Principal’s Otter Splash 4/29/2022 Versión en español aquí

Hello, Oak Grove family! We hope you had a wonderful weekend! We’re sorry that the potential for inclement weather necessitated the change in date for Beautification Saturday. We hope to see everyone at the new date: May 14.

Please remember: Monday, May 2, is a county-wide teacher workday. Students will not be in school on May 2. OnTuesday, May 3, we will see Track 1, 2, and 4 students back at school. Wednesday, May 4, kicks off Oak Grove Teacher Appreciation Week. Please see the message below from the PTA on ways that we are going to celebrate our amazing staff!

 

Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4 – May 13):

This week kicks off Teacher Appreciation Week!  We are excited to thank ALL of the Oak Grove staff and teachers for the hard work and dedication they show our children each day!

 

This year Tracks 1 and 2 will celebrate their teachers Wednesday, May 4th-Friday, May 6th.  

Tracks 3 and 4 will celebrate Wednesday, May 11th-Friday, May 13th. 

 

Each day there will be a special way to say "thanks for all you do".  The days are: 

 

Wednesday:  Write a note or draw a picture to show your teacher/s how much you appreciate them.  (Don't forget our awesome Specialists, Instructional Assistants, and any other teacher who may work with your child!) 

 

Thursday: Bring in your teacher's favorite SWEET or SALTY snack! 

 

Friday: Bring in a token of appreciation such as a small gift card, flowers, a book, etc.

 

In addition to these days, the PTA will host a special ice cream bar and a catered lunch for all teachers and staff on Monday, May 9th and Tuesday, May 10th.  

 

We can't wait to CELEBRATE our WONDERFUL TEACHERS! 

 

PTA Otter Auction and Raffle:

The Otter Auction

The Otter Auction is here! Visit this link to preview the class baskets, teacher auctions, and local business donations. The auction will be live Tuesday, May 3rd and will accept bids until Friday, May 13. Many items also have "Buy it now!" options! Be sure to check it out!

The Otter Raffle

While our auction has gone virtual this year, we wanted to keep the teacher raffle in person! Many of our otterly awesome teachers are going to auction lunch with a student. Every child will be given one entry into their current teacher’s raffle (or another teacher if their teacher is not participating). If you wish to purchase additional entries to increase your odds of winning or to enter another teacher’s raffle (administration, specialist, or a former teacher/IA), your child will be able to purchase additional tickets for $1 each during arrival on the following dates:

Tracks 1 & 2: May 5th and 6th

Tracks 3 & 4: May 12th and 13th

 

Your Plans for 2022-2023 School Year:

If your child is currently a K-4 student and you do not plan to return to Oak Grove next year, please email our Data Manager, Ms. Dahlhoff at adahlhoff@wcpss.net to let her know what school they will attend. 

 

Kindergarten Orientation for 22-23 School Year Kinders:

Welcome New Otters! We are so excited to meet you as your child begins their educational journey.  We will be hosting Kindergarten Orientation on Thursday, May 12th, 5:30pm.  We will begin together in the multipurpose room, with a presentation at 5:30pm.  We will conclude our evening with a mini tour so you can see where your child will be learning.  We look forward to meeting you soon. - The Kindergarten Team

 

End of Grade Testing (3^rd-5^th Grade Students)

We have finalized the dates for the End of Grade Testing for our 3^rd-5^th grade students. Please see this flyer for the dates of each test by track and grade level:

End of Grade Testing Schedule

 

Fifth Grade Families, Save the Date for Moving Up Ceremonies:

We will be celebrating our 5^th graders during Moving Up Ceremonies again this year. Please save the following dates by track:

Track 1 Moving Up Ceremony: June 2, 10:00 AM

Track 2, 3, 4 Moving Up Ceremony: June 27, 10:00 AM

More information can be found here: Moving Up Flyer.

 

Panorama Family Engagement Survey:

Please take a few minutes to complete this year's family engagement survey between April 4th and May 6th. The survey will ask parents/guardians questions about the quality of the school environment, how well your child’s school communicates with families, whether your school actively encourages family involvement, and similar topics.

The data gathered in this survey will help schools make improvements in all of these areas, so we strongly encourage you to participate. We will ask that a parent or guardian complete one survey for each WCPSS school that your children attend. Click here for more information.

 

PTA Partners with Local Artist (Update): 

The PTA has an exciting opportunity for you to remember your child’s time at Oak Grove. The local artist, Lew Wilson, has created a print of our beautiful school. You can even order an ornament!  

All items purchased on the site using our code, OGES, counts towards our 20%.

https://bit.ly/3KMKxhY

 

 

Previous Splash Announcements

 

Important Information about Remediation and Re-administration of EOG:

This school year, WCPSS is conducting district wide End of Grade (EOG) retesting for students in grades 3-5.  What was formerly the last two days of school will now be used for remediation and retesting for students that qualify in grades 3-5.  These remediation days will no longer be regular school days for the 21-22 school year.

 

Therefore, the following dates are the NEW dates for the last day of school for ALL students:

 

⭐Track 1 Last Day of School for Regular Instruction for PreK-5: Thursday, June 2nd, 2022

⭐Tracks 2, 3, 4 Last Day of School for Regular Instruction for PreK-5: Monday, June 27th, 2022

 

Only students in grades 3-5 who qualify for retesting AND choose to participate will be attending school on June 3rd and 6th for Track 1 and June 28th and 29th for Tracks 2, 3, & 4. You will be contacted by the school directly if you are eligible for retesting AND if you have opted in to test. If you have NOT been contacted about your child being eligible for a retest, your child should not be on campus on the re-administration days. If your family has a unique situation on these newly repurposed school days, such that this adjustment creates a situation where you need support, please contact our school counselors, Ms. Michot or Ms. Schira. The Opt-in form is no longer active. If you missed completing the form, please reach out to the school.  

 

Voluntary MAKO COVID testing begins April 8:

Voluntary MAKO COVID testing will begin April 8 at Oak Grove. Participation in the program is voluntary. A parent or guardian must register any student under 18 years old in order to participate. To learn more about COVID-19 testing, visit www.MAKOstrongschoolsNC.com. 

If you are interested in having your child participate in the pool testing, please find the registration link below. The weekly testing day for Oak Grove is Fridays at 2:45. Results from the pooled testing return 24-48 hours. If your child’s pool is positive, you will be contacted and scheduled to take an individual test.

Registration for students: Oak Grove Elem COVID-19 Testing Registration

 

The PTA DEI Committee Wants YOU!

This year (2021-2022) the Oak Grove PTA created a committee focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) that began meeting in the fall. Comprised of parents, PTA leaders, and teachers, the committee began its work by adopting the following statement:

At Oak Grove, we will advocate for our school family by creating systems that promote an inclusive community, embrace diversity, and prioritize equitable access to opportunity. We will intentionally work to counteract racial and socioeconomic inequities, and do so in a way that maintains the dignity of all.

In the fall, the committee hosted a parent workshop on the topic of talking to kids about race, presented by Dr. MariaRosa Rangel, Director of Family and Community Engagement, and Stephanie Mitchell, Wake PTA DEI Co-Chair. We also talked about ways we can be more mindful of inclusion when planning programming and engaging in communications. 

 

As we launch into Spring, we are excited to reconvene and continue our work! And we would love for more parents to get involved! 

Meetings are held virtually at varying times, to help make attendance easy. We hope you will join us in our effort to make our school a place where everyone feels welcomed and loved. To get involved, you can contact the committee chair, Sarah Stoeckel, at sarah.e.stoeckel@gmail.com.

 

Oak Grove PTA Spring Fundraiser Coming Soon:

Oak Grove's Spring Fundraiser is about a month away! We wanted to give the families a heads up on this event because it will look different than it has in previous years. It has two components:

 

The Otter Raffle: This will be an in-person, cash only raffle to have lunch with your teacher. Every student will receive one ticket to be put in their current teacher's raffle. Students can buy additional raffle tickets to increase their odds or try for another teacher (specialist, administrator, former teacher). The raffle will be held outside under the breezeway during arrival time on May 5 & 6 for Tracks 1 & 2 and May 12 & 13 for Tracks 3 & 4. 

 

The Otter Auction: In conjunction with the raffle, we will be holding an online auction, where we will raffle off class-made baskets, donations from local businesses, and other teacher experiences. The auction will be held exclusively online 5/3-5/13.

 

We will share more information on this event as it gets closer! Thank you for your support of the PTA!

 

Outdoor Lunch Update:

Due to an insufficient number of volunteers, we've had to cancel our outdoor lunch schedule for the past 2 weeks. It's very important to us to provide this opportunity to our students, so we've come up with another plan. Classroom teachers have been informed that if they would like to have their class eat outside, they may do so, if they are scheduled to eat outside for that week and they have a parent volunteer that is willing to come in and monitor their class for outdoor eating.  Parent volunteers would only be responsible for watching their child's class. If you would like to monitor your own child's class for outdoor lunch, please reach out to your child's teacher for more information.  We hope this provides more opportunities for our students to enjoy the nice weather while eating their lunch. If you have additional questions, please reach out to Ms. Tysor at jtysor@wcpss.net.

 

 

Updates to the When to Return Page:

WCPSS health guidance follows requirements from the NC Department of Health and Human Services and recommendations from Wake County Public Health. This week, there were updates made to the When to Return page. Please continue to monitor your child’s health closely. You can see the updates here: www.wcpss.net/whentoreturn

 

PTA Partners to Provide Track-out Opportunity (Spring Addition):

Over The Moon Play Space is offering play-based STEM and Art track out and summer camps, with fun themes each week. They are going to donate 10% of all camp revenue booked with code OGES between now and the end of Spring to the Oak Grove PTA!  Go to https://www.overthemoonplay.com/camps to learn about the camps and book a spot before they fill up!

 

Chromebook UPDATE from Technology Services:

Technology Services has seen an increase in security issues due to WCPSS devices not being restarted regularly. Restarting a device allows updates for new security and productivity features. Students and staff should restart their WCPSS devices once per week. Consider setting a specific day for this, such as a Restart Wednesday or Restart Friday. (Important: Closing the lid only locks the device and does not shut it down.) Restarting also can resolve many other common issues impacting student devices. Always restart a WCPSS device before contacting the Help Desk.

 

 

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Ms. Tysor or me with any questions you may have. We are happy to help.

 

All my best,

 

Stephanie Bias, Principal

 

Reminders:

• Join the PTA: https://oakgrove.memberhub.store/

• May 2: No School (All Tracks Teacher Workday)
• May 10: Track-out Day (Track 2)
• May 11: Track-in Day (Track 3)
• May 12: PTA Meeting (4:15 in the Media Center)
• May 12: Kindergarten Orientation (5:30 in the Multi-Purpose Room)
• May 14: PTA School Beautification Saturday (10:00 AM)
• May 18: Burrito Shak Eating Out Night (4-9 PM) Flyer Link: https://bit.ly/3K5aJ6v