A Note to Parents and Students:

Our theme for the 2013-14 school year is CONFIDENCE. This year we will provide many opportunities for our students to learn, practice, and reflect on how they handle themselves in social situations. Our students will learn how to stand up for themselves, how to help others, and how to project an attitude of confidence. 

At Oak Knoll, our expectations ensure student safety and provide an environment that promotes kindness. This handbook provides clear expectations that support and encourage Oak Knoll students to make confident decisions.

School discipline is a cooperative effort between the students, faculty, parents and administrators. Every attempt is made to enforce the rules consistently. We believe in a restorative model: building student's confidence, providing opportunities for students to get involved, resolving conflict through discussion, and having the student take ownership. Thoughtful and logical consequences will be determined based on the child's needs and the severity of the incident. Consequences are meant to teach students about taking responsibility for his or her actions. Parents may or may not be notified depending on the severity of the incident.

This handbook was designed for Oak Knoll students and parents. Teachers will be spending time in class reading and discussing these expectations together. We encourage you to do the same at home. Questions regarding the expectations defined in this handbook are welcomed. 

Thank you for your support,

The Oak Knoll Staff

Stay Home Guidelines: 

School-aged children may be exposed to a variety of communicable diseases. At times it is difficult to decide whether or not to send your child to school. 

Your child needs to stay at home when he/she has:

• Any contagious disease
• Nausea or vomiting within the last 24 hours
• Temperature over 100 degrees F. Temperature needs to be normal for 24 hours before returning to school
• Frequent coughing or very runny nose
• Diarrhea within the last 24 hours
• Sore throat
• Severe headache
• Skin rash - ALL rashes must be diagnosed by a doctor
• Open sores, unless the area can be covered with a dressing
• Earache, tooth ache or other severe pain 

Like always, if you have questions call Barb Snow and/or Cathy Petersen in the Oak Knoll School office at 650-854-4433.

Useful Links:

You will find a button on the home page of the Oak Knoll website that allows you to report an absence or a tardy.  

Please take a look at this Help Your Child Succeed in School flyer (en Español) for more useful information. 

For those who do afternoon pick-up using the car line, please obtain a last name placard from the school office to place on the inside of your car windshield. Please display it prominently when you pull into the pick-up line, so the teachers can call out your last name to your child(ren) waiting to load.  You can also print your last name on a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (half letter-size) piece of card stock or paper that can be easily displayed when you pull into car line for pick-up.

Due to the Labor Day holiday, the next Otter Weekly will go out on Monday, September 2.

You can sidestep the traffic and delays at Oak Knoll by getting together with other parents to form walk/bike groups or carpools. Make it easier to find and schedule with other families with the "CarpoolToSchool" Oak Knoll portal. The District used its Safe Routes to School grant money to provide a restricted-access portal for just Oak Knoll families to register and invite neighbors to schedule carpool & bike/walk pools and set up email reminders for parent shifts. Share the fun and save time. Click here for more information. (Funding for this program made possible by City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County.)

Good news! If you are carpooling to Oak Knoll, you are eligible for a $25 gas card from the County! If you invite a neighbor to share the driving, you can collect a nice reward. Click here for more information.

You've outgrown your tie dye Ollie t-shirt from last year?  Don't fret, we have new colors this year to spice up your wardrobe - green, pink and rainbow too!  Cotton shirts don't work well for sports or skiing you say?  Of course they don't!  So show your Oak Knoll spirit on the courts and in the mountains with our new dry fit shirts, gym shorts and fleece jackets/vests.  And don't forget to pick up an Ollie car magnet to show your school pride around town and beyond!  Samples of these and all other styles can be viewed in the office and online.

All orders are due Friday, September 9, so don't delay!  You can order online with Paypal or fill out an order form and place it, along with a check, in the Otterwear folder in the office.  For all questions please contact Tracy Roeder.

We need help to make the fall picnic a success!  Please sign up to volunteer for a shift.

If you have questions please contact Tara Carranza.

If you haven't volunteered as yet, or are looking for new opportunities this year, a full list of PTO Committees and activities is available on the PTO Committees page of the Oak Knoll School Website.

Here are a couple of opportunities available right now:

Kinder Yard Duty 

This a great way to find out how your child is adapting to Oak Knoll.  You get a first-hand look at what the kids do on the playground, how they play with each other, and who they play with.  It is also a chance to meet and help the teachers as they supervise the kindergarten playground activities and snack.  Two parent volunteers are needed per day during Kinder morning recess, so we need lots of parents willing to help.  

If you are able to volunteer, please e-mail Andrea Potischman indicating what days you are available and how often you are able to help; weekly, every other week, monthly, etc. 

Volunteers Needed for Nature Zone  

Everyone loves the The Nature Zone (formally the Wild Zone)....please help keep it open!  Two parents are needed per day to supervise the kids,11:45am-1:00pm during upper recess lunch. Don't hesitate, volunteer, to ensure our children have the opportunity to interact with trees, branches, leaves, dirt and all the "natural toys" within The Nature Zone.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Allison Hoiberg.

Now that the first two days of school are behind us, we hope everyone is getting settled and feeling the excitement that a new school year brings to our children!

On behalf of Oak Knoll's Joint Campaign team, we welcome all of you back to our amazing school!  We are excited for all that we can accomplish together this year.  We ask you to join us in supporting Oak Knoll by supporting the Oak Knoll PTO and MPAEF today.  PTO donations are due by September 26.  Donations, pledges and initiation of payments to the MPAEF are due by November 21.

With thanks,

Tracy Watt, Oak Knoll PTO President 

Kristin Seuell & Scott Hinshaw, MPAEF Co-Presidents 

PTO Membership Team                   MPAEF School Team 

Cyndy Hogan                                    Jennifer Levey

Kathy Motamedi                                Dimitra Anderson

Tamara Russel                                  Linda Knoll

Meg Scherer                                     Sharon Purcell

Jill Wurster                                       Ashley Honerkamp

                Click here to support the MPAEF                    Click here to support Oak Knoll PTO

*****************************************

Sign up for eScrip and Earn Free Money for Our Schools!

Between August 14 and September 10, participating merchants, including Draegers and Safeway are giving 10% of your purchase price to the MPAEF!

Participating is easy! Register any of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards at eScrip and then just shop! 

You can even track your purchases online, allowing you to see just how much you're earning on your child's behalf! 

For more information, click here. 

Welcome Back to School!  Ollie was so happy to see all the smiling faces on Thursday and noted "It's going to be another great year at Oak Knoll!"  It was a busy back-to-school week for all the parent volunteers.  We had the New Family Ice Cream Social on Wednesday and high five goes out to the lovely Committee Chair Kelly Slaughter who put together a fantastic event for our new families.  Ollie is partial to an ice cream and may have helped himself to one or two! The Kinder Welcome kicked off the new kindergarten year right and the kindergarteners went on a scavenger hunt collecting Ollie related items around campus.  A high five goes out to the fantastic Committee Chairs: Karen Dobbyn, Chatal Ferrini and Lisa Reeves, along with all the wonderful volunteers who helped in the success:  Sonia Dormeyko, Bonnie Egnal, Neymi Madrigal, Kathy Motamedi,  Gina Skinner, and Airel Tinajero and not to forget all the fabulous student ambassadors from 4th and 5th grade.  A huge thanks goes out to ALL the Committee Chairs who came to Back To School Coffee and made the event a huge success. We hope you stopped by and were able to select the right volunteer spots for you.  If not, feel free to have a look here!  

Lastly, a huge high five to Barb Snow, Cathy Petersen and Victor Barraza and his team for all of their help with school logistics.  Our committees had lots of questions for Barb and Cathy that they tirelessly responded to and we can't even remember how many tables and chairs Victor and his team moved for us.  We couldn't have done it without you! 

Beginning August 27, 2013 the Menlo Park City School District will serve milk every school day. Students may buy milk for $50 per school year.

If you would like to sign up for the student milk program, do one of the following:

1) Go to PaySchools to sign up and pay online. OR

2) If you would like to pay by check please download and fill out the Student Milk Program form, attach your check, and turn it in to the school office the first week of school.

Please note that if you plan to order Hot Lunch through the district vendor, Choicelunch, they offer a drink (including milk) with each lunch.

Come join Oak Knoll's After School Program! 

Classes are held right at Oak Knoll.  Details and the complete schedule is posted here. Or take a look at the flyer.  Sign up soon!  Enrollment is limited in many programs.  

Fall session runs from September 16 - December 13 

Fall class additions: 

• Starfire Math - problem solving and critical thinking activities, and learning techniques to manipulate numbers in their head to solve problems without the need for a calculator. 
• Bulldog Sports & Fitness - Athletes will be introduced to speed and agility drills, as well as basic resistance training principles and techniques. Also a flag football class with an emphasis on teamwork, sportsmanship, and fun. 
• Public Speaking - Fun and engaging way to learn public speaking skills 
• Programming with Scratch - Learn to program in Scratch which is the "lego" of programming languages created at MIT. Fun and easy to learn. 

Continued Class Favorites: 

Wizbots, Designkidz, Madscience, Animation Studio, Basketball, Soccer, Dance, Engineering, Creative Writing, Choir, Chess, Hi-5 Sports, TGA Golf, Yoga, Play in a Box, Art, Engineering with Legos, Flag Football, Lacrosse, Mandarin, Spanish, Tennis, Video Game Design. 

Any questions, contact: 

Aarti Chandna or Kimberly Hartz-Foster  

4th/5th Girls Volleyball  - Registration Deadline This Week!

The Chic Boutique will be held, Thursday, November 21 and Friday, November 22.

If you are interested in becoming a Boutique vendor/sponsor, please fill out the vendor application and email Margie Klapper by September 1.  20% of sales go to the MPAEF, which includes a $250 pre-paid non-refundable Boutique sponsorship. 

Project Cornerstone: Take It Personally Parent Ed Class 

Encinal School, Small Multi, Thursdays, September 12 - October 17, 8:45 - 10:15 am

Parents, grandparents or any Menlo Park resident is welcome to attend this six-week class. Past participants have discovered practical parenting strategies, inspiration and a new community of parenting allies. For more information, contact Robin Soran.

The Adolescent Brain

Hillview Middle School, PAC, Wednesday, September 11, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Join Hillview principal, Erik Burmeister, as he starts an in-depth series on the ever-changing adolescent brain, outlining the steps that we as parents and families can take to make the transition from pre-teen to young adult as smooth as possible. From mood swings, to puberty, to the complex life changes that are a result of growing up in the 21st century, raising a healthy and responsible teenager is a task that can boggle the mind of even the most seasoned caregivers. Topics to be covered include the difference between how girls and boys react to their changing physical and emotion environments, the way in which our daily routines can affect how our kids grow and perform in and out of the classroom and the boundaries and limits we can expect to be challenged as our kids strive to become more independent. With more than 15 years of experience, Erik's extensive and valuable knowledge with this age group is the basis for a year-long series that is not to be missed. For more information, contact Jessica Raines.

For a complete listing of all the parent education events in and around our community, please visit the district's ParentEd webpage.

EVENTS

No events this week.