OV Family Notes

September 22 - Pep Rally 2 pm, Homecoming games (4:30 - 6:30) and bonfire

September 23 - Homecoming games (10 - 4) and dance (7-9)

September 24 - OV Raft Race and BBQ (11-1 on Rte 73 near the Brandon/Sudbury line)

September 28 - HS Open House (click this link for the schedule)

October 6 - No School (in-service day)

October 9 - No School (Indigenous Peoples' Day)

October 18 - HS Conferences 3:30 - 7:00 - please sign up via parent portal starting 9/29

October 19 - Picture Makeup Day 7:30 - 12:30

October 20 - Early Release Day at 11:30

October 26 - HS Conferences 4:00 - 7:00 - please sign up via parent portal starting 9/29

October 27 - Middle School Halloween Dance

Our homecoming dance, open to OV high school students and their approved high-school aged guests, is Saturday from 7-9 at OV. Please note that students MUST be in attendance in school on Friday, or have an excused doctor's note, in order to be able to attend the dance. Additionally, no student will be admitted to the homecoming dance unless they have purchased a ticket in advance. Ticket sales will continue through the end of the day (2:30) on Friday.

Please also note that there will be lots of homecoming games, our athlete spaghetti dinner, and the bonfire this weekend. Please come out and support our wonderful student athletes.

Our OV teachers have been working hard on our proficiency-based learning system. In part, this means that they have been identifying learning targets and assessments for all of their courses. Our grades at OV are based on three indicators:

• Summative assessments: These are the major assignments that give students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. These usually take forms like projects, papers, and tests, and will form the bulk of students' grades.
• Formative assessments: Formative assessments provide feedback to learners and teachers about how students are doing with the learning targets. They are meant to check in on how students are doing with building their skills. They will form a portion of students' grades in many classes, while other teachers may grade them for completion only.
• Habits of Work: In a proficiency-based system, teachers also teach, assess, and provide feedback on how students academic habits support success. At OV, teachers will focus on a variety of indicators, with many teachers focusing on things like preparedness, organization, engagement, and time management.

If you have questions about how teachers are assessing students in their classes, please contact the teacher directly or review your student's syllabus. For broader questions about the proficiency-based learning system at Otter Valley, please contact Michael at mruppel@rnesu.org.

Now that the school year has gotten underway and students have settled in, students should be completing more substantial assignments and the workload on students is likely to be increasing. Please make sure that you are checking in with your students about assignments and checking on grades in the PowerTeacher portal. If a student is starting to struggle in a course, please encourage them to schedule Flex sessions with their teacher. The end of the first quarter in early November may seem like a ways away, but now is the time to begin a plan for improving grades!