December 19, 2014
Dear Oak Knoll Parents,
As we close 2014, I thought it would be a good time to share some of the things we have been busy with, as well as our upcoming plans for the remainder of the school year as we move into 2015.
At Oak Knoll we set yearly goals and create plans that directly align with our mission: Every student an exemplary scholar, a valued friend and a courageous citizen. This mission serves as a road map and helps us stay focused on our goals. We believe in outcomes and use data to identify the needs and develop aggressive goals that reflect all Oak Knoll students. Our goals this year are based on our student performance from last year. We are always raising the bar and striving for excellence. If you are interested in the specifics, check out our 2014-15 Site Goals! The Oak Knoll Site Council (which is made up of parents, staff, and principals) works to develop our goals. Then we work to create comprehensive plans to address each goal area. Here are some details from our school plan.
Our first goal area, Exemplary Scholar, is focused on the academics and teaching our students about Dr. Dweck's Mindset work. Here are some examples of the work we are implementing this school year, beyond our core curriculum, that will help us reach our goals:
▪ The Common Core State Standards are here and we are in full implementation. This will be the first time that our 3rd-5th grade students take the Common Core Assessment, called Smarter Balanced, and receive scores. This end of the year assessment is online and requires students to type their responses, as well as manipulate technological tools to show their work (drag and drop, highlight, etc.).
▪ Our students who need extra help in the core subjects receive tutoring from their classroom teacher. We believe in going through the heart to get to the mind, so our teachers work to build strong relationships with their students while at the same time, work to build their skills. We call this building learning partnerships.
▪ Part of being an exemplary scholar is having a variety of enriching experiences. Our students experience art, music, physical education and time in our library with our specialist staff each week. We also build in field trips and special programs that align with the curriculum. Some examples are Playing with Poetry, Leadership classes, and Speech and Debate. These programs all contribute to our success and progress in meeting our goals.
▪ The district adopted writing program is Lucy Calkins' Units of Study and Writer's Workshop. This program is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and covers narrative writing, information writing, and
opinion writing in all grade levels. This year we continue to work with writing coaches from the Teachers College, New York. Every teacher at Oak Knoll will engage in this professional development for five sessions during this school year. This is one example of the high-quality of professional development we provide to our teachers.
▪ Teacher-Principal meetings take place three times during the school year! These are one-on-one meetings that I have with each and every classroom teacher. During the meeting we talk about the students, the needs, the progress, and the plans moving forward. These meetings help me connect and stay in touch with student progress. The first round took place in the October and the next round is in January.
▪ We are diving deep and learning more strategies to address the attention needs of our students. In November, we sent a team of teachers and specialists to a conference about attention and brain development. On our upcoming Professional Development Day, this team of teachers will lead workshops for the entire Oak Knoll Staff. The workshops will be focused on brain development and classroom strategies to keep students engaged, focused and on task.
▪ We have plans to continue our Mindset instruction in all classrooms and on KNOL (our morning broadcast program). We also have plans to design an online Mindset course, with hopes to launch in Spring 2015! More info coming soon...
Our second goal area is Valued Friend. Here are a few examples of the work we are implementing this year that will help us reach our goals:
▪ Our school theme is Compassion because we strongly believe that it is the most important characteristic of a valued friend. We have been implementing our unique and tailored curriculum since the first day of school. Our first unit was focused on building empathy for others. The current unit is all about optimism and mindfulness. It is important that we teach our students that they have choices and power in what they do, say, and think about themselves and others. Along with these lessons, we will teach strategies for our students to better communicate their feelings to each other. Then we will wrap up the year with teaching students to use compassionate solutions to take action.
▪ Oak Knoll now has a full-time counselor! Mrs. Scott has been working in collaboration with our teachers to implement our social-emotional program. She visits every classroom throughout the month to lead lessons and facilitate restorative circles and class discussions. You can find Mrs. Scott on the playground, in our classrooms, or in her office running friendship groups.
▪ This year, every month, every teacher reads our Compassion-Book-of-the-Month to his/her class! Our most recent book was, What Does it Mean to be Present by Rana DiOrio.
▪ Embracing our Differences Week was a success. The week was filled with lessons focused on empathy. Our students engaged in simulation activities, education about various abilities, amazing assemblies, and heartfelt discussions around compassion.
Our final goal area is Courageous Citizen. At Oak Knoll we believe Courageous Citizens are confident, responsive, and provide service to others. Here are a few examples of the work we are implementing this school year in this area that will help us reach our goals:
▪ We have thoughtfully planned community service opportunities for our students this year that get our students involved in taking action. For example, My New Red Shoes is coming back to Oak Knoll! Students will be sewing shoe bags in our library at lunch and recess and collecting new shoes for kids in need.
▪ We are having our very own Community Service Fair with mini community service projects for students to complete on the spot.
▪ If you haven't noticed our Compassion Tree, make sure to check it out! It "grows" near the Lost & Found. Students post an apple for service projects they have completed on or off campus. Each service project recorded on an apple is shared with the school on KNOL.
▪ Our 5th grade students engaged in a workshop with My Digital TAT2 whose mission is to facilitate conversations that inspire thoughtful and ethical online behavior by teaching educators, parents, and students to think critically about their power and responsibility in a connected world. This experience was powerful and a great launch pad for ongoing conversations and lessons in this area. My Digital TAT2 also engaged many of our parents in a PTO sponsored parent education event. This work is ongoing and important as we help our students to navigate their digital world in a safe, confident and compassionate way.
There is so much going on at Oak Knoll. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by your kids, our teachers and staff, and this supportive community. I am looking forward to more in 2015!
Have a great winter break with your kids. See you back at Oak Knoll on Tuesday January 6, 2015!
Sincerely,
Kristen Gracia
Co-Principal
Follow Oak Knoll on Instagram @OakKnoll2014
