Ocean Avenue Friday Notes

• 5/10-TONIGHT: Ocean Avenue Parents Night Out Benefit and Auction at Rising Tide Brewing, 6-9 PM (PTO Sponsored Event) *** In case there is any confusion, the auction and event tonight will be indoors with an additional outdoor space at Rising Tide Brewing.
  
• 5/13-5/24: Grade 3-5 State Assessments (2 hours)
• 5/14: PTO Meeting in the Library, 5:30 PM
• 5/21: OAES Spring Strings and Band Concert, 1:20-2 PM (5th grade and their families only)
• 5/22: Kindergarten Open House, 3:30-4:30 PM
• 5/23: Community Meeting in Gym, 8 AM
• 5/23: Last Day of Learning Works!
• 5/23, 5/24 & 5/25: Kindergarten Screening Days at OAES, 8 AM-2 PM
• 5/27: Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
• 6/4: Fifth Grade Step Up Event to Middle Schools, 11 AM-1:30 PM
• 6/6: Fun Run, 8-9:15 AM, with 6/7 Rain Date
• 6/7: Fifth Grade vs. Staff Basketball Game
• 6/10: Step Up Event for Grades K-4
• 6/11: PTO Meeting in the Library, 5:30 PM
• 6/13: Fifth Grade Celebration, 1 PM
• 6/14: Last Day of School, 11:10 AM Dismissal (Egg Drop Begins at 9 AM!)

WHEN: June 6th ~ 8-9:15 AM (Rain Date: June 7th)

WHERE: OAES Campus

Please come and join us for this exciting event where all students will be participating in a fun run.

Students have been practicing running around the school loop during Gym class with Mr. Pedro and are anxious and thrilled about running with their classmates.

Each grade level will be assigned a specific time to run starting with K and working our way up to 5th grade. We are inviting families and friends to come cheer them on and enjoy a great way to celebrate a wonderful school year.

We are looking for volunteers to help with the race, please contact Sylvie Montello: montes@portlandschools.org

I want to take a moment to address a matter that may have caught your attention recently: the presence of temporary tents in the wooded area behind our school. I understand that this can be concerning, especially with our children's safety in mind. Please allow me to offer some reassurance and information regarding this situation.

From time to time, we have noticed tents popping up in the wooded area near our school. As a responsible member of the community, I take proactive steps to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff. The few times this has happened in the past, I personally engage with the individuals involved and kindly request them to relocate to a different area, emphasizing the proximity to our elementary school.

However, the tent that was there most recently, no one was home when I tried several times to talk to them. Rest assured, I promptly informed the central office about the issue and utilized the appropriate channels, including the "fix it" portal on the City of Portland's website, to escalate the matter further. Our aim is to ensure that appropriate action is taken to address this concern promptly and effectively.

I want to emphasize that the safety of our students remains our utmost priority. While the presence of temporary shelters in the nearby area may raise questions, please be assured that we are actively monitoring the situation and taking necessary steps to address it. Additionally, our school's security measures remain intact to maintain a safe learning environment for our children. We do all of this with empathy for fellow humans in the middle of a struggle of having housing.

If you have any further concerns or questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Your partnership and support are invaluable as we navigate through such challenges together.

As the end of the school year fast approaches, we thought sharing some practical tips and general advice on supporting your child would be helpful.

Of course, this time of year brings many fun special events and celebrations. However, the close of another year can also bring a range of emotions for students (and adults) that can sometimes be challenging to navigate. Here are a few thoughts/ strategies to consider.

• Add important end-of-year dates (events, last day of school, etc) to your calendar.
• Try to maintain a schedule (same bedtime, meal times, etc). This can help ease the hectic nature of the last month of school.
• Begin gathering items (library books, etc) that need to be returned to school.
• Talk with your child and acknowledge their feelings whether it be pride in what they have achieved or sadness that they are moving to a new grade (teacher, group of students, etc).
• Encourage your child to think about how things they like to do over the summer to keep reading, etc. (for example check out Portland Public Public Library).
• Finally, please reach out with any questions or concerns. We are here to support your child (and you) as you acknowledge all they have achieved and look forward to the summer and new grade in the fall.

Check out Ms. Week's 4th grade class reading to their book buddies in Ms. Boyd's Kindergarten classroom. The reading was brought outside on Tuesday, to celebrate the sun and warmth of spring! Fun with chalk was included too! :)

Students are exploring the wonderful world of PebbleGo in the library this month. Looking for a great way to begin simple research at home? Don't just Google! Students can log in through Clever using their lunch number and password. From there you can check out PebbleGo and other useful online resources for learning.

Need help logging in? Contact Ms. Eva in the library.

1. Use clean, fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible.
2. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you cannot remove the mouth easily with tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
3. After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.
4. Never crush a tick with your fingers. Dispose of a live tick by:

• Putting it in alcohol,
• Placing it in a sealed bag/container,
• Wrapping it tightly in tape, or
• Flushing it down the toilet.

People who have removed a tick sometimes wonder if they should have it tested for evidence of infection. Some commercial groups offer testing, but, in general it is not recommended because:

1. Laboratories that conduct tick testing are not required to have the high standards of quality control used by clinical diagnostic laboratories.
2. Results of tick testing should not be used for treatment decisions.
3. Positive results showing that the tick contains a disease-causing organism do not necessarily mean that you have been infected.
4. Negative results can lead to false assurance. You may have been unknowingly bitten by a different tick that was infected.
5. If you have been infected, you will probably develop symptoms before results of the tick test are available. If you do become ill, you should not wait for tick testing results before beginning appropriate treatment.

Please see below for the a list of Portland Area Food Pantries and the days/times they are open each week.

All day on Wednesday, June 5th, the Locker Project will be the beneficiary of Scooping for Community at Gelato Fiasco in the Old Port. When customers tell the cashier they are there to support our child hunger programs, 75% of their purchases will be donated!

The Ocean Avenue Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization invites you to attend our annual Benefit + Auction (Parents Night Out!) TONIGHT ~ Friday, May 10 from 6 PM to 9 PM at Rising Tide Brewing, 103 Fox Street, Portland. All are welcome! Bring your friends and family!

FREE to attend. Choose to take part in our live auction or watch just for fun. We will be auctioning off these five items live at 7:30 PM:

• "A Night In" package including three dozen delicious homemade cookies, a ChappyWrap heirloom quality blanket, scratch tickets, wine, games, and snacks
• First pitch at Portland Sea Dogs Ocean Ave. Night on June 7
• Dinner for two at Fore Street Restaurant
• Your personalized message atop Portland's Time + Temperature Building
• One night stay for two people at Black Point Inn (breakfast and dinner included)
  
  

Additional information:

• Rising Tide Brewing has a free parking lot on the corner of Fox Street and Diamond Street. There is also ample free street parking along Fox Street, Diamond Street, Anderson Street, and the surrounding area.
• Please bring a jacket/coat as we do have private access to a covered area outdoors and May evenings in Maine are not known for being warm!
• Free entry and appetizers. Cash bar offering beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages.

This event is a favorite of OAES parents year after year. We hope to see you there!

Can't make it? You can still bid from home on lots of exciting auction items that have all been donated to support our school. Bidding is LIVE now: https://oapto.betterworld.org/auctions/oaes2024

Thank you to all of our donors and our event sponsor Horch Roofing!

OAES PTO

You're invited to join other parents, guardians, teachers and staff for the next monthly meeting of Ocean Avenue's Parent Teacher Organization! Each meeting takes place in the school library on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM. Come for an update from our principal and stay for as long as you'd like.

Exciting news! We've launched a Bulk Gift Card Initiative with Hannaford to effortlessly raise funds for Ocean Avenue Elementary School. For every $100 Hannaford gift card purchased through our program, we earn $4.

How It Works:

1. Visit this LINK
2. Purchase a Hannaford gift card.
3. Every two weeks, we order the cards and email them to you.
4. Our school earns 4% of the total purchased.
   
   

Imagine the impact if 100 parents buy a $100 gift card monthly – that's $400 for OAES EVERY MONTH! Let's make a difference together. Visit the LINK to get started!

The PTO is trying to reach a goal of 100 monthly donors who are willing to give $1 - $10 each month. Can you help?

Now that we have all settled into the 2023-2024 school year, we are more eager than ever to support our students and teachers. If a teacher wants to do a special project with their class, we want to be able to say YES! If the library wants to add to their collection, we want to be able to write the check. If a grade level wants to go on a field trip, we want to fund it. If there is an opportunity to bring a visiting artist to the school, we want to make it happen.

Thanks to our Dolphin's Cove donors last year, we:

• Provided funds to replace all lost library books throughout the school year.

• Supplied funds for school garden upgrades and maintenance including 200 new plants.

• Sent third graders to the Desert of Maine for an ecological learning experience.

• Covered the membership cost for our school nurse with the National Association of School Nurses. One benefit of membership is the VSP Eyes of Hope® gift certificate program which covers a comprehensive eye exam and, if prescribed, new glasses at a VSP network doctor's office for students in need.

• Brought a Portland Symphony Orchestra Kinderkonzert ensemble to perform for the K-2 students. The brass quintet performed The Circus Ship, the beloved children's book story by Chris Van Dusen, while introducing students to this family of instruments.

• Sent second and third graders to a vibrant production of Wabanaki Stories at Merrill Auditorium featuring five Wabanaki artists coming from several different nations and traditions.

• Organized monthly teacher appreciation events for OAES staff including an ice cream truck, treats for teachers in the staff room, a gift card raffle, and an espresso cart service.

• Paid membership fees for Ruth’s Reusable Resources, a free store for teachers connecting them with surplus furniture, paper, books, office supplies and computers.

• Funded a visit from award-winning children’s book author and poet, Samara Cole Doyon, who is both a second-generation Haitian American and a deeply rooted Mainer.

• Covered the cost of math team t-shirts for fifth graders.

• Organized and funded our school spring fair with an inflatable obstacles course, snow cones, face painting, photo booth, martial arts demos, and lawn games.

• Covered costs for books from Maine Student Book Awards and Chickadee Book Awards to be added to our library.

Currently, we have 25 monthly donors and we thank each of you for the consistent support.

We need 75 additional monthly donors to reach our goal. Please consider if you can!

• https://donorbox.org/dolphinscove-2-3

Opt-in to text updates to stay up to date on community events, news, reminders, and more! Just text the phrase OAPTO to 844-795-0248. Text STOP to opt-out at any time.

Email: westme@portlandschools.org
Website: https://oceanavenue.portlandschools.org/
Location: 150 Ocean Avenue, Portland, ME, USA
Phone: 207-874-8180
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oaesportland