Ozona Elementary

Dear Ozona Families,

We are well into the first quarter of school, and into football season too. If you think about it our teachers are very much like a quarterback in the game of football. Each quarterback brings unique talents to his vital position on the field of play. Each also chooses to keep stepping out onto the field with a focus on moving the ball forward, a focus which plays an integral part in the outcome of each game, and eventually, each season. Mrs. Downes and I visit the classrooms and we see our amazing teachers calling the plays based on their class data, attending Professional Development (coaching), Planning Collaboratively and driving that ball down the field each day! Because of the teachers, your "players" are improving every day!

In order to "win the game", we do need you to partner with us. That means you are ensuring your child is attending school daily, completing his/her homework, that you are supporting the school/teacher expectations and that you have ongoing communication with the teacher.

Every K-5 child should read or be read to 20-30 minutes a day (about 10-15 minutes for Little Ospreys). Let's build that reading stamina!

Conference season is here. Our teachers are experts and will guide you on how to make the most of your child's school year. Check out the link below to find specific grade level B.E.S.T. Standards, activities & resources, questions to ask and educational words to know.

I provided 2nd and 4th grade "Talk to Your Child's Teacher" example straight from the site.

https://www.fldoe.org/academics/standards/just-read-fl/parent-guides-for-english-language-arts.stml

Let's all get in the game and play to win!

Go Ospreys!

Lisa Freeman

Principal

Did you know that attending school on time every day is important to your child’s success and learning from preschool forward?

Missing 10% of school (1 or 2 days every few weeks) can make it harder to:

• Gain early reading and math skills.
• Build relationships.
• Develop good attendance habits.
• High quality preschool and kindergarten has many benefits!
• The routines your child develops will continue throughout school.
• Make the most of early grades by encouraging your child to attend every day.

What can you do to help?

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• Keep your child healthy and make sure your child has the required shots.
• Talk positively about school attendance with your child.
• Participate in school activities.
• Support building positive relationships with your child's teacher and classmates.
• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor or another parent.
• Try to schedule non-Covid-19 related medical appointments and extended trips when school isn't in session.
• If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors and other parents for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning.

10/4: Walk Your Child to School Day

10/6: Fall Festival

10/9: SAC 6 PM, PTA General Meeting 6:30 PM; media center

10/16: No School for Students

10/23: Red Ribbon Week

10/26: Report Cards Go Home

If your child goes by a name other than recorded on their birth certificate, please update the Nickname field through the General Tab in Focus. If you are having difficulty, you may return a hard copy form to the front office, and we will update the field for you.

For Cambium 3rd-10th grade results:

Parent/Student Portal for accessing PM results:

• Parents and students can check their student “Test History” in Parent Portal to view results for PM1
• Parents do not need an access code to see student results in the (Cambium) Family Portal.
• The screenshot below with the red arrow pointing to the “Florida Statewide Assessments” logo is where the parent/student will hover and click to access the (Cambium) Family Portal
• TIS has programmed the “Florida Statewide Assessments” logo to link directly to the (Cambium) Family Portal and PM1 results are available within 24 hours of the student testing

Did you know every Monday at Ozona Elementary School is Motivation Monday? Students and staff are encouraged to wear a shirt with a motivational, inspiring, uplifting message. Teachers talk to the students about what motivates them, how they are motivated, internal versus external motivation, etc. I can't wait to see the positive T-shirts!

Each Wednesday an AVID college, career or military question is posed to on the news show. Teachers lead discussion around these questions .Here are some sample questions: "Are there any college rivals in your household?" "What characteristic/trait do you have that would make an employer want to hire you?" "If you go to college, what would you want to learn about?" What are the branches of the Military? What do you know about them?

If you have a question you would like us to consider, please email the question to Principal Freeman. On Wednesday wear your favorite college/university T-shirt, local business (kid appropriate) or camo.

Of course Friday is school spirit day! Wear your Osprey gear!

Ozona is an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) certified school!

We did our Opening Raffle to get students excited for PBIS: Paisley in PreK was the winner of 4 tickets to the Tampa Bay Rowdies Soccer game.

Week of September 18th-22nd students had another raffle opportunity for 4 tickets to the Countryside CMX Movie theater at Countryside Mall!

School store will be opening after that and students will be able to purchase every other week.

We will be doing Quarterly PBIS celebrations where students may choose to purchase a grade level celebration event and we look forward to a final end of the year PBIS celebration event (more details to come the second half of the school year).

Thank you so very much, Lindsay Sullivan and Jamie Savor for gathering the donations and to our PTA PBIS committee and all of our PTA for making PBIS possible for our Ozona students!!!!

Hello Osprey Families! Thank you for supporting our Fall Literati Book Fair. The sales from our Book Fair raised $3,027 for the media center. All proceeds will be used to purchase new books for our Osprey Readers.

Our Annual Stakeholder Survey window is now open! I am gathering data to support our Library Media collection and program through an annual stakeholder survey. This survey is designed to gather input and recommendations for materials that you would like to see in our school library media center. The survey window is open now through October 5, 2023. Please scan the QR code or click the link below to take the survey. The survey link is also available on our school's website.

Library Media Stakeholder Survey

Thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to complete the survey and share your input and recommendations!

Jennifer Narkier, NBCT

Library Media Technician (LMT)

• Ozona's Fall Festival is coming Oct. 6th. We especially need volunteers from 6:30 to 8 pm. Additionally, if you have high school students who need volunteer hours this is a great evening opportunity. Please consider volunteering so we can keep the festival open the entire time and not have to cut it short for safety reasons. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084ea5aa28abf8c61-fall#/

• Great American Teach In is coming Nov. 15th. Everyone always believes their job, travels, or hobby isn't interesting enough to capture the student's attention. Trust me...the kids will not think so! They love GATI and are so proud when they know the speaker. I'm attaching the registration form. We look forward to having you and hope you will come spend some time with our students!

• Don't forget to activate your volunteer account by logging into the volunteer system and answer the 8 questions that pop up for the year. If you have any trouble, please email Jenny Moncrieff at moncrieffj@pcsb.org. https://focus.pcsb.org/volunteer

Ringling Museum Free Admission: Mark your calendar for Nov. 18. The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota will offer free admission to PCS students and their families. No registration is required.

The Food and Nutrition Department is surveying students regarding the current lunch options. Please share the attached messages with your students and families. The survey will close on Oct. 9, 2023. The lunch survey is available at this link: https://survey.k12insight.com/r/CcLqiy

Hey everyone!

We hope your students have been enjoying the content, skills and games we’ve been exploring in PE. Just a friendly reminder to make sure your child has the appropriate footwear on and that they are bringing a water bottle on the days they have PE!

Thank you for everything, especially to the PTA for your generous donation! The equipment we've purchased will help us to continue to provide a premium experience day in day out!

Sincerely,

The PE Department

Coach Boychuk, Coach Ruffino, Coach Starck, Coach Hanna & Coach Richards

Osprey artists have been creating their self-portraits and patriotic artwork. Keep an eye out for an email notification from Artsonia.com by the end of the first grading quarter, that your scholar’s artwork had been uploaded. If you are not linked to your scholar’s Artsonia account, please click the link below.

https://www.artsonia.com/connect/546TCC58

A special thank you to 4th and 5th graders for creating patriotic artwork for Curlew Hills Memory Garden’s 9/11 Ceremony.

The 2023-2024 Pinellas All-County K-12 Art Exhibition Open-House Reception Event on Tuesday, September 26, 2023. These Ozona artists will have their artwork on display for the 2023-2024 school year.

Congratulations to the students who were accepted into the show:

Caleb A.

Sophia B.

Chloe D.

Blake D.

Sebastian D.

Caden F.

Molly H.

Elouise L.

Saylor S.

Stay Creative,

Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Coleman

Visual Arts Teachers - Ozona Elementary

Hello Ozona Parents!

We are having a very busy time in music at Ozona! Our fifth graders had a wonderful field trip to the Florida Orchestra on Sept 21st. We are learning lots of new ways to make music both live and electronically. Also our students are really enjoying our second year of Quaver music and being able to use it both at school and at home! Our upcoming concert dates include the 5th grade classes doing a Veterans Day concert on November 9, 2023 at. 6:00 pm with special guests the Palm Harbor Middle School Chorus and the 4th grade classes and Osprey Chorus Winter Concert on December 14, 2023 at 6:00 pm.

For our other performing groups, the 4th and 5th grade Osprey Choruses are practicing hard for the upcoming concerts in November and December. The Drama Club is well into rehearsals for The Magical Land of Oz which will be performing two shows on November 1st and 2nd at 6:00 pm each night. Our Ozona Band is getting started and will be preparing for some upcoming performances later in the year.

Thank you to those of you who support all of our music events and to the PTA for being a champion of our music department! I also want to give another thank you to those who purchased items from the Ozona Music Wish List to help supply our students with what they need to increase their musical knowledge and participation.

You are the best!

The Ozona Music Department

Ms. Folstad and Mr. Jarvis

We invite our families to join or renew their membership for the 2023-2024 school year. A membership means directly supporting our school and programs. A membership does not mean a volunteer commitment or participation (although we welcome both if interested!) Thank you to the 200+ members who have joined or renewed this year. We are aiming high for 300 memberships so please, consider joining or renewing today.

If you have a business that would like to support our school and students, please explore our business sponsorship opportunities for year 'round exposure!

Memberships and Business Opportunities

In October we will celebrate National Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 4 from 8:15-8:45am. Join us at our gate/bike rack area near the Pinellas Trail entrance to school for a morning snack, music and fun before our school day begins!

You don't want to miss our annual Fall Fest and Pumpkin Auction on Friday, October 6 at our school! Doors open at 3:30pm for our ASD families (only) and general admission opens at 4:00pm. Wristbands and meals are on sale now on Memberhub! Save and purchase in advance! Adults are free and required to attend with their child(ren). You don't want to miss the train ride, inflatables, bounce houses, games, prizes, face painting, music, food, PUMPKIN AUCTION, scavenger hunt, multiple photo ops and more!

After you rest up from Fall Fest, please join us for our next general membership meeting on Monday, October 9 at 6:30pm in our school's media center. Come and hear from your PTA committees as well as our school admin team! We would love to see you.

On Thursday, October 19 hand over the dinner responsibility to our friends at Three Brothers Pizza! Mark your calendars for our next spirit night - more details to come.

Thank you for your support of our PTA.

Sincerely,

Ashley Gonnelli

Ozona Elementary PTA President

There are many ways to stay connected with all the things happening at school. Consider following and visiting the links below.

Ozona Elementary Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OEPTA?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Ozona PTA Instagram https://instagram.com/ozonapta?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=

Ozona Elementary Website https://www.pcsb.org/ozona-es

Vision: 100% Student Success

Mission: Create highest student achievement, in collaboration with the school community, by developing the whole child in a safe environment, using effective learning systems to close the opportunity gap by preparing all students for career and college readiness and success in a global society

Email: freemanl@pcsb.org
Website: https://www.pcsb.org/ozona-es
Location: 601 Tampa Road, Palm Harbor, FL, USA
Phone: 727-724-1589