Ocean Avenue Friday Notes

• 10/11-10/14: Indigenous Peoples' Day (NO SCHOOL)
  
• 10/17: Learn About Our Learning at Ocean Avenue School (Grades 1-5), 5-6 PM (Two sessions will be presented by each grade level: 5-5:30 AND 5:30-6 PM.)
• 10/22: PPS Parent University ~ Attention Hijacked: Mindful Approaches to Tech Use Workshop, 6-7:30 PM at King Middle School (Designed for parents who want to understand the effects of screen time on their children's physical and mental health and learn strategies for managing it.)
  
• 10/25: Flu Shot Clinic at OAES
• 11/12: PTO Meeting at 6:30 PM, OAES Library
• LOOKING AHEAD - 12/3 & 12/4 and 03/24 & 3/25 - 11:10 AM Dismissal for Conferences
• LOOKING AHEAD - 12/14 - Designing Women Craft Show at Ocean Avenue School
  
  

✅ Here is the link to OCTOBER BREAKFAST/LUNCH MENU.

✅ Here is the link to the DISTRICT CALENDAR for the 2024/2025 school year.

✅ To look ahead to future meetings, school events, etc, please click on the link below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Thursday, October 17th, 5-6 PM

Come and hear about what your child(ren) are learning this school year at Ocean Avenue! Each grade level will present from 5-5:30 PM and again from 5:30-6 PM. This is to help parents with multiple students to visit different classrooms.

Kindergarten held their Learning About Their Learning Night in September. This is for Grades 1-5.

* Learn about our approach to teaching and learning.

* Meet other parents/guardians.

* Discuss ways to support your child at home.

Join us at King Middle School (92 Deering Avenue, Portland) on October 22 from 6-7:30 PM for an informative workshop for parents to understand the effect of screen time on their children’s physical and mental health.

Interpretation, refreshments and childcare will be provided.

School Picture Day this week was a success! If you did not place your order yet and wish to still purchase a photo package online without a late fee charge, you can do so through the end of the day 10/14/2024. To do so, you must go to www.strawbridge.net and use code FM452508 to find the proper event. All such online orders will ship for free to Ocean Avenue with the cash and check orders in 2-3 weeks.

Beginning 10/15/2024, all online orders under this event code will be charged a late fee of $7 and will ship to your home directly.

For any students that may have missed School Picture Day or those that wish to have a re-take, our photographers will be back for Picture Retake Day on Thursday, November 14th!

Ocean Avenue is an IB World School. IB stands for International Baccalaureate. The International Baccalaureate Organization is a non-profit education foundation founded in 1968 by a consortium of international schools, ibo.org. The IB Organization supports a learning model built on rigorous intellectual inquiry and personal growth for children aged 3 to 19 years. IB offers this continuum of education through its four programs—the Primary Years Program (PYP), the Middle Years Program (MYP), the Diploma Program (DP), and the Career-Related Certificate (CC). IB currently works with over 5,800 schools in 162 countries. In all IB programs, the focus is on helping students become “internationally-minded”—taking an active, principled, positive stance toward learning and working throughout an increasingly globalized future. An IB school must go through a rigorous multi-year authorization.

The Primary Years Program (PYP) at Ocean Avenue focuses on the development of the whole child and provides a framework that can meet every child’s academic, social, emotional, cultural, and physical needs. It is an inquiry-based learning model and is intentionally integrated across all subjects in the curriculum. Students are taught to take ownership of their learning, with teachers providing initial knowledge-building, guidance around questioning, facilitation of inquiry, and assessment of learning. Students develop skills and attitudes to help them prepare for life in a globalized world. The PYP supports differentiation for all kinds of learners, as it focuses on deeper exploration of universal central ideas around which students can build their understanding of their world.

The IB PYP inquiry-driven learning model was adopted by Ocean Ave School as part of its school-improvement long-range plan, after input from teachers, parents and administrators. We are working with full commitment to build the program into the fabric of the curriculum school-wide with the six concept-based trans-disciplinary Units of Inquiry at each grade level. In addition, we are exploring and practicing "internationally-minded" character traits across the school community with the IB Learner Profile and IB attitudes. We were authorized as an IB World School offering the PYP in July 2016.

We are proud to be Maine's first International Baccalaureate IB WORLD SCHOOL offering the Primary Years Program (IB PYP).

As we enter into mid-October, we wanted to send a reminder to all of our families about holidays. At Ocean Avenue School, we do not celebrate Halloween, Christmas or any other religious holiday, unless it is part of our curriculum. It is othering, for students, families, and staff who do not celebrate the same holiday. We want everyone at Ocean Avenue to feel welcome. We have had so many families share their appreciation for this approach and that they feel a sense of belonging at Ocean Avenue School.

Ocean Avenue Elementary's Flu Shot Clinic will be held on Friday, October 25th from 7:30-10 AM at OAES. We are partnering with Northern Light Health to give annual flu shots to any student that would like to participate.

Pre-registration is required, please use this link to sign up or scan the QR code to the right: Ocean Ave Registration will close on Friday, October 18th and we will not be able to accomodate any same day sign ups.If you need a translated version, please let Nurse Carrie know.

We are in need of boy's sweatpants in sizes 6x/7, 8/10 and girl's sweatpants in sizes 7/8. If you have any outgrown, gently used in this size, we would love you to donate it to our school clothing closet.

Thank you for your donations!

When doing your fall cleaning, and going through your winter gear, if you come across any "gently used" children's mittens or gloves, please donate them to our school! The weather is starting to change and as we get ready to supply many our our students with winter gear, the one item we are currently very low on are mittens and gloves. Thank you for your help and donations! 🧤🥊

The Maine Lit Fest will be at the Portland Public LIbrary (5 Monument Square, Portland) on Saturday, October 12th from 10 AM to 2 PM. The programming is free and there will be storytimes, draw-offs, draw-alongs, puppets, and more. One of the authors signing books will be Peter Brown, author of The Wild Robot!!

Here is the link to the event: https://www.mainewriters.org/calendar/kids-litfest.

Middle grade graphic novel author, Marjorie Liu, will be at Back Cove Books on Friday, Oct 11th at 5:30 PM. This programming is free and recommended for kiddos who like the Amulet and Wings of Fire Series. https://backcovebooks.com/events/855120241011

The PTO is hosting a pizza night fundraiser at Flatbread Company on Tuesday, October 15th. A portion of every pizza sold (dine in, take out, or delivery) from 5-9pm that night will raise money for our students to participate in Side x Side this year!

Learn more about this wonderful non-profit here: https://sidexsideme.com

Have you been wanting to get involved but not sure how? OAES PTO is looking for volunteers to help coordinate upcoming events and fundraisers. We welcome all to help in any way they can! Please contact us if interested: board@oapto.org. Attendance at meetings is not required.

Each Fall and Spring the PTO runs once-a-week enrichment classes after school. We are looking for interested teachers/instructors. In the past, we have offered yoga, dance, theater, Minecraft, art, running — to name a few. If you have ideas or know a possible instructor, please contact board@oapto.org. Instructors are paid a stipend for their time.

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 the 2024-2025 school year has begun, 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.

Here are some enriching projects, field trips, and important items previously funded thanks to our Dolphin's Cove donors:

• 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.
  
  

Thank you to each of our current donors for the consistent support.

Please consider joining Dolphin’s Cove 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