FEBRUARY
2009
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February is Black History
Month!
February 6th
Principal's Coffee
(Adams)
February 11th
LSRT
Meeting
February
13th
Bedtime Stories for Black History
Month
February 14th
Valentine's Day
February 16th President's Day; SCHOOL
HOLIDAY
February 18th
Jali-D Performance; 1:15pm Primary Campus
2:15
Intermediate Campus
February 20th
Black History Celebration/Primary Campus;
6:00-9:00pm
February 18th
LSRT Meeting; 6pm Primary
Campus
February
23 & 25th
Good Touch/Bad Touch
Presentations for PK-3rd grade
February 23rd-26th
Middle School Science Fair (Grades
6-8th);
Mon, 2/23: Set Up
Tues, 2/24: Judging
Day
Wed, 2/25: Open to the Public, 12pm-6pm
Thurs:
Open to the Public, 9am-2pm
February 23rd
Playground Construction at Intermediate Campus
Starts!
February 25th
NAEP Testing 4th & 8th Grade
February 27th
No School
Parent-Teacher Conferences; Teacher
Appreciation Pot-Luck
Lunch
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MARCH
2009
|
March 3rd
OCC
Budget Committee Meeting
March
4th
Celebration of 1st O-A Sports
Season
March
5th
5th Grade Parents Meeting re: Middle
School
March
6th
Principal's
Coffee
March 8th
Daylight Savings Begins
March 10th
OCC
Board Meeting
March
11th
Kindergarten Meeting for all
classes
March 17th
OCC
Community Meeting
March17th
St.
Patrick's Day
March
18th
LSRT Meeting
March
23rd-29th
No School
Spring
Break
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APRIL
2009
|
April
4th
**Oyster-Adams Annual AUCTION**
Katzen
Arts Center,
American University
April 10th
SCHOOL HOLIDAY
April 13th
SCHOOL
HOLIDAY
April 15th
LSRT
Meeting
April 16th
DC Emancipation Day; SCHOOL
HOLIDAY
April 21st
OCC Board
Meeting
April 2nd
Earth
Day
April 22nd
The Big
Read
April 20th-24th
DC-CAS for grades 3-8
April 27th-May 1st
Elementary Science Fair (PreK - 5th Grades);
Adams
Campus
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MAY
2009
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May is Pan-Asian Heritage
Month!
May 2nd
Oyster-Adams Fiesta/Raffle
May 5th
Cinco de
Mayo
May 4th-8th
Teacher
Appreciation Week
May
10th
Mother's Day
May 13th-14th
OCC
Elections
May
15th
No
School
Parent-Teacher Conferences; Teacher
Appreciation
Pot Luck Lunch
May
15th
SCHOOL HOLIDAY
May
19th
OCC Board Meeting
May
20th
LSRT Meeting
May 25th
Memorial
Day; SCHOOL HOLIDAY
May
27th
OCC Community Meeting
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JUNE
2009
|
June 10th
LSRT
Meeting
June 15th
Last Day of
School!
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MESSAGE FROM
PRINCIPAL LIANG
AGUIRRE
February 26, 2009
Dear
Parents:
Thank you for your positive and
constructive feedback on our new Weekly Bulletin.
We hope to incorporate many of your ideas and
suggestions in the upcoming weeks.
It's hard to
believe that we're already in the month of March!
Brace yourselves for a hectic pace as we navigate
through DC-BAS, Spring Break, Adelante Oyster (our
annual auction) on April 4th, a variety of days off in
April and the big DC-CAS.
We are at the
point in the year where much of our attention is split
between this year and next. We are in full swing
with curriculum writing and program planning for next
year. We are also in the last stages of finalizing
our local DCPS budget for 2009-2010. Meanwhile, as
noted above, there is much teaching and learning to be
done in the next four months.
I look forward to
providing an informal update at the Principal's Coffee
this Friday.
Enjoy your weekend,
Monica
Liang
Aguirre
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Week
of March 2nd, 2009
DC-BAS
DC-BAS
Testing for all 3rd-8th graders! Tuesday and
Wednesday, March 3-4. This is the last
round of testing before the actual DC-CAS in
April. It is very important that all students are
present and arrive on time on these two days. These
tests give our teachers current data that will help them
plan for the next month. Please ensure that your
child has a good night's sleep and has eaten
breakfast.
Middle
School Science Fair
This past Tuesday, the
Middle school participated in the annual
Science
Fair. Volunteers from the NIH, Johns Hopkins University,
the
FDA, and the Dept. of Energy came and judged over
100 projects in 9 different categories. Judges had an
opportunity to give written and
oral feedback in an
environment that stressed genuine
scientific
curiosity and investigation.
Each
category had 2 winners - 1st place and Honorable
Mention. All 1st place winners and an additional 5
outstanding projects will move on to the City Wide
Science Fair held on March 14. Congratulations to all
the winners AND everyone who participated in the
fair!
The Science Department would like to thank
all the volunteers that
helped make this event
possible. Your hard work made this event run
smoothly
and we are grateful for your dedication.
¡Oyster
sí se puede!
And the Winners
are...
Behavior and Social
Sciences
1st - Garrett Salzman (qualified for
city-wide) - 6th grade
HM - Anneliese Wilkins - 6th
grade
Delphine Uriburu-Wilder and Ariana
Paredes-Vincent (qualified for city-wide) - 7th
grade
Life
Science
1st - Katie Kemp (qualified for
city-wide) - 6th grade
HM - Sam Burk - 6th
grade
Engineering
1st
- Marcelle Snead (qualified for city-wide) - 7th
grade
HM - Max Cooper (qualified for city-wide) - 6th
grade
Medicine and Health
Science
1st - Charity Aschenbrener and Amielia
Wilson (qualified for city-wide) - 7th grade
HM -
Nohelia Toribio and Marcela Mejia - 8th
grade
Consumer
Science
1st - Stephanie Guzman (qualified for
city-wide) - 7th grade
HM - Matthew Jenney and Daniel
Brito - 6th grade
Physical
Science
1st - Adam Racobaldo (qualified for
city-wide) - 6th grade
HM - Ned Sanger (qualified for
city-wide) - 6th grade
Animal
Sciences
1st - Ronit Schorr (qualified for
city-wide) - 7th grade
HM - Elias Benda Maria
Brescia-Wilder - 6th grade
Physics
1st
- Patrick Paniagua (qualified for city wide) - 6th
grade
HM - Camilla Hallman - 6th grade
Earth and
Environmental Science
1st - Aren Sahakyan and
Veljan Mitrovski (qualified for city-wide) - 7th
grade
HM - Michael Song (qualified for city-wide) -
7th grade
Rebecca Garcia Moreno (qualified for
city-wide) - 7th grade
More
science in the news...
This week our
science specialist, Simone Welch, was in Fairbanks,
Alaska attending a training at the Arctic Research
Consortium of the United States. She presented
curriculum from our science program and has learned
about the methods and practices of other science
teachers in the program. Together they will be
crafting implementation models to connect the field
experience with classroom learning both before and after
the trip to the Bering Sea in April. She will also
be learning how to use the technology that they provide
to bring the expedition into the classroom as it is
happening.
You can read more about the project
and read Simone's journal at: http://www.polartrec.com/spring-plankton-and-changing-ice-cover
Welcome
students from Colegio de Vizcaya!
Fourteen students from Vizcaya, Spain
will be coming to Washington DC as part of the second
Oyster-Adams/Vizcaya Student Exchange Program in March
2009. This program, organized by Sr. Girón, Mr
Hoekosema, Ms. Bunger and many parents, will provide an
opportunity for students from both countries to visit
another culture, practice their language skills and get
to know peers from another country. Also, it will
allow for the Oyster-Adams families to expand and
interact culturally with the Spanish families. Fifteen
7th and 8th grade students from Oyster-Adams will be
traveling to Spain in May. You can read about last
year's trip at:
http://adamsvizcayaexchange.blogspot.com/.
Spanish
Camp Update
To be in compliance with DCPS
guidelines and to ensure that our building will be ready
for teachers by mid -August, Spanish Camp will be held
during the four full weeks of July (6th - 31st), which
is two weeks earlier than proposed in the survey. It
will be an arts camp conducted totally in Spanish.
Parents can enroll their child(ren) on a weekly basis.
Registration forms will be available before Spring
Break.
Guided
Level Readers!
Did you know that this
January the OCC funded a large collection of leveled
books for the primary campus, grades K-3? These
books will allow teachers to provide Guided Reading
instruction for your children - a proven strategy for
boosting reading skills and providing targeted
instruction that meets the individual needs of each
reader. What exciting news for our students!
The nearly 6000 books have arrived and we need
your help. The sooner we can get these books into
our library catalog the sooner they will be available to
teachers for reading instruction. Our librarian,
Laura Kleinmann, will be offering a session on how to
catalog books for any parent or community volunteers who
would like to support our reading program on ....
We hope to see you there!
Do
your Taxes and Support the OCA!
H&R
Block has offered to give $25 to the OCA (Oyster
Creative Activities) Scholarship Fund for each new
client who hires them for preparation of their tax
return (1040, 1040-A, 1040-EZ). See the attached
flyer and make sure to provide the Referral Form should
you go to H&R Block for tax preparation assistance
during this tax season.
To sign
up:
http://tinyurl.com/cuskq8
Principal's
Coffee:
Friday, March 6, 9:00-10:00AM,
Primary Campus.
Please join Principal Liang-Aguirre
and Assistant Principal Villegas for coffee and
breakfast and informal information sharing. We
will be sharing news up about the upcoming year's budget
and program plans for both campuses. Because of
the construction at the Intermediate Campus, all Coffees
will be held at the Primary Campus for the upcoming
months.
6th
Grade: This Week in Shine
In a lesson
entitled "A Look in the Mirror: Self-Image/Self-Esteem,"
students will define their own self-image, learn how
self-image is formed, and explore the relationship
between self-image and behavior. At the end of the
lesson, students will receive a "I Am Loved" pin as a
reminder to always value
themselves.
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MIDDLE
SCHOOL/INTERMEDIATE CAMPUS
UPDATE
February
26, 2009
It's been a several weeks since
the last middle school update and I have lots of news
about work underway to strengthen this year's program
while planning for next year.
Oyster-Adams Middle School
Programming: The staff and I have formally
started the exciting process of planning and budgeting
for the new and improved model of our growing middle
school. Of great help has been the background
information and research provided by the parent-led
groups focusing on curriculum, Spanish immersion,
extra-curriculars, communication and
differentiation. Staff has also conducted visits
to other middle schools in DC and the surrounding
area. Our proposed restructuring of the dual
language program at both campuses will ensure a more
efficient use of our teaching staff and provide
additional support for the middle school. We will be
presenting our preliminary plans with you at a parent
meeting in March.
Attention 5th grade
parents! As our incoming middle-schoolers, a few
of you have asked for an opportunity for 5th grade
parents to come together to ask questions, hear from the
middle school teachers and also have an opportunity to
talk amongst yourselves about Middle School. We
will hold a 5th grade parents' get-together on Thursday
March 5, from 6:15 p.m. -8:00 p.m. at the Intermediate
Campus. Please feel free to send me any questions
in advance and/or share with me what you'd like to get
out of this session so that we can make it worthwhile
for everyone.
Curriculum
Writing: We have formally established a
team of Primary and Intermediate Campus teachers who
will work together throughout the spring and into the
summer to write the first iteration of a comprehensive
PK-8 Oyster-Adams curriculum that embodies our mission,
our dual language instruction and the DPCS
standards. All of the recommendations and ideas we
have gathered throughout the year will be considered as
we work to bring academic rigor and consistency to every
grade level and class. Our science department has
already drafted the "backbone" of our new curriculum,
which will be made up of the science standards.
All other subject areas will now be connected to these
science-based themes to provide an integrated approach
to teaching the standards in all subjects. Keep a
look-out for updates as this moves forward.
Q
& A from Middle School Visiting
Day:
Back in January, we held a "Day
in the Life" at Oyster-Adams Middle School.
Although only a dozen parents came to this snapshot of a
day, several issues came up that I thought all parents
might be interested in hearing about.
Do we
teach grammar as part of science?
Some of you visiting on the 27th noticed that Sr. Ames
was teaching a lesson that integrated grammar with
science instruction. As a dual language school,
all of our teachers at Oyster-Adams are, in fact,
language teachers, responsible for blending subject
matter content with needed language learning for both
our native English speakers and our native Spanish
speakers. And this is our school-wide
professional development focus for the year: how to use
various techniques (beyond simply talking in front of a
class) to make content comprehensible for language
learners. We have just launched a peer-observation
process aimed at improving our instructional skills in
this area.
What
is Mr. Newbold's Role? As you may know, OCC
has hired former Oyster teacher and math specialist Greg
Newbold to provide teaching support and curriculum
development for our middle school math program. As
of mid-January, Mr. Newbold is working with us 16
hours/week.
Mr. Newbold (and the math
teachers and I) are in the process of visiting some math
programs in the city (both public and private) to inform
our thinking as we develop a philosophical and
structural approach to dual language math instruction
(for ALL grades) that meets our own standards for
excellence while fulfilling DCPS's high school
requirements. We met with members of the math
department at Sidwell Friends in November and Mr.
Newbold and the math teachers visited Alice Deal's
mathematics department this week to share trade secrets
on curriculum, instruction and evaluation. Mr.
Newbold and I also met with DCPS's Director of
Mathematics to ensure that we are implementing a
rigorous program that DCPS will be able to support both
in professional development and
resources.
Mr. Newbold has also been
working with the Middle School math teachers on
inventorying and ordering needed supplies. We now
have new graphing calculators for the 7th and 8th
graders to use and have also received our algebra
textbooks.
Finally, Mr. Newbold has
been doing a good deal of in-class work, modeling
lessons, and providing feedback on instructional
techniques, lesson planning, and differentiation
strategies.
What about
Algebra? I know many of you are interested
in the subject of Algebra. We are working
closely with DCPS to ensure that our approach to
teaching algebra will be developmentally appropriate and
will provide algebra credits for our students when they
enter high school. Our commitment is to
offer regular algebra to eligible 8th graders next
school year. We will be giving "algebra readiness"
tests to all 7th graders at the end of the school year
to
determine eligibility.
Do We Level Our Instructional
Groups? A number of you who visited
the middle school were curious about how we group
students, especially when it comes to math. Here's
how it works: students are divided into non-leveled
groups for homeroom and for Spanish and English Language
Arts. For math and science, they are
divided into a new set of two groups that are also
leveled. While the math leveling is not as precise
as it is in 5th grade (where, given our staffing, we
have the ability to create three levels), the middle
school rotation enables us to provide two different
levels of instruction for three grades with only two
math instructors on staff. The groupings are
periodically assessed and students are moved based on
their instructional needs.
What is
"Humanities?" Humanities is
Oyster-Adams' integrated curriculum for social studies
and language arts in both languages. The course
blends literature study, grammar and social studies,
with the lessons and subject matter building off of each
other. This year, 6th graders study geography, and
Sra.. Franco and Mr. Petersen work to integrate the
language arts and literature standards into this
subject. Ms. Bunger and Sr. Gamarra's 7th and 8th
grade classes integrate language arts and the U.S.
History standards. Next year, both 7th and 8th
graders will learn about Medieval Civilizations,
calibrated to each age-level.
Our
6th-8th grade humanities teachers have worked very hard
to integrate these subjects this year. However,
since the decision to integrate was made at the end of
last summer, the proper planning time was not available
to implement this approach 100%. The work the
Curriculum Team will complete over the next several
moths will ensure a new level of integration and
academic rigor for next year.
As a faculty we
believe the only way to successfully teach all of the
standards, in Spanish and English, with limited time, is
to integrate subjects. By doing this, we not only
use our time more efficiently but, most importantly, our
students get a meaningful context in the various
disciplines.
How does AYP fit into all of
this? One parent visiting the middle school
wanted to know if there is less emphasis on social
studies because of our need to meet Adequate Yearly
Progress for next year. The answer is yes.
Like all schools that failed to make Adequate Yearly
Progress, we are required by DCPS to provide 90 minutes
each of math and reading instruction every day.
With limited hours in the day, our commitment to
teaching Spanish language arts, and the desire for a
well-rounded curriculum that includes the arts and
physical education, it is impossible for us to teach all
subject areas explicitly and equally everyday.
A
Few More Quick Updates:
Nearing the finish line on
textbooks. We are finally coming to the end
of our textbook woes. I am happy to report to you
that with the exception of one missing series for 6th
grade Spanish Language Arts, we finally have all our
requested material in hand. Again, my great
appreciation goes to the teachers who soldiered their
way through this difficult situation.
Staffing. We have
been very fortunate to find two excellent volunteers for
our middle school humanities classrooms. They have been
working with the teachers to provide both English as a
Second Language and Spanish as a Second Language
support. We have also found an excellent Spanish
instructor to provide additional Spanish support.
We hope to have her begin in the next weeks. Thank
you to our Assistant Principal, Ibis Villegas, who has
worked tirelessly to recruit high-quality volunteers for
both of our campuses.
Playground. Finally, as
you know, we finally have broken ground on our
much-anticipated playground renovation. I am
thrilled that come this spring, all students at the
Intermediate Campus will have daily access to a
state-of-the-art, safe and developmentally appropriate
playing area.
Is
that a Dragon in our Cafeteria? Many thanks
to parents Marcia Maziarz and Trish Mitchell who worked
with 5th graders to create the truly spectacular Chinese
New Year dragon that now graces the wall above our food
service counter. What a fantastic way to brighten
up the room!
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Week of March 2,
2009
Students from the Colegio of
Vizcaya in Bilbao, Spain, arrive to spend the week with
the Middle School students and enjoy Washington,
DC.
Monday
AM
· Got-A-Book Campaign
(arrival time - 8:40 AM, primary campus)
Monday
PM
· 4th, 5th and 6th
Grade Reading Tutorials (3:30 p.m., Mr. Dixon, Ms.
Roling, Mr. Petersen)
· 6th Grade
Math Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Ms. Redd)
·
Dance (3:30-5:00 PM, primary
campus)
· 4th/5th grade girls
basketball practice (5 p.m., Adams gym)
Tuesday
AM
· Got-A-Book Campaign
(arrival time - 8:40 AM, primary
campus)
· DC-BAS testing (3rd - 8th
grade)
Tuesday
PM
· 4th Grade Spanish
Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Sra. Reyes & Sr.
Alfonso)
· 5th Grade Reading
Tutorial (3:30 p.m., Ms. Roling/Lemus)
·
5th Grade Math Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Ms.
Hainer)
· 6th Grade Math Tutoring
(3:30 p.m., Ms. Redd)
· Middle
School CityDance (3:30 p.m., Room 309)
·
4th/5th grade girls basketball game vs. Mann (4:00
p.m., Adams gym)
· Aqua = Paz
(4:45 p.m., Mr. Hoeksma's room)
Wednesday
AM
· Got-A-Book Campaign
(arrival time - 8:40 AM, primary
campus)
· Student Council
announcements (8:45 AM - 9:00 AM, primary
campus)
· 4th Grade Reading
Tutorial (8:10 a.m., Ms. Fuller)
·
DC-BAS testing (3rd - 8th grade)
Wednesday
PM
· 4th Grade Math
Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Sr. Bustios)
·
5th Grade Math Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Ms.
Hainer)
· Middle School Digital
Yearbook (3:30 p.m., Computer Lab)
·
4th & 5th grade Girls on the Run (3:30; meet
in the cafeteria)
· Celebration for
basketball players & cheerleaders (6 p.m., Adams
Gym)
Thursday
AM
· Got-A-Book Campaign
(arrival time - 8:40 AM, primary campus)
Thursday
PM
· 4th Grade Spanish
Tutoring (3:30 p.m., Sra. Reyes & Sr.
Alfonso)
· 3rd grade Girls on the
Run (3:30; meet in the Oyster
cafeteria)
· Middle School Girls on
the Run (3:30; meet in the Adams
cafeteria)
· Drama in Spanish
(3:30-5:00 PM, primary campus)
·
Girls on the Run (3:30-5:00 PM, primary
campus)
· 5th grade parents meeting
on Middle School (6:00 p.m., Adams
cafeteria)
Friday
AM
· Got-A-Book Campaign
(arrival time - 8:40 AM, primary
campus)
· 9:00AM: Principal's
Coffee: Primary Campus
Friday
PM
· 4th & 5th grade
CityDance (3:30 p.m., Room 309)
·
Family Zumba with Ms. Villegas 6:15 PM -7:15 PM
(at the primary campus for K-8 students and their
parents)
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AFTER-SCHOOL
PROGRAM NEWS
|
OCA
[NO UPDATES/NEWS THIS
WEEK]
PARKS
&
RECREATION
[NO UPDATES/NEWS THIS WEEK]
HIGHER
ACHIEVEMENT
[NO
UPDATES/NEWS THIS WEEK]
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See NEWS! for a list of the
Middle School Science Fair winners!!
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[PLEASE NOTE: IN THE
FUTURE, THIS SECTION WILL BRING YOU NEWS & NOTICES
FROM CLASSROOMS; IT'S STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, BUT WILL
BE UP AND RUNNING IN THE NEAR FUTURE]
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OYSTER-ADAMS BILINGUAL
SCHOOL
|
Monica
Liang Aguirre, Principal
Ibis
Villegas, Assistant Principal
Sandi
Baer, Intermediate Campus Coordinator
Oyster
Campus (PreK - 3rd Grade)
2801
Calvert Street, NW
Washington,
DC 20008
Tel:
202/671-3111
Fax:
202/671-3087
Adams
Campus (4th - 8th Grades)
2020
19th Street, NW
Washington,
DC 20009
Tel.
202/673-7311
Fax.
202/673-6500
__________________________
Email:
contactus@oysterbilingualschool.org
Website:
http://oysterbilingual.devis.com/AboutUs/
__________________________
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