Dear OHS Families,
Eid al-Fitr, 4/10 – No School
This Wednesday, 4/10, there is no school in honor of Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting over the month of Ramadan in the Islamic Faith. I want to wish everyone celebrating a joyful Eid al-Fitr!
Eclipse/PJ Day Reminder
Today, Monday, April 8th, a solar eclipse is taking place in our area. The eclipse will begin at around 2:20 pm and end at around 4:20 pm with the peek at about 3:26 pm. This is right at our dismissal time. Each student will receive a pair of solar eclipse glasses from the school that day and we will ask them to wear them at dismissal as protection. We will not be having viewing events during the school day, as that is something I would want parents/guardians to watch over and guide as they see fit.
For families interested in viewing the eclipse with other families in our community, I would invite you to pick up your child(ren) at the end of the day and meet in our back playground area.
Since the day will get dark during the eclipse, we thought we would tie in a little fundraiser and invite students to wear PJs and contribute a dollar to the PTA. This money will go towards the purchase of the eclipse glasses and any extra money collected will benefit the many other wonderful work our PTA supports. If you are willing to participate on 4/8, please have your child(ren) wear PJs and bring a dollar to school. Thank you!
On Tuesday, 4/9, please send the solar eclipse glasses back into school. We are going to find a way to share them with another community or organization that can reuse them. Of course, you are welcome to keep the glasses as a memento but if you plan on getting rid of them, we will take them back to pass on.
School Absenteeism Letters – We are at our Goal!
We will be sending out chronic absenteeism letters this week for students who have missed 10% or more of school days so far this year. Since we just passed the 140th day, it will be for students who have missed 15 or more school days. As of this past Friday, we have 6.0% of students at the chronically absent level. Last year we ended the year with 6.6% of students at this level. 6.0% is our goal for the end of the year as a school, so let’s keep up the good work! Since we have 182 school days in the year, once a student is absent 19 or more times, they are chronically absent for the year. Here is the Attendance Policy Handbook with more information (page 4 has a nice summary). Thank you for your efforts in making sure our students are here for instruction as consistently as possible.
SBA Schedule: Starting after April Break
When we come back from April break, the window for the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) opens. These are the assessments used by the state of Connecticut as a measure for how schools are performing. The assessments are for students in grades 3-8 and focus on English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Below shows our schedule for the testing weeks of each grade level. It is imperative that students charge their Chromebooks each night when it is their weeks to test. Please help remind your child to plug them in each night. We also ask that you encourage your child to get a good night of sleep and a solid breakfast on testing days. Here is the schedule:
- Week of 4/22 – Grade 4 and Grade 5 ELA
- Week of 4/29- Grade 3 ELA
- Week of 5/6 – Grade 3 Math and start Grade 4 Math
- Week of 5/13 – Grade 5 Math and finish Grade 4 Math
- Week of 5/20 – Grade 5 NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Break Wishes
Next week, 4/15-4/19, we have our April Break. I hope you have a wonderful time during these five days. I am heading to Dublin over the break for my cousin’s wedding. He happens to be marrying a woman from Dublin, so it will be a great opportunity to meet some people near our new home.
Have a great break,
David