Week of January 18-22:

 

 

Upcoming Dates:

January 25:  FLIP DAY

January 27:  OCC Community Meeting

January 28:  Family Literacy Night

January 29:  MLK Day Celebrations at both campuses

January 30:  Women's Self Defense Class

Zumba has been cancelled for Friday, January 15th!  Ms. Villegas will be back at it next Friday.

Nurse Hoffman has been transferred to another school and we now welcome Nurse Mary Leary to the Oyster-Adams Community.  Nurse Leary has been working with all of our students since the New Year and has many years of experience.  Please welcome her!  You can reach her directly at: (202) 671-6134

  Thank you parents for your support of the book fair and your gifts to the library.  The new year is a time for a fresh start so we are asking students to turn in or re-check out all of the library books they checked out in 2009.  They cannot check out more books in 2010 until this is done.

Our 5th graders are coming into the homestretch in the elementary school years and will soon be preparing for the transition to Middle School.  We will be holding a special meeting and Open House for 5th grade parents to provide you an overview of the Oyster-Adams Middle School Program and provide an opportunity to visit the Middle School in action.

Pilot of Parenting Program (PESA) to begin in February: Oyster-Adams is launching a pilot of a parent involvement program called PESA (Parent Expectations Support Achievement).  This program, originating from California, will be piloted with the help of Escuela Bolivia in Arlington, VA and is generously supported by the OCC. 

We will be piloting this program in Spanish only and are looking for parents who are committed to participating in the 6-week program, either as participants or participants who are training to be future facilitators.  The course is offered free of charge but parents are asked to purchase the book at a cost of $30.  Full scholarships for book purchase are available.  For more information and to register, please submit the registration form. 20 seats are available.  Click here

Parents, if you knew that you could make a guaranteed and immediate difference in the life of an Oyster-Adams student with two hours a week after school, would you do it?

There are students in grades 6, 7 and 8 who need your attention, one-on-one.  Others, in grades 1-5, need a parent volunteer to give them homework help in small groups (of no more than 5), for no more than an hour, a couple of times a week.  All sessions take place after school.

Do you want to help a struggling student become a stellar one?  Do you want to help close the achievement gap at our school?  We need you!  Just give us your time, and we will assign you a student and give you all the support you need to help them meet their goals. 

Don't wait to sign up - we would like to have teachers identify students for tutoring on the basis of this week's DC-BAS scores.  For more information on the Oyster-Adams volunteer tutoring program click here. Please contact co-coordinators Claire Taylor at Claire_elin_taylor@yahoo.com or Benita Ward Jarrett at benitawj@yahoo.com to sign up to be a tutor. 

FLIP DAY is COMING!  Next week is the last week of the second advisory and of the second semester.  Monday, January 25th, 7/8 grade students will receive new schedules and all K-5th grade students will FLIP their schedule.

Come to school all FLIPPED out on the 25th.  Students are encouraged to wear a FLIP hair do, wear FLIP flops (but bring something to change into for PE!) or come to school somehow representing a FLIP.  Ms. Villegas and Ms. Liang-Aguirre will be FLIPPING pancakes and students will enjoy some live music in the morning.

Family Literacy Night!  Join us on Thursday, January 28th at 6PM at the Primary Campus as our fabulous teachers conduct a literacy fair, filled with fun literacy ideas for you to do at home with your children.  Learn reading strategies, how to help your child decode, how to talk to your child about books and of course, there will be read alouds for everyone to enjoy.  The fair will be both in Spanish and in English and will also discuss the needs of our older students.

Children's Book Exchange:  Part of the Literacy Night will include a book exchange.  We all have books on our shelves that our children no longer read.  Take this opportunity to bring in as many of these books and your child can select new books to take home. (You don't even have to bring a book to take a book!  All children are welcome to browse!)

Celebrating Black History Month: 

• Friday, January 29th, both campuses will hold Freedom Marches, sing songs and listen in excerpts of Dr. King's speeches. 
• The African Dance Troup, Coyoba, will perform on February 17 and 18 at both campuses. 
• Friday, February 19th, the whole community will come together for the special Black History Month celebration in the evening.  

 

Self-Defense for Women at Oyster Adams.  A first-ever self-defense demo for women will take place 12:30pm - 1:30 pm on Saturday January 30th at the Oyster Adams Primary Campus!  Ladies, if you have ever thought of or wanted to know self-defense this is your opportunity to participate in high-quality experience that will empower you with new knowledge and self-defense skills. What makes this program unique is that it is taught by DC police officers! Real-life crime scenarios will be demonstrated along with real-life self-defense tactics in a one-hour session. The demo is meant only to introduce the basic principles of self-defense and to increase awareness, absolutely free! There will be six two-hour Saturday sessions beginning in February for those interested in taking their self-defense skills to the next level. All classes will be offered at a minimal cost at the Primary Campus. Brochures on the "Critical Incident Awareness" program are available in the Main Office at both campuses. Bring a friend.

 

Come cheer on the Tigers!