Oldham Observations

Dear Families,

As we gather during this Thanksgiving season, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for each of you. Your partnership and support play a vital role in shaping our school community, and I am truly thankful for the trust you place in us to help nurture your children’s growth and learning.

It’s inspiring to see the enthusiasm and dedication of our students, families, and staff working together to create an environment where everyone can thrive. Your involvement—whether through attending events, volunteering, or simply being engaged in your child’s education—makes all the difference.

I hope this season brings moments of rest, connection, and joy for you and your loved ones. Thank you for being an essential part of our school family.

Wishing you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving!

With gratitude,

Steven Olsen, Principal

We are looking forward to focusing on Gratitude this month! One way to think about Gratitude is “choosing to appreciate the people and things in our lives.” Practicing Gratitude can increase our well-being and even our happiness! Gratitude is 1 of 3 traits we will focus on throughout the year that helps students Be Well. Across grade levels, students will be developing skills like emotion regulation, positive self-talk, and stress-management.

Have some fun connecting as a family this month while practicing Gratitude. Here are 2 “PurposeFull Pursuits” you can complete together!

#1 What are some small, specific things that you are Grateful for? Maybe it is your favorite water cup, the way the cat sleeps on the chair, or when your grandma bakes banana bread. Spend some time as a family trying to think of at least 10 small things that you have Gratitude for and then choose to notice them this week with a smile.

#2 Review Gratitude as a family! Remember that Gratitude is choosing to appreciate the people and things in our lives. Find a place in your home to display a glass jar. Cut up small slips of paper and place them next to the jar. Use the jar to collect special people, places, events, and memories that your family is thankful for. Find a time each week to add slips of Gratitude to the jar and assist students in writing or drawing gratitude as needed. Having a gloomy day or a challenging time as a family? Pull out the slips of Gratitude and read them aloud together as a reminder of your Grateful moments.

Ask your child these questions to get the conversation around GRATITUDE going:

• Can you share or show what it means to practice Gratitude?
• What is something you are Grateful for every day

We are really enjoying our celebration of students who exemplified our focus Character Traits. We begin every assembly with the sing-along for that trait and a class shares a poem about the trait. But, the highlight of the assembly is a detailed explanation of why the chosen student from each class is a model for that character trait.

Students are also able to celebrate each other daily by filling out a "Caught Having Character" from. On Monday I randomly choose forms for students who will then sit in the Character Cafe all week.

All of these are amazing ways for us to celebrate each other as we work toward Being Strong, Being Well, and Being Kind.

Please join us for our first annual Cultural and Community Night. We will have Oldham community members sharing their culture in various ways, student work displays, community partner booths, an exciting raffle for attendees, and so much more!

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

5:00-6:30 PM

Oldham Cafeteria

We are looking for volunteers to contribute and item or items for the event, assist at the event, or both.

You can sign up at this link

Please remember, students can only go directly to the playground after dismissal if they are with a parent.

We are SO EXCITED to have the Scoop back. You can watch the SCOOP using this link. For this inaugural episode, I took a little time at the end to review recess expectations and discuss some changes. The biggest changes that you should know about include the use of our new PTO provided recess equipment. Thanks to all that donated, we have plenty of things for students to do in their designated areas. This means that students do not need to bring in balls or equipment from home.

There is a new opportunity for our K-5 students, through the Norwood Recreation Department. Norwood will establish a youth wrestling program this winter. Linked below you will find "flyers" promoting this new initiative.

Norwood Youth Wrestling (English)

Norwood Youth Wrestling (Spanish)

Norwood Youth Wrestling (Portuguese)