|
Thursday, October 28, 2021 "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." --Peter Benchley (Jaws) Dear Ocean Shore Families, You might have heard that we had some water back in the building this week. We did. The storm Sunday dumped inches of rain all over Northern California and some of it seeped under our wing doors and into the A, B and C wings. There is still some moisture in the A, B and C wing hallways and breakout rooms. None of the classrooms were affected. Balfour Construction's recovery team is working to remove the moisture this week with the hope of not having to repair the walls. This week, there will be dehumidifiers in the hallway and breakout rooms. Next week, there will be a crew on campus after school to restore the baseboards. The current plan is to have the materials back in the breakout rooms by the end of next week. We hope to minimize the disruption to the classrooms, and I will keep you updated as things progress. Enjoy the Halloween weekend tricks and treats! Jeanne School Business: Tomorrow (11/29) and Monday (11/1) are minimum days. Please plan accordingly. Read-a-thon: Let's end strong! Keep reading and encourage friends and family to support Ocean Shore's readers. https://www.osspto.org/read-a-thon.html Fliers attached: San Mateo County Library, PGSL, PNLL, Pacifica United Soccer, Coffee fundraiser. 
Quote of the Week: “There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.” – Robert Brault, writer Dear Ocean Shore Families, I love Halloween. I have vivid memories of sprinting from house to house to maximize the amount of candy I could get in the two hour trick-or-treat window. I loved the excitement of dressing up and the anticipation of seeing everyone's costumes and home decorations. I loved stories about vampires, witches, and black cats. Why am I using the past tense? I still love those things. Of course, I can't trick-or-treat as an adult, and now I can't even walk around with my kids because at 18 and 20, they would get strange looks knocking on doors. The next best thing is being a principal, and getting to watch your children dress up, eat candy, and listen to spooky stories. We won't be doing our school wide parade this year, but the younger grades are doing smaller parades and our older children will be doing activities in their classrooms. It's especially exciting because at this time last year, the classrooms were empty, and the halls were silent. Our lives are stressful, and the pandemic is still with us. We have plenty of real things that scare us and make us anxious. Halloween provides us with the chance to pretend to be someone else, to be scared by unrealistic monsters, and to eat and drink sugary treats. It's an escape that I welcome every year, and one that I am privileged to share with your children. Take care and keep reading! (Read-a-thon has raised over $20,000 so far) Jeanne P.S. Please make sure that your children don't bring any fake weapons to school or wear costumes that are overly bloody. Be mindful of costumes that could be considered cultural appropriation such as Native American headdresses. If you have a question about whether or not a costume is appropriate, please contact your child's teacher or me. Thank you! YSB counselors: I have biography pages attached as PDFs for Jessica and Tiffany, our YSB counselors. Please contact Gitima Sharma if you are interested in having your child see a counselor (gsharma@pacificasd.org). I can not tell you how amazing these three women are. We hit the counseling jackpot this year, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. School Business: Kindergarten Registration for 2022-23: Information can be found on the PSD website: http://pacificaredesign.cyberschool.com/District/1150-Kindergarten-and-TK-Registration.html Tour information is not yet posted. All tours will be virtual. The OSS dates/times for virtual tours are: 12/8/21 @ 10:00 am, 12/14/21 @ 9:00 am & 1/12/21 @ 6:30 pm. Zoom links will be posted on the PSD website. Kindergarten packets are due by noon on 2/1/22. The packets can be picked up at any school site or the district office. They are available now. Please contact the district office if you have questions about registration that aren't answered on the PSD website. JUHSD High School Open Houses: Please see the attached flier for information. Registration information will be coming soon to their website: https://www.juhsd.net/Page/2003. Clothing needed: We need leggings (all sizes) and pants for boys 1st-5th grade to keep in the office for spills and other types of accidents. Additional fliers attached: Flu Vaccination Clinics (Eng. & Spanish), JUHSD Open Houses, PGSL, PNLL, Pacifica United Soccer, City of Pacifica Halloween, Read-a-thon FAQ, Bios for YSB counselors.
Quote of the Week: "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." The Dalai Lama Dear Ocean Shore Families, I'm going to turn over my "mic" to Gitima this week. It's been a long time since I looked at the Pacifica School District Mission Statement, but I was struck by how much of it dovetails with the challenges that we are facing right now. Here is the heart of that statement. We believe that:
Right now, many of us are struggling with personal interactions. In order to better support our community, and encourage the practice of kindness (it IS a practice), over the next few weeks we will be rolling out a Kindness Campaign. Gitima is meeting with teachers to work out a few more details, but I wanted to share what we have so far. Stay tuned for more information. Take care and keep reading! Jeanne Counselor's Corner: The era of COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented struggles, which have strengthened the need for compassion, empathy, and kindness at individual- and systemic-levels. The Ocean Shore School Community will be initiating a campaign to inspire students, teachers, and staff to engage in acts of kindness in their own unique ways - big and small. Teachers are excited about reading books and facilitating circles on the topics related to kindness such as respecting individual and cultural differences. Each class will further use the "Acts of Kindness" wheel to track the number of acts that the school community engages in to express kindness to self, family members, class peers, school community, society, and world at large. We at Ocean Shore will therefore use the Digital Citizenship to promote our students' socio-emotional wellbeing rooted in these words by a Peacebuilder, Daisaku Ikeda: "When we care for others our own strength to live increases. When we help people expand their state of life, our lives also expand. Actions to benefit others are not separate from actions to benefit oneself. Our lives and the lives of others are ultimately inseparable." Warmly, Gitima School Business: Kindergarten schedule changes: On Monday, our kindergarteners will be here until 2:00 pm. Kindergarten Registration for 2022-23: Information about Kindergarten Registration and tours (virtual) will be coming next week. Upcoming minimum days and Holidays: Friday, October 29th and Monday, November 1st will both be minimum days. Thursday, November 11th is Veteran's Day and school is closed. Conferences: Conferences will be coming up the week of November 15th. Please contact your student's teacher to schedule an appointment. We will have a minimum day schedule all week. DLG Book Club, this Monday @ 7:00 pm: Join us for the next meeting of the Diversity Learning Group (DLG) Book Club! We're reading the first three chapters of My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem. I'm putting in a personal plug. I'm getting so much out of reading these books, and listening to the insights of these amazing women. --Jeanne Zoom link is here. JUHSD High School Open Houses: Please see the attached flier for information. Registration information will be coming soon to their website: https://www.juhsd.net/Page/2003. Additional fliers attached: San Mateo flu shot clinics, PNLL Baseball, PGSL softball, Slam Poetry event TONIGHT at OSS, JUHSD high school tours, Social/Emotional Learning parent nights.
Friday, October 8, 2021 Quote of the Week: "Many teachers and staff are feeling 'April tired in October.'" -- Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Dear Ocean Shore Families, We are changing our morning drop off procedures effective this Tuesday, October 12th. The gates will open at 8:10 am, but teachers will no longer be opening their classrooms early. Students will line up on the blacktop, in class lines, when the bell rings at 8:21, and the teachers will come out and escort them to the classroom. This Tuesday, we will have multiple staff members in the yard to direct traffic. Going forward, there will be a teacher on supervision duty in the yard from 8:10 until 8:22 every day. This procedure is similar to what we did previously, and is in line with the contract between the school district and LSEA (the teachers union). Teachers volunteered to open their classrooms early to start the year, and now we are returning to our previous practice. I've attached a brief article from the San Francisco Chronicle that discusses some of the challenges schools are having with behavior and social skills. None of this is surprising to our staff, but it is exhausting to deal with on a daily basis. We are explicitly teaching social skills in the classroom, and reminding students how to interact and play on the yard. We are working on a school wide kindness campaign that will complement our social emotional learning curriculum and encourage students to treat others the way they want to be treated. We are continuing with restorative meetings, circles, and community building activities in the classroom. Please reach out to your child's teacher or to me if you have questions or concerns about negative interactions between students or questions about how a particular incident involving your child was handled. Take care, Jeanne Link to the SF Chronicle article: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Cursing-meltdowns-and-playground-tussles-Bay-16512312.php School Business: No school on Monday, October 11th. We are off Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day. Staffing update: Here is an introduction from our new counselor: I am Gitima Sharma, Ocean Shore School Counselor. My educational background (Masters in Counseling and Ph.D. in Counselor Education) along with previous experience in providing counseling to students within K-12 and college settings inspired me to use my knowledge and skills to advance K-12 students' socio-emotional wellbeing during these challenging times. I have therefore started working as a part-time counselor at Ocean Shore on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During non-working hours, I enjoy playing board games with my 6 year old son, cuddling my 18 months old baby, and reading books by my favorite author - Daisaku Ikeda. I feel passionate about advancing world peace through nurturing future leaders who are grounded in respect, compassion, and empathy, and promoting children's socio-emotional wellbeing. Please email me at gsharma@pacificasd.org if you want to discuss any concerns. You can also use the following link to make counseling referrals: https://forms.gle/JU8pLvJh5LRXkkSd9. Thank you for your support and collaboration! Read-a-thon: Keep reading, everyone! Find out information about the Read-a-thon here: https://www.osspto.org/read-a-thon.html Cell phone reminders: Please remind your children to keep phones in backpacks during the day. We are having issues with students using phones at recess and lunch. If they need to call you, or you need to get in touch with them, please go through the office. Please don't call or text them between 8:22 am and dismissal time. Halloween: The staff is finalizing plans for Halloween. We will not be doing our traditional school wide parade. However, there will be a variety of activities happening on campus. Your child's teacher will be sharing plans for the day. I've attached the link to a video that discusses the issue of cultural appropriation and costumes. It's designed for teens, but I think parents are also an appropriate audience. Thank you DLG for providing this resource. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cultural-appropriation-halloween-costume-video PTO fundraisers: Why cook dinner tonight when you can order from Round Table and support our school? Please see the flier below for details. Make sure to say that you are from OSS when you order. If you are a coffee drinker, please consider a monthly subscription from Simple Pleasures Coffee and support OSS and a local small business in the process. Additional fliers attached: Round Table fundraiser-tonight, Coffee fundraiser, October lunch menu, Ohlone Heritage Hike, Pacifica PB&R Halloween event, Girl Scout event, PSD hiring cooks.
Quote of the Week: “Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere. ” Mary Schmich, journalist Dear Ocean Shore Families, Our 13th annual Read-a-thon kicks off today. At the beginning of the pandemic, reading was a huge comfort to me. Not only did it allow me to "go" to far away places while I was stuck at home, but it let me dive into other experiences and to empathize with people going through their own challenges, whether those individuals were fictional or real. Remind your children that reading can be done in many ways, from sitting down and picking up a book, to listening to an audiobook while you walk, to reading articles on a website such as National Geographic. It all counts and it's all valuable. Not all children love reading, I know, because I raised one. I have a master's degree in English Literature, books in every corner of my house, and a son who doesn't enjoy reading. Many reluctant readers respond well to graphic novels, and those were a staple in our house for both of my children. Ask your child's teacher or a librarian for recommendations, and encourage your child to read what they enjoy! Take care, Jeanne ] School Business: No school on Friday, October 8th and Monday, October 11th. We have professional development for teachers on Friday and we are off Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day. Staffing update: , Gitima Sharma, our new counselor, will be with us on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. (originally we had planned for Fridays) Parents are welcome to reach out to her if you think your student could benefit from some support. Here is a link to our new Counseling referral form: OSS Counseling Referral Form. Read-a-thon: Find out information about the Read-a-thon here: https://www.osspto.org/read-a-thon.html. I've also attached a flier with Read-a-thon FAQ. Cell phone reminders: Please remind your children to keep phones in backpacks during the day. We are having issues with students using phones at recess and lunch. If they need to call you, or you need to get in touch with them, please go through the office. Please don't call or text them between 8:22 am and dismissal time. Scoliosis Screening: 5th-8th grade students will be screened for scoliosis on October 5, 6 & 7. No clothing is removed during these screenings aside from bulky jackets. There is a flier below with more information. The opt-out letter is also below. Halloween: The staff is finalizing plans for Halloween, and I will send out an update next week. In the meantime, I've attached the link to a video that discusses the issue of cultural appropriation and costumes. It's designed for teens, but I think parents are also an appropriate audience. Thank you DLG for providing this resource. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cultural-appropriation-halloween-costume-video Additional fliers: Scoliosis flier and opt out letter, October Lunch Menu, Girl Scout informational event, Read-a-thon.
|
Jeanne BellingerPrincipal of Ocean Shore. Check back here for weekly updates and messages from the principal. Archives
June 2022
Categories |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS Feed