Announcements

January 2020 Newsletter

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together?
~ Vincent Van Gogh

Our Chief Example to Others this month is ‘”Grit? which involves promoting

strength, resilience and perseverance in children. Check out the following for more info.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

To have “grit” children need to be resilient. This means being able to handle challenges with ease instead of always viewing life as a struggle. Have you ever wondered why some youth get involved in dangerous activities and get trapped, but others continue to contribute to society in positive ways even when they have had to face many difficult situations?

The Search Institute has done some interesting research over the years and they have identified 40 concrete, positive experiences and qualities called Developmental Assets that have a tremendous impact on young peoples’ lives. These assets make it less likely that youth will get involved in problem behaviors and will engage in productive behaviors. This “power of the assets” can be seen across all cultural and socioeconomic groups of youth. You can find a great wealth of information and research for families, communities and schools at:

https://www.search-institute.org/

The assets are grouped into eight major categories for external and internal building blocks that help children and teen’s successful growth and development.

External Assets

  • Support: Young people need to experience the presence, care, help and love of their families and many others.
  • Empowerment: Youth need to be valued by their community and have opportunities to contribute to others.
  • Boundaries and Expectations: Youth need to know what is expected of them and whether activities and behaviors are “in bounds” or “out of bonds.” Need help with this? Check the website for Parents Empowered.
  • Constructive Use of Time: Young people need constructive, enriching opportunities for growth through creative activities, youth programs, sports and quality time at home. Sorry, but this does not really include playing Fortnite and some of the other video games.

    Internal Assets

  • Commitment to Learning: Youth need to develop a lifelong commitment to education and learning. Being able to read well helps make this happen.
  • Positive Values: Young people need to develop strong values that guide their choices.
  • Social Competencies: Young people need skills and competencies that equip them to make positive choices, build relationships and succeed in life.
  •  Positive Identity: Youth need a strong sense of their own power, purpose worth and promise
  • When you help support what we are doing at school by reading with your children, playing a board game, talking positively about others, not idling outside, discussing their day, helping them to be involved in productive activities, going to the library or a museum, solving math problems, volunteering, engaging in creative activities such as baking, painting, etc, your are helping our children build developmental assets and resilience. Thank you for whatever way you can help.

Sincerely,

Principal Jones

Counselor Corner

What is the purpose of our counselors?

We are lucky to have school counselors in our school this year! Mrs. Ross works primarily with the Kindergarten through second grade and Ms. Lloyd works with the third through sixth grades. Ms. Henrie is our school psychologist and works with all students on an IEP or 504 plan and some additional students as needed.Counselors provide professional assistance and support to a student or small group of students during times of transition, heightened stress, critical change or other situations impeding student success. We also teach social skills to all students in the classrooms.

School counselor do not provide therapy or long-term counseling in schools. 

However, school counselors are prepared to recognize and respond to student mental health needs and assist students and families seeking resources.

PTA News

We will be collecting nominations through Thursday, January 16, for our very

own Oakdale PTA Awards. Winners will be announced at the end of January. Nominations will be for:

–  Outstanding Volunteer

–  Outstanding Educator

–  Outstanding Support Staff

–  Roadrunner School Spirit

We’d love for people to become thinking about nominations for their favorite teacher/educator, etc! Official ballots will be sent home the first week back in January.

DATES TO REMEMBER

ALL Fridays are early out!!! –  School dismisses at 1:40pm on Friday

January 6 

January 9 

January 10

January 15 

January 16 

January 17 

January 20 

January 22 

January 27 

January 30

 

School Resumes 

School Community Council Meeting at 4 pm 

Fire Drill- weather dependent 

5thGrScienceFair 

CEOoftheMonthAssembly@9:15 

Teacher Work Day- No School For Students MLKHoliday-NoSchool 

5th Gr Discovery Gateway in Kiva 

Acadience Testing Gr. 3-5 below benchmark 

Acadience Testing Gr. K-2

SNOWBALLS

Students may not throw snowballs on school grounds!! This can be very dangerous, and will result in a consequence of five recess detentions.

Please discuss this with your child. Many incidents of snow throwing are not intended to be nice and can be considered to be a form of bullying. Even if you think it is fun to do at home, snow-throwing can result in serious injury especially when we have 400 children.

Traffic and Outside Safety

With the cold weather continuing, the volume of cars picking up students will continue. We ask that you follow all parking lot safety rules such as using the correct crosswalk and avoiding the bus area. Please do not drive too closely to our safety patrol students during drop off and pickup. We are trying to keep everyone safe. It would also be really helpful if you would explain our parking lot rules to grandparents and other adults picking up students. If you are in a hurry, consider having students walk into the neighborhood and then you can pick them up on a side street.

December Newsletter

Oakdale Newsletter

December 4, 2019

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” Mark Twain Try to cheer someone up by playing a fun game, making a card, sharing a story, or just being present for them and actually listening.

Healthy Eating for Life

 

December is a perfect time to talk to our children about making healthy eating choices, even with all the feasting of the upcoming holidays. Although a few of our children do have Type I Diabetes now, Type II Diabetes in later life is becoming a national epidemic.  We do know that the habits our children develop in the early years can stay with them for life including contributing to Type II Diabetes in midlife and beyond. The rapidly developing brains of young children need vitamins, minerals, protein and fatty acids to help them learn and function.
So, we probably all know that fruits and veggies are good for us. Children are rapidly growing and need lots of calories. So, the trick is how do we fill up our students and still get them to eat healthy?

 

Well, believe it or not, one of the best ways to get finicky eaters to eat more fruits and veggies is exposure.  We offer many fruits and veggies every day to our students in the cafeteria and encourage them to take as much as they want of these foods. Make sure you choose healthy foods and model for your children.  It is also helpful to make sure that they eat at least a little of everything healthy that you eat.  Over time their tastes will start to lean toward the healthy food. The key is to keep the taste small and not overwhelming. 

Tips:

  1. Pair new foods with familiar foods
  2. Encourage students to try new foods, but avoid undue pressure and harshness.
  3. Don’t introduce new foods if your child does not feel well.
  4. Model by eating more fruits and vegetables yourself.  Mrs. Jones is frequently seen eating fruits, salads and veggies in the cafeteria.
  5. Yes, breakfast is extremely important!!! Children need some protein with their carbs at breakfast.  If you don’t have time for breakfast, our cafeteria serves it daily and it is only $.90 for the full priced meal.

 

READING ACHIEVEMENT– We are seeing steady growth in our students’ reading skills.  We are proud of the excellent work of our teachers and students!  And thanks for the support of our parents. Please keep reading!!!

You might want to try DYAD reading over the winter break:

  • Share one book.
  • Sit side-by-side.
  • Track the words with one smooth finger.
  • Read aloud together.
  • Keep eyes on words.
  • Talk about the text as you read.
  • Have fun!

 

Our Chief Example Skill of the Month is SERVICE.

In the book “Flourish”, Martin Seligman describes ways that we can thrive and two important ways are to build relationships with others and find meaning in our lives. You can help encourage this in our children by providing opportunities for them to help others.  This might be talking to a new student, smiling at someone who is lonely, collecting food for the Utah Food Bank, baking cookies or shoveling snow for a neighbor.  Service helps both the receiver and the person providing the service. 

Congratulations to Ms. Yates’ class for really showing the spirit of service and bringing in the most cans for our food drive.  Over the next few months you will be hearing often from our 5th grade with their idle free campaign to help keep our air clean.

Oakdale Calendar of Events

Office Hours:  8:15 am to 3:45 pm            

*All Fridays are early-out days at 1:40 pm.

Tues., Dec. 10 Choir Concert at Union Middle at 7 pm

Friday, Dec. 13- CEO of the Month Assembly 9:15 am

Tues., Dec. 17- BIZ Town for 5th gr.

Fri., Dec. 20- Sing-Along for students @ 9:15 am

            Last Day prior to Winter Break

Dec. 23-Jan. 5 Winter Break- No School

Jan. 6- School Resumes

Wishing you all the best for Happy Holidays! 

                       

                        Principal Jones

Bus Delays

BUS Delays
Sign up to receive Late-Bus Notifications by Text Message


We work hard to keep our buses on time. Under normal circumstances, your student can expect the bus to arrive within 1 to 2 minutes of its scheduled time. But with 167 daily bus routes to manage — and the inevitability of our drivers encountering inclement weather or construction-related detours and slowdowns — delays can happen. Canyons District has established communication channels to immediately notify families of bus delays. If a bus is running more than 15 minutes late, our Transportation Department will email or call you with information about the cause of the delay and expected time of arrival. New this year: Parents can opt to receive these and other District alerts via text message. Instructions for adding text messaging to your communications settings can be found at canyonsdistrict.org.

Close Menu
Translate »