (TAG) placement procedures, we will be holding our fall session of Advisory Council. During the fall Advisory Council meeting, the committee will review placement appeals. Parents have the right to request an additional review of student placement into Oak Grove’s formal TAG program, through a placement appeal, which would be reviewed by the Advisory Council.

• Parents requesting participation in the appeal process are required to complete the Parent Inquiry Form beginning on page 22 of the TAG Handbook. The Parent Inquiry Form must be completed and emailed to Sarah Cacciatore at cacciatore@ogschool.org no later than January 30th for consideration at the fall Advisory Council meeting. Parents will be notified via email regarding the final committee decisions.

*Please note, appeal process may only be utilized once a calendar year.

Congratulations to our 2018 Spelling Bee winner, 7th grader, Matthew Berner and 6th grader, Vanessa Zhang, our runner-up. With words like "laborious", "mimicking", "caravel", and "putrefaction" under their belts, the randomized word list popped up "cello" for our winning word!

Congratulations to all the spellers who participated in the bee!

On January 18, 2018 Oak Grove was the scene for the most competitive Geography Bee in recent history. When the dust settled, 8th grader, Ramanan Srirajan, was crowned the champion and 8th grader, Nikhil Patel, the runner-up, after an unprecedented 15 tie-breaker questions! The future is bright for Oak Grove Geographers; finishing in third place was 4th grader, Shriteja Patil. Two other 4th graders, Nyl Wagh and Nicholas Farmakis reached the final round of competition.

Congratulations to all our contestants:

8th graders- Shri Patil, Devashish Khatavkar

7th Graders- Matthew Berner, Prajna Penmetsa, Paige Regan

6th Graders- Marisa Tarica, Anna Dawson, Tarun Movva, Sashu Senthilkumar

5th Grader- Hasan Suglatwala

4th Graders- Maaz Suglatwala, Shrinidhi Satya Vadanabhatla, Shagun Poonia, Roohee Patil, Vaidehi Khatavkar

Congratulations again!

The 8th grade girls finished the season 11-1 and as first place conference tournament champions with a 40-12 win over Lake Bluff! Congratulations, girls!

Congratulations to the 7th grade girls basketball team on winning the Lakeside Conference Championship. The girls beat the number one and two seeds to claim the title. The entire team played phenomenal throughout the tournament.

The PTO purchased 10 bike desks to be used during Miss Kurtz’s Health classes. The goal of replacing traditional desks with the bike desks is to create a kinesthetic classroom where students can learn while being able to move. This can help students get some physical activity while in the classroom as well as helping with student focus and concentration. Thank you PTO!

If you enjoy writing - this club is the “Write” Choice for you!

*Join people with the same interest to create a variety of different written forms*

*We will create and share*

*We will develop options to showcase final products*

*Open to students in 5th - 8th grade*

*Contact Mrs. Tazzioli if interested*

Meetings will take place in the Junior High library every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, starting in February.

7th and 8th grade tryouts will take place this week on Tuesday and Thursday in the Patt gym from 3:30-6:00. There will not be tryouts on Wednesday, due to the early release. All athletes must have a current physical on file with the school nurse in order to participate in tryouts. Athletic clothing/shoes are required and kneepads are recommended. Cuts will be made, if necessary. Teams will be announced on Thursday or Friday this week.

Contact the coaches with any questions:

7th Dave Izenstark izenstark@ogschool.org

8th Anna Edelson edelson@ogschool.org

Science Club/YBTCC Meets on Fridays from 3:30-4:30 in Room 305

OGS had a great turnout for the YBTCC (You Be The Chemist Challenge) qualifying exam last week. Thank you to all of the students who participated!

After all of the competing schools report their challenge results, we will be able to announce the finalists. Passionate scientists in 5th-8th grade can participate in science club, even if they did not take the qualifying exam. On Fridays, we spend half of time reviewing science content and going over challenge questions, and the second half working in the lab. If you have any questions, please email the advisors, Mr. Oesch and Mrs. Edelson.

Gala Tickets & Sponsorships

www.ogsef.org/gala-2018
Our biennial Spring Gala will take place on February 24, 2018 at Independence Grove. The event features food, drinks, entertainment, auctions and more. Our last Gala sold out, so be sure to secure your tickets soon!

Donate to our Auction
If you have something you would like to donate to the Gala’s silent auction -- such as tickets, memorabilia, fun experiences, merchandise, and more -- please contact Shellie Fahy at shelliefahy@att.net.

Volunteer Opportunities -- WE NEED YOU!
The Oak Grove Gala Committee is seeking individuals to lend a hand. We need volunteers for small shifts on the night of the event for registration/check-in, monitoring/closing auction tables, supporting the paddle raise/live auction and check out. You can sign up for a volunteer position at http://www.ogsef.org/gala-2018-volunteers.html.

Thank you for your support!

The Oak Grove School Education Foundation

4th/5th Social

RSVP today for this free event held Wednesday, January 24th, from 1:30-3:30 @ Ultimate Ninja’s in Libertyville for 4th and 5th graders. Parents are responsible for getting their child to the event. In order to participate, each child needs to sign an electronic waiver. Please click here to fill out the waiver: https://lilypadpos6.com/unl/onlinewaiver/waiver.php?sid=2953. If your child plans to attend, please RSVP to Liz Howard by the end of today: lizhowardpto@yahoo.com

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Get your tickets now for the Oak Grove School Daddy/Daughter dance held on Saturday, February 3rd from 6:30-9:00PM. Click this link to purchase tickets and volunteer for the event: http://howardliz.wixsite.com/daddy-daughter-dance. This is going to be a special evening for daughters and dads/special guys you won’t want to miss!

K-1st Social

FREE afternoon of activities for Kindergarteners and 1st graders Wednesday, January 24th from 1:30-3:30 pm at the Libertyville Sports Complex. Click here for more information on how to RSVP, sign the Sports Complex Waiver and volunteer to help!

Absent Student Lunch Policy

If a student is absent and has ordered hot lunch, the lunch room staff will bring his/her lunch to the appropriate office (Elementary or Junior High) at the end of the lunch hour. The lunch will be available for pick up in the office until 2PM of that day. If the student has an appointment outside of school during their lunch hour, they may request their lunch from the office staff before or after their appointment.

Save the date for Oak Grove's first annual Multicultural Night on May 3, 2018. Please join us for an exciting evening celebrating the many cultures and traditions important to our fellow Oak Grove families. Each guest will be treated as a traveler and issued a "passport" at the door which he or she can get "stamped" at each booth exhibiting a cultural display. The booths will feature multi-sensory demonstrations, including food, music, language, dress and other presentations.

In addition to increasing awareness and appreciation of other cultures and traditions, the Multicultural Night will extend education beyond classroom walls by exposing the Oak Grove community to an experience where students and students' families take the lead in teaching others. The multicultural committee is excited to showcase the similarities and differences among our cultures and traditions and to celebrate Oak Grove's diversity together.

Members of the Oak Grove community may participate in Multicultural Night as "travelers" or by hosting a booth to share a culture and/or traditions important to them with other fair-goers. Please note that all are welcome to host a booth. Some things to keep in mind:

• Booths will not be limited to one per country or region. If we have several booths focused on the same country or region, the more we will learn!
• Students/families are welcome to share their cultures and/or traditions regardless of whether their family is new to the U.S. or has been here for many generations.
• In addition to international countries and regions, students/families are welcome to showcase a region of the U.S.
• Students/families are welcome to host a booth if they have a particular interest in a country or culture for any reason whatsoever. For example, perhaps a family member teaches French or your family visited Australia last year. If you wish to share your knowledge and interest with the Oak Grove community, we invite you to do that!

The multicultural committee hopes to get as many of our Oak Grove families involved as possible. Please help make it a success!

For those interested in volunteering for a booth, please fill out this google form located here. We hope to have a final count of families hosting a booth by the end of February.

We look forward to seeing all of you on May 3, 2018!

Sincerely,

Oak Grove's Multicultural Committee

On Saturday, March 10th, both Oak Grove choirs will be singing at a Chicago Wolves game at the All State Arena. The game starts at 7pm. Tickets are $17.50 per person without transportation to the game and $22.50 INCLUDING transportation to and from Oak Grove. The cost includes a ticket (with or without transportation to and from the game) as well as a Wolves hat. Please see the Virtual Backpack for the ticket order form and permission slip.

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