I hope everyone is faring the cold and preparing for the snow. During this time of year it is important to be aware of snow delays/cancellations. OB families will be alerted of any cancellations or delays via a "rob-o-call" (an automated phone call), through television newscast alerts, and through radio transmission. Due to the cold weather, students are coming in the morning and leaving at the end of the day rather quickly to avoid the cold. Please be mindful and extra cautious while picking up your child in front of the building as many children are rushing to cross the parking lot. Thank you for your cooperation with this important safety matter.
During community meeting this morning we were able to recognize and share the wonderful writings of the students in Jen Robinson's second grade classroom. They presented an opinion piece that centered around the best type of vacation. It was so exciting to witness these young writers share and defend their thoughts. The community meeting was led by members of the Student Council.
Student Council leaders are certainly taking initiative in building our community. They will be leading our new Constitutional Convention that will begin meeting next week. The charge of the Constitutional Convention will be to develop our Oak Bluffs School core values that reflect the Responsive Classroom philosophy, which is our foundation. These values will include habits of goodness, habits of kindness, and citizenship. The Student Council will be joined by two representatives from each homeroom, kindergarten though sixth grade. On Tuesday January 26th, the Constitutional Convention will have their first meeting. During this meeting the Student Council will read picture books to the K-6 representatives. The themes of these picture books revolve around topics related to cooperation, empathy, responsibility, caring, kindness, and honesty. Once these books are read to the younger students, the Student Council members will engage them in conversation in an attempt to generate meaningful connections to the themes presented in the picture books. This conversation will help students to articulate what habits of goodness, kindness, and citizenship we value as a school community. The Constitutional Convention will continue to meet throughout the month of February working towards establishing our Oak Bluffs School Community Constitution.
We are all excited about this process of continuing our work on developing and furthering our foundational philosophy. The fact that this process is being lead by students and is involving so many students, kindergarten through 8th grade, makes this a wonderful and powerful experience for all. This is what truly makes our school special and reminds us daily that we are proud to be from OB.
I look forward to keeping you abreast of the progress our Convention is making. The students are so excited to be part of this process. I am truly proud of their engagement and enthusiasm. I hope you have a peaceful weekend, travel safely.
Respectfully,
Dr. Megan Farrell