Ocean Avenue Friday Notes

• Every Wednesday (Started 1/15): 4th & 5th Grade Board and Card Game Club, 11:45-12:45 PM, Mr. Rounds' Classroom
  
• 03/11: OAES PTO Meeting in the Library, 6:30 PM *hybrid* ~ you can join HERE via Zoom
• 03/14: Trimester 2 Grading Window Closes
• 03/18: Kindergarteners Field Trip to PATHS Sugarhouse-Visit & Field Work, 11:30 AM-1:30 PM
  
• 03/19: Auction Committee Meeting at Rising Tide, 5:30 PM
• 03/19: Trimester 2 Grades Emailed to Families
• 03/24 & 03/25: Spring Student-Led Conferences-Early Release: School Dismissed at 11:10 AM
  
• 03/28: OAES PTO Skate Night at Happy Wheels, 5-7 PM
  
• 04/08: OAES PTO Meeting in the Library, 6:30 PM
• 04/18-04/25: April Break - NO SCHOOL (School Resumes Monday, April 28th)
• 05/09: Annual PTO Parents' Night Out Benefit and Auction at Rising Tide, 5:30-8:30 PM
  
  

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

Families, your feedback is needed! The District’s annual Parent Survey has arrived or will be arriving soon in your email inbox! This is an opportunity for you to directly influence improvements and enhance the learning environment for all our students. Don’t miss your chance to help shape the future of our schools!

Important Reminder: If your children attend more than one school in our district, you will need to complete a separate survey for each one. We look forward to hearing from you!

Ask your students about why Google isn't a source. See what answers they come up with!

First off, I want to say THANK YOU to our amazing families that have provided donations to us throughout this school year. Your generosity does not go unnoticed and it is seen in the smiling faces of our students every day. Thank you again for your kindness!

Our current need is for boys sweatpants in size 8, and some more gloves to get us through the rest of winter.

THANK YOU!

Kindergarten registration for the 2025-2026 school year began on February 24, 2025.

Please visit our Online Registration Portal to register your child for kindergarten in the fall of 2025. The portal window will close on March 24, 2025.

If your child is currently enrolled in the Portland Public Schools in one of our pre-kindergarten (4-year-old) classrooms, it is not necessary for you to re-enroll your child in kindergarten. Your child's enrollment will automatically "roll up" to your neighborhood kindergarten elementary school, according to your primary home address.

Visit our Kindergarten Registration page for more information.

Portland Ballet is offering free classes for children ages 7-12, March-May! Registration is now open: https://www.portlandballet.org/community-division. Classes will meet following the schedule below (please note there is no class on the first Wednesday of each month).

Community Ballet is a free group class for children ages 7-12. Portland Ballet and Portland Youth Dance have partnered to provide free beginner-level ballet classes to children in need in the Greater Portland area. Classes incorporate technique, stretching, musicality, and choreography.

• March (March 19 and 26)
• April (April 9, 16, 30)
• May (May 14, 21, 28)
• Time: 3:30pm-4:00pm
• Register HERE

Thank you,

Portland Ballet

Help our school when you shop at Hannaford!

Questions about Hannaford Helps Schools? Please call Hannaford at (603) 380-9353 or email at hannafordhelpsschools@hannaford.com.

We hope you can join us on Tuesday, March 11th at 6:30pm in the OAES Library!

This meeting will be hybrid and you can join HERE via Zoom. Agenda will be sent closer to the meeting.

It’s a fun event where parents, teachers, and OAES community members can get together to raise money for our staff and students. This year the event will be Friday, May 9th 5:30-8:30pm at Rising Tide.

Thanks to our tireless volunteers, we always have a lot of great items & experiences up for silent or live auction! That’s where you come in - we need your help to make 2025’s auction better than ever!

• The next meeting is Wednesday, March 19th at 5:30 PM at Rising Tide. Latecomers welcome!

If you’d like to participate on the auction committee or have items to donate, please contact volunteer@oapto.org.

• Tuesday, March 11th, 6:30 PM: Monthly PTO Meeting in the library *hybrid*

• Wednesday, March 19th, 5:30 PM: Auction Committee Meeting at Rising Tide

• Friday, March 28th, 5-7 PM: OAES Happy Wheels Night

• Tuesday, April 8th, 6:30 PM: Monthly PTO Meeting in the library

• Friday, May 9th, 5:30-8:30 PM: OAES Parents' Night Out Benefit and Auction at Rising Tide

• Tuesday, May 13th, 6:30 PM: Monthly PTO Meeting in the library

• Tuesday, June 10th, 6:30 PM: Monthly PTO Meeting in the library

• Spring Fair TBD

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 is in full swing, 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

• OAES PTO Facebook Page
• OAES PTO Instagram Page