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Dear Blue Oaks Bear Families!

I hope you all had a nice relaxing time with your families and enjoyed the holidays.  My family and I enjoyed celebrating my daughter's 15th birthday, visiting with friends and spending a lot of time with our family but I missed all our students and I am looking forward to seeing them all again! 

COVID Reminders: As more students are getting vaccinated, please know that you can show their vaccination card to the office ladies and they will enter the information into powerschool. You can either email a photocopy of the card or just come in. Also, if your student (s) is fully vaccinated, remains asymptomatic, and you would like them to not quarantine and/or test should they come in contact with a COVID positive individual, we ask that you provide the school with vaccination verification. I also wanted to share an update on COVID testing, in order to return to school, we can no longer accept at home test results.  COVID tests must be medically administered. 

Thank you all for your understanding as we continue to work together to remain healthy. 

WATCH DOGS Kick-off Jan. 20th at 3:30-4:30!

Come and enjoy some cookies and refreshments as you learn all you need to know about the fun Watch D.O.G.S program.  The program is a little different than before as we will have the dads on campus to help during 11:30-1:30.  Watch D.O.G.S can come at 11:15 to get your picture with yours student (s) for the wall of fame and then head out to support our bears during lunch and recess time. It will be a great time to be able to eat lunch with your student (s) and play with them too. You will be able to meet their friends and have fun. If you are not able to attend this meeting, please don't worry! Let us know and we will give you all the information you need. We look forward to partnering with our dads to make this a great program at Blue Oaks.  *As of right now, this presentation will be held outside but if it needs to change to zoom, we will let add a link. 

 As a Reminder- Pick Up/Drop Off

Traffic in and around Blue Oaks School presents the number one
safety hazard to children and adults!  
We request your cooperation. 

• Speed Limit- It is very important to drive slow when picking up or dropping off your student.  Many families are driving fast through the crosswalks, causing students and families to be alarmed.  Please be respectful of all our students and community and drive slow! 

• SUPERVISION- Supervision doesn't start until 8:25. We ask that you do not drop off you student before 8:25. We have recently had a few student being dropped off before 8:25 which is not safe. Please plan accordingly so that your child can be at school at 8:25. 

• The WEST PARKING LOT - in front of the Kindergarten wing -  is designated for drop-off and pick-up of transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, first and second grade students by private vehicle, only. Watch for children! Children may not go into parking lots unless they are with an adult. All students entering the west side parking lot must use the crosswalk on Halesworth. DO NOT stop or park your vehicle except in a designated parking spot.  Remain in your car when at the yellow curb and pull all the way up to the end of they yellow curb. 

• The DROP-OFF/PICK-UP AREA in front of the Multi-Use Room is for school buses and daycare agencies only. Please do not drop off or pick up students on Horncastle Ave. There is no supervision.

• The EAST PARKING LOT – in front of the Adventure Club and the upper grades playground is designated for drop-off and pick-up of third, fourth and fifth grade students by private vehicle, only.  There is no crosswalk in this parking lot.  Children may not cross or enter the parking lot unless accompanied by an adult. DO NOT stop or park your vehicle except in a designated parking spot.  Remain in your car when at the yellow curb.

NEVER LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE UNATTENDED IN THE DROP-OFF/PICK-UP ZONES. 

If you wish to park your car, kindly pull into a designated parking space.

Thank you for respecting the privacy and property rights of residents on streets adjacent to school.

We request that you walk your child/children to school whenever possible to cut down on traffic and pollution, promote healthy life habits and enhance the safety of all.

   

PTC

Please show your support and join our PTC.  Our Parent Teacher Club is an outstanding group that organizes many events at Blue Oaks.  The school wouldn't be what it is without this team! For more information, click on the link.   Please read about our upcoming events below

Help Blue Oaks Elementary with every qualifying Amazon purchase you make by linking your current Amazon account with AmazonSmile. Here's how: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/community/how-to-sign-up-for-amazonsmile

WALK TO SCHOOL WEDNESDAY!

*Next Walk to School: January 19th*

How fun has this been? I love being in the front of the school with Ms. Tessa and Ms. Susan. We love dancing to the music and handing out stickers. If you live too far to walk, we encourage you to park in the surrounding neighborhood and walk in from there. Two student council representatives will be manning each gate to pass out stickers to those students who participated in Walk to School Wednesday. We look forward to seeing our Bears put on their walking shoes and help to create a cleaner environment.

Here is a great video for more information on PBIS. 

Do you want to be a part of the PBIS team? We are currently looking for a parent representative that can attend our monthly, 1 hour meetings.  Parents offer such great insight and have a very valuable point of view. If you would be interested in joining our PBIS team, please let me know. We would love to have you!

Did you know we have 11 areas around our school with specific

expectations on how to be safe, be respectful and be responsible? 

Each week I will focus on an area and this week it is the PLAYGROUND. Take a moment to review these expectations with your student. 

BE SAFE Keep hands and feet to yourself Stay in designated play areas Use playground equipment appropriately

BE RESPECTFUL Follow all adult instructions Use problem solving strategies with peers Use kind words and actions

BE RESPONSIBLE Follow Blue Oaks Game Rules Follow Blue Oaks rules for designated playground areas Freeze at bell and walk to line after whistle is blown

Second Step

Second Step is our evidence-based social emotional curriculum that all our classes use on a daily basis to help teach empathy and problem-solving skills in a holistic intergraded way.   For the next 8 weeks, all our students will be focusing on emotion management. They will learn to name feelings, manage a variety of feelings and how to calm down. Please check in with your student and be sure to ask them what they are learning. 

Ms. Ellis and Mrs. Wall are rockstars! They did such a great job with the canned food drive! Way to go!

Blue Oaks 5th Grade Bucket Band

Performance will be in Jan. Date: TBD  

What's New in RCSD?

Mark your calendars! RCSD’s 2022-23 school year priority registration for all new and returning students, including requests for inter/intra transfers and virtual academy enrollment, will open on January 3, 2022, and close on January 28, 2022. More information on how to register will be released in the coming weeks.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 

January 3 - Staff Professional Development Day - No School 

January 17 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School 

February 14 - Lincoln’s Birthday Observed - No School 

February 21 - President’s Day - No School

Lost and Found

Our lost and found is located in the Bear's Lair on the stage.  It is very helpful if your child has their name on their clothing so we can return it.  We donated all the items that remained on the stage. 

   
  

Vaccine Verification REQUIRED for Volunteers:

• If you are vaccinated, please bring in your vaccine card and show it to our secretaries.  They DO NOT need a copy or make a copy.  They simply need to see it.  This only needs to be done one time.  We will mark you cleared in our system and you are not required to show this again.

• If you are NOT vaccinated and you would like to continue to volunteer as a Category I or Category II volunteer, you MUST show proof of a negative COVID test within 6 days of being on campus.  Our school secretaries will ask for proof of this requirement upon you signing in.

December Lunch Menu * as a reminder, choices are subject to change

2021-2022 Bell Schedule

RCSD Website

Blue Oaks Website

MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS/AGENCIES/RESOURCES