Some assorted musings...

Well, I put up my December calendar this morning! The holidays can't be far away now!  Hanukkah begins at sundown on Saturday, December 8th and Christmas will be December 25th.  The holiday break here at OCS will begin with a 1:00 dismissal on Friday, December 21.  The school offices will be closed until December 27.  The offices will be open for business Thursday, December 27 from 9:00am - 3:00 pm  and also on Friday, December 28.

School will reopen on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

We are in the process of securing a two year agreement with Study Island for both Language Arts and Math activities for all students in grades 2-8.  We will be implementing benchmark tests as well with the students prior to the end of the school year.  This schedule and more about the benchmarks tests will be coming home after the holiday. The tests are based on our current curriculum, the NJ Common Core State Standards and will allow us to have another mechanism to measure the progress of our students.

This coming week, there will be some surveys conducted here at school.  We are asking our 3-8 students to answer questions about the school.  The questions are from the NJ Department of Education surveys developed as part of the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights.  There is a parent survey that will come home as well next week.   The surveys will be up on our school website for everyone to look over by Monday, December3, 2012.

Slowly getting back to normal...

The difficulties of last week are slowly getting to be a memory... unless of course you still do not have power or have no email, internet access, have to wait on an odd numbered day for two hours to get gasoline, have an empty refrigerator because you had to throw everything way... wait, maybe we are not back to normal yet!  It certainly has been a trying time for our families and for our students.  We will do our best to remain cognizant of the hardships many of our families still face!  If you need anything, please give us a call!

I am not sure what normal is, but I hope we get there soon!

Till next time...

Superstorm

Quite a title.  Sandy will be another storm to remember for a long, long time!  As I write these words, I know that some of our neighbors, relatives and friends are without power and they are hoping that the power comes back on before the next wave of crummy weather hits the area... which looks to be Wednesday night into Thursday!
We lost five days of school and we will make up two of those days this week with the cancellation of the NJEA Convention.  The School Board will be meeting on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 4:00 to discuss the calendar changes that need to be addressed.  More information will follow that meeting. This is a public meeting.

Here is what I saw...

over the past few days of informal and formal observations of our classes...  Teachers and students participating in the arts: Ballet, Dance, Music theater.  Students learning about the importance of Christopher Columbus, completing math and language arts activities with good old Christopher as the main topic.  Students reflecting on what they would do and see if they discovered America; lessons on respect and disrespect; a wonderful KG art lesson on ROY G. BIV; an old-fashioned radio program being developed from the stories that students created and many, many more!  Each day that I go into class, at ANY time of the day, there are great things going on in the classroom!

Till next time...

Columbus Day

I got an email asking me about Columbus Day... In particular, I think, the question is what day is Columbus Day?  Since the 70's the birth of Columbus has been celebrated on the second Monday of  October.  Columbus was born on October 12, 1751, I have always considered that day, since he was born that day, as his birthday and have asked teachers to ecognize this day accordingly.

Till next time....

Student Growth Percentiles

In the next few weeks, the NJ Department of Education will be populating the NJSMART program with the latest round of NJASK testing, completed last Spring.  NJSMART is the programming that the department has been building to maintain a complete data base on all students who attend schools in New Jersey.  The Student Growth Percentiles will show individual students growth as measured against their peers from around the state.The SGP will provide us with a more realistic snapshot of our students progress and will allow us to better serve our students by focusing curriculum changes and educational supports where they are needed. This should be good information for our use as we continue to monitor the progress of not only the school district, but each individual student in grades 3-8.

Till next time...  

September 11th

Today we have been hosting a celebration of America as we honor Patriot's Day here at OCS.  Students and staff have all been decked out in their Red, White and Blue colors and have been talking about America and -- in age appropriate settings -- September 11, 2001. In honor of those Americans who perished in the acts of terrorism eleven years ago, and for all of our fallen American Heroes, we are flying the flag at half mast.  This morning we started our day with a brief announcement about the importance of the day and a moment of silence.  This sparked a number of conversations in classrooms with some of our younger studnets about why we would have a moment of silence... leading to more discussion!  My plan worked!

Till next time... 

I guess I really was alseep...

It has been a while since I have shared any information here in this blog and since I know so many of the masses actually wait at their computers with baited breath hoping for a new blog entry, I apologize for not whetting your appetites!  Now that i have dispatched my pomposity on the world, let me truly get to what i wanted to talk about...

The building is ready, staff have been coming in to set up their classrooms, supplies have come in and we are fully staffed and ready to start the school year.  Not right away, but ready at least by Wednesday, September 5th!  That day will be a full day of school.  KUDOS to our custodial staff!  They did a marvelous job of helping to get the building open so teachers could come in and prepare for the school year!  Carrie, Frank, Judy, Ellen, Bud, Bob and of course Sam!  They worked very hard to get the place up and running.

Many students and parents will notice some big changes in the lunch menus as the year unfolds due to new nutrition laws coming down to us from both the state and federal government.  We have been working toward this for the past two years and as healthy and regulated as our lunches have been, they will now be healthier.  Please consult the lunch menu section of our website.

The school offices are open Monday - Friday now from 7:30-4:00, since we are off summer hours and back to business as usual.  Mrs. Miller has retired and Mrs. Halloran will be the Main Office secretary.There have been some other changes in the Business Office, and with a few other staff members and I will recognize those changes at our Back to School Nights and in my first Friday Bulletin, September 14th!

See everyone on Wednesday, September 5, 2012!

Till next time...    

Summer Musings...

Well we are beginning our summertime rituals here at OCS.... cleaning rooms, prepping hallways and common areas and completing mountains of state reports that all seem to be due at the same time!  But that is the nature of the state report...

We had an excellent close of the school year!  Students seemd to enjoy the "What Would You Do For Reading" activities... thanks to Mrs. Saraiva and Mr. Kenney for letting the students douse them with green slime!  Thanks also to Mrs. Hart and family for bringing over the cows for the kids to see and for me to make good on my promise to kiss a cow if we beat last years leukemia and lymphoma fundraiser. 

We had another awesome Field Day here at school!  It jsut seems to work better here on school grounds.  The lake is great, but the logistics and liability of moving everyone there was beginning to wear on me! Thanks to the Oxford Fire Dept and Rescue Squad for assisting and also to the PTA for the Ice Pops!
Mr. C and Mrs. Hart did a great job of getting the whole thing organized!

It looks like many of our students and parents came out to the Circus held last night!  Thanks to the Township Committee for orgainizing this and bringing it to Oxford!

Summer Office Hours kick in:  Monday through Thursday we are here from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.  On Fridays, we are here until 12:00pm. 

Till next time...

The end of the school year

The last day of school will be Friday June 15.  Thursday and Friday next week will be early dismissal days of 12:30 pm. 

The PTA Luau Lunch will be held on Wednesday, June 13 during the regular scheduled lunch periods.  Volunteers are needed to assist with the students as they get their food and eat their lunch.  All are welcome!  The lunch periods are grades 6-8 from 11:18 till 11:48; KG-2 from 11:53 till 12:23; and grades 3-5 from 12:28 till 12:58.

Field Day is scheduled for Thursday June 14th.  Once agian it will be held here on the grounds of the school.  The Oxford Fire Department volunteers will be here to assist us!  The PTA is providing Ice Pops for everyone at the end of the day. 

If the weather does not cooperate, Field Day will be Friday. 

Till next time...

Ocean Night and other things

Thanks to everyone who came out to our annual Ocean Night celebration!  The activities and projects that the students created were awesome!  The studnets had clearly been working very hard over the past few weeks in this cross-curriculum approach to education and their efforts were evident last night.  The teachers and studnets created some wonderful displays and new activities that provided a change in the evening's festivities. 

The first day of school has been changed!  Students will report to school next September on Wednesday, September 5th!  Tuesday will be a full day of in-service professional development for all teachers and administration. 

The last few days of school this year look like this:
Wednesday, June 13 will be the last FULL day of school and the Luau Lunch sponsored by the PTA!
Thursday, June 14 will be a 12:30 dismissal.  This day we will plan to have our field day events and 8th Grade promotion will be held at 5:30 pm that evening.  If it rains, field day will be held Friday, June 15th.
Friday, June 15 will be a 12:30 dismissal and the last day of school for all students!

Till next time....

Bus evacuations and other things

Today we are holding our second round of bus evacuation drills here at school.  This is an important safety procedure that we practice twice a year with every student from pre-school through eighth grade.

Tonight is the Spring Concert!  We have been publicizing the new admission charge of $2.00 per adult.  The Kids Only Club developed the idea of hosting a fundraiser to benefit the cancer treatment costs for former Oxford student, Chris Hrebin.  The concert will begin at 6:00 pm and the studnets should be here at 5:30pm.

This Saturday the PTA will be holding the Kids Tricky Tray for our students. There is a $5.00 admission charge that will allow the studnets who atend to get a number of tickets for the event.  The doors will open at 3:00 pm. 

Till next time...

Testing versus testy!

It is that time of the school year again when we are testing our 3-8 grade students as part of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK).  The most important things we can all do for the students is to make sure they get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast!  This will ensure they are at their peak performance each day of testing.  Currently we are testing 7 and 8 grade and next week, April 30-May 4, we are testing grades 5 and 6.  Students in grades 3-4 will be tested the week of May 7.  4th grade tests one more day than third, since 4th grade has a science component. 

Good luck to all our students!

Till next time...

Spring Break right around the corner...

However, before we jump into spring break mode, we have a busy few days!

Today we are hosting NJ poet and author, Mr. Frank Finale, who is here to talk to our kids about writing and how cool poetry can be! Mr. Finale has been a teacher in NJ, serving the Toms River school district for more than 30 years. I was able to see him in action, getting the students in 6th grade to write about a color they chose and how they felt about that color. The students were doing a wonderful job.

Tonight, Tuesday, April 3, is a PTA meeting in the school library at 7:00

Yesterday our 5th grade and 8th grade travelled to Rutgers University where they were able to work on MARE activities first hand at the college. Our 8th graders were selected to present lessons they had been developing on the acid levels in our streams and oceans, a study that began last year as 7th graders and a study that we will continue with our current 7th grades when they travel to the estuaries of NJ in June. The 8th grades did a great job.

Wednesday, April 4 after school our 5/6 grade Battle of the Books team will be competing against schools throughout the county! Best of luck to the team. They have been preparing for months!

We will be welcoming our "new crop" of kindergarten parents to school Wednesday night as we get ready for the Kindergarten round-up on April 18th. The informational meeting will allow parents to meet the teachers and ask questions about KG.

Thursday night is a School board meeting. The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm.

That's a busy week! better take a few days off....

The school building will be open in the Main Office on Wednesday-Friday (4/11-4/13) from 9:00am to 4:00 pm.

Otherwise see everyone at one of our evening events....

Till next time...

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me?

How come it has been 12 days since my last post.. how did my faithful readers get along without my words and ideas to spur them onward? (That narcissist statement was meant to see who was really reading).

Much has happened since I last wrote in this space...

We had a great show of talent here at OCS! the students really displayed their abilities and it looked like everyone had a great time! Courtesy of the PTA, we were able to experience the wonders of science and story-telling as they come together in the Picciriello ScienceTellers, Jungles of Jersey presentation. The program was awesome and the students enjoyed themselves and learned some cool stuff as well. That evening we had another show, Potions, which involved dry ice and another cool story. more than 70 people came out for this free Family Fun Night.

The Pasta Dinner is coming!! Next Wednesday night, March 28! Come on you know you're going to eat anyway!! it might as well be here at OCS!!

Save room in your yard for the upcoming Archery team Flower Sale. More information will follow!

Till Next Time....

the latest ramblings...

As I sit and wait for the annula talent show I am thinking of some things that recently happened here at school that reulted in some new ideas coming about...

I have been working with staff to develop a plan for after school instrumental music lessons for our students. Although the plan is in its infancy, the thought is we would offer instrumental music lessons after school on a pay to play basis. Mrs. Firling and I have been discussing this and we feel it is an idea that we can get off the ground.

The other idea we are investigating is the holding a junior musical here at the school. A number of staff have expressed interest in assisting and we feel this would be another step in developing new activities for students! Thanks to Jonathon Todd for this idea... it is a little late, but it was his idea!

Both of these ideas are at step one, but both should be ready to go for the 2012-2013 school year.

Till next time...

Holy Smokes! You do not want to get NoroVirus!

Trust me. I know what I am talking about. I missed two days of work and was sick for four days. But that's just an aggressive way to get you to read this post....

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that if your child is sick, they need to stay home! I know it is not easy. You have to take off from work, use vacation days, etc... but too many times parents bring their child to school and in an offhand comment, "Well I will probably be back, _____ has not been feeling well."

They need to stay home. The memos we sent home about this Norovirus and what to think about before deciding to keep your child home are to protect everyone. Your child, the students sitting near them, staff, etc...

Please remember to keep them home if they are ill. If they are home, please call us and give us a sense of why they are home.

Thanks. If we all work together we can help keep all the students healthier.

Till next time....

Valentine's Day thoughts

Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Valentine's Day today! Never having been a true romantic, I do appreciate the thoughts and kind words...it is a nice day! Perhaps that is really the true meaning of the day, just letting people know they are appreciated! I hope everyone has a happy valentine's day as well.

Thoughts on the new Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights

As some may be aware, the new anti-bullying bill of rights and all the baggage that it brings to the doors of the school was ruled to be an unfunded mandate by a state board that is asked to analyze laws set down by the state to see if they are unfunded and if they are found to be unfunded, the panel decides what the state should do about the law. In this case, the state found the new HIB law to be unfunded and therefore it will need revisions.

This law has merits. I fully applaud the idea of protecting students and designing rules that allow us to further protect our students from bullying However, what the law has done is provide that every look or word can be turned into a case of bullying. The law teaches our children and parents that any thing that might cause them discomfort, such as hard work or honest disagreements or conflicts over space, lockers, pencils, new friendships, etc... is a horrible bullying incident that must be stopped. The law overburdens teachers and administrators, costs hundreds of man hours and abrogates the responsibility of learning how to deal with others each day to the schools. A function that most educators, doctors and parents feel has been and always should be, the responsibility of the parents.

I have also seen an ugly thread within the fabric of this law... parents bullying staff and administrators. Parents yell and scream at us, curse us out, dictate to us who their children can sit next to, play with or eat with. Every difficulty that a child experiences is not bullying! Bullying is much more! Young children tend to be bullies if they have been bullied. However, just try telling a parent that their child has been a bully and it leads to accusations of ineffectiveness and even threats about our jobs!

Bullying is an issue. It is a problem that many students say they see, but none say they are or have been bullies. We have investigated more than 20 claims of bullying this year and of that number only two fall into the category of bullying. Most are code of conduct violations that are outlined in our student handbook. However, the times when staff are being bullied are far too numerous, are unacceptable and just plain uncivil!

The HIB legislation has merits. It does protect children. But in some cases it protects them from handling difficulties, conflicts or frustrations and may be turning them into a "chicken little generation."

Till next time....

Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying -- HIB

Well it has finally occurred enough to warrant my venting about it... The new HIB laws and Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights allows students to continue to identify incidents they feel are bullying. Most are not. Most end up being code of conduct violations or conflicts between two students. However, the offshoot of the new law, that many educators saw coming, is that when we tell parents that we are looking into an allegation, we are automatically branded as unreasonable, over-reacting and in some cases-- liars.

This has happened because in previous instances here at OCS, prior to the Bill of Rights, we could look into the conflicts, talk to the students and the teachers and let the parents know what we found out. Now with a different path of investigation that might take a few days to resolve, we are seen as stalling, fabricating or lying. That is the shame of this. When the previous laws allowed for us to resolve conflict, now we are investigating HIB. When told we are looking into a case that is alleged to be HIB, we are told we are blowing it out of proportion or wrong, since no one's child is capable of bullying, even though the students tell us they still see it occasionally happening.

Just a rant of disappointment from a school leader who has seen the winds of change on this issue change many, many times...

Some pretty neat things

happen here at OCS everyday.... In one day, today, OCS students did the following:

Some travelled to the College of NJ to attend the State Student Council workshop!

8th Grade students worked with second grade students on a science activity!

Kids played outside for recess!

First grade students took part in the Read Outloud Creates Knowledge (ROCK) program!

Students learned about the important messages from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Students used netbooks to create essays and score them electronically!

Students learned about properties and mixtures!

Students learned about division and multiplication!

Pretty cool stuff!

Till next time...

A new day

Friday was a busy day here at OCS. Unfortunately I had to spend many hours away from school attending meetings. Friday was also the final day here at Oxford for Ms. Martucci our School Business Administrator and School Board Secretary. I hesitate to add the second title because most people do not think of this position in the complex light that the job entails. The board secretary is the official business branch of the school board and is a very difficult position, in fact one that is included in school law as a vital and necessary position.

Ms. Martucci leaves us after fighting for Oxford students for the past six years. She was instrumental in refinancing, rebidding and restructuring our Business Office -- SAVING the district millions of dollars!! She will be missed.

She will be replaced by Ms. Christina Moskal who come to us from the Florence Township School District. Ms. Moskal will begin on January 17th. Welcome to Oxford.

Till next time...