The Oriole Newsletter

December/2023

As we enter December: Trimester 2 is here. Embrace it. Many of us accomplished our goals and more as we closed out the first trimester of the year. Whether or not we reached the success we desired, for each of us: today is a fresh start. Make a commitment to do something different that will create a positive change in your life! Please know there are many adults at OSH who are here to support your scholar's academic, social emotional and life journey. Help them become their own advocate and take ownership of their OSH experience.

We are excited to tackle this winter academic season! Please reach out if we can help you or your scholar in any way!

It's never too soon to start thinking about academics for next year at OSH, so mark your calendars! Registration for classes for the 2024-2025 school year is around the corner. Please join us for Registration Conferences on Wednesday, January 17th from 3:00pm-7:00pm. We look forward to collaboratively supporting our scholars in their course selection. Keep an eye on myosseo.org for the latest registration Information as it is updated!

• December 20, 21, 22
• December 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
• January 1

OSH celebrated National American Indian Heritage Month during the month of November. In addition to many of our instructors furthering the lessons they shared for Indigenous People's Day in October, our scholars celebrated and shared their culture with the OSH community by highlighting traditions, clothing and items of cultural significance. The display cases are centrally located near our commons - which is also where we prominently display our thirteen American Indian flags, representing thirteen different indigenous nations which make up the three largest indigenous communities in the state of Minnesota.

We are grateful for our Indigenous and American Indian scholars, and thank them for sharing their culture with our community!

On November 1st we welcomed representatives from 64 colleges for our annual college fair. Scholars from all grade levels were invited and encouraged to attend to learn more about options post-secondary opportunities at both in-state and out of state as well as options for 2 year and 4 year programs! Scholars chatted with representatives from each of the programs, courageously investing in their life after OSH!

This fall the Osseo Drama Department put on a very special production of Peter Pan, the same story we know and love - presented in a innovative way!

Our scholars conveyed the beauty of the WW11-set story about parenthood, acceptance and understanding, uniquely done in the style of “theatre-in-the-round”. Each audience member experiences the drama unfold while seated onstage in the OSH Auditorium. Being surrounded by the audience on all four sides created a brand new experience for our scholar actors. They learned not only how to conscientiously perform and project in a round, but also the incredible feeling of selling out a production!

You may wonder what happens on professional development days at Osseo Senior High. Embracing our commitment to lifelong learning, each of our licensed staff members spent time rotating through different breakout training sessions focused on asynchronous and eLearning days, the ELLevation program supporting our multi lingual scholars, using AVID as an integrated resource for the critical reading process and ongoing mental health resources for scholars.

It's safe to say our staff literally got their hands dirty on the November 7th wildly innovative session called Active Learning Strategies for Differentiation led by our resident ceramics expert - Dan Prody. Prody and the staff dug into a learning environment that was individually paced for each participant. Each participant received scaffolded support from Prody that met the individual needs of each. Prody led them through some basic ceramics skill building while modeling successful class differentiation techniques. Our teachers came away with not only a keepsake of their own, but additional instructional strategies essential in supporting and challenging students at a variety of achievement levels within a single class period.

Did you know that Osseo Senior High is an AVID school? Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is an in-school academic support program for grades seven through twelve. The purpose of the program is to prepare students for college eligibility and success. A school-wide program has the ability to impact students in the AVID Elective class and all students throughout the campus. AVID provides classroom activities, teaching practices, and academic behaviors that can be incorporated into any classroom to improve engagement and success for all students. Teachers can take what they've learned at AVID training back to any classroom to help all students, not just those in AVID, to become more college- and career-ready. In our 9th year as an Avid school, this year we sent six OSH staff members to San Diego, CA to attend the AVID National Conference from November 28th-30th. They returned energized and excited to share ongoing AVID strategies at future professional developments and to work with their departments to strengthen the AVID program throughout our classrooms.

AVID Student Profile:

• Scholar has a 2.0-3.3 GPA
• Scholar wants to pursue post-secondary options
• Scholar acts as a leader both behaviorally and academically
• Scholar is highly motivated and determined
• Scholar demonstrates self-awareness
• Scholar has good attendance and shows up to class on time, ready to learn

Want to learn more?

If your scholar, or anyone you know in the OSH community, is experiencing difficulty this season with food insecurity, housing concerns or clothing & apparel needs, please reach out to our counselors and/or social workers. We are here to help, especially as we get closer to winter break (December 20-January 2).

Again, thank you for your support of Phase I and II of Building a Better Future. As Supt. Dr. Kim Hiel shared, the strategic plan that we worked together to create can be fully realized because of our community’s investments.

Planning has already begun for the school building projects portion of Building a Better Future. In total, 66 projects will be completed over a four-year span. Nine projects are likely to start this school year. Brooklyn Middle STEAM School and North View Middle School will kick things off, followed by Maple Grove Senior High School and the new elementary school in northwest Maple Grove. All district schools will be noted in the full timeline that will be shared in the coming weeks.

Community voice will be critical throughout the design and construction of these projects. Each school will have a diverse planning committee made up of 25-35 participants, including students, parents/caregivers, staff and community members, to provide feedback and input on the work. Participants will meet about five to seven times as part of this. Please fill out this form if you're interested in applying to be a part of one or more of these committees.

As a reminder, attendance boundary changes will occur at the elementary and middle school levels. The process will start with community engagement in the fall of 2024. There will be multiple opportunities for students, parents/caregivers, staff and community members to be involved and provide their feedback during this time. Most new attendance boundaries will then take effect in the fall of 2026. More details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Please continue to stay tuned to district279.org/BetterFuture for the latest information.