Wednesday Express
Updated March 17
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Reminders ...
A Note from Ms. Fitz (new)
Dear Parents,
Best wishes for a wonderful spring break. I hope you enjoy the coming sunshine, this beautiful Portland spring, and time to relax with your children. After the break, time seems to speed up with a multitude of lower school events, ranging from off-campus trips to fifth grade plays to choir concerts to Beginning School movement presentations! Please watch the next Wednesday Express for updates on faculty and staff and potential openings for next year.
Best,
Anne Marie
Friendly Reminder
OES email lists are intended to facilitate communication with and among parents about school. As such, parents appreciate keeping such lists solely for school-related communication and free of business or other solicitation. A friendly reminder to use our school email lists appropriately. Thank you in advance for your help in keeping our school communication channels clear.
A Note From Chris O'Toole (new)
Dear Friends,
It was great to see many of you last week for parent conferences. It is a huge event in children’s lives. The children looked so thrilled to have this opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments with the most influential adults in their life- their parents and their teachers! We hope you found them informative testaments to your child’s progress and development !
On Friday, March 19th we gather for our March assembly. If you have time, please join us. We love having parents in the audience. Friday is a no-uniform day, wear purple for our Sixth Pillar of Character, citizenship!
It seems unbelievable that Spring break is here- this year has truly flown by! We hope that you enjoy this respite, whether traveling afar or staying close to home.
Think Spring!
Chris
Dialing for dollars – Come Volunteer! (new)
Help contact alumnae/i and former parents to benefit our school!
OES Fund Phonathon
Thursday, March 18
6:00-8:30 pm
Drinkward Center -2nd floor volunteer room
Food & Fun
RSVP:
Holy Week at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (new)
The clergy, staff and community of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church located on the OES Campus warmly welcomes your family and friends to celebrate in the spiritual offerings of Holy Week. A detailed listing of services and events is available here.
LS Head Search: Parent Forums (new)
On behalf of the Head of Lower School Search Committee, we encourage your participation in the upcoming parent forums with the Lower School Head Candidates. We are all invested in the future of the Lower School, and this is our opportunity to take part in the search process.
Equally important, let’s show each candidate why OES is such a wonderful school and community for our children and our families.
All parents who attend will hear each candidate:
- Provide a brief introduction
- Present his/her educational philosophy
- Address why he/she is interested in being the Head of Lower School at OES
- Respond to questions from the parent audience
Parent Forum Dates and Times:
All Parent Forums will be in the Middle School Commons.
Candidate One:
March 30th from 7-8 pm
March 31st from 8-9 am
Candidate Two:
April 5th from 7-8 pm
April 6th from 8-9 am
Candidate Three:
April 8th from 7-8 pm
April 9th from 8-9 am
All attendees will have the opportunity to provide feedback by completing an online survey.
As lower school parents on the search committee, we are happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you,
Spring Vacation Chess Camp
Remember to sign up for the three-day spring vacation chess camp—March 22-24, 2010, from 9:00am.-3:00pm (drop off between 8:30-9:00am and free play from 3:00-4:00pm). The camp is open to all students from the OES and non-OES community. Click here to download the registration form. Return the form to Marcy Morris in the Business Office or leave it in the Lower School office.
Contact
with any questions 503.416.9244.
Want to be a LS Grade Representative?
Chair or Co-Chair a LS Event?
Just a reminder that now is the time to volunteer to be a Grade Rep or an event Chair/Co-Chair for next year. We are currently taking names for all LS Grade Rep positions (Pre-K – 5th grades; we also need a Grade Rep for 6th grade in MS) and Event Chairs/Co-Chairs. You can submit your name by using the online volunteer sign-up sheet (access the form through the Parent Portal or through the Volunteer Login on the OES website), or by contacting your current (or another) Grade Rep, Alicia Morissette (LS PAL Chair), Megan Bingham (LS PAL Co-Chair), or Jan Massaro, Chair of Volunteers’ Common Link (VCL). The deadline for submitting your name is Friday, April 2. We would like to have all Grade Reps and Chairs/Co-Chairs for next year in place before summer break.
Grade Reps foster clear and open communication between parents and the administration, serve as Room Parent for their child’s classroom, plan community building activities for parents in their respective grade levels, and attend the LS PAL meetings, meetings with Head of LS and LS Grade Reps, and monthly VCL meetings.
Events in LS include the Back to School Picnic, Spooktacular, Discovery Day, Teacher Appreciation, and Used Uniforms. We are also looking for a LS Homecoming Liaison for the fall. See the Volunteer section of the OES website for further details on these positions.
If you have any questions, please contact your Grade Rep, Alicia Morissette, Megan Bingham or Jan Massaro.
OES Summer Programs 2010
Catalogs went home in last Wednesday's envelope. If you need extra for friends, we will have them in all divisions. We have begun registering online and a few classes are nearly full, so if you are considering these, get online this week and get registered! The classes are: Crime Scene Detectives A, Outdoor Life B, Outdoor Adventure Camp, and Make It, Take It and Market It. If you would like to be billed through your student account (our preference) please call Joan at 503-768-3145 or Marcy at 503-416-9244.
Kindergarten, Primary and 1st Grade Music Informances
Please join us for our annual Music Informances for Kindergarten through 1st grade. An Informance is an informational and informal performance, a way for the children to demonstrate a typical music class at this point in the year. Informances will demonstrate the invaluable cross-curricular support that music education provides for language development, pattern recognition, gross motor skills, math skills, impulse control, and social and emotional areas as well. And they’ll be a lot of fun!
Kindergarten & Primary
March 31, 8:00am - LS Common Hall
1st Grade
April 1, 8:00am - LS Common Hall
Since these Informances are designed to give you a sense of what a typical music class is like, I am hoping to make these Informances more interactive for parents as well. Be prepared to join in our music circles and wear comfortable shoes!
Peter Musselman
Aardy’s Party, The Age of Aquarius- 4.17.2010
Well, shake it up baby, now, twist and shout, your auction committee has been busy working it all out.
We received our invitations in the mail last week, did you? It will be a blast to the max, so grab friends from your grade(s) and put together a table. Mail in your RSVP or secure your tickets online. Can’t go? Take a chill pill, we can assign you a bid number and then you can ask a friend to bid for you! Contact auction coordinator
.
We could use some more help to work it all out! Paperwork, curbside collections, packaging, set up at the MAC, and event support are all important to the success of Aardy’s party. If you are not planning to attend the auction as a guest, consider donating your time. Contact volunteer coordinators
or
to find the perfect spot for you!
Reclaim your inner flower child and join us for Aardy’s Tie Dye Party, Thursday April 1st, 2:30-4:00pm at the covered lot behind the US dining commons. We’ll provide the dye and rubber bands, you bring your t-shirt or item you want to die. All welcome, LS students need to be accompanied by parent.
Call to the Wall of Wine. This year it is easy to donate. You can donate by calling Erin at The Wine Cellar, 503-643-5655, Erin will help you and give you a 10% discount on your order. Your donations will be delivered directly to the auction by our righteous WOW volunteers. For other wine donations, there will be curbside pick up at OES before and after school on Thursday, April 8th and Friday, April 9th.
We have added another far out Job Shadow Package to the list. How does spending time at The Portland Art Museum, the oldest art museum on the West Coast, where your student will learn first-hand the business side of running a Non-Profit Arts Organization. Check this and the 6 other cool Job Shadow Packages out on the auction website for details.
Gather up those last minute donations! Forms are available online or at divisional offices. You can turn in your procurement forms even if the physical items are not yet secured, deadline is March 19th.
Next Meeting: April 1st, 1:00-2:30pm, Morris House Conference Room
All welcome!
To volunteer, ask questions, or for general help contact auction coordinator
503-768-3156. Click on heart auction logo for link to auction website.
Aardy is looking forward to Spring Break next week! Check him out before he heads out to work on his tan!
Band Instrument Demonstration for 3rd-5th Graders!
To help with instrument selection for bands in 6th, 5th and 4th grade, Nancy Teskey (MS Bands), Adam Steele (LS Bands) and students will demonstrate instruments during students’ music classes. This is an opportunity for students to see and hear instruments they may not be familiar with.
- Monday April 5 – 4th grade
- Tuesday April 6 – 3rd grade
- Monday April 12 through Thursday April 15 – all grades can come in and try instruments during lunch recess
- Instruments being demonstrated: flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, french horn, trombone, baritone, tuba.
- Please expect an emailed letter soon which explains the middle school music program in full.
We can help students decide which instrument may be best for them so they’ll be ready to go in the Fall or even if they’d like to start lessons over the summer. Please contact us with any questions.
or
.
Beginning School Movement Program (new)
Thursday, April 15th, from 8:10 – 8:45, in the LS Gym.
We’re gearing up for this exciting event and the students are eager for this date to arrive! We hope you can join us!
Books and Breakfast
Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
By Barack Obama
Books and Breakfast: Friday, April 23, 8-9:30am, OES Dining Hall (NEW DATE!)
Our April book discussion will feature the autobiography of Barack Obama, our country’s first Black President. In this highly-praised memoir written before his political ascendance, Obama shares his emotional journey to understand his own family heritage and racial identity as the son of an absent Black African father and a white American mother. Obama is candid about racism and poverty and the story resonates with universal themes of love, obligation and loss while offering insights into the unusual life and unique multicultural background of our current commander in chief. Copies for sale in the Gallery Store for benefit of OES libraries.
Start Reading Now for Last Book Discussion This Year:
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Books and Breakfast: Friday, May 14 8:00-9:30am, OES Dining Hall
Contacts: Co-Chairs
503.292.6609 and
503.297.3593
The 2010 Great OES Book Swap
The Great OES Book Swap (better known as GOBS) will be held in the LS Library on Tuesday, May 25 and Wednesday, May 26, 7:30am-4:00pm.
Clean out your shelves, find those boxes in the closet! Please put your child’s name on your bags and boxes of books in order to receive book-swapping points. Points can then be used to purchase books in the Lower School Library on May 25 and 26!
If you’d like to volunteer please contact
.
Discovery Day May 27th (new)
Workshops are being confirmed for this exciting afternoon of discovery for Primary thru 2nd graders. Want to share a special skill, interest, or hobby with a small group? Want to inspire students to investigate their special interests? You can be a part of this day! Volunteer to lead a workshop or to help this afternoon.
Contact
or
if you'd like more information or would like to volunteer this afternoon.
