Oak Crest Family Tiger Topics

It has been a really great start to the new year at Oak Crest. We kicked off our annual "Great Kindness Challenge" this week. Please check in with your kids to learn about all of the little things they are doing to increase kindness in our school and world. Our theme goal is to make "kindness the norm."

Wednesday, students started a checklist of kindness acts. The goal is to accomplish as many acts on the list as possible and contribute to a school wide grand total that we will tally at the end of the month. The week of Jan 27-31 is the official Kindness Challenge Week across the globe and we will have a lot of extra fun activities such as a mix-it up lunch, food drive, and kindness themed dress up days. We are one of over 41,000 schools world wide that participate in this event and we are recognized yearly as a "Kindness Certified School."

Have a great weekend. Be you, be Kind!

Ben Tressel

Principal, Oak Crest Elementary

• All January - The Great Kindness Challenge
• Jan 2 - Feb 3 - FastBridge Winter Benchmark Window
• Jan 15 - REACH Zoo Field Trip Gr 4-6
• Jan 15 - 5th/6th Tiger Strong
• Jan 15 - End of Semester 1
• Jan 15 - REACH Field Trip
• Jan 20 - No School - Teacher Professional Development Day
• Jan 22 - 5th & 6th Spelling Bee
• Jan 22 - 3rd & 4th Tiger Strong
• Jan 24 - Report Cards Published and accessible online
• Jan 24 - Be RED Breakfast (By invitation)
• Jan 27-31 - The Great Kindness Challenge Food Drive
• Feb 5 - All School Meeting #6
• Feb 18 & 20 - Winter Conferences - look for sign up in 2 weeks!

• Before School Clubs. We are excited to start a few new opportunities for kids who arrive at OC early in the morning to keep them engaged and have a productive and fun morning. This week and next, students are invited to sign-up for any of our 6 clubs that will start the week of Jan 21. Each club will have 1 day per week, schedule to be determined by the size of our rosters. The club will start at 7:35am and last until 8:10am. If students are registered for the club they can enter the building by parent pick-up at that time. If students arrive later than 7:35am by bus, they can join the group whenever they arrive. Clubs are free, but do require staffing and planning so kids will not be able to join without enrollment in advance. Students sign up at school on their own.
• The clubs are: Pokemon Club, Art Club, Card Club, Letters of Love, Engineering Club, and Intramural Sports League (Floor Hockey will be the first sport).
• Attendance. The biggest predictor of student success is consistent attendance. Thank you for prioritizing school and helping your child(ren) be here everyday. We have had a lot of illness go through, and by following our policy to keep kids home when they are sick with a fever or vomit for 24 hours minimum actually helps keep other kids in school. Thank you for doing your best to navigate difficult decisions when your children don't feel well. When absences for any reason become an ongoing reality, it is our policy and responsibility to work with families to notify them and at times change our attendance expectations for individual kids. We send attendance letters home when families have a pattern of excused or unexcused absences and we do request support for families from the county when attendance is consistently impacting a child's education. Anytime your child is out with illness a doctor's note is helpful.
• 5th Gr Dance - We have had a tradition at Oak Crest during the 5th grade PE dance unit in February to hold a formal dance with families on a conference night. This unit of study and special event was lead by Michelle Amundson our former PE teacher with the help of Mrs. Kruschke. It was not a required part of our PE curriculum, but a special addition. With Michelle retiring in December, we will not be having our dance unit or 5th grade dance event this year. Thank you for understanding.
• YWAC - Each year, we offer students the opportunity to attend the Young Writers and Artists Conference in Mankato. This year the optional event Mrs. Schroers and Mrs. Endres will coordinate the event for OC kids on March 4th. Below is an attachment with more information and how to register.

Ask your Oak Crest Tiger:

*What small acts of kindness are you trying do everyday?

*What is your new year's resolution?

*What have you checked off on the Kindness Challenge Checklist?

*Is your class doing any special kindness activities?

*Who are 3 people that are kind to you at Oak Crest? How do they show you kindness?

*What book are you reading?

It is getting colder everyday of 2025. When we are above 0 as a "feels-like" temperature, we will get kids out as they need to move! To make this possible, we need to have kids ready for the extreme colds. Covered ears, covered hands, and zipped winter coats are required everyday. Please send them prepared!

We have snow again! When there is snow on the ground, students must have boots and snow pants to play in those areas. If they do not, their options for fun at recess greatly decrease. Please send boots and snow pants to school.

If we have indoor recess, we are trying to limit iPad time. Our students are really good at interacting with screens, but learning to interact with each other is very important. We are trying to find creative ways to make indoor recess fun and engaging. If you have donations of cards, board games, or legos in good shape, please consider sending them to Oak Crest for our kids to use when stuck inside!

Snow Day #2

Reminder that if we have another school closure due to bad weather, it will be an e-learning day. Kids will be expected to log in from home to do school work and even have live interactions with teachers. Teachers will send home specific schedules, instructions and resources if this happens!

Ben Tressel

Principal

Oak Crest Elementary

1101 W. Commerce Dr. Belle Plaine, MN 56011

952-873-2402

btressel@belleplaine.k12.mn.us