Oak Grove News

Superintendent Update 
Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful winter break. I wanted to circle back to an invite I shared before break. In the upcoming weeks, we will be conducting interviews for our new principal. We would like to invite parents to participate in the selection process. If you are interested in participating in this process, please email Jennifer McBride (mcbride@ogschool.org) by Friday, Jan. 13th. As of now, we have secured Wednesday, Feb. 8 (late afternoon/evening) for these interviews. We will be looking to form a team of parents who represent the diversity of our school. Once we have a list, we will narrow to a team and confirm with participants in mid-January. We appreciate your consideration.

A Message From Mr. Murray
Congratulations Oak Grove Chess Students!
Our OGS chess students won “5th Place Team” between all the not-rated players on Dec 18th, 2022, 135th Kumbaya Chess Tournament at Niles North High School. This tournament is an officially recognized tournament by the United States Chess Federation, the governing body of chess in the U.S. We are so proud of all the students who participated in the event. Congratulations, too, to those who earned individual trophies. Way to go OGS Chess Team, and good luck at the 136th tournament on Jan 22, 2023!

BeWell Co-Ed Fitness
Information for the BeWell Co-Ed Fitness Opportunity for 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Students is located in the virtual backpack. The series begins this Friday, January 13th, 2023, 3:30-4:30pm in the Pat Patt Gym. Click HERE to sign up, and for any questions please email ben@bewellfitness.com.

Information for Camp Galileo
Innovation, Friendship and Fun is also located in the virtual backpack. Enroll during Early Bird registration and save $50 per week! www.galileo-camps.com

Mental Health Minute
As we bring in the new year, we are looking to continue to develop skills and strategies to best manage our emotions. Our emotions serve as a guide for how we best navigate our day to day situations. To find out more, please read January's issue of the mental health minute.

SEL K-5
Welcome back! We hope your break was filled with acts of kindness, happy and memorable moments and of course some rest and mindfulness. While we wish that your entire break was filled with sunshine and rainbows, it is often when children experience changes in routine that you also see changes in their behavior. If you witnessed a few meltdowns after late nights, long days or simply not being in the routine of coming to school, you are not alone. Over the next few weeks students in grades Kindergarten through fifth grade will learn about ways to calm down their strong emotions. We will learn songs, read stories, review the Zones of Regulation and learn the parts of the brain that help us control our emotions.

Important Dates
JANUARY
1/9: School Resumes
1/11: PTO Mtg @ 6:30PM (*2nd Wednesday due to Winter Break)
1/13: PTO Spirit Day
1/16: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No School
1/17: COW @6PM & BOE Meeting @ 7:15PM
1/18: 8th Grade Musical Parent meeting JH Cafe 7PM - 8PM
1/19: Spelling Bee - 6PM
1/20: SIP Early Release Day 11:30AM
1/25: 8th grade musical rehearsals 3:30 - 5:30PM
1/27: 8th grade musical rehearsals 3:30 - 5:30PM
1/30: 8th grade musical rehearsals 3:30 - 5:30PM
1/31: Junior High Book Fair

Paraprofessionals needed!

Curriculum Corner

Winter Diagnostic Testing

Winter diagnostic testing is taking place this week. The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.

To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to: 

• Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.
• Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
• Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will only get about half of the questions correct.
• Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish.

Students who are absent this week will be scheduled for make-up testing next week. Please be sure your child brings a fully charged device to school this week and has working headphones for the test.

Talk Tuesday

The next Talk Tuesday will be on Tuesday, February 7th from 6:00-7:30 pm in the PD room with Biz Lindsay-Ryan, an expert consultant on diversity, equity and inclusion. She believes that we need to prepare our children to be healthy and effective communicators and that requires them to be able to navigate race and difference in the world around them. This session will ground parents’ experiences in research and begin a productive dialogue giving tools to parents that will benefit the entire family. We look forward to inviting our Oak Grove parents to this unique opportunity!

Calling all LHS seniors!
Are you an OGS alum? Be sure to apply for the OGEA Eagle Scholarship! 
The Oak Grove Education Association is proud to offer the eighth annual Eagle Scholarship which is given to an Oak Grove alum who has demonstrated excellence in academics, character, extracurricular activities, and service. The OGEA represents the certified staff at Oak Grove School. Our educators are committed to the success of all current and former students.

Applications are due February 22. 

Check out our previous Eagle Scholarship recipients! 

Happy New Year from the PTO!

PTO Meeting
The PTO will meet this Wednesday, January 11 at 6:30pm in the Elementary Library and on Zoom. The agenda for the meeting is available HERE and the minutes from December 7th are available HERE. A meeting reminder with links and Zoom info will be shared by email. If you cannot attend the meeting and are interested in casting a proxy vote on the funding request for $129 to purchase an Apple TV device read more HERE. 

Frontier Soups Fundraiser
We are excited to partner with a local company to offer a fundraiser that provides delicious and nutritious meals to you as well as a generous profit back to the PTO! Both the “Homemade in Minutes” and “Hearty Meals” soup mixes are all natural with no added sodium, preservatives, or MSG. There are 18 soup options as well as cornbread and taco dip mix options too. Your student(s) will bring home a product catalog this week that includes product details and additional ingredient/allergen information is available here.

Order online HERE between Monday, January 9 and Wednesday, January 25. Within 24 hours of your order submission you will be contacted via text to coordinate payment. Unpaid orders prior to January 25 will not be submitted. Orders will be delivered to your doorstep the weekend of February 4 by a PTO volunteer If you have questions about this fundraiser, ordering or payment please contact Erin Liebgott.

Tickets Now on Sale - Girl & Guest Dance
Please join us for the OGS Girl & Guest Dance on Saturday, February 4th! We are so excited for our girls to break out those beautiful outfits and have fun with their adult guests and friends! We'll have a photo booth, raffle prizes, music/dancing, and cupcakes/light snacks. Tickets are on sale now through January 27th on the PTO website. Check out the flier in the Virtual Backpack for more details. We can't wait to see you all there!

Attention 5th-8th Graders: JH Book Fair
The Junior High book fair is right around the corner. January 31st-February 2nd, Anderson Bookfair Company will be coming to Oak Grove School. More details & information will be coming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned and keep an eye out on social media.

2023 Lunch Volunteers Needed
The lunch volunteer sign up sheets have been updated through the end of the school year. We need your help to make lunch distribution run like clockwork. Your student(s) would love to see you on their birthday or any day, so please join us in 2023! Sign-up forms are linked here: Elementary Lunch Volunteering AND Junior High Lunch Volunteering
 

Board Games Club Grades 5-8 
Get ready for 8 weeks of fun with our Board Games Club for grades 5-8.  We will meet on Tuesdays from January 24- March 14 from 3:25- 4:15.  If you would like to join, please complete this Google Form for your student (one for each sibling if more than one student will be participating).  Once registered, you will receive an email with details ahead of our initial meeting on January 24.  Feel free to email Ms. Douglass with any questions at douglass@ogschool.org Register here using this link:  https://forms.gle/F85EzkhkL4RMGrRY7

Band News
Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful break!
Just as a friendly reminder, band activities are back up and running at normal times and in the normal spaces. Tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 10) is Concert and Symphonic Band rehearsals and 8th grade lessons will be merged into the 7th grade lesson schedule. 
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 10) Beginning Band will pick it up with "White" Band rehearsal and "Blue" Band rehearsal on Wednesday (Jan. 11). Instruments will be needed!
We look forward to diving back into the music making. See you all soon!

Virtual Backpack

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.