Knightly News from the Castle

Knightly News from the Castle

Oak Park Middle School

“Welcome to the Castle”

Title I Newsletter: October 2015

Message from the Administration

National Bullying Prevention Month is here, and we are proud to announce that during the month of October we will be participating in various activities to support Lake County’s Bullying Prevention Theme: The End of Bullying Begins with You and Me. We are excited to introduce educational activities, which will provide our students with meaningful lessons, as we fight against Bullying! Throughout the month of October, students will have the opportunity to take part in our “Bully-Proofing Our School Curriculum.” These hands-on activities will teach them the skills necessary to stand up to bullies, and report bullying incidents whether they are a victim or a bystander.

Please mark your calendars on October 21, 2015; which is Unity Day. Make it ORANGE and make it end! What are your true colors when it comes to bullying? If you care about safe and supportive schools and communities make your color ORANGE on Unity Day. That’s the day everyone can come together—in schools, communities, and online — and send one large ORANGE message of support, hope, and unity to show that we are united against bullying and united for kindness, acceptance and inclusion. For more information you can visit

As we continue our journey towards an “A” school, we have an excellent opportunity to work towards becoming a STEM school. STEM, stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and is a challenging task, but a prestigious honor that we can aspire to. President Obama was quoted as saying “Science is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world..." As we pursue STEM status, we will increase the rigorous and relevant tasks in all of our classes, and continue to raise the standard of excellence for all of our teachers and students. Recently, a cohort of teachers were trained in a few STEM protocols, as we have been selected to participate in a Math and Science Partnership (MSP) project. This will challenge our students to construct numerous standards-based STEM products, utilizing higher order thinking skills. Selected students will also have an opportunity to visit the Orlando Science Center. For moreinformation you can visit Lake County’s STEM webpage at

The Student Advisory Council (SAC) and the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) needs your voice. Join these organization every third Tuesday of each month to hear about events taking place on campus and how you can get involved to impact the students of Oak Park. The next meeting is Tuesday, October 20th at 5:30pm. Please visit our webpage at for more information, times, dates and also the Title I newsletter electronically.

AVID and Title I Parent Night

On Thursday, October 15th, come to the cafeteria for the Title I Parent Night and AVID meeting which starts at 6:00pm. Enjoy a wonderful meal catered by Oakwood while gaining pertinent information about Title I and what you can do to help your child at home. AVID trains educators to use proven practices in order to prepare students for success in middle/high school, college, and a career, especiallystudents traditionally underrepresentedin higher education. The Title I portion of the meeting will allow you to become more familiar with our goals as a Title I school for students and parents as well as a takeaway to help your child. There will be food so you do not want to miss out on a good meal and valuable information.

Title I Tutoring

During the morning hours, starting at 8am, your child has the opportunity to take part in Title I tutoring. Our teachers are skilled in critical areas and are available to help your child in areas that need attention. This year, Oak Park has been afforded to have transportation for your child to take part in morning tutoring. Reading and Math tutoring takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00am-9:00am. For more information, please contact Dr. Williams, Assistant Principal, at 352-787-3232 or email at . There are openings available so be sure to enroll your child soon.

Testing

Lake Standards Assessments (LSA) Baseline testing for Math, Science, Civics, Writing, and Reading September 7, 2015- October 9, 2015.The LSAs are aligned to FLDOE Test Design Summary and Test Blueprints (FSAs ELA,FSAs Math,EOCs), with a modified 90 minute Testing Window in order to support school-site instructional schedules.

PreliminaryScholastic Aptitude Test(PSAT) testing for 7th and 8th graders will take place on October 14, 2015. PSATis astandardized testadministered by theCollege Boardand cosponsored by theNational Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)in theUnited States. Approximately 3.5 million students take the PSAT. The PSAT test areas such as Reading, Writing/ Language, and Math.

Write Score, a formative writing assessment, will be given to all students in grades 6-8 in English Language Arts/ ELA classes. Write Score will be administrated the week of October 19- 22, 2015.Write Score provides robust tools forformative writingandliteracy assessmentsdesigned to help schools, teachers, and studentsimprove literacy. With standards-aligned assessments, professional development, and historical student writing portfolios, Write Score provides tools to help teachers pinpoint instruction, save time, and meet students’ diverse literacy needs.

Parent Resource Center

Oak Park Middle School’s Parent Resource Center is the prime location where parents/guardians of our students can learn how to assist their children with academics. Parents will be able to assist their children by having access to resources and activities that are essential to their child’s success in the classroom.

Resources include the following items:

• Laptops and iPads (available for check out)
• Math, Reading, Science & Social Studies Games
• Clothing items

Food assistance is also available for those families who would like additional aid. Please contact Valerie Howard, Family School Liaison, at (352) 787-3232 Ext: 7466 for more details. The hours of operation for the Parent Resource Center are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM, and Wednesday 9:00 AM – 3:30 PM.

Red Ribbon Week

Oak Park Middle School is proud to be a drug free campus and we stand united against such contraband. From October 23rd-31st, we will raise awareness of the dangers and problems of underage drug usage. We invite you to take a look at our campus as we decorate it in red to show that we take a firm stance against drugs.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Here at Oak Park, we have an ethnically rich melting pot of students that comprise of the OPMS family. It is recognized from September 15th-October 15thto be celebrated as Hispanic Heritage Month. During this time, we will highlight some of the different ethnicities of our students to celebrate their heritage. If you have ideas or something you would like to share, please contact Mr. Shannon via email at .

Department Updates

Here is an academic update from some of our departments:

Social Studies

Social Studies classes celebrated Freedom Week. This is a time for discuss how the Declaration of Independence secured our freedoms as American citizens. Students engaged in various interactive and engaging activities to learn what freedoms we have, as well as our rights and responsibilities as citizens. Students even drafted letters to Ms. Longo that mirror the Declaration of Independence as a way to suggest changes to our school. Ms. Longo read these letters and is considering the students’ requests. Ms. Longo is no “King George III”

Science

In 6th Grade Science, the students will be learning about the structure of the Earth (Unit 2). They will learn to differentiate and show different interactions among the geosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. On October 14th, just after finishing Unit 2, the 6th grade students will experience a guest speaker from the Lake County Water Authority. All 8th grade students are working on completing their Science Fair Projects. The Science Fair will take place on December 3rd. In the meantime, we will be starting the force and motion unit in October.

ELA

The Language Arts department has started off the year with a focus on writing skills. For the month of October will be an emphasis on the writing process (pre-planning, rough draft, revising, editing, and final product) as well as understanding the expectations of the FSA Writing rubric. We have baseline writing data and scores from a variety of lengths and topics so far this year, such as baseline informative essays, constructed responses, and objective summaries. We plan to have data chats with our students often, reviewing their writing with them, and providing support for what they can do improve their scores

Electives

The Theatre class just finished working on their first iMovie production on different forms of bullying. They are currently working on a GoAnimateMe cartoon about an event that happened in their lives that has affected them in some way. We also have a Donors Choose grant for a camcorder that we are in need of some generous donors.

On Wednesday October 28th the Oak Park Band & Guitar students will be traveling to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center to see the Orlando Philharmonic present their Youth Concert Series “Music in Motion”. This concert will feature dance music from around the globe including works by Brahms, Copland and Grainger. The concert will also feature performers from the Orlando Ballet, a guest singer, and narrators from the Orlando Repertory Theater.

So far this semester, students who have 2D Art as an elective have been learning about the Elements of Art (texture, value, line, shape, form, space, and color) in addition to careers in the field of art. During the month of October, the major focus will be on the Elements and Principles of Art. They will complete some challenging projects such as integrating art with another content areas, develop an understanding of the essential part that art plays in our cultural society, and experimenting with various mediums such as painting, collage, pastels, and multi-media.

STEM Club and Science Olympiad are beginning meetings the first full week of October. Mr. Nash is holding a VEX robotics competition at Carver on November 7th and Oak Park robotic students are encouraged to attend.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month