Congratulations to the Oak Grove POM Dancers

Our 7th and 8th grade POM students achieved FIRST PLACE at the Lakeside Competition on January 7, 2012. You can view their performance in the Lake Bluff gym on our website.   Their dance is really amazing and a reflection of their hard work and dedication.  Congratulations to all of the girls and to Coach Gilbert and Coach Matheson.   We are proud of you!

Fine Arts Day 2011

Oak Grove School was alive with drama, music, art, dance and even cake decorating on Fine Arts Day, May 6, 2011.  All K-8 students attended workshops throughout the day.  Ask your children about their favorite sessions.   I put this movie together to show you some of the things I enjoyed. Thank you to our special teachers who arranged the events for us.
CLICK FOR MOVIE
http://files.ogschool.org/misc/FineArtsDay2011.mov

The Blizzard of 2011

The Chicago area will long remember the Blizzard of 2011.   One of the most important and difficult decisions of the Superintendent is to decide to close the schools.  The Superintendents from District 128 (LHS) and the elementary districts of Libertyville, Hawthorne, Rondout and Oak Grove hold conference calls to help evaluate conditions and when possible make decisions together.  We hold the safety of our students as our first priority and balance that with our goal to maintain the educational program whenever possible.   We were fortunate with this storm to have good weather predictions.  We maintained a full day on Tuesday and closed school on Wednesday and Thursday.  I hope that the early notifications were helpful for your family for planning.  Often we need to wait until morning, but this storm was unusual in its enormity.

I hope that your family has been safe and warm.  How have you been spending you time?  Did you have some adventures digging out?  Did you find some fun things to do with your children?  Are you ready for school to start again tomorrow?  Please respond on this blog to share ideas within our community.

See you soon.

The Leader in Me

The Oak Grove School Staff is reading a book written by Stephen Covey entitled The Leader in Me. The book describes a elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina where the staff began teaching the Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to all of their students.  (These habits have been taught in businesses for many years. ) For example while learning "Habit 1 - Be Proactive", the children learned that they were in charge of themselves. When something difficult happened to them, the children had an opportunity to respond in a reactive manner with anger or proactively choose a positive action.  As they learned "Habit 2 - Begin With the End in Mind" the children set academic goals and graphed their progress in data notebooks.  Over time, each student was given a leadership job in the school.   The school found that learning increased and behavior improved. Parents learned the habits as well using the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. Educators from around the world came to visit the school and the children greeted the visitors displaying their leadership skills of eye contact,  shaking hands and public speaking.  The visitors took the Leader in Me philosophy back to their own schools and found similar results.  At Oak Grove School we believe that this could be an amazing program for all of our children.  Empowering students to lead themselves and work with others is an essential Life and Career Skill for 21st Century Learning that we have identified as part of the  Oak Grove Strategic Plan approved by the Board of Education.  Please let me know if you are intrigued with this concept.  To learn more you might want to read one of the books listed here or go to www.theleaderinme.org.  I am also logging our learning on another blog I created  http://ogsleaderinme.blogspot.com/

What is the 21st Century Skills Framework?

Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework

The Oak Grove School Strategic Plan has identified 21st Century Learning as a multi-year initiative.  What is the 21st Century Skills Framework? The framework is an all encompassing vision for a 21st Century education system. You can see in the green section of the rainbow that the framework includes the traditional core subjects.  Math, science, language arts, social studies, the arts and world languages are still very important.  This content is used to teach the yellow learning and innovation skills which include critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration, communication, and global awareness. The purple area emphasizes the necessity of technology skills and media choices. The red area promotes the importance of learning leadership skills to manage oneself through life and work with others. Some say that these skills are not new, but they have rarely been deliberately incorporated throughout the curriculum or routinely assessed.  Lucky people have learned these skills along the path of life and work.  We now want to teach these skills to all students.
"These are the kinds of skills that set people apart.  Small leaps of imagination can result in tremendous personal and organizational advances. A willingness to respond positively to change leaves people open to new possibilities and more comfortable with the inevitable vagaries of life.  Taking on leadership roles gives people more control over their lives, while cross-cultural skills strengthen their effectiveness in interacting with others they encounter in school, work, and the community." Ken Kay, President, Partnership for 21st Century Skills in 21st Century Skills, Rethinking How Students Learn Solution Tree @2010.
At Oak Grove School, all teachers are adapting their curriculum lessons to add 21st Century Skills.  Teachers and students are learning ways to harness the power of technology.  Teachers are discussing leadership opportunities to prepare students for life and careers.  It is an exciting time to be in education.

Cook Memorial Library Reopening

Room for the youngest children.

Fun seating for older children/

The Library is Open Again in Libertyville.
It was an exciting week-end at the Cook Memorial Library.  After over a year of renovation the library opened its doors and the community flooded in.  I attended the VIP sneak peak on Friday night and the community Grand Opening on Saturday.  The new library includes an airy room for young children with easy shelving.  Older students will enjoy the booth seats, the small homework rooms, and lots of computers.      Jan Hastings is the director of the department for children and has invited everyone on Saturday, January 15 for a fun day in the library with face painting, juggling, comedy and of course lots of books.

Veteran's Day

Oak Grove students and staff presented an amazing tribute to our Veteran's on November 11.  Although the fabulous ceremony organized by the 8th graders for our local Veterans was perfect and memorable, the work that occurred behind the scenes is perhaps even more amazing.  Coordinated by the Social Studies teachers, a lesson was held with each class about the freedoms of our country.  These lessons to the younger grades were taught by the older children.  This teaching culminated in a video called "Why I Love my Country."

Other lessons were taught by the 8th graders to the younger children to help them learn about the meaning of Veteran's Day. Each group of 8th grade students designed their own lesson plan and had it approved by the younger grade teacher.  For instance, in kindergarten the children were engaged in games where they put on military jackets including Coast Guard life vests to learn about the branches of the service.   What a wonderful opportunity for our children to practice the 21st Century Skills of leadership, creative thinking, collaboration and problem solving.   Watch videos of this special learning by going to our website www.ogschool.org.