One of the things we have agreed upon as a team, is the importance of being mindful that our physical environment is reflective of our school's mission and values. One of our goals has been for student work spaces to reflect the values of our mission and to set these spaces up to support our cultural and academic goals. One of the recent changes we have made is with new desks for students. Our new desks allow for students to be easily grouped in a circle, but allow for separation and space for activities such as testing. We chose desks and chairs in our school colors and love the way they look in the classrooms!

When we sit in a circle we are eye-to-eye, all equals, and we all have our gifts to share. The circle supports feelings of connectedness, safety and openness. The circle helps create a sense of balance . The circle helps for everyone's voices to be heard and facilitates a sense of interconnectedness. The circle represents how each aspect of life is connected, plants, animals, humans, and all that is in the natural world. The circle supports and reflects a sense of community and belonging. The circle, like learning, has no ending and no beginning,, but is a continuous cycle. As we work together, intentionally with each decision and choice we make, big and small, we aim to live the mission of our school.

Another one of our primary focuses this school year is increasing student attendance. This school year, we've only had 2 days with full attendance (and we do recognize there's been many illnesses going around this fall!). We want to support students and families in sustaining consistent attendance to support each student at Oshki Ogimaag so that they are thriving in their learning environment!

• Missing just 2 days of school per month can drastically impact how difficult it is for a student to learn to read.
• When students miss school regularly, we observe drops in their academic performance, sometimes performing below grade-level. We see big increases in performance when students attend school with consistency.
• Students coming into school late often leads to poor attendance and when students come to school even a little late, it can affect their days in big ways - they can miss important classroom community building time and crucial instructional time leaving them feeling behind the entire day.
• Absences and tardiness affect the whole class, as teachers often have catch students up.
• Maintaining strong attendance rates is part of our contractual obligation with our authorizer, Osprey Wilds.
• Average daily attendance numbers affect funding for schools.

Tips for Consistent Attendance:

• Set regular times and routines for going to bed and waking up.
• Lay out clothes and backpack the night before.
• Develop a backup plan if your child misses the bus (let us know if you need help with this!).
• Try to schedule non-urgent appointments and extended trips for when school is not in session (to correlate with days schools is closed and on break).
• If your student is anxious about school, talk to your child's teacher, or Ms. James or Miss Tina for advice on how to help your student feel comfortable at school and excited about learning. We are here to help!
• If you are concerned about a contagious illness, call your health provider for advice.
• If your child must stay home due to illness, talk to your child's teacher about ways to support their learning at home and keep them from falling behind.

Students harvested herbs with Grand Portage Community Health Educator, Amy Bell, from our herbal tea garden, and once they are dry they will make tea with them. Students harvested turnips and radishes with Tess Bailey, Grand Portage Community Nutrition Educator.

On Thursdays after school students have been enjoying working with Sue Hennessy, the Artistic Director at the Grand Marais Playhouse, in theater class!

We have a great amount of gratitude for the amazing individuals that spend time offering our students hands-on community-based learning experiences!

Ms. Kelsey's Kindergarten/1st Grade: Kindergarten has been working on letter sounds and letter recognition and 1st Grade has been working on reading short stories. Kindergarten has been working on number and shape recognition and counting in math, and 1st grade has been working on addition and subtraction. In science, Kindergarten and 1st grade have been focused on observing seasonal changes and in social studies they have been learning about communities.

Mr. Tim's 2nd grade class has been focusing on long and short vowel sounds and reading Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary in Language Arts, focusing on skip counting in math, observing seasonal changes in science and learning about different types of communities in social studies.

Ms. Jeana's 3rd, 4th and 5th graders have been practicing writing letters, preparing for when they write letters to their pen pals from another school. The class is engaged in a program where they've adopted a cow and will receive updates and learn about the cow's growth over the school year. This program is aligned with state standards. The class voted to name their adopted cow, and "Holy Cow!" won the class vote. They are excited to virtually meet their class pet!

Woodworking class will begin in the winter! We will keep you posted as we have dates! If your student did not sign-up for woodworking yet, they could still sign-up!

This week the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools recognized Oshki Ogimaag with an award for recognition of 15 years of service to the charter school community.

Chi-miigwech to all the individuals that have served and supported Oshki Ogimaag over the past 15 years!

Students will be testing next week (September 30 - October 04) and the week after (October 07 -11). All students will take Curriculum Based Measurement assessments in reading and mathematics, and FastBridge assessments in reading and mathematics.

Tips to Support Your Child's Success:

• Get a good night's sleep.
• Get to school on time.
• Encourage your child with positive affirmations about how much they know and how capable they are!

If you have not completed the Application for Educational Benefits for the 2024-2025 school year, please complete by October 4th! These applications impact funding to the school, and it benefits everyone when they are all turned in. Application was in your fall enrollment packet, is linked below, or you could let us know if you would like another paper copy sent home. If you need assistance completing the application, please stop by school any time - we are happy to help!

There has been a surge of COVID recently and below are the recommended protocols if you or your child has COVID:

You can go back to normal activities when for at least 24 hours, both are true:

• Your symptoms are getting better overall
• You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication)

When you return to normal activities, take added precaution for 5 days; such as hand hygiene, masking, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.

Please call the clinic at 218-475-2235 with any questions.

We are looking for a minimum of two individuals who are parent/guardians of a currently enrolled student of Oshki Ogimaag Community School to join our Board of Directors! The Parent Board Members are required per MN statute. We are looking to fill these vacancies ASAP!

The Board meets 1 time per month, the 3rd Wednesday of each month (unless otherwise noted on the calendar), at OOCS at 4:30pm.

Participating on the Board is a great way to serve Oshki Ogimaag Community School and use your voice to play an instrumental role in supporting OOCS in meeting the goals of our mission! Also, we have amazing Community Board members that you would get to spend time with!

Please reach out (email below) or reach out to a current Board member (see our website) if you are interested!

A Big Thank You to The Hub and Cook County citizens for their generous donations of school supplies!

October

• 03 After School Theater Class 3:15-4:45pm
• 10 After School Theater Class 3:15-4:45pm
• 14 Indigenous Peoples' Day (we are planning a Feast for families!)
• 16 OOCS Board Meeting, 4:30pm, OOCS Conference Area
• 17-18 NO SCHOOL, Fall Break
• 21 NO SCHOOL, Professional Development Day
• 24 After School Theater Class 3:15-4:45pm
• 31 Halloween (No After School Theater Class on Halloween)

November

• 01 Start of Indigenous Peoples' Heritage Month
• 04 NO SCHOOL Professional Development Day
• 07 After School Theater Class 3:15-4:45pm
• 13 OOCS Annual Meeting
• 14 After School Theater Class 3:15-4:45pm
• 20 OOCS Board Meeting, 4:30pm, OOCS Conference Area
• 27-30 NO SCHOOL Indigenous Peoples' Heritage Break