On Monday, October 9, all staff participated in a district-wide professional development day. In the morning, staff selected workshops to attend related to various social emotional topics. For example, there were workshops on Children and Trauma, the Toolbox, Classroom Management Strategies, Welcoming Schools, Social Narratives, and Restorative Communication. In the afternoon, our Oxford staff gathered together and focused on Literacy and English Language Development. Overall, it was a productive day and nice for us to have time to stop, reflect, collaborate and learn.
Wondering what the “Breathing Tool” is, or maybe the “Listening Tool?” All BUSD schools use the Toolbox Curriculum, a social emotional program emphasizing using our “tools.” We discuss how these tools are inside us and when we can use them at Community Meetings; teachers also do some Toolbox work in their classrooms. If you want to know more about the program, go to the Toolbox Curriculum page. The “tools” can be useful at home, too.
Please mark your calendars for the upcoming shortened school days the first week of November. The purpose of the shortened days is to give teachers time to have parent/guardian conferences. The shortened days are Monday through Thursday, November 6–9. The release times are as follows:
Kindergarten early release time: 12:20 pm
1st–3rd grades early release time: 12:55 pm
4th–5th grade early release time: 1:00 pm
Thanks for all you do to support Oxford, and hope to see everyone at the Harvest Fair on October 28! Feel free to wear a costume if you’d like to!
~ Principal Beth Rhine, bethrhine@berkeley.net
Dates to know
October 19 — Picture Day
October 26 — PTA Meeting, 6:00–7:30 pm
October 28 — Harvest Fair + Book Fair (book sale proceeds benefit Oxford), 11:00 am–3:00 pm
October 31 — Halloween parade, 1:00 pm
November 3 and 10 — NO SCHOOL
November 6–9 — early release days (see previous section for details)
Save the date!
Sunday, October 28 from 11:00 am–3:00 pm for the Harvest & Book Fairs, at the school. Look for information from your room parent(s).
Walk ‘n’ Roll, baby!
Thanks to everyone who helped make Walk ‘n’ Roll to School a great success! We recorded dozens of students who either walked, rolled, carpooled, or took a bus to school on October 4. Special thanks to Debbie Shrem for organizing the event, to Suzy and Marcos Chaos for helping out in the morning, and to Sid Dietz, who led the walking school bus. We appreciate the efforts of the students who hung posters promoting the event and handed out goodies on the day of the event, as well as the donations from Berkeley Cycle Works, Safeway, Mike’s Bikes and Alameda County Safe Routes for Schools.
Our school’s online directory
Sign up online today! This is a great tool for families and will really help out the room parents. Let’s continue to strengthen the Oxford community! You can find the link at the top of the school website (oxfordelementary.org), or go directly to oxfordpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Feel free to email questions to Suzy Chaos, PTA Volunteer Coordinator, at directory@oxfordelementary.org.
Halloween is almost here. Is your costume ready?
Our annual Halloween parade is on Tuesday, October 31 at 1:00 pm on the lower playground. (If it rains, we will figure out a parade plan for inside the building.) Please send your child’s costume in a bag— students should not wear their costume to school. A few reminders:
No weapons at school (including light sabers)
Costumes should be age-appropriate and not too scary for the little ones
No clowns this year, please!
Costumes should avoid ethnic stereotypes
Children should be able to walk in their shoes, including up and down stairs
If your child needs assistance putting on their costume, please arrange to come to school to help or work something out with the teacher. Do not count on the teacher being able to apply makeup or help with costume pieces.
If you have a personal objection to your child’s participation in the parade, please let your classroom teacher know. We will arrange an alternate activity for your child during the parade, but we still want every student to come to school!
Looking back at Oxford history
Do you have a family member or a family friend who went to Oxford? We would like to recognize and share stories from alumni in future editions of the newsletter. Please contact Jos Burns at uberpebble@gmail.com.
Test scores
Read about CAASPP scores (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) and more on the News Blog!
Did anyone notice that the traffic on Oxford was smoother and safer when the police officer was there last week?
What if we drove and parked and behaved like that all of the time?
Prefer to read this by email? You can!
Subscribe to the e-newsletter at oxfordelementary.org/signup.
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