Oak Grove News

From the Principal’s Desk
I want to share with you that last month I submitted my letter of resignation to the Board of Education, effective at the end of this school year. Over the past couple of months my husband, Jim, and I have done a great deal of soul-searching and together we are in agreement this is the right thing to do for our family. I want to assure you, the community, that I am fully committed to you, the students, staff, and administration.  

In the coming weeks, Ms. Sherman, the school board, and the administration will be taking next steps to secure a new principal. The position has been posted and Ms. Sherman will be recruiting help from parents and staff to create interview teams for when we return from winter break. Before all is said and done, Ms. Sherman and I will work together to help the new person transition smoothly into the position.

We have much to accomplish between now and then, including: presenting this year’s musical, K-4 Winter and Valentine parties, spring open houses, band concerts, Gr 3-8 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), another book fair, maybe another school mystery (?!?!), and much, much more! I am fully committed and energized to make the best of the rest of the time we all have together!

Bookmark Awards
Congratulations to the following students for earning awards for their Cook Memorial Library bookmark designs: James A - Kindergarten, Teegan B - Kindergarten, Bentley M - Kindergarten, Carter B - 1st grade, Benjamin E - 1st grade, Mabel H - 2nd grade, Harreem H - 4th grade, Cameron K - 4th grade, Alexander B - 7th grade, Lilly R - 7th grade, and Hooriya H - 8th grade. Thank you to Mrs. Rappaport and Mrs. Osterman for supporting this contest and our students!

Community Outreach
"Holiday Cards for Heroes" are due in the OGS office by Monday, December 11 in order to get delivered to Congressman Schneider’s office in time for military service members to receive the cards. Please do not put the cards in sealed envelopes.

Also, design submissions for Congressman Schneider’s Seventh Annual Holiday Card Design Competition may be submitted by email to Jared.Rose@mail.house.gov. All submissions are due by Monday, December 9th, and the winner will be announced by early December. Please call (847) 383-4870 if you have any questions.

Important Dates
12/5:  Wrestling Begins @ 3:30 PM, Boys BB @ Northwood 4:30 PM
12/6:  Girls BB @ Milburn 4:30 PM, Concert Band in Pat Patt Gym 6:30 PM
12/7:  PTO Mtg @ 9:30 AM, PTO BreakSk8 Assemblies, Boys BB vs Lake Bluff @ 4:15 PM
12/8:  Girls BB @ Northwood 4:30 PM
12/12: DEI Virtual Mtg 5:30 PM
12/13: COW @ 6:00 PM, Levy Hearing @ 7:15 PM, BOE @ 7:16 PM
12/21: Wrestling @ Viking
12/23-1/8: Winter Break - No School
1/9: School Resumes

Curriculum Corner
All students in grades K-5 are taking Aimsweb testing in reading and math this week. Aimsweb reading is a one-on-one district administered assessment of basic skills in literacy used for benchmarking and progress monitoring, and Aimsweb math is an electronic assessment of mathematics basic skills used for benchmarking and progress monitoring. In January, immediately following winter break, all K-8 students will take the winter iReady diagnostic assessment for reading and math. iReady is a district administered assessment in reading and mathematics used to measure growth relative to national and local grade level peers. Reports for both assessments will be shared with families in coming weeks.

From the JH Library
Thank you to everyone who donated to our Bernie's Book Bank Book Drive. We collected 4,500 books breaking our OGS donation record! Those books will make a real difference in the lives of the children the Book Bank serves. 

Battle of the Books 2023 is starting in 2 months! The first Battle will be on Monday, February 6. If your 4th-8th grader is participating, please check in with them and see how much they've read. Their team is depending on them to read their 4 books!

Board Games Club Grades 5-8 
Mark your calendars because the Board Games Club will be making a return!  We will meet on Tuesdays from January 24- March 14 from 3:25-4:15. More information will be in the upcoming Oak Grove News as we get closer!  Please be aware this will be the only group meeting this year.  If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Ms. Douglass at douglass@ogschool.org . 

Upcoming Student Council Events
• December 16th: Holiday Happenings:7th & 8th Grades, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
• February:  Candy grams - more info. coming
• February 18th: K-8 Fun Fair - more info. coming

                                   ..........More to come

Wrestling News
Anyone interested in ordering OGS wrestling gear may follow this link to place an order. https://23spiritgearoakgrove23.itemorder.com/shop/home/ - If you are interested, please order soon. We are closing online orders this Thursday night (12/15)

iCook: Rainbow of Flavor
This winter, our chefs-in-training will create a variety of recipes that cover the full spectrum of the rainbow! From Orange Tarts, to Blueberry Cheesecake, to Purple Coleslaw, to Rainbow Veggie Kebabs, this session uses a wide array of colorful ingredients both familiar and new. Foundational cooking skills will be taught, including proper techniques for baking, roasting, measuring, mixing, slicing, dicing, and, of course, kitchen safety! We hope to see you in the kitchen soon. If you would like to learn more and register your K-4 student, please visit iCookAfterSchool.com. Sessions will be on Wednesdays here at OGS from 3:30-4:30 PM for 11 weeks from January 11th to March 22nd. CLICK HERE to see the flyer (in the virtual backpack).

PTO News

PTO Meeting This Week
The PTO will meet this Wednesday, December 7 at 9:30am in the PD Room and on Zoom. The meeting documents and Zoom info will be shared by e-mail. Meeting minutes from November 2 are available here. If you cannot attend the meeting and are interested in casting a proxy vote on the funding request for $3,992.14 to purchase new band equipment and refurbish existing equipment please read more here. 

Winter Market Thank Yous
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported the Winter Market on Saturday. We especially want to thank all the student and parent volunteers who helped, the vendors who added to the shopping fun, the band ensembles who entertained us, Stan’s Donuts and Starbucks for their support and the custodial staff as well. Special thanks go to AnneRose Poor, Becky Ketterhagen and Tracey Schulze for organizing another wonderful Winter Market!

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.

 

 

---