Dear Families,

Thank you so much for supporting our fundraiser this past week at Chipotle! We were able to raise over $300 due to your generosity as well as the Franklin Farm Chipotle! We will continue to have spirit nights at local businesses to support Oak Hill and our local businesses. We are looking forward to celebrating Inclusive Schools Week next week and have many activities planned along with special dress spirit days. We are a community of learners who are diverse in our backgrounds and talents, but who come together to learn and lean on each another to become a better version of ourselves. I would encourage you and your family to have discussions about how each one of us is unique and how the road we travel can be a bumpy one when obstacles are put in front of us. Together, we can help each other through those obstacles.

In the next few weeks ahead, I wish a smooth road for all our Oak Hill families!

Sincerely,

Holly DeVore

FCPS is monitoring COVID-19 health data every day to make decisions on when students and staff can return for in-person learning. The school division posts the regional health data collected by the Virginia Department of Health on the COVID-19 Health Metrics web page and monitors two core indicators related to coronavirus infections: the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people and the percentage of people who test positive for COVID-19. Both indicators are increasing in Northern Virginia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set thresholds to help school communities understand the risk of introduction and transmission of COVID-19 in schools. View thresholds for Groups 1-6.

Yesterday's health data showed 381.6 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days and 8.2 percent positive test cases in the past 14 days.  FCPS will continue to monitor community health data closely, and open schools for in-person instruction as soon as we are able to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and other staff.

Inclusive Schools Week is celebrated annually around the country. This year we will be participating in Inclusive Schools Week from December 7-11. This entire week is to celebrate and promote acceptance and inclusion of the diverse population we have here at Oak Hill. We also hope this week will encourage conversations about how we can be more accepting and appreciative of those who are different from us. As this year has progressed, we have an unusual vantage point for understanding an even broader meaning of inclusion.  Across the world, we are experiencing a new form of isolation that is required in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  The “Time for Inclusion is NOW” theme will reflect that we are making great strides in making positive changes in awareness of inclusion, but recognizing that we can continue to take steps towards reaching a goal of a fully inclusive school and community culture. Each day of the Inclusion Week, students and staff are encouraged to wear the various colors listed below. Each color represents a word that will be discussed and linked to inclusion at Oak Hill. The celebration of Inclusive Schools Week will create a fundamental commitment to relationships by adding another vehicle for learning, growing and recognizing that “The Time for Inclusion is NOW!” #ISW2020 #allinOHES

Monday: Wear Red for Respect: We respect and support our fellow classmates and recognize that individual differences are what make us special.

Tuesday: Wear Green for Gifts: Friendship is a gift we give to one another. We all have gifts and special talents to share.

Wednesday: Wear Blue for Belonging: Education takes on a beautiful shape when all children belong and are valued as contributing members of the school community.

Thursday: Wear Purple for Positivity: At Oak Hill we notice and embrace each other's abilities. We create a joyful school when we are positive with one another.

Friday: Wear Oak Hill Spirit Wear: While we may all have different OHES spirit wear, we are all part of the same team at Oak Hill! We are a diverse community and that makes our school absolutely wonderful and unique! We work together to create a climate of inclusiveness and kindness. We are all linked together and connected in our purpose to make Oak Hill an amazing school! 

Code.org’s Hour of Code takes place every year during Computer Science Education Week, which this year is December 7-11. The goal is to get as many people as possible to commit to an hour of coding to show students that anyone can code. The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching over 100 million students in over 180 countries! We are encouraging every Oak Hill student to participate in at least one Hour of Code tutorial. You can support your child by reminding them to be persistent, goal-directed, and to remember the important patterning skills they learned in kindergarten. There will be trial and error, and that’s a good way to learn!  Encourage them to persevere all the way to the end of one tutorial before moving on to another.  We can do hard things when we are goal-directed and resilient!

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) buses are delivering grab and go meals at the Oak Hill bus loop from 11:42-11:52am Monday through Friday. Meal Kit Distribution continues to take place every Wednesday from 8:00am-12:30pm.

The playground and fields are closed to the public Tuesdays-Fridays between 8:30 and 4:00pm because we have students in the building. 

Oak Hill's office is open daily, but by direction from FCPS, visitors to the school must be scheduled by appointment only.  No walk-in visitors are permitted. If you would like an appointment, please contact the school at 703-467-3500 or email Michelle Coyne at mkcoyne@fcps.edu and we will be happy to schedule one.  

Gratitude

Did you know that November was National Gratitude Month?  Increasing the amount of gratitude in our daily lives is a wonderful way to improve our mental and physical health and overall happiness.  Research has linked gratitude with a wide range of benefits including strengthening our immune systems and improving sleep patterns, experiencing more joy, and feeling less lonely and isolated.  We are happy because we are grateful, not the other way around.  Watch this video: The Science of Happiness An Experiment in Gratitude 

Try to come up with a way you can intentionally incorporate gratitude into your daily routine. Consider keeping a gratitude journal to write down one thing you are grateful for each day.  Perhaps you can make it a point to always call or text someone a message of gratitude while eating dinner or starting your bedtime routine. Whatever you plan, make sure your idea is practical and manageable for your family. When we make the expression of gratitude a regular practice, we train our brains to maintain a healthier, more optimistic perspective.  

We are focusing on gratitude during December’s guidance lessons.  Children who practice grateful thinking not only have a more positive attitude towards school, their brains are more ready to learn.  Here are some gratitude activities you can do at home.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to a member of the Oak Hill clinical team if you’d like more ideas.  We are here to support all Oak Hill students and families.

Kim Gallagher, School Counselor at  kagallagher1@fcps.edu
Cammy McCleskey, School Social Worker at clmccleskey@fcps.edu 
Ginny Phinney, School Psychologist at vgphinney@fcps.edu
Christy Ryder, School Counselor at clryder@fcps.edu

Boost Your Child’s Skills at Home!

Practicing Compare and Contrast

A skill that will help students at every level is comparing (naming how things are similar) and contrasting (naming how things are different from each other).  Students compare and contrast in reading, science, social studies, math, the arts... really in all subject areas.  This way of thinking helps students to better understand what they are hearing or reading and be able to communicate about it by speaking or writing.  

Primary Grades - Compare and Contrast

Go outside and notice how the trees are changing.  Talk about what they looked like this summer and compare that to what they look like now.  This is a good way to talk about seasonal changes and the cycle of the seasons.  Collect leaves and compare one leaf to another.  Compare size, shape, and color.  

Sort groups of objects in your home.  You can do this with laundry, toys, food containers, anything that comes in groups.  Talk about how you sorted the objects then see how many different ways you can come up with to sort those same objects.

Upper Grades - Compare and Contrast

Play a compare and contrast game.  Choose two different things and take turns naming how they are similar and different.   For example, how are a pencil and a pen similar and different?  They are both used to write but one writes with graphite and one writes with ink.  See how many ways you can list that they are alike and different.   Then, to add challenge, choose two things that seem to not be alike and see if you can find ways to relate them to each other.  For example, how are a pencil and a book alike?  They both have to do with people writing things down. What else can you think of? 

Compare characters in books, movies, tv shows  to each other.  Compare them to characters in other things too.  

Compare and contrast restaurants, places you go for fun, family traditions, varieties or brands of food and things in everyday life to begin to notice how things are alike and different around you.  Being able to do this at home will help students to be able to do this at school.

December 3: Family Choice

December 7: Library Curbside Pickup, 1:30-4:30pm

December 7-11: Inclusive Schools Week

December 7-11: Hour of Code Week

December 8 & 9: Family Choice

December 9: Meal Kit Distribution at Oak Hill, 8:00am-12:30pm

December 14: Library Curbside Pickup, 1:30-4:30pm

December 15-17: Family Choice

December 16: Meal Kit Distribution at Oak Hill, 8:00am-12:30pm

December 21-January 3: Winter Break, school closed

Visit the Oak Hill website and FCPS website for updates.

Follow Oak Hill on Twitter @OakHillES.

Access Oak Hill's News You Choose.