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The Oak Tree Newsletter

Less Paper, More Awareness

    Contents

Book Drive Update

LHS Tip-Off Club Basketball Clinic

OG Reflections Winners

HMS Basketball Clinic

DCSD on Probation 

Kindergarten/1st Grade Round Up

Updates and Reminders 

Our Advertisers 

lakesideLakeside Tip-Off Club Holiday Basketball Clinic

Finish your last-minute holiday shopping while the kids learn some excellent basketball skills!

 

The Lakeside High School Tip-Off Club is hosting a Holiday Basketball Clinic Saturday, December 22nd, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Lakeside High School Gym.  Boys and girls in grades 2-8 of all skill levels are invited to join the Lakeside coaches and players for a day of fun, instruction and scrimmages.  The cost is $45 for pre-registration and $50 on registration day.  Pizza lunch and a t-shirt are included!  Register now with the attached flyer - Click here to download the flyer.  Contact Susie Adams at cscladams@aol.com or

404-754-3676 for more information.

basketball_clinicHenderson Middle Holiday Basketball Clinic

The Henderson Middle School Basketball program is hosting a Holiday/New Year's Basketball Clinic Monday, January 7th, from 9-2 in the Henderson Middle School Gym.  Boys and girls in grades 2-6 of all skill levels are invited to join the Henderson coaches and players for a day of fun, instruction and scrimmages.  The cost is $45 for pre-registration and $50 on registration day.  Pizza lunch and a t-shirt are included!  Register now - click here for the registration form.  Contact Laura Morse at 770-234-0727 orlbmorse@bellsouth.net for more information.

 

What a great way to start off the New Year before heading back to school!

book_driveBook Drive for Red Bank Primary
The book drive is over!  Oak Grove students and families met and far surpassed the goal of donating 300 books to the Red Bank Primary School. In fact, Oak Grove will be donating...
Drumroll, please!... 501 books! 
 
You've made a huge difference for the students in New Jersey whose libraries were ruined by Hurricane Sandy.  The school counselor at Red Bank Primary School says that they have greatly enjoyed receiving the many Amazon boxes that have come through the mail, and are thankful and excited for the 355 books we'll be shipping to them in a few days!  Go Eagles!
Advertising Opportunities

Advertise your small business in our newsletter!

E-mail Amy Busch by clicking here for more information.

Quick Links

PTA website

 

School website 

 

Oak Grove Foundation

 

Dekalb County School System

 

Newsletter Archive

Car Safety Reminder
Avoid a ticket. Obey all parking signs and traffic laws when visiting Oak Grove Elementary.

twitter on branch
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
reflectionsCongratulations Oak Grove Student Artists   
Congratulations, and thank you, to all those who participated in the national PTA REFLECTIONS Arts Program this year.  The Dekalb County submissions have been judged and, once again, our talented Oak Grove student artists were honored with several awards!   All entries not recognized at the county level will be ready to pick up in the Media Center in January, date TBA.

 

Congratulations to the following Oak Grove students for receiving the following Dekalb County REFLECTIONS awards:

 

Thomas F  - Third Grade, third place in Music Composition
Eileen C - Second Grade, first place in Dance Choreography
Hadley N - Fourth Grade, first place in Dance Choreography
Sophie L - Fifth Grade, second place in Dance Choreography
Molly M - Third Grade, second place in Photography
Madeline J - Kindergarten, third place in Literature
Skylar R - Second Grade, second place in Literature
Devin B - Third Grade, first place in Video Production
Molly M - Third Grade, second place in Video Production
Hadley N - Fourth Grade, first place in Video Production
Roan L - Fourth Grade, second place in Video Production
Erinn L - Kindergarten, third place in Photography
Hayes F - Fourth Grade, first place in Photography
Cody N - Fourth Grade, second place in Photography
Sophie L - Fifth Grade, third place in Visual Arts
Masahiro H  - Special Artist, first place in Visual Arts

 2012 Reflections Contest Poster

Dekalb County will hold an award's reception in the Spring for all the county winners, who will be notified by phone or email as well. The first and second place winning entries will now advance to the state level of competition for further judging.  Good luck and have a wonderful winter holiday break!
probationDCSD on Probation   
On Monday, December 17, members of the DeKalb County Board of Education, along with the Superintendent and Senior Team, met with AdvancED and Dr. Mark Elgart, President and CEO of AdvancED.  During this meeting, Dr. Elgart reviewed the Special Review Team Report from the October 17-19, 2012 visit. As a result, the District is now being placed on Accredited-Probation until December 31, 2013. The District has received this information and will work collaboratively to review the findings and begin to address the required actions.

 

For a complete copy of the AdvanceED report, please click here:

 

The District still remains fully accredited and students' academic status remains unchanged.  

 

If you would like to share information and thoughts with Dr. Elgart, you may email him at melgart@advanc-ed.org.  You can also email contactus@advanc-ed.org.  If you would like more information or would like to share your thoughts/observations with the State Board of Education, click here (http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/External-Affairs-and-Policy/State-Board-of-Education/Pages/default.aspx) to find the names and contact information for all the State Board of Education members.  To contact the State Board of Education member for our district, Mr. Daniel Israel, you may email him at disrael@doe.k12.ga.us or call him at (404) 657-7410
round_upKindergarten/First Grade Round-up
If you know the parent of a rising Kindergartner or new 1st grader at Oak Grove next year, please be sure to tell them about the following events:
  

What:   Kindergarten/1st Grade Round-up

            (Children visit class; parents receive registration paperwork)

When:   February 1, 8:30 a.m.

Who:     All parents of Kindergartners/1st graders (new to Oak Grove

             Elementary) who will be attending in the 2013-2014 school

             year(Your rising Kindergarten or 1st grade child is welcome)

Program:The program will include a presentation and Q & A with the school administration, Kindergarten teacher, PTA and the Oak Grove Foundation. Your rising Kindergarten or 1st grade child will participate in a special classroom and library activity.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What:   Oak Grove Elementary school tours

When:   Drop -in on one of the following dates -

                  February 7, 8:00 a.m.

                  February 14, 8:00 a.m.

Who:     Parents new to Oak Grove Elementary who will have

             Kindergartners/1st graders attending in the 2013-2014

             school year (event for adults only)

 

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel free to direct people to the PTA website (www.oakgrovepta.org) to download a copy of the flyer for these events.

updatesUpdates & Reminders from Dr. Neely
  • Remember that our honors programs will take place on January 10th (4th grade at 8:00am; 5th grade at 9:15am) and 11th (3rd grade at 8:00am). All returning fourth and fifth graders should find their blue and gold lanyards from the programs last spring and wear them on honors day. All third graders and new students receiving honor roll awards will be given a lanyard on honors day. If you lost your lanyard, you may purchase one from the front office for $2 cash (exact change only).    
     
  • Click here for information regarding the Sagamore Hills Math Tournament on February 2nd. Registration is due by January 18th.  
  • We are excited to announce two new staff members at Oak Grove.  
    • Our new fourth grade teacher is Mekiba Bruce-Robinson.
      She grew up in Brooklyn, New York and moved to Georgia to attend Georgia State University were she earned her undergraduate degree in 2004. She later earned a masters degree in 2010. Ms. Robinson taught elementary school in the metro area before taking an amazing opportunity to teach abroad. She has just returned from spending the last two years teaching math, science, and English to fourth and fifth grade girls in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which she says was a wonderful experience. The fourth grade team, Mrs. Moore and I were very impressed with Ms. Robinson's engaging personality and spirit, teaching experience, and technology expertise. She loves her profession and cannot wait to share the gift of knowledge with the students in her classroom. She will begin on January 11th. Anne Haase will sub in the classroom January 8th-10th.    
    • Our new PreK Para-professional is Vibeke Booterbaugh. She has preschool and PreK experience at a private school in the metro area. She brings with her an understanding of early childhood developmental and academic needs and will be a great fit with teacher Natalie Lipede. We look forward to welcoming Mrs. Booterbaugh on January 11th. Shawn Goodwin will transition to the open para position in Mr. Manganello's special education classroom on that date.  
  • From all the staff at Oak Grove Elementary, a big thank you for the
    holiday gifts and goodies.   Your children give us joy and reason to
    celebrate everyday of the school year.  Enjoy their laughs and beautiful
    smiles this winter break.  See you back on the 8th!
advertisers Our Advertisers:

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      Kings Furniture ad 7          

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King Furniture ad 8       
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  Doris Seiden Fall 2012 ad 5      
Remember that Oak Tree submissions are due by 12 Noon on Wednesday at theoaktreenewsletter@gmail.com in order to be in the next Friday's newsletter.
 
Sincerely,

Amy Busch
Oak Grove Elementary PTA

Emergency Contact Information
If you are ever in need of reaching Oak Grove Administration after school hours in the event of an emergency or family crisis, please contact PTA co-Presidents Liliana Finch at 404-634-0646 and/or Heather Kelly 404-307-5130. Dr. Neely will then contact you directly for assistance. 
  
In addition, Dr. Neely checks her email via iPhone notifications. Email her at laura_s_neely@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Emergency and/or crisis situations will be responded to immediately.