Technology Campus Chronicle

Dear OSES Families,

We look forward to our Teach In this coming Wednesday. The link to sign up was already sent via email directly to all parents. We would love to add a additional speakers or guests. Please remember you can speak with a class online, or even while you are working; students love to see workplaces. A few years back, a parent spoke to students while captaining a cargo ship off the coast of China. Our students also loved to be read to, a teacher can provide the book, all you need to provide is the voice. You are welcomed to spend the day with us, or a few minutes. We hope to see you here, or online.

Michael Singleton

Principal

Due to supply issues at the OCPS level, we do not know if hot or cold lunch will be served. Please be prepared to have either lunch until further notice.

Breakfast and Lunch will be FREE for the 2024-2025 school year

If your child has food allergies and will require a special meal from OCPS please click on the link below to fill out the special diet order form

Special Diets for Food Allergies - Orange County Public Schools (ocps.net)

This week marked Round 2 of the OSES schoolwide Scripps Spelling Bee, and we now have two winners from each grade level. The final round will be held in January, where one participant will advance to the Orlando Spelling Bee.

We are thrilled to announce that the Great American Teach-In is scheduled for next Wednesday, November 20th. If you are interested in sharing your profession with your student’s class, please reach out to the teacher via email.

FAST PM #2 will begin when students return from the Fall/Thanksgiving Break. Please refer to the PM #2 schedule below for more details.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community. For any questions, please contact Cayce Carter at Cayce.carter@orlandoscience.org.

Congratulations to the Orlando Science Elementary School Math Team for another outstanding performance this past weekend at MathLeague.org's November Qualifying Round at Heathrow Elementary School! Our young mathletes in grades 4 through 6 demonstrated excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Thank you to all students who participated, and special congratulations

to those who placed in the competition. We’re excited to participate in the upcoming math contests!

Upcoming Math Competitions:

Noetic Learning Math Contest: Monday, November 18

Central Florida Math Tournament (CFMT): Saturday, December 7

MathLeague.org December Qualifying Round: Saturday, December 14

It has been an excellent start to the month of November for us here in Kindergarten! In Character Ed we are learning Gratitude and all the ways we can be grateful on a daily. In social studies we are learning how to make friends and how to solve problems with others. In Writing we are working om identifying CVC words and complete sentences. In reading we are learning how to identify the main character and setting in a story. In math we are learning how to add using counters and ten frames. In science we are learning what a science fair is and how to prepare for one.

First Grade Highlights!

Our first graders have been working hard and learning so much! In Reading, we discussed how to identify an author’s opinion and support it with details from the text. We've also practiced identifying the topic and central idea of a story, evaluated informational texts to determine which information is most important, and identified different points of view.

In Math, we focused on determining true and false equations and practiced adding three or more numbers together. We wrapped up the week with our Topic 5 math test, where students showed off their growing skills.

In Science, we began exploring Earth's structures, starting with the surface of the Earth. Our young scientists learned about different types of soil and discovered what an organism is.

In Writing, we practiced unscrambling sentences and started learning how to recognize and correct run-on sentences. Our students are making fantastic progress as writers, readers, and thinkers!

Last week, we were able to complete a full investigation on pumpkins! It ended with students getting their hands slimy, estimating and then counting how many seeds were in their slice!

In Ms. Nickerson’s class they had a very special guest, Mr. Gaffney, come and sing Pete the Cat’s song, “I Love My White Shoes!” The students loved it! Thank you Mr. Gaffney! <3

Ms. Quarterman’s Class and their wonderful Pumpkin Book Character projects!

Ms. DiNuzzo's class spelling bee winners

Hello Families! Ms. Sanico’s 2nd grade has been busy learning while having fun! Let us start reading. We learned about creating metal images, story structure, elements of drama, making and confirming predictions and figurative language. Also, we learned about verbs, past tense, present tense of future tense of the verbs. In our class we enjoy playing with the numbers and learn how to find the sum and difference in using different ways such as break apart, compensation number line, make a ten and the most favorite “use any ways” as long as they get the right answer. Social Studies learned about why we are celebrating veteran day and who veteran people are. In science we learned about gravity and how magnets affect the object.

Every Wednesday we have fun doing our WENSTEAMDAY wherein we are learning how everything is connected in our environment and its function. After learning we will build a cool and fun project to display their understanding and creative thinking on how to make the project work. This week we built a robotic hand and Ms. Sanico’s class rock it on please see the picture attached and feel the excitement and the happiness of my students after they successfully build their project.

ELA:
This week, we’re diving into the world of drama! Students are learning about the elements of drama, including characters, settings, and dialogue. We also practiced monitoring and clarifying while reading, which means stopping to check for understanding. Additionally, we’re mastering the use of quotation marks when writing dialogue and remembering important punctuation rules like capitalizing the first letter and using commas correctly in dialogue.

Math:
In math, we’ve been exploring lines of symmetry. Students are learning how to identify lines of symmetry in shapes and understand how symmetry makes things look the same on both sides. It’s a fun, hands-on way to think about Geometry! Also, we tackled about finding area.

Science:
Our budding scientists have been busy with their plant observation sheets. They’re learning all about different plant structures and how plants grow. The students are taking notes, drawing, and observing plants closely. It’s a great way to connect with nature and build scientific observation skills.

Social Studies:
In Social Studies, we’ve started our unit on cultures. Students have been excited to learn about different cultures around the world and how they’re similar and different from our own. They also completed their State Research Books, where they explored interesting facts about the state of their choice, from geography to state symbols and more

Keep up the great work, 3rd graders! We’re looking forward to more exciting learning adventures next week!

This week has been both busy and exciting for our 4th graders! We kicked off with our second Drop Everything And Write (DEAW), which continues to strengthen our students' writing skills. With each DEAW session, students are integrating more of their ELA learning into their work, and we are seeing progress. We also remain focused on the 4th Grade Spelling Bee, and a winner will be announced soon!

On this Fantastic 4th team, we believe in working hard and playing hard. After putting in their best effort across all subjects, our students had the fantastic opportunity to attend a STEM-focused field trip, led by Ms. Poleges and the team. We visited Wonder Works, where students engaged in interactive activities like the "Wonder Coaster," the "Astronaut Training Challenge," and a ropes course, just to name a few. It was incredible to see how students connected their science lessons to real-world experiences. Learning is always more meaningful when it’s hands-on and fun!

Hello from Ms. MacAllister’s Classroom! We have been busy with our latest unit in English Language Arts, answering the essential question, “What does it take to be a survivor?” We have read an excerpt from the story, “A Long Walk to Water” and watched the mini documentary, “Salva’s Story.” We learned about Salva Dut and his journey as a young boy during war-stricken South Sudan in 1985. He was only 11 years old when he was torn away from his family due to a civil war. The conflicts he faced during his journey to find safety and his family inspired him to help his villages gain access to clean water.

To help our students to better connect with the story and essential questions, we completed a water filtration STEM project on National STEM/STEAM Day. Students were not given directions and had to discover on their own, with limited supplies, the best methods of filtering dirty water. There was a lot of trial and error, but it was a success!

We will continue to exam the essential question by reading a poem about survivors of Hurricane Katrina. We will also connect the poem by completing our second STEM project- "Rebuilding Together: Problem Solving After the Hurricane." I look forward to seeing the solutions our students come up with!

We also had our DEAW on Tuesday 11/12. To prepare for it, we utilized our WOW curriculum alongside our HMH Curriculum to write an argumentative essay about whether scientists should continue advancing robots. We focused heavily on identifying strong and reliable sources of evidence to support our claim. We also developed our elaboration skills.

To wrap everything up, we completed our first unit in Social Studies on Early European Explorers and will now be moving onto Colonial Times: Early English Settlements. We will be focusing on the essential question, “What challenges did the first English colonies face?”

The past few weeks in Character Education have been filled with engaging discussions and activities!

In Kindergarten and 1st grade, students have been exploring important character traits such as honesty and respect, and learning the difference between telling and tattling. This week, we are focusing on friendship and the qualities that make someone a good friend.

In 2nd grade, we've been discussing bullying and recently shifted our focus to conflict resolution, emphasizing the importance of understanding different perspectives to resolve disagreements.

3rd grade has been diving deep into bullying prevention and is currently working on a special project where each student writes something kind about every other student, fostering a positive and supportive classroom environment.

4th and 5th grade students are wrapping up their conflict resolution projects, where they've been working on practical strategies for handling conflicts in a respectful and thoughtful way.

I am so proud of all the hard work and growth the students have shown as they build strong character and positive relationships!

We finished studying ancient Egypt in Mr. Rego’s World History class last week. Students learned about the pyramids, mummification, the different kingdoms, pharaohs, Egyptian gods, and their way of life, culture and achievements.

In World Art, students created a bulletin board with information about ancient Egypt. Students also sculpted Shabti dolls and scarabs out of clay and practiced writing their names using hieroglyphics on papyrus.

We started our unit on the Israelites and Phoenicians this week, and we will be exploring ancient India next.

On a side note, I’m looking for various world musicians to volunteer for an end of the year concert in May. If you know anyone that plays the sitar, kanun, baglama, shamisen, harp, accordion, etc. then please have them email me at david.rego@orlandoscience.org. Thank you in advance for your help with this. Have a wonderful weekend!

In order to help keep our families informed of the latest legislative updates regarding their student's education, a Parent Rights Resources page has been added to the school website.

Recent updates include:

• Internet Safety
• District Health Care Services
• Special Magistrate

The mission of Orlando Science Elementary School (OSES) is to provide a well-rounded education with special emphasis in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), while using research-based and innovative instructional methods in a stimulating learning environment. OSES is committed to the social-emotional learning and character development of all students.