Overlook Grizzly Tracks
October 6th, 2023
A message from Mr. Ryder
Dear Overlook Families,
It's hard to believe that summer is over and fall is already upon us! The nights are cooler and the leaves are starting to change.
I want to thank our PTO and all the volunteers behind the scenes for an amazing Movie Night Out. It was a great event with an amazing turnout. I also want to express gratitude on behalf of the staff for two amazing conference night meals. Our staff and I certainly appreciate the support, not only in donating money or food but also the time it takes to set up and clean up.
We have a few big events coming up in October:
- Grandparents'/Special Persons Day
- Fall Parade and Parties
Please remember that if you have not given us your son or daughter's T-shirt size, you can do so below. You can also grant permission for your 1st through 4th grade students to walk to Wadsworth High School for their Fine Arts performance below.
I am looking forward to a fun-filled and busy October. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mr. Ryder, Principal
WHS band put on a concert for our students and parents on arrival today!
the Wadsworth fire Department was in talking to our 2nd graders about smoke alarms and fire safety.
⭐Overlook Grizzly ROCK STARS!⭐
Overlook School began the school year with a focus on safety. On Friday, September 6th, we held our first Rockstar Assembly. Students in each class were chosen by their teachers for demonstrating safety in the month of September.
We also have weekly drawings and prizes for our students who demonstrate kindness, safety, and responsibility on a daily basis. We love to give away little trinkets, books, gift cards, and even pancakes!
We believe that safety is essential for a positive and productive learning environment. We are grateful for the support of our parents and teachers in helping us to create a safe and supportive school for all of our students.
We are proud of our Rock Stars and all the students for their commitment to safety. We look forward to continuing to work together to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all.
Special Persons Day
Special Person Day is back at Overlook! Students in grades K-4 are welcome to invite Grandparents or other special guests (maximum of 4) to join them during lunch and shop at our Scholastic Book Fair. Our Preschool students will be able to enjoy the book fair with a parent or special person when they are picked up for the a.m. group or dropped off for the p.m. group.
If a grandparent(s) or a special guest will be joining your child during Special Person's Day, please use the RSVP link.
Please be aware:
- We can not allow food purchased outside of the school (for example fast food) in the building.
- All guests will enter the side door along the pickup lane.
- GUESTS WILL NEED TO BRING A SNACK OR PACK A LUNCH!
**If you have more than one child participating, please complete one form for each child so we have a record by class.**
Kindergarten - Monday, October 16th (Lunch 11:00 - 11:20, Shopping 11:20 - 11:45)
3rd Grade - Monday, October 16th (Lunch 12:30 - 12:50, Shopping 12:50 - 1:15)
1st Grade - Tuesday, October 17th (Lunch 11:30 - 11:50, Shopping 11:50 - 12:15)
4th Grade - Tuesday, October 17th (Lunch 1:00 - 1:20, Shopping 1:20 - 1:45)
2nd Grade - Wednesday, October 18th (Lunch 12:00 - 12:20, Shopping 12:20- 12:45)
A.M. Pre-School-Wednesday, October 18th (Shop 11:30-12:00 after pick up)
P.M. Pre-School Wednesday, October 18th (Shop 12:15-12:45 before drop off)
We Need Shirt Sizes!
With the support of our amazing PTO, every child at Overlook receives a FREE Overlook t-shirt each year. This shirt will be worn throughout this year, so please think about the size that will work throughout the year when choosing a size. Please click on the picture of the shirt and complete the form.
Help Wanted: To Stock the Staff Rock Star Cart
Thank you to those who have already donated!
Our Rock Star Cart will make its rounds to the classrooms to recognize and celebrate our wonderful staff. We are accepting donations of candy, small bags of chips, pop, and gift cards ($5-$10).
Your donation will help us to show our staff how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication. Thank you for your support!
Here are some suggestions for candy and chips that you could donate:
- chocolate bars, gum, mints, chewy candy (starburst, skittles, sour patch)
- potato chips (small bags), popcorn
No matter the donation, I am sure that our staff will appreciate your thoughtfulness. Thank you for helping us to celebrate our Rock Star Staff! (Donations can be dropped off in the OV office.)
1st Grade Trip to WHS
The 1st grade will be walking to Wadsworth High School on October 12th to hear the WHS Fall Choir Concert. Please complete this form granting permission.
The WHS Volleyball team stopped over to greet our students and visited the classrooms.
The WHS Boy's soccer team stopped over to greet our students and visited the classrooms.
Character Dress Up and Fall Party Information
Our annual character dress-up day parade and classroom parties will be held on Friday, October 27th, for kindergarten through 4th grade. Preschool students will have theirs on Tuesday, October 31st (Details will be provided to the pre-school parents.)
Guidelines
- Students may wear their costumes for the day if they are not disruptive or prevent them from sitting or moving safely. If students need to change into their costumes before the parade, they should be able to change independently or with little assistance.
- Students are encouraged to bring a book with them that represents their character.
- Costumes should be school-appropriate, with no violence, weapons, or blood.
- The parade order is kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grade.
- Parents and family members are welcome to come to watch the parade outside of the building.
Parade and Party Schedule
- Students will begin lining up for the parade at 2:20 p.m.
- The parade will start at 2:25 PM.
- Classroom parties will follow immediately after the parade.
We look forward to seeing all of the creative costumes!
Counselor's Corner with Mrs. Laino
This October I have two focuses during my classroom guidance lessons: Bullying Prevention and Drug Prevention. October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. Bullying is defined as using words or actions on purpose, repeatedly over time. Students in all grades learned the difference between being a bystander and an upstander. A bystander is someone who sees someone else being bullied and an upstander is someone who helps the person being bullied. All students are encouraged to be an upstander- if you see something, say something. With 2nd-4th graders, we talked about the 4 types of bullying: verbal, physical, social/emotional, and cyberbullying, role-played scenarios, and the importance of telling the bully to stop and letting an adult know. Kindergarten and 1st graders learned what bullying is, the difference between tattling vs telling, and practice saying stop and telling an adult.
2nd through 4th grade students also heard about "Start With Hello" which is part of the Sandy Hook Promise. "Start With Hello" is a prevention program that teaches children and teens how to be more socially inclusive and connected to one another. "Start With Hello" asks students, educators, parents and other community leaders who interact with kids to take steps in the classroom, lunchroom, bus and/or other times in their day to be inclusive and connected. If your child sees someone alone, they are encouraged to reach out to that person and say, "hello". The classes brainstormed ways to reach out such as; inviting someone to sit with them at lunch, asking someone to come play at recess, waving in the hall or on the bus. Overlook has a "buddy bench" where if someone is sitting there it means they don't have anyone to play with. All Overlook kiddos know if they see someone sitting over there to go ask if that kiddo wants to play. I have noticed our Overlook Grizzlies are really good about checking the bench and reaching out to anyone sitting there.
"Start With Hello" encourages families to be involved at home too. Below are tips from the program for how families can help:
1. Make an intentional effort to greet each other with hello and ask questions about each other’s day. Practice active listening.
2. During car rides or at dinner challenge each other to use eye contact and truly listen.
3. Model best practices for your child. Say hello to people, and make conversations at stores or restaurants.
4. Share your story. Tell your child a story about a time that you reached out to someone who was alone and in need. What happened? How did you feel afterward?
5. Be there for your child. Talk about what your child can do if they ever feel lonely at school. Remind your child that you are always there for them if they need someone to talk to.
6. Talk about the good and bad kinds of being alone. When does being alone feel good? When does being alone feel bad?
Starting the week of October 16th students will receive a classroom guidance lesson on Drug Prevention. This is in response to the prescription opioid abuse crisis that exists in our state, Ohio House Bill 367, passed in 2014, requires each school district to include instruction on specific topics pertaining to prescription opioid abuse prevention in our schools.
Children are beginning to use substances such as nicotine at an earlier age than ever, and we want to provide them with the information ahead of time so they are not learning from their peers about topics like drugs and alcohol. We feel this topic is very important to educate students on what to do in a situation BEFORE they are faced with peer pressure.
This week we visited your child’s class to discuss age-appropriate drug prevention. All lessons highlight: Students are “Too Good For Drugs”- from The Mendez Foundation.
In Kindergarten your child learned about:
Identifying 3 internal body parts & describe what they do
Reciting 3 ways to help their body stay healthy
Differentiating between safe & unsafe decisions
Differentiating between healthy & unhealthy choices
Medicine Safety
In 1st Grade, your child learned about:
Decision making:
stop & think
distinguishing between safe and unsafe decisions
distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy choices
Medicine Safety
In 2nd Grade, your child will be learned about:
Decision making:
Stop & think
Every decision has a consequence- can be positive or negative
Making healthy, safe choices
Peer Pressure:
Definition
Ways to handle peer pressure
Difference between helpful medicines when used appropriately and harmful drugs
In 3rd & 4th Grade your child learned about:
Decision Making:
How to weigh consequences through the decision-making process to make healthy choices for your body and brain
How to handle peer pressure and make healthy choices
Peer Pressure
Helpful vs Unhelpful Drugs:
Helpful drugs are over-the-counter medicines your parents/caregivers give you, or medicine prescribed for a specific person by their doctor
Dangers of nicotine/vaping and cigarette smoking for people under age 21
Dangers of alcohol for people under age 21
Sign up for Parent Tips “Know!” from Prevention Action Alliance for how to prevent substance use and abuse in our youth. They will email you with parent tips and helpful information regarding ways to help your child develop a healthy lifestyle with a variety of information including drug prevention, anti-bullying messages, human trafficking prevention, suicide risks, and much more. https://preventionactionalliance.org/about/programs/know/
If you are interested in getting a “Parent360 Rx Medicine Abuse Action Kit” to plan a family and/or community discussion to help educate your family and others about how to protect our children from drug use/abuse, please go to starttalking.ohio.gov
and search “Parents360”.
For more information re: e-cigarette use in youth and young adults, please go to
https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/
If you have any questions or concerns or if there is anything I can help you with please don't hesitate to reach out.
Upcoming
October 18th is Unity Day. Join us by wearing orange for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.
October 23rd-October 27th is Red Ribbon Week. The theme of Red Ribbon Week this year is: Be Kind to Your Mind: Live Drug Free! This theme is a reminder that everyday Americans across the country make significant daily contributions to their communities by being the best they can be because they live Drug-Free! Let’s celebrate being drug-free!
PTO News and Events
Join us in the Overlook Elementary Library for the next PTO Meeting. We cannot wait to see you there!
Scholastic Book Fair
When?: October 16-18
Where?: Overlook Elementary Gym
**We are excited to again invite Special Person(s) to shop the Book Fair when eating lunch with their Overlook Student(s). Please be sure to RSVP for the Special Person Event by completing the form sent out by Mr. Ryder linked in this month's OGT newsletter.
**We invite our Preschool Families to shop the Book Fair during Preschool AM pick up and PM drop-off on Wednesday October, 18th.
Interested in helping with the Book Fair?
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040944AFAC29A0FA7-44789495-overlook
Spirit Sales Update
Thank you to our Overlook Families for shopping the Spirit Wear Sale. We cannot wait to see you in your Grizzly Gear.
Spirit wear items will be ready in about three weeks. Items will be delivered to students’ homerooms once the items are ready.
Outdoor Movie Night
WOW! What a night! Thank you to all the Overlook Families who attended the Outdoor Movie Night.
A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE THE EVENT POSSIBLE!
PTO and The Nutcracker Ballet
Ballet Theatre of Ohio and the Overlook PTO have partnered to make it possible for Overlook Elementary students to receive complimentary tickets to THE NUTCRACKER.
Overlook student Marlee Postak will be in the show dancing the role of Clara's Little Sister.
Up to 400 tickets are available for Overlook families to experience the magic of this holiday tradition on Saturday, November 25th at 7:00 p.m. at the Akron Civic Theatre.
To claim your tickets, please visit the following link.
Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
We are grateful to Ballet Theatre of Ohio and the Overlook PTO for making this opportunity available to our families. We hope you will join us for this magical holiday performance!
Dates to Remember:
October:
- 9th Board of Education Meeting 7:00 P.M. PAC
- 10th PTO Meeting 6:30 OV Library
- 13th No School
- 16th-18th Special Persons Day and Book Fair
- 18th Overlook Lockdown Drill
- 23rd Part 1 of 3rd Grade Language Arts AIR test A.M.
- 24th Part 2 of 3rd Grade Language Arts AIR test A.M.
- 26th 2nd grade to Hale Farm and Village
- 27th K-4 Fall Parade and Party (Dress like a character) Parade 2:25 Fall Party to follow until 3.
- 31st Pre-school fall parade (inside the building) and party following.
- 10th OV Veterans Day Assembly 10:00 A.M. gym
Community Resources
Social Media
Overlook PTO:
Instagram-overlookpto
Facebook- Overlook PTO: Wadsworth, OH
Mr. Ryder:
Instagram: ovprincipal
Mrs. Laino:
Instagram: ovcounselorscorner