I cannot believe that it is October already!!! What a wonderful start to the year! We weathered the wild, wet weather in September and now are enjoying a glorious fall.
So many great things have been happening at Oak Hill during the last month. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Principals’ Coffee for New Families
- PTA meetings and new family receptions that had a HUGE turnout!
- Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
- Fabulous Field Days the encouraged teamwork and classbuilding (Thank you P.E. and parent volunteers)
- Sixth Grade Field Trip to “The Edge”. The students were remarkable and represented Oak Hill very well. We are so proud of them.
As I have been visiting classrooms on a daily basis I have noted how well the students have settled into school routines and how highly engaged they are in their learning. Today I saw fantastic multiplication practice happening in Mrs. Cosgrove’s third grade and a variety of geography activities including painting pumpkin globes and creating classroom maps in Mrs. Levy’s third grade.
Ms. Michele Giardina, Oak Hill’s full-time Advanced Academic Resource Teacher presented a comprehensive overview of the FCPS advanced academic programs and Level IV (center) screening process last evening. She shared the instructional models that she uses to reach ALL Oak Hill students including teaching lessons in all classrooms twice per month as well as collaborating with teachers to plan higher level thinking lessons and also running small enrichment groups for students in grades 3-6. Today I saw her facilitating a lesson with Mrs. Herring’s fourth graders integrating technology. Each student created a self-portrait on the computer that will be used as the cover of their 4th grade “yearbook” – an electronic advanced academics portfolio. The students were enthralled with the work!
I encourage you to regularly check both the classroom teachers’ and specialists (Reading, Counseling, Music, Art, PE, Chinese, AART) Blackboard sites. There are wonderful resources and activities for students to engage in outside of school, as well as peeks at the curriculum! You can even hear the Chinese vocabulary and concepts being taught with a voiceover from Mrs. Uang! Wow!.
Enjoy the gorgeous fall weather and I hope to see you at Oak Hill very soon!
-A.G.
