Upcoming Learning Coach Opportunities:

Nov. 28-30: How to create a Rockstar STEAM Fest display

Coffee chat with Wendy

An opportunity for LCs to provide feedback and discuss the OVS experience with Wendy

Tues., Nov. 28- 10:15-11am

Thurs., Nov 30- 3:15-4pm

Other Important dates:
NO Independent Study Lab/Skill Support on Wednesday November 22nd!!

NO School for students and staff November 23rd-25th due to Thanksgiving Break!

January 23rd- 2nd Annual STEAM Fest; more details to come

We did our first round of Coffee Chat With Wendy last week and this will continue the week after Thanksgiving for the sessions that I was not able to attend. The purpose of these conversations is to give families an opportunity to share and reflect on Glows (things we are doing well) and Grows (things we could be doing better). While attendance was low at these sessions, the conversation was wonderful! Ultimately, I want learning coaches and parents to know that we do want to hear your feedback and learn from your experiences in our program so far. Not only do we share with students to have a growth mindset, we want to model a growth mindset in our practices. We are hear to learn and grow with and from one another. So thank you for those of you who were able to attend this week and if you were not able to attend, you are always welcome to email or call me. (531) 299-9618 or wendy.loewenstein@ops.org

I will share the feedback in our newsletter once we complete these sessions. The next two sessions are:

Tues., Nov. 28- 10:15-11am

Thurs., Nov 30- 3:15-4pm

For students attending the Joslyn Art Museum Field Trip, we ask you wear an OVS shirt or blue attire to easily identify our groups. Here are some other guidelines for the field trip and museum:

Pick-Up/Drop Off
Morning Session: Students will leave and come back for the field tip during the class time. Students who are riding the bus will need to be at school at 9:00am. We will be returning to school by bus by 12:30pm. If you are planning to drop off your students at the Joslyn, they will need to be there by 10am and picked up at 12pm. Drop off is on the North side of the building. Their address is 2200 Dodge St.

Afternoon session: Students will need to arrive at school at 1:15pm to load the bus and arrive to the museum by 2pm. The bus will arrive back to school by 4:30pm. If students are being dropped off, they will need to be dropped off at 2pm and picked up at 4pm on the north side of the building.

Chaperones
Chaperones will need to communicate if they plan to ride the bus or transport their student to the museum. Parents who signed up to be a chaperone should have received an email confirming your role. Please respond to the email with your plan for transportation.

Schedule of the day
Students will be split into two large groups where half will tour the museum and half will work on an art activity. All students will participate in both portions but in different orders. We ask that student are engaged and active with the art activity while respective and quiet during the tour through the various exhibits. Students will not be allowed to have their cell phones out per museum rules.

Want to set limitations on your student's phone? Check out this video from Common Sense Media on how to set up restrictions on a mobile device. More resources are available on the Common Sense Media's website to help increase your student's Digital Citizenship!

Boxtop Collection Please start sending your clipped BOXTOPS to school. The teacher that collects the greatest number of box tops in the month of November will receive a prize for each of their students.

Bookfair! Save the date for the Omaha Virtual School's book fair that will be held at Barnes and Noble on Dec 7th.

Filmraiser Missed coming to the Synergy event on Friday? There is still time to support OVS through the Filmraiser campaign and $1 of your ticket price will come back to OVS. Check out the website http://www.filmraiser.com/ and list Omaha Virtual School as your cause. The Filmraiser promotion only applies to tickets purchased the opening weekend for the film (November 17-19) so don't delay! Tickets can be purchased for after November 19th but must be purchased by the 19th to count towards our fundraiser.

Be on the lookout for Ocelot paw prints We have asked our teachers to let us know of any classroom needs. They will keep posting these items on the Learning Coach Lounge door. Please consider adopting a paw print! You can then return the items directly to the classroom teacher. THANK YOU!

Synergy Board Vacancy The Synergy board is still seeking a treasurer. Please contact us at omahavirtualschoolpto@gmail.comif you are able to help serve our community.

OVS Apparel Order Available NOW: Purchase a variety of OVS Ocelot apparel by Friday December 1st to receive by Holiday break!

This week, we continued to expand on EMPATHY. Students explored how they could give back to the world around them. The class brainstormed a way they could collect items to help serve their community. Next week, we will announce each classroom's service project for the community. Students will begin bringing items the week after Thanksgiving until mid-December. Check back next week for your student's classroom giving project.

Week in Review:

This week we discussed characteristics of the character Auggie in the book We're All Wonders. Students practiced their letters and sight words with magnets. We also used the Osmo Numbers app to practice number sense.

Looking Ahead:

Be thinking about our collection project for December, what can we do to help others in our community?

BOXTOPS!! K-1 is trying to win the school competition!! Please send your Boxtops to Face to Face Time!

Ms. Rogers Skill Support Schedule Sign up

Week in Review:

Last week we focused on Mental Math. We worked on breaking numbers down into manageable chunks. We call them friendly numbers. In Language Arts, we worked on using questioning as a reading comprehension strategy. For Science, our 2nd Graders learned about the 4 types of cells while our 3rd Graders studied animals from ancient coral reef ecosystems.

Looking Ahead:

This week will look a little different. Monday will remain unchanged. We will be doing our online lessons and will have our Skill Support hours in the afternoon. There will be no class on Tuesday or Wednesday. There will also be no online classes on Friday. Enjoy the week!

2nd-3rd Grade is trying to win the BoxTop Competition. Please look around your house for boxtops and send them with your students on their Face-to-Face day! Thanks!!!

Resources:

Mr. Dowling Skill Support Schedule Sign up

We sure had a fun week learning!! By far, their favorite learning experience was Dollar Words! Our winner for the most expensive word was Shelly! Great job Shelly! Our winner for the most $1 words with a whopping 3 words found, was Alivia!!! (For comparison, I only found 1 in 3 days!!) Great work ladies and fantastic work to everyone else! I’m so glad you enjoyed the game!

In December, we will be doing a service project in our class. This week, we brainstormed what our community may need. Then, each child voted for the project they were most passionate about. They did a fantastic job with empathy and truly saw where the needs may be. It was a close call, but the students voted to raise money for shelter animals! We will be doing a penny war with Kindergarten-3rd grade. We will have clearly labeled jars for each grade level. For each penny in the jar, the grade level gets 1 points. For every silver coin placed in the jar, we deduct that many points. For example, if a class has 26 pennies in their jar and 1 dime, they have a total of 16 points. The class with the most points win! So, starting in December, bring you pennies for our jar and your silver coins to put in other jars!!!

Remember that there will be NO THURSDAY MORNING face to face sessions any longer. Thank you to the families that moved to different days!

Also, there will be no classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this coming week for Fall break.

Mrs. Nommensen Skill Support Sign up

Week in Review:
The class began the journey into our Science Fair by learning several concepts. Once acclimated with the booklet, students learned the scientific method and variables. We learned there are several steps to the method and three sets of variables to address in an experiment. This will be ongoing for the next several weeks.

Looking Ahead:
In class we will work on varied science and social studies concepts.

Weekly Online Math Lessons:
Each week I am teaching the current math lesson, per the pacing guide, for each subject online via ClassConnect. These sessions are mandatory and students will learn the concept through interaction with the teacher. Upon completion, students will take their check-up and be complete with that lesson.

• Fundamentals: (Monday @ 9:30) Lesson check-in with students.
  
• PreAlgebra: (Friday @ 9:30) No lesson due to holiday.
  
• Algebra: (Monday @ 10:15) Lesson check-in with students.
  
• Algebra 1: (Friday @ 10:15) No lesson due to holiday.
  
• Algebra 2: (Monday @ 11:00) Open lesson assistance.
  
• Geometry: (Friday @ 11:00) No lesson due to holiday.
  

Have a student in 9th grade at OVS? Check out their newsletter each week HERE!

If you are having issues with your student's device, please email your issue/concern to this email address: ovs-techhelp@ops.org

Parents will get an email response following your submission. One of our staff members will email parents back to provide assistance, so be sure to check your email after sending your concern.

We are a dynamic and nurturing community of learners that empowers students to reach their individual potential by providing a creative atmosphere for innovative learning and academic excellence.

The first K-8 Virtual School in the state of Nebraska.

Email: virtualschool@ops.org
Website: ovs.k12.com
Location: 4640 S 59th St, Omaha, NE, United States
Phone: (531)299-0269
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OPSVirtualSchool/
Twitter: @OPS_Virtual