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Dear Oak Knoll Parents,
We hope you have all enjoyed the summer with your children. As summer comes to a close, we would like to invite you back to Oak Knoll for another outstanding year, and for some of you, it will be the first of many! We welcome all of our new families and are confident that you will quickly feel at home. Next week, on August 25th, the bell will ring, our smiling teachers will open their doors, and your child(ren) will enter into a new year of school. Whether your child is beginning kindergarten or entering into their 5th and final grade at Oak Knoll, each and every year is a combination of the new and the familiar. Students will engage in new experiences, new learnings, and new friendships all in a safe, caring environment where everything also feels familiar. Achieving the balance between new and familiar is key so our students can thrive, take risks, persevere, continuously improve and connect. Here are a few of the ways we plan to achieve that balance, deliver on our mission, and provide your child(ren) with a world class schooling experience like every child deserves:
- Top-notch Staff: From Barb Snow and Cathy Petersen in our office to Victor Barraza our custodian, from our classroom teachers to our specialists, our staff is smart, responsive, and dedicated. Joining the charge this year are PE specialist Hope Scheid and Spanish language teacher and intervention aide Pam Cheek. Jonathan Coldoff returns in a new role, supporting teachers and students as our Technology Coach.
- Connected: Our school theme for this year is CONNECTED! This theme will still encompass our ongoing teaching of compassion and mindfulness, but will add a cultural twist, connecting students to local and global communities. Stay tuned for more information this fall.
- Growth Mindset for ALL: At Oak Knoll we teach our students that smart is not something you are born with, but instead something you get through hard work and perseverance. Our school-wide mindset instruction is a high priority, as we attribute it to our success. This year we will take our Mindset work to the next level by developing a K-5 curriculum to ensure that students deepen their mindset awareness and learning every year in every classroom.
- New Mathematics Program: We are excited to announce that MPCSD adopted Math Expressions as the district K-5 Common Core aligned Mathematics program. Teachers who piloted the program reported that students benefited from the design of the lessons, the real-world application, and the overall rigor.
- Best Practices in Reading: This year we will examine reading curriculum and best practices, as well as the research behind reading instruction. By differentiating reading instruction and supporting students in finding books at their levels, our teachers will continue to foster a love of reading and ongoing growth. This work is a piece of a larger puzzle as we move towards adopting a new district language arts program.
- Digital Citizenship: With the increase of technology in the classroom, we must help our students navigate their digital world in a safe, confident and compassionate way. We now have a Technology Coach, Mr. Coldoff, who will help us develop and implement a more comprehensive K-5 digital citizenship program and provide the support and coaching to our teachers and students so the technology we have is utilized as a powerful learning tool.
- World Language: We are excited to launch a K-5 World Language Pilot Program at Oak Knoll this year! Our goal is for everyone to learn a little Spanish. While fifth graders will be taking a deeper dive and receive consistent language instruction from our Spanish teacher, all of our classrooms will have language experiences throughout the year that are more experiential. This is a pilot year; our long-term plan is to build the program and expand the direct and consistent language instruction to the other grade levels.
As always, our door is open to you. We hope to see you at the parent coffee in the Oak Knoll gym at 8:15am on the first day of school. We are so excited to welcome the smiling faces of our students!
Thanks for your continued support,
Kristen Gracia Leah Kessler
Principal Assistant Principal
Every student an exemplary scholar, a valued friend and a courageous citizen.
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